Canadians Come to Town

Colin's Mom and Dad came to North Carolina (barely...they had a wicked delay at the airport) for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! It was a nice visit and we were able to do all of the fun "grandparent" things around here. Judy was perfect for the role....I mean, just look at the pictures...who has ever seen such a posh Nana? We visited the Biltmore house, did some shopping in Burkdale Village, visited a winery, and hung around the house a lot too. It was a wonderful time. Oh yeah, and as the cook, I have to say that Thanksgiving meal was great too...hehe.

Last Halloween

Since I decided to start from the beginning, I am a bit far behind. Let's talk about last year's Halloween before we move onto this year. Drew was 3 months old so it was such an exciting time. I lost my father 3 days earlier, but my family decided that we were still going to celebrate Halloween. It was Drew's first after all. Things were rough, but all of my friends surrounded me with love and Colin quickly got the house ready for a Halloween party (flying ghost on a zip line, tailgate trick or treating, and all). Everyone came over, my sister and Larry stayed in town with us, and we had a great time. It was a great escape from the very emotional days surrounding it.
Drew had 4 costumes...yes that's right, I said 4. His daddy couldn't decide what he should be, so he was everything from an astronaut to a pirate. When I had him, he was a crawfish. I was the chef that carried him around in a cooking pot. It was great. Everyone at the party thought it was hilarious. They thought it was funny that Drew and I would run upstairs every once in a while for a "wardrobe change" like we were some kind of celebrities. We were treated like it that night though. We have great friends, and my husband is the best. Drew's first Halloween is such a success, that I hear we're having just as big (if not bigger) Halloween party this year. It's like the snowball effect, everyone is inviting their friends, so it's getting bigger and bigger!  I am really looking forward to it.
I'll have more on that later

He's Growing Up So Quickly

I can't help but be a bit sentimental when seeing my baby boy looking so big. I can't believe he is growing up so quickly. When Drew sits in his "Bumbo" seat, he just seems so much older. It's fun to see him sit up like a big boy. I keep hearing, "oh, you know those were recalled?!?" Well, rest assured everyone. They were recalled because children are falling off of high places such as countertops and kitchen tables when in there.... I promise, Drew has never been in such a situation, so I do believe he is safe.

A Daddy and His Boy

I find myself shaking my head a lot when watching Colin with our son.  He enjoys teaching him all of the "boy" things (sometimes to my dismay).  They always have fun together though, I must say.  There has been a special bond there between the two of them that I so enjoy watching.

They are always playing around.  They are either dancing around the living room, "high-fiving" or giving "knuckles," or exploring wherever we might be.  Colin is the "father's father."  He loves the rough and tumble times with his son as you can see from these pictures.

Tummy Time

Drew absolutely hates tummy time. He starts to fuss within moments of putting him onto his tummy, but you know mama's.....we go for it anyways. I know he needs the time to strengthen his muscles, so we try and do anything and everything that we can to make it as enjoyable as possible. I have to admit he is adorable while "we are still in a good mood."

Drew's First LSU Party

LSU vs. Virginia Tech was Drew's first LSU football party. Of course he wasn't awake for most of it, but we enjoyed it anyways. The fans were a bit rowdy, so good thing Drew is a good sleeper. Like any good Louisiana party, we had great food. I cooked all day making crawfish pies, etouffee and muffulatta's. Everyone loved the food and gobbled it all up. Nothing lasted long. Drew all ready for the party, wearing his LSU baby jersey, was so cute. Here is a picture with his "Uncle Mike" and some other pictures of all of the festivities that went along with this game.

Our First Trip to Canada

Well, first I have to say that Drew is the youngest person in North Carolina to have a passport. His picture is too cute. They took the picture of him in his car seat, which I was very glad to hear because I was wondering how we were going to do this. Then the man said that we just have to get a picture of him with his eyes open. Well, anyone who has had a three week old knows how often his eyes are open. I thought, "goodness, we are going to be here for a long time. But it turned out that we actually got it on the first try. I was amazed.
Well, anyways, the trip went well. We drove because I was too nervous to bring such a young baby on a plane.
Once we got to Barrie, we were on a whirl-wind tour. We visited everyone that we could possibly see. Everyone was so happy to meet our new little guy. He was the biggest hit ever!

Scrub A Dub Dub.....A Boy In The Tub

Drew's first bath was so sweet. He was so good. He really loved the water it seemed. He is so cute in the tub. It really seems like he is so alert. His little coos are adorable. Who knew that there was so much to know about giving a baby a bath. I wanted to make sure that Drew had the best experience possible, so I read about how to bathe him and how to dry him, giving him a baby massage, etc. All went well and our little Drewbie is clean and smelling so sweet. PS. Please excuse the way that I look....I mean, give me a break....I just had a baby!

Drew's First Birthday Invitation

Today Drew was invited to his first birthday party. He won't exactly remember it, but he can look back at the pictures and know that he was popular before his first month...hehe. His friend Kylee invited him to her 2nd birthday. Kylee's mommy, Cammie, is expecting her second (a little boy) very soon. Hats off to Cammie for throwing the party when she is so far along in pregnancy.

One Sweet Boy

I know that of course I'm biased, but my baby boy is adorable!  Just a few pictures to prove the point.

Coming Home

Coming home with Drew was kind of a funny experience. We had just bought our new car and Colin wanted to be a great daddy and have a clean car for Drew to come home in, so he went and had the car washed. He just forgot one simple thing... we still had temporary tags on the car. Well, we all know that here in the states, we do these things very cheaply and they are paper tags, so our tag ended up in the drain as a little lump of pulp. So not only were we nervous for the common reason of driving with your newborn baby for the first time, but we were terrified that we would be pulled over... not a good memory to add to "coming home." But, we made it home with no problem at all. When we got home, we found that our friends had decorated our house with all of the "It's A Boy" stuff and they had a great meal waiting for us. It was so sweet and so fun. The boys celebrated in the back while the girls stayed in and oohed and ahed over Drew. It was also the moment that Drew met Lily. Speaking of Lily, my good friend Jill was so sweet as to think of Lily and brought her some gifts so that Lily wouldn't feel left out.

The first thing that I did when I got home.....Well, I ran upstairs and put my baby in his crib. I couldn't wait to see what he looked like in there. It was the sweetest moment ever!

(Sorry about the lack of pictures of all of us together as a family. They must all be on someone else's camera)

That evening, we "cut the tags off." There was no turning back from there. hehe

At the Hospital

On the morning that Drew was due, I woke up at around 6:30 and I knew....."this is it....today is the day"  I couldn't believe it.  The time is here.  I didn't wake Colin up until about 8:30 or so.  I knew we had some time.  I made some phone calls to some friends, family, and of course the doctor, and then we were off by about 11:00 am.  They admitted us and there we were...in labor and delivery....having a baby.  I had the best nurse ever.  Her name was Joy and that couldn't have been a better name for her.  She was so good to us.  She even sends us cards every once in a while.

  I remember the Tour de France was on in the background.  I kept thinking to myself "at least I don't have it as bad as they do."  I tried to get through as long as I could naturally, but by about 1:00 I had had all I could take.  Joy told me, "Mary Beth, I know you want to do this naturally, but seriously girl, do you want to be superwoman, or do you want to enjoy the first few hours of his life, because if you don't take this epidural, you will only want to sleep and recover."  I really took that to heart, changed my mind, and took the epidural.  Boy am I glad I did.  It was a wonderful experience from there.

We had lots of visitors over the next few days and we just really enjoyed the whole experience.  What a "joy!"
Welcome to our family, my precious little angel

Daddy and I were so excited to have you! I was elated

I am so glad that Paw Paw had the privilege of holding you.

Your "Aunt Mary" fell in love at first sight!

"Aunt Mina" did too!

The most precious moments of my life

From the Beginning...

Well, I guess I should start from the very beginning. Halloween morning of 2006, I found out that I was pregnant. It was the classic moment. I woke Colin up, showed him the good news (I let him interpret the test through sleepy eyes) and he just looked at me with the biggest, sleepiest smile on his face, he picked me up and twirled me around the bathroom. We cried and laughed and everything else. It was about 6:00 am (or maybe even earlier) but we were now as awake as could be by that point. My pregnancy was wonderful. It's funny how we remember pregnancy as being so wonderful and we completely forget all of the hardships of it. I was not a pretty sight for the first 3 months, but of course it was all well worth it. Colin and I were so excited and all of our family and friends were so excited for us. (I have to add, I really had the cutest shower invitations ever made. I have to credit that to my friend, Crystal). The excitement of our first child was so overwhelming. I was truly on cloud nine. It was such a surreal time in my life. One of the most special moments of my pregnancy was at a family shower. My dad had signed his gift from him and my mom. I know it was something that my mom would have picked out (he knew that too) and so it was so special that he did that. Although she was not there with me physically, she was absolutely there with me every step of the way.