Saturday, October 16, 2010

Drew's latest

Drew has been busy learning lots of new things, like how to sit up by himself and how to roll over until he gets to whatever he wants.  Crawling is oh-so-close and mommy is not as excited about this milestone as the others... He also has two cute bottom teeth!
Here are a few updated shots of the world's cutest baby.

 Sitting up like a big boy!





Get yer guns up!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Football season begins!!



I've never seen Jim so excited about the beginning of football season. And that's saying a lot. He couldn't wait to introduce Drew to the Cowboys. Thankfully, Drew went to bed about 10 minutes after the game started. He's too young to experience the kind of disappointment that came at the end!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Friends Kate and Kalie

Another "then and now" update post. Drew and I met Kate and her little girl Kalie at the Mommy Group I attended while on maternity leave. It was nice to have other people who just wanted to sit around and talk about how much spit up was coming out one end of their baby and what the poop looked like coming out the other end. Oh, and sleep. We talked a lot about sleep and how we missed it. :) 

Here are Kate and I with Drew and Kalie at the Mommy Group back in April. Drew's 6 weeks old and Kalie's 2 months old.


Here's Kalie that same day. What a cutie!
No wonder Drew thinks she's dreamy.

Now here are Drew and Kalie at 5 and 5 1/2 months old.
Kalie's showing off her new Big Girl carseat
Drew's showing off by proving he can drool more than her.
It was an "anything you can do I can do better" kind of moment.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Tickled

I've mentioned the mutual love affair between daddy and son going on at our house.

Here's proof in the form of a video.  It started out with Jim "doing piggies" ("This little piggie went to market...") and Drew chuckling a little. By the time I got out the iPhone to video, the chuckles had turned to screams of delight. 

I dare you to watch this without smiling.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The wonderful world of semi-sold food

Most of my pictures lately involve Drew with the latest food item smeared all over his face.
Why is it soooo cute to get messy at a certain age, but not so cute after that?

Here's a blow-by-blow of his first round of "solids."

Bring on the big boy food! (First time in big high chair)

 Let's see if I like this stuff:

Hmmm... let me think about it.

Oatmeal... Yes!

Avocado (first fruit... or is it a veggie...
in any case: first "solid" that's not cereal) -
YES!

Sweet potato (up my nose) - YES!

Peas...
NO!
(I think Daddy coached him on this one.)


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Hugs from Daddy are the best

Cuteness seems to run in the family!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Take me out to the ballgame. Soon!

Since the baseball season has almost passed us by and we've tried hard not to let Drew watch any Astros games (too much disappointment this early on could scar him for life) I thought we should honor his first season by dressing him up as a Major Leaguer.

Here he is all happy in his carseat.

Now with the hat!

Now the bad boy look

I thought I'd see what he could do with a ball
(Is he a lefty? a shortstop?)
But this is the only ball I could find...

Rumor has it, Drew's Cousin Jason
(who is a college tennis coach with a fantastic new job!)
is all set to recruit Drew. 
So for your files, Jason, here are Drew's skills with the tennis ball:

Eating it:

Dribbling it between his legs
(You have to admit that's impressive, even if it's the wrong sport and the wrong ball.)
Dribbling is a specialty!

And getting ready to work on his serve.

Daddy's excited to see what happens during football season!

Monday, August 16, 2010

The first of many times I say: Sit Still!


With such a photogenic baby it's still not easy to get one perfect shot.  Wonder why?  Here's the evidence:


God help us all once he's mobile!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Hundred Acre Wood

Aunt Ann gave Drew one of his favorite friends, a Pooh Bear, when he was born.  Here's Drew with Pooh when they were one month old:


And now here they are this week - at 5 1/2 months old:

I can hardly believe my baby is SO big!

I did this little photo shoot to get "one good picture" of Drew with Pooh, but couldn't resist showing you some of the outtakes:


Telling secrets and holding hands


Giving Pooh a hug


Trying to eat Pooh's shirt


Imitating Pooh's posture


Dancing with The Pooh


Close-up of my cutey!


Saturday, August 14, 2010

Cereal in... cereal out

Drew's been entering the world of "solid" foods in the last few weeks.  Here's a video of him trying some rice cereal, one of his early favorites. He's so eager for "more" he doesn't seem to notice what he's just put in his mouth is now sliding down his chin!  Suddenly we can't keep enough bibs in stock. :)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Drew and Grace

My, how we've grown!

Here's Drew at 2 weeks old with his buddy Grace.

And here they are together when he was 3 1/2 months old.

Look out Gracie, he's catching up!!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday - Picture of the day


Doesn't he look like he's holding the camera and taking a picture of himself here? He's actually reaching for my phone as I'm taking it. He's reaching for everything these days: especially my hair and jewelry. No earring is safe!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Photo of the day - Friday



Who needs toys when you have feet?

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

One Year Ago Today

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we got the news that Drew was on his way.  It was the day after Father's Day, a Monday morning. Jim was sitting in his chair having his morning devotional/prayer time and I came downstairs with this stick in my hand and held it out and said: "Happy Father's Day???"  We both just kind of stared at it for a while.  I'm so glad that one little moment has evolved into the intense love we have for our little Drew.

It's been a really amazing year - filled with all kinds of anxiety, anticipation, prayers, blessings, and the purest joy I've ever experienced.  We've been surrounded by so many friends who have encouraged and prayed for us.  I feel so much closer to my family and my church community because you have really entered this journey with us and loved our little boy alongside us.  I'm in awe of how my life has changed in just one year.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

First Father's Day


Helping Daddy hold the bottle

Today was Jim's first Father's Day, and we tried to help him celebrate in style.  Drew left him a package all wrapped up in his diaper before they left for church this morning.  The kind of surprise you really don't want to open, but just have to!  Sunday mornings are "Daddy time" since Mommy has to leave for work super early.  I realized recently that I'll never get to dress Drew for church... but I do make sure to leave his outfit laid out for Jim.  You just can't be sure what these daddies will pick out for them to wear... 

 
A Tribute to Daddy's Alma Mater

Jim is a wonderful dad. Better than I could have ever dreamed of when I was growing up dreaming of what my own family would be like someday. He is so in love with little Drew, and the feelings are totally mutual. Sometimes when it's time to go get Drew out of bed for a feeding Jim will look all giddy and ask: "Can I go get him?" We occasionally race each other upstairs to see who will get to smile down at the cutest baby in his crib.

Naptime

Coming home from our first walk around the neighborhood

Drew loves his Daddy.  From the day he was born he would turn his head towards Jim when he talked.  Now if Jim is in the room while I'm feeding Drew I have to ask him not to talk, because Drew will stop eating and turn to look for his Daddy!  When Jim whistles around the house Drew cranes his neck trying to find where Jim is. He knows whistling means Daddy is close by, and he loves to smile and coo for him.

Proud Papa videoing his baby's first moments

3 generations of LaGrone men. Those genes, they are strong!
Not hard to see what Drew will look like when he grows up.  Handsome!

I surprised Jim with this picture of Drew that I had taken with Jim's childhood Dallas Cowboys helmet.
He'll just have to hold it in his lap until he's old enough to wear it.
I predict many a Cowboys game will be watched by my guys together!

All swaddled up on the couch

Daddy time

On Thursdays Drew stays home with Jim while he works from his home computer.  Jim calls it "take your Daddy to work day."  I'm so grateful in these early months Drew has lots of time with his dad to absorb his sweet temperament and personality.  I fully expect Drew's first word to be "iPhone" or "I'm a Mac."

Thanks for being such a great Daddy, Jim!
I look forward to celebrating you for many Father's Days to come!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Meet the Boxes

Drew laughing at Super-fun Uncle Jonathan

Drew has had a chance to meet most of our immediate family on my dad's side in the last couple of months, and he still hasn't packed his bags and tried to hitchhike off to Alaska with a sign that says "get me out of here before Thanksgiving!"  Seriously, my dad's family is wonderful.  My Granddaddy loved babies and little kids and I wish he'd had a chance to meet Drew - but the neat thing is that love of little ones lives on in his 4 sons!  My grandmother had 4 boys in a row. That's FOUR. Boys.  And my Granddaddy loved babies so much he would come home from work and if they were napping he'd wake them up to play with them.  As a mom I now understand why that made her so steaming mad!

My Dad and his 3 brothers are, in order: Jimmy, Jerry (my dad), Jack and Jay.  Yes, we're THAT family. The next generation includes a James (who goes by David), Jessica, Jason and Jonathan.  And Steven. We're not sure where that came from, but we love him anyway. :)   Here's the Boxes in 2004 at Thanksgiving.  I think Jim (LaGrone) was taking the picture, since we weren't quite sure if we were keeping him yet. ;) (we were engaged at the time).


Front: Jay, Jack, Marlain, Jason, Jonathan
(look at that cute little 11 year old! He's 17 now and will hate me for posting this. Love ya, little bro!)
Back: Gayle, Jessica, Jim, Kathy, Jerry (Dad)

This is just to introduce you to the super-fantastic Boxes as you get to see Drew meeting each of them...

 
My dad and stepmom (Kathy) were of course at the hospital the day Drew was born.  Here they are when they came to The Woodlands to see Drew again a couple of weeks later.  He's grown so much since then - he probably wouldn't fit in my dad's lap like that now!

 
Uncle Jack and Aunt Marlain were in Hawaii when Drew was born!  But they got home as fast as they could and got to meet him back in March when he was still a bitty baby.

 
Marlain knows how to charm dogs and babies.  My dog Pacey goes NUTS and jumps up and down when she sees Marlain's car pull up in the drive. I fully expect Drew to do the same very soon.

 
Jay and Gayle live in Kentucky now, and thier son Jason is a tennis coach in Maine, but they were all in Austin for Memorial Day weekend.  Here are the amazing Rock Band trio of Jason, Jay and Jonathan. 
U2, look out... here come the Boxes!

 
Drew with Uncle Jay

 
Drew with Cousin Jason - later I think they went out and worked on his forehand.

 
Drew with Aunt Gayle. She loves babies and was so good with him!

 
Jason and Drew are watching Uncle Jonathan rehearse his performance for National History Day.
He won 3rd place in the whole country! We're so proud of him!

 
Here's Uncle Jonathan himself. History champion. Drew's pretty impressed with him.

 
Just a couple of weeks later we got a rare treat: Cousin David came to visit from Ohio!

 
And the last Box brother to meet Drew was Uncle Jim.
It gets confusing sometimes having 2 Jims in one family. 
We can't even say, "You know which Jim I mean, Jim the big Dallas Cowboys fan!"
Because that doesn't help at all.