Hilarious Bathtime

Lawson has squirt toys to play with in his bath. He's had them for months and months and I always play around with them, squirting him as he bathes. Well, he just discovered he's able to use them on his own...

Hilarious Bath

Christmas with a Little One...

We had such an amazing Christmas this year. Lawson was much more into it and that made it fun for all of us. He was so interested in the tree and all the decorations!

Here he is on Christmas Eve morning, wondering what all the fuss is about:

Here's a nice shot of my baby and me on Christmas Eve, after church:

Our little musician entertained us with some nice Christmas carols. He seriously loves "playing" on the piano:

Look out, Jerry Lee Lewis... you've met your match!

The moment he came down the stairs Christmas morning, the fun began:

He immediately leaped on this riding pony toy and played with it all day. It was hard to get him to focus on the rest of the presents.

Once he discovered this toy, it was even harder to get him to open more. Some day, I'll look back wistfully at this Christmas, when my kid was joyously happy with one new toy...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

Well, I hope Santa comes tonight....Lawson's not so sure he wants that guy in our house.

"Merry Christmas to all,

and to all a good night!"

Howdy Y'all!

Sorry for the gap in posting. Most everyone knows by now, but Lawson and I have officially moved back to Texas. The reconciliation with Brad crashed and burned and so we're starting our new life here. My family has been so wonderfully supportive and Lawson is so happy to get to see them so often.

I haven't taken many pictures in the last few weeks, since we've been very busy with the move and getting settled. All the turmoil has been tough on Lawson and he's been a real bear. He's thrown some wicked temper tantrums here lately! I'm hoping once we get a little more settled, he'll calm down a bit. I'll take some pictures soon and get them posted.

Mommy's Helper

Lawson is completely fascinated by what goes on in the kitchen. He loves to be picked up so he can see what I'm cooking on the stove, he carries kitchen utensils around the house all day, and he's obsessed with my salad spinner. It's one of those where you press down on the top and the lettuce spins around and around. I showed it to him once and now everytime he hears it spinning, he comes running so he can help. Look out Emeril!

Owie

Lawson's been hurt before - he crashes into furniture and scrapes his knees on the pavement when he falls down. But last night, he got (what I'm calling) his first major owie. He was playing with the drawer on the end table and got his finger caught underneath in the metal track. Ouch! He took a pretty good chunk out of his flesh and he bled pretty bad. Poor kid! He cried and cried, but it was all better once we got a band-aid and some hugs and kisses.

We just have grown-up band-aids, so you have to look closely at his finger. I need to buy some brightly colored kid band-aids...

Fun in Boston

Our trip to Boston wasn't just about turkey. We had such a fun time just hanging out with the family and enjoying each other.

For example, no visit with my nieces is complete without some "beauty salon" time. They used to just brush my hair, but they're definitely getting more complex in their talents...

Lawson and his cousins got along SO well. As you read in a previous post, Lawson adores these girls, and the girls were so enamored with him, too. They helped with all his diaper changes, his meals and especially his baths.

Bathtime was so much fun, in fact, that we decided to bathe all three kiddos at once. Lawson was a little uncertain at first, but he settled in and wound up having a blast!

Thanksgiving

Last year was technically Lawson's First Thanksgiving, but he was only 9 weeks old. He slept in his infant seat through dinner, so this was his first real opportunity to join in the festivities. He ate a little of almost everything, although the mashed potatoes were his favorite.

Earlier in the day, he watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with his cousins for the first time, too. He loved the Sesame Street float!

Spaghetti Night

I made real spaghetti for dinner the other night. It was the first time Lawson had some to eat all by himself. I think this is right up there with the first birthday cake as far as eating milestones. As you can see, he thoroughly enjoyed himself:

The Tonka Truck

Lawson loves his Tonka truck riding toy. It transformed from a push toy that helped him learn to walk a few months ago. He's so proud of himself now that he's learned how to straddle the seat and he's ready to go! He hasn't quite figured out how to scoot himself along yet, so we still push him around the room. He loves it!

Of course, what self-respecting boy simply sits on a seat nice and quietly....?

Yes, he did actually stand up on the seat, giving me the most hilarious "wow, look what I just did!" look, as he reached his arms to the ceiling....but I wasn't able to capture that on camera, as I was too busy trying to catch him before he broke something!

Cousins

Lawson LOVES his cousins, Alyvia and Mya. They're 5 and 3 and he just thinks they're the bomb. They play with him and share their toys and he totally loves it. After our last visit, he came home and realized that the two girls in this picture on the table look an awful lot like the two girls he just got done playing with.

I finally got a cute picture of him looking at the frame. When he's really happy about seeing something he likes, he gets this look on his face where he scrunches up his features and pulls up his shoulders into a shy pose. I think it's wonderfully cute!

Weekend fun

I was worried that since Lawson is such an active little boy, that he wouldn't be too interested in books. But, just recently, he's really become a huge fan of "reading". I don't even have to force the issue anymore. Now he just goes over to his bookcase and takes down his books and starts going through them. It makes me so happy to see!

Lest you think him too serious, I am pleased to remind you that in his spare time, he likes to wear bags on his head and try on his mother's shoes...

Whoa!

This posting is about 6 weeks overdue, but better late than never. I had some trouble with this video - the picture and sound weren't synched - but I just got it figured out and can finally share it with everyone.

Early in October, we celebrated Lawson's birthday with Brad's family at Aunt Jill's house. Lawson was running around the corner and he crashed into his cousin Mya, causing Jill to shout "whoa!". Well, Lawson thought it was so funny, he said it back. Again and again and again. It was one of his very first words (if you can even count it as a word) so this video is precious to us. Enjoy:


Lawson Says "Whoa!"

Fall is Fun!

Brad had today off for Veteran's Day and we had a very nice day around the house. We finally finished unpacking and even had a little time to play outside with Lawson. We took him to the back of the house - you can see the woods out the windows of our kitchen in a post just below. He loved the fresh, crisp autumn air and the crunch of leaves under his feet.

Party Tricks

Lawson has a bunch of relatively new tricks that I thought I'd lump together in one big post for you tonight.

1. On his birthday, my mom started teaching Lawson to show how old he is and just recently, he's doing it consistently. In this pic, I just asked how old he was (I didn't hold up my finger) and he showed me. Sometimes, he'll also say "wa" - about as close to "one" as we can get right now.

2. Lawson is a climber.... He's been showing signs, but it's official now. He loves to show off how well he can get up on his rocking chair, or the sofa. Here he is climbing up on his musical table (complete w/ his squishy face). Oh, and he tried to climb up the bookcase tonight. Fabulous... Guess it's time to harness that stuff to the wall...

3. Lawson can turn the tv on and off. The one in the living room is fairly low to the ground and this weekend, he went up to the box, turned it on and sat down on the couch. He watched for a minute or two and then went up and turned it off and walked away. Too funny!

4. He's learning about dressing and undressing. Once I get his arms out of his shirt, he loves to pull it over his head. Today, he tried putting his socks on by himself! It didn't quite work, but I was so happy to see him try.

5. Lawson shares. It's really cute. He likes to share his binky, his sippy cups, food off his tray (sometimes fresh, sometimes already tasted). Most of this is pretty gross, but I'm so happy he's sharing, I can't ignore it. Tonight, he fed me the last of his cheeseburger for dinner after he'd had all he wanted (at least it was fresh). Guess he figured I put chunks of food in his mouth, he should return the favor... (By the way, I don't actually drink his milk, suck on his binky, or eat his pre-chewed food - I just pretend....)

6. He's drinking out of my big mug. I keep this 32 oz. mug of water with me most of the day and Lawson loves to drink out of it. In this picture, it's almost full. As you can see from the front of his shirt, the process is still a little messy, but the fact that he can lift it and drink is pretty cool.

Autumn Leaves

Technically, this is my blog and although Lawson is the subject 99% of the time these days, I wish to post something totally unrelated to him. I absolutely love fall. I do not absolutely love the townhouse we're renting for the moment, but it is in a nice setting.


The block of townhouses is on a long street, surrounded by trees. The leaves are at full peak around here and it's a beautiful view out our windows every day. We don't have curtains up yet on the back windows, so this is how the world looks from our kitchen. Please excuse the mess.... we're still getting settled. I didn't want to wait until the house was perfect - there might not be any leaves left... :P

Here are general pics of the neighborhood:

I'm a dork...

So, silly me... After taking the time to set up my scanner and install the driver, yadda yadda... I discovered that Kiddie Kandids gives you free access to your electronic pictures. D'oh! So, here are the digital copies, which turned out much clearer than the scanned ones. The collage wasn't available online, but you can see the pictures that are in the collage. Yay!

Halloween, Part II

I finally found the cords so I could hook up my scanner. Here are the pictures we had done of Lawson last week at Kiddie Kandids. I'm SO glad I had these done so we have proof of just how cute he was. The scanning quality isn't wonderful, but you can at least see how he looked.

Happy Halloween!

This was not Lawson's first Halloween, but it was his first to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating. He sure thought it was fun. He loved his Mickey Mouse costume and thought the idea of running up to strangers' doors and getting candy seemed pretty cool. We spent the evening with our friends, Jochen and Leslie, and their two kiddos, Reece and Jack. It was such a good time.

I'm very glad I got a couple of professional shots of Lawson in his costume, since I assumed (correctly) we wouldn't get many good ones on our own. Oh well - here's the best of what we have:

Inspecting the loot....

What is all this?

First taste of a Three Muskateers bar - it was a hit!:

Oh, Dear...

For those of you following the soap opera that is my life, things are looking up. Brad and I are working things out and life is slowly returning to normal. Fortunately, Lawson is too young to be terribly affected by all of this craziness. Or so I thought....

We spent last Sunday with my sister-in-law, Jill, celebrating her 30th birthday. Lawson loves visiting her house because there are so many toys to play with. However, since Jill has two little girls, her playthings are a little different than what Lawson has at home.

Okay, so yes, the boa was my idea, but um....he loved it. He kept it on most of the day. He also loved the black Tinkerbell purse. He put it over his head and carried that all day, too.

Oh, and yes. He did enjoy the beauty kit, too. He brushed his hair and even let Jill put rollers in his curls. And the minute I pulled out the fake lipstick, he held out his lips.

So....no damage done here..... I'm definitely keeping these pictures and pulling them out for blackmail when he's being a teenaged toot.