One Small Step...

Over the past week or so, Lawson has gotten more and more comfortable standing on his own and cruising along the furniture. He will even toddle beside you holding one hand for a little ways. Then, on Christmas Eve Eve, he took SEVEN steps all by himself. Now, Jason may or may not have been holding his iPhone out as bait, but still. He took SEVEN steps all by himself. SEVEN!!!

We of course did not get this on video, and the second we tried for an encore the little stinker just wanted to crawl. He's been taking more and more steps every day. He's not "walking" just yet, but he sure is getting close. I cannot believe my baby is getting so big so fast.

Since we have yet to get video or a picture of him taking steps by himself, these pics of him standing and looking all grown up will have to do.

Mandy

Two Front (Bottom) Teeth

Well, folks, it's official. Lawson has two front teeth...at Christmas. They are both on the bottom, but there are two of them and the are in the front, so I think that totally counts. :-) We suspected the second one was making it's way to the surface for the past week or so, and I confirmed this the day after Christmas when I got a good look at it during breakfast.

Now we wait to see when the rest pop up. But, I will forever tell people that Lawson got his two front teeth for his first Christmas.

Mandy

The Train

Creekmore Park in Fort Smith has a wonderful light display at Christmas time and they also have a train for kiddos (and parents) to ride. The train goes around about half the park. It's a quick ride, but still fun. I've never been before (feeling a little silly thinking of going to ride the train without a child in tow), but this year my Mom, sisters and I took the kiddos to ride. We had such a good time! We rode the train twice (back-to-back), and if the older two kids had their way we would have ridden all night long. 

I just love this picture of me and my boy. As you'll see in the pics below, not many of the others turned out great of everyone. Someone was either looking away (Nana), crying (Lawson), or drinking hot chocolate (Addison Grace). Either way, we had such a great time. 

 Like I said, Nana looking away from the camera. For whatever reason, most pictures of her are from the side because she is usually looking at one of the kiddos.

The kiddos with their Nan. Lawson is clearly ready for dinner, and Addison is mostly concerned with her hot chocolate. Poor Jevin is the only on cooperating.

I think Addison is the only one who realized someone was taking a picture. This is pretty spot on for her though. All smiling and posing for the camera. Love this girl.

I just love these two. Lawson is so lucky to have them as cousins. I have a feeling the three of them will be up to no-good before we know it.

We had to have a shot with Charlie Brown. If you know me at all, you probably know I LOVE "A Charlie Brown Christmas." It may be my favorite Christmas movie (well, that and the black and white Miracle on 34th Street and Love Actually...random, I know).

I have a feeling riding the train will become a tradition from this point forward. I might also add that I made the shirts the kids are wearing. I found an easy peasy how-to online and just followed directions. They turned out pretty good with the exception of my less than experienced sewing around the antlers. Oh well. I even added a tulle bow for Addison's reindeer. She likes to be "fancy" (her words, not mine). 

Mandy

Bedtime ABC's

As you know, Lawson has an alphabet wall in his room. I love how it turned out, and Lawson has come to enjoy it to. For the past few months, every night before bed, Jason goes through the ABC's with Lawson just before I give him his bottle and put him down for the night.

I'm not sure how it even started, but it only took a couple of nights for Lawson to learn that if he pointed at the wall, we would say the ABC's. This was adorable the first time it happened. But then he started pointing at the wall in the middle of the night or while we were trying to get him down for a nap. Not so adorable. Little stinker. I just love that Jason and Lawson have there own special things, and this is definitely one of them. Lawson loves it, and I think Jason does too.

Someday, before we know it, Lawson will be saying the ABC's for us before bedtime.

Mandy

Christmas Parade

A few weeks ago Greenwood had its annual Christmas parade. It's an evening parade, so we debated how to handle it as Lawson's bath/bed time routine usually begins around 7:30p and the parade didn't even begin until 7p. We decided to just go with it. I'm normally a pretty routine kind of person. So is Jason. But with Christmas coming up we knew there would need to be some flexibility, so we thought this might be a good test run.

We had a great time! Parking was nuts as everyone in a 30 mile radius seemed to have turned out for the parade. Luckily the parents of one of Jason's high school friends live about a block from the parade starting line, and they were happy to let us park in their driveway. I was afraid the band and all the fire trucks would be too loud for Lawson, but he did great. He clapped and pointed and the "ights" (lights). We left just before the end and took a back way home to avoid some of the traffic. 

I just love spending time with these two boys of mine! 

Mandy

Thanksgiving

I know this is a few weeks late, but it's such a busy time of year that I just haven't had a chance to post a lot lately. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at our Thanksgiving dinners because, to be honest, I was too busy eating and visiting with family.

The night before Thanksgiving we always have dinner at my Mom's (Nana). This year my Aunt Renee and her family joined us. Here is Lawson playing with Jevin and Nana. He and Jevin play really well, and I just love it. Lawson has great cousins and loves playing with them all.

I'm not sure if you can really see what his shirt says, but I actually bought this for Lawson last September. It says, "Thankful for Daddy". I just love it. It's an 18 month onesie. I must have known our boy was going to be  a healthy big boy. :-)

On Thanksgiving day, we have dinner at my Dad's (Grandpa) with his whole family. Last year at Thanksgiving, three of us were pregnant, so this year we had three babies there. Lawson at 10 months old, Jaxx at five months, and Destini at seven months. It was super fun! I'm sure Christmas will be even more fun. :-). Here we are with the three new babies and my Gram (Great Grandma to Lawson). 

 Here is Lawson with Destini. I would have sworn we got more pictures of the three little ones together, but I guess not. I promise to do better at Christmas. 

Mandy

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

A few weeks back (the week of Thanksgiving to be exact) UA Fort Smith (where Jason and I both work and are alums) hit the switch on the campus Christmas lights. We took Lawson out for the occasion, but before we went to campus, we had dinner at George's. 

George's is one of my favorite places to eat. Especially for lunch. They have homemade fries...A LOT of homemade fries. As you can see Lawson was checking the place out. We had a great time on campus walking around looking at the lights. Mom, Steph and Addison went too. 

Lawson loved the lights!! He says "ight" (light) all the time at home and points to our lights, so it was fun to see him looking around, pointing and saying, "ight, ight, ight!!!" As you can see, he's getting SO big. Even standing on his own some. 

There will be many more holiday posts to come. I promise!!!

Mandy 

The One Tooth Wonder

Sunday night, December 2, Jason made a discovery during Lawson's bath time: HE HAS HIS FIRST TOOTH!!!! It was so exciting! It's on the bottom in the middle. We have to really work to see it since he locks his mouth shut every time we try to peak, but it's the cutest thing. It actually explains some of Lawson's behavior over the last week.

He is usually a fantastic eater. He'll eat pretty much anything you put in front of him, but for some reason, last week he got all picky. We were actually afraid he wasn't getting enough to eat period. He didn't even really want snacks. Then, Tuesday night he threw up a couple times. No fever though. It seemed like he was even more particular about his food for the rest of the week. He even pushed his bottle away some. We gave him Pedialyte to make sure he didn't get dehydrated (which he was not fond of).

Once Mr. Tooth made his appearance on Sunday, we figured that may have been what caused all the weirdness. I'd like to think we can go back to normal now, but there are plenty more teeth to come, so we'll see.

Our little guy is growing up SO fast!! He will be 11 months old tomorrow. I just can't believe it. Perhaps by Christmas we will have a couple teeth....made even our two front teeth. :-)

Mandy

Friends at First Sight

I should have posted this back in September (when it happened), but time got away from me. I'm posting it today in honor of my fabulous friend Heidi's birthday. You may remember a post last November about Heidi's visit for my baby shower. She one of the most special people I've ever met, and our friendship a treasure I hold dear. She and her husband and children came to visit Labor Day weekend, and it was wonderful to spend a day with them. I'll admit I was a little worried about how Lawson would do with four new people in HIS house...especially two new kids. BUT, they got along wonderfully. In fact, I think they (especially Keaton and Lawson) were friends at first sight sort of like Heidi and I. Our friendship has been and easy one. Neither of us feeling the need to be entertained but just content to be spending time with each other (one of my favorite things about us). The kids played and had a great time and Heidi and I enjoyed catching up. You notice the husbands are not in any of the pictures. That's because they were behind the camera. Haha!

Look at Keaton loving on Lawson, and Lawson loving it. I love this!!

If you know Heidi, you know that a girly girl she is not. She did let me paint Kelsey's nails though. What a sweet baby girl!

Me holding Heidi's baby and her holding mine. We're officially all grown up I think.

I love this picture for a lot of reasons. I love this girl and her sweet family. And, even though most other pictures I have of us are just the two of us being silly, I feel like this one might be the most natural of all. Us...as moms. Also, may I point out how chummy Keaton and Lawson are? I love this!! Keaton wanted to sit by Lawson and when he put his arm around him, Lawson just laid his head on Keaton's shoulder liked he'd known him forever.

I loved this day with Heidi and her family! I'm so thankful for time with her. Our visits are few and far between, but I appreciate each and every moment of them.

Happy Birthday Heidi!! You are a true and amazing friend, and thankful beyond words that God brought you into my life. Here's to our next visit...

mandy

All Dressed Up: Halloween 2012

Thought I would share a few Halloween pictures from last week. We debated what to dress Lawson up as for weeks (ok...months). And I went a little crazy trying to find something on several lunch breaks to no avail (it was nuts...you can ask Kelli...God bless her for putting up with me). We final decided Lawson would be a railroad engineer.

So serious.

A little silly.

Trick-or-Treating at Nana's house.

Trick-or-Treating at Grandpa's house.

Trick-or-Treating Daddy in his office.

Is he not the CUTEST little boy in that sweet hat and overalls!! I just love him. We had so much fun with him. I'm sure it will just get better and better every year.

On a related note, my friend Katie is expecting her first child in January. Her due date is only a few days after Lawson's birthday, so she is about as far along now as I was last year at this time. She posted a pic this week of the pumpkin her husband painted on her belly, and it made me think of last year when Jason painted my belly. I guess you could say Lawson was a pumpkin for Halloween last year :-).

For the record, Katie, I think I was bigger than you. :-)

Mandy



Blog Award

Minnick's Musings nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award yesterday! This award is for new (-ish) blogs with less than 200 followers. As you know I use this blog primarily to brag on/give updates on Lawson, but I still think this award business is very exciting.
Here are the rules:

•Tell 11 random facts about yourself...see below

•Answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you...see below

•Choose 11 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers to nominate (most of the blogs I follow are big blogs, have already been nominated or are private, so I didn't follow the rules on this one)

•Link back to the person who nominated you and thank them! Thanks so much to Brockette at Minnick's Musings!!!

Here are the 11 random facts about myself:
1.   I was born in North Dakota in the middle of a blizzard.
2.   If I could be any Disney character, it would be Mary Poppins.
3.   My favorite Christmas movie is "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
4.   There were only 34 people in my high school graduating class.
5.   I've worked at UA Fort Smith (Westark College) since my freshman year in college.
6.   I was a majorette in high school.
7.   I have five God-children.
8.   I love fall and winter. I'll even take spring, but I DO NOT like summer!
9.   I am the oldest of three children...all girls.
10. My dream vacation would begin in Maine and go down the East Coast during the peak of fall color.
11.  I love Elvis, but wasn't born until after he died.

Questions from Minnick's Musings
1. What is your all time favorite movie?
Young Guns II, but I also LOVE Mary Poppins (see random fact #2 above :-)) and The American President.

2. Roller coasters or not?
I used to love them but haven't ridden one in a long time.

3. From start to finish, how long does it take you to get ready every morning? Somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes depending on if I showered the night before or in the morning.

4. What is your favorite color?
Probably red although I do love some purple.

5. What are 3 items you cannot live without?
I will assume items does not mean people or my family would be first on the list. Otherwise I'd say hand lotion, chap stick or lip gloss, and my iPhone (that way I have access to my Bible and pretty much anything else too...is that cheating?).

6. What is your favorite clothing store?
For work clothes I shop a lot at JC Penney. For just regular, everyday clothes, probably Old Navy.

7. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Hmmm...probably negativity. It bugs the heck out of me when people want to constantly complain about EVERYTHING! I get that sometimes things are bad, and I get unhappy sometimes too, but really, must we complain during EVERY conversation. Grrrr......:-).

8. What is your favorite past time?
Hanging out with my family (which includes some of my dearest friends). I also rather enjoy driving with the windows down and my favorite music blaring on the radio on a cool fall day.

9. What is one thing you would change about yourself?
I would somehow manage to be on time more. I realize I have control of this as it is, but no matter how hard I try I just can't get places on time (sorry Brockette).

10. What is one thing you would change about your spouse?
Hmmm...I guess I would want him to love vegetables like me. As it is, he won't eat it if it came out of the ground unless it's a potato.

11. What day do you start decorating for Christmas?
Officially, the day after Thanksgiving so as to not make my husband crazy. BUT, there is a VERY strong chance I've been listening to Christmas music since last week.

Happy blogging!
Mandy

Something New Everyday

I know I've said it before, but Lawson is changing and learning new things every day. It amazes me how much babies learn and change in the first year of their life. I want to record as much as possible about what Lawson is doing and all that he's learning as we make it through this first year. The problem is that it all happens so fast. Lately, it seems like literally it's something new every day. Here's a run down of some things our growing boy is up to these days.

A few weeks ago we started clapping. All. The. Time. Even in the middle of the night when he couldn't stay asleep: clapping. Too funny.

Crawling began the second week of October. Now he crawls so stinking fast it blows my mind.

Pulling up here and there began the second week of October. Now he pulls up on EVERYTHING. The coffee table, the couch, the shelf in his room, the dresser, the side of his bed, the walker (this one is tricky since the walker moves), the sliding glass door, you name it. In the last two weeks, he has been "practicing" getting up and down from a standing position. He does it over and over and over very carefully and deliberately. Practice makes perfect, right.

Playing cars/trucks. Lawson loves to play with his cars and trucks. The best part is that when he rolls them around and back and forth, he makes the car sound. You know, vroooooommmmmm, vrooommmm, vrooommmm. It is maybe the cutest thing ever.

Uh-oh. This week Lawson's favorite thing is saying "Uh-oh." He says it when he drops (throws sometimes) his sippy cup, when he drops his toy or pacifier, when we drop something, when something falls off the table or highchair tray. It's awesome. Sometimes he says it just before he "drops" his sippy cup. Silly kid.

Dog. This week he has also started going to the back sliding glass door, standing up, smacking his hands on the window and saying, "du. du. dug. dug." It's not exactly dog, but he's saying it while looking out at the dogs.

Tossing the ball around. Lawson loves to through his toy balls. He actually likes to throw/toss most things, but he especially likes to toss his ball up in the air and then go after it. He'll do it all over the house. Toss, crawl, pick up, sit up, toss, crawl, pick up, sit up.... Over and over.

Kisses. Lawson is a sweet boy. He's likes to snuggle and likes to cuddle most of the time. Lately he's started giving kisses. Now, if you know anything about babies you know that baby kisses are mostly their open mouth being planted on your face. Slobber everywhere. Maybe one of the best things ever. Lawson does not give kisses to everyone all the time. Some days he wants to give me kisses. Some days he prefers to give Daddy kisses and not me. You just never know. My heart melts when he leans toward me with that slobbery mouth open and plants a kiss on my check.

As you can see, it's a fun time in the Keyes house. We love every minute of it.

Mandy



The Things Parents Do

Now that Jason and I are parents, we find ourselves doing things we never could have imagined doing: Tripping over a toy car in the middle of the living room floor. Acting a fool in public to try and get Lawson to smile for a picture. Ignoring the show we love on TV because our son is doing something silly. I could go on and on.

Here are a couple of pictures of something we find ourselves doing often...and cannot believe:

At first these look like pictures of Jason feeding Lawson. No big deal, right. Look closer though. Do you see that Jason's iPhone is clipped on the front of his shirt?  What you can't tell from this picture is what's on the screen. It's a video of Laswon laughing in his high chair about three months ago. Why you ask? Well, sometimes, when Lawson is a little...let's just say distracted during a meal, this is what we do to get him to focus and eat. It's the craziest thing. All we have to do is play a video of him laughing or just making noise, and it's like he can't take his eyes off the screen. He finds himself so funny. And, the best part, while he's watching, he just eats and eats. One bite after the other.

Silly boy.

Mandy

Changing Everyday

Lawson has changed so much since just my last post a week ago. I know people always say that it all just happens so fast, and that kids grow up overnight, but I never fully understood that until now.

Last week when we took Lawson for his 9 month check up, he would only crawl (belly off the ground) for a few strides and he had only pulled up on stuff with help. Two days later this happened in the 60 seconds Daddy was down the hall and Lawson was in the living room playing:



Did this all by himself. I'm not sure which he wanted more: the Dr. Pepper or the Reece's Pieces that were on the table.

Then, later that day, he started crawling all over the house and hasn't stopped since. (I'll post a video of this later)

And, this weekend, we put the legs on our favorite toy. Lawson LOVES it.

In addition to these two huge things, we had another first this week....wait for it....Lawson peed in the bath water. Yep! Almost as soon as his feet his the tub floor. It's a wonder this hasn't happened before. He acted a little shocked actually. Guess he wasn't thrilled about it either. Then again, it happened two days later too, so....

We're so proud of our little man. He's growing up TOO fast! At some level, we want him to stop or at least slow down, but we are also proud parents and cannot wait to see what's to come.

Mandy



You've Got the Sweetest Little Baby Face

Spent a little time outside last week in this beautiful fall weather. What a sweet, sweet face.

9 Months

Lawson is nine months old as of Saturday, October 6!! I can't believe how fast it has gone. We took him in for his nine month check up yesterday, and all is well. We had to complete a questionnaire about his development. Stuff like, does he pick up objects with a finger and thumb, does he make sounds like "da-da" or "ma-ma" or "ba-ba", does he pick up one toy in each hand and hit them together, etc. We got to answer YES to every question!! The only one that was questionable was if he stops what he's doing if we say, "no, no." He does this most of the time...not always.

Someone was being big and taking his bottle all by himself while we waited for Dr. Jon.

He weighs 21 pounds and 5 ounces and measures 28.5 inches long. Dr. Jon says he's bigger than six out of ten baby boys his age and that what ever we're doing, we're doing it right because he is a healthy baby! So glad to hear that! Here are some additional updates:

Loves his walker. Especially ramming into stuff throughout the house.

Lawson loves drinking out of his sippy cup.



But also enjoys a big boy cup all by himself.



This picture never gets old! This is something Lawson has been doing in the last month or so. We can't really figure out why he's got that one leg up in the air...balance maybe?

I think he looks like such a big boy playing in the floor with his toys. And, of course, there's the scrunched up nose face again. I'm telling you, he does this all the time. We love it!!



Sits up and plays on his own. Lawson easily goes from sitting to laying down or crawling and vice versa.

Some new stuff Lawson is eating: puffs, crunchies, Cheetos, banana and sweet potato and pancake pieces (by himself), stage 2 and 3 foods.

Most consistent sounds: Da-da, Ma-ma, Na-na. I may be a little biased, but he actually tends to make these sounds when the appropriate person is in the room or he is going to/looking for the person.

Sleeping: Lawson is not a fan of naps. Occasionally, he will take a long nap (hour and a half), but for the most part, it's less than an hour. We are working to get him down to two naps a day. Hopefully that are a little more of a quality nap. Some nights are good: in bed by 8p and sleeps until 6a. Some nights are not: in bed by 8p but up a few times a night briefly. No night time feedings though.

Other: Army crawls a lot, but can also crawl "normally". Has started doing this more and more in the past week. Pulled up to standing by himself in his bed last week. Loves to clap. Loves to through toys up in the air and play with toy cars.

Lawson Jace,

Your Mommy and Daddy love you very much!! We are so proud of all your accomplishments so far. We are a little sad when we think of how quickly this nine months has gone, but we are so excited to see you learn new things and to watch you grow right in front of our eyes. You are the best thing we ever did. We love you baby boy!!

Mandy



Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took Lawson to a Punkin' Patch at a local church. It was just a short drive from our house, so it wasn't an all day outing, but we sure did have fun. We just love getting our little man out and about.



Ornery little boy.



Sweet little smile.






Silly boy.

 

My two favorite boys.

LOVE this kid!

Look how big he looks standing up there.

There's that silly face again. We're finding it difficult to get pictures of him doing anything else. :-)

Daddy working hard to carve Lawson's first pumpkin. As you can see Lawson is preoccupied. Mostly just wanted to ram the table with his walker.

Such a good Daddy. Even digging out the pumplin guts.



The end result. Super fun pumpkin, but Lawson wanted nothing to do with it once it was carved.

 Such a fun day!! I love spending my time with these two wonderful boys. Everyday just keeps getting better and better.

Mandy