Blog? I have a blog?

I have been reminded by several people lately that I have a blog and that people are waiting for new pictures! I don't have pictures to post at the moment, but I thought I'd start by writing some things out. When I get the chance to post pictures, I'll focus on getting those up and not on writing very much.

First, Jana and I had lots of fun last week celebrating Drew's third birthday. I can't believe our little boy is already three! As we watched the Super Bowl I remembered holding Drew in my arms for his first Super Bowl the Sunday after he was born. We were still in the hospital, and we watched it in Jana's hospital room. Drew and I both got all sweaty and my arm fell asleep, but I loved every minute of that game. Drew's birthday this year fell on a week day, so Jana and I got him up early that morning and spent some time with him before daycare. At daycare Drew brought "bug" cupcakes covered with "dirt" to share with his friends.

On the evening of Drew's birthday we let Drew choose where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner. He chose the "peanut restaurant," which is his phrase for Texas Roadhouse, a restaurant where you can crack open peanuts, eat them, and drop the shell on the floor. Drew loves it! While we were there, the serving staff came over to sing Happy Birthday to Drew and he got to stand up in his chair while the whole restaurant gave him a loud "Yee-haw!" We asked Drew later if he liked that experience, and he said, "No, it made me pretty nervous!" A very honest answer! At least he liked the peanuts :)

Kate recently had her nine-month doctor's appointment, and she is right on track developmentally. She weighed in at a solid 20 pounds 12 ounces, and was only 27 1/2 inches long. Her weight is in the 75-90th percentile and her height is in the 25- 50th percentile. In other words, she's currently shorter and heavier than most kids her age! (how funny!) How she gets that with Jana and I as her parents, we don't know, but she's very cute and solid and moving EVERYWHERE! As she moves around, we're confident that she'll grow a little more and thin out.

Kate has been crawling all over the house and getting into everything. She pulls up on everything to standing too and cruises around (that's walking around holding onto furniture). She has even let go many times and can stand for a few seconds unassisted. Finally, she recently took a few steps unassisted. She's rapidly gone mobile on us and it's been fun to watch! I'll have to provide you with some video of her moving.

In addition, Kate has started talking and she frequently melts our hearts by saying "Dad-dee" or "Mom-ma" and grinning when one of us walks in the room. She's also saying "Amen" at the end of our prayers, "All done" when she's done eating, and she recently picked up every child's favorite word: "NO!" We knew it was only a matter of time before she learned that one :)

In other Drew-related news, he has been doing wonderfully with potty-training. It's been weeks since he's had an accident, and he wears his big-boy underwear all day now without a problem. We've had some interesting experiences with public restrooms (things Drew says or does in them), but he's done very well with all aspects of learning to control going to the bathroom. Without diapers, it seems like he's growing up quickly!

One final story is that for the past few months Drew has been carrying around a stuffed bear that he named "Harrison" (in honor of our friends Nate and Meg's baby). He will lift up his shirt occasionally and feed Harrison like he sees mom feed Kate, but he mainly carries Harrison around saying that he is Harrison's dad and Harrison is his son. He reads books with Harrison, hugs him, plays cars with him, and basically mimics all the things I do with Drew. Often at night, I have to give both Harrison and Drew a kiss and tell them I love them. It's both heart-warming and unsettling to see how similarly Drew treats his "son" to how I treat him. He is paying attention to everything I do! Very cute!