More November Fun

Here are a few more pictures from November. My 28th birthday was the best one yet! Drew woke us up early (we'll have to explain to him that Mommy's birthday and Mother's Day are prime days for sleeping late). John made me French Toast, I got to open presents, then went to the spa for a massage and pedicure. Heaven! We also went out for dinner and John got me my favorite cookie cake for dessert.

Sweet Drew and Sadie both got me a card.

Me with my haul of gifts

Blowing out the candles. I did NOT get them all in one puff, so guess no wishes will come true for me!

Recently, Drew has figured out how to be mobile in his crib. He's decided to start scooting around in the mornings before he wakes us up. I had put him down the other direction (so his feet would be on the far left) and woke up to find that he'd spun himself around 180 degrees and was pretty unhappy about it.

Yay for Baylor! John made a bet on the outcome of the Baylor/A&M game with our Sunday School director, Russell, who is an Aggie. Since the Bears trounced the Aggies, Russell had to wear a Baylor shirt to church on Sunday morning. He was a good sport about it, but apparently his thumb was having some sort of spasm during the photo taking.

Bath time and play time and visitors ... oh my!

November has been a busy month so far. I'm trying to get all caught up before Thanksgiving, because I know I'll have lots to post from our Thanksgiving dinner and trip to Arkansas. So, here are the happenings for the last couple of weeks.

For those of you not from Amarillo, you probably have no idea what a Sandie is. Well, it is the ferocious mascot of my high school. (OK, it's basically a dust devil, and in most cartoons looks like the genie from Aladdin.) My mom found this shirt and sweet Drewby napped right through our photo session!

Mommy's a genius! I got home from the grocery store and needed to put away the groceries, cook dinner, and clean the kitchen. I put Drew in his bouncy chair, which did not make him happy. The swing had similar results. So in a stroke of genius, I got out his Johnny Jump-Up. Since we have the designer arches throughout the house, it was hard to find a doorframe to hang it on where I could see him from the kitchen. Aha! The pantry! I made sure he wouldn't whack his head against any shelves and set it up. He had a great time and was mesmerized. I'd walk by and he'd turn the whole seat to follow me. I have a feeling we'll get our money's worth out of this toy!

One day, I put Drew on his Boppy for tummy time like normal. He's gotten great at holding up his head for extended periods of time. Said was laying in the sunshine on the back of the couch, monitoring Drew's movements. She caught his eye, and he just stared at her and tried to coo at her for quite a while He seems more excited to have found a friend that she is.

Drew is figuring out how fun his toys are. I propped him on a pillow under his activity mat. Usually he lays for a few minutes, looking around, before he gets tired and wails at me. On this day, I think his hand had a twitch and accidentally hit a toy. It rattled and jingled at him, which was pretty funny. So he laughed and started trying to hit the toys. He seems to be better with his left hand right now, so we'll see if the right hand catches up or if he's a lefty.

Drew had a play date with his best friend, Joey Webb. Joey was born about a month after Drew. Since Dawn and I forgot to get pictures of them together at the pumpkin patch, we got a few of them on their play date. Note the pitiful lip. Drew was hungry and did not want pictures taken while Joey was sound asleep. The play date ended up being less about them playing and more about a support group for me and Dawn. :)

Sadie wondered why Dawn didn't bring their dogs, Lester and Molly, over to play. Here she is guarding the boys so Dawn doesn't get too close with the camera. Precious!

Major breakthrough! Bath time is now fun! I've been telling him all along that it's fun to take a bath and that there's no reason to scream. Drew finally took my advice and is now enjoying taking his bath. I tried to get a picture of him smiling, but he just gave me that "hurry up, Mom" look. He's starting to outgrow the hammock part, so he'll be sitting up on his own before I know it!

My best friend and college roommate, Erin, came up to meet Drew. She's not too much of a baby person, but she was brave enough to hold him for a little bit. Drew was on his best behavior, so hopefully she'll come back and visit us again soon.

Drew's new favorite thing to do is stand up. He LOVES to stand on your lap, on the floor, even on the counter. Drew looks so much like a little boy in this picture that it makes my heart hurt. I need to go home and tell him that he has to be a baby for a lot longer because I'm not ready for him to grow up so fast!

Big Changes

The theme of the month of October was growth. Drew has just grown and changed like nobody's business. He ate like it was going out of style and has gotten so much stronger and more active. Here are some of the highlights from the month of October.


More Tummy Time! Now Drew can lift his head a couple inches off the pillow and hold it there for several seconds. It still looks somewhat like he's headbanging along to music in his head, but we're glad to see that those neck muscles are developing. I can't count the number of times he's (unintentionally, I hope) head-butted me.

Here we are enjoying a Sunday afternoon nap with Daddy. The frog on Drew's chest is attached to his pacifier. He also has one with a penguin, so if it looks like he's being attacked by stuffed animals, he's likely just enjoying his pacifiers.

Here's Drew in the had that Great Grandma Slaton knitted for him.

Drew has a new best friend. I'm not sure what his name is, but he lives in the mirror above Drew's changing table. He's been looking at it during diaper changes, but one day he just seemed to notice that the baby in the mirror moved when he did, so now every time we change a diaper, he will laugh and reach for the baby in the mirror.

We spend lots of time in our bouncy chair. Sometimes we get ants in our pants and just need somewhere that we can stretch and kick. So we kick to our heart's content while our chair plays music and the animals dance for us.

In honor of Halloween, I dressed him up in a pumpkin hat from Rachel. I'm not sure if he didn't like the hat or was thinking about larger concerns, such as the economy and global warning, but that sure is a pitiful pout!

John did his Internal Medicine rotation in September and October, so there were several nights when he was on call, meaning that he went in to the hospital like normal (usually about 7 am) and works until about noon the following day. So -- that's LOTS of Mommy/Drew time. Ashley came over one Friday evening to keep us company and give me a little adult interaction. Drew rewarded her with snuggles and kisses.

I got Drew some Baby Einstein videos (at the Just Between Friends sale -- if you haven't heard of them, they are AMAZING. Check them out at http://www.jbfsale.com/.) Anyway, we sat him in his vibrating chair and turned on the video. He seems to really enjoy them, although they kind of freak me out. They play music or have a woman narrating and show really close-up pictures of all sorts of stuff, like trains, toy cars, dolls, rubber duckies, etc. The shots of the clowns and dolls were weird to me. I don't really like seeing them on our 50" screen, but Drew didn't seem to mind.

I will spare you more bathtime photos, but I thought this one was pretty great. John got him all naked for his bath and was carrying him in when he remarked, "Now would be an awful time for Drew to need to poop." (on a side note -- look at that tummy. It's getting huge!)

What a difference a few weeks makes! By late October, Drew could hold his head WAY off the pillow for several seconds. When we're holding him, he can hold his head steady for quite a while before he gets tired and slams it into my shoulder. (In the background is his activity mat. For now, he just stares at the toys, but someday hopefully he'll decide to start playing with them.)

Notice what the shirt says -- I love my Mummy. Classic!

On October 20, I took Drew to Amarillo for about a week to visit his grandparents and meet his great-grandparents for the first time. It was our first car trip, but Drew was such a trouper. He got a little fussy toward the end, but a 6-hour car ride is a long time for such a little one. Needless to say, Grandmommy was delighted to see him.

Here is Grandmommy reading Drew a book. Notice the title.

Here's Drew with Great Grandmom Wingfield. She'll turn 89 in February and is doing pretty well. She loved meeting Drew and taught him how to count his little piggies.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. It's got all four generations together. Pop was delighted to see Drew and laughed more than I have seen him laugh in years. His memory is mostly gone, but he was just delighted to see a baby and to talk to him. He was even cracking jokes about how the baby has his hair.

One evening, my folks had over some of their friends to introduce Drew. They were part of a group of families that they call the "Suburban Gang" because they all became friends before they had kids and have stayed friends throughout. This is me with Elizabeth Robinson Wier and her 11-month old daughter Ella. Elizabeth and I were born a month apart, so we have literally known each other for our whole lives. It was great fun to see her and get to catch up.

Here's a great picture of Drew with his Grandmommy and Great Grandmom.

Poor Drew had to sit through a pretty long photo session. This is our picture of the four generations.

Drew also got to meet his Great Aunt Lainie, who has a brand new grandson, Ryan, who was born a couple of months before Drew. The Wilcoxes should be coming to Amarillo for Christmas, so Drew and Ryan will have a chance to meet and probably compare stories about their crazy family.

Here is Drew meeting his other great grandparents, Great Granny and Papa Mills. They drove in from Oklahoma to meet their first great grandchild.

Drew and Papa bonded right away. Here, Drew's telling Papa all about life. It comes out mostly as "goo" and "uhhnnn", but I'm sure that Papa understood what he was saying.

This is my other favorite picture from the trip -- the four generations on the Mills side. Drew is an incredibly lucky kiddo to have all four great grandparents still alive.

Drew and Great Granny and Papa. Drew immediately bonded with Granny and took a long nap in her lap. She taught him some songs about the six little ducks.

One morning, Grandmommy took Drew after his first feeding so I could get some extra rest. I woke up to see them happily playing on the floor of the living room.

On Sunday, we took Drew to church and he got to meet all of Grandmommy and Grandpa's friends. They teach a young adult class with people at similar ages to us. So, there were lots of little babies there (although Drew was certainly the cutest of them all). After church, we ate some lunch and turned on the Cowboys game. In the grand tradition of Sunday afternoons, Drew curled up on Grandpa's chest for a nap. Their dog, Gracie, usually gets this prime napping spot and wasn't too happy to have to share with Drew, but she learned that grandkids win out over everybody else.

Here is the whole gang in their Cowboys gear. You can't tell but Drew has the Cowboys star on his belly and a football on his booty.

I put Drew in his Halloween outfit for a few pictures, and of course Gracie wandered over to see what the commotion was about and why no one was taking pictures of her. So, Gracie, here is your blog debut.

On Sunday, we also made one more trek to visit Great Grandmom and Pop and took yet another four generation picture. Drew was exhausted from all the hard work at being adorable.

Poor Drew had to go to the doctor for his 2-month appointment where he had his vaccines. He was so brave and they gave him cute blue camoflague band-aids. The doctor also weighed him and he's grown to 11 pounds 15 ounces. He's gaining weight nicely. When he was born, he was only in the 10th percentile for weight. At his one-month visit he was in the 25th percentile and is now over the 50th percentile. He's still taller than average, so we're glad he's caught up in weight. Heaven knows that boy loves to eat!

I think this is such a cute photo. When John comes home from work, he always picks up Drew and carries him around the house for a few minutes. Drew just loves it -- he holds his head up high and steady and has wide open eyes. Dad's shoulder is the best ride in town.

On Halloween, Drew and I made a trip to the pumpkin patch with my friend Dawn and her baby Joey. (They're also part of the Sunday School baby boom. Joey was born about a month after Drew.) We had quite a good time, although somehow Dawn and I forgot to get a picture of Drew and Joey together.

We should have a contest for the best caption to this picture. In my mind, Drew's saying, "Why I oughta..." like Mo of the Three Stooges. Any other ideas?

Drew found some little pumpkins his size.

Here's little man with the big pumpkins.

My babies all dressed up for Halloween... Drew the cow and Sadie the hot dog.

He's a happy cow ... must be from California.

Remember how I said that we've had a baby boom in our Sunday School class? I wasn't kidding! Here are a few of the babies born this year (left to right). Staci with Allie the pumpkin, me with Drew the cow, Sarah with Anna the banana, Beth with Isaac the pumpkin, and Kelly with Ryan as Winnie the Pooh.

Our church always does a Fall Festival on Halloween called Trunkfest. The church members bring our cars and line them up in the parking lot. We give out candy from the trunks, so it's a fun and safe way for kids to go Trick or Treating. This year, our church estimates that approximately 10,000 people were in our parking lot. Yes, you read that right. It's a massive event.

Poor Sadie didn't love her costume. It wasn't too comfortable, but it sure was delicious!