Sick Baby Boy & Patton's New Hairdo

Poor Drew is not feeling so hot these last couple of days. It all started on Wednesday...he was at my mom's and just wasn't himself. He woke up yesterday with a nasty cold. So I got to stay home with my baby boy, it took me a while to decide if I should stay home or not. It is so hard to know how sick they are when they are this little, he just wasn't telling us how he felt.

He wasn't completely out of commission he still got in some playtime yesterday and today. But just when you think he must be feeling better, he'd start coughing up a storm and his nose would run. Today he stayed home with daddy, like he does every Friday.

They had the house to themselves because us girls (Patton and I) were gone all day. Patton had a beauty appointment. For those of you who don't know, Patton gets a buzz cut year round. It cuts down on the hair in the house, and don't worry the vet said she'd stay warm enough in the winter. She isn't much of an outside dog, unless we are running of course. So Mike and Drew probably had a nice day without Patton. No offense to our first born Patton, but if you happen to know our little ball of energy...she can be a handful from time to time. Especially now, she won't leave Drew alone, she follows him EVERYWHERE! I'm not sure if she just enjoys his company or maybe just maybe she's keeping her eye on him. She drives Drew nuts, but Drew drives her crazy too.We hope Drew starts feeling better tomorrow, he can be a bit testy when he isn't feeling so hot (who isn't when they are sick?).

Working in the Kitchen

Drew had a busy evening! He was helping out in the kitchen while I made dinner. He's getting really good at mixing. He also found a mixing bowl that must have reminded him of a hat. He ran around with the bowl on his head for twenty minutes before we took it away so he could head to bed. Here are a few pics of our evening in the kitchen!

Just some pictures with lots and lots of expressions!

As you can see our boy is full of different expressions these days. He also can be so sad at the drop of a hat, but thankfully he is typically smiling two seconds later.

Bedtime with Drew

Lately Drew seems to really loves his bed! After we read to him or sometimes in the middle of reading he'll point to his bed, meaning he is ready for bed. When we put him in the crib he will lay right down in bed or if he doesn't we'll tell him to lay down and he does right away. He waits for us to put his blanket it on him and he just lays there and smiles while we finish getting everything in place for bedtime. He used to pop right up and stand in the crib if we were hanging around in his room, but now he just loves his bed and bedtime. He reminds me of his daddy, Mike is always saying he loves his bed. He gets a big smile on his face right before he goes to sleep. My boys just love their comfy beds!

Here are some videos of bedtime and nap time with the Drewster!

Spa Howell

We have discovered that Drew is a sucker for a good ole foot massage! This was discovered the other night when I was putting lotion on him after his bath, the poor guy is so dry this winter! I rubbed some lotion on his feet and I noticed he didn't squirm and then I finished and put his foot down. Next thing I know he lifts his leg up to my hands and wants another massage. So now every night we do a quick foot massage before bed.

Here are a couple of pictures and a video of Drew's foot massage last night. He had taken a bath and I had brought him downstairs to get his new lotion I had bought. So we propped him up on a pillow with his warm milk (yes...he's a bit spoiled) and gave him his nightly foot massage. What a spoiled little guy! But how can we resist?

Always Learning & Trying New Things!

Check out the hat!

Drew has done a couple of new things this week. He has started to walk backwards. It is quite funny to watch. Drew has also started wearing hats again.

We used to put ball caps on him until this past summer when he started taking every hat off. He now will wear his stocking hat most of the time, but we hadn't even tried a ball cap since last summer. For the last couple of months he's had an obsession with ball caps, he loves to wear Mike's (allowing him to do this helped him learn to stand a while back), he also loves wearing an OSU hat at the babysitter's (they are big OSU fans). He usually screams when I come to pick him up from the babysitter's, I try and explain to him that we don't allow OSU hats in our home (I encourage KU hats and I'm sure Mike would encourage UMKC hats and possibly KSU hats) and that he has to leave it there.

Last week we were in church and Drew sat in the main church for most of the time, but we did have to visit the cry room and then the hallways when he was talking and laughing too loudly for the cry room. When we came back in the main church he was doing pretty good until he kept trying to reach for the person behind us. He kept reaching and saying "uh uh uh uh." I couldn't figure out for the life of me what he wanted until I saw the hat! The guy was holding a ball cap in his hands and Drew was insisting that he needed that hat. The guy was nice and let Drew touch the hat, but that almost made it worse. So luckily church was ending and we got on our way.

So below are few pictures from the last couple days, Drew is enjoying his hat. Oh and some people have been telling us (Uncle Greg) that Drew has an enormous head (we all know Greg gets tormented about the size of his melon, so he is just trying to find someone else who can share the big head syndrome with him) , but the hat he is wearing is age 6-9 months, and Drew is 15 months! So therefore Drew does not have a huge head!

Ready to brave the cold!

Drew is showing signs up being quite musical and he tends to have great rhythm (neither of his parents can claim these talents). He was playing Rock Band with dad last night. He has his own set of drums. He also enjoyed dancing while we played Rock Band with Uncle Greg and Aunt Kelley last night. I finally tried playing the guitar and singing last night. It was a lot of fun, but I have a lot of practice ahead of me!

Drew and Dad rocking out

Drew has started saying the word "cookie", but it comes out more like "te te." He is also getting better at pointing at things in books when I ask him where things are. Last night he wore pjs that had a bear on the front. So I told him it was a bear and told him it growled. This morning he pointed at the bear and growled. What a good memory! He is also continuing to practice the word "please" he will even say please if we ask him "what do you say?" Once again I have to say I love this age. He is constantly learning new things!

A few more pics:

Look how big our baby looks in this outfit! He looks like a little boy!
Hanging with dad and Patton (do you see Patton, she's always right in the middle of everything).

15 Months old!

Happy 15 months old to our little guy! I can't believe he's this old, where has the time gone? I thought time flew during Drew's first year, but his second year is flying by even faster, we are 1/4 of the way through his second year...ahhhh! Our lives have changed quite a bit these past 15 months, but Mike and I can honestly say we wouldn't trade it for anything. Drew is the best gift we could ever ask for!

We just love this age, he's so funny! He continues to amaze us with the knowledge he's picked up. He understands so much of what we say. He also is saying new words all the time and trying new things too. His tantrums even get us laughing, although we try not to let him know we are amused!

Another Nice Little Saturday

What a face!

Well we have had a nice weekend, but of course it has gone too fast! On Saturday we had a little birthday celebration for Mike. During the celebration Mike broke out Rock Band 2 and we had a little concert. Mike played guitar while Kelley & Sandy sang, they were quite entertaining! Drew even tried to get in on the mix!

The band
Drew singing with Aunt Kelley
Drew with two of his favorite guys (Grandpa & Uncle Matt)
Drew with Granpa and Great Nana Howell

Last night Mike & I went and saw Marley & Me. We had read the book and I've been waiting for this movie for a long time. It was a great movie, but a real tear jerker! I'm not sure if I can recommend it to anyone, unless you don't mind sobbing at the theater. Watching Mareminds us so much of our crazy Patton! Those labs are such characters! Here is our lab with her best friend Drew. These two are inseprable these days, but they also really annoy each other, it is quite funny!

see the tongue?

Happy 29th Birthday Daddy (Mikey)!

Giving dad a birthday hug.

Mikey turned the BIG 2-9 today! He had a nice long day at work, the poor guy had to work until 7 on his birthday. But Drew and I had a celebration waiting for him when he got home. Drew and I had picked up pizza at Minsky's and I got him (and me) a Sonic Blast for dessert. We are celebrating this weekend with a small get together and I'll be making a cake.

Drew enjoyed helping his daddy open gifts. He also gave dad some birthday kisses.

Here are so pics from our evening:

Dinner!

Ready to celebrate with her dad!
Opening his card from his lovely wife.

Every 29 year old male's dream....a mini crockpot (for dips).
One of Mike's gifts (all three of us in our red footed pjs)
Thanks Mom & Sandy for finding the pics!

Mad at Mommy for taking the camera away from him.

Happy 2 seconds later.
Silly boy!