Bless You, Mama!

Drew is just so sweet! The other day I sneezed and Drew said to me, "Bless you, Mama." It was totally unprompted and cute. Then, a couple of days later, we were with Papa Fred and he coughed. Drew's reply? "Bless you, Papa." It was so funny -- we all laughed out loud!

Here are a couple of pictures of Drew from Christmas -- check out those adorable pajamas:

At Last ... Pictures!

Here are some pictures ... I am putting the captions first because of the way Blogger keeps trying to format:

1. Drew's First Haircut, April 2010
2. Botox Gone Bad ... See the "To Blog, or Not to Blog ..." Post
3. Drew Holding His New Cuz', Liam, for the First Time
4. Fourth of July with "Me Wrooose", Baby Liam and Papa

Back ... Zoom ... Bum Bum ... Zoom ...

Drew is always learning -- especially when it comes to body parts. Right now, he loves his armpits and always wants them washed when he is in the tub. He knows where all of his main body parts are, and can point them out on Mommy and Daddy, too. Tonight was extra funny because he decided to drive a car up and down me when I was laying on my stomach playing with him. While he was zooming his Mini Cooper car, he was mentioning all of the body parts he was crossing over ... head, back (well, at first he said belly, but I told him that it was a back and then he said back the rest of the time), legs, feet and bum-bum ... it was so cute! He would zoom and say ... back, bum-bum, legs, feet, legs, bum-bum, back, head, back, bum-bum, legs, bum-bum, back ... totally unprompted. It was just too cute.

The other hilarious thing he is doing is something that Tim taught him. He has little animals, and one is a camel. Well, Tim taught him that a camel spits so now when you ask Drew what a camel says, he says, "pits, pits" and then he sticks out his tongue and makes a spitting noise. It is so funny! When Tim is playing with Drew, he will pretend the camel is spitting and Drew will giggle and giggle and giggle about it.

I truly love watching my son and my husband play together -- they provide each other with much laughter and me with much joy. Actually, Drew was the only person that could get Tim out of his funk the other night when we realized that someone stole our patio furniture off of our front porch (which, as a side note, is so absolutely frustrating and annoying!). Anyway, Tim was really angered by it (understandably so), and I kept trying to ask him just to let it go. Finally, I suggested that he take Drew on a bike ride. When Tim got home, he was a different man and he posted this on his Facebook page (yes, Tim is on Facebook): "Took Drew for a bike ride in his trailer tonight. All I heard was giggling for 5 miles. I love that kid!!"

Listen up all of you pray-ers: Got news today that my Aunt has breast cancer. Not sure of all of the details, yet, but I would ask that you would pray for God to be glorified in this scary and terrifying time, and that she will be healed completely from her cancer. As I get more details, I will ask for more specific prayers.

Love to you all!

Katie

To Blog, or Not To Blog ... That is the Question

It has been a long time since I posted ... over a year. And, since my desire was to keep track of all of the fun things our family has done, Drew's milestones and let our extended family and our friends know what was going on in our lives, it can be said that I have missed many, many blog entries. So, I have to ask myself: Do I want to blog? Is it worth it? Will I make the time for it? Right now, I just don't know. But, I am in the blogging mood right now, so blogging is what I will do.

Let's see if I can start with a quick update ...
Drew is ... well, adorable, funny, sweet, into Hotwheels, talking up a storm and an all-around like-able kid. The other day when we were walking into church, one of our acquaintances told us that his wife thinks the Drew is the cutest little boy going ... hey, who am I to argue? He makes us laugh and he is so smart. He started crawling last July when we were on our family trip to Utah, and he took his first steps the day I was at the hospital with my friend Jillian while she gave birth to her son. (Now, in fairness, I am pretty sure he took his first steps the day before when he and I were playing, but since I can't be positive, we have the official day as December 14. The previous day, I was sitting on the floor with him, building. He was by the coffee table and then the next thing I knew he was two steps away from the coffee table. Unfortunately, I was looking down building, and didn't officially see the steps, so we didn't count that.) Since then, he has begun talking and being funny. Just the other day, I sneezed and Drew said to me, "Bless you, mama" ... it was unprompted and so stinkin' sweet!

We also had our first family crisis in June. Around 9:30 on a Monday morning I got a phone call from Christy (our wonderful, fabulous, I-don't-know-how-we-could-ever-live-without, awesome childcare provider) stating that Drew hurt his mouth, and I needed to come right away. Without another thought, I grabbed my purse and was out the door! It ended up he had fallen off of a tricycle and basically landed with his teeth ... not his hands. There was so much blood! By the time I got to him, he was slightly calmed, bruised and bloodied. I couldn't even stomach looking at it. I stopped and picked up Tim from work and we went to a pediatric dentist (which, of course, I highly recommend to anyone with kids!!) appointment that Christy had set up for us. Basically, the outcome was that Drew loosened three of his teeth (and chipped one), had a super fat lip (totally looked like Botox gone bad) and had cut up his gums and his lip. It wasn't life-threatening, but it sure looked it. Word to the wise: head and mouth wounds always bleed a lot! We learned this the hard way. Because he was too little to anesthetize, the dentist didn't want to suture up the large cut on his gums (he would of had to restrain Drew and Tim and I were not up for that). Instead, we just did some major praying that his cut would clot and begin to heal. It did (praise God) and now the only thing he has to show for the whole event are a few slightly crooked teeth and a small chip in one. I even got the blood out of the pajamas he was wearing at the time of the accident! He lucked out and got a cool coloring book, crayons and a Elmo DVD from Grammy Rose (whom Drew calls, "ma Roooose") and Papa Fred.

We have our house up for sale, and have since April. Not much going there, but we just keep waiting ... it only takes one person to fall in love with it, right? We have nothing in place to move to, but are actively searching out new homes in our area. It will be good to have a house with a yard and room for Drew to run. We also have the wackiest things that happen to us here, and it just feels like it is time to move. Just yesterday Tim came home from work and went out to get the mail with Drew and noticed that our table and chairs that were on our porch were gone. Someone actually stole them off of our front porch -- it is so very annoying!! Our house is finally in a finished state ... at least as finished as we are going to make it. You can check out our listing here to see pictures: http://www.jaquarealtors.com/search.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=10016546&searchkey=5dac4685-9284-1599-c67a-188970969920&npp=10&sr=21.

Since our last post, Tim has also switch job locations. As you probably know, the Saturn brand was dropped by GM. This meant that Tim's dealership would be closing. In early November, another dealership in town, DeNooyer Chevrolet, called Tim and asked him to consider coming to work for them as their Saturn expert (GM still has to abide by the Saturn warranties and Saturns still need to have general maintenance completed). Two weeks later, Saturn of Kalamazoo announced that they would be closing effecting November 30. On December 7 -- my 30th birthday -- Tim started at DeNooyer. God really, truly provided for us in this, and we are very grateful! Tim has had a smooth transition and is generally enjoying his new place of business.

In other crazy news, I made my preaching debut on July 25. You can here the sermon by using this link: http://www.theriver.info/media.php?pageID=13. It was scary and invigorating at the same time! I was very honored because my family all came to support and my cousin Tina, who was in town visiting came, too. It meant a lot to me to have them there.

My sister also had her baby, Liam David. He is a sweetie! Drew calls him, "Mm". It is pretty cute! Here is a video of her on the day she went to the hospital for her scheduled c-section: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxZIMFXGc4. Yes, she really is nine months pregnant. Yes, she really is that funny! :)

Well, that is enough for now ... I have to go and wake the Bug up from his nap. Hopefully, I will be blogging again soon!

Love,
Katie

A Happy Father's Day

Drew sure loves his Daddy ... it is evident every single time he looks at Tim ... he just glows. It is beautiful and heart-warming. I love to be able to observe them together -- the way that they make each other laugh ... it is just so stinkin' cute! Those two have a very special bond already (praise God!), that I am sure will grow stronger over the years.

Tim had a good first Father's Day ... at least by my observation he did. He started the day by sleeping in while I got Drew all around. We made him cinnamon rolls and then went and woke him up with his gift. Then, after church, it was "Dad's Choice" on dinner location. He chose a fun restaurant where we met up with Grammy Rose, Grampy Fred, Uncle Jeff and Auntie Anne. Then, after that, we went out for ice cream. It was all very fun. The only bummer was that he had to leave that night for his first trip to Chicago (see previous post about the details from when he was gone for his second trip ... not fun!!). I think that Drew and I did a good job making a special day for him. Hey, he's a special dad ... he deserves that day -- and many more!!

Oh, What a Night ...

I just experienced one of the most scary nights of my life. Not quite as scary as Drew's irregular heartbeat when giving birth (that night will probably top my list forever as there is nothing scarier then your child having life-threatening issues), but scary enough that I never, ever want to live through it again...

The past two weeks, Tim has spent Sunday - Tuesday in Chicago for training for work. Last week, everything was as right as rain (except that we missed him immensely -- you should have seen Drew when I hung up the phone after talking to Tim on Monday night ... he started to cry! It was sad, but really adorable, too!). This week, however, wasn't quite as right. Around 10:45 p.m. on Sunday, I kept hearing this weird noise. It was like someone was kicking a herbie-curby. I looked out of the windows, but I couldn't find anything. I even told Tim about it. We are generally quick to call Public Safety for that kind-of thing, but since I couldn't place what it was, and exactly where it was coming from, I decided to ignore it chalking it up to some kids messing with peoples trash cans. I went to bed. Around 11:30, someone started knocking on our side door and ringing the doorbell. As I got out of bed to figure out what was happening, I called Tim real quick and he told me to dial 911 (of course!). We hung up quickly and I did just that, calmly explaining to the dispatcher that there was someone knocking on my door, that I didn't know who it was and asking if he could please send the police. As I was standing in the bathroom, trying to get a glimpse of who was at the side door, a man walked into my line of view for a few, brief seconds while he was talking back-and-forth with another man that was still at our door. At this point, beginning to panic a bit, I quickly described what I saw to the dispatcher and let him know for sure that I didn't know this man ...

Sir, please send the police right away!

More panic set in when I heard them begin to mess with our side window ...

Sir, they are taking the screen off of the window. Where are the police, sir? I need them here right now. They are trying to get into my house! I have a baby. And my husband is out of town. Around the corner is not here, sir. Please, I need the police here now!

So much was going through my mind. It is hard to process it even still. I was so scared that I was shaking and crying and thanking God that Drew slept peacefully through the whole thing.

Praise God for his protection as the police arrived before they could get into the window (they had the screen off and had thrown it onto our neighbors porch)! With the K-9, they were even able to track one of the perps down. Not gonna' lie ... I love the Kalamazoo Public Safety Department (KPS)! They were quick, efficient and kind -- even letting me know that my husband had called Public Safety (not 911 ... smart guy, that Tim!) to try to see if there were any dispatches to our house and that I needed to call him back. My sister and her husband came over right away and Drew and I relocated to their house for the few days that Tim was out of town.

The aftermath: They do have one guy in custody ... he is just a teenager which makes me very sad. He is most likely going to be charged with a felony break-and-enter (b&e) and an attempted b&e. Oh yeah, that herbie-curby noise ... that was them breaking into the house next door to ours -- which was vacant because our neighbors just moved out last week. (Hindsight = 20/20.) They still haven't caught the second guy. Tim and I have both felt a little sick the past few days. It is so disturbing to think that someone was trying to get into our home to take our things. I know that things are ... well, things, but it such a disruption of privacy and peace. I don't believe that they meant bodily harm (that, I believe, is why they knocked on the door -- to see if anyone would respond. If someone did, they would have gone on there merry way). But is is still scary to think what could have been.

Praise God for His protection. Do not be anxious about anything ... but with prayer and petition, present your requests to God ... and the peace of God -- which transcends all understanding -- will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6 & 7, my paraphrase). Praise God for the swift response of the KPS. Praise God that Drew was not affected by this in the least. Praise God. Period.

7 Months, 2 Weeks, 5 Days and 20 Hours ...

It didn't take long. Nope, not long at all ... just 7 months, 2 weeks, 5 days and 20 hours for Drew to officially choose Tim over me. Let me say that this did kill my heart a little. It made me especially feel bad for Tim and all of those times that Drew chose me over him. What is true is that Drew loves his daddy! Thank God for that.