I was just thinking that there are few things in this world more wonderful than waking up (well-rested) to a happy baby who's smiling at his mommy. Lawson is so cute first thing in the morning - he usually smiles, coos, and squeals at me for at least an hour after he gets his breakfast. In those moments, my life is perfect.


Maybe I should follow up that sappy sentimental statement with the harsh reality that was my life last night. I swear it was like the freakin' Keystone Cops around here.... Mind you, ALL of this happened at the same time:

1. Dinner was ready. After weeks of living on frozen and packaged foods that are quick to make, I made a nice, real dinner. Italian Mac&Cheese from Rachel Ray with a nice fresh salad. I really went all-out on this meal...

2. We stupidly took the cone collar off Shadow, thinking he'd be okay. He immediately started chasing the tail and we couldn't corner him to get the collar back on. Guess we need to get the rest of it amputated. Awesome....

3. Lawson totally melted down. I still think it was a delayed reaction to the shots, but who knows? He screamed (and I mean, screamed!!!) for an hour. He normally gets a little fussy in the evenings, but it's not typical for him to throw a fit like that for that long! Nothing we did seemed to help much. We felt so useless. He then got himself so worked up that even though he was tired, he couldn't fall asleep.

The whole thing was almost comical. Lawson eventually went to sleep, the cat calmed down (and is sporting his collar again), and we managed to eat our cold meal just before 9pm. So, maybe that's why I was particularly enchanted by my smiling, happy baby this morning.... He's always like that first thing, but after last night it was a welcome relief!

Lawson had his 2 month appointment today (even though he'll be 10 weeks on Fri). I love his pediatrician, but Lawson doesn't - he screams his head off every time he gets examined! It's so weird. I feel so bad for the doctor! This was a big appointment because he got his first round of vaccinations. He actually did okay with his shots. I got a little teary - it's hard watching your child be in pain. But I've got a tough little guy - he cried a bit, but he got over it and has been chilled out ever since. The doctor has me giving him Tylenol every 4 hours for the next 24 to help with the pain and keep any fever down. Oh - he weighs 12 lbs and is 23 inches long. He's in the 55th percentile for weight and the 75th for height.

Our crazy scheme of taking a 9 week old baby across the country worked! Lawson took his first-ever plane ride to Boston for Thanksgiving and his baptism last week and so far he's showing signs he'll fit right in with Mom and Dad's globe-trotting tendencies. He was a champ on the plane heading out - he loved takeoff and was so good through the whole thing. He was so sweet for pretty much the whole week. Brad's family got to meet him for the first time and he was a hit. My parents and sister came, too, which blended the families for the first time since our wedding (6.5 years ago!). Everyone got along and it was really such a fun week.

His christening went fairly smoothly - he got a little cranky but he found his thumb and happily sucked away for most of the ceremony before passing out. He wore a gorgeous gown my mom made for the occasion. We're hoping it can be passed down through the generations.

Coming home, he was a little cranky - I think that was because he was just so overstimulated from the big trip. He continued his crankiness through yesterday but he seems back on track today with his usual sweet disposition. Here are some pics from Saturday's baptism. He was completely worn out by the whole thing....

Big news!!!! Lawson slept from 11:15-7:30 last night!!!!!! I know it's a total fluke because the longest he's ever gone was 5 hours before - it seems like a huge jump to make. The last two hours of that, he'd wake up, crank a bit and then fall back asleep over and over again. So, I didn't get a full 8 hours of sleep, but I was far better rested this morning than I usually am. Yippee!

This week's trip to Boston will screw up his schedule big time but we're going to have fun and that's more important. I'm hoping we can maintain at least a little structure....

Lawson is such a good shopper! He has endured numerous trips to the shops for me to buy new clothes. I needed an update. My pre-preggo clothes don't quite fit, but I officially look ridiculous in the maternity stuff. I've lost all my preggo weight PLUS an extra 9 pounds (as of two weeks ago at my dr appointment), but my body is still funky and won't go back into my old clothes. I'm glad I've lost the weight, but it's not doing me much good when I have to buy bigger stuff! Grr... At least I found some nice things for our trip to Boston next week.

Speaking of clothes..... After weeks of dressing Lawson up as an Aggie fan, it's time for him to show his VMI Keydet spirit. Rah Virginia Mil! Whole damn team!

Lawson finally likes his bath! After weeks of shrieking through any attempt we made at cleanliness, he has decided baths are okay. I quit using that sling that goes in the baby tub - it keeps him out of the water and he gets cold, which I think was the problem. I started letting him get down into the water more and he loves it. He gets a bath every night now. Such a clean and happy baby!

Sorry for being away for a week - nothing overly momentus happened. But, we just had a weekend for the memory books! My sister, Mary Beth, flew in and got to meet Lawson for the first time. After many weekends of watching Aggie football on tv, we took our first big trip on Saturday to see A&M play at Mizzou (only 2 hours from here). It was quite an adventure! Lawson was a champ! He was SOOOOO good all day and everyone loved our cute little Aggie fan. He even got chatted up by our quarterback's stepmom. It almost made up for the fact that we got totally stomped.....

Another bonus, one of my students from Virginia is a freshman at Mizzou, so I got to see her too. The downside was that we got towed!!!! We knew when we parked it was a little questionable, but we thought it would be okay. Worst case, we might get a ticket, but nope - we got to spend the afternoon unscrewing that situation. Ugh. But the good outweighed the bad and we were all impressed by Lawson's flexibility. Not only was he good all day, but the adventure didn't mess up his nighttime routine nor did it effect his disposition today. What a great kid!

Lawson is 6 weeks old today. Where did the time go? He's getting so big already! While it's fun to see him reach new milestones and get stronger every day, it's sad to think that my newborn isn't so new anymore. :( It's also sad to think that if I had a regular job, I'd be going back to work on Monday. I can't imagine leaving him for long stretches of the day at this point! It seems so soon. I'm so fortunate that Brad has a good job so I can stay home. I am going to start teaching a couple of night classes in January, but at least Brad can watch the baby while I'm out.

Lawson had his first play date yesterday. I've been participating in a message board with September 2007 moms since last January and I met a girl who lives here in town. We had the same due date so it was fun to chat during the pregnancy. Her little boy, Jack, was born 11 days before Lawson and we're excited that they can be playmates. Yesterday we got together for the first time since we became mommies and let the boys hang out. They were SO cute together.

We had a very fun Halloween. Our neighborhood is crawling with little people, so the doorbell rang pretty much constantly. Such cute costumes - lots of Spiderman and Transformers. Last year every other girl was Hannah Montana, but I didn't see any this year.

We didn't dress up Lawson in a costume, per se, but he was certainly looking festive. He did his best to help pass out candy....