first fair of the year

Last year we started an annual tradition of going to the fair to see the animals. We were introduced to the fair by our friends Jeremy and Kristin, and we joined them again this year for our first fair of the summer, the Eaton County Fair. Kristin led Drew around the petting area and in the picture below they are checking out a rabbit in its cage. Jeremy grabbed a chick to show Drew and to let him gently touch it. Drew did pretty well with it, but he wasn't up to the challenge of trying to hold one himself.

Drew's absolute favorite part of the fair was the tractors. Sigh. . . my son is going to be a redneck! :) Actually, it was a lot of fun to watch Drew climb up onto the tractors and run from one to the next. He could have ridden on the tractors the entire time. As we were walking past the camping area of the fairgrounds, some older men and a woman offered that Drew could sit on their four wheeler and golf cart. Drew was loving the machines!!

Jeremy is a bit of a tractor man himself, so he got up on one with Drew.

Drew liked seeing the horses, but he didn't like it when they showed him their teeth or rattled the wire separating them from us. Kate was safely ensconced in the Baby Bjorn as Jana carried her around the fair. We didn't hear a peep from her the whole evening.

Kristin is showing Drew how to pet the horses. Drew was able to pet a couple of horses that sat still enough for his taste.

Jana has worked with Drew on petting with one or two fingers, so I loved it that when he wandered off on his own, he knew to pet the rabbits with one finger. Good job, Drew!

Drew was very brave in petting the goats. We had to wash his hands a lot because he was very much into petting all the animals this year. Everything had to be touched and all areas of the fairgrounds had to be explored.

Drew took a break from the animals to go check out this construction cone. As with all things related to construction, Drew enjoys these orange cones.

Drew arrived at the perfect time to give this calf a bottle. He was so proud that he got a chance to help out. The kids at the fair were great with Drew and let him pet and help with their animals whenever possible.

Kate was playing on the floor the other day with Drew's teddy bear and Jana snapped a picture of her. Kate makes the cutest noises and has wonderful smiles. As she gets more interactive, she is such a joy to have around.

This past Saturday Drew helped me and Grandpa Bill paint. The picture below isn't the greatest, but it shows off the result of Drew's recent fall. Late last week I was going outside with Drew and in his extreme excitement he went running full speed ahead of me and tripped on the driveway. He didn't get his hands out in time and hit the cement with his head and skidded to a stop. I know he's going to have more falls as a young boy, but it was absolutely awful to watch him go tumbling a few feet in front of me and not be able to stop it. Drew's healing well and immediately after his accident he was running around and playing again. His head still looks awful, so we've been getting lots of questions about what happened!

Her wanted her purse!

One day Jana was home with Kate and Drew, and she left the room for a bit. She came back in and Kate had her purse (which had been in the toy bin) over her arm as in the picture below. Drew looked at Jana, grinned, and said, "Mama, her wanted her purse!" Jana replied, "Oh really buddy?" As Jana asked, she noticed that the purse seemed full of something. When Jana opened up Kate's purse it was FILLED with pacifiers! Drew had collected all the pacifiers from around our house, put them in Kate's purse, and then put it on her arm for her. How cute!! Kate loves the bathtub and we like to take pictures of her in the bathtub. Look at those cute rolls of fat in her arms! Kate is working hard on her second chin and she has been eating well. Yes!

Last weekend we went to Grand Rapids for the Fourth of July and fireworks. We kept Drew up WAY past his bedtime to accomodate seeing his first fireworks show. In the picture below we had just arrived at the place where we were going to watch fireworks and you can see that Drew was already starting to get a bit tired. He did very well at the fireworks though, despite being a tired boy. We went to the fireworks with Grandma Sue, Grandpa Bill, and Uncle Todd. It was fun to see Drew experience his first fireworks!

Jana put Kate in her Baby Bjorn and Kate slept through everything!

Whenever a firework or firecracker went off, Drew would let us know where the "boom" was coming from. Despite the late hour, there was enough going on that he was pretty alert.

When the fireworks started Drew would point to each one and say, "There's another one! . . . and another one! . . . and another one!" After the first couple minutes of fireworks, he looked at us and said, "I get down now?" Apparently, the fireworks displays are too long for Drew. I've never heard an adult complain that there were too many fireworks!

The next day (after keeping Drew up late the night before) we went to Lake Michigan for a ride on Grandpa John and Grandma Lynn's sailboat. Drew was protected from the sun with his baseball hat and lots of sunscreen and he always wore his life jacket while on the boat.

Drew's favorite part of the boat was the stairs that led down into the cabin of the boat. He climbed up and down, and up and down, and up and down!

It was a beautiful day, but as you can see looking at the lake behind us, there wasn't much wind. As a result, we didn't get to sail, but instead we motored around in the sailboat. Here Drew and I are sitting in the cockpit of the boat as we made our way across White Lake.

Last Saturday was our first full day without Kate! Grandma Sue watched her for us while we took Drew to the sailboat. When we first got in the car to drive out to the boat, Jana and I kept on looking back in the car and were always startled to see Kate's spot empty. We enjoyed having just Drew on the boat and being able to give him our full attention for the day, but we missed having Kate around. We've gotten used to being a family of four!

Drew did a great job on the boat of staying down and not going to the edges of the boat. I'm quite nervous about deep water (it's an irrational thing!), and he never did anything that made me nervous. We gave Drew some Dramamine before going on the boat because we didn't want him to get sick, but that medicine combined with no nap made for a tired little boy. We pushed him pretty hard with a late night on the Fourth and a day of boating the next day, but he did very well and we had a great time.

Drew took some turns helping Grandpa John steer the boat. When we got to the beach, Drew got to ride in a rowboat to the shore and back to the boat. He had a lot of fun on his first trip to the sailboat!

Last night Drew and I visited our local Quality Dairy (a convenience store) to pick up some snacks. We were picking out some chip dip, a favorite of mine, when an older woman came up to us and started exclaiming over how cute Drew is. I know this is incredibly surprising, but this wasn't the first time we've had this happen, so I politely had Drew say "hello" and I moved him along. Well, the lady kept following us and admiring Drew and it was creeping me out a little until she asked, "Does he like ice cream?" I replied that he does like ice cream, and she offered on the spot to buy Drew some ice cream. She very politely asked if I was Drew's dad and if it was all right for her to buy Drew ice cream. I was a bit flummoxed by this, as we've never had someone offer to buy something for Drew! I shrugged and said that it was okay, and she beckoned Drew over to the ice cream freezer to choose a treat.

There were drumsticks, fudge bars, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, and all sorts of things to choose from that Drew has never had! Drew looked bewildered by what he was supposed to do. He's never had anything in that freezer except for a bite here and there of our ice cream (Drew's usually not a huge fan of ice cream). I stepped in and confidently told the woman that Drew loves fudge bars. She grabbed him a fudge bar, motioned us to the checkout area, and proceeded to buy Drew his first fudge bar! The woman was obviously thrilled to buy Drew a treat, and I did my best to convince her that Drew was incredibly appreciative although Drew hardly said a word. By the way, the woman's purchase for herself? A 40 ounce Colt 45! Good choice. After politely thanking the woman and paying for our purchases we headed home to eat Drew's treat. Drew and I were both very impressed by the nice lady who bought him a treat!

Drew ate almost the entire fudge bar and LOVED it! It made a huge mess, but we finally found an ice cream treat that Drew enjoys.

Drew rediscovered his drum the other day and proceeded to drum for a while. I captured him drumming in the picture and a video below. He was drumming and singing away! Below, he's singing his drumming song.

beep,beep,beep

Kate is starting to pack on the pounds! I'm not sure if you can see it in these pictures, but she's got some nice fat wrinkles in both her legs and arms. She's still a little thing, even though she's been growing a lot lately. We don't have another doctor's appointment for a bit, so we don't know how big she's getting, but I'm sure she's getting huge :)Jana has been working hard with Kate on a schedule and Kate now takes a 2 hour plus nap every afternoon while Drew is taking his nap. Yes! Kate is also becoming pretty consistent about sleeping through the night every night. Once in a while she needs a re-bundle and her pacifier popped in, but she always lasts until at least 6 a.m. without needing to be fed. Plenty of sleep makes everyone's life better in our family!

Kate wanted her sun hat off one day and scratched herself a bit in her attempts to get it off. It looked for a couple days like she'd been in a fight or something, but she healed up within a day or two. It's amazing how good babies are at scratching themselves!

Drew is into the firefighter stuff, but maybe Kate will be into it too? Jana and I are going to keep reminding Kate that women can do any job now that men do, so maybe she'll be into trucks and firefighters by age two, just like Drew! Kate is wearing one of our hats from Uncle Todd's fire station in this picture. Drew also had a fire hat on at the time, but he didn't do a great job of looking in the direction of the camera, so I couldn't get a very good picture of the two of them. Drew LOVED it that baby Kate was wearing a fire hat like his. Actually, we all took turns wearing the hats and being the "fire chief."

Drew is getting close to two and a half years old and Jana and I are still continuing to check in on him every night while he's sleeping. You can't tell because of the flash, but it's about 10:30 p.m. and it's totally dark in Drew's room. We sneak in, ruffle his hair a little, give him a kiss, and tell him we love him. For both of us, it's a GREAT way to end our day!!!

Last week Jana and I celebrated our eighth anniversary! Wow, I can't believe it's already been eight years. We've been blessed with wonderful years together and we're looking forward to many more. I picked up some flowers for Jana and Drew and Kate came over to check them out. Like a typical girl, Kate couldn't keep her eyes off the flowers :)

Kate recently discovered Drew's John Deere tractor. She's not really playing with it yet, but the roll bar on the tractor makes a nice handle! Kate's getting stronger and stronger, and she's pretty close to being able to sit up. She also stands up like a champ with someone holding onto her hands. She can stand up for several minutes at a time! Jana and I are already beginning to anticipate her becoming mobile because she seems way more interested in it than Drew was at this age.

Drew and I were having fun playing in the living room the other day and I captured this picture of him. We've been wrestling on the floor and he jumps all over me and within a couple minute we're both giggling and having trouble breathing from laughing. I think this picture does a fairly good job of showing the joy that we both experience. We have so much fun messing around!

Drew's new thing is to invite you to lie next to him in his bed. He started it with Jana for the past week and last night I got asked to join him for the first time. Jana took this picture earlier this week of Kate's turn joining Drew on his bed. Drew's so proud to share his bed and excited to have someone join him in bed; it is very cute! Jana had a picture of the two of them that was easily the cutest picture we've ever had of our two kids . . . and the camera cord got in the picture. Doh! Oh well, this one still turned out well and Jana photographed an adorable series of pictures of the Drew talking to Kate in his bed.

In this picture Drew is "getting" Kate with his teddy bear. Often his animal attacks involve a "roar" noise that he makes. Kate is absolutely fascinated with Drew and she'll watch whatever he's doing (even when she's not being attacked by his teddy bear). Drew is one of the best at making her smile and laugh, and he continues to be a great big brother. I'll set Kate up in the living room near us in her chair while Drew and I play on the floor, and every once in a while Drew will take a break from playing rough with me, he'll walk over to Kate, and he'll gently give her a little kiss on the head. The contrast between his rough play with me and his tenderness with Kate gets me every time!

Drew has become very proficient at riding his tricycle. He cruises up and down the driveway and he rides forward . . . and backward! I'm thrilled because Drew seems to be moderately athletic. He picked up bike riding pretty quickly and he's amazing on the playground. He's very sure of himself and he has an excellent grasp of what each part of his body is doing. Jana and I are continually amazed by his physical awareness. In this video Drew notes that he's backing up and he makes his backup noise, "Beep, beep, beep." That's the noise his favorite construction vehicles make when they back up!

Drew loves to mess around with Kate. The other night I was watching the two kids while Jana was out and Drew immediately went over to Kate, who was lying on the floor. He grabbed her hand and started jokingly going "bam, bam, bam" with her (we're not sure where he got that one from). Drew then got distracted by the camera and wanted to see himself. He moved behind me and he continues to narrate the video from behind the camera. He was peering at the screen and hoping I would show him some pictures of himself.

Kate will have entire "conversations" with us, but especially with Jana. In this video she started out sitting on the couch, then managed to move herself from sitting all the way onto her stomach. Like I mentioned earlier, she's beginning to think about getting some mobility! The video picks up with Kate lying on the couch and Jana talking with her. The full range of Kate noises is not on display here, but you get an idea of the noises she's starting to make.

magazine?

I just had a wonderful lunch visit from Drew, and I thought I'd share the latest happenings in his life. Jana (and Kate) went out for lunch with a friend, so I had the honor of having Drew join me in the lab for lunch. We had macaroni and cheese, apples, strawberries, and a nice cup of milk to wash it down. Drew was a little distracted by all the exciting computers in my office, so he didn't eat much, but it was still a good lunch.

Before and after our lunch we covered a LOT of my building as Drew explored and looked out windows and tried to open some doors! (I said a lot of "sorry about that!" when he moved quicker than me) Just a block away from my building there is a major construction project going on involving the railroads crossing MSU. There are cranes, backhoes, pile drivers, front end loaders, dump trucks, and all sorts of other construction vehicles that Drew was fascinated by seeing. I'm on the fourth floor of my building, which provides a lofty view of things below. We watched a couple trains go through MSU and we looked at cars and trucks. You might be seeing the "mechanical" theme here. Drew loves ANYTHING with an engine!

Drew's big news is that on Wednesday night he successfully used the potty for the first time. We were totally surprised by this because he has shown little interest in alerting us to his "movements" and he quite often seems surprised himself. This time he warned us he had something coming, I got the honor of joining him for his task, and after a couple minutes of sitting there he got bored . . . so Drew asked for a magazine! "Dad, can I please have a magazine?" Jana and I were just about crying we were laughing so hard! I grabbed Drew a magazine ("magazines" are the little handouts that come with some of his toys advertising other toys) and Drew proceeded to do a little reading before experiencing success. I couldn't stop giggling every time I looked at him and then he'd ask me, "What? What, dad? What? What? What, dad?" I guess we're going to need some reading material in our bathroom. We are very happy for Drew, but obviously have a LONG way to go before Drew is even close to being potty trained. Way to go Drew!

I've got more pictures to post, but I haven't had the time to get them on here. Kate continues to get much bigger and is doing a great job of supporting herself and lifting her head up when she does tummy time. I'll try to get some pictures of that because she is babbling away and smiling a lot and it is very cute!

Vacation video

It has taken me a while to get to these videos, but here are a couple more from our vacation. In this first video Drew is galloping around on the beach. He and I did a lot of galloping together and we'd make clucking noises with our mouths as we galloped. You can't hear much over the wind and waves, but Drew made some noises as he galloped. As we watched him, he meandered around the beach and play with his pail and shovel in the sand. This is taken a few days into our vacation and you'll notice that he's more into the sand than the water.

By the end of our vacation Drew was much more adventurous with going in the water and he raced in and out of the water. The water was pretty cold, but he didn't seem to mind. We were fascinated because Drew was much more excited about the water when I was standing in the water near him. If I moved to the beach and onto the dry sand, then he would lose interest in the water. We've noticed before that Drew is much more willing to try new things if Jana or I am near, and this was another example of it. We're happy to know that at least for now he won't try anything TOO crazy without us around! :)