Mom-isms

John gives me a hard time for the way I talk to Drew. I have given him a million nicknames, and am always adding to the list. Right now, he's called Drewby, Drewster (which could also be Drewster the Rooster), Pumpkin or Pumpkin-head (yes, his head does look like a pumpkin), Peanut, Noodle, Cranky Britches, and Smandrew. I should explain that Smandrew is Andrew's evil twin. Since Andrew is an angel, when he decides to pitch a fit, I know that's not my precious Andrew but must be a less angelic baby. That's where Smandrew comes in. He's the baby who gets fussy and mad, who pitches a fit when I leave him on his tummy for one second longer than he'd like, or who doesn't get to eat the second he decides he's hungry. It's my sweet Andrew who giggles and coos, reaches out to touch his toys or his Mommy's face, laughs at my silly songs, and talks to the baby in the mirror.

For those of you who don't spend much time around us, you must realize that I've inherited my mother's ability to talk. I can talk to Drewby without even realizing what I say (and sometimes I don't realize that I'm talking out loud). He loves to hear my voice and will smile at hearing it. So naturally I will talk a lot just to get those grins. They're priceless! I will admit that there have been a few funny moments in grocery stores where I was talking to Drew as I went down the aisles and got weird looks from other customers. Yes, I am talking to my 3-month old son, but I promise that those shoppers would rather have me talk to him and have him smile back than have me ignore him and have him decide to cry for attention. I've found recently that this ability to think out loud also translates to songs. Drew has heard me create Drew-inspired limericks, poems, and songs. Here's a sampling:

A limerick created when Drew screamed his way through a diaper change:
There once was a baby named Drew
Whose diaper was filled with some poo.
So he pitched a big fit
And off his Mom went...
Out the door, saying "Toodle dee doo"

He gets lots of variations on normal songs. Jesus loves the Little Children turns into Jesus Loves the Little Andrew, Jesus Loves the Little Mommy, Jesus Loves the Little Daddy, Jesus Loves the Little Sadie, and even Mommy Loves the Little Andrew. (Is it sacreligious to replace Jesus with Mommy? Feel free to weigh in, blog readers.)

This morning Drew heard a Mom-original song, to the tune of "Scooby Doo"
Drewby, Drewby, Drew
Mom loves you
It's time to wake up, baby.
You gotta eat your milk
And get you dressed,
So you can go play at Kelly's.

Video Attempt

Allegedly there's a way to post videos here. I took a cute one last night of Drew giggling at me as I got him ready for his bath. If this post works, I may start taking other short videos for you to enjoy. So, here's a snippet that my Dad took at Thanksgiving. Drew was sitting on my lap talking to me, but the moment that the camera was turned on, the talking began to turn to a meowing noise, then to wailing. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving #2 in Hot Springs

After stuffing ourselves on Thursday, we hit the road on Friday for a few days in Hot Springs, Arkansas with the Slaton clan. We saw lots of people that we hadn't seen in years, and they got to meet Drew. There were lots of kiddos this year, so we spent the better part of the weekend passing around babies, taking pictures of them, or talking about them.

Here's Drew with Gigi (his great grandmother). Drew was the littlest one there and the only one not old enough to be crawling or walking, so she enjoyed that he didn't try to squirm away.



Here's Drew in his rainforest bouncer with his cousin James. I'm sure James doesn't remember that he had one of these to play in when he was younger, but he really enjoyed it. It'll be so much fun to watch these boys grow up together since they're so close in age.

Paw Paw put Drew down on the floor of the condo so he'd have some time to stretch and kick (because he was spending most of his time being held, he would get fussy until he had a chance to be by himself for a little while). We didn't catch it on camera, but he rolled over a couple of times, which is exciting. He hadn't seemed to care much for rolling over but apparently has discovered that his hands are on his sides, so he can roll over and have easy access to eating his fingers.

Here are James and Madeleine (you'll see how they fit into the Slaton family tree later in this post). They're only a few months apart, so they're about the same size. They played together a little bit and James was so sweet to give Madeleine a hug.

Here is Gigi with all of her great grandkids (from left, Samantha, Sophie, Madeleine, James, and Drew).

Here is one of the best pictures. It's Gigi with her grandkids (notice they're all boys) and great grandchildren. A few of the grandkids couldn't make it, but this is most of the clan. The back row is James with his dad Jim, Chris holding his daughter Madeleine, Sam with his two girls Sophie and Samantha, and John with Drew. The front row are Art, Gigi, Ray, and Luke.

We moms felt a little left out since we were the ones taking all the pictures, so we got together for one of us. On the left is Lauren (Chris's wife), Sarah (Sam's wife), Me, and Jaclyn (Jim's wife).

This is such a cute picture. James is just over a year old and Drew's 3 months old, so they'll have fun growing up together. Dale and Gerre are so proud of their grandsons!

Saved the best picture for last -- here are the four generations of Slatons: Wanda (Gigi), Dale (Paw Paw), John (Daddy), and Drew. We cherish these pictures because we know how special it is for Drew to have 6 living grandparents.

Thanksgiving #1 at home

Drew's first Thanksgiving was a busy one. We hosted my family and the Reynolds at our house on Thursday, then packed up for Arkansas for the Slaton get-together. Here are our memories of the Thursday festivities:



Just like my birthday, Drew decided to wake up extra early on Thanksgiving. (I think I was up by 5:45.) I fed him and tried to put him back down, but he was not happy. So I laid down on the floor of his room, waiting for him to go to sleep. He fussed for a while, so I picked him up and snuggled him. Clearly he and I were both tired because when my mom woke up about 7 to check on him, she found us curled up on the floor of his room.

Here I am (much more awake) getting the turkey ready for the oven. We figured out that the turkey was pretty close to Drew's size. It was a 14-pounder, and we think he weighs in around 13.

Dad was holding Drew while we girls cooked up a storm. Apparently Drew decided he wanted a little snack before dinner, so he made a grab for the seasoned oyster crackers. Luckily Grandpa noticed just in time (and we're also lucky that the hand-mouth coordination is still sketchy.)

Here is the Drewster with his Daddy. Drew has on his cute Thanksgiving outfit that says "Thankful for Mommy" on the turkey and "gobble gobble" on the footsies. He was adorable!

Dad is the master of carving the turkey. It turned out so yummy!

Dad tried to feed a turkey leg to Drew (who's being held by our friend Christine), but luckily Drew wasn't too interested. I'm sure this time next year he'll be eating all the turkey in sight and probably making a major mess of it.

Here's the crew around the Thanksgiving table. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends.

Drew fussed through the first part of the meal. John put him in his rainforest jumperoo and he played for a few minutes before getting worn out. Being cute is such hard work!

Here's Drew snuggling Aunt Ashley. He's getting more and more fun as he tries to talk to people and climb on them.

Grandmommy held onto Drew during the Cowboys game. Drew just stared at the screen and seemed really interested in the game. He's definitely John's boy!

We went outside to take some pictures in our Dallas Cowboys gear. (Hello, Christmas cards!) Check out those chubby legs. Quite a change from the skinny bird legs when he was born!

Here's the whole Mills clan. (Even Sadie's in her Cowboys shirt.)