Happy Thanksgiving

This year, even more so than in the past, David and I have so much to be thankful for. Drake has just been an amazing addition to our family. Already at 9 months old, he has so much personality and I can just imagine what a ham he will continue to be as he grows older.

My First Thanksgiving (Drake just started to eat blueberries)

To celebrate Thanksgiving day, we went to Greenville to have dinner with David's family. It was great having all the cousins in the same place for the first time since Drake has been born and watching our nieces and nephews play with Drake.

The cousins put on a puppet show for Drake after dinner. There was a script and everything, although Logan had to whisper Mary Kate's lines in her ear, as she cannot read yet!

Tyler, Drake, and Granddaddy

Drake and his Uncle Rusty

We also went to the men's basketball game this weekend and some of the women's players babysat Drake for the first half of the game. They really are very good with him and he had a great time playing with them.

Drake with Pauldo

Drake with Chancie

I leave tonight for my second trip of the semester...to Iowa. David has a little help this time around while I am away with his parents in town. David's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer right before and began treatment 4 days after Drake was born, so Drake has not really gotten to spend much time with his Mammy and Granddaddy. This is a great opportunity for all three of them to have fun together!

Leaf Fun

This weekend was our first real taste of the crispness of fall. Other than watching sporting a Clemson football game on TV and going to the Men's Basketball game, we really did not do very much. As I have mentioned before, we live on a large lot that is surrounded by a lot of trees, which equals a lot of leaves. David spent a lot of the weekend making piles of leaves and then moving them to the curb. I couldn't resist putting Drake in the leaves!



Watching David rake



Crustacean Love

Drake first encounter with a crustacean (no, he did not eat lobster, just played with him for a minute)

First Night Away

For my job, I have to travel quite a bit between the months of November and March (maybe one day April!). The trips are just overnight trips, but I do not get back until the middle of the night on the second night. Yesterday I went on my first trip pf the season; my first night away from Drake.

I knew that I would be ok (as long as I had my friend Medela) and I knew that David and Drake would be fine also. This knowledge did not prevent me from obsessing preparing to help make things easier on David. I realized that I needed to make sure that David understood that my preparation in no means indicated that I had a lack of trust in him. I was just thinking to myself, what would make my life easier if David wasn't around and I did that for him.

I have many more trips in the months to come and I know that David and Drake (and me) will all be fine. It is good to have this first trip under my belt though. David's parents will be in town while I am away after Thanksgiving and then just one more trip before our big trip to Hawaii for Christmas. More to come on Drake's first plane trip, which also happens to be a 10+ hour trip.

Backyard Campfire

We live on a pretty big lot (almost 2 acres) and are surrounded by trees. The trees that we have tend to create a lot of branch debris. While we could put said limbs on the curb and the City will pick them up, it is more fun to have a campfire. A couple years ago, I used the cinderblocks left in teh backyard by the previous owners to create a very ugly, but functional, firepit.

Saturday we decided to have a little backyard campfire, complete with fire roasted hotdogs and s'mores. This was Drake's first, of many to come, campfire experiences and while he was not able to partake in the hotdogs or s'mores, he did enjoy his dinner of pork with apples by the fire.

9 Months Old

Drake, you are 9 months old today. This week is the week that you have been been alive for the same number of weeks that I carried you. Everyday you learn new things and it is amazing to watch your wonder when you seen something new or imitate something that we do.

You now have 2 teeth. The bottom right tooth came in first on Friday, October 28th and the bottom left tooth was quick to follow. They still are not all the way in and I can tell that they are giving you some pain. You just like to have something in your mouth all the time now.

You continue to be a great eater. I have found that proteins are not always your favorite food, but I have found the perfect ratio of protein to banana and you eat it like a champ. This month you started to eat yogurt and in the last week, I have increased your fruit/veggie intake by 2 ounce. I think starting tonight, I am going to have to increase dinner by 1 ounce. You love yogurt melts, which make for a nice dessert or snack for you.

You fell asleep last Sunday while eating your lunch. This is the first time this had happened...I am going to put the fault on the return to standard time. You took a little nap and finish lunch a little later.

You are still exclusively a breastfeed baby. This has been a challenge and I have been a pumping fool to make this happen, but it is worth it for me to continue to give this to you. We will see what happens next week when I go on my first overnight trip without you.

You are still wearing 12 month clothes, but everyday when I put something on you, I tell your daddy that today is the last day you can wear that. We bought you some new clothes last weekend and got 18 months, which are slightly big but at this rate, they will be too small soon! You were only in the 12 month clothes for 2 months! Monday you have your 9 month doctor's appointment, so I will post your height and weight stats then.

You are becoming a very fast crawler and like to follow us all around the house. You are continuing to cruise on furniture and can transition from one thing to another. I have tried to hold your hands and have you walk forward, but you are not ready for that yet.

Luke and Alice are still your best friends. You love to be near them and try to pet them, although they are not always fans of this arrangement. Most often they run off and you start to crawl after them. Last night though, Alice let you play with her tail for a minute.

You went to your first basketball game last Saturday and have a men's/women's double header tonight. I think you enjoy watching everyone at the games and people love seeing you!

Watching the men's basketball game against Queens very intently

You have not been a great sleeper lately. For the last month or so, you have woken up in the middle of the night almost every night. Can we please go back to sleeping through the night?

You are very talkative, but you still only occasionally will say dada. Mama is constant, nana, baba, and all sorts of noises. You smack your lips to make a popping sound and your enjoy making your lips make a vibrating sound.

You now hold your arms up when you want to be picked up and you are starting to give kisses. You love beating your hands on any surface to make a drumming sound and you think fist bumps are so funny. I have been trying to teach you to clap, and while you really like the sound it makes, you are not too into this yet.

You have a great personality and love to be around people. You smile at everyone you see and that just makes them feel so special. We are so lucky to have you in our lives and get those smiles everyday.

You love to play with the water bowl. It is more fun with water in it, but you'll play with it sans water also.

With Helen when she and Jason visited from Arizona

First Downtown Clemson Halloween event

David wants to make this a reading nook for Drake with pillows (it is a firewood storage area)

The State of College Athletics

The recent events that have transpired at Penn State have had me thinking even more about the current state of college athletics. Please remember that I am an athletic department employee at a releatively large university. I have always participated in sport and enjoyed watching those that I did not play. Having said that, I think Penn State has shown us what can happen on college campuses when the football program is the most powerful department on campus.

Was it because the allegations involve football that nothing was said? What if the same situation had involved a swimming or tennis coach? My guess would be that the incident would have been reported to the police, saving potential future victims. I now know that there needs to be reform in college football. I do realize that football bring a large sum of money and national recognition to universities. This does not make them above the law or even codes of ethics.

When I first heard about what was alleged to have happened at Penn State, I felt like Paterno had done the right thing; when informed of what the GA saw, he told his direct supervisor and expected it to be handled from there. Throughout this week, I have continued to think about this and have read the Grand Jury Report. I have come to the conclusion that, as the most powerful individual on the Penn State campus, Paterno had an obligation to a potential victim to report what he had been told to the proper authorities. If he was not comfortable reporting second hand information, drive the GA to the police station and hold his hand while he made a statement. Turning a blind eye has done nothing but tarnish the reputation of this legendary football coach.  

I will continue to watch college football and all other sports but I do think such a terrible situation needs for us to reevaluate the power, privilege, and protection that football programs are sometimes afforded. Stop this abuse of power before more innocent people are hurt.

Puppy Love

So much of our focus has been on Drake and I wanted to make sure that our dogs, Alice and Luke got a little attention as well. Drake loves the dogs. He laughs at them, he crawls after them, and he just wants to pet, lick, bit, and play with them. Alice and Luke have other ideas...they generally want to be away from him, although Alice has been allowing Drake to crawl on her and Luke occasionally will come up and lick Drake and then run off.

Alice is a 12 year old husky/lab mix. She is a very sweet dog with really bad breath (she has broken teeth, which contributes to this problem). She has been around kids before and typically has a lot of patience. She does not like her tail pulled or to be sat on, but otherwise, tolerates Drake very well. Over the last few months, Alice has been pretty lethargic. She will sometimes have a spurt of energy but generally she just lays around. Now that it is cooler outside, she has started to want to go outside again, where she used to spend all her time.


We have a firewood storage area in one of our fireplaces that David wants to make into a "reading nook" for Drake. In the meantime, he has put one of the dog beds there.

Luke is a four year old german shepherd mix of some sort. He still has a ton of energy and would chase a ball or frisbee all day long if someone is willing to throw to him. David has tried to continue to give Luke the attention that he needs, but it really is just not possible everyday. He stays outside during the day, so he does spend plenty of time running around, ensuring that no squirrels or chipmunks enter our yard. Luke has been a bit scared of Drake. We think he is under the impression that he will get in trouble if he gets near Drake. Drake crawls to him and he runs off, so Drake crawls after him and then play a little game of tag (Drake is always "it" and never wins!).

Happy Anniversary

Happy anniversary to David and I. Three years ago today, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to make a lifelong commitment to my best friend. With Drake joining our family in February, this has been the best year of our ten years together. I am not going to pretend that it has been easy; sleepless nights do not always make for the best moods. But, David has been a great support to me and put up with my sometimes craziness. I have also had to put up with his GEB Syndrome, but I still love him more and more everyday.

I always knew that David would be a wonderful father, but actually having the change to watch him with Drake is just amazing. Drake loves his daddy and follows him all over the house. He refuses to say "Dada" on a consistent basis, but I think it is pretty clear how much Drake loves David.

So, happy anniversary to the, although not perfect, man that I love and married three years ago today. I am so thankful for our love and the life we have brought together into this world!

You Want Me to Eat What?

When Drake decides that he does not like a new (and sometimes old) food, he makes a very funny face, clenches his fists and starts banging on his highchair table. It is very amusing and typically when we laugh, he does also. Here is a short video to somewhat demonstrate his dislike face. Tonight's food was edamama and vegetables with cheese sauce. The vegetables were a new createion and actually tasted pretty good to me! Usually the fist banging goes on much longer but he did not want to perform for the camera tonight.

Dwindling Supply

When I was pregnant with Drake, I knew that I wanted to nurse him. For me, assuming we did not have problems, there was not question as to if I would nurse. At first it was difficult; Drake lost over a pound in the first few days of his life and we were having to go to the doctor's office almost everyday for weigh-ins. I was told that we would need to supplement with either formula or breast milk and so started my intimate relationship with the breast pump.

When I was told I was going to need to supplement, I actually did not yet own a breast pump. My thinking had been that we would buy one about a month after Drake was born. So, my dad ran out to the store to pick one up for me and a-pumping I went. I started to pump about each of Drake's feedings and would would earn a precious half an ounce, which we would then put in a syringe to feed to Drake like a little bird.

Drake gained his weight back, started eating like a champ, but I continue to pump after the majority of his nursing sessions. I started to build my supply and once he stopped waking in the middle of the night to eat, I continue to get up and pump. I think at the "top of my game", I had 63 six-ounce bags of milk in the freezer!

My goal had originally been to nurse Drake until I started to travel with basketball, so the beginning of November. Because it was going so well, I altered that goal to 12 months; why should we buy formula when my milk is free and has all the nutrients that Drake needs.

Recently I have found that my supply is slowly dwindling. I am pumping much less throughout the day and now am taking a bag out of the freezer but am unable to replace it with new milk. My freezer supply has gone from the 63 bags to about eight. It was a tough day for me when I had to go from two storage boxes in the freezer to just one. I am not sure what is going on, but during the week, Drake is eating more than I am producing. I think part of it is due to the fact that the woman that watches him during the week gives him much more milk that I do on the weekends. He is eating it, so I guess that he needs it, but I just can no longer keep up.

I think in the next week or so, we are going to have to move to half formula and half breast milk. It really is not what I want to do, but I know that the majority of the nutriants that Drake is absorbing does come from his milk/formula at this stage in life. I have heard that oatmeal helps with mlik production, so I am going to start eating that and trying to do anything that I can to continue to give him majority breast milk. We will see but in the end, I know it is essential that Drake get the nutrients that he needs, so we will move to formula should it come to that.