Santa

I forgot to add this to our December post.  This was the first year that Matthew would actually sit on Santa's lap and ENJOY it!  He was so excited to see Santa this year and got to see him twice.  The first was at the Schonveld's annual Christmas party.  And of course the second was at the mall with Drew.  Drew didn't go to the party at the Schonveld's because he was sick at the time, but handled the mall Santa quite well.

Drew's first birthday!

Drew is officially one today (at 3:55 am to be exact) and it brings some mixed emotions for me.  I felt this way when Matthew turned one and still get mixed emotions when he has a birthday.  This year flew by and it is not that I want to be back to where I was 12 months ago with a brand new baby, but I wish the time went by at a slower pace.  I think knowing that he is my last baby and knowing that I won't be holding a new baby is kind of sad.  He is growing up and hitting all sorts of milestones and I am starting to forget the early days.  I love that he still like to cuddle and I love my time with him at night when I give him his bottle before bed.  Usually when he is done he is incredible sleepy and I take advantage of that quiet and sincere time with him.  I know that he won't want to cuddle like this forever and Matthew rarely wants to, so I am going to milk it as long as I can.  He has been such a great baby with a laid back personality.  He just goes with the flow of life and nothing seems to really bug him.  I look forward to the coming years and hope they do not fly by as fast as this one did.  Here's a monthly progression of his growth...enjoy

 Less than an hour old

 

one month old

two months old...pretty much slept all the time

 

three months old and starting to lose all his baby hair

 

four months old

 

five months old

 

six months old

 

seven months old

 

eight months old

 

nine months old and showing off those pearly whites

 

ten months old and eating...go figure

 

eleven months old and happy as can be

one year old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet baby boy.  Thank you for a wonderful and eventful first year. 

A few months in review...

Drew's first Christmas!  He seemed to like the boxes and bows the most, so that is mainly what he got from us.  He got a few new toys, but other than that most of his "gifts" were Matthew's old things.

 Matthew finally understands the whole Santa thing and was really excited to make cookies for Santa and put them out along with a big glass of milk.  He talked about Santa for a good two weeks before Christmas.

 

Shortly after Christmas, Drew had a minor eye procedure to fix a blocked tear duct.  Drew did great for the doctor and it was over in about 10 minutes max.  The doctor said that there was quite a lot of buildup in there and we saw some of that filter out a couple of days after the procedure.  It is amazing what a difference the procedure has made for him.  His eye is no longer swollen or 'goopy' and the wetness level is normal.  I take him back for a follow up in a  week just to make sure everything is cleaned out.

 Matthew's new favorite thing to do with Drew is bring all his blankets and pillows into the crib and play with Drew.  They have a ball in there.  Drew is constantly laughing and so happy to play with Matthew.

 Chef Matthew

Matthew recently got an apron and chef's hat for helping me in the kitchen with cooking and baking.  We decided to make quick and easy pizzas and Matthew jumped right up to make one for himself and Drew to eat.  He was so proud and happy to make it, watch it bake and most of all eat it!

 The finished product...yum!

I know it has been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened since then.  Matthew's speech continues to improve and we are already coming up on his year 'anniversary' of starting with Ken.  He will have his formal evaluation at the end of February to check his progress.  He is also working hard on his letter sounds and probably has about half of them down.  He is also starting to show an interest in drawing and coloring, though not a huge one, yet.  As you can see above, Matthew is also starting to actually enjoy being a big brother now that Drew can play a little more with him.  We have seen on quite a few occasions him show Drew how to do something or bring Drew some toys to play with if he is crabby.  He is even trying to get Drew to say words, which is really cute to hear.

Drew is doing great and trying with everything he has to walk.  He took two steps on my mom's birthday in late December and since then has taken anywhere from one to four steps at a time before falling over.  He is babbling all the time and is quite the vocal little guy.  This is completely different than our experience with Matthew, so it is neat to see how they are going to develop at a different rate.  Drew still has eight teeth, but the others aren't far behind.  He has been chewing on just about everything and we can see five large bumps under his gums.  A few of his favorite things to do are to clap at everything, eat, play the "how big" game, eat, play in the dog water, eat, and talk!  Gosh, how I love these boys!