15 Months

Drew is 15 months and on the go.  He makes every day enjoyable in some way.  He's always laughing and wanting you to chase him around the house.  I love his random happy noises.

What's New: Words, the kid is talking more and more every day.  He watches my lips when I ask him to say something and then usually tries to repeat it.  He can currently say Bye, Bye - Night, Night - Mama - Dada - Cracker - Quack, Quack (for his ducks) - Baby - Puppy - Outside.  He has repeated cheese and fish but those aren't words he uses all the time.  He can also tell you where his belly button is and sometimes his nose.  He's starting to become interested in using a spoon at dinner but would rather just grap the food and eat.  He's walking and sometimes running everywhere. 

Interests:  He loves puppy dogs.  Everytime we see one in a book, walking around the neighborhood, a stuffed animal, or Sutton, our la,b he gets so excited.  He would rather spend the entire day outside then anywhere else.  He goes to the door daily to go outside and gets upset if we bring him in.  It could be 110 degrees outside and the kid is still happy.  When the weather dropped this past weekend, he was outside playing with the water and water hose.  CRAZY!  He also enjoys playing with balls.  He has a large basket filled with all sizes and he goes straight to the basket when we are in the game room and pulls one out to throw around.  Drew's last major interest is books.  He loves the Little People Flip Books right now.  He will sit in his room and just look through books and talk and point to words.  I had a teacher tell me this summer that I have done my job getting him to enjoy books.  I don't know how much I did and this is something I hope he doesn't grow out of.  I love seeing him pick up a book and act like he's reading it.

Food:  He's just about tried everything we eat and if not he wants to.  His favorite foods are bananas, sweet potatoes, pasta of any kind, corn, rice, peas, green beans, blue berries, cucumber, cheese, and crackers. 

Sleep:  Drew's bedtime is around 7 or 7:30 and wakes up around 7:30 or 8.  I love the days he goes to 9am.  I feel like a new person when he does that.  That extra hour makes a world of difference.  He usually takes a nap around 12:30 for 2 to 3 hours.  I have noticed he's happier when he actually takes a 3 hour nap.

Sizes:  He is still wearing 12 month clothes but I have put him in some of his 18 month clothes and they fit.  He is still in a size 3 diaper.

What I love:  I love how he can play on his own and then stop and come give me the sweetest hug and then go back and play.  I love how he loves giving hugs in general.  I love how I walk in the room and he says "Mama".  I love how I can give him small commands and he knows just what to do.  I love how happy he is (most of the time) and makes my days a lot more fun.  I have found my self laughing at loud at something his has done and he turns around and laughs at loud.  We have so much fun together and I love how he's my little buddy. 

Summer Memories

This summer was a lot of fun having a little one that was so active and kept us on our toes.  Here is a recap of our 2012 summer memories.

Right after school got out I started picking up the pace on planning for Drew's 1st birthday party.  I mean I knew the theme in December but needed to get all the odds and ends put together before the big day.  Meanwhile, I was also planning for VBS week the next week after Drew's party.  AGH, summer just got started and it was already going CRAZY.

 

We enjoyed Drew's birthday party with family and friends.  After that is was full VBS mode and one fun, tiring week.

Drew riding around the church at VBS

 

We of course took many trips to the grocery store which are now much more fun for both of us.  I can relax and focus on getting what we need and Drew enjoys riding in the car up front.  He laughs and giggles most of the ride and entertains all the other shoppers.  I also sometimes entertain them by running into things with such a huge cart!

 

 We also took a few trips to the local spray parks.  Drew and I met up with friends each time and it was fun to get to play with some of his friends.

 



Then July Fourth came and we celebrated over at my parents the weekend before and then had some friends over the night of for a cookout. 

 

 

 This was my happy boy pretty much all summer.

 

 

We made a few visits to the park when it wasn't scorching hot.  He now can climb up all the playground stairs on his own and loves to swing.

 

 

We took a weekend vacation to Galveston with my parents.  Drew enjoyed the beach and tasting the sand!

 

 

While we were on our way to Galveston, Jason found out he got a new job!  He is now the Assistant Tennis Coach at Flower Mound High School.  It was bitter sweet leaving Southlake but we will return in five years with Drew!  For now, it's great for us.  Drew and I have Jason home a lot more then before.

 

The city redid the street in front of our house so that was some great entertainment.  Drew enjoyed watching the big trucks go back and forth.

 

 

We went to dinner with some close friends and found out one of them is having TWINS!  I am so excited and can't wait to shop for these little cuties.  Can't you tell?!?

 

All of us!

 

 

I found a layout for our super small pantry for Jason to redo.  After he did an amazing job, Drew got a basket at the bottom with just his snacks.  The was the first day he found it on his own and emptied it out! 

We met up with Jason's family for lunch and celebrated every body's birthday's from the entire year.  It was fun and Drew enjoyed hanging out with his cousins!

 

We also made our own fun at home.  I am guessing this was fun to Drew, emptying out my wallet. 

 

He loved me pulling him around in the laundry basket...

 

and climbing on things!

 

Drew and I met up with his cousin Kenzie, my Aunt Cathy, and my mom at the Grapevine Sealife Aquarium.  Drew enjoyed the stingrays the most.



 



Drew picked up some dance moves!

 

We also got to go shopping with another sweet friend!

 



 

Drew enjoyed his first bounce house experience at his cousin's Kenzie's birthday!

 

One last thing, I passed my ESL test!  I am now ESL certified...shew!

 

We hope everybody had a great summer!  Now, we are over the heat and can't wait for the cooler weather and fall holidays.  Boy do we love holidays, family get togethers, and fun times with friends!

Galveston 2012

Last year we didn't get to go on vacation because we had our sweet bundle of joy and we were getting use to parenthood much less pack up and take a newborn somewhere else.  I said that I wanted to pick where we went this year because the year before that we did our baseball tour (4 fields 5 games).  Don't get me wrong, I had a blast but I wanted to pick somewhere to go.  I said I wanted to go to the beach.  In mind I was thinking more Gulf Shores.  After taking Drew to San Antonio in March, that plan switched to somewhere closer.  Drew was miserable after 2 hours and the kid doesn't nap like most kids in the car.  So it made all of us miserable.  We had to take what we call "sanity" stops.  Well the closest thing to us is Galveston.  I settled for the thought of not having a white sandy beach getaway.  I think that was the best idea for our "sanity"!  We took a little weekend getaway to Galveston.  We headed down there Thursday to stay in Conroe just to relax or shall I say for some "sanity".  The original plan was to go to Houston and go to an Astros game so Jason could see that field.  Can you believe it, he has been to Detroit and Milwaukee but not Houston to see some baseball.  Anyways being the great wife that I am, I planned (well thought I planned) a weekend where the Astros would be in town that Thursday.  We asked my parents to join us and got a condo in Galveston together.  We booked that right away to not take the chance of loosing it.  When it got closer to the date, I looked up Astros tickets right before I booked a cool baseball themed hotel across the street from the stadium.  And boy am I glad I doubled checked their dates.  THEY WEREN'T IN TOWN!  What!!!  I was so upset.  I had been looking at Junes calendar when planning our July vacation.  :(  I was so upset because I knew Jason would enjoy it.  Oh well, we will just have to go again!  Anyways, after staying the night in Conroe, my parents met us and we headed into Galveston.  Here are some pictures of our fun little getaway!

The first night we walked around in a few shops and Drew and I took this fun picture.

The next day we headed to the beach. 

First time to walk on sand. 

First time to touch sand.  Then of course it went to his mouth :(

Checking out the view

playing with daddy

sisters

 We then grabbed lunch and went back to the condo for Drew to take a nap.  After he woke up Jason, Adalee (my sister), Drew, and I went shopping on the Strand.

We came across this cute bear and Drew enjoyed playing with it.

riding a dolphin

 When we were finished shopping we met my parents back up at the condo and went swimming at our condo's pool.  We decided to take some pictures while drying off.

Drew with Gigi, Grandpa, and Auntie Adalee

That night we went to eat and stopped to take a fun family pictures.  LOVE!

All in all the trip was fast but fun.  Jason and I are already thinking about where to go next summer.  We are thinking another beach.  I am thinking Drew can make it a little longer in the car but we will still have to take some "sanity" breaks.  Suggestions on where we should go???