Potty Training Graduation and LOTS of snow!

There is a lot of action in the Urbanek household these days! Drew is always on the move. I have been trying to get him to potty train a little bit here and there. Some nights I put him in underwear and protective pants. He goes in the potty pretty well. It is my intention to start training him over Christmas break. We will see how it goes. Secondly, he likes to wear his snow boots all the time. He wears them around the house and has to put them on himself! These are a few shots of him modeling his big boy pants and his boots around the house!

We have A LOT of snow up here and it is snowing as I type this. We probably have at least a foot of snow already. I decided to dress Drew up in all his gear and take him out to see the progress on the house. It is coming slowly, but surely. They are working on plumbing/heating and hopefully electrical soon!

My little brother Danny graduated from UNI on Saturday and we attended the ceremony. Drew really couldn't sit still so he and Daddy made some laps around the place. The other picture is supposed to be of Danny on the jumbotron getting his diploma.


We did not send out Christmas cards this year. We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and blessed new year!

House Updates!

I think this is the sweetest picture ever! It is so hard to get him to smile at the camera and hold still long enough to snap the picture anymore. This one is definately a keeper!
Drew likes to wear different hats now. This is one example of a Saturday morning hat session!

Joe's football team made it to the state semi-finals last week in the UNI Dome. These are just a couple of pictures of him on the sideline.

Daddy waving to Drew from the roof yesterday.

The house is getting really close to being completely closed in. The part in the picture is the only part left to be shingled. Hopefully that will be finished by the end of the weekend and the windows will be installed as well. We are really getting down to the wire! Joe has been going non-stop since July! Once he gets it completely inclosed, he is going to get some much needed R&R so he can find his second wind to finish this thing! (I might even let him hunt a bit! :) )

Wow, It's Been Awhile!

This is the first picture of the house in July. I love little Drew running by!
Aaron ( our high school helper) Will, Joe and Mark putting up the wall between the house and garage.

The house kind of how it looks now. They built the front porch this weekend so it looks a bit different now!

Drew swinging on our trip to the apple orchards in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago.

Papa Mark, Drew and Daddy

Using his mo, mo at the house.

Brushing his teeth like a big boy!

This was one of my shirts when I was little!

Mowing the yard with Daddy. Better safe than sorry!

He loves to wear his "hat" around the house and around the neighborhood!

Driving with Mac.

See, I told you he loves to wear his "hat"!

Pretending to drive another new favorite activity.

Hanging out on Bebo's side of the fence for awhile.

Corn on the cob for the first time. Yum!

It has been awhile since I've blogged. Sorry to everyone that has wondered if we feel off the face of the earth! Well, we haven't! The summer was awesome and we really enjoyed our time off.

We went on vacation to Minnesota like we always do. We made a few trips to Ottumwa, and of course to the pool. Drew loved swimming at all the different water parks. He especially enjoyed going down "big boy" waterslides.

In July we broke ground on our new house! Joe and his dad are building our dream home just on the edge of town here in Tripoli. We will be able to see the golf course out our huge living room windows (Joe's dream!) It is going to be a ranch with a catwalk loft. So far things are going very well. They hope to have the roof completed after next weekend.

Drew is very busy growing and learning. He says new words everyday and is very independent. He likes to pick out his shoes, brush his own teeth and has recently started trying to zip his own coat. I plan on potty training him over Christmas break.

Easter and Other Fun Stuff

Happy Easter! Drew was so happy to see all of the different sport equipment he got in his Easter basket. He LOVES balls and can almost always been seen carrying one!

We jumped on our trampoline at Grandma Jan and Papa Mark's house today. Drew loved it! He's actually laughing in the picture, even though it looks like he's crying.

We hunted eggs at Grandma and Papa's too. He loved it! He even carried his own basket!

Drew and his cousins.

From left: Alex (8), Drew (15 mo.) Mackenzie (21 mo.) and Taylor (5)

Aren't they the cutest!

This is Drew on Thursday afternoon during our daily wagon ride. He loves to go in the wagon as long as he has a nice cold cup of milk in his cup holder! What a goof!

A much more serious pose!

Reading his favorite book of animal sounds.

Playing with the block box. Aren't I a good mommy, I taught him this! :)

Eating his first Girl Scout cookie, a Peanut Butter Pattie.

He was licking the glass!

Fore!Practing his golf swing.

This is how you will usually see Drew, with a glass of milk on his mommy's lap! He is such a momma's boy!

It's been a long while since I've last updated everyone. Everything is going great here in Tripoli. Drew is still growing and changing every day. He is so much fun and always entertaining. He is starting to say more. His vocabulary includes: DaDa, No No, MaMa, ball, What's that?, bye and hi. He babbles a lot of other things that only make sense to him and possibly Mackenzie! We have about six more weeks of school left. Joe is busy with golf now, coaching both the boys and girls teams by himself. There really isn't too much exciting going on around here other than watching Drew grow and learn!

A Rough Couple of Days

Drew has had a hard couple of weeks. We went an entire year without illness or injury, then he turned a year! At his year appointment, they gave him his chickenpox vaccine, which is completely standard. Drew, however had been sick that previous Sunday and Monday (his appointment was Thurs.) with a 102 temp. We took him to his appointment anyway and they gave him the vaccine because he was not running a temp at the time. About a week and a half later, we noticed a rash near the injection site, and sure enough he had gotten the chickenpox! It was a very mild case. After the rash went away, he got really congested and weezy, so we took him back to the doctor and they gave him a steroid for five days. He finally started feeling better this weekend, until today that is! We had a snow day today and we were playing in the living room. Drew was walking around having a grand time, until he fell and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table. It was the loudest thing I've ever heard! It was a really deep cut. We took him to the doctor and they decided to super glue it closed because of it's location and for cosmetic reasons. Hopefully this is our last trip to the doctor until Drew's 15 month appointment. The chickenpox kid!

We have to cover it with a bandaid, so he doesn't mess with the glue.

Here's what it looks like post super glue. I didn't take a picture of it when it happened. I wish I would have!

Drew's First Birthday!

Drew had two first birthday parties (as weird as that sounds!) His first one was in Tripoli the day before his actual birthday. We had a lot of friends and family over. It was great to get everyone together and Drew received way too many wonderful gifts.
These next three pictures are kind of random, but it's where they ended up when I uploaded them so oh well! This first one is Drew and Monkey's official one year photo. Doesn't he look like such a big boy? (Drew, not Monkey! :) )

This one is Drew on the day of Grandma Elsie's funeral. He was actually sick that day, I just didn't know it at the time of this picture. Mean Mommy!!

Drew and Bebo checking on Alice, our 90 year old neighbor.

This is from Drew's birthday party in Ottumwa which was the weekend after his actual birthday. He is with his friends Kenleigh Burton (left) and Bailey Johnson (right) I went to high school with both of their parents.

Drew's cake in Ottumwa. He didn't seem to like chocolate as much as vanilla.

His big cake. He's saying MMMMM. He knew what it was because of his previous party!

Drew and Monkey have a dandy time at the party!

Drew's first try at birthday cake. I told you he liked vanilla better!

Opening gifts in Tripoli.

It's crazy how fast the year has gone. We have had so much fun watching Drew change before our very eyes. We feel so blessed to have him in our lives and we're not real sure what we did before he was born! We look forward to all of the new things and joys that lie ahead of our little family!