Squirming?

So, this is Drew's version of crawling so far. In the eyes of a PT, this has got to be the most inefficient way of moving forward, but alas, it works for right now. We are working hard to encourage crawling anyway we can - mostly he loves to go after electronics that really shouldn't be toys - what a boy! So, thought we'd share Drew's movement - hope to soon post one of actually crawling!

BLUEBONNETS!

The Bluebonnets are here Texas! Yes, we have started what will become an annual event, thanks to my excellent Texas upbringing - the yearly pics in the flowers. For those of you not blessed enough to be in Texas, these state flowers bloom every spring, and disappear as quickly as they pop up it seems. Wherever there's a good clump, you almost inevitably see families stopping to take pictures. And since the Texas blood inside of us runs deep, we couldn't miss the chance!

HILARIOUS!

So, Drew has come up with a new facial expression and it cracks us up EVERY time! It's a slight variation on the 'squinty' face he created awhile back which then for the most part disappeared. Then out of nowhere, on the way back home from dinner one night, an even more hilarious version emerged. We love that the whole face is scrunched up and he even gets into it with tensing up his arms. We don't know how to elicit this, so we are just ecstatic when it shows up. The video's a little longer than I would have wanted, but he shows it close to the beginning, immediately followed by a "poop in progress" expression, lots of banging and then another good catch of the funny face again. It looks slightly like it's an unhappy face, but we promise, it's not - he seems to just get a kick out of making faces, and even more so now that he knows we laugh at it every time he shares it with us. Hope you enjoy too!

Clear for tears...

Since birth, Drew's left tear duct has been blocked. We've been praying and hoping that it would open on its own, but alas, this is not the case. Several doctors have told us that if it hasn't opened on its own by 6-9 months, the chances of it opening without intervention drop drastically. So, we made the appointment with the eye doctor (Dr. Norman) to see what he said. We heard it's not a very nice procedure to do, so we went in thinking we would try and wait it out until we knew if Drew was going to get ear tubes placed and if so, then to do the tear duct at the same time. Well, Dr. Norman said yes, Drew certainly needed something done, and then offered to get it done today! Matthew & I both looked at each other in shock - now this changes things! Immediate relief sounded pretty good to us, so after talking more with Dr. Norman, and a prayer with him and his nurse, we agreed to get it done right then and there in the office.
We took Drew to the procedure room where a mat lay with industrial velcro to strap his arms and legs down and we assume the nurse held his head. We waited in the waiting room while the procedure was performed (we were told there wasn't anything we could do to help or comfort him, so it was best to not watch). We could hear Drew crying pretty loudly, but from the time he left my arms, to the time he was back in my arms was only about 2-3 minutes, and he was immediately fine the minute I was holding him again - leading us to believe it was more out of fear than pain that he was crying.
It was a long morning - about 2 hours in the office - and once we got Drew in the carseat, he took one look at me, reached out his hand to touch my face, started sucking his thumb and fell right asleep!

There's only been the slightest amount of blood, which is normal, and we can already see an incredible difference. All that's left is an eye drop medication twice a day for 5 days and hopefully that'll do the trick. We are praying that it heals well and stays open!

Easter Fun

We had such a wonderful, and surprisingly relaxing, Easter this year. It was a wonderful service at St. Paul with great music, that Drew just absolutely loved, smiling so big & jumping in our arms of course! Then a wonderfully delicious meal with the Palmer family at our house for lunch. As a bonus Easter miracle, Drew took about a 1 1/2 hour nap - most definately a miracle these days!


Cousins Luke & Josh enjoyed a great Easter egg hunt, running all over the yard, finding tons of eggs (hopefully all of them :}). My favorite part is the minute Luke found an egg, he immediately opened it and ate whatever candy fell out that wasn't in a wrapper (jelly beans, etc.), and at the end of it all, Luke took one egg out of Josh's basket and ran off as quickly as he could & mixed it in with his stash so as not to be found out!


It was wonderful being with the family and enjoying the gorgeous day God provided. Praise the Lord, HE IS RISEN!

8 Months!

There isn't a day that goes by that Drew doesn't make us smile, and most days, it more times than we can count. He is an absolute blessing and source of joy!

This boy LOVES to play! And he is getting so good at it, and trying & discovering new things like any kid should. A special trick he has learned is to pick toys up using his legs - a born soccer player we're sure! If he feels a toy between his legs, he knows to lift them up, inevitably landing the toy right in his hands. This may be normal behavior, but we think it's pretty smart! Once the toys get in his hands, everything still goes in the mouth for the most part, but we have started to catch him 'examining' the toys, trying to figure them out, either before or after the toy goes to his mouth, so we are making progress! :) The boy in him is certainly coming out as well in his love to bang on anything that will make noise as well as banging toys together. He has also started to throw his toys - probably not completely on purpose just yet, but he's certainly getting stronger, because they are flying further & further, so watch out if you are nearby! With increased mobility, he's found his way to his toy baskets, and quickly learned how to dump them over, spilling all the glorious contents around him - the fun never stops!


Drew is enjoying textures more and more, feeling for everything - the back of the couch, chair, carpet - anything he's close to. He's also become very skilled at finding and pulling hair...Mommy's hair is in a ponytail everyday, but he even finds the little fine hairs falling down and can get to them so fast. He also seems to be intrigued by strings of all sorts - ties on bags, blind cords (only when we are holding him as we are looking out the window, we know they are dangerous!), shoestrings - anything really. Kind of a bizarre thing we think to see as play things, but I guess that's how you figure everything out, right!

Drew's sitting is incredibly better these days, sitting up for long periods of time without falling over. We are still nearby to catch him when he lunges for a toy just too far away, but his is getting quite good and reaching for what he wants and sitting back up. He has even earned to right to start riding in the carts at stores & has graduated to his duck tub - a big step for Drew & Mommy! He's still mostly content with sitting or laying on his back, so no big move toward crawling or pulling up yet, but we know it's right around the corner; for now we will continue to enjoy not having to watch an incredibly mobile kid - we hear once that starts, everything changes all over again!


We continue to have fun with food, eating lots of yummy items - yogurt seems to be a favorite, but he's pretty happy with just about anything these days. There have been some very messy meals however - one in particular I remember having to clean off the wall & window blinds behind the high chair along with the usual table, chair & child of course! He's starting to grab for the spoon, wanting to "help". We realize this is something we will have to get through, but just not quite ready for the mess quite yet - our dining area may end up looking like it's going through renovations, with a tarped off area for Drew's dining! :)


Another skill Drew has developed, though this is one we could do without, is he is a medicine dropper pro! With the third & fourth double ear infection this month, the kid knows what to do when he sees those droppers coming. Some medicine is obviously more tasty than others - these are the ones he actually dives forward for! While this is nice, we'd be more than happy to not have to use this skill much more in the future!


With the visit from Great Grandma & Grandpa Thompson (you can read more in an earlier post), we took another trip to Houston to visit Grandpa & Nana. He did great on the ride down, taking a good 2 hour or so nap and happy the rest of the time. Once we got to Houston however, sleeping didn't go nearly as well, both nights waking up in the middle of the night and unable to get Drew to go back to sleep, calling for a knock on Nana's door Sunday morning around 3 AM because Mommy & Daddy had enough. This was one of the few moments of sleep we caught, and it didn't last long. Needless to say, we were thrilled, but to scared to stop at all, when Drew slept just shy of about 30 minutes for the entire 4 1/2 hour drive home, which he then ate dinner and went straight back down for the whole night - he needed just a little bit of catch up to say the least!


And two more cute stories I just have to tell (I know I'm rambling, but it is the Palmer Rambler after all)...
I have told many people this, and it sounds very boastful (but that's what mom's are supposed to do, right) but when we go out and I don't get at least one comment from someone on his red hair and/or how adorable he is, I seriously leave wondering what was wrong with the people in the store. Crazy and conceited as it is, I bet at least 75% of the time we go out, at least one person comments on his distinctive red hair, sticking straight up, his big smile & eyes, and/or his overall just adorableness - I absolutely love it!
Now, last one I promise...Drew got to stay home with Daddy one day while he was sick with a cold/fever and did really well with him. As soon as Mommy came into sight, Drew clawed his way over until I picked him up. He then proceeded to give me "kisses" (where he's essentially chewing on my chin), but got a little carried away, seriously latched on to the end of my chin and the next morning I woke up with a hickey on my chin! A bit twisted if you want to be that way, but absolutely hilarious & sweet if you ask me!

All right, last, but not least, here are the stats for the month...Height: 28 1/2 in. (75%), Weight: 18 lb. 8 oz. (37%), Head Circumf: 44 1/2 cm. (50%).