Drew's First Tornado Watch

Being a kid in Texas, I'm sure Drew will have the same experiences John and I did -- going to a friend's basement in the middle of the night (sometimes to Grandmom & Pop's cellar), tornado drills at school, being mesmerized by the radar image on the screen, and talking about it the next day ("75 mph winds? That's nothing. Remember back in 2003 when we had 100 mph gusts? Now THAT was wind!") Last night Drew had his first tornado storm experience. We were in a Tornado Watch for most of the day yesterday. The big line of storms rolled through late in the evening. We started watching the weather at about 8 o'clock, when a Tornado Warning was issued. (For those not from the great state of Texas, a watch is issued when the weather is ripe for tornados and as the name suggests, you should keep "watching" for one. A warning is when radar shows that a tornado is forming or someone on the ground confirms a sighting.) At about 8:30, Pete Delkus (our awesome Channel 8 weatherman) said that there was a tornado that appeared to be forming over North Richland Hills, heading toward Hurst-Euless-Bedford. That's us. So, as I've done many times in the past, I started piling pillows and blankets in our closet, in case we needed to take cover. Luckily for us, the tornado portion of the storm went north of us, but we did get some 70 mph wind, torrential rain, and pea-size hail. A couple of years ago we had tornados ALL over and hail the size of my fist, so in comparison this storm wasn't too strong. It was unusual that it was in February and not later in the spring, but Drewby got to stay up late with us and I got a cute picture of him and John in front of the radar screen. I'll try to remember to post it later.

Cruisin'

I think we've reached cruising altitude with Drewby. We've got him on a good schedule, John and I have reached some sort of "divide and conquer" approach to getting everything done, and our family is in what I call Domestic Bliss. The bliss is aided by the fact that Drew has remembered how to sleep through the night. We a couple of great months of 7-8 solid hours of sleep. Then the ear infection hit and there was no sleep. Gradually, he's gone from waking up twice a night to once, then to just waking up early. Now he sleeps from bedtime (usually 9:30) until close to 7:30. I think he often wakes up earlier than that and occupies himself til he goes back to sleep. I put him down on his back on the sleep positioner and he's often still there when John leaves the house at 6. By the time I go in at 7:30 or 8, he's scooted so his head is at the other end of the crib, or he's inched his way into the corner or has rolled over and is on his tummy. One morning he managed to get to his soother that's attached to the side of the crib and turn it on. I heard the soothing cricket noises through the baby monitor and snuck in to check on him. Sure enough, he was wide awake, smiling at his toy. Of course once he saw me, there was no sneaking back to bed, but he's so happy to see me in the mornings that it's worth getting up early for.

Drew's done great with day care. He doesn't nap very well during the day, which is probably why he crashes at night. He gets moved from toy to toy a lot, so he's a master at the exersaucer, bouncy chair, and bumbo seat. He's having his rice cereal twice a day now, and his appetite for veggies now includes green beans, carrots, and peas. Next week, he'll take on sweet potatoes, which are one of my favorites. I bet his aren't as good without all the yummy butter and brown sugar, but luckily he doesn't know what he's missing.

Activity-wise, he is still reaching those all-important milestones. You hold up a toy in front of him and he reaches for it, grasps it, and then usually puts it directly in his mouth. The other day he was on his activity mat in the living room and when John went into the kitchen for a couple of minutes, he managed to roll onto his tummy and scoot a ways across the floor. He hasn't duplicated this effort, so I think crawling is still around the bend. He's doing great sitting up -- he can sit unassisted for about 10 seconds before he tips over. It's kinda funny -- he'll want to pick up a toy in front of him, so he moves his arm and the head goes forward. Or he looks to the side when Sadie makes a noise and over he goes. He ought to get the hang of it soon. He is still loving the jumperoo and bath time. He also still has some obsession with my hair, and whenever he gets upset, I pick him up and he immediately grabs my hair and tries to eat it. I'm not sure why that's soothing, but maybe it lets him know that Mommy's got him. Overall, he's just an easygoing, agreeable kiddo.

I'm lobbying John to get some family pictures made in the next couple of weeks, since Drewby's smiling and cute so much of the time. I want to capture that grin and frame it! So, if you talk to John, tell him what a GREAT idea it would be to have some pictures made. If I'm successful, I'll be posting those before long.

Bathtime Fun

Drew has started to really love his bathtimes. He's figured out that kicking his legs wind-mill style in the bathtub makes fun splashing noises and sometimes even gets his Mom wet. Here's a little video of him in the tub.

I also wanted to get a picture of this little man's chubby thighs and booty. Since nobody else was around, I did the picture taking. Apparently Drew was not too happy with this photo being taken, so he showed his displeasure by peeing on me about 3 seconds after I snapped this. Oh well -- it was worth having a photo memory of those sweet chubby cheeks!

January Update -- Playtime Galore

January has been a fun month for Drew, aside from Mommy and Daddy working hard and being sick. He is just the happiest child. He fussed when he had his ear infection, but otherwise he is such a great baby. Here are some of our fun memories from the last couple of weeks.

Drew loves his rice cereal. We started with green beans, and he likes them too. We then moved on to carrots, which he also enjoyed. (Mom didn't enjoy the orange poop, but it's a small price to pay to have a happy kiddo.) We'll start sweet peas this evening.

Drew loves when we blow on his tummy. His eyes get really wide and he laughs at us while he straightens out his legs and flails his arms.

Here is Drewby having some tummy time. I have no idea what he thought was so funny, but I'd guess that Mommy was making silly faces.

Oh, I LOVE that smile!

We were going to have a fun portrait session on the couch, but Drewby took a couple pictures and then exploded his diaper. Fun for all!

After cleaning up the diaper explosion, we took a few fun naked pictures. His prom date is going to love these someday!

Drew's new favorite toy is the jumperoo. He hops and jumps to his heart's delight. His favorite thing is watching Daddy throw the ball for Sadie. He watches Sadie run after the ball and when she barks, he laughs and hops again. She watches Sadie bring the ball back, tracks her as she chases it again, then laughs and hops at her barking again. It's great fun.