ICE!

The Friday after Thanksgiving, the 3 of us did a little holiday shopping in the morning and then after Drew's nap we headed to the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan. The ICE! exhibit featured 2 million pounds of ice, which is all hand-carved by visiting artisans from Harbin, China. The 14,000-square-foot exhibit had a three-level ice slide (which Drew was too small to go on), a gingerbread family, penguins, and a walk-through Nativity scene. Drew was still not feeling the best and cried through some of it. It was only 9 degrees inside! They gave us special jackets to wear and we wrapped Drew up in one. Needless to say it was a quick walk through for us, and it was an expensive walk at $20/per adult!

13 Months & Walking!

It's official, Drew took his first steps on Saturday. I could tell all last week that he was so close, I was so happy that he did it when his daddy was home from work to see him! He took about 5-6 steps in our bathroom on Saturday the 24th and has taken steps every day since. Last night he took 15 steps in our bedroom, what a big boy! He still likes using his walker to zoom around with though! He can now point to his nose and belly when you ask him. Yesterday in the car the music had only begun on the song "If you're happy and you know it..." and he started clapping his hands, so cute! The kids' CD's in the car have made things so much easier, that and him facing forward.

Drew has been having fun playing with all his new toys from his birthday. I just took out 2 more toys this week from the closet. He doesn't really know the difference between all the toys and there were just so many to put out at once. We are struggling with ideas for Christmas presents for him since he got so many toys this year for his birthday. I am sure we will think of something!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving here at our house. It was just us 3 this year. Normally my mom, stepdad and brothers come but they were just here last month for Drew's 1st birthday. Our meal turned out really well and we had homemade gravy for the first time :) Here is a picture of Drew almost taking a step towards daddy in the kitcken while our turkey was cooking! Our friend Jen's dog Bella is staying with us this weekend. We took Bella and Guinness for a walk with us while our apple pie was baking.

Trip Back East

We just got back from our long weekend trip back East. This time it wasn't to Boston, it was to NJ to see our good friends, the Van Epps'. It felt good to feel some cooler weather, see some color in the trees, and to see some snow flakes, but most of all it felt good to see some old friends. Despite having a sick child, we had a good time while we were there. Saturday we went to downtown Clinton to have some lunch, then later we spent 4 hours in the ER Saturday night with Drew to learn he had croup. He slept horribly Friday night in bed with us, so needless to say...we all slept horribly! Saturday after his nap he just seemed worse. We still decided to go to West Point on Sunday seeing as the cold air helped him to breathe and feel a little better. He was still tired and not himself, but it felt good to be back at USMA and we were happy that we got to bring Drew there. We had some lunch at West Point pizza, bought some gear at the V center but then we almost weren't allowed on post. Apparantly since USMA has been a closed post since 9/11 Will and Pete were supposed to register online to be able to get a pass since they were alumni. Luckily the MP's allowed us on anyway. Even with a delayed flight on Friday, a trip to the ER on Saturday-overall the trip was a success. Drew did AMAZING on both plane legs. Sitting in first class on the way there and Drew getting his OWN seat with his car seat really helped!

The Halsey Boys

Check out these cutie patooties! Jensen and Hudson are only 17 months apart, and could not be more adorable. Their mommy wanted me to take a few family pictures for their Christmas cards this year. They usually use a super great (aka- super pricey) photographer in Dallas, but she lost their images on her camera card :(...so...I was lucky enough to be asked to take them!!! = pressure!

Yes, Jensen was serious today!

Growing Up!

Drew is getting to be such a big boy! He was having fun riding his new truck from Grammy. Will & I were pushing him back and forth between us and he was enjoying it. We also just turned his car seat around to face forward. I was going to wait until after we got back from our New Jersey trip but since we will be in the car for some long periods of time (driving out of NYC to get to NJ and then driving up to West Point) we decided to turn it around this week. Will wanted to install it once before having to do it in the rental when we get there. I wasn't in any hurry to turn it around, but I think it sure will be nice!!!

We are disappointed that Drew is having trouble with whole milk. We were having sleep issues again last week and after a doctor's appt. to rule out an ear infection, we have figured out that it is the reflux/milk issue again for us...ugh! I have taken him off whole milk and it seems to have solved the problem. He is back on soy formula till' after our trip and then I will talk to the doc and I assume we will put him on regular soy milk....I guess there could be worse things to deal with. Wish us luck on the plane rides!

Tom Brady...TOUCHDOWN!!!

That is the popular saying around our house these days. We have been saying that to Drew for weeks and trying to get him to do "touchdown" with his hands....Friday it finally stuck! Here he is doing it for us at Leyton's birthday party this weekend. It was a football themed 1st birthday, so Drew got to wear his new jersey from Grammy! Drew got to practice his new "touchdown" moves Sunday in the 4th quarter when the Pats came back to beat the Colts.... 9-0 baby!!!!!!