Drew gets his wings!

On Thursday May 2nd, Drew and I took off on his first adventure to Iowa! 

He was exactly 7 weeks and 5 days old.  We had been talking about this trip since the day he was born... visiting his cousins (the 3 others that were born within the last 6 months! plus Ethan), aunts and uncles, the farm, grandma and grandpa, great grandma....it was a much anticipated trip!  I think we started packing about a week early - SO ready to meet those cousins and see everyone!!!


Wendy, mom, Melissa and Bri threw me a Sip and See Shower - which prompted the trip.  The weekend was also Grandma Butcher's 86th birthday weekend which made this trip even MORE special! 

I also want to document how absolutely CRAZY the weather in Iowa was the week of this trip...snow?!  Fortunately it didn't disrupt out travel plans, but I can't say that we had great weather while we were there - fortunately the family and friends we visited made up for that!

Yes...that is snow in the forecast for MAY.

Drew and I flew Southwest and connected through Chicago. He was such a little angle on the trip!  He was born a traveler - which is good thing since he will probably experience over 100 trips back to Iowa in his lifetime :-)  

"Let me know when I need to get out my ID, mom"

And... we're OUT! 

Also on this trip, I was able to conquer my fear of breastfeeding in public.  I practiced a few times at home with the Hooter Hider  - but lots of anxiety about getting him situated and everything 'in place' while in public.  Fear not.  We did it and it wasn't bad at all!

We got in on Thursday night - mom picked us up and away we went to Holstein.  We were greeted by Wendy, Ethan and baby Luke when we got home! It was just AWESOME.  Wendy and I were up with the boys feeding in the middle of the night - sure was more fun talking then texting at 3am!  Since we had been talking about this trip for the past 8 weeks - it was fun to actually LIVE it!




Friday morning Drew and I went out to make a few rounds.  First stop was at Christina Kjar's studio for some fancy pictures!  They are absolutely AWESOME and can't wait to get them displayed  around the house.

You can check them out here:  http://www.christinakjar.com/photocart
Click on Access Gallery and enter the code:  merrill

 After the photo shoot (which was 1 of 2 scheduled that day) we popped in at the bank to say hi to Papa.  Drew wanted to make a good first impression, so he decided to wear his tie!

"So what's a baby got to do to get a loan around this place?"

Next stop - Grandma Butcher's!  This was her first time meeting Drew and my heart just melted seeing her hold him and shhhhh him off to sleep.

Great Grandma Butcher is officially on the Grandparent Parade now!  Seeing her with Drew is just so special - I steal any photos I can get!

Luke was such a little love bug!  Quite the snuggler!

Uncle Andrew and Uncle Ben - a couple of experienced baby handlers!

Next up.. photo shoot #2.  We went back down to Christina's studio with ALL. THE. COUSINS.  We were on a mission to get a pic with all of them as babies - the session was priceless.  Some crying, some sleeping, some scared, some relaxed.  Hilarious.

I have to admit that Drew was pretty low maintenance.  Must be a Florida/beach thing.. ;-)

"I don't know what the big deal is... all ya gotta do is sit here"

After some good laughs at the studio... time to head back to mom's for the shower!  Wendy, mom, Melissa and Bri put on QUITE the Sip and See event!  The food was yummy, drinks were great and so many people came by to see little Drew.  Aunts, Great Grandparents, cousins and friends!  I'm quite certain that at one point there were more babies there than adults!   There was lots of love all around us :-)

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hammer made an appearance before the shower got going.  

We also received SO many wonderful gifts at the shower - just wanted to say thank you to everyone (if you are reading this) - it truly was an evening to remember.  Lots of beautiful memories were made.

On Saturday morning more family and friends stopped by... and more babies stopped by!  I don't have any pictures - but it seemed like the door to mom's house was a revolving family, friends and baby door - loved it!

That afternoon Uncle Brad came down - was so happy he could meet Drew!

Check out this experienced dad multi-tasking!

Saturday evening we all went out to celebrate Grandma Butcher's birthday.   It reminded me of how nice it is to be from a small town... there is now way you could get 4 babies a 3 year old and 12 adults situated at a single table if were in the big city.   But Freddy's downtown was the PERFECT spot!

Babies were passed around this table like salt and pepper shakers!

Did I mention Rah-Rah was home??!  What a treat to see her again...her and Drew are good buds :)

Look at that birthday girl - doesn't she look great! 

Sunday we took it easy and spent the afternoon relaxing at dad's house.  Here, Grandma Butcher proved she really is the master baby-shush-er!  Just as I thought Drew was going to start screaming when I sat down to eat dinner, Grandma came to the rescue and put him off to sleep for another hour.  How does she do it????

Drew hanging with his big boy cousins - Ethan and Kelby (AKA - the BULLDOZER!)

Drew isn't looking too happy... but Ethan says 'no sweat - I got this!'

LOVE.

Get in your corners! 

...'Where did they go, Drew?"  "I dunno - looks like they ditched us"

SO SWEET.  Ethan is SUCH an awesome cousin. 

Is this Heaven?  No - It's mom on her couch with all of her grandbabies wearing ISU gear!

Lots of amazing memories and family moments were had on this trip.  It was one for the record books.  Can't wait to share these pictures and stories with Drew one day!