Our mass-less inchworm

Let me explain...

Mass-less. A few people knew that after Drew's swallowing study, the Radiologist reported he may have a mass or lesion in his pyriform sinuses (pockets down in the bottom of his throat), and we were sent to an ENT last week. Of course, those words made us worry so we were very anxious about this appointment. Our big boy braved being scoped (and Mommy & Daddy braved watching him - actually Brad held him during it) and besides a little evidence of reflux, the doctor thankfully thought that everything looked OK. So, everyone is in agreement that they think Drew should outgrow this trouble swallowing by the time he is 18-24 months old. That may be a long time, but we can handle that in light of something that could have been much worse. So thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers during all of this!

Now, for the inchworm part. Drew started crawling this week! But, he hasn't yet figured out the typical crawling method. Instead he puts both feet under him, pushes his bottom up in the air and then falls forward. It definitely gets him from point A to point B, and he is getting faster everyday. He already loves to get to things that he seems to know he shouldn't be getting into, so we have to keep an even closer watch on him now. Here he is getting into Daddy's stereo (out of all of the colorful toys that sing and move, he is just drawn to these black knobs!):

In other news, Drew's second tooth has come in down on the bottom beside his first. You can kind of see his new teeth in this picture:

Drew's "Aunt" Jenn came to visit him recently. He hopes she comes back soon!

Our computer has been down since last week, so I have a lot of catching up to do with pictures. Drew enjoyed going to the park last weekend - he loved the swing!

Our little engineer tries to figure out just how this swing works.

Weeeeeeeeeee!
One of my favorite things to do on the weekend (it is sad that he will soon be too big to take naps on me!):

Drew and his best friend:

And yes, baby, it does...

Sleepovers, drumming, honey and teeth

Whew, what a busy week. Let's start with what Drew is doing new... He pushes around in complete circles constantly on the floor (always counter-clockwise), but still no crawling. This morning, we noticed that a little bottom tooth is starting to break through! So those cute little gummy grins are soon going to be replaced with some pearly whites. =) Also, we had to go to Brenner Children's Hospital this week. Our pediatrician was concerned that Drew might be aspirating a bit when he is swallowing, so she wanted him to have a swallowing test there. (Ironically enough, yes, this kind of test *is* what I do for a living... but it is much different on babies instead of adults - and especially on your own baby!). It turns out that some of what Drew has been taking by bottle is, in fact, going into his lungs. So we now have to thicken all of his bottles to a honey consistency. All of these colds that I was blaming daycare for may have been caused by this, so hopefully now that we've figured out a cause they will be a thing of the past. He doesn't seem to mind it - still eating like a champ - and they say that he will likely soon outgrow it. Also, Drew has really started to enjoy "drumming" now, especially with our pots and spoons! He thinks it is so funny. Here are some drumming pics:

Last weekend Drew had his first sleepover with his girl, Miss Scarlett. Scarlett is the baby of a friend of mine from work, and she was born a week before Drew. She and Drew did so well together - they kept pretty much the same schedule and both slept very well (separate cribs, mind you!) Here are some pictures from his PJ party:

Drew and I taught Scarlett what the drums were all about.

They both slept so well all night - what little angels!

Mommies and babies

And, Drew decided today to type his own message to all of you as he was sitting on my lap at the computer:

rf v , bo y bvyhhhhhhb h gvb iu

Love, Drew

7 months old!

It's a good day! Today Drew-Drew is 7 months old (and it's Aunt Lynda's birthday too - so Happy Birthday Aunt Lynda!). Drew is sitting on his own better and better and grabbing for EVERYTHING! He is really starting to love seeing Steve too. He often just squeals whenever he gets sight of his doggy - and whenever we are outside he keeps a close eye on Steve as he roams the yard and rolls around. Drew also loves to make NOISE - he loves to bang on everything (we'll try to get some drumming video up soon - we see a rock star in the making).

A new big thing this week was the start of swimming class! He's the youngest in his class but seems to enjoy it. The teacher said that she would like him to learn how to float by the end of the month - isn't that amazing?!? As you can imagine, we have *lots* of swimming pictures (but unfortunately a lot of them turned out a bit blurry), so bear with us...

Getting ready to hit the pool

Drew patiently waits on the side of the pool until the teacher says that it is time to get in the water.

Drew with his new swimming friends. Splish-splash with the teacher!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Drew is getting the hang of this floating thing. The teacher wants him to learn how to flip from his stomach to his back in the water.

"Look at me, Mommy!!!"

Another goal is for Drew to be able to find and reach for the edge of the pool. He's catching on fast, huh?"I love swimming... when is my next class?! "

After class, Drew decided to show off his "plumber" look.