Drew Saw Santa Today!

My Son. All Business. All the time. haha Seems like Santa was feeling the same! It was funny because the kid in front of us couldn't of been more excited to see Santa and when he finally got to have his turn, he screamed bloody murder! I thought Drew would too but he was fine...just fine :) He used all of his smiles up in line I guess!

Drew's New Favorite Chair

This chair has quite a story behind it! It actually belonged to Drew's Great-Grandpa Larry (My mom's late father) when he was a little boy. It has been passed down from child to grandchild to now great-grandchild and Drew is happy to be a part of it's history...as you can see, he loves it :)

Like Daddy, Like Son.

What 1 year old child likes spicy hot salsa? My son apparently! :)

Still Sick, but Being Awfully Cute :)

It's The Mother of All Colds :(

Drew has had some colds before, but never like this! For three days, he has had a 103 fever and has been up almost every hour at night just screaming. We took him to the doctor and he thinks it's just a really bad head cold accompanying fever, headache and throat aches. It's been all about the Tylenol and Drew knows when it wears off because he goes and finds the bottle of it and asks us to give him more. He has done nothing but sleep all day long...I really miss my little goofy kid, I hope he gets better soon!

Thanksgiving Time!

This was the first Thanksgiving in a long time that we only attended one dinner! We decided to go to my dad's this year because all of my "uncles" and their families were in town and we haven't seen everyone together in a really long time. With my uncles, came quads, quads and more quads and with that, came one broken arm...not too bad considering how many kids were on them! Drew even got in on the riding action! By the end of the day, we could barely pull him off them! Check out the video...

My Picasso!

Today, for my birthday present, Drew decided he wanted to make me a finger paint picture! He has never really finger painted before so it was fun to watch his reaction to dirty hands...he laughed a lot and kept showing me the messy progress! And then he turned to painting his body...I had a little blue smurf towards the end :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have a kid...not a baby.

I was playing with Drew in the living room when he grabbed his diaper and said something to me. I asked if he went pee in his diaper and then he grabbed his butt. I asked if he went poo and he said "Ya". LOL I couldn't believe it! He really did go poo! I guess this is more of a proud mommy moment, so sorry if it's TMI for those of you without lil rugrats :) Maybe he will be ready for potty training soon!!

Just Working on The Hot Rod...

He couldn't be a Greaser for Halloween without first gettin all Greased up from the Hot Rod ;)

I give you...the Cutest lil Greaser ever :)

This was Drew's 2nd Halloween and he had a LOT more fun this year of course...even mommy & daddy got dressed up!! We started the day Trick or Treating with Nanni down Sutter Street in Folsom with all the local vendors and businesses. Drew would dip his hand very slowly into the candy bowl and then keeping his hand on the piece of candy, he would give the candy giver a huge toothy smile. He even shared his candy with some cute little girls! We went home for a nap and then it was back out for more fun! We stopped at Great Grandma & Grandpa Hill's for some candy and hugs and then it was off to Grandma & Grandpa D's for more candy and hugs! After their house, we met up with Darcie and Chloe and went trick or treating with a bunch of kids. Drew got tired pretty quick but still wanted to be part of the fun so luckily we brought his red wagon! Drew ended up with a bunch of candy and slept really well through the trick or treaters ringing our doorbell!

Oh Life's Simple Pleasures!

Brad and I took Drew to the park today and on the way to the playground, were some leaves. I kicked some and they landed next to Drew and he thought it was HILARIOUS...as you can see in the video! He makes my heart smile :)

Drew Thinks He's All Grown Up

He really likes to wear shoes...no matter who's they are :)

Oh my little Romeo!

He completely melted me when out of no where, he kissed my hand :) He must be learning from daddy!

My First Tattoo for My First Born Son :)

The whole thing was designed in my head and then once I saw it on paper, I was smitten :) Everything is really sentimental and has a meaning to me. From the background being a sunrise to the sun rays at the bottom (under my legs) that even show his birth time of 6:35. It took 6 hours to finish and hurt quite a bit but I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, it's bright and happy and makes me feel complete...just like my little man :)

The Boy...The Legend.

Drew was completely wowing me with his block stacking skills!! His max was 7 and then he laughed so hard when the blocks fell down...it was very cute!

It's Captian Bra Head

I really have to start hiding my laundry :)

Oh man. What am I in store for?

I was cleaning the kitchen when my wonderful son came running out of our bedroom looking like this...he sure knows how to make a mother proud!

It's a Drew-In-A-Box

I'm glad he knows the true meaning of a toy box :)

Drew Showing Daddy How to Read :)

Reading is Drew's number one thing to do right now! Before bed, he likes to be read at least 2 books...hope this lasts through school days :)

Big Day For Drew!!

Today Andrew did a couple of things that are Blog-worthy! First being that he has figured out how to stack blocks! He stacked 5 blocks with very little help from his daddy's this morning, and then got a big kick out of it when the blocks tumbled. The fact that he can do this is pretty amazing for his age!

The other big event for Drew is that he attended his first half day at Day Care! I am taking him to the same person that watched my sister since she was just a newborn, Bonnie Farr. It is so nice that Andrew will be able to play with some kids and let him get that experience three days a week from 12 to 4. I brought him by after his first nap and let him check the place out. Instantly, his momma turned into chopped liver and he literally ran into the playroom and started touching everything! I tried to get just a kiss from him because I was leaving, obviously he had adjusted to this whole thing better than mommy, and I got nothing but the back of his head! I called about 2 hours after I left to check up and Bonnie said he had been a VERY busy boy getting into everything and exploring everywhere, but he had been really good. No nap today (come on, he's too busy for that), but he was still in great spirits :) I walked through the door at about 4:30 and he came-a-running...still super excited and happy. He pointed at everything and showed me his favorite toys (and ladies!). He was the only boy in a group of about 6 girls ranging from age 3 to 8...in other words, he was in Heaven. He is very excited to come back tomorrow and see his ladies! He was a very tired boy when we got home and ended up falling asleep at 6, which was nice for mommy and daddy :)

Cowboy Drew On His Horsey

Today Andrew got to take his first ride on Auntie Erin's horse, Ariel! He was pretty much all business (like he usually is when he's having fun) but he did smile a couple of times! He liked to pet her...I think he thought she was a big puppy :)

4th of July Party

After hanging out in the pool, we had a fun party with Grandma & Grandpa D (Ken & Diana), the Schwabs, and the Flemmings (the Maye Family Came over earlier in the day). We had a big BBQ and we discovered that Andrew LOVES bell peppers along with his already huge love of Asparagus (he ate at least 6 spears)! When it got dark, I thought it would be better if Drew just went to bed so he wouldn't freak out with the fireworks, plus he had been up late the last couple of nights. He fell asleep fast and somehow, he slept through the loud fireworks going off by his window outside! I stayed inside and hung out with baby Maycee Schwab while everyone else was outside playing with fireworks. I didn't mind a bit! I got to watch some large fireworks from the couch outside of our living room window...I couldn't tell if they were Sunrise Mall's show or if they were just some really good illegal ones! We had a great 4th and are planning on just relaxing today!

4th Of July Pool Party

Drew's First Rodeo!

We took Drew to the Folsom Pro Rodeo this year! He loved seeing all of the animals and action! He was really good considering his bedtime is 7:30 and the Rodeo didn't even start until 8pm! He kept switching from daddy's lap to mommy's lap to auntie Bre's lap to Nanni's lap and then started over at daddy's lap! The show went on until about 10:30pm and then came the fireworks show. Drew has never really seen fireworks before so I was interested to see how he would do! The house lights dimmed...and then came back on...and then dimmed...and then came back on. Really? And then...BOOM!! Fireworks just start going off and Drew flips out (it made the adults jump too)! He is definitely not a fan of the noise! Drew and I run up to the top of our section and tried to view it from up there and he still didn't like it, but he tolerated it(the fireworks are in arena fireworks so they don't go up really high but they are still as big as regular fireworks). Then came the frightening part...one of the fireworks actually shot at the crowd and unfortunately, we were right in the path! I saw sparks flying up over the bleachers filled with people and I turned away so Drew wouldn't get burned! Everyone started screaming after they realized what had happened and then the paramedics ran to the crowd on the bleachers. I only saw two people brought back to the trailer getting treated for burns and injuries but I am sure there was more. I fought my way through the panicked crowd to get back to our family so we could go home and get this little cowboy to bed! Drew and I were lucky we didn't get hurt and hopefully he won't be too traumatized for next year's fireworks show :)

DREW WALKS!...For Real This Time! (VIDEO Push Play!)

We let Drew spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa D while we ate our anniversary dinner (much more of a relaxing time, lol) and when I came to pick him up, Grandma said he could walk! I couldn't believe my eyes! He really did it...and without daddy being able to partake in the excitement (he was home doing homework...summer school, yuck!)! I brought him home and was hoping he would do the same thing for daddy and we lucked out :) He did!

Drew's First Camping Trip!

This weekend was daddy's 26th birthday so what better way to celebrate then to start off the camping season and go to Dillon's Beach! Drew has never been before, so we were really excited to take him! Brandon, Rachelle and Christian Schwab joined us too (Christian has never been camping either)! It took about 3 hours for us to make it to the campsite because of all the pit stops between all of us...Drew was not having fun at this point, but we finally made it so it was ok. We were concerned it was going to be rainy and cold all trip because it was when we first got there, but it cleared up pretty quick and the sun came out. I sat Drew down to have his first interaction with sand and he wasn't too sure about it. He poked it a few times with his finger and pretty much wanted to be held :) We finished setting up camp and decided to walk to the beach. The water was really cold so Drew wanted nothing to do with sticking in his feet (it was around 3:30 and he hadn't had a nap yet so needless to say, he started to morph into Mr. Crankypants...he usually has 2 naps by now!) It started to get cold so the boys ran back to camp to grab us all sweatshirts. While we were waiting, a nice lady offered us towels to keep the boys warm. While Drew was all wrapped up in the towel, he passed out! We just decided to go back to camp and let him sleep a bit before dinner. We had awesome smoked ribs, corn, and garlic bread...so yummy! Drew woke up about an hour later and he had his dinner. Drew and I ate in our tent because it was so windy! Night quickly came and the wind died down a little bit so we came back outside to sit by the fire. We made a "birthday smore" for Brad and sang him happy birthday :) Andrew stayed up way past Christian and even ate some smores! I finally got to him fall asleep after singing to him for about 30 min then I was tired, so I just stayed in there with him. I didn't get much sleep, because I was really worried Andrew would be too cold and I kept checking on him. Sometime in the middle of the night, he ended up in bed with us so mommy and daddy had about 2 inches of mattress to share. We packed up pretty early and headed home the next morning because it was cold and we were all tired plus it was already Sunday and we all have work tomorrow. Drew slept just about the whole way home (mommy did too)! We stopped over and checked out the newly re-vamped Nut Tree and had lunch and then headed home. Overall, it was a fun first trip for the boys and we look forward to many more camping trips! Check out some of the pictures from the trip...

Drew's First Trip to the Sacramento Zoo

Today we went to the Sacramento Zoo :) Drew really liked to see all of the animals and he even posed for a couple of silly pictures :) He even got to try his first frozen lemonade drink...see picture slide show for his reaction...HILARIOUS! We were on our way to go into the reptile house when...drip drip drip, Drew's diaper sprung a leak. No problem, we will just change it. WRONG! Mommy forgot to check to make sure we had diapers. Great. Luckily there were plenty of mom's there and I was able to bum a diaper off someone :) On the way home, it took all of 5 minutes before he passed out :) Here are some pics from the day...

Time for Drew's 1 Year Checkup

Today was Andrew's 1 year checkup! We got to the appointment a little early so we had to wait in the waiting room a bit. The little ladies man made 3 girlfriends in like 5 minutes! He would crawl around and the baby girls would all run and crawl after him lol Then is was our turn to go back too see the doctor. The medical assistant weighed him (he's back down to 18 pounds), and took some measurements then the doctor came in an explained everything to us. He is only in the 1th percentile in weight. That means that 99% of children are bigger than him! The doctor wasn't concerned, she told me her son was in the negative percentile when he was Drew's age and he's a total beefcake now! Drew is now 30" tall (2 feet 6 inches) which puts him in the 46th percentile for weight (perfect!) and his head measured 18.5" which puts him in the 62nd percentile for head size (perfect). I told the doctor all the words Drew can say and she was AMAZED when I told her he can say "I did it"! She said that was a sign of incredible intelligence at this age that he can form more than one word at a time and have it make sense (as if I needed to be told that my kid is a genius! haha)! She told me to give him whatever he wants to try and pack on some pounds...bring on the Velveeta Shells and Cheese! lol

Next came the not so fun part of the visit...shots! I decided it would be better to space out his vaccines a bit so we are waiting on the MMR shot (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) until his 18 month appointment. She also assured me that all shots he receives are completely Mercury free and have been since 2000 (which people have been concerned with causing Autism). Today he got a VTAP (Diphtheria, tetanus, acullular pertussis vaccine (mostly a Tetanus shot), a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (prevents diseases that cause pneumonia, deafness, and brain damage), and the Varicella vaccine (chicken pox shot). He took the shots as well as could be expected and cried (we both did) but then he got over it as soon as I picked him up. We weren't done yet tho! The doctor wanted Drew to get some blood drawn to test for Lead and Anemia (just as a precaution). So down to the lab we went...as if the shots weren't enough for us to handle! At this point Drew is all smiles and waves, so we sit in the chair and wait for the nurse. She comes over and tells Andrew how handsome he is while she puts the tourniquet on his arm, I turn my head and she sticks in the needle...still no crying. Did she stick it in yet?? I look and yes, it's in and the second I said, "he's not crying?" he belted out a huge cry! After what seemed like an eternity, she got her two vials of blood from poor little Drew's arm. She put a cotton ball on it and slapped a band-aid on it...he liked it and still gave them smiles and waves when we left. I am so glad today is over! We won't have to deal with this again until the end of November :)

Today Was a Big Day for Drew!

Today was a very important day for our little man...we got him his very first big boy, front facing car seat! He is supposed to be at least 20 pounds (he is 19) so we thought, what the heck,. he's close enough! We sat him in it to try it out and he checked out every little square inch of it, including the armrests :) On the drive home, he was so happy! He could see outside his window and he could see mommy driving! I think he is going to like car rides a lot more now :)

Andrew Update + Daddy Gets A New Job!

This is the first summer of Drew's life that he gets to fully enjoy a pool (last year he was too little to get all the way in, but he still stuck his feet in) and like I expected, he's a fish! He is always pointing out the door to go to the pool no matter what time it is :) He loves his floaty pool toys and he thinks it's hilarious when Smokey (our Jack Russell) jumps in and swims with him!

He's getting so big and trying to talk a ton! He says, "hi", "hat", "dad", "I love you" and the kicker..."I did it!" He's amazing :) He just started trying to blow kisses and wave bye bye too :) Still no more steps since a couple weeks ago...I chalk it up to him being faster at crawling so he figures he will stick with that for a while ;) Oh well, no rush! He can stay my baby as long as he wants to!

On a doubly positive note, Daddy finally found a job! He will be working as an estimator at Blazona Concrete and he starts Tuesday. They are a bigger company than his first job (Mitchell Concrete) but smaller than the last company he left (Urata & Sons Concrete). Hopefully this company will take better care of him!

Andrew Walks With The Aid Of A Toy! (Video Push Play!)

HE WALKED! HE WALKED!!

Exactly one day after his year birthday, he finially did it...he took 2 steps on his own!! I was playing on the floor with him and he was standing. I reached out my hands and encouraged him to walk to me (like I always do but never get anywhere) and to my amazement, he took one...then two steps to get me! Of course he didn't want to do it again for me, but I saw it and I couldn't be prouder!!

Drew's birthday Dinner at Red Robin (2 videos)

Sorry for the bad quality (It was taken on my dad's cell phone), but you will get the jist :) The first video is of Drew getting his very first Restaurant birthday song at Red Robin and the second video is of Drew eating his birthday sundae with a spoon (the first time he used a spoon correctly!) I hope he had a fun day today :)

It's time to Par-tay!

Today we celebrate Andrew and his first year of life! We had his birthday party this past Saturday and boy what a turn out! We ended up having more than 60 people show up! I told Drew that he was loved by a lot of people, and those were just the people who could come :) Thank goodness we cleaned out the garage a bit and were able to put a couple of tables in there for people to sit down! By the time the presents were ready to be opened, Andrew was pretty tired but he pulled through! He opened one and then pretty much only played with that while mommy and daddy opened the rest. Next was cake! We thought he would just rip into it but it was quite the opposite...not one blob of frosting was tasted! He could of cared less, but he was interested in giving some to mommy! haha Oh well, I'm sure next year will be different and a little bit more exciting :) Once everyone left (around 6pm), Birthday boy was really tired! I tried to give him a bottle before I put him down and he drank half awake and the other half, he was pretty much already passed out but he managed to get it all down :) He slept almost 13 hours that night!



For his actual birthday, we went on our first bike ride with Andrew's new trailer we got from the Maurers & Yvonne! You can't tell from the picture, but he really did enjoy himself :) Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to his birthday party, we are so blessed that we have so many people that love us!

Easter Drew!

Today is not just any normal day...it's EASTER! The Easter Bunny hid his eggs with care...but he forgot too fill them with anything! Haha Oh well, Drew didn't seem to mind! Drew would go for one egg while the Easter Bunny quickly filled another egg with his beloved puffs. He started to get the idea about 3 or 4 eggs in and then was pretty much over it all about 6 eggs in :)

11 Months Down!!

Today our little man turns 11 months old! He has changed so much within the last month, it's crazy! He now dances to music, which is fun! He also points at everything and expects a detailed response from you as to what that particular object is. He can recognize and point to mommy, daddy, himself, and a bunch of other people in pictures! His "girlfriend" Chloe Carrier (who is 2 by the way) has taught him how to drink out of a straw (this newest trick is still kind of hit or miss...sometimes he likes to take the liquid up through the straw but then forgets/thinks it's funny to not swallow resulting in a soggy t-shirt). He has been blabbing up a storm lately too! He is so very close to forming sentences!

The picture above is of his new pedal car given to him by His Grandma & Grandpa Dent! All of us were at a garage sale in Folsom when we came across this guy's house who had nothing but awesome, vintage things from the 60's and 70's! Brad, Ken and Andrew were like kids in a candy shop, and then they looked up and there it was. The most amazing pedal car ever! Drew got all wiggly as he desperately tried to escape my arms to see this shiny new car. I stood him up next to it and he instantly started turning the steering wheel and shifting the pretend gears...it was love at first sight for Drew and of course Grandma & Grandpa couldn't help but to purchase the low-rider for him :) It needed just a couple safety modifications before we could let Drew have-at-it when he got home but he's been a happy camper ever since :)

Andrew's New Ride (Video PUSH PLAY)

This is Andrew's new pedal car that was given to him from his Grandpa & Grandma D (He LOVED it from the second he saw it at a garage sale yesterday)! He got right in and started steering the wheel and "shifting the gears". He just figured out how to wave Bye-Bye too!

Drew's First Train Ride

Today we took Drew on his frist Train Ride at the Folsom City Zoo and let me tell you, it was ALL business for Andrew. Not one smile was cracked the whole train ride! The wind was blowing in his hair, the train whistle was screetching and he couldn't of been more serious! It was still cute to watch his curiosity spark every time the conductor turned around and tooted the horn trying to get him to smile :) Maybe we will try again later when it's not during his normal nap time!

Drew and His Great-Great Grandpa Hopkins

This picture was taken at Madeleine Barrett's (she is Great-Great Grandpa Hopkin's girlfriend) 75th birthday party and it was super cute too see Andrew and him together! They don't get to spend a lot of time with each other so it's always special when they do get together :)

Andrew's New Favorite Game (VIDEO Push Play!)

This is Andrew's new favorite toy...Grandma D's entertainment center (well, the door anyway). He was cracking himself up...and me too :)

The Team Dent Home

We have only owned the house for 12 days, but it has already been an interesting experience. We have recently hit a little rough patch in our lives, but like everything else, we will work through it. A week and a half after purchasing our home, Brad was unfortunately laid off from Urata & Sons Cement due to the falling economy. All I can say is thank God that it didn’t happen a week earlier because we would not of qualified for the loan. He has already started frantically searching for his next job and has gotten a couple of leads that we are anxiously awaiting word back from. He will be attending a job fair at his College on Friday so hopefully more will come of it! To add fuel to our un-lucky fire, a day after Brad was laid off, his truck was broken into while it was parked right in front of our house and his work laptop was stolen along with his backpack that had all of his homework in it! We filed a police report, but I am sure the computer is long gone by now.

On a lighter note, the house itself is awesome! Everything is just about put away, and the boxes are dwindling. Brad is working on fixing up the garage so it feels a little bit nicer going in there to do laundry. We have made friends with just about all of our direct neighbors (most are nice retired couples) and we warned them of our bad luck with the theft. They said they never have run into anything like that in all of their years of living there and they would keep an eye out for us. We will be posting a family picture in front of our house soon once it stops raining! These pictures are all I could get at the moment and it has the staged furniture, but you will get the jyst :)

10 Months!!!

This week marks Drew’s tenth month of age! Still three pounds short of twenty (he can have a front facing car-seat at twenty pounds which I know he will LOVE), he has developed into a humorous and active little boy! He enjoys a new game…crawling as fast as he can down the hallway, laughing the whole way, while you chase him. It’s pretty cute too see how excited he gets when he anticipates things as you joke with him!

Drew has also become quite the eater! He can put away almost a whole can of Gerber Graduate Raviolis plus a few servings of fruit! He can eat just about anything that’s softer, but we have to cut it up into pieces a little bit bigger than a pea. For most breakfasts, he enjoys three dollar sized pancakes and a half of a cut up banana. His favorite lunch consists of American Cheese, Turkey & Lightly Salted Saltine crackers. Dinner favorite is hands down Raviolis and a side of peas and carrots (he likes to squish each pea with his pincher fingers before he eats it). It’s funny to watch him eat because he will pick out all of his favorite part of dinner like the peas, then moves onto just the Raviolis, then goes back for all of the carrots, no matter if they are all mixed together.

Since it has been raining for the past week, we haven’t been able to go outside much and Drew is feeling the cabin fever set in! He crawls up to the glass door to the back yard, stands up, puts both hands on the glass and then squishes his forehead on the door and presses his face against the glass. Poor little guy! Hopefully it will stop raining soon, even just for a little bit, so we can go for a walk!

He still hasn’t taken those anticipated first steps without assistance, but I swear they will be just around the corner! He can totally free stand without the aid of anything, but then squats down to crawl when he want to go somewhere. I can’t imagine how much more the kid could get into once he walks! EVERYTHING is fair game when it comes to putting things in his mouth! Brad pulled out a leaf from his mouth this morning…I swear the house has never been so clean!

Guess Who's Brushing His Own Teeth Now :)

He's such a big boy!