As some of you might remember I had a baby shower. At this baby shower my super cute friend Lora had an idea for all the guests to write messages to me and Nick in the diapers to cheer us up during middle of the night duties. Well, we are just about done with those diapers and I must say they were pretty entertaining, I especially like the one from my friend Erika who wrote down a very long but classic line from Napoleon Dynamite, or from all my sisters who seem to think alike and wrote that they are Andrew's favorite aunt. But on Sunday morning when I went to change him, I got more than just a message written on the diaper--it was also written on his butt! With bright pink marker the message had transferred onto his skin. I put him in the bath hoping to get him clean but to no avail! It is just now starting to fade(two days later).



Unfortunately I thought of taking pictures after I had given him the bath...but it gets the point across

My blessed baby

Last Sunday we were able have Andrews baby blessing, and its me that comes out of it feeling blessed. I have the most wonderful husband and son, I couldn't love them more or be happier. I am so thankful that so many of our friends and family were able to make it, your support means the world to us!

Chunky Monkey

We went to the doctor yesterday and found out that we have quite a little chunk on our hands. I know most of you don't care(this is mainly for the grandmas)

Andrew weighs 14.3 lbs - 94% for his age and is 23 1/2 inches long which is 69%.

and the winner is...BOSTON!

We are so excited to finally know where we are going to be next year. We'll be very sad to leave our family and friends but at the same time are anxious to get started with this new chapter of our lives. We know that this is where we are suppose to go, and feel completely at peace with our decision.
We won't be leaving until late summer but I've already browsed craigslist for apartments and saw a couple postings for move-ins for 9-1-09, so I'll have to keep my eye out. If any of you know the city please feel free to tell us where you think might be the best places to live. I'm not sure how I feel about the cold factor yet but at least I have an excuse to buy the cute coat I saw the other day!(you know me, always looking at the positive!)

...and we have smiles!! :)

At around Thanksgiving time, Andrew began to smile in response to stimuli. We caught a few smiles on camera!

Thanksgiving

This year the boys and I went up to Lake Arrowhead with Nick's family for Thanksgiving. It was nice to get away for a few days and do nothing but spend time with the fam. We had a great dinner (thanks to Debi) and ate a lot all weekend. It was especially fun to see Nick's brother Skyler with Andrew for the first time. I wasn't sure how he would be since I've never really seen him with a baby. But there was no need to fear because as long as Andrew wasn't spitting up or pooping, his uncle Skyler was around to hold him and make him laugh. It is too bad he doesn't live closer. I also know that Nick enjoyed some guy time with Skyler and his brother-in-law Trenton (he finally had people to play Settlers of Zarahemla with him). The only thing that was missing was Natalie. We missed you!

New Peeps!

This past week was really fun, Andrew was able to meet so many new people who love him so much! He also has started to smile quite a bit but I have to go through all my pictures to find the best one.

My friend Summer


Andrew with his Uncle Skyler


Andrew with his great grandma Connie


Great Anut Ellie

Go Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Empanadas...yum!

I am reading lots of cooking blogs recently and I've decided to start making one new recipe a week. Last week I saw this recipe for empanadas and I was already going to make my favorite Cuban dish that night, so I substituted the recipes meat with my yummy picadillo meat and made some pretty good empanadas! The dough was cream cheese based, need I say more? Check it out!

Time Flys When You're Having Fun! six weeks already!

up close and personal




Nick at six weeks

Aunt Alyssa with almost all the cousins: Chase, Jillian, Ryan, Andrew and Lucy.
Samuel giving his baby cousin a kiss

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have my sister Alyssa and her two kids come into town to meet baby Drew. I miss them so much and it was so great to be able to share my baby with them. Thanks for coming guys! Love ya!

Divine Intervention

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with some friends. We had looked up a place called Texas BBQ on the Zagat website. It had a score over 20 so we thought that we couldn't be bad. We were wrong. We did a drive by and saw that no one was in the parking lot (first sign) and then noticed that the place was rated a C. NASTY!

We were in the ghetto and decided to stop and eat at the first place where it didn't look like we would get shot.

Our friend Matt later that night said that it was divine intervention because the food we ended up with was so much better than it would've been at Texas BBQ.

NEWS FLASH!

Okay, as you all know we named our baby Andrew. I am very happy with the name and I think it fits him. There are two nick names for someone named Andrew (Andy and Drew). When he was born we didn't care what he was called but I've since changed my mind. I've tried calling him Andy and I didn't like it, I've heard other people call him Andy and I wasn't a fan. It's not the name that I don't like but it's calling him that name that I don't like. Am I making sense? After getting to know him for the last month I have come to the conclusion that he is a Drew. So, the big news flash is that we have decided that he should be called Andrew or Drew. Please, no more Andy!

In other Andrew news:

He stayed home with daddy yesterday while I went back to work :( But I am happy to report that he was a very good boy! It was the first time he was given the bottle and he took it like a champ! Now Nick and I can actually think about going on a date alone!

Halloween Pictures! (Alyssa)

A big thanks to Samuel for letting us use his costume! After I put Drew in this I called Nick in the room and I thought he was going to pee his pants he was laughing so hard!

Happy Election Day!

I know I may sound weird but I love to vote! I enjoy the whole political process and I love that I live in a country where my voice matters. Whenever election day comes around I am reminded of how lucky I was to be born into this free country. I am so thankful that my mom and grandma sacrificed so much and came here to be free. I am thankful for the soldiers that have died and that are fighting for us to keep that same freedom right now. I hope that everyone goes out today and exercises their right to vote and be a part of this wonderful process. No matter what the turn out of the election today we still live in the greatest country on earth and should all feel very grateful.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Grandma and Andrew

Today is my Moms birthday so I thought I give her a shout out! On Saturday my family celebrated my mom and sister Lindsey's birthdays. My mom made yummy paella and we had the Doolan staple desert (yellow cake with chocolate frosting) It was so fun to be with everyone the only thing that could have made it better is if my sister Alyssa and her family were there.

i guess i don't know how to upload videos. when drew is sleeping i'll try to do it again.

I love my baby! For some reason Nick and I were blessed with the sweetest little boy. I really enjoy being a mom. Yes I am so tired but I am in awe of him. Nick and I can't believe how we can just stare at him for 20 minutes and not find it a waste of time, in fact we think its the greatest thing in the world. I am sure that everyone that has had a baby has felt exactly the same way. We don't have a ton of pictures this week but the videos are pretty cute.
We started off this week with Andrew meeting some family friends who I am convinced love him almost as much as I do. He also met his future wife Emrys who was born about 3 weeks before him. Other than that this week has not been all that exciting.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Andrew had his first trip(of many, poor guy) to Nordstroms this week. He wasn't crazy about the shoes I was looking at but he did seem to like the woman's lounge.

some more pictures

I'll do a real post later but I like these pictures and there are new ones every day to keep up with.

Baby Drew's first week

Most of you who will read this will be utterly bored I am sure but I know that there are a couple of you who really want to know this, so here is a break down of babys first week.
We came home from the hospital Monday afternoon. Aunt Lindsey and Nana(Nicks mom) came over and hung out for a while so I Nick and I could shower and feel semi- human again.
My Mom came over on Tuesday while Nick went to school to give me some help and much needed rest.
Wednesday we went to Andrews first doctors visit and at night Lindsey and Jude came over for dinner and so Uncle Jude could meet Andrew.
Thursday my Mom and Debi came over again while Nick was at school and Nicks dad and sister Chelsea came over for dinner.
Friday Andrew met the first of 3 great grandmas. Nicks grandma Corrine came over for a short visit, and later that night we had the Vandermydes , the Shelley's, the Snedecor's, and the Brewers all came by. The Shelley's made us an excellent dinner and we had so much fun comparing Porter, Tanner and Andrew. Espeacilly becasue Porter looks like a giant next to Tanner and Andrew. It is amazing how much differance there is in a 3 moth old compared to our little week old.
We went for our first outing (other than to the doctor) on Saturday to meet Great Grandma Lorraine and to see his cousins.He also meet his Nana at Sharky's for his first lunch date.
Like I said before I know that most of you feel like you've wasted time reading this post( I know I would) but hopefully the really cute pictures make up for it!

Introducing Andrew Nicholas Onken

Early Friday morning, October 3rd, Jamie woke up with small contractions at about 4:30 am that nonetheless kept her from sleeping. The whole day we spent walking, timing contractions, and breathing (plus a stop at Cheesecake Factory for some Buffalo Blasts). By roughly 5 am on Saturday the contractions had become 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart, so we packed up the car and headed over to the hospital. There we found that Jamie was not dilated at all and we were therefore sent back home. It was a somber 6 minute car ride.

The rest of Saturday was spent waiting for the contractions to become longer in duration and perhaps less spaced out. In addition to our lack of sleep it soon became apparent that Jamie was having some intense back labor, which increased our anxiety. It wasn't until 10 pm Saturday night that we decided to head back into the hospital. A quick check showed that Jamie had dilated to 4.5 cm, and we were admitted. By this time the pain in Jamie's back had become unbearable and an epidural helped ease that. It turns out that Jamie is a natural pusher and was able to give very productive pushes despite not being able to feel a thing. Her spirits remained high throughout the entire process and she even cracked off a few jokes in between pushes. Accompanied by both grandmas and Jamie's sister Lindsey, Jamie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at 7:36 am Sunday morning, October 5th. He weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. And we're still deciding who he looks like.