many events, but fewer photos

I backed off this past week in picture taking, so here is a selection of some of the Drew photos. For the first time in his life, Drew's every movement is not being documented! We kept very busy with nights out, weekend traveling, and trips out of the house, but I didn't always find time to pull the camera out and take pictures.

Last week Drew was thrilled to be bundled before bed, so I paused in the bundling process to take a picture of him in his "larva" stage. Drew was pretty happy about having his picture taken!
Last Thursday we dressed Drew in his MSU hooded sweatshirt. He has finally grown into it, and we thought he looked great in Spartan green (notice he's not crying like when we put the UofM shirt on him :)
Jana and I both took turns holding our little Spartan for the camera.
Julia (holding Drew) and Nora (in the background) thought Drew was too cute with his hood up. We also had one of his socks off so that we could see his feet.
After arriving home, Drew was up for a couple more pictures in his sweatshirt before we switched him to pajamas for the night.
We're thinking that this will be a great look for Drew when we take him camping. He'll be nice and warm in his hoodie.
Drew continues to get better at sitting up on his own. On Saturday afternoon I had a photo shoot with Drew while we hung out and watched golf on TV.



Another family photo! We are continuing to make an effort to get pictures of the three of us together. Drew has some amazingly large feet, so in this picture you should take note of his 0-9 month size tube socks (he's outgrown the 0-3 month and 3-6 month size). I'll have to get a picture in the future of him in his diaper and socks.

head rubbing makes Drew smile

It's been getting warmer in Lansing lately, which means Drew doesn't always need to covered with those pesky clothes. In these photos Drew enjoyed lounging in the living room in just his diaper and Pooh shirt.

Drew fell asleep on my chest on Saturday afternoon. We are continuing to enjoy how snuggly Drew is. He loves to be held and we adore having him fall asleep while we're holding him. Sometimes it's hard to put him in his crib for the night (but we need sleep too!).Saturday night another event in Drew's life passed without pictures (I'm proud of my restraint again). Jana and I had a great time at a dinner party with friends from my program and work. There were about ten of us at the party and Drew came along too. We had such a good time that we forgot to take out the camera! At the dinner party Ritu, one our friends, started rubbing Drew's head, which caused him to flirt and coo like crazy. She discovered a new trick for Drew!

On Sunday we had lunch with the Gezons. We went to our church in Lansing, then made it to Grand Rapids just in time for lunch. After lunch, Grandpa John rubbed Drew's head to elicit some big smiles and cooing. Look how happy Drew was!I didn't get many pictures of them, but here you can see Aunt Christina holding Drew while he's wearing his shoes! We got the shoes from Kristen, who I work with, and they fit him perfectly. No, he's not about to start walking in them any time soon :(
Here Drew amused Aunt Christina and Grandma Lynn with his chatting.
Grandma Lynn took a turn listening to Drew talk and smile with her.
Is there anything better than a sunny Sunday afternoon with Drew asleep in one arm and the Sunday comics in the other? Aunt Christina is enjoying the moment!
On Sunday night we saw Meg, Nate, and Dan. Drew is getting much better at grasping things, especially on the gymini, and here he grabbed Nate's beer when it was close to him.

Meg is holding Drew in the "flying baby" pose. Nate came over to get in on the pictures too. And finally we added Dan to the pictures as well. An Aupperlee family picture! We've had very few of these, so getting a picture of the three of us is a special treat. Drew even cooperated and looked at the camera. Go Drew!
On Monday Jana and I made a car switch (I had our car and Jana needed it), so we brought Drew into the lab for another visit. I got pictures of Drew with some people not previously seen on the blog. Gabby and Alexis were busy working, so they didn't get new pictures with Drew, but Kristen took a moment to say hello to Drew. Kristen is one of our research assistants and she had her baby, Karley, a few days after Drew was born.
Marianne is an undergraduate at MSU and she's been working in our lab for several years. She's finishing her degree next fall, so we'll be sad to see her leave.
A few weeks ago, Marianne had one of our worst Drew holding experiences because he suffered a "blow out" diaper while she was holding him (a lot of #2!). He hasn't done that very often, but he made a mess of his onesie and his outfit. It was all the way up to his shoulder blades on his back! Ew, gross, Drew!
Kristen is another undergraduate who has working in our lab for a couple of years. She just graduated and is finishing up her last week in the lab. Drew made her think that maybe having a baby someday sounds pretty good.

Relay for Life

Jana and I are going to participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life here in East Lansing on June 10-11. The American Cancer Society provides many important services in the fight against cancer such as support for those with cancer, funding for cancer research, lobbying government for increased cancer research spending, and education for the public about cancer.

The Relay for Life is a 24 hour long event that involves a relay of individuals from many teams walking the entire 24 hours to raise money. As many of you know, I am working in a laboratory doing breast cancer research. Doing as much as possible to cure cancer is very important to me. Jana and I have participated several times in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, but this is our first Relay for Life. We are planning on taking a turn walking for several hours pushing Drew in his stroller (we'll walk together as a family).

Each team has a captain, and in the photos below you can see that we're grooming Drew to get involved as well :) If you are interested in learning more about the American Cancer Society, the Relay for Life, or in giving a donation to help out, here is a link to our team donation page for the Relay for Life. You can click on Jana's name or my name to make a donation.

http://www.acsevents.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=133357&lis=1&kntae133357=4BCE3AA0C1A84049A8601441E4AA5378&team=1225264

the faces of Drew

Drew has been smiling and laughing more and more, so I decided to devote this post to the many faces and poses of Drew from the past few days. Below I got a great smile from Drew on Sunday afternoon when we were watching golf together. Drew and I had so much fun hanging out while Jana got some work done! Drew likes to put his hands together like this. He's getting much better at supporting himself sitting up.
Drew's either deeply in thought here or about to bring his hand up to suck on it.

What is so exciting here? I don't know, but Drew is sure happy about something (it could be a light; Drew loves lights and fans) Drew is in the midst of a coo here. When he is smiling and vocalizing he makes a "whooo" noise.
Drew was practicing for some more serious pictures like his high school graduation photos, so he got rid of the grin for a couple photos. Drew is reclining here in his sophisticated on the couch pose. He is obviously thinking deep thoughts like "Nap or eat? Nap or eat?" He's switching it up a little here, but you can tell that he's still working it for the camera.
Uh oh, his serious facade cracked and he's resorting to the tongue sticking out to get a smile (it worked on us :)
Drew decided to give us one more serious face, although I think he's hinting at a smile.
We couldn't resist getting a shot of Drew shirtless in his khaki pants. Drew's a real hit with the ladies. I think it might have something to do with the top of his diaper showing above the pants (much better than seeing a lot of someone's boxers). Drew looks great with his shirt off!

happy faces

I'm starting this post with some happy shots of Drew. He continues to grow in size and alertness, and he's also smiling more and more. We love Drew's happy faces!

Drew has been going to town on his hands lately. He can keep himself happy for fifteen to twenty minutes at a time. He doesn't suck his thumb, but he puts the whole side of his hand up to his mouth and sucks/licks it. Sometimes it is quite loud!
On Friday night Jana and I went out on a date (yeah!), while Drew stayed with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill. By the time we got home, Drew had fallen asleep with Grandpa Bill and we had to wake him up for his pre-bedtime feeding.
He rallied though after his feeding, and when I went to change him Grandma and Grandpa couldn't resist a little time with Drew in just his diaper. Drew even treated us to some smiles and talking.

Saturday morning while Grandpa Bill and I insulated Aunt Christina's attic, Grandma Sue enjoyed some time on the new deck reading with Drew. Drew was protected from the sun with his safari hat.

Great-grandpa and Great-grandma Vryhof came over on Saturday when they heard that Drew was around. Drew was happy to be held by his Great-grandpa while we ate lunch.

Grandpa Bill and Drew both like to wear blue!

Saturday afternoon my dad and I added the new stairs to the deck addition that we started a few weeks ago. The new addition is almost complete! However, it still needs a gate at the top to keep Drew from heading down the stairs.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill are on the new deck addition with Drew in picture below. They were about to go out and Drew looked great in his snail suit, so we had to take some pictures.

Upon getting home on Saturday night, I needed a big hug from Drew. I missed my boy!