Yay! Brad is home! He got in Saturday night and has already been such a big help with packing and taking care of Lawson. It's nice to have him back.

Last night was our going away party with his colleagues. Tracie and Sean hosted and we had a great time! It ran way past Lawson's bedtime, so he got a little cranky (plus their dog continues to scare the crap outta him!). But, the weather was gorgeous and it was so much fun.

And the "Parents of the Year" award goes to.....:

****Disclaimer - the bottle was empty.....

Here's Lawson with Daddy:

It's a tradition in the military history department that when someone leaves, they get an antique weapon as a gift. Most of these guys are big collectors and can find cool stuff. So, Brad's parting gift was a Cold-War era Soviet Naval cutlass. Pretty cool... Here's Brad with his Aggie boss, Jim.

Awwww...... my baby boy snores! Lawson is such a good sleeper, I usually just put him down and leave the room - no problems. Well, tonight, he woke up about an hour after I put him down, screaming his head off. It's really unusual, so I went in and picked him up for some cuddles. After rocking in the chair for a bit, he let out a pretty good burp, so I guess that's what it was - he fell right to sleep and I didn't have the heart to put him back in his bed just yet. It's been a long time since he's fallen asleep that deeply in my arms. Yep, that kid can saw some logs! ha ha! I had to try very hard not to laugh and wake him up!

We have a moving date.... July 8. Yikes - just 12 days away. Thank goodness I have a "helper"....

Lawson had his 9 month appointment today. He is 28.5 inches tall and weighs 19.2 pounds. That puts him in the 55th percentile for height and the 30th for weight. He's a skinny little dude! The doctor didn't seem worried, so I won't be (yeah, right!). We are starting to wean to more formula here because he's just not getting enough milk. He's getting plenty of other food, though.

He had his first bites of pizza last night and you would have thought I gave him the nectar of the gods. My camera was no where near me and I'm kicking myself - his expression was priceless! He flipped open the lid to the pizza box on the coffee table and was just in awe of what laid inside. I tore off some small pieces of dough with sauce and he gobbled them right down. He got a taste of pepperoni and some black olives, but he really loved the green peppers. He ate so many! He loved every bite and threw a fit when I closed the lid and put the box away. I felt bad, but I didn't want to give him heartburn or anything.... My little Lawson loves pizza! That's my boy!

My little boy is getting to be such a big boy! He'll be 9 months old tomorrow!

He's getting so good at eating cut up "table food" - he really likes it. He loves to feed himself, too. Last night's dinner was carrots, corn, string cheese and bologna. He really likes the cheese. He takes after his mommy on that one...

But, I still have a lot of the strained baby food in the pantry that I hate to waste, so he's still getting some of that. Now that he's so good at feeding himself, though, he's getting impatient with being literally spoon fed. He keep grabbing for the food, wanting to do it himself. Yesterday morning, I let him grab his bananas with mixed berries. Yep, hands in the puree, and then he put his hands in his mouth. Oh, did we have a mess! Little Mr. Independent. I wonder where he gets that? :)

He's also getting to be a champ on the stairs. We don't have gates up because we're leaving soon, so he's learning to crawl up them. He can do it really fast now! Fortunately with our split level house, there are only 7 stairs per staircase so he doesn't have far to go. He's not allowed to go down, but he may learn that soon.

We had such a fun day today. Katie and Jack came over again and we put the boys in the pool. I love this pool - it was just an inexpensive little thing I got at Wal-Mart, but it's so cool! Just the right size for two little boys. They had a great time playing in the water.

Lawson gets so excited about things..... I love this "wow!" face that he makes!

They were also very curious about the grass outside of the pool, so we got some great shots of them just playing around.

My favorite picture this week is of Lawson crawling toward me on the lawn. Cute, huh? :)

Oh, Katie and I had popcicles and decided to share with the boys. They weren't too sure they liked it....

So, I got to call poison control last night for the first time. Okay, so we don't have our house fully babyproofed since we're moving - I usually just keep a really close eye on him. Well, last night he got into the spare bathroom cabinet. I saw him and didn't worry b/c I thought it was just a bunch of towels under there. Then I heard a crash and a spray and came running. There was a bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles w/o a lid - he'd pulled it out and the nozzle hit the floor right under him at just the right angle, spraying chemicals EVERYWHERE!

Fortunately, I was only about 3 steps away when it happend and I scooped him up and washed his hands and face in the sink. If he actually ingested anything, I don't think it was much, but I still called poison control. The lady couldn't find that particular cleaner on their list, but she gave me some things to look for and none of them happened. I gave him a good, scrubbing bath and made sure to rinse out his eyes and give him plenty of water to drink.

He's okay, but I worried about him all night. He was perfectly fine when he woke up this morning. Ahhhhh!!!!! Mommyhood is stressful! My sister-in-law, Jill, jokes she was on a first name basis with poison control when her girls were younger.... I know I have more of these moments coming.

*Sniff* Our little man is a budding historian. Look at the way he's devouring Robert V. Remini's biography of Andrew Jackson!

Or maybe he just likes paper.....

On Wednesday, Jack came over for another play date and the boys had so much fun. Now that they're both mobile, it's seriously double trouble! Boy, do they love stairs....

These guys are definitely boys. They crawled all over this box for a Tonka truck. They couldn't get enough of it!

But they do attempt a well-rounded childhood experience with a smattering of the arts.... Here's a short video clip of the boys playing with a music table I bought. Lawson loves to dance along with the music - check out his Elvis hips! Jack joined in, too!

Lawson and Jack Dancing

This is my latest favorite picture of Lawson. This, ladies and gentlemen, is pure joy.

Man, was this a crazy week! Thursday night, my #@*^! cat jumped on the table and knocked a vase of flowers down, spilling water all over Brad's laptop. I took it to a repair shop and it's fried. They were able to save the hard drive, so we have the files, but the machine is kaput. Grrrr...... So, I made a quick run to Costco Friday night to buy another one because Brad left for Virginia Saturday morning.

He's doing his annual reserve training for the Marines - fortunately it's at Quantico - so he'll be able to househunt in the evenings. We decided Lawson and I wouldn't fly out (too much going on), so Brad will take photos, upload them to his laptop and send them to me at night. Sounded like a perfect plan - taking advantage of modern technology to save me the headache of another cross-country trip with a baby. When the computer got ruined, we HAD to replace it right away so that we can do this thing. Ugh. But, it's done. Brad's got a new fancy laptop, he's safely in Virginia, and he meets with the Realtor on Tuesday. How thrilling yet stressful all at the same time!

Lawson finally got his second top tooth last night. Poor kid has been teething for the last 6 weeks getting his top ones in. At least we'll all have a little break before the next ones start their descent.

So, I think I've managed to get the word out to just about everyone regarding our move to Virginia this summer. If you haven't heard the details yet, I'm sorry - shoot me an email and I'll fill you in. It's exciting, but boy will it be a lot of stress to get done!

One of the few things I'll miss here is my house. We've got a great house and I love my gardens. Who knew I could grow things? My flowers look lovely this year - I think my roses are on steroids. Aren't they pretty?

Oh, and it's time for Lawson's latest trick....he's pulling himself up in his crib. I need to get those plastic rail protectors so he doesn't chew the wood.

Jackpot! I got the pics from my mom's camera and there were some more cute shots from the trip. The lighting is touch and go, but I was pleased to find fun shots I'd forgotten we took.

There was a banana tree right outside the door to the hotel. I've never seen one up close, so I was just as thrilled as Lawson was.

Mom and I wound up being "matchy-patchy", as my niece, Alyvia, would say....

We spent Memorial Day at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Here we are with sister, Mary Beth, and cousin, Susan.

Here's cousin Jenni:

We stopped off at a place that used to be called "Orange Blossom". I forget the new name. We always went there when I was a kid and watched them sort the fresh-picked oranges. The sell the best orange juice and marmalade as well as serve orange ice cream. They've recently expanded their flavors and I enjoyed a key lime and coconut twist cone. OMG - it was amazing! I bought key lime juice there and made a fabulous pie this weekend.

I also have a video here of Lawson enjoying a lemon wedge at our favorite crab leg restaurant. I gave him one just to keep him busy and he loved it so much - he completely sucked it dry! I gave him another. And another. By about the 4th one, we got out the video camera. He finally had a reaction to the tartness. It was so funny! Enjoy!

Lawson and the Lemon

Oooh! I forgot this one. Lawson also got to go swimming in a pool for the first time. Our hotel had an outdoor pool and we had a fun morning splashing around. Again, not a lot of great pics but it was a good time.

So, we went to Florida for a long Memorial Day weekend and had so much fun! Brad had to work so he couldn't come, but my parents and sister were able to. My cousin, Sharon, got married and we figured it was a good excuse to see everyone and take Lawson to the beach for the first time. The wedding was lovely and we had a good time at the reception. Here's Lawson and me jamming with my cousins to "We Are Family". Good times!

Here we are with my cousin's wife, Michelle, and their baby, Adam. Brian is attending the Army school, so they're here in town with us this year. Oh, and getting Lawson to look at a camera this weekend was nearly impossible....

We took Lawson to the beach, which was so much fun. Unfortunately, the sun was so bright and the sand was so interesting that we couldn't get him to look up. We bought him sunglasses, but he kept taking them off! So we have tons and tons of pictures of Lawson staring down. Oh well. We'll just keep those "pictures" of how cute he looked on the beach in our minds' eyes.

Just by accident, we discovered that Lawson and my dad had similar outfits, just in reverse. Had to snap a photo.....

We returned to the hotel after a long day at the beach to find fresh baked cookies at the desk. I let Lawson have his first taste of cookie. Um, yeah.... he liked it.