Friday, June 20, 2014

Drew: 11 Months



Drew loves: walking (!), playing with other kids, and exploring his new house (more on that below). He started taking unassisted steps on Monday, and by the end of the week he was walking all over the place! He still alternates between walking and crawling, but is starting to show preference for walking.

Drew hates: I wouldn't say he "hates" it, but meal time has become a bit of a struggle. This is has been a surprise to me, as he has previously never displayed behavior issues with meal time. He hasn't caught on to any of the sign language we've been trying to teach him, so I'm guessing his behavior at meal time is a result of him not being able to communicate what he wants. I have to imagine that would actually be really frustrating, so I'm trying to be patient - yet firm: "It's ok to be frustrated, it's not ok to throw your cup."

Milestones: Walking is the biggest milestone by far. He's not really doing much in the realm of communicating with us, but he has started to show "tantrum" tendencies. For now, we completely ignore the tantrums (aside from helping him land gracefully onto the floor if that's the direction he's headed). He had his first eye appointment and first dentist appointment this past month. He did great at both, and there were no concerns about any of his development at either appointment. 

Big news: we moved! Life has been an absolute whirl-wind. I don't recommend moving with a baby, like, ever. But - thanks to the help of MANY - it's over, done, and we're all settled at our new house. Which is actually my old house; we've moved in with my dad to save money for a few years before we buy our own house. 

A little bit more on the move...

Packing was difficult, as there was no where to put the boxes once they were packed! So we just stacked them up toward the ceiling. I mostly packed while Drew napped and at night (and by "packed", I mean "threw stuff in boxes as fast as I could"). The only thing I kept thinking while packing was "I can't believe how much stuff we have!" For a tiny condo, I'm amazed at everything we had in there....and a little embarrassed. So much stuff, too much stuff. It's hard to walk that line of not living in excess, but also being frugal. Keeping things we "might use" or "might need" so we don't have to buy them again in the future is certainly frugal, but then it leads to a bunch of storage bins of "stuff". This has stayed in my mind and I'm still mulling over what it means for us.

I have some wonderful friends and family who helped us pack, helped us move, helped us unpack, and watched Drew for us during all of the above. I got sick two days before the move, so Kyle had to stay home from work and watch Drew. I didn't just have a cold, but the full-blown flu. I haven't gotten the flu in years so I forgot how awful it is. The day before the move, I found myself in the fetal position at the doctor's office because I felt so awful and there wasn't much they could do. Miraculously, tandem doses of IB profin and Tylenol (and a lot of prayer!) caused my fever to break later that evening, and I was functional enough to finish packing and be ready to go on moving day.

Moving day went flawlessly thanks to the guys at Seattle Select Moving. They seriously did everything the day of the move - I didn't touch one box. And they were so fun! They clearly all enjoy working together, and it shows. Our stuff was moved flawlessly, too. Pics of the move are below.

Here is a recap of Drew's past month in photos:

Playing with trains at Teri's Toy Box in Edmonds after visiting the Saturday Farmer's Market
Drew playing with 300 sandwich bags. In the weeks right before the move, Drew became obsessed with the drawers in the kitchen. As the rest of the house was overtaken by boxes, I finally just gave in and let him go wild in the kitchen. He was pretty thrilled!
Kyle stayed home from work to take care of Drew while I was sick.
Kyle sent me this picture when I was at the doctor's office waiting to be seen.
Drew and his buddy Miles enjoying the nice weather with this make-shift water table I put together for them. It's just a bathtub filled with water and toys, but it was a big hit.
Drew LOVES riding around in this wagon at the nanny house. I snapped this pic when he was just kicking his foot around in the air, without a care in the world.
On days that I nanny, you can guarantee there will be a trip to the park in the wagon. Here, the boys were fascinated with the garbage truck, and I thought how great it would be to remember that feeling of utter fascination with something that seems so much bigger than you.
Right after I discovered Drew had been chewing on a piece of bark all the way home from the park. The day before, he was chewing on a rock. Teething much, Drew?
Oh, his eyebrows here just melt me!
For Memorial Day Weekend, we went up to my friend Danna's cabin on Camano Island.
We just visited for the day, and had a GREAT time!
We took a boat tour...
And enjoyed the amazing scenery!
Drew had a blast playing with all his "aunties" :-)

And he got some fun time in with dad as well!
My girlfriend's from college (and high school on the far right) - LOVE these ladies :-)

Gorgeous skyline for our dinner
We did not go hungry!

My love <3
Drew gnawing on a tomato with grandpa. This pic cracks me up!
Drew soaking up the sun in his new backyard!
Playing out on the new deck!
Back at the nanny house. These two just cracks me up. They insist on dragging their fingers along the tires as I pull the wagon. Such boys!
Our living room, just before the move. Boxes to the ceiling!
The guys of Seattle Select Moving hard at work!





Just four hours later - done!

And now for Drew's monthly pics. I quickly realized we had to find a new spot for the pics because the lighting on the bed wasn't working well, and an 11-month old who walks is a disaster waiting to happen on top of a bed! The living room floor seemed like a safer new place.






Oh, tantrums.











As you can see, he got bored with the photo shoot pretty quickly...



And then just got bored with his life, apparently...
So he plopped down in my lap...
And then started climbing on me, trying to get the camera from me.
It's all fun and games...
Until mom wont hand over the camera!
Giving it grace: So getting married, having a baby, and moving in with your dad is not exactly everyone's Plan A. Last month I talked about God's provision in this living arrangement for us (given our financial goals), and now that we're actually living out the new arrangement - I can attest to what a great provision it is! I love having my dad's company at home during the day, and Drew loves playing with grandpa Steve. He thinks the duck noise my dad makes is hilarious. Kyle and I both love having a driveway to park in (no more 3 flights of stairs to get to our front door!). I love that this house has a full size washer and dryer (we had a mini unit before): I can do what used to three separate loads of laundry in ONE load! And, the back yard! You just walk out the door, and there's grass! We feel like kings. And by many standards, we are. Honestly, it makes me a little uncomfortable from time to time, so I'm wrestling with that. I'm in no way suggesting that we were "suffering" before; I'm just very aware that we were living in such a way before that the littlest things in this new house seem like HUGE blessings (did I mention the full size washer and dryer???). I hope that we don't get comfortable with our new "amenities" here and then start to want even more. I guess you could say that God has been pressing the topic of contentment on my heart this past month.

I don't have a neat little nugget of Biblical truth to apply to this past month; we've been pre-occupied with the move and getting everyone settled. I can share, however, that in my personal Bible study time I've been digging into the concept of "fear of the Lord" and really liking what I'm finding. "Fear of the Lord" seems kind of like a downer to study, but most often the command to fear the Lord is coupled with a comfort (something that God promises to those that fear him) and that's awesome! I've also been studying what "fear" means in this context; so far I can tell that it doesn't mean "be afraid", but more of a "revere" or "respect". Maybe I'll have more to report on that in coming months, but for now I can say that this is a topic I have definitely overlooked in the past and I'm excited to be studying it.