Woven and Spun

I logged onto this blog a few days ago, and realized that I hadn’t written anything in six months.  Six long months.  The last time I posted, it was the day before Drew’s one year birthday.  Today is the day before his 18 month birthday.  It’s not that I haven’t had multiple things I wanted to write about.  It’s just that most of my time has been spent cleaning up after those events that I would have preferred to have been blogging about. Some of those events include the first time Drew learned to flush a toilet or when he figured out how to unscrew lids to fun things like lotion and value size bottles of hydrogen peroxide.  I could have written about his macaroni-n-cheese artwork that graced my kitchen floor or the time he decided to help me eliminate dirty laundry by hiding one piece at a time in the most bizarre locations around the house.  (I’m certain articles are still missing, but I’m sure we’ll eventually nose them out – I hope.)  Yes, at sometime during these last six months my baby exploded into a toddler without warning and without even asking for my permission.  Now, he regularly practices for the day he will turn into a terrible two.  I guess he wants to make sure to perfect the full fledged temper tantrums that ensue whenever I refuse his requests.  =P He’s quite the over-acheiver.  I’m sure these experiences aren’t new; they are just new to me.  In fact, as I was finishing Drew’s baby book, I decided that baby books in general should be completely rewritten.  Sure, it’s sweet to remember the first step, first word, and the first tooth, but wouldn’t the book be more interesting if it included memories and pictures of parent and child during firsts  like these:

First Public Vomiting Experience

First 30 Minute Temper Tantrum

First Time Baby Grabbed a Sharp Object from the Counter (and mom’s frantic reaction)

First Time Watching the Wiggles (umm…are you serious?!)

First Mad Dash through the House Chasing Baby with a Diaper Blowout

First Object Flushed Down the Toilet

Baby’s First attempt Eating a PB &J

First Emergency Room Trip (haven’t had this yet, but I KNOW it is coming)

First Time Baby Runs Head First into a Wall

First Time Baby Tries to Boss Mommy Around

First Time Baby eats a Rock

Any all the other firsts that I’m sure are coming…

*Note: I had more I was going to add to this post, but I had to run to stop Drew from eating my chapstick – where he got it, I have no idea.  Instead of delaying another six months before posting, I decided to simply put this up as is.  I figured you’d get the general idea…gotta run

My sister has a large and, ummm, gregarious family.  I love going there for the company and entertainment (as well as for my sister’s amazing food ) But, poor Baby Drew, is used to being at home with just Mom and Dad in a relatively calm and quiet household.   Boy did he get the shock of his life when that fun airplane trip landed him in a totally new and crazy place in NY.  My sister joked that he was going to be thrown into bootcamp. For the first few days, it took me at least an hour to get him to sleep for naps and bedtime, and then he would still sometimes awaken a while later from the strange smells and sounds that were all around him.  He always had this horrific expression on his face when he woke up like he was thinking, “Oh no, I’m still here!”  To make matters worse (his sleeping that is), we had lots of family coming in and out to visit, and he was being greeted by new faces everyday.  The poor little guy had a few meltdowns – he didn’t know what to do.

Eventually, he began to get used to it all though.  And by the end of the week, he was going to bed fairly easily and sleeping through door slams, chattering kids, and big family gatherings.  And now that we’re back in FL, I’ve decided that I am going to put all of my future kids (Lord willing) through my sister’s family bootcamp.   Drew has been consistently sleeping 12 hours every night (he has never done that), and yesterday, he napped through Dr. Daddy drilling and hammering the new baby gate at the top of the stairs, and went to bed without a peep despite several neighbors setting off their own personal firework displays.  I am amazed – and wonderfully well rested.  Thanks to Big Sis’s Baby Bootcamp.

He won’t remember a bit of it, but I took about a thousand pictures to remind Drew of his very first Christmas. It all seemed to go by so fast, but it was great. On Christmas Eve, we went to church. Drew was scared by the booming music and darkened room, so I held him for most of it. He actually made it through the whole service for the first time. He even ’sang’ along with some of the songs in his own gurgling style. And he really liked the candlelight part at the end…we could have a little pyro on our hands.

Then we went home and had dinner with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Barbara. Drew made it happily through that entire meal – sitting half the time in his swing where he ‘joined’ in on the dinner conversation, and half the time on my lap where he tried to grab the shiny silverware from the table. Then I put him in his Christmas PJ’s (thanks to Aunt Carol!) and we took another several hundred pictures of him. After that, it was off to bed for the exhausted little celebrity…

The next day we opened presents after Drew woke from his morning nap. I was surprised but he seemed to enjoy the whole experience. He grabbed at each new toy as Daddy opened them and investigated them briefly before throwing them to the floor and reaching for the next new one. That evening we joined Tim’s parents at their house for dinner and a visit with his sister and brother-in-law. We made the official decision that Drew is a chunker as we held him next to his 6 month old cousin. He’s easily bigger and weighs a good two pounds more than she does. Time for a baby diet, I think…

Drew stayed awake without much fussing until past 8:00pm, and then we had to leave, even though Tim hadn’t gotten his pie yet. It was a great time, and I can’t wait to do it again next year – I’ve got the camera all ready!

Even though the ’spring ahead’ has never been fun, I have always enjoyed getting the extra hour of sleep during the time change in the fall. Now, I am mourning the loss of that hour. My friends all warned me that kids don’t participate in Daylights Savings Time, and now I know it’s true. We had managed to get on a really good schedule here, but now, Drew is really messed up. He didn’t nap much at all yesterday, he was up every 1/2 hour during the night, and today I haven’t been able to get him to nap longer than an hour. His little body is used to being awake at certain times and asleep at others and that is making him alternately cranky and sleepy. Tim and I were just commenting a few days ago how happy and content Drew had become being on schedule – now I feel like we’re starting all over again. Does anybody want to sign a petition to end this time change thing?? Argghh…