I love fall. It's really my favorite season and I haven't had much chance to get out and enjoy it this year. Lawson keeps me too busy and he's too young to enjoy it himself. Next year will be fun when he can walk around the pumpkin patch and apple orchard! But, I wanted to have just a small slice of fall fun, so today I took Lawson to the local farm to see the pumpkins and animals - I'd like to think he had a blast. *grin* Thanks to his Auntie Jill for the cute duds. He was a hit with everyone who walked by. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but oh well....

Boy, it's been a busy few days. Shadow is adjusting. He hates taking his medicine, but he's getting used to his collar. He's been very clingy, which he always was before the baby, but now he seems a little depressed. We might need kitty Prozac. How sad....

Lawson has been a Mr. Crankypants this week. I think we're going to have to stop referring to him as our mellow baby. Yesterday was the first day he got good naps in in about 4 days! All three of us are exhausted! But yesterday was college football day, which means dressing up with Daddy and "watching" the game, which always seems to relax him - despite Daddy's yelling at the tv. He he... Here are my boys:

Tailgating, Lawson-style:

I'm so sad.... Our kitties at first seemed to be adjusting to Lawson's arrival okay. Obviously they were distressed, but it didn't seem major. Until Shadow started biting the end of his tail.... We assumed he had a bug bite he was scratching, but as the days went on and it didn't get any better, we had to take him to the vet. Brad took him in last week and the vet said he developed a form of OCD in response to the baby - licking his tail until it was raw. Yep, bloody and raw at the end. We had small drops of blood on the walls and carpet. We tried antibiotics and that didn't work, so yesterday morning Shadow had about 4 inches of his tail amputated. Waaaa.... It was so sad...

Brad dropped him off at the house and then left for his night class. Shadow ran and hid under the bed and stayed for a few hours and I left him alone since I was busy entertaining Lawson. But by about 9pm I heard him running around the house like he had been doing when he bit his tail. Once I got Lawson rocked to sleep I went to check on him and yep, he chewed out his stitches and was bleeding all over the house. I found him curled up in Lawson's closet in the basket full of baby blankets! So, I have two beautiful blankets covered in pools of cat blood! The house looks like a crime scene. I wound up having to take him to the all night vet (45 minutes away!!!)! Brad met me after work and the vet restitched Shadow's tail (another $200 - awesome....) and this time gave us one of those cone shaped collars. Oh, and Lawson woke up just as we left and screamed the entire 45 minutes home. Awesome. It was after 2am before the three of us got to bed.

Shadow isn't adjusting well to the collar, but I think it will keep him from eating his tail. He keeps running into walls and furniture, and he can't crawl into his usual tight spaces. I find it heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. I also think he looks like Little Bo Peep in his collar and bow.

I can't believe my baby is a month old already! The last four weeks have been a blur... In honor of his advancing age, we introduced him to a bottle this weekend. Since I'm nursing, we've waited so he wouldn't have what they call "nipple confusion". All three of us LOVE the bottle! Brad finally got to feed Lawson, I got a break and Lawson got a bunch of pumped breast milk very quickly. If only I could keep up with the pumping enough to feed him a bottle every time.... alas, I don't think that's going to happen.

He's been a bit cranky this weekend and hasn't slept much. However, when he did, he was sure comfy:

Here's Lawson all dressed up for Church today. He got lots and lots of attention.

Here are some pics of Lawson's first tub bath. It was much nicer than the sponge bath - we're so glad his umbilical cord stump has fallen off. However, as you will see, he still doesn't much care for getting clean. He's 100% boy....

Pre-bath:

Post-bath:

Holy moly, can my kid pack away the food! I'm nursing Lawson and we still have a few hiccups in the procedure, so I've been hoping he was getting enough nutrition. He caught a slight virus that landed us at the pediatrician yesterday. When the nurse weighed him, he was 9 lbs, 6 oz! He's gained 2 pounds from his original birthweight in just three weeks. Clearly, he's getting enough food. The doctor joked about how Lawson must really like to chow down. He's outgrown his newborn sized clothes.... he only had two outfits (the rest are 0-3), but they hung off him in his first couple of days. Now it's time to wash them and put them away for the next baby. I'm so sad he's growing so fast...

Lawson is one athletic kid! He's been really good about picking his head up for a while now. It won't be long before he can hold it for a long time. He's got insanely strong legs - he's trying to crawl with his legs, but that dang head is just too heavy to hold up long enough to get moving...

He's also rolling over. The first time he did it was at 5 days old - I set him on his back and he rolled onto his side. The pediatrician was surprised, but said it was likely an accident. It probably is, but he keeps doing it every couple of days. This picture is of him after I put him down on his back. While I'm proud of his athleticism, I'm terrified of this early mobility. So, I'm not too excited that he can do all this stuff yet. I'm really okay with him being stationary for a while longer.

Awesome news (at least for me)! I can wear my wedding ring! My fingers swelled up so badly that I quit wearing the ring in about April, so it was fabulous to put it on again. It's snug, but not uncomfortable. Hopefully, I'll go completely back to normal finger size soon. I also slipped on my favorite brown leather shoes today and they fit. As late as last week, I couldn't get them on my puffy feet. I'm just so thrilled my swelling is better. I'll get more pictures of Lawson up soon. Trust me, I have plenty.

Well, Mom and Dad went home yesterday and so we're back to being on our own here. Lawson had a great time with his grandparents (and vice versa). The poor kid's retinas are close to burn out with all the great pics we took, but it was worth it. Here are some of the cute moments from their visit.

Lawson's second Aggie game. He still slept through it, but we got this priceless photo out of it.

He's a bit too young to smile for real, but he's close. A good mixture of a little gas and genuine excitement will produce a heartwarming reaction.

One of many of Lawson's classic facial expressions. This kid's face is made of rubber - he is so expressive. This is probably a wind up for a good poopy diaper, but it makes me laugh!

More cute faces:

Stay tuned for more pictures and news.