Drew has some of Jana's features too

On Monday night I was holding Drew (and studying him) and I noticed that his ears looked remarkably similar to Jana's ears. Jana didn't believe me, so with the magic of the digital camera I was able to prove that Drew has Jana's ears! In the process I also discovered that my ears are huge! On Monday Drew woke up while wrapped in his blanket, hunkered his head down so that his pacifier was trapped by the blanket, and proceeded to calmly suck away while surveying the room. It was so cute!
On Wednesday morning it was cool outside (30 degrees), so we put Drew in his sweater from Great-grandma Vryhof. It fits him perfectly! As you can see, Drew and I both got a kick out of how stylish he looked in the sweater.
Look at those cheeks! Without his tall Mark-inherited forehead to balance out the cheeks, the hood makes Drew look chubby. Don't you just want to squeeze him? :)
We also needed some pictures of Drew with the hood off. The cheeks are back under control now that the hood is off.
On Wednesday night Drew was in a playful mood, so Jana supported him while he stood up on our kitchen table. He's getting pretty strong and he can stand for a couple of seconds.
Jana and Drew were cracking each other up!
Aunt Christina came for a visit on Wednesday night. After giving Drew a bath with us, Drew's head was soft and clean smelling and irresistable. It needed a kiss!

Drew's room has changed (his real room)

Last Thursday night Drew was excited about going to Nora's place for dinner. We dressed him up in his Moosejaw shirt for the occasion. Jessie was the first to hold Drew and he seemed pretty happy to see her! When Jessie gave Drew his bottle he put his hands up and held the bottle on his own for the first time! It was short-lived though and Drew then pulled up his hands and stopped eating for a couple minutes (which is the part I captured with the camera). Did he forget to bless his food before eating? We tried to get Drew to take the bottle on his own again, but he didn't feel like showing off again. We couldn't get that little fist to unclench and grab the bottle.
Here's Drew hanging out with Nora in his t-shirt and khakis.

Nora needed a turn feeding Drew too, so she gave Drew his second bottle. Drew had a great time at Nora's place and he needed to tell us all about it.
On Friday night Drew went to his first baseball game, a minor league game between the Lansing Lugnuts adn the Beloit Snappers. As you can see in the background, it was a capacity crowd :) We went to the game with the Council of Graduate Students, which is our graduate student organization. Alexis and Rob were at the game too, and Alexis needed a turn holding Drew. We were happy to oblige.
I spent some time explaining the game of baseball to Drew. I told him all the positions and what they were doing on each pitch. I told him about how to keep score. Importantly, I also told him how to disagree with the umpire about ball and strike calls that are questionable. Drew's got a bright future ahead of him as a sports fan!

Drew got tired out from all the action at the baseball game, so he had to miss some to take a nap with his mom.

On Friday we received a package from Calvin College's alumni association. Jana had notified them that Drew had been born, and they responded by sending a bib for Drew to wear. He seems pretty excited about joining his parents as Calvin alumni.
Although, maybe he really just thought the bib tasted pretty good :)
On Saturday morning it was beautiful in Lansing, so after a quick stop at Home Depot (Drew's first trip to HD!) we went for a walk in another local park. Drew has now visited most of our parks with trails in Lansing. We put his hat on to protect him from the sun and he slept for most of the walk.
On Saturday some events in Drew's life did not get captured by the camera (and I'm proud of that because it means I'm getting a little better with not taking pictures ALL the time). Saturday evening we drove to Grand Rapids to see Nate and Meg. So that we could enjoy time with just the adults, Drew's Aunt Christina babysat for him at her new house. Drew was very good for us with Nate and Meg and he behaved for Aunt Christina.

On Sunday afternoon Drew was in rare form and provided me with so many smiles that we were able to capture a bunch of them with the camera. I was with Drew most of the afternoon while Jana went to MSU to get some work done. Drew was so happy upon the return of his mom that he smiled for Jana for about twenty minutes straight! It was so much fun! These are just a few of the smiling pictures that I captured.




One of my lab friends, Gabby, painted some pictures for us to put in Drew's room. She took the time to paint them, then she matted and framed them for us. We put two of them on the wall next to Drew's changing table and another by the rocking chair. Aren't they wonderful?! Thank you Gabby!
Gabby painted a picture of an elephant . . .
and some giraffes . . .
and a lion!
Drew is ready to go on a safari with his animal pictures and his hat waiting for him on the rocking chair.

he's so quiet . . .

This morning at 6:15 a.m. we woke up to Drew crying . . . after sleeping through the night! Drew slept through the night for the first time! Yeah! Jana and I are perky and well rested today because we put Drew to bed last night at 11 p.m. and didn't hear a peep from him until this morning. We're not getting our hopes up that he will do it every night now, but it was really nice to get a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep. Way to go Drew!

the elusive smile on camera

Some of Drew's best smiles came at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. Jana raced to grab the camera, and then once she held it up Drew stopped smiling :) She did catch the tail end of a smile though. Drew's new thing is to make great eye contact and smile and coo until we grab the camera, and then he gets distracted by the camera and looks seriously at it. The little weasel! He's tricky! I think Jana taught Drew to yawn this big. This looks like a yawn that they've been practicing at 4 a.m.

When Jana got Drew home from the doctor's visit on Monday (which I described in a previous post), she had to take Drew's bandaids off because they are a choking hazard. First, she needed to get a picture though. Ouch, poor guy! You can tell Drew has been gaining weight. Look at his cute chubby thighs! Drew was pretty tired after the shots, so most of the day he was either sleeping or "awake" like in this photo. He was quite lethargic; we could tell he wasn't himself.
Drew amazed us though by rallying and perking up for a while in the evening. We even got him to smile for the camera!
And he talked to us!
And talked some more! Drew has been chewing on his hands the past couple of days. It's a nice break for him to be able to pacify himself rather than us keeping vigil on the pacifier. That hand sure must taste good! (He's starting to slow down a bit here)

And he's sleeping again! This is one of my favorite Drew poses. He falls asleep with the pacifier dangling from his lips, and it will stay there for a long time. Sometimes, he even wakes up a little and sucks it back in.
To help Drew with his low fever and the pain from the shots, Jana gave Drew Tylenol. He liked the grape flavor!

Last night Drew was absolutely captivated by my goatee. For about fifteen minutes he reached his hand up and stroked the bottom of my chin. He doesn't do this with Jana or anyone else, so we're pretty sure he does it because of my facial fur.
This looks like it might be a pout, but I actually caught Drew in the act of licking his bib. In addition to enjoying the taste of his hands, Drew has also started to lick his bib. Mmmm, tasty!
Drew's fever has gone away, and yesterday he was much more himself. The shots from Monday are a distant memory for him and he doesn't have more until his four month checkup.

two month checkup

Today Drew had his two month well baby checkup with the doctor. He is doing very well! He continues to get longer and is now in the 25-50th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. In terms of the rate of weight gain and growth, he is right on track for babies his age. His official weight was 11 pounds 7 ounces!

This appointment was the first for Drew getting his vaccinations, so he got three pokes with a needle :( Jana prepared herself mentally for the worst (Drew's crying), so I held him down for the nurse. He stopped breathing for a couple seconds after the first shot, turned bright red, and then let out a cry like none we have ever heard from him. He proceeded to wail at full volume through the next two shots. It was horrible! Jana actually handled it better than me, and by the time the shots were over I was the one who was shaking. It's not fun to hear our little guy howling with pain.

Drew rallied though and he calmed down within about five minutes. He was so good that we even took him to the laboratory and he slept most of the time we were there. We couldn't resist a chance to show him off! The nurse gave him Tylenol, and we have permission to keep him on that to help with the pain from the shots. We have to keep an eye on Drew for the next couple of days because he might run a temperature and not be himself due to the vaccinations, but we are so happy to have the first shots behind us!

Drew does cry sometimes

Drew continues to be a great little boy. He has been needing only one feeding a night, but he eats a LOT during the day. All that eating means a lot of work for Jana and a lot of dirty diapers. We're happy though that he's doing well and growing bigger. I love helping with Drew's baths. He's so much fun to hold when he's in only a diaper!
I don't know if you can see it here, but Drew's hair gets curly when it's wet. It's also starting to get a little lighter. Will we have a blond baby soon?
We both really enjoy watching Drew sleep. Here Jana is appreciating how Drew is cuddling in and resting comfortably on her chest. We know he won't stay this cuddly forever, so we're enjoying it while we can. Look at his little folded hands!

We've been taking Drew outside a lot on walks because the weather has been warmer. In order to protect his baby skin from the sun, we've been putting Drew in his hat. He wears it well. When Nate was in Lansing to play golf with me last week, he had to make sure to stop in for some Drew time. People are happy to see us, but they still need some time with Drew too :) We've been wondering for a while now if Drew might be left handed. He loves to get his little left hand up out of his bundle and he seems to favor his left hand (although it's pretty hard to tell at this point).
Drew has been getting more and more wiggly lately (and stronger). Jana couldn't resist getting a picture of his feet that had escaped the blanket.
In preparation for going out last Friday night, Drew and I coordinated in our khakis and polo shirts.
We started the evening off with dinner at Russ' with Dan and Sandra. Dan was proud to aid in Drew's first Russ' experience!
Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill watched Drew for the evening while we went out with Dan and Sandra.
Doesn't Drew look like a big boy in his outfit? (try to ignore the pacifier :)
Sandra and Dan were impressed with how much bigger Drew has gotten since the last time they saw him, which was a week after his birth. They needed a little more time with him before we left him for the evening.



On Saturday, our friend Michelle stopped by to see Drew and came right at meal time, so she got to feed him. Michelle is pregnant, so she and Simon are going to have a baby too!
On Sunday afternoon we had some fun time on the floor with Drew. Drew enjoyed his first Easter service in the morning, and then he relaxed with me in the afternoon while Jana worked away in the kitchen doing some baking and cooking.

We had a photo session again with Drew, and he finally had enough of the flash and decided to raise a hand to ward off the camera lights. It's tough being photographed so often!
I did it! I finally captured Drew's pouty face! I've been trying to get this for a couple of weeks, and I finally managed to do it. We LOVE his pouty face, but he only does it for a brief time before moving on to a cry. He can really get his lower lip up there!

You might think that Drew is happy all the time, and usually he's very well behaved. However, Drew doesn't always look happy for us. Here he is in the beginning of crying. And here with his hat we caught Drew in a full wail. Even his crying is cute! (for a while)