Turkey Fun!

We had a nice surprise this holiday season. I though I was going to get stuck working Thanksgiving, but at 5:20 am I got a call from work. I got canceled! So I got to enjoy the holiday! We went first to Terre Haute to enjoy the cookin' of the Golden Coral with Troy's Grandparents, his dad, and his sis and kids. Gotta tell ya. Not going to do that again. The food wasn't bad, but the atmosphere was saturated with John Deer hats and overalls. Plus, the line out the door meant we had to stand in the rain before we could enjoy ourselves. But afterward, we went to the Grandparents and enjoyed the company. Drew got to play with his cousins, while mommy and daddy browsed the ads for Black Friday. Not that we would even venture out of the house on Friday, but it was fun to see what the deals were.

Then we headed off to Troy's aunt's house for a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. I have never seen Drew eat as much as he did that day. He ate a full plate at the GC, and then ate a full plate at Candy's. THEN, he decided to have a seat in Troy's cousin's wife's lap and eat out of her plate. You'd think we never feed this kid! A good time was had by all.

The following Saturday, we went to my parent's to have more Thanksgiving. It was fun. This was originally planned because I had to work Thanksgiving, but I was still very thankful and glad everyone could be there. Plus, more food for Drew to chow down on! It was also fun to watch Drew get a little jealous every time Papaw would pick up Grace. I have a feeling that's a sign of what to expect when baby #2 arrives in May.

Enjoy some Thanksgiving pics!Just like his Daddy.

*note - yes my kid has no pants on. I had to wash them because he spit up on them and I didn't want to already use the spare clothes I had brought. Aren't kids great?

Birthday Fun!

My little boy turned one year old yesterday. I know it's cliche, but this year went really really fast. One year ago I was sitting in my hospital room talking to my hubby on the phone while he was at another hospital with our baby. It feels like just yesterday. The frustration and scary uncertainty are not easy to forget. But through it all, we brought home the most wonderful little boy. Today, he waddles around the room playing with his toys and laughing. He throws his food on the floor when he's done eating. He pulls on my shirt to get me to carry him. What happened to my little baby who weighed only 4lbs 11 oz at birth? He's a toddler! So enough of my sentimentalness. Time for pictures!

Enjoying the Summer sun!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I'm just not good at updating anything. The last entry into my journal was before Drew was even born. Anyway...

Drew has been busy this summer visiting relatives and trying to keep cool. My little boy may end up being a swimmer. He loves the pool at Papaw Mike's. We got him a little floaty that mommy can float in too. But he has no trouble going under the water or splashing mommy! I have a feeling our next house will have to either have a pool or have one close by.



The fourth of July was great! We had lots of food. Drew tried mac n' cheese, hamburger, potato salad... the boy had quite an appetite! We went swimming, and then we went to the carnival. Mommy won Drew a fish (which died 3 days later). Then we got to see the fireworks! He did a great job, but I think it was mostly because he was so tired by 10pm that he fell asleep. At least he didn't cry!


My little boy will be 1 in a little over a month. I can't believe it. I'll definitely have to post his first birthday party a little faster. See you then!

How does your baby crawl?

My baby likes to do the army crawl. His belly never leaves the floor. Although, once in a while, you'll see him lift his tummy off the ground using his feet. Drew has hit 8 months old and is just a little boy! He loves to laugh and play. Today, we were riding in the van and I had loaded my iPod with kid music. One of the albums on the iPod was a record (yes, vinyl) that I LOVED growing up and it was on iTunes! So I had to buy it. It's called "Goin Quackers" by who else? Disney. Cracked me up as a kid... and the sad thing is, it cracks me up now too. And who else thought it was funny? Drew, that's who. He was laughing the whole trip. Totally made my day.

So for once, I have news other than Drew. Troy is going back to school for his masters in some database management thingy-ma-bob (sorry, honey!) He's nervous, but I'm sure he'll do well. He's getting the lone math class out of the way first. The cool thing is, this whole degree is done online through Boston University. No where in Indiana could Troy find any such program. So now Troy will be a Terrier. hehehe Plus his school colors are now red and white.

And for me, I have changed up my work schedule a bit. One of my weeks I will now be working Tues, Wed, and Thurs all in a row. I hope I survive this. Tomorrow is the first day of the first week of the change. I may drink a whole bottle of wine at the end of it. I think I may worry more for mom since she's taking care of Drew. He has become a handful! He never sits still. Always on the move. And babbling. Both Troy and I heard "mamamamama" this week. Pretty sure he wasn't talking about me, but only Drew knows.

The next time I post, Drew will most likely be walking and talking. Enjoy this!

HELP!

Never to early to start on video games. *argh*

Gitty up!

My oh my! Where does the time go?

My little boy turned 7 months old today. 7 months! I'm in a state of shock. He's still small by comparison (5th on the percentile chart for everything), but yet he is as active as a full term kiddo. He's learning so many new things. He just jabbers away. He plays with his toys. He sits up all by himself. We haven't quite got crawling down yet, but I give him another couple of weeks and I'll have to get some gates. And I am loving every minute of it. We got our 6 month pictures just the other day... yeah, I'm that slow at this process. Once I figure out the video thing, I'll have to post that as well. I know this post is short, but I have a child yelling for me from the other room! :)

Holidays and Happenings

We have had a fun and busy few months! Drew is now 4 months old. He's 11lbs, 6 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long. He's a small guy, but he is mighty. I say that because in the last 24 hours, he's learned to roll over from back to front. Only he gets stuck that way and can't figure out how to roll back over. He also got some more shots today. The nurse was surprised at how piercing a scream he has. We've contemplated getting rid of our monitor recently due to that. Drew is also playing! He shakes his rattles and grabs his toys. And he laughs and smiles. It's so much fun! And it's good to, because Drew made out like a bandit on Christmas! Lots of fun toys. New Year's he spent just with daddy. Mommy had to work. Not that Drew stayed up to see it. :) Daddy was the only one who got to see the ball drop. But this is going to be the most exciting year ever for us. Our first new year as a family. I sound so sappy, but it's just so aawesome.

Today he got to see his first big snowfall. Troy wants to take him outside and get a pick. Only if he's bundle up!

Great Grandma Hawkins holding Drew for the first time.



Our first family picture together. It's power to the people!



Ain't he cute?



Grandkid central at Mamaw and Papaw's!


Look at all the toys!

Halloween Festivities

This weekend Drew celebrated his first holiday. Halloween. This is a big holiday in my house, because I am a Halloween junkie. The house has been decorated all month... yes I found time to do this while taking care of a newborn. Both the outside and the inside are very festive. I think I like this holiday so much because I love being scared. I have a vast scary movie collection. So all last week, I watched scary movies on tv and dressed my child up in various Halloween garb. He's been a skeleton, a pumpkin, and also wore an "I love my mummy" onesie last week. So on Halloween, we traveled to Brazil, IN to celebrate with my in-laws. It was also Troy's cousin Kaylee's birthday. There was cake and hot dogs cooked on the open flame. Most of us were dressed up. Troy came as a Colt's fan... how original. We had a great time. Then it was home to hand out candy and scare our own trick-or-treaters... had we had any. We had, maybe, 15 kids. We now have a huge bag of candy left, which I don't need to be eating. I believe I will be making goodie bags for my niece and nephew who could not trick-or-treat due to having the flu. They are better now. Here are a few pictures of our fun Halloween time!

Oh! The exhaustion!

Sorry for the long delay. Many of you probably realize how busy... or exhausted I've been. Well, Drew is now 8 weeks old tomorrow. Hard to believe, huh? And he even weighs what a newborn would weigh now! He's 7 lbs, 7 ounces. He's still pretty skinny, but boy is he long! I praying this is a sign that he will be taller than mommy. :) He's an amazing little guy. I'm sure every mother feels that way about her child. In premie world, Drew is only 1 month old, and he's already doing things in the books that a 2 month old is doing. He flipped from tummy to back on October 11. Unfortunately, daddy and mommy were a little slow with the video camera and never caught it on tape. I'm still trying! But what made me the most excited happened last Sunday. He smiled at me. An official smile looking right at mommy. He had done the little smiles when he was sleeping (the "gas" smiles), but this was the real thing. My heart melted. The love of a mother for a child really sunk in at that moment. It also made me realize how God must really feel about all of us. It made me want to cry. So I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of how cute Drew is. Enjoy!



Oh! I forgot to mention our first outing! We went to the covered bridge festival in Bridgeton, IN. Drew rode in a baby carrier on me the whole time. I think he woke up only once to eat. He was a trooper. We had a good time, and we didn't spend too much money on him. :) Once I get the pics off the camera, I'll post a few. Later!

Oh my goodness, what a week!

Troy and I would like to welcome our first child into the world, Drew Michael Stiffler.

Now I'm sure some of you are going, "Wasn't he due at the end of September?" Yes, he was. We had a little detour to our plans. So the story goes...

August 25, 2009: I went for my routine ultrasound and non-stress test for my gestational diabetes. So I had my ultrasound first and the tech said nothing about anything being wrong. In fact, she said he did everything he was suppose to do. Okay. Next test. This test went great as well. In fact, I didn't even have a contraction like I had the previous time. So far, so good! I called Troy to let him know things were going well and I was waiting to see the doctor for my checkup. I was sitting on the table, the doctor walked in and said, "He hasn't grown in 2 weeks. In fact, he's lost some weight. We need to take him out today." HUH?! Yeah. I freaked. And due to Drew still being breech, she said I needed to have a c-section. Normally with GD, you worry about having BIG babies. Not me. I have the opposite problem. I immediately called Troy crying on the phone. He ditched work and headed straight to the office where we talked to the doctor and figured out what we needed to do. So we spent the rest of the day preparing to become parents a month early... Drew was only 35 weeks.

Here's where things got even goofier. I work for St. Francis Hospital and had been planning on delivering there the whole time. Come to find out, there was no room for me to fit in their schedule. I wasn't an "emergency", but the doctor wanted to take him out quickly. We ended up having to have him at a nearby hospital instead. So August 26, 2009, I had a c-section. Drew was born at 10:51am. The c-section went fine. Loved the epidural. Also, kind of liked not having to actually feel labor. But then more fun ensues. Drew was 4lbs, 11ounces and was what we commonly refer to in the neonatal world as a "wimpy, white boy." What that means is he came out not breathing well. They worked on him for most of the day, but mommy was insistant about having him sent to St. Francis' NICU. Even the nurse helping Drew wanted to get him out of there. They were not equiped to take care of Drew's needs. (I was told the nurse was yelling at people over the phone.) So I spent all of Thursday at Community South, while my baby was at St. Francis. It was very difficult. My family was great. Troy was wonderful. I don't know how he managed to handle bouncing between me and Drew. Luckily, I got released on Friday morning and went straight to St. Francis. My poor boy was placed on a ventilator for about 24 hours, then placed on vapotherm (a kind of nasal cannula with humidity). Drew amazed everyone in the NICU, even the doctor. Most premies spend at least 2 weeks in the NICU, but Drew only needed one. We came home on Wed. evening. We've been doing great since. He needs fed every 3-4 hours, but he sleeps like a trooper between. Probably all the growing he still needs to do. I'm very thankful to God and all the wonderful people who have prayed for us. Here are some pics of my little pumpkin... who weighs a whole lot less than a pumpkin!

Pre-surgery

at Community South

at St. Francis on a ventilator

On our way home from St. Francis!

So much going on!

Drew's room is finally done. It looks AWESOME! Better than I had ever imagined. I hope he likes it. I'm sure in a few years I'll be changing it to something like transformers or Cars, but at least I can enjoy my hard work for a little while. :)



On other news, Grace has arrived home to America. She officially became a US citizen on August 14, 2009. We are SOOOOO happy to have her here. She is as beautiful as her pictures from China. I was amazed at how well she took our family in. I figured she'd be shy and want to stay in her parent's arms, but she let us all hold her. Grant just plugged kisses away on Grace. So far so good. :) I haven't heard anything else from the happy, growing family since they got home. I'm looking forward to some interesting blogs from brother here shortly. Enjoy the photos!