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