Drew has started pulling up, and we thought you all would like to see him in action.

Wanted to post a quick update on Drew's illness. His fever seems to have broken and not come back, which is a great sign since that was the scariest part as it was SO high Monday night. Yesterday his throat was hurting him so badly that he was having trouble nursing which was very sad and frustrating for him (not to mention for me!) but after a little bit of baby benadryl last night he (and Andy and I) had a much better night of sleep and nursed multiple times during the night and this morning, so we're hopeful that the pain isn't as intense in his throat as it was yesterday. He has developed an all-over red lacy rash that looks sort of like a systemic case of prickly heat, so he's covered in little raised bumps. Fortunately they don't seem to be itchy or painful and he doesn't really notice it. We're trying to give him some naked time so his skin can breathe, but it seems that the rash is a common side effect of the fever going away with Coxsackie, so hopefully it's just part of his body's healing process. He's more smiley and interested in playing this morning so things seem to be turning for the better, and hopefully he'll be back to his old self asap.

In other news, only someone as determined to be grown as Drew would continue to push himself to new developmental milestones even in the throes of a high fever, but that's our kid for you. We're excited (terrified?) to report that he has decided crawling is for the dogs and has moved on to the next thing- pulling himself up on anything and everything and cruising around from one location to the next. He has of course chosen the only mobile furniture we own- rocking chairs- as his method of choice for pulling up, which is a little terrifying, but he's actually doing really well and hasn't given himself a big bump yet. (YET being the operative word- we know it's inevitable and are bracing ourselves for it perpetually.) We'll try to get a good video clip of him in action to post soon!

I am sad to report that for his seven month birthday, poor little Drew has contracted an illness called Coxsackie Virus that is currently beating down all his energy. The good news is that it is relatively common and somewhat short-lived, so he should hopefully be better by the weekend, but the bad news is that he's pretty miserable and running a very high fever. The doctor said the high fever is completely normal, but needless to say it is really rough on him. Being the good-natured guy that he is, he is still trying to smile through his pain and spends a few moments here and there playing with his new holiday gifts, but for the most part he's sleeping all day, and wants to be in Mommy's arms non-stop. We'll give an update soon and hopefully he'll be back to his normal self soon so we can go on our vacation to Hawaii next week!

Drew officially started crawling on all fours this evening! We were able to catch a snippet of it on video for everyone's viewing pleasure:

We also found a cute one from last week that we thought you would enjoy:

He's growing up so fast!!!!!

Crazy enough, Drew turned 0.5 years old on Saturday, his 6 month birthday! It seems like just yesterday... I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing when we're packing him up to go to college. But it really does feel momentous, particularly when we sit and think about how much he's changed and how very grown up he's acting these days (for a baby, that is).

For those who are into stats, he just had his 6 month checkup at is now 21 pounds, which is 90-95%ile, and 27.25 inches, which is 75%ile. His head circumpherence is 17 inches, which is 25%ile, but we won't speculate too much on that- we think it just means he has a more normally proportioned head than most babies and looks less balloon-brained.

In terms of what he actually does, Drew now sits in his big boy sexy Swedish high chair that the Berkelhamers got for him because he likes to be grown and thought the plastic one was too babyish- no high back, no tray, just the barebones restraint pulled up to the table. It's pretty cute to have him sitting with you while you're eating and grabbing whatever is on the table within his grasp (well, that part might not be so cute sometimes... fortunately we have a big enough table to keep dangerous stuff out of his reach). He eats a wide variety of solid munchy items like toast and cheerios and celery sticks and cheese and pretty much anything else anyone is willing to hand to him. It makes for a very high energy meal out, as he's convinced that everything arriving on the table is meant to broaden his palate. Fortunately the usual pizza crust seems to make him happy.

As the video Andy posted below documents, one of the other huge changes besides the fact that Drew eats everything in sight is that he moves on his own. He loves to drag himself across the floor of his room chasing after his various toys, and Andy actually found him out in our hallway past the bathroom this weekend- he was chasing one of his balls, and it kept rolling so he just kept following it! We're scrambling to babyproof things since we weren't expecting him to be able to get around quite so successfully yet, and may have to quarantine him to his room with a baby gate if he continues to be so adventurous (which, knowing Drew, would be hard to imagine not happening).

The other thing that Drew does all the time now is babble- he's been testing the strength of his vocal cords and likes to talk to himself or anyone else around at top volume which is very fun and cute. He's narrowing in on ma-ma-ma-ma and da-da-da-da as well as "ghee" which we've decided must stand for doggie and be referring to Manu and Webster, his own personal deities. I'm sure he'll be reciting Shakespeare by New Year's Eve.

We're still having a great time at all of his baby classes (excuse me- BIG BOY classes) and playgroups. He now recognizes his friends and their moms which is very funny- he lights up when he sees them and knows it means play time. (Not that pretty much all time isn't play time for him.)

With Thanksgiving a couple of days away and this first big something-iversary in his short little existence it makes me spend a little more time each day just feeling so lucky to have him in my life. He brings us all so much joy and is just the sweetest and happiest baby I've ever known (and of course, like usual, that's a completely non-biased claim). I'm constantly amazed and awed both by him and who he is growing into, and by what he brings out in the rest of our family (even surly Manu adores him and lets him pull her whiskers out in clumps... and touch her with his FEET, something she'd never let any of the rest of us do). I can only imagine that we will continue to love him more and more with each passing day- and try to find somewhere VERY BIG to store all of that affection!

Drew just joined the ranks of the mobile. He has started to scootch across the floor quite effectively.

Check out this video of one of his first forays across the floor.

As promised, here are some more great photos from our adventures of the past week.

We spent a lovely day off on Thursday at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena- Daddy even took the time away from work to hang out with us! The gardens are gorgeous and we met up with lots of friends there. Click here to see some pics we took.



We also spent a very relaxing weekend up in Los Alamos with Grandpa Al and cousin Tasha while Grandma Rudi is out of town- the fall colors were out and Daddy got camera happy. Click here to see some great photos he took of Drew and Mommy while we were there.

We got our computer back and it's up and running again! We have about a billion photos to go through from our adventures this past week but wanted to let you know that our halloween faves are now up and visible- click here to check out the album.

Check back soon for more!

Any Office Space fans out there? If not, sorry for the random post title, but it amuses me which is all that really matters...

I'm writing to share the sad news that our computer has gone AWOL and is currently off the grid. On the one hand, it had the sense to die a month before our warrantee expires, so that's good news. Unfortunately, it now means sitting on our couch in front of our giant flat screen tv trying to read size 12 font from a 6 foot distance in order to send emails. Did I mention I'm functionally blind? No fun.

The saddest part is that we took about 8,000 adorable photos of Drew and his little friends in their Halloween attire that are either now trapped in our hard drive or on our memory cards because we can't use the laptop as a portal- so we can't post them for the time being. Rest assured, some day, when our computer is working again, we'll make sure to get them up for Drew's adoring fans, but it may be a nostalgic Thanksgiving-time reminiscence of Halloween.

Just wanted to let folks know why we're going to be remiss up front, before we get flooded with protests from the Africa contingent that we're slacking on the photos

Drew had a great Halloween- showed off his adorable monkey self to all of the folks at Decore and then we went "trick-or-treating" (minus the candy) in downtown Monrovia. He didn't win the official costume contest but he DEFINITELY won the anecdotal "adorable baby" prize as we were walking up and down the street- at least 100 people must have said "AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW, HOW CUTE!!!" as we walked by.

Fortunately, we got a couple pics up of him in his costume from Shosh's visit so at least you're not kept in total suspense. Also, this is one that his friend Reed (aka the pumpkin)'s mommy took of Drew and buddies hanging out that's too cute to resist:



Drew, Finley, Naomi, Cormac and Reed from left to right.

More as soon as possible!!!

Drew hit the five month mark on Wednesday (I think I should get credit for posting within the week) and it seems like all of a sudden he's a little boy instead of a baby. He's growing up so fast- I know five months isn't technically "old", but he's already wearing 12 month clothing and I just get this feeling that he's gonna stand up and walk away on his own tomorrow, which makes it feel even more like time is flying.

He sprouted two teeth within 36 hours of each other last weekend- both Andy and I were a little nervous that they might ruin his perfect grin but thankfully they've only made him even cuter (I'm sure you're all thinking "impossible!" but it's actually true). Fortunately, he's over the severe pain and sleeplessness of their eruption, which is allowing everyone in the house a collective sigh of relief (even the dogs were rolling their eyes at his difficulty sleeping through that ordeal- hopefully the first were the worst). We'll try to get a cute pic of them where you can ACTUALLY see them posted soon- it's crazy how they go from white spots under the gums to real teeth in just a few days!

He is also sitting up all on his own these days- VERY exciting!!! He was able to maintain his own for 3 second stints before but sometime last week or the one before he suddenly started catching himself when he lost balance and now he just hangs out for indeterminate periods of times playing with his toys. It's really amazing how differently he can play now that he can sit up to interact with them- lots of fun! We're enjoying that immensely, as well as his roll-across-the-room moves where he starts out one place and ends up a completely different one without really understanding how it happened. Good thing Manu is so vigilant about protecting him when I leave him in the middle of our bed for a brief second or who knows what might happen!

Drew is still convinced that baby food is a crock and not worth the effort of digesting, but is completely fascinated with anything we put in our mouths. So far he has poo-pooed all of the veggies I've given him as well as the cereals. I try to make sure he gets the chance to eat "real food" in his net bag (thanks Auntie Lala for the tip on those!) so that he gets the opportunity to live a non-pureed life. For the uninitiated, the net bag is more or less a ring pop with a little fishnet stocking pouch on the end in which you can insert anything and babies can suck all the flavor out without worrying about choking- another genius invention credited to the manufacturers of baby junk (I guess if you spend enough time with plastic you hit on a few strokes of genius).

Aunt Shoshie came out to visit us for the weekend and we dragged her to our myriad baby events- don't drop in on a Saturday unless you're interested in going to our baby music class- we had tons of fun and saw the world's biggest (or at least the San Gabriel Valley's biggest) pumpkin- click here to see photos of our Halloween fun!

Caught on camera- not to be missed for all you gourmets into the holistic approach to "experiencing" one's food... sorry it took a little while to get them up.



Click here to view the album.

I got a sweet little video camera for my birthday this year from the Bennett/Berkelhamer household, and have been using it quite frequently.

Of course I had to set up the obligatory YouTube account as a result.

Here are a couple of recent videos for you to enjoy:

Drew in his exersaucer

Drew Eating

Drew has officially begun his foray into the realm of "real" food this week. We've gotten to the point where he will no longer allow Andy or myself to eat without trying to intercept the food between our plates and our mouths and munch on whatever it may be himself, so there was no more denying the inevitable. (Try eating a bowl of yogurt with a squirming kid on your lap grabbing at every spoon and trying to steer it anywhere but at your face and imagine the multitude of possible results, very few of them involving you actually getting to consume said yogurt...)

So we pulled out his high chair and his plastic bib and his various plastic dishes and buckled down to the business of smearing powdered oatmeal all over everything in a 10 foot radius. (Laura, you will appreciate that Drew has the same bias as his cousin towards food belonging all over the back of his head!) Needless to say, this has increased the bath to day ratio rather significantly.

Drew has taken to food easily- we weren't too worried since he's been sucking on fruit without much trouble for a while now- although I have to say that his response to the oatmeal was mostly just a fair quantity of chagrin. Clearly, when he was trying to express to us that he was interested in eating people food, he wasn't quite explicit enough. He thinks that mushy baby muck is a poor excuse at best for big guy food and sort of gave me this look like "Seriously? What happened to the bagel and cream cheese? I don't believe for a second you eat this junk!" (To his credit, Andy tried the oatmeal mush and was revolted that we could feed something so vile to someone we care about. I tried to explain that it's baby food and babies like to eat things like that, but I don't think Drew's reaction helped to sell my case.) Either way, I've been trying to explain to Drew that this is just a step he has to work through and then he can build up to the stuff with flavor. Fortunately he's being a good sport in the hopes that something better will indeed come along soon.

We took some videos with our new teeny tiny camcorder of his first meal that I'll try to post soon.

The other very fun thing that Drew does these days is talk to us. And by talk, I mean SHRIEK. He's found his voice and very joyously likes to utilize it at top volume. It's very cute to see him get all excited when Andy comes home from work at the end of the day and scream at him in delight. He also likes to have yelling matches back and forth with me- I'm wondering if it's actually partly a result of the music classes we're taking, which focus on audiation and repetition- whether that's the case or not, it's lots of fun to finally get to hear some of what he has to say!

Drew turned 4 months old this week- we can't believe how quickly he is growing! (Both in a literal, physical, way and a more developmental one.) He weighed in at 18 and a half pounds this week at the doctor's- holy moly. Let me just say that I have the buffest arms I've ever had in my life, but even so my body is struggling to gain the muscle as fast as he's gaining the weight, and he's definitely a heavy load to truck around all day long. I'm definitely going to have long-term back problems that I can blame on him! When we showed up at our Lamaze class reunion he was the youngest baby but also the largest- although one of the other dads said he has met a baby their age that is bigger than Drew, so at least we can be comforted that he's not Guinness Book of World Records large!

People constantly assume he's a couple of months older than he is, as a result of his size and also the nosiness factor- he's fascinated with what people are doing and is very aware of others, an alertness that is not always shared by other babies his age. And of course we're not biased when we say that he's incredibly developed for his age... What he's up to and doing these days: He can sit up unsupported for brief periods of time, although he does tend to tip if you're not close by to catch him. He can roll over but seems completely uninterested in developing this skill, so it only happens sporadically. He is, however, determined to begin walking as soon as possible. He likes to be standing up pretty much all day long if feasible. I hate to break it to him but I think simple physics alone will preclude that for some time- his legs are still very bowed and his weight distribution is not exactly going to help him overcome that yet. But I'm sure he'll get there eventually, if not quite as soon as he's hoping (aka now).

He is also BIG into sticking everything he can find into his mouth and is particularly fascinated with everything we stick in our mouths, so we think he's trying to tell us that he's ready for food already. I would be happy to wait a bit longer on that front as it poses a whole new set of logistic challenges, but one can hardly deny his eagerness, so we will most likely start to head in that direction soon. Also, on a sad note, he has begun the painful process of teething- nothing breaking through yet but he's quite uncomfortable, and understandably grumpy as a result. Hopefully it will be swift and get less painful with time.

He has all kinds of classes and other baby friends to hang out with, which he now thoroughly enjoys- he's started groping other babies in the face and thinks they're incredibly amusing, so it's really fun to get him together with them and see him begin to form his own relationships with others. It's amazing to think about how quickly all of the things he does have come about, and that just four months ago he was a teeny tiny newborn!

I'd give an update on what's new in my life, but, well, I just did. Being a stay at home mom is GREAT- we're really enjoying all of our time together and I feel even busier than when I was working (no evenings, nights, or weekends off!) which means that I'm far from bored. Andy's big news is that he is going to start business school in a few months- he accepted admission into Indiana University's MBA program and is very excited that he'll be doing that in the near future- another level of chaos in our lives but a great opportunity for him and one that stimulates his passion to keep learning.

We posted some more recent photos of Drew from the past few weeks- here's one of my favorites:

I'm normally one to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when the actions of a few reflect on the reputation of the many. But this story makes me not want to buy any food products exported from China (if that is even possible).

If they can make a mistake like this to their own people, how are they treating their exports?

Just something to think about.