Baby Helmers is here!

Kurt and Ann had their baby today!! His name is Daniel Henry Helmers. Daniel was 8lb 1oz and 21 inches long. Everyone is doing well!

Happy New Years to all!

Merry Christmas!

We know we posted these pictures a few weeks ago (and recently on FB), but we changed the comments.....Enjoy!  We wish all of you a wonderful holiday and blessed new year!

I love Santa!

That Santa is such a nice man.....

What!? Santa's not real?!

That's not funny mom. I need a drink....

Again, Tis' the season!

Our little elf

Our little elf went through a number of expressions all within 2 minutes...Enjoy!

Happy....

Scared....

Serious....

Drunk...

Merry....

                                                                     Tis' the season!!

A busy week...

Drew has had a very busy week....he helped Ag with the laundry....

He hung out with his buddy, Kase Ludwig...

He "chatted" with Evan Patel about which toys are the best....

He practiced his Pilates. (He honestly holds this position for 10-20 seconds, releases, and does it again, and again, and again.). This just started this past week.

And he experienced his first snow day!

First "real" food...yucky!

So Drew had his first "real" food today.  I say "real" because whether or not this stuff should be considered fit for human consumption is debatable. In the context of us starting Drew on solids, the doctor said we could serve him "rice cereal"; I immediately thought of Rice Krispee's. Agnes informed me that rice cereal is some concoction of powder mixed with formula (which in and of itself is powder mixed with water). Here was the result:



In case this doesn't show up for you, here's the link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnK-OWMi28k

Other than this, it was a pretty uneventful day!

A Pumpkin....

Really mom??  You put me in a pumpkin?  RREeeaaalllyyy???  Really.  Now sssmmmiiillleee:)

Peek a "Drew"!

Happy Halloween everyone!!  We have had a few fun Halloween parties over the past week.  Drew sported his giraffe costume like a true champ!

Also, over the past month or so, we have had some fun times. In mid-September, we went with a few of friends to the ND/Standford game in South Bend. The weekend was a super time as we stayed in a huge house close to campus. Tailgating was great, but the game was horrible!! ...as is the Irish season.

Then, Ag and Drew went home for a week in October to get some family time. They had a wonderful time, and Drew definitely enjoyed meeting his new nephew, Ethan Charles Bolton.

 A few of our friends from Switzerland came to visit us recently too which was super fun.  They brought this for Drew....Seriously, how cool is the lederhosen??  Drew can't wait to wear it!


So, That's about all for now.  We posted quite a few pics on the blog link so enjoy!!

REALLY??

Again, REALLY??  Two times this week.....really??  Drew, you are mastering the skill of sleeping in the crib, however, you need to get this poo thing under control!

A True Marcum

So, Ag woke this morning to the cute jibber jabber coming through the monitor...what a beautiful thing! Drew was just talking in his crib hanging out. Yes, you read that right. Drew was in his crib.  He LOVES sleeping in his crib. We don't know why or what changed, but he sleeps in his crib now, no problem. Crazy! Anyway, Ag strolled into his room to see his smiling face and this big mess:

If that's not a true Marcum, I don't know what is.

"Buttons, buttons on the wall...."

"Who is the best baby of them all!?"  You better say Drew!!

So, until recently, Drew would look at the buttons on the wall over his bed and would be mesmerized by them.  If he was fussy, we would take him into his room to look at them, and he would quit whining and then smile.  It was so weird!  We think he thought they were people looking at him:)  Check out the video of Ag putting him on the changing table and him looking at his buttons:

So, as I mentioned in a few blogs ago, we went to Pittsburgh for Andy and Jessie's wedding (Sept 11th weekend).  The whole weekend was absolutely beautiful and the wedding was quite the party.  As you can see from the pic below, Ag was working overtime!  Needless to say, everyone had a wonderful time and Drew did excellent on the flight!  

Ag and I were so worried about how Drew would do on the plane as he has recently boycotted his crib and pacifer.  Therefore, Ag went to Babies r Us and bought about 6 or 7 different styles of pacis as back-ups.  We should have bought stock....anyway, of course, he still won't take any of them!

One of our strategies was then to take one of the wooden buttons on his wall.  We were kind of joking about it and kind of serious.  Well, since we have been back from the trip, he won't smile at the buttons any more!  Maybe his eyes have focused enough and he realizes they are just wood circles with more circles cut out of them??

In Good Hands

As you can see, Drew is protected from mayhem such as spit up and drool.

Sh*#t Happens

So Ag and Drew left to go on a walk today.  Five minutes later they were back....As you will see from the picture below, (bottom left to be specific) Drew had a wardrobe malfunction.  Ag's response to the whole messy situation, "Seriously, what can I do?  Sha*@#t happens!".

Monkeying around....

Who's the real monkey in this picture??  Thanks cousin Connie for all of Drew's fun monkey things!

It's time to relax....

Drew had a busy weekend away in Pittsburgh...on Saturday, he felt he needed some "me" time to sit back and relax with his bottle and watch some college football.

Such a busy week...

Drew practiced saying, "Ah-goo.".

Drew had his first El ride....

Drew decided to help Ag with the laundry.....

Drew tried on his super cool Reds hat.....

What was I saying to Drew in the picture?

A: "Now you don't have to swing on 3-0, but if he grooves it and you
like it, come on out of your shoes..."

B: "You've done really well so far not peeing on me when I change you.
Let's keep that up."

C: "We hate the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Don't
ever forget that."

D: "If it's a cash flow hedge, everything gets recorded in OCI until the
forecasted transaction occurs; once that happens, you move it into P&L.
That's different than a fair value hedge, you know, because both the
hedged item and the derivative go through earnings, and any
ineffectiveness just falls out..."

Winner gets a 12-pack of Goose Island 312.

Maggie x 2

Drew got spoiled this past week as his two favorite Maggie's came to visit him.  What fun he (and mom) had! 

Maggie Sjovall (seriously, how cute is she??) stopped over with her mom, Alison, last Sunday afternoon.  Then, one of Ag's best friends, Maggie B., came up from Cincy for a few days to just chill with her and Drew.  It was great to see her, and I know it meant so much to Ag that she was here.

These will make you smile....

Honestly, don't you just laugh and smile when you see those legs??

Just this past week, Drew has been smiling more and more. 

He LOVES to lay in his crib and stare at the big wooden buttons on the walls.  He just giggles and smiles at them!  His other favorite hangout is chillin' on our bed.  If he gets fussy, we go and lay down for a few minutes....He loves to watch the fan go around and around over head. 

He LOVES his swing too. We wish the swing came in an "adult" size for us.

Lazy Sunday

We had a good weekend, and today has been a lazy Sunday so far.  I worked from home on Friday while Aggie had her 6 week follow up with the OB.  Everything went well!  I ended up getting some tickets to the Cubs vs Reds game yesterday, and a couple of my buddies came up to hang out and see the game.  It was a lot of fun; the Reds won an exciting game and we drank a lot of beer!  ;-)  Drew was happy to stay home with mom and hang out and not partake in the nonsense.

We are watching the Reds beat the Cubs again today (on TV this time), and are planning to watch the Bengals play the Cowboys tonight in the first NFL pre-season game.  The best part about this weekend?  No work!  Things should be slower now until the next quarter, which will start to pick up in the last week of September.

We got some funny video of Drew waking up from a nap today:

 
There are some good pics we've taken recently too, such as the below.

We'll post more videos and pics as we take them.  Until next time!

Suckers!!

  "Hee, hee!" says Drew with a sly smile....

I fooled mom and dad to think that I would be a good night sleeper (see previous blog).  Little did they know, I was going to keep mom up all night last night....I woke up at 12midnight, 1:30a, 3a, and 5a....I wasn't even hungry.  I just thought she should come "visit" me in my room.  I haven't decided what my plan will be tonight...

Miracles Do Happen

Drew slept from 9:30p last night till 6:23a this morning! 

Drew had a big day yesterday as we celebrated with our friends, Jen and Eric, their son's 1st birthday. Partying (aka. crying) with Jack must have worn Drew out!  Honestly, this picture of Jack is priceless.....

Of course being new parents, Ag and I woke up a few times throughout the night (just out of routine), wondering if Drew was okay....After checking on our little man, we slipped back into our deep REM sleep:)  Let us all keep our fingers crossed tonight is a repeat sleep pattern!

Our first few weeks of parenthood

If you look up the definition of "sleep", you will basically find several variations of the following:

"The natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored." "....the eyes usually close and consciousness is completely or partially lost, so that there is a decrease in bodily movement and responsiveness to external stimuli."

Okay, we don't have this anymore....It's quite amazing how one little guy, who is really cute and sweet during the day, can cause us to lack this very basic, yet important humanly need at night.

Of course, when I fall asleep, I fall really hard. Ag sometimes has to hit me or yell (or let Drew yell :) ) to wake me if she needs help. It's crazy. Oddly enough, Aggie seems to do okay with one or two hours of sleep between feedings. I just can't function...I guess that's why she is "super mom".

Lack of sleep aside, we are doing great! Drew is developing really well and just had his 2-week doctor's appointment. He is 8lb 12oz and 21 inches long. The doctor said he is a 100% perfectly healthy little boy.

You can tell he is getting stronger as he is holding his neck up longer and controlling his movements a bit more. He discovered his hands the first day he was out of the womb and still loves to have them near his face and in his mouth.  Unfortunately, his vocal cords are developing at a rapid pace as well!

A few of Drew's habits so far:
1. He HAS to have one leg out of his miracle blanket/swaddle. If you put him in it with both legs inside, sometimes he wakes up and if you just "guide" a leg out, he falls back to sleep. It's so funny!  (As a side note, he gets this from his mother.  Agnes always has to have one foot outside of the blankets/comforter when she sleeps.  I will normally annoy her in the morning by grabbing said foot with a cold hand just before I leave for work.  Oh, love....)

2. He makes a "OOOooooohhhhhhhh" face when he has bad gas and is filling his diaper.

3. He LOVES to be cuddled and sit on his mommy's chest.  Daddy...not so much just yet.

4. The first week or so we had quite a few leaks and accidents. This week we had just one!

5. He seems to really like bath time. Of course, one time this week Aggie finished giving him a bath and had him all wrapped up in his towel when he proceeded to poo....he immediately had another bath!

After we came home from the hospital on June 30, we had a few days to fend for ourselves with Drew.  Then my parents, big Ferd and Andrea, were here for about 10 days during the 4th of July weekend (July 3rd-July 11th).  We basically hung out and watched Drew do what he does.  My dad and I went to the Cubs v Reds game on July 4, which was a really good time. Fred left for part of the week for work and Mom stuck around and helped us with Drew. I was working full, long days, so it was extra special and great that she was here to help Ag out.  Not sure what we'd have done without her.  We took Drew to a few restaurants and he was a champ!

After my parents left, Ann and Theresa, Ag's sisters, came to visit us for a few days (July 14th-16th). They loved hanging out with Drew! Plus, they ran lots of errands and again, helped Ag out a lot which was great.

We celebrated my birthday last weekend and had a few friends over.  We were supposed to hang out in the yard and BBQ, however, it proceeded to rain, so the party came indoors.  You know "man on man defense" in sports?  Well, it was a "man on baby" defense at our place because our friends who came each had two kids.  The night was busy, yet fun!

We have our friend from Switzerland, Carole, coming into town later this week for a visit and then are heading to Cincy for a few days. It should be a nice time.  Hopefully Drew will sleep well in the car....he is still not sold on the car seat, but seems to be doing better with it.

Stay tuned for next week's edition of "The Marcum Family: Adventures in Poo-ville"!