Lawson's First Birthday

October 3rd was my son's first birthday. The whole day was a bit surreal. It was just yesterday that he was born, and had his first bath, and gave us his first smile. Looking back at his first year, we have had many trials and we have made it through them all. I cannot imagine how my life would be without him. I still get so overwhelmed with happiness now that he is finally here with me.

Lawson was 5 pounds 12 ounces when he was born. The first two weeks were more challenging then they should have been because he was not interested in breast feeding. I tried and tried. I even had a lactation specialist to help me, but I started to get discouraged. It was not working. Just when I was about to give up, he gave me a ray of hope. From that moment on, it became easy and it became his favorite thing.

Lawson was like most children with the missed naps, and the cause of many tired nights. He however seemed to be a very facially expressive child, and always could let us know how he was feeling with just a look.

Anyone who has had a child go through surgery may understand my next feelings. At six months old, Lawson had to have surgery. He had a condition called hypospadia. The most I can say about this time in our lives is that I was a disaster. I left being strong and sane up to my husband. I was able to go back into the operating room with Lawson until he was asleep. I have to say, even though it went very smoothly, it was the worst thing ever. His surgery did go well though. At his last check-up he was all cleared from having to go back at all.

I also found out that my son has heart murmurs. He has a PSD and VFO (I think that is what they are called). They are very minor and most kids who have them usually grow out of them. It was a big concern of mine when Lawson had surgery. So far, we have only had to see the doctor once for this. It will be another year until we have to see one again.

Shortly after surgery, the doctor informed me that my son was skinny. So skinny that he fell off the charts for weight. This began the fun task of trying to get Lawson onto a bottle. It became a huge challenge, and going through many brands of formula before he was even giving it a chance. Unfortunately, even being on a bottle has not given my son any fat on his body. This is still an ongoing battle to this day. I have a strong feeling that he is built exactly like his daddy, and will be for a long time. Just tall and skinny is what they are.

We have had many milestones during this year also. His first word was mama. He has started falling asleep on his own. He has moved onto solid foods (bbq ribs being his favorite). He learned how to crawl, granted he will only do the army crawl.

Onto his first birthday. I am so happy that we got to have Eric's family with us to celebrate. My mother also came into town for the party. I am glad she did, because I am sure that I would not have been able to make the cake without her. The cake below was what we made for everyone at the party.

This cake was all for Lawson. He could have smashed it, licked it, poked it, or whatever, but he was scared of it. He did not even want to try it. But it was cute non-the-less.

He did enjoy the gifts a lot more. Actually, it was just the paper he liked. His cute cousins were very excited in "helping" him open the gifts though. All and all, he made out like a bandit.

Grandpa Bruce was teaching him how to say that he was "1 year old". He did learn how to hold up his finger though (and not "that" finger either).

All smiles with Grandma though. He just seemed to enjoy having her there with us.

Overall, I feel blessed for having to deal with all the challenges that come with having a child. Lawson gives life a whole new perspective, and I love the new view.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH LAWSON

Much overdue update!

So, I know that it has been like 7 months since my last posting. I feel like I have been so busy, but really it has been more excuses to not update the blog than I care to tell. I am done with excuses though.

First off, we went to Minnesota and visited Eric's family. We had such a great trip and really enjoyed being able to relax. I had never met any of Eric's dad side of the family, it was a trip of firsts. They were all very loving and I felt very comfortable around everyone. Thank you for letting me into your lives.


Chewy really enjoyed the ride. It was easier than swimming I guess.





Lucky us, we got to go on another family vacation also. We spent 3 days in YELLOWSTONE! We packed the whole park in those days, and it was not nearly enough time. We were some of the lucky ones though. We saw elk, bison, deer, grizzly, black bear, and a momma and baby moose. Lawson did great in the truck all day also. I was shocked by that. Granted, he did have me and my mom being silly the whole time too (and this was when the "earthquake" game was born!).

Look at those ears!! Wait, does daddy have the same ears? Why yes he does!

A very large, very lazy grizzly bear. He just wanted to sleep in the tall grass.





Eric found out that he was going to be deployed to Iraq (and I will explain more later), so we knew we wanted to sell our house. This was the wrong time to sell though. We were fully expecting to have to rent the house for a year, and I tryed not thinking of the headaches that would cause for me. Fortunately, we found a cute couple who really liked the house. The husband had just returned from his tour of duty, and that made the whole process so much sweeter. I was glad that we could give a new couple the same opportunity that we had in that house.

Then we were homeless. Alright, not really. Eric's parents were nice enough to let us stay with them for 3 months. Lawson really enjoyed having more time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa.

This update is to be continued...

wanna get away?

bottle anyone?

lawson is learning to drink from a bottle. he seems to enjoy it (most of the time). daddy is even teaching him to hold it himself. he is a fast learner, considering he has only been using bottles for 1 week now. however, he will not have anything to do with the bottle when it has formula in it. if anyone has any great ideas on how i can get him to start liking formula, please let me know.

new gift from grandma

So, my lovely mother sent lawson a new gift to get ready for our trip to Minnisota. it took little man a little bit to figure out the straps, but he got it eventually.

lawson and the rag

calling grandma

Lawson is kind-of sitting by himself now. He falls over alot, and he does not like doing it for long. But when he got to talk to Grandma while sitting, he was doing very well.

Carrots!

little man really likes carrots. he is going to town on them.



"What is that you say???"

"Carrots are good for me???"


"I do not think i like them anymore!"

Hoppy Easter Day!

Alright, so we do know that Easter is not until tomorrow, but bless Eric's heart, he is working overtime all day. so we decided to celebrate Easter today. we know it may seem horribly mean, but we had to buy this bunny outfit for Lawson, and he just looks so cute in it.



















and we could not forget about chewy ... she wanted to celebrate too.