Drake's FIRST Birthday!!!!!!!

So, for those who don't know, apparently a "drake" is a male duck. Eric and myself, being non hunters or big animal people, didn't know that. But nonetheless, having a little ducky party for Drake's first birthday seemed fitting.

The cupcake, before my sweet boy destroyed it.
The Drakester with Ashlee, Pryce, and Peyton.
The grandbabies of course wanted their grandma at the same time.
Such a sweet face
He was loving the tissue paper.
Time to open presents with the little stinker.
My little family! I love this photo.
Perplexed at this huge thing on his high chair.
Peyton helped him taste the icing, and then he was sold.
Digging in

He was still into it here.

Yummy icing!
Now we're talking- a spoon to play with!
Right before he started crying to get out. He went straight to the sink to get washed off.
The "after" shot of the cupcake.

So, can you BELIEVE that Drake is one year old? I sure can't. I'm amazed that so much time has gone by for him to have a birthday. What happened to my teeny tiny baby? Where did this walking and talking toddler come from? This kid who drinks milk from a sippy? He is such a big boy, and I just really can't believe it. Unfortunately, due to changing jobs and insurance, I'm not taking him for his "12 month" checkup until February 1st. I can't wait to get back to Dr. Dorsey and the staff at Arboretum Peds. They, for the most part, are pretty darn awesome.

We had Drake's little party before leaving Florence, and kept it small to family only. Next year, I feel like he'll be old enough to actually have a little party here in Charlotte at a bouncy house play place. (Monkey Joe's is the name of the chain here). He was funny with his cupcake, and was only into it for about 5 minutes before wanting out of his high chair. He got a lot of cute gifts! Thanks to everyone who made it an extra special day.

At one, he does all kinds of fun things. Except, they aren't always fun. For example, he can walk. But he walks EVERYWHERE. He can climb stairs. Except he ALWAYS wants to climb all stairs. He can make it up them pretty quickly, with one of us right beside/behind him of course. See what I mean? These milestones are bittersweet. He drinks whole milk and water from a sippy. Today was day number two with no bottle at all. I'm not sure if I should be proud or cry. He eats all table food and "big" people food. That is what we are currently struggling with, figuring out what he likes and will eat. Since he's at the low end of the weight curve, I want him to eat as much as he can/will. But I also want it to be healthy.

Drake loves to play. We have a play area set up in our basement, and he just loves it. He also loved the play area at the mall yesterday. It's all padded and made from soft rubber, and enclosed. He had such a great time! Since he doesn't go to daycare, he is always funny to watch playing with other kids. He loves watching them, and interacting. Watching him be such a big boy playing, is hard. I miss my baby, but I'm so happy for my toddler.

I can tell that Drake is understanding some of the signs I use, but I haven't seen him use any yet. It's kinda hard when I'm the only one who uses them. Fortunately, as soon as we get the DVD hooked up, the nannies will be watching the signing video with him each day. And practicing!

He babbles incessantly, but I don't know how much of it I'd call words. The dada is still the most obvious one. I can't wait for mama!

Okay, I can't think of much more to update on my sweet boy. He is perfect and amazing, and is truly the joy in my life.

Drake's first trip to a bouncy house

He LOVED bouncing on this turtle.

He also loved this little slide.
This is where my heart almost stopped. Parents can take small kids on big slides if they hold them. Of course, Eric took him on the big boy slide- and he loved it! We only let him go once b/c I was so scared. We went back to little kid land.
Climbing through a house with Mommy. I was proud my 6 month pregnant self could even crawl through it!
With Daddy, but checking out another big slide.

You have to be one to go to most of the bouncy house places. Which makes sense, since most kids are walking around 1. We took Drake a couple of days before his birthday, and just lied about his age. He actually had fun. I wasn't sure how much there would be for him to do. I have to say though, they REALLY need to make at least one of the play areas for just one and two year olds. There were some big ass four year olds that almost trampled him. Obviously, he was never without Eric or myself right by his side, but still. One would think that other parents would have enough consideration to keep their big kids out of the bouncy house where the smallest kids are. I can't wait to take Drake again, except this time it'll be in Charlotte. I'm curious if their rules are any different about big kids in the little kid area.

Our Christmas, 2009

Christmas!!! Drake’s first Christmas was alot of fun, and I was so happy to be able to spend it with him! I’ll go off to a side story for a moment here. Last Christmas, I was hugely pregnant, and Eric and I weren’t traveling anywhere. Our only plan was to chill with friends, and go to dinner Christmas Eve. Because of the unusual circumstances, I really didn’t mind working Christmas Eve, and offered to work 3-11 for a coworker who has young kids. She was so very appreciative, and I really didn’t mind doing it. I figured that one day I’d want someone to do something like that for me. Well, fast forward to this Christmas; Drake’s very first! I of course was scheduled to work. Boo! And wouldn’t you know it, a really nice coworker with no big plans, and no wife/kids, offered to work it for me!!! Good things really do come back to you, if they are done with good intentions. What a perfect example! So in any case, I got to spend all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Eric and Drake, and I was thrilled. We spent time playing, and in PJ’s, and just spending time with family.

We started off Christmas Eve Day by visiting Drake’s great grandparents, and then headed over to my parents house around 1pm. You should have SEEN the ridiculous stack of presents they had all set up and arranged for their first Christmas with their two grandchildren. Can you say out of control? They were so excited! In any case, there apparently was a “miscommunication”, and not all of the family came over for the big celebration. We went right on ahead with our Christmas celebration though, and Drake had a great time. Yay for new traditions! I’m hoping that next year, my parents will come to Charlotte for Drake’s Christmas. At 4 pm, we headed over to one of my aunt’s, to have our Christmas Eve celebration that we’ve done since I was BORN. It was so exciting to have Drake, and have him be a part of that experience. It was so much fun for him to spend time with his cousins! I ate and ate and ate. Did I mention how much I ate that night? We were home by 7pm, and went to bed early. The next morning, Drake finally got to get up and see what Santa brought him! He was excited, but a little confused as to where all the cool new stuff came from. We went back over to his great grandparents for a little bit, and were back home and in PJ’s by 10am! It was afternoon before he even opened his gifts from us. Which, we decided is actually a really good idea. That way it’s not so crazy and overwhelming for the kiddos. They can spend their morning enjoying Santa’s gifts, and the evening enjoying family gifts.

So, here is a massive photo dump from the holiday!

SOCKS! Drake was in desperate need of new socks, b/c his feet are apparently growing quite fast.

Checking out the stack of presents at his Grandparents house.
Drake's shirt says "Silent Night- I don't think so!"
Funny photo- he looks drunk.
Sharing a bow with Grandma

Helping Drake open presents at Aunt Maggie's house

Drake's stash from Santa!
He loved this wooden activity table. And the best part? It's on wheels, so he can push it everywhere.
Playing! He would've been happy if this was his only gift.
His new train set. Wooden of course. Santa got the memo that we only buy wooden toys for Drake.
Linus had a collar with bells on it. He didn't mind it after he got his Christmas cow hoof.
Lucy was THRILLED about her Christmas collar. Can't you see it in her face?
I sure love this stinker
Kissy face time
Someone other than Mommy was worn out by Christmas night.

Family Christmas Portraits

Here are our photos that we took for Christmas 2009. They are from Collin Smith's studio in Florence. Again, a great job. They were actually our first family shots since Drake was born last January. My Mom was smocking and sewing Drake an adorable outfit to wear, right up until that god awful stomach virus hit the ENTIRE family. We ended up going shopping right before the photos, to get Drake something to wear. I wanted red, but I think the green outfit turned out really cute. It made Drake stand out in comparison to his boring Mom and Dad. We fully realize that he is the superstar.

And I have NO idea how or why these pics started posting side by side. Blogger is kinda throwing me off these days.

Thanksgiving in Buffalo!

In keeping with my New Years Resolution, a major blog update is in order. Maybe I’ll just go back to November and Thanksgiving. We were still living in Florence, but we went to Buffalo for the week of Turkey Day. We flew in Tuesday, and back out Saturday morning. It was so much fun to be able to spend such quality time with Eric’s family, and especially for the kids to play together. Drake and Lacey were still very much the two peas in a pod, while Gavin was still very much the big boy, being 4 months older than Drake. It’ll be fun as they get older, and such small age gaps don’t make a difference. Eric and I had the stomach virus before going up there, and unfortunately shared it with everyone. We both felt horrible about spreading it, but obviously that virus is contagious long after it’s victim feels better. We took the kiddos to the aquarium the Friday after Thanksgiving, and they seemed to enjoy looking at the fish. But they are all still so young, it’s hard to get a full appreciation for things like that. In any case, here is quite the photo dump.

I'm sorry I haven't gone through and described/talked about each photo like I normally do. For some reason, after I upload them, blogger is only showing the text in my edit screen- no photos. I'll work on it...

Okay, got it now!



This first one made us all laugh! Gavin was being weaned off the bottle, but Drake used the same brand. Gavin tried his best to crawl up in Grandma's lap when Drake got his bottle!
These two cuties fell asleep on the way to the toy store.
Everybody on a ride along toy! Drake was trying to teach his Grandma.
My sweet boy, even if he is a little blurry here.
His cute bib said "I'm stuffed".
All the SIL's and all the babies
Play time before lunch
Drake's first Thanksgiving meal!
How cute are these two? They kept trying to climb into the clothes baskets, so finally we just put both of them in it.
Drake thought Thanksgiving rocked.
While this is completely blurry, I still think it's cute b/c both babies are in wraps. Wearing your baby is the best!!!
All three at the aquarium.
More playtime!