Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. We started off Friday with decorating Easter eggs and making rice krispie eggs, bunnies and chicks. We ended the weekend with a great breakfast at church, fellowshiping and worshiping with friends and family, and spending the day and Grammy and Papa's.

This is what Drew did while we made Rice Krispie treats

Easter morning - hunting eggs

Drew trying to get his Easter basket to his mouth

Beautiful Girl!

Watching Papa make pizza

How the big kids spent the afternoon How Drew spent the afternoon - loved napping outside!

GG's Visit

GG (my grandmother) visited a couple of weeks ago. We love having GG visit and I know she was excited to see how much the kids have changed since she last saw them. She had a special treat one night in that she got to babysit Drew while we took Addy to see Toy Story on Ice. We had lots of fun GG and can't wait to see you again.

Addy's Spring Sing

Addy's preschool had a spring program they call Spring Sing (took me back to Harding days) for the 3 year old class a couple of weeks ago. Addy did great singing and doing the motions. All the kids had a lot of fun, and they love their music teacher, Ms. Melissa.

Walking in with her class

Excited to get on the stage
Getting into the song

3 Months Old!!

Today Drew is 3 months old. We celebrated by having our 4th home study visit, two more to go then his adoption will go back to the judge and be finalized. Drew is getting big and changing every day. Unfortunately, the last few weeks have been pretty rough. He is fussing A LOT and we can't seem to find a reason for it. We have switched his formula and are giving a chiropractor a try to see if it will help. Drew's first chiropractor visit was yesterday and he goes back on Monday. We are hoping things will get better soon.

• We don't have a doctor visit this month, but I estimate that he has grown 3 inches or so since his 2 month visit and is around 12 pounds.


• He is holding his head up really well.


• He loves to talk and coo. He started laughing a couple weeks ago -- he doesn't do it often, but when he does, it is too cute.


• He is eating 4 ounces every 3 hours during the day. At night he sleeps about 6 hours and then 4 hours. (Goes to bed at 8:30, woken for dream feed at 10:30 and then sleeps until 4:30 or 5:00 and then goes back down until 8:00/8:30 or so).


• He still absolutely loves Addy. He lights up when she shows him attention. Addy loves him also and has been a lot of help "watching" him for me.


• He is getting a little better about being put down. He still prefers to be held, but he loves to lay on the floor right after he eats and just stare at the ceiling (he loves ceiling fans), play on his playmat or play with his Kickin' Bobbin'. I have also been able to get him to take a few daytime naps in his crib the last few weeks.

Fun with the iPad

Talking and Playing

Drew has really started "talking" a lot more this past week or so. He likes to talk to these two birds that hang from his activity center. He has also started kicking a lot, so I got out one of Addy's old toys - Kickin Bobbin and he has played with it some the past few days. Here's some video of him playing and talking to me and to his toys.

Pictures

Addy being a big helper

Drew in his swing

Drew's first Sunday at church

Drew sleeping in a cradle my dad made for

my baby dolls when I was a little girl.

Spring Break/Scott's Birthday/Zoo

Last week was Spring Break for Addy. We really didn't do much besides play at home and watch movies. Tuesday was Scott's birthday and he took off work and we decided to venture out for the first time as a family of four and visit the Houston zoo. Let me tell you, the zoo was a zoo. We left our house at 9 and didn't enter the gates of the zoo until 11. We got the museum/zoo area and realized everyone was visiting either one of the museums or the zoo that day and there was literally no parking. So, we travelled a little south of the zoo and ended up riding Houston Metro train for the first time. Addy loved it. We spent a beautiful day at the zoo and Drew was a doll. He stayed in his stroller all day and didn't make a peep. I think he liked being outside just as much as we did. We ended the day with dinner at Rockwell's Tavern and Grill and dessert at Orange Leaf. I think we found some new favorite places. Addy particularly liked Orange Leaf because it is a serve yourself frozen yogurt place and she liked pulling the lever and watching the yogurt come out into the bowl.

Here's some pics of our day:

Addy & Daddy
This is what Drew did the entire day
Baby elephant

Playing the drums

Two Months!!

Can't believe it. In ways time has flown by and in other ways, it seems like Drew has always been around. Today he is two months old. We celebrated by going to the dr and getting shots :( At first he seemed to be doing okay, he really didn't cry too much when he got the shots, but he has gotten significantly more fussy as the day wears on. His right leg is swollen and red so he got a pretty good reaction to one of the shots and if you touch it he screams. Poor little thing.

Here are some things he is doing:

• He is really smiling and cooing a lot now. The mornings are the best time for him.
  
• He is starting to reach out to try and touch things in front of him -- toys or faces, and he really likes to grab hair.
  
• The last few weeks have been pretty rough -- we were pretty sure he had reflux and took him to the dr last week to get some meds and he was diagnosed with his first ear infection. His reflux symptoms seemed to get better the first day or two of taking the antibiotic so we were hoping it was just an ear infection, but his symptoms (cough and gagging) came back and so he started taking Zantac on Monday. So far, he seems to be getting better every day.
  
• Once we got his ear infection taken care of and got him on reflux meds he is back to sleeping one five hour stretch at night.
  
• He is eating 3.5 ounces every three hours.
  
• He is wearing a size 1 diaper and 0-3 month clothes (although he can still fit in some newborn clothes).
  
• He weighs 10 pounds (14%) is 21 inches long (4th%) and his head circumference is in the 12th percentile. So he is a little dude.
  
• Once we finish his antiobiotic he will be switched to regular Enfamil formula (he has been on the high calorie preemie formula).
  
• He loves to snuggle. Sweet, but it really makes getting things done hard. He hates to be put down in his bed or bouncy seat during the day. He tolerates the swing for about 1 hour on good days. Otherwise, he his held pretty much all day. Thankfully he will sleep in his crib at night.

One Month Old!!

Can't believe how fast this month has gone. Today is Drew's official due date and he is one month old today. Here are some things about Drew:

• He is staying awake a little more each day. After several bottles he is awake for an hour or more.
  
• He is still a pretty laid back baby. He definately has his moments (usually in the evening) but other than that he is an easy baby.
  
• He is a noisy baby. He grunts and snorts all the time, even all through the night. He slept for part of the night in our bathroom last night because I just could not take it any more -- I had to get some sleep.
  
• We think we are getting "real" smiles now. Addy got the first one. Drew loves his big sister.
  
• He is starting to reach for things.
  
• He is wearing newborn clothes, but I think he will be out of those this week or next.
  
• He is wearing newborn diapers.
  
• I think he is around 7 pounds. We don't have a doctor appt until he is 2 months old and we don't have a scale, so I am really guessing here.
  
• He is drinking 2 1/2 ounces every 3 or so hours. I think he was going through a growth spurt the last couple of days because he wanted to eat more, but today he has been a little better so we may be over that.
  
• He is still going about 3 1/2 to 4 hour stretches at night.
  
• Addy absolutely adores him and is such a good big sister. She is helpful and always wants to sit by Drew and hold his hand or touch his head. She plays with him and talks baby talk to him -- so cute. She is getting tired of not being able to leave the house, so school 3 days a week has been a lifesaver for her.

Rolling Over Already?

Well, it wasn't a fluke -- he is rolling over (from tummy to back). The first time Drew rolled over was last Wednesday at 2 1/2 weeks old. We wondered if it was just a one-time thing, but he has continued to roll whenever we put him on his tummy. We have one strong boy!