The Lawsons

Smitten

2012-01-23T07:11:00.001-08:00

I am smitten with the baby. Ever since she's been "running" around this house, it's been so fun and so cute to watch. I love this stage!!!

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Happy Birthday, Greer!

2012-01-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

We had our family over to the house to celebrate sweet Greer's first year of life the Saturday after her birthday. I still can't believe she is 1. As soon as I typed that last sentence, my eyes started watering up. Isn't it amazing how the simplest things about being a mom can make you so emotional? The older I get and the further along I go with having kids, I am understanding that it is O.K. to be emotional, and it is definitely O.K. to cry. I did not grow up believing that, and it has always made me uncomfortable, but these are tears of sweetness that are forming, and I know without a doubt that it is the Lord softening my heart and reminding me that He alone has given me so much to be thankful for. So much.

It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago, I had just ordered boy bedding again and was scheming up future basketball teams with Lawson boys. My, oh my. I was dead set on believing that boys are all that I wanted and all that I "needed". And then you know what happened next - the famous gender switching ultrasound. That ultrasound not only "changed" the gender of my baby...it changed everything about what I once believed, and it has also changed my life completely.

I thank God everyday for giving me a daughter. I do not love her any more or any less than I love Knox. It's just a completely different kind of love, and I am so thankful that I get to experience it. I would be lieing if I said I wasn't afraid of raising her...that I don't stand over her crib at night begging God to protect her heart and to keep her pure and satisfied in You alone, and to show me how to raise her to experience a life much unlike my own. Not that I had a terrible life. I had great parents. I just made so many mistakes and poured my life in to so many things that lead me to dead ends, broken hearts, self doubt, dissatisfaction, rejection, etc. I want a completely different life for her, and as hard as it is to swallow the fact that I don't have too much "good advice" or "good experiences" for her, I rest in the hope that God will use everything in my life to help mold her in to the godly woman he desires her to be. Everything. And I am encouraged by that. After all, look what He has done for me. He brought me out of a miry pit and gave me a firm rock to stand on...along with the most incredible husband that I could have ever dreamed of or imagined. If He can do all that for me, then surely He can use my life - and all my baggage - in a positive way to help shape my children's lives. If He can do it for me...He can do it for anyone.

So, it has taken a little while, but my fears and concerns and doubts about raising a little girl are slowly but surely turning into excitement...and a strengthened relationship with the Lord. Nothing will make you pray like the thought of a pre-teen / teenaged girl :). Ha. And quite frankly, I have the same worries over my son. I guess it's true about what they say - you never stop worrying about your children...no matter what gender or age they are. Hilarious. I sound like I have a house full of teenagers right now.

Anyways, coming back from my little detour I just took, we had a great time at the house celebrating Greer, and all that she means to us. She has been a blessing in every sense of the word, and it has been an honor to raise her. I wouldn't change 1 thing about her. Am I eager for her to get some hair so I can stick a bow in it?? Yes. But I wouldn't change 1 thing about her :).

I have about 1,000 pictures on the big camera, but these will have to do for now. I wanted to go ahead and post about her birthday and her stats before she turned 2. I can honestly tell you that they are not the best pictures - at all - so I promise to update with pictures from the camera soon.

Greer wearing the tu tu that I made. For 30 seconds. And then she wanted it OFF. Diva.

Aunt Reba and Uncle Grant came :)

A sweet, sweet friend from bible study made this precious hat. Too bad Greer wanted NOTHING to do with it. O'well. There's always next year.

I'm pretty sure that I will never get tired of those lips and cheeks.

She was so dainty about the cake, it was hilarious. She had birthday pancakes that morning and wanted to feed herself with a fork, and she did. It was amazing. Lee and I just stared in amazement. Every bite went directly in her mouth and there was minimal mess. We were waiting for her to wipe the corners of her mouth with a napkin. Really? Who's child is she? We finally took her little hand and made her get a little messy just for the camera's sake :)

Lolli have her a nightgown and a baby doll that had a matching gown. How cute is that? She LOVES baby dolls. Again-who's child is she?

Fuzzy picture, but we had a pinata and that puppy was a huge hit (no pun intended)! The kids loved it and went crazy when the candy fell out. We had a silly string war in the backyard, and WOW is all I can say. I don't think we will do that again. It was an incredible mess. But...all the kids had fun, so it was worth it this 1 time :).

Unfortunately, that's all for now, folks. I feel like such a loser for not posting all the other pictures, but the kiddies are starting to stir from their naps, so duty is calling.

Thank you, Lord, for this sweet baby girl...and thank you that your ways are ALWAYS higher than mine. Even when I'm certain a basketball team is what's best for me (and heck...who knows? It could still be in my future :)). May Lee and I honor and glorify you as we continue our best in raising her and her brother in Your image. We deserve nothing, but you gave us everything.

Happy 1st Birthday, G-Girl!! We love you so much!

Gatlinburg 2012

2012-01-16T13:34:00.001-08:00

Since I will be in the car for about 6 more hours - and both babies are sound asleep in the back - I see this as a great opportunity to go ahead and post about our trip to Gatlinburg, TN.

My dad took all of us this year for his birthday celebration. It was so fun! We drove up on Thursday and it was freezing cold and snowing. What an awesome way to start the trip! I threw all inhibitions to the wind and didn't worry too much about schedules and bedtimes, which is a streeeeeetch for me, and everything went great for the most part. Knox got to sleep on bunk beds with his cousins which was like a little slice of heaven on Earth for him (and so cute and fun to watch), stay up late playing all sorts of games in the game room - air hockey, bowling, basketball, PAC man, pool, etc. He even got to hang out in the hot tub. He loved it all so much, and unfortunately now he has to go back home with boring mommy. Who knows how I am going to entertain this kiddo now.

Stopping at Jason's Deli on the way up, and realizing that it just started snowing while we ate. We don't see snow often, so it was magical!

Brrr!

Pajamas and snow gear :)

The bowling game that I MIGHT have beat all the boys on. But who's keeping score?...

Hot tub party

Holding his own in air hockey

Greer snuggling with Papa

Is Greer in there?? Sweet little snow bunny.

Sledding at the cabin before all the snow melted

We drove up to Cade's Cove one day and saw deer and turkeys and horses and old cabins and old churches. It was really beautiful. You could walk straight up to the deer. Very neat. Loved the beautiful scenic, snowy view on the way up.

Buggy and Knox sampling some fudge in downtown Gatlinburg.

Once the real snow all melted, we packed it up and went to Oberg Gatlinburg for some snow tubing. Oh. My. Soul. I have never done it before, and I had the time of my life! My dad and Karen kept Greer so we could take Knox and have some fun. I think it was a major highlight for both the adults and the kids. When we got there and saw the hill that we were tubing down, we couldn't believe how big it looked. I won't lie...I might have questioned myself a little when Knox and I were next in line waiting to go. What a rush. He laughed and screamed all the way down each and every time. Such a fun memory for us! After you get to the bottom you just walk to the side and a little conveyer belt just rides you back to the top. We must have done it 50 times. Wish I were tubing now instead of sitting in this car!

View from the top

Knox and Lee as well as Dane and Carley are in there somewhere.

Riding the conveyer belt up and taking in the beautiful view

He had it made- never got out of the tube. Just let us pull him around to the conveyer belt and ride it back up to the top. The life of a 2 year old.

My snowmen :)

Buggy and Robyn waiting in line. As I took this picture my tube went flying down that hill you see behind them. Whoops.

Adrenaline rush!

We also partook in a little ice skating and carousel riding. Knox tried his legs in ice skating and he lasted about 1 lap. It freaked him out that he couldn't stand up by himself.

Sweet cousins!!

All this fun wore someone out and he slept through almost an entire lunch- in public! He never does this so I know he was exhausted.

Hopefully this sweet baby will tube with us next year! Thanks, Papa and Nana, for keeping her for us!

We had a blast cooking dinners together, watching movies, playing games, laughing a lot, and making some awesome memories. Happy birthday, Papa! We are so thankful for our fun trip with you. We're already looking forward to next year!

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2012 National Champions!

2012-01-12T17:43:00.001-08:00

Lee and I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Bama/LSU championship game last Monday. Lee hosted some clients, and I got to tag along this time- MAJOR whoop whoop! Our close friends, Teal and Ryan, also came down so that made it extra fun to be able to experience everything with them. I'm pretty sure that about 4 out of the 5 readers of this blog are Auburn fans, so you probably have already closed out by now or are already sick of reading, but I really really really wanted to document it since it was such a rare and awesome opportunity.

We literally had the time of our lives this trip. The atmosphere was absolutely insane. I love LOVE Alabama football, and the fact that LSU fans have been talking so much garbage about us for a while now - coupled with a 21- 0 blowout - made the trip oh-so incredible. We went ballistic in that dome and seeing such a large sea of crimson and white in the stands was indescribable. You could almost SEE the energy in that place. It was one of the best experiences I've had and I'm so thankful that I got a chance to go. We stayed in that stadium until midnight and watched all the ceremonies and the celebrating. I still have a smile on my face.

Naturally, I don't have many pics and the few that I have are from my phone. I was too busy soaking it all in to think about pictures, but I have to say that I am super sad that I don't have many. Especially sad that I don't have any if Teal and I. I'm such a weirdo! Maybe one day I will learn!

We are in the car headed to Gatlinburg as I type (and it's snowing!! :)), but hopefully I will be able to post about Greer's birthday and Christmas soon. Hope everyone has a relaxing MLK weekend!

ROLL TIDE!!!!!

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I Don't Know How It Happened...

2012-01-05T18:27:00.001-08:00

But this sweet baby girl turned 1 year old today!

We have had quite a day of breakfast, lunch, and dinner celebrations - and we are worn
slap out! I did want to put some pics up of our traditional family Mexican birthday dinners. She had chips, a quesadilla, rice, and a desert for the first time. Hilarious! She will eat ANYTHING you put in front of her face. Anything!

We had such a fun day celebrating this little blessing.
The big birthday bash is this weekend (and by big birthday bash, I mean just a family party) so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, sweet Baby G! We love you so much and couldn't have asked for anything better!

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Gangsta Shoppers

2012-01-03T11:24:00.001-08:00

Scary, huh?

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11 Months (and 16 days)!

2011-12-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are. Inching closer and closer to sweet baby girl's 1st birthday. It's like I blinked, and here we are. No more newborn. No more bottles (almost). No more baby. Just saying those words makes my womb hurt for another one. HOWEVER...Lee told me the other night that I could possibly put it on NEXT years Christmas list, but even then...Santa might forget to deliver that gift to the Lawsons. He's so subtle...

Well, I've said it before and I will say 1,000 more times...I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more precious little girl. I was thinking the other day that I cannot believe that I was dead set on having all boys. I can't imagine life without her. My heart has done a complete 180, and I now love pink. I love tights. I love bishops. I love bows (not that we wear them yet). I love bloomers. I love the fact that I have a daughter. I honestly have no clue if we will have more kids, but I will tell you this: I want another boy AND another girl. Haha. I told Lee that the other night and he about passed out. See, as much as I love my children..and heck, just kids in general, I am not the best at being a newborn mommy. I don't do well without sleep, and when I am in the middle of it I will just about sign my life away promising that I won't do it again. But I really believe the Lord erases your memory because it's almost like I don't even remember the hard days. ALMOST :).

Anyways, Mrs. G is literally getting 2 front teeth for Christmas! They have both broken through and are working their way on in! I check daily, and I believe she as gotten another strand or 2 of hair as well. I am almost to the point of cutting mine and gluing it to her head. I don't think anyone would notice the over night growth. She is still taking random steps here and there, but she would much rather speed crawl. LOVES to clap and dance. Loves to play on Knox's bed with him. She now lets me rock her at night, and she wraps her arms and legs around me when I do so, and it just about makes me cry every time. Still a great sleeper. This is so strange, but she loves to color! I have a video of her doing it, but we all know I'm not that tech savy. She has been doing it for about a month, and she knows exactly what to do and always colors only on the paper. It's so strange and funny at the same time. She will honestly eat whatever you give her...no matter what it is or how much it is. If you don't feed her fast enough, she will let you know she isn't pleased with you. I am worried that she is going to eat us out of house and home once I take the bottle away!

I am missing this time last year when I was extremely pregnant during the holidays, BUT...I am so glad she is here with us and able to celebrate Christmas outside of my belly this year. I have really enjoyed this season so far with the kids and Lee. This Christmas season has been a little different for us and I will explain that in a different post, but we have really been able to relax and focus on the true meaning of Christmas, which has been so refreshing.

I had to put this picture on here for this post since this is pretty much what Greer wants to do all day long:

Yup, she definitely gets that trait from her mommy!

Stay tuned for Christmas and Birthday pics...hopefully sooner rather than later. Until then, I pray that you are finding many, many reasons to praise God this holiday season! Merry Christmas!

One To Follow...

2011-12-13T06:28:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine has shared this blog with me a few times, and it has become one of my favorites. Such an encouragement. I love it when people love Jesus, but they aren't afraid to keep it real and talk about struggles in their life as well. It's so refreshing the way she points everything back to Christ. Enjoy!

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/

Updates All Around...

2011-12-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you are anything like me, but when we have a few things going on and I don't document it right then and there, I get overwhelmed when it all backs up and I take a break from the blogging world. I decided to slap it all down in one post so that I don't make 10 different posts in one day.

First and foremost, this little sweetness has her first ear infection :(

Look at that face! Her eyes are so sad and her nose is about to fall of, it's so raw. Bless her sweet heart. She was living in a cloud yesterday. I can't stand it when babies are sick. However, this little girl has been snuggling and SNORING in my lap and on my shoulder for the last 2 days. I can't get enough of that. The sad news, however, is that Lee and Knox are in Birmingham without us having an early Christmas with his side of the family. I can't believe we are missing it! So sad. However, I know the best thing for Greer is to stay in and get some rest. She is still asleep and it's 8:30, so I know she needed it. We are missing our boys and Lee's family, though :(. I took her to get her prescriptions filled yesterday, and while we waited we picked up a friend to keep us company.

It was too cute. This little girl loves a baby doll. I can't imagine what it will be like to play with girlie stuff as she gets older. Right now my heart is set on sports and being outside all the time, so it should be interesting :). The doctor also said that she has about an entire row of top teeth that are about to come through any second. She already has one that broke through her gums. Poor baby...she is just having a not so good few days. Hopefully she will start to feel better soon with the antibiotics, though.

"It hurts right here, mommy"

We had a great Thanksgiving filled with food and family. My birthday was actually on Thanksgiving day, so we had a double celebration. My family always tries to make it like it's a surprise that they got me a cake and gifts, but I'm not fooled anymore. I am 100 years old, so I know what to expect by now :).

We did our annual tree hunt the day after Thanksgiving. I laugh everytime we do this. I love a tree hunt. LOVE it. We grew up not having the fanciest of things, but one thing is for sure...we were going to have a huge Christmas tree that stayed up all the way until New Years. Some of my favorite memories come from our tree hunts and decorating, so I love that I get to do it with my own family now. We usually go with my sister and my mother, but we had some wacky schedules this year, so it was just the Lawsons this time.

Foxie found one his size

He loved the live nativity scene

Greer loved Santa! Haha.

Men working hard, prissy girls sitting and watching

It MAY have taken a while to chop down

We were a little nervous...

"Looks great. Little full. Lot of sap."

Dressed up!

Lee had to trim off an entire foot of the trunk to make it fit in the house. Hilarious. The important thing is that we got her in, and she fits! The kids love the tree, especially Knox. His favorite part is turning on the lights. He jumps up and down every morning and does a little dance in his PJ's when they get plugged in. I think I will always remember him doing that.

We celebrated our 5th anniversary on December 2. Lee surprised me big time...I thought he had already left for Atlanta for the SEC championship game (work related), but he didn't end up leaving until Saturday morning. He had me fooled, though. My parents showed up with a note from him at 4:45 and told me to be ready by 5:15. 30 minutes, people, is all I had to take a shower and get ready. 30 minutes. My room was a disaster, but we had the best time... and the night was filled with a few surprises!

I came out of my bathroom the other day and found Knox doing this:

He had gotten in my bed and under the covers and was "reading" the bible. He's so deep and spiritual. HA!

Here is another picutre taken recently of him. Before I post, you have to promise not to call DHR. He was super hyper one night and fell back in to a wall corner, hurt his leg and then fell forward into the hardwood floor. Really?

Yup. It's true. That's my son's mangled face. Don't worry, after screaming bloody murder for 2 minutes straight, he had a red Popsicle (see remains on face) and was laughing a few minutes later. Lee was in Japan, and when I sent him this picture he about died. I promise it looks way worse than it actually was. His eye, nose, and lip were back to complete normal the next morning, thankfully. Geesh. I can only imagine what my future holds with this rowdy one! HOWEVER...his teachers at school tell me this (you ready?)...he is the shyest kid in the class and barely says a word! What??????!!! Mrs. Barbara said that he is super quiet and shy, and that all the teachers are so shocked and think he is so sweet. The second I get that child in the car he is motor-mouthing (in Chinese, of course) all the way home! If you know Knox personally, then you are laughing out loud right now. He is also tee-teeing on the potty for the most part and he has gone stinky once. He mainly does that in his pull up while he is sleeping. But hey- I will take it. I am honestly not even stressing about it and taking it one day at a time. He wears big boy underwear during the day and pull ups to sleep in. We have had a few accidents along the way, but I am happy with the results for the most part. ( I am sure that you love reading about his bathroom habits ). The last update on him is probably the most important to me, shamefully. I told my friend Teal that It ranks up there just under him having a relationship with the Lord-again...shameful. Here it is: Knox can hit the baseball when you pitch it to him now! Haha. I'm such a loser. We were out in the backyard the other day and he was hitting the ball like 7 out of 10 times. I couldn't believe it. It was awesome. We were screaming and going crazy and running around the yard like hooligans. Sweet Greer just sat in her swing and watched us like we were weirdos. I need to get my priorities in line, people.

Well, that's enough for one sitting. It's probably a Lawson overload. Knox has his first school program next week, so stay tuned for that. I will probably post about it in a month, or in the same post as his 3rd birthday.

Have a great weekend!

Greer- 10 months (and 16 days)

2011-11-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

O.K. - so this monthly update process for Greer is getting to be borderline comical. I am MAKING myself sit down today (in the middle of a laundry pile) and jot down some things about her 10th month. I cannot imagine what would happen to poor baby #3 if the time ever came. Who knows if I will even keep the blog at that point. I just wish someone would do the updates for me because I sure love the documentation...just not the actual act of updating.

At 10 months, Greer..

*still only has her 2 bottom teeth
*weighs about 21 pounds
*still has very minimal hair (come ON, hair fairy!!!)
*likes to repeat sounds that you make
*sometimes waves and says "bye bye"
*stands on her own, but hasn't really done much more in the walking category
*still a great sleeper
*still very happy and content most of the time...unless she is teething
*still favors Knox more than anything and wants to do/hold/eat whatever he is
*loves food and can probably out-eat any child on the face of the planet
*loves to be read to and sung to, and will even let you rock her if it's your lucky day
*HATES getting her diaper changed
*loves taking warm baths and hates getting out of the bath tub
*still has blue eyes and sweet eyelashes
*pretty sure that once she starts walking she will be able to hold her own with Knox
*and most importantly, still has super scrumptious cheeks

As any parent of 2 will say, life is pretty hectic most of the time. Lee was in Japan for 7 days last week, and little Ms. G got to spend some time with Lee's mom. Holy cow. The fact that I had just 1 child was insane. Insane. It was so easy and so nice to deal with the schedule of just 1 child, and it was nothing short of amazing to get one on one time with Knox. I definitely missed Greer, but I am SO thankful that I got Knox all by myself for a little while. I feel like I learned so many new things about him, and we did a LOT of laughing. I keep realizing that I will never get these days back with the kids, and while my heart continues to be sad over that fact, I am trying to enjoy every single moment with them...and I definitely had many unforgettable moments with Knox last week.

Greer, we love you so much...and we cannot believe that it has almost been a year since you have been born. Where does the time go? Oh how I pray that your daddy and I are making the right decisions in raising you and Knox. It is such a humbling and overwhelming realization that the Lord has entrusted your life to us. We don't deserve you, but He gave you to us anyways, and the best thing that we can do for you is to turn around and hand your life...our entire family's life...back over to Him. May your significance, self worth and satisfaction come solely from Him alone. Happy 10 months, sweet baby girl!

Advent Calendar Verses

2011-11-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

I have been doing some research on verses for our advent calendar tree, and I came across this link and love it! It lists out great verses for you, and it also has a craft to do each day. Not sure if we can swing doing a craft each day, but I hope to do the crafts either this year or next. Regardless, it gives you great verses to read each day to the kids. I thought that I would share the link with you guys since I think it' s so awesome:

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Verses_for_Advent_Countdown_Chain.pdf

Also, my friend Teal told me about this book that her store sells. It's called "The True Night Before Christmas." It is incredible. Her store can barely keep them in stock. It has the same rhyming and rhythm as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", but it is actually the story of the birth of Christ. I cannot wait to read it to the kids every year. What a neat way to incorporate the true meaning of Christmas in to your Christmas Eve tradition. I think it gets harder and harder each year to focus on why we really celebrate Christmas, and this book does a great job of reminding us. Here is a picture of the book in case you are interested. I just checked Amazon, and it said they are out of stock at the moment. If you see it on the shelves anywhere, you should snag it up!

9 months (and 24 days-Geesh!)

2011-10-29T05:03:00.001-07:00

I need to go ahead and throw something down for sweet girl's 9 month documentation. I'm trying to finish strong with these stats for her first year. I won't lie...I'm struggling!

She did great at her check up. Barely cried with her shots. She weighs 21 pounds and is right under 31 inches long. Weight is 70th percentile and height is above 100 still...

She is getting more and more fun with each passing day! She even took 4 steps yesterday. Craziness. I am hoping it was a fluke. I am not ready to have a new walker around the house. She eats everything in sight and gets maaaaad if you take food away from her. There is nothing she doesn't like to eat, which is awesome. She wants everything that Knox has...at all times. She now has 2 bottom teeth, and is working on getting some more. Much to my surprise, I LOVE dressing her up in super girlie clothes. I love putting tights on her. I long for the day that she can wear a bow and have pig tails, but we have quite a while before that will happen. She is just awesome. Still very laid back and chill for the most part. I Couldn't have hand picked a better addition to our family. We love you, G-girl, and are So thankful that the Lord entrusted you to us!

Pumpkin kisses!

Chewing on everything!

Hanging with WaWa

So smiley and happy!

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Back to Reality...

2011-10-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Lee and I made it back safely from our anniversary travels. To say we had a great time is an understatement. I cannot speak of the amount of food that I annihilated over the past few days. It was all-inclusive, so it was all in Regan's belly. From sun up to sun down. And it was goooood food. I am now pregnant with a food baby...

I will say that I missed the kids way more than I expected. I knew that I would miss them, but I found myself having to mentally make myself stop thinking about them and getting sad. I am so thankful for family sending updates and pictures everyday. It was so nice to not have to worry about Knox and Greer since we knew they were in great hands.

Oh so many funny stories from the trip. We are still laughing about some of the stuff that went down while we were there. We actually got to hang out with a few other couples that we met, so that was pretty cool. We got dressed up a few nights for dinner at different restaurants and we also stayed in bathing suits and ate dinner poolside some nights as well. It was so weird to not have a schedule to follow every day. We just rolled with it and played everything by ear...NICE. I even slept until like 8:15 most mornings. This is huge for me- I am not a late sleeper and can't remember the last time I slept that late. Lee got to play golf... I got a massage... we enjoyed some water sports and beach volleyball... Watched football at the on-site Pub...We did a little dancing... Laid around on rafts in the pool...did some reading and napping in cabanas...ate constantly, etc. It was truly incredible. I feel so refreshed and well rested, and am so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip. Our anniversary isn't exactly until December 2, but with Lee headed to Japan soon, Thanksgiving, and Christmas...this was the best time for us to go. And it didn't hurt that the rates were a little cheaper :).

I only took a few pictures from my camera. The rest are from my phone. And I mean honestly, are we surprised by this anymore? Who knows why we have an actual camera.

We had just dropped Knox off in Bham and thought it was crazy looking that we had a kid-free backseat!

Dinner in ATL with some of our FAVORITE people, Cathie and Ryan

About to take off

About to land

Exuma Airport. I'm not joking.

Loved this!

Lee quickly changed in to his speedo as soon as we got there...

View from the room

Pics of the kiddos that we were getting from back home

One of my favorites!

Uncle Joey! He has 2 girls, so he and Knox kicked it boy-style a lot while we were gone and watched some football.

In retrospect, I don't really have that many pictures from the trip. I had to make it a point to take my phone with me to dinner so that we could get some taken together. And they aren't even great quality. Sad. I just really wanted to have a few to remember the trip by. My phone was mainly in the room most of the time, and I will admit that that was nice. Very freeing to not be constantly on the phone or texting or checking emails. Not that I am that important. No one really emails me that much. Mainly my sister :).

I can't believe we are coming up on 5 years. I will save a sappy post about that until closer to our actual anniversary. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me time with Lee -without kids and work- to just relax and talk and spend time together. I know that without you, none of this would have been possible.

Thankful

2011-10-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

I just dropped Knox off at school and am about to start the crazy packing process for our trip. We leave TOMORROW! So much to do before we leave, but my heart is so thankful for our family memebers that are keeping our kids while we are gone that I wanted to write about it before things get too chaotic around here.

Greer is staying here with my mom and my sister, and Knox will be in Birmingham with Jessica, Lee's sister. When we first started planning this trip, things weren't really lining up easily. The more kids you have, the harder it is to work everything out, that is for sure! Anyways, at one point we decided that we should probably just hold off and wait for a better time to go. My parents both work full time, and my sister is super busy with her 3. However, my mom (who was still recovering from back surgery) kindly offered to keep Greer even though her back wasn't back to normal. She assured me that she and Mr. Andy -her husband-would take off of work and do what it takes to keep Greer, and that she wasn't letting anything get in the way of Lee and I going off together. THEN...my sweet sister in law insisted that Knox come and stay with her and her family. We weren't too sure at first because we didn't want to overload her since she has 2 girls, but thankfully she wasn't taking no for an answer :). I know Knox is going to have a BIIIIG time hanging out with some of the nicest/funniest/coolest people ever, and he is going to go crazy getting time with sweet Annie and Lily Kate (our nieces). And of course, Robyn...who is like room mom for all of her kids and always on the go. She rocks, too! Lee and I are both so humbled by their desire to serve us in such a big way. We definitely know that it is A LOT to have someone to keep your kids for so long, so to say we are thankful is an understatement. Not that we deserve it, because we don't necessarily deserve anything, but this will be the first time that Lee and I will be alone and away from the kids since I can remember....definitely the first time since Greer has been born. Yea...I'm a LITTLE excited!

We did, however, receive some sad news about my mom last week. Her back is starting to bother her again, and the doctor said that unfortunately it looks like a more invasive surgery is in her near future. She is having an MRI this afternoon for more details. This really, really hurts my heart because she had a tough recovery from her first one and the last thing she wants to do is go in for another one. Please, please pray for her if you think about it. I would love for God to work a miracle and heal her back completely, or even if it is just a clean MRI result and no surgery...that would be a miracle for sure. She and my sister are splitting time with Greer while we are gone, so that makes me feel a little better. My sweet mom will be working on the days she isn't keeping Greer, so I know she will be exhausted.

Anyways, all this to reiterate that I am oh so thankful for the opportunity to get away with my husband.
Saying "Thank You" doesn't seem like enough (probably because it isn't). You guys are receiving many crowns in heaven for this one...that's for SURE! Haha. We love you SO much!!

Now, we will definitely be missing these 2:

But, I think we will be able to find a way to enjoy ourselves while we are away from them :).

Bahamas....HERE WE COME!!!!

Worth Mentioning

2011-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

O.K., so I definitely have a pile of laundry sitting beside me right now, calling out my name. It's also 1:48 and I still have yet to shower for the day (gross, I know, but I've been steaming floors and scrubbing toilets-happy Monday to me!). However, I am going to stop for a minute and share with you something that has really rocked my "Parenting View" over the last 24 hours.

Some friends of mine went to hear John Rosemond speak at a local church yesterday-where Knox goes to MDO. I have heard of him before, but I have never read anything by him or listened to any talks that he has given. It was 1 pm when I got the invite to go at 2 pm, and I am so thankful that I went. SO thankful.

I love to read, and being a new parent I particularly love reading books about parenting and children. I am sure most of you are in the same boat. Hear me when I say that listening to John yesterday completely rocked my world, and he had SO much scriptural back up and research that it was just insane. We drooled over his message and we clung to every word. Pages of notes were taken. Mental light bulbs were "going off" left and right. I was encouraged to the core with every word he had to say. It all made sense.

I could probably type about all that I learned yesterday from his 3 hour talk for about 10 hours, but I won't. I wish I could upload my notes to the blog. I honestly am scared to even describe his teachings, for fear that I will not do an adequate job. Pretty much, he addressed the fact that society has all mothers guilt ridden, stressed out, and exhausted these days, and 50 years ago...that wasn't the case. We have bought in to so many lies about being a mother and a parent...so many lies that are no where to be found in scripture...and we are really struggling because of it. Mainly, dealing with discipline. Somewhere along the way we have lost sight of being a true, Godly, supervising parent, and we have replaced that with being a friend, child-pleaser, child-obsessed mother. We have placed the child as the center of our universe and are too scared to discipline them the way that God intended. We are striving for our children to have the best grades and accomplishments, and no where in the bible does it talk about accomplishments for our children... it only addresses the character of the children we are raising. While we should strive to instill a sense of healthy self confidence, we are going overboard in making sure they have the highest self esteem...which only leads to them having lower regards for others in many cases. Humility and modesty should be the desired attributes, but unfortunately the world tells us that those are not worthy ones to have. He goes on to say that demographics show that children are much LESS happier now then they were in the 50's. He said that he cannot remember a single person that struggled with ADHD, depression, anorexia, cutting themselves, suicide, etc. Not one. Now, the stats show that predominately every single teenager across the nation knows of a peer that struggles with at least one of these strongholds. Does that make your stomach turn or what?? We argue and justify with our children and give them reason to believe that they have some kind of authority to make their own decisions. We desire to please them. We do everything BUT tell them to do something...we ask, plead, bargain, etc. We should not have to persuade our children to be obedient. God gave us authority over them to raise them the way He intended. We are responsible for them. John gave MANY scriptural references. He gave many applicable examples that were age appropriate. He addressed so many other things, but unfortunately time does not allow me to share. To sum it up, he believes that all the "new" strategies for parenting that we have adopted over the last 50 years is counter productive, and we are wearing ourselves thin trying to make sense of it all. He definitely acknowledges that there will always be bumps in the road...we live in a sinful world. But he makes it very clear that the only "parenting handbook" we should go by is the word of God.

Anyways, I'm sure that I did not do this poor man any justice by attempting to explain how amazing his talk was yesterday. He has a good bit of literature out for specific seasons of your parenting life. I snatched this puppy up so that I can read it on our trip. I am by no means trying to cram this down your throat, BUT...if you are looking for a good read for parenting and discipline, I'm pretty certain this one won't disappoint!

This Guy...

2011-09-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

(the big one), is so amazing. The little one is, too, but this post is for the hubs. He sent my sister and I on a surprise get-away to Destin for a few days. I had no clue it was coming, and I was so excited when I found out! A few weeks ago, Lee had a conference in Destin and we stayed in Bay Towne. It was incredible and so kid friendly. I kept telling him that I would love to be able to come back with him - kid free - and be able to go an do, shop, be lazy by the pool with him, etc. He was so sweet to send me because I know he would have loved to be the one in Robyn's spot (sorry, sister :)), but getting someone to watch 2 small kids last minute isn't really doable when my parents both work. So he sucked it up and sent me with the next best option...Robyn!

The past few days have been filled with loud music/singing in the car, windows rolled down, trying on clothes and laughing in the fitting rooms, sharing a bed, perhaps a fruity drink :), a LITTLE bit of serious talk, watching Alabama football, dinners on the water watching the sun set, live music, sharing lip gloss, discussing future haircuts, laughing about old boyfriends, delicious food, picking out houses that we would own in Seaside one day (yea, right!), and enjoying the gorgeous weather. It was awesome, and so very welcomed.

I am so thankful for such a thoughtful husband. I love him so much.

I will confess that I was sad when I pulled out of the driveway. I don't like being without Lee and I'm definitely not use to being without the kids, but it was such a nice refresher for me. And are you ready for this???

A LITTLE OVER 3 WEEKS, AND MY HUSBAND AND I WILL BE ALONE IN THE BAHAMAS TOGETHER CELEBRATING OUR 5TH ANNIVERSARY.

It's true. You read correctly. We are traveling together, alone, not work related, to celebrate our marriage. Holy COW. I still won't believe it until we are sitting on that plane together about to take off. We celebrated our first anniversary in Charleston, 2nd anniversary I was pregnant with Knox, 3rd anniversary we had a 4 month old and I had the baby blues with acid reflux and colic to deal with, 4th anniversary I was pregnant with Greer, so we are living it UP for the big 5!

The countdown is ON, my friends!

8.5 Months

2011-09-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Geesh. I am SLACKIN' on these monthly updates. I honestly am not even prepared to do this one because I haven't gotten any good 8 month pics, but I am just going to have to slap it down real quick seeing as how 9 months is right around the corner.
Baby girl has MORPHED into a woman of independence! Holy cow. Let's see, here. Crawling is for the birds, and she is now climbing on everything and standing with minimal assistance. She gets fired UP when she sees Knox running around and she realizes she can't run herself. She literally lunges out of your arms onto the floor and speed crawls towards him. On Saturday she TOOK 2 STEPS before she realized that she is only 8 months and cannot walk. She face planted into a toy and had a nice little mark on her face all day. All she wants is Knox. She is a sleeper-big time-and usually doesn't wake until 8. Knox goes in her room with me every morning to get her, and they both light up when they make eye contact. She can bend her body in ways that I have never seen, and if he moves from her sight while getting her diaper changed, she will practically break her neck to find him. I ask him all the time to sing or dance for her while I change her diaper, and the things that he does to entertain her are hilarious. I think I need to start paying him some allowance for his hard work!

This might be the ONLY picture I have of her looking at the camera.

"Baby toys are O.K...."

" But..."

" I'd rather play trucks with brother in the hallway."

"All of his toys are louder and better"

"Especially when he shows me how to play with them!"

Storing up food for the winter...

And...teething like crazy! But I do have some big news. She FINALLY got a visit from the tooth fairy and got her first tooth last week. Bottom right :)

And sometimes...

She likes to beat up her brother just to keep him in check :)

Love this sweet baby girl, and I especially love watching the relationship that's developing between these 2. So thankful for my days with them, even the hard ones. There have been a lot of days here lately where I have just stepped back and watched the 2 of them playing with Lee, and I've asked myself..."Is this really my life?"

God is good!

Game Day!

2011-09-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

Praise Jesus, football season has finally arrived! To kick off the season, we decided to load the kids up and head to T-town to watch the game, as well as stay with/visit my brother and his family in Tuscaloosa.

We originally had tickets for the entire family to go, but Greer came down with a nasty cold so Lee took her home after we hung out on campus for a bit and Knox and I went to the game. Can you believe how amazing Lee is? I was more than ready to take little girl back to the house, and that was the original plan, but as we were all walking to the stadium, Lee took my hand and gave me the tickets and told me that I deserved to go enjoy the game with Knox. I know, ridiculous. I am pretty sure that no matter how hard I try, I will never be as sweet as he is.

So, we all know that Knox loves to throw balls, swing clubs and bats, and watch sports in general. Well, holy MOLY he did incredible at the game! I mean, he sat in that chair and stared at the field the entire time. It was as if he knew exactly what was going on. I couldn't believe it. We took a break and went down to the concession for lunch, but other than that he sat and stared (and talked to his cousins) the entire time. I was SO proud of him. It made the game that much more enjoyable. I will never forget the way his face lit up when we walked into that stadium. The atmosphere was amazing and he loved every second of it. Making memories like that with the kids is just priceless to me. Can't wait until he's old enough to understand everything and talk about it!

I only took a few pics from my phone (surprise surprise). In my defense, it is SO much easier to tote around your cell phone than it is to carry that huge camera around! Especially when you have 50 children like I do and you can barely remember if you put deodorant on or brushed your teeth that morning.

Woke up playing the Alabama Fight song on his cool older cousin's, Braden, drums...

Bama Boys

G-girl hanging in there even though she felt horrible :(

Making friends

Getting carried in to the game by Uncle Russ

Cousins! Darby, Knox, Braden

Future players? Seriously, Braden is the coolest kid ever. So so so sweet to Knox and is an incredible athlete. He's also smart as all get out. Renaissance Man.

This was his face the majority of the time. Intense!

Cheese!

On a side note, you would NOT believe the people that wanted to talk to Knox or high five him because of his hair color. It was more insane than usual. Lots of them just yelled "Roll Tide!" and petted his head. Hilarious.

It was a great way to start the season! Looking forward to hopefully putting up many more W's in the future. Roll Tide!

2 Year Check-Up & MDO

2011-08-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Knox had his 2 year check up today, and everything looked great. So blessed to have a happy, healthy little boy. I think that it's so easy to take for granted ALL the little (and big) things that go along with having a healthy child, and today I am more than thankful for his healthy check up.

Weight: 34 pounds

Height: 37 inches

He is in the upper 90's for both stats. I was a little surprised at the weight stat because he has literally almost lost ALL his baby weight, which hurts my heart a little bit to type. He is still trying to hold on to his cheeks, praise Jesus, but his legs and arms and tummy are just thinning out like crazy. He's still a big boy, don't get me wrong...he's just starting to look more and more like a little boy rather than a baby, and well...that makes me sad. I guess they all have to grow up at some point. I will say that I think he gets more and more fun with each passing day. He has crazy energy and prefers to be outside hitting some type of ball, mainly golf balls or baseballs. He now LOVES trucks...the louder the better. He talks ALL the time and if we are lucky, we will understand about 30% of it. He laughs all the time. At everything. I love that about him. So carefree. I love that he tells me to sit beside him all the time and put my arm around him. I love that he shouts "Roll Tide" from his bedroom randomly after we put him to bed. I love that he walks by Lee and I and sometimes just gives us a "Good game" pat on our bums, and keeps going. Hilarious. I love his red hair and green eyes. I love that we now have to stop and "pay" (pray) not only at mealtime, oh but about every other hour or so. No matter where we are. I love that I get to spend 2 hours with him on the days that he doesn't go to MDO-one on one-while Greer is taking her morning nap. I love that time I have with him. Anyways, I love many things about this kid, but most of all I love that the Lord gave him to us!

I would hate for his hands to get cold while having a juice box. That would be terrible.

Sportin' his Buzz and Woody tats. Devastated when they had to come off at bath time. Good thing we have like 20 more.

He also started back at MDO last week. He has probably the nicest teacher on the face on the planet, and he loves to say her name all the time. Her name is Mrs. Barbara (Ba-Bra). Apparently she is really good at potty training. Terrible, but I cringe at the thought of starting that process. Maybe I will just drop him off one day and by the time I get back he will be wearing big boy undies?? Ha. I would pay "Ba-Bra" a pretty penny if she could manage that one. He loves his class and is with most of his friends from last year. He is qualified to be a "car-line" kid, but I haven't done that yet. I've walked him in the 2 days he has been back, but I think I will be hittin' that car line up soon. Something about pajamas and coffee in the car line has a nice ring about it. I tried to get some pics of him headed to school, but it didn't really work out for me. Only got a couple from my phone that aren't great, but we take what we can get around here.

Have a good day at school, Lee, Jr!

Here's his little classroom. Wish I would have gotten some clearer pictures. He just walks right in and waves goodbye to me. I definitely would rather him be happy to go, but it I would love to know that deep down he'd rather be with me! Ha. I'm a loser.

The boys...checking out some trucks!

That's it, folks. I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday afternoon!

7 of the Best Months of My Life!

2011-08-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

G-girl turned 7 months on the 5th. I am a little late with this monthly post, but we were beachin' it for the last few days :). I have a few pics from the beach that I will get to later.

7 months! Wowsers. It seems to me like the monthly updates are going by faster and faster, and before I know it, she won't be a baby anymore. ~~All~~ some days are crazy hectic around here, and there are times when unfortunately I get so overwhelmed that I am just ready for that 7:00 bedtime, but when the day is done and I reflect on all that we did that day...the new milestones that were hit, the number of times Knox kissed Greer on the head and said "I love you" to her, the crazy laughs that fill the hallways... I honestly can't imagine life any other way.

Here are some pics that were taken today. You will see that a certain someone (who will remain nameless) wanted in on the photo action as well. Too bad he was dressed for a nap, complete with paci and Greer's drool stains on his shirt :(. Such brotherly love...

That is some serious Gumby-style paci grabbing. She will lay on the floor in this position for bits at a time. Guess she needs to do some stretching...

These lips are killing me!

She looks so much like her daddy, it's unreal!

Greer-

At 7 months :

*you are sitting up by yourself from a laying down position

*you have started crawling a little bit

*still have no teeth and very little hair

*still have blue eyes and brown hair

*love to watch Knox do anything!
*starting to fuss a little when mommy walks out of the room

*definitely love the paci, much like your brother

*have some SERIOUS pouty lips and can use them on the spot

*still are a very calm and sweet baby

*sleep from about 7:15-7:30pm to 7:30-8:00 am.

*love to be read to

*chew on everything in site

*love it when Knox pushes you in your walker

*still take 2.5 naps a day

*LOVE food, much like your entire family :)

I love you, sweet girl. I was thinking earlier today about being behind on your monthly post and wondering if I should make it a priority to get it done, and for some reason I thought about you having your own children one day and having all this baby reference to look back and compare it to, and that gave me the motivation to sit down and get it done. I can't even imagine you growing up and having your own children right now. Your father makes fun of me because I cry ALL the time thinking about smaller things like pig tails, dance recitals, and pink soccer cleats. I am doing my best to soak up every ounce of you while I can, but you and your brother are growing so fast. If I am this weird about the 2 of you on Earth, can you imagine how much more your Father in heaven loves you? I can't wrap my mind around it...

Happy 7 months, sweet girl!

My Dad has a New Nickname for This One...

2011-08-04T17:10:00.001-07:00

"Sweet Meat!"

And boy, does it fit perfectly :)

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Two-riffic week!

2011-07-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been at the Lawson household. We have had some serious emotional ups and downs around here, and by "we"...I mean me. It all came from left field, too. I started crying the night before his birthday, which was on Tuesday, and I think I got it all out by yesterday afternoon. All I could do was laugh at myself through the tears because Lee and I both were a little weird-ed out by my uncontrollable waterworks.
Brace yourself. This might be a lengthy post with many pictures. I feel like we celebrated Foxie's bday all week long. Like I said earlier, his actual birthday was on Tuesday but his party was not until Saturday. Lee actually took the day off work to celebrate with us on Tuesday, so that was a fun treat. That morning we went to Knox's favorite place, Kangaroos, with Ri-Ri, Paw-Paw, and Wawa. Knox hit the ground running...HARD. He was drenched in sweat within the first 10 minutes we were there. I can remember taking him when he was about a year old and I had to do everything with and for him. Now we just put socks on him and let 'er rip. He does ALL of the slides. By himself. Without hesitation. And got a running jump before going down them. What a difference a year makes...

High Fives!

Opening some pre-birthday presents

Ok, so Lee and I decided that his gift from us this year was the jumpy that we gave him at the beginning of the summer.We gave it to him early so that we could have some entertainment and get good use out of it this summer. Well, Lee came home the night before his birthday with a HUGE smile on his face and said..,"Babe...I just couldn't resist!" He got him his first set of REAL golf clubs! This kid loves loves loves golf. He is always running around this place with a plastic golf club swinging at plastic balls while Greer and I "bob and weave". They are constantly outside playing and Knox has always admired Lee's real clubs. When Lee saw these-made for ages 2 to 6...AND they are left handed (K is left handed)-he just about died. I really don't know who was more excited...K or Lee! Wish you could have heard the "OOOHHHH!" when Knox opened them.

Someone chatted it up with the waiter at lunch and got himself a free birthday cookie

After nap time, Lee took Knox to the golf course to play! I think this is my favorite picture. It so sweet for me to watch Knox really like something that Lee LOVES to do. I really hope Knox sticks with it. I can see the 2 of them now...hanging out on a Saturday afternoon playing golf and spending some quality time together. I think Lee honestly thinks they are best friends now and it will always remain that way. I hope it does, but I've also been around middle schoolers and high schoolers enough to know that parents can be so uncool...

I tried whipping together a home-made birthday cake. Not a pretty outcome.

On Friday, we were LUCKY enough to get to go see Jessica (Lee's sister), Joey, Annie, and Lily Kate! There are no words to describe how much I love this family. They are so loving and serving and have always been so sweet to us. From the first day I met Jessica, she welcomed me with open arms and I have really taken to her. I can honestly say that I love my sister in law to her core, and even if we weren't related, she is someone that I would want spend a lot of time with. She loves the Lord and it shows in EVERYTHING that she does. They were at the beach for a few days so they invited the kids and I to come down on Friday. SO much fun!

Lily Kate and Joey checking out the new girl :)

The kids dominated this puppy. I had my share of fun as well, that is until I looked up and saw the 100 pound weight limit sign. Whoops. I'm just a smidge over that one...

Sweetness

They honestly have the sweetest and cutest family!

We had a patio laid in the backyard so that we could get a table and chairs and be able to spend more time outside and have some extra seating. Friday night, Lee and I hung up the lanterns and turned on some country music and just talked all about our 2 years with Knox. We shared our favorite highlights and some parenting goals. It was really good for my soul. I'm ready for some cooler weather so that we can spend the majority of our time out there.

We decided to have Knox's party at our house this year and just keep it family and cousins since our family is so big and we are a little tight on space. I took over 200 pics, which is a record for me, but I will only post a few. We had an absolute blast. It was perfect. Knox enjoyed every second of running around like a chicken without it's head in the backyard with his cousins. I loved sitting back and watching him. He's growing so fast right before our very eyes :(. We only got like 2 pics of him before he was "set free" and soaking wet. The kid also managed to scratch his neck and get a small bruise on the side of his face...10 minutes before his party started. Boys will be boys! I need to get better at picture taking. We didn't even get a family pic!

Nick Saban showed up (yes, that's my father)

Baby Holland...sweetest and cutest little thing ever!

Lily Kate. Love this preciousness. I swear I think she and Knox are somehow brother/sister and not cousins...

1 boy and 8 girls at the party. Normally this would be an advantage for Knox, but seeing as how he is related to the majority of them...not so much.

The Thrash Family-one of my favorites! Huge Auburn fans, and my hilarious father stuck his hat on Jason last second. He's not obnoxious at all :)

Baby girl slept through most of the party. She was a little under the weather with a super runny nose. You can really tell she doesn't feel good in this pic. Poor baby.

Love the relationship these 2 have

Ri-Ri got him a tag junior reading series. I am SUPER pumped about it!

Toy Story Tag book

And we ended the night with a cousin bath. Annie gave Knox a bubble hair do

And here we are this morning-bright and early-mowing the grass with out new bubble mower that we got from Pa Pa and Nana while wearing our new Buzz pj's from Cha Cha. I am starting to wonder if the Buzz phase will EVER end????

Ok, so it looks like I lied about only a few pictures. There are literally tons more. Sorry! I do have a few things to type about the end of the party, so please hang in there for a few more minutes...

Like I stated earlier, the party was a success. That is, until the last 2 minutes when things just went downhill with a quickness. Knox got attacked by fire ants (like, a ton!), but he took it like a big boy and barely cried. We had to take care of that before we opened presents. Once we got going with the gifts, I realized that I was extremely hot. I looked around and noticed that everyone looked a little warm. We Looked at the thermostat and it said 87 degrees!! Ahh! So, dad and Lee started messing with the unit and had to go outside to do some stuff to it. The next thing I know, Lee got electrocuted and his ring finger immediately started swelling. He was ghost white when I went out to check on him. My dad was trying to assess him, but Lee was not saying much. We got him inside and he was like "I just want to watch Knox open his gifts", but everyone else was like "Lee...your hand doesn't look good, and you are pretty shaky and pale, maybe you should go on to the E.R." After 45 minutes of debating, he went on. I am so glad he did because apparently getting electrocuted can easily throw the rhythm of your heartbeat off (without you knowing), causing a heart attack. He did not get home until 9:30 that night, but the staff was super thorough with EKG's and all sorts of other testing and for that I am so thankful. His finger still looks a little weird, but they said that he was extremely lucky and checked out healthy. The voltage of what the power box was 220 volts and the docs were in shock that nothing too serious happened to him. Thankful for the Lord's protection over him.

SO...once he left for the hospital, we all just got in "mode" around the house. Dad and Joey worked on the AC for a loooong time (and fixed it, praise Jesus), Jessica cleaned my entire kitchen and helped with cleaning outside, my step mom helped with the cleaning and entertaining of the kids. My mom left shortly after the party because she has still not fully recovered from her back surgery. The whole time I was trying to get my kids ready for bed, I kept thinking how sad I was that I could go be with Lee. While I was bent over the tub bathing the kids, my phone rang and it was my mom. I told her to call me and let me know she got home ok. When I picked up I just started rambling about how I loved her and was so thankful she came to Knox's party even though she was hurting pretty bad and that I was busy with the kids but as soon as I got an update from Lee, I would call her. She let me ramble for a minute and then she said, "Regan. We are sitting right here next to Lee at the hospital. On the way home we decided that we really wanted to come sit with him, so we are here now and he is doing fine so far." Tears just started flowing. I love my mom. I love my family. I love that she adores Lee enough to waddle in to that hospital with a sore back and sit in an uncomfortable chair next to him just to make him feel loved, and that my step father feels the same way. I love that my father stayed over here until late last night (and came back over today for 2 hrs) to fix our AC. I love that my sweet sis in law is always the calm in the middle of the storm, and she just jumped in to action and started serving me when things got hectic. My family is so self-less. They are always willing to do whatever they can to help us. Not because it's convenient, but because they love us. AND...they never expect anything in return and they are so humble about it. Whenever we try to thank them, they almost get uncomfortable :). Please don't hear me say that they are perfect...we definitely have our issues...but they always put family first and do so much for us. I never want to take that for granted. I always want to remember the big and the small sacrifices they make for us!

So...hows that for an end of a 2nd bday party??? I mean, electrocution? Who gets electrocuted these days? Goodness. Never a dull moment around this house.

My sweet Baby Knox-

I can't believe that you are already 2 years old. It seems like yesterday when we brought you home from the hospital to our house in Montgomery. I had no idea what I was in for! You have taught me so much about myself and about the mother I desire to be. I never knew that I could love something so much. Watching you grow and learn and develop has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. You keep us laughing ALL the time, you are extremely independent and passionate, you give the best hugs and hold on extra tight, you love to swing the golf clubs and baseball bats, you are so very gentle with your little sister, you talk in Chinese a pretty good bit :), and you are loved on by so many people. I never want the day to come when I have to stop kissing on those chubby cheeks, or when you stop wanting to "pay" (pray) over our meal 3 times in one sitting while making us put down our utensils and wait for daddy to bless the food...again. I want to hear your contagious laugh ever single day of my life. I love you, kiddo, and I can't wait to see all that this year has in store for you!

Road Trip

2011-07-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

G-Girl and I packed up and rolled out to the mighty Mississipp last Friday to see some of our favorite people. One of my best friends from college, Grant, and his awesome wife, Rebecca, live in Brandon, Mississippi. AND...Christie, Brad, and their precious baby Hayes live there as well. It was so so so fun to see everyone and get some good time to catch up with them.

Like I said earlier, Grant and I go way back to college. He was honestly like a brother to me and we have seen each other through many things-to say the least :). We use to tell each other that when we got older (I guess we are now old), we hoped that our spouses and children could hang out together. Cool story to insert real quick...I knew Rebecca before Grant met her and we instantly became super close friends, like we knew each other our entire lives. My friendship with Rebecca grew for about an entire year before she ever even met Grant. AND...I wasn't even the one who introduced them! It just randomly happened one night when a group got together to go to a baseball game in Montgomery and dinner afterwards. I was pregnant with Knox at the time and she wanted to come down and visit :). Both Grant and Rebecca were in a place where they were learning a lot about themselves and trying to figure out why some things had happened in their lives, and low and behold, the Lord used all of it to bring them together...His perfect plan! Since I have gotten married, Grant and I haven't done the best job of keeping in touch, so it was really neat to watch him "pursue" a great friend of mine and get to hang out with them as a couple. One of the first times they rode in a car together was to come to the hospital to meet Knox when he was born. How cool is that? Well, probably not too cool to you, but very cool to me.

We had THE most fun this weekend. Greer loved seeing her Aunt Reba and Uncle Grant, and she was a sport at tagging along to all our of our dinners and outings. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, and I even stayed up past midnight both nights (granted, I was in my pj's...but still...). They were such servants and I felt so welcomed. They even made me an awesome breakfast with omelets, fruit, potatoes and cheese, and fresh squeezed O.J. I immediately told them that if they came to my house I might throw them a cheerio or 2 for breakfast and a sippy cup of milk, so I'm sure they are longing for that day.

I also got to have lunch with Christie, Brad and baby Hayes. We loved hanging out with these guys years ago when they lived on the Eastern Shore. They are definitely missed and we joke about living close by again one day. So weird that we have babies now! When we use to hang out we were young and baby free. My, how the times have changed. After lunch we went back to their place and let the babies nap while we hung out and caught up with each other. I love me some Christie, and I don't think she could get any cuter if she tried!

So thankful for these amazing friendships! I was super sad to leave everyone on Sunday, but I knew I had some cute boys to come home to, so that made it a little easier :)

Greer and I's chauffeur's for the weekend

G is loving Uncle Grant's phone

Umm...how pretty are their babies going to be?

Seriously, Christie? Why are you always to cute. And I want to steal your baby :)

15 pics, and this is the best one I got. Sadness! Hayes is sooo cute!

Grant planted willow trees in the rain. So handy.

We thought it would be funny to take a studious pic. A little flash back from college. Although, a true flashback would have been Grant doing my math homework while I painted my toenails. Whoops.

This woman is a natural with babies. I can't handle her hair. I would LOVE some of those curls to rub off on G-girl.

All geared up to take the Praxis! Over-achiever...

Greer had to give him the ENT inspection.

Thanks to Adams family and the Davis family for such an awesome weekend! Miss you guys already!

Sittin' Pretty

2011-07-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

I remember documenting for Knox the first time he sat up in a buggy. I cant believe we are at this point with G-girl. While I'm sad she's growing so fast, I'm looking forward to not toting around that stinkin' heavy car seat!

Here she is helping me do a little birthday shopping for brother. She helped me pick out some really fun things! Although, half the time she had a serious gangsta lean...

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Someone...

2011-07-19T15:33:00.001-07:00

Is trying to get their sister to be a fan of Toy Story.

I wonder who that could be??

Greer-6 months!

2011-07-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

G-girl turned 6 months last week on the 5th, and we went to have our little check up today. Her appt was right smack in the middle of her morning nap, and that sweet baby smiled her entire way through, tired and all. She did cry with her 3 shots, but was tear free by the time we got to the check out. Every single day I am amazed by her. I can't believe that something so sweet belongs to me. Even Dr. Rux asked me if she was this sweet all the time. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is ALL the Lord's doing. The second I found out I was pregnant again I was on my knees begging God for a different newborn experience. I love Knox with everything inside of me, but his colic and reflux ALMOST did me in :). Not a day goes by that Lee and I don't thank God in our prayers for her demeanor. She is so laid back that I even asked the doctor today if I should be worried about anything. You could lay her on burning pavement and she was probably just lay there and coo at you. He said everything was great and normal and that we were just blessed with a sweet spirited little girl. Praise Jesus. I hope I am typing about this sweet spirit when she turns 16!

Weight- 18.5 pounds- 90% percentile

Height- 28.5 inches- still not on the charts

After Greer woke up from her late afternoon nap, we had a little 6 month celebration for her. Naturally she had no idea what was going on. Knox, on the other hand, enjoyed his cupcake. Poor G-girl only got to watch him eat it. Terrible, I know, BUT... she only has 6 more months before she can devour her birthday cake :).

"Wait. What just happened? What is on my head?"

"Mom's not looking. Just put it in my mouth!"

Knox loved the blower thingys

Look at their faces! Lee was doing some weird dance to get them to look at the camera.

G ain't so sure about it

Nothing sexier than a husband who puts on a girly birthday hat for a half-birthday party!

Greer, at 6 months you are:

*rolling like crazy

*sort of sitting up by yourself

*scoot around the room on your tummy

*still no teeth, and BARELY any hair.

*Still have blue eyes and brown hair

*Love bananas

*sleep from 7:30 to about 7:30

*take 2 long naps and a short late afternoon one

*Love watching your brother run circles around you

*smile so big your eyes almost close shut :)

*Love being read to

*are content pretty much any where we put you

*CANNOT stand it when you have a dirty diaper

We are constantly praying that your sweet spirit would remain and that others would be able to easily see Christ through you because of it. That your self worth, significance, and satisfaction would come from the Lord only. That you and Knox would build a strong relationship that would last a lifetime. That the Lord would protect you and keep you, and that you would be surrounded by friends that encourage you to honor the Lord with your life.

Happy 6 months, sweet baby. Have I told you how happy I am that you turned out to be a girl?

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

This year we had the pleasure of spending the 4th of July with the Halls and the Creels at Lake Martin. We packed up all of our families and headed out, and we had a blast. We had 8 kids between the 3 families, and everyone behaved very well...which makes trips like this WAY more enjoyable. Between the hours of 5pm and 7pm it got a little "hairy" at times, but we just hunkered down and persevered through it. It was a sight to be seen! Pretty much you just walked through the living room and played with a kid for a minute, then you went to the dining room and gave child a few bites to eat of something, and then you throw a bunch of them in the tub and start bathing. Most of the time you didn't really know who you were feeding, bathing, or playing with...you just did it at full speed so that we could make it to bedtime! The husbands were super hands on as well and that was a huge help.

I barely took ANY pictures since the weekend was so action packed. We were in the water most of the time, so neither one of us had dry hands to hold a camera and take lots of pics. Knox went tubing for the first time and he LOVED it. It was so fun. I rode with him, and his face was the exact same face he had on the go-karts...all business. I looked over and saw his serious face and his cheeks flappin' in the wind and couldn't help but laugh. After we fell off, he came up from the water pointing and shouting "Tue! Tue! (tube)." He would lean which ever way we were going. I think he thought he was steering it! The deck had an awesome slide that I wasn't sure if he was going to like or not. Lee took him outside to swim first and said that the first time he got in the water was by going down the slide. I was shocked. He is definitely a child that has to warm up to things. He went down about 1,000 times before the weekend was over. Mommy was a little tired from climbing that puppy every time with him.

The boys put on an awesome firework display the last 2 nights. They were really pretty. I can't believe that I am about to confess this on the blog, but a few of us even jumped Chimney Rock. I had heard of it before but didn't know much about it. After jumping it I read a few articles about how dangerous it was, so looking back I guess I would say that I didn't make the best decision. Yikes! It was crazy scary and something that I am certain I will never do again. I still can't believe I did it. I'm not a fan of heights. Plus, I enjoy my life, so I am still in a little shock over it. I also have quite the bruise on my right leg from going in at a little bit of an angle. Let's just say that I am not 18 anymore and my body let me know it real quick! Hind-sights 20/20...

I will leave you with the few pictures that I took. We had such a great time with awesome friends, and we are so thankful for the invite. Many laughs were had and lots of great food was enjoyed! God has blessed us abundantly with some awesome friendships...

We asked K and Sanders to hug. Toy story was playing, so this is all we got :)

Sweet Caden was an awesome help with the younger ones!

Drooling over the slide

Yes, she is like twice his size, and he is almost 10 months!

Thanks, Chimney Rock

Greer pimpin' her pink ride

Tubing!

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday celebrating our country's freedom!

Quick Trip

2011-06-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Lee got back in town from France on Wednesday, so we decided to pack up the kiddos and head to Florida for some family and beach time. It was a random pick, but it ended up being a fun one. I am so thankful that Lee is loves to take spontaneous family trips. Sometimes I wonder if ALL the packing is worth it for just a couple of days, but then I remember the memories that we are making with the kids and it is definitely worth shoving all the gear in to the back of the car.

Windows down and giving some shout-outs to all the beach bound people...

We used Lee's Marriott points to book a room since, well, we all know that he accumulates them by the thousands since he travels so much. They ended up giving us a suite with 2 bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. That made all the sleeping arrangements and bottle making and breakfast feedings a bliss!

This little one is loving her toes these days :)

Calling his peeps to let them know he arrived safely

And then the teenager scoped the channels for a little Buzz Light year. He was over it when he couldn't find any Toy Story on...

Staking claim on his room

We ate at a really good place called "Peg Leg Petes" the first night we were there. They Had live music and a play area for the kids, so that was nice. Always love it when we can easily entertain the little red.

Arrrg!

We woke up the next morning and I realized that I left Greer's tub at the house. Sorry, G-girl...

Lee took Knox to the airplane and jet museum while I showered and Greer napped. Lee said he had a blast. He loves airplanes, so I can only imagine how much fun he had!

When they got back G-girl and I were ready and waiting to go have some fun!

We ended up going to an amusement/water park that afternoon, and holy COW did it end up being a good time. You had to be 36 inches to ride most of the rides, and don't doubt Foxie made the cut. He even got to ride go-karts! I was super nervous about it at first, but Lee promised to go really slow and stay on the outside.

Knox was all business. He gripped the steering wheel the entire time and looked ahead with the most serious face. Hilarious.

Choo-Choo!

I can't wait to see G-girl riding with her big brother one day soon...

Come on. You didn't think I was going to let Lee have all the fun, did you? I am soaking wet from water bumper boats in this picture. Had to ride so that I could dry out a little...

We had a blast and came home wayyyyyy past bedtime. Knox was wound up, so he and Lee had a little wrestle mania before bedtime.

It was a great weekend. One that I will remember for a long time (and even after that, thanks to the documentation on the blog :)). I love taking trips, but there's nothing like laying your kids down in their own beds. We are back safe and sound... with 2 precious babies sound asleep in their rooms! Thankful to have sweet time with my family this weekend...

Encouragement

2011-06-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Brady forwarded me this blog post, and it spoke volumes to me...especially since Lee has been out of the country for 6 days. It encouraged my heart, and maybe it will do the same for you.

http://lilycrowder.blogspot.com/2011/06/motherhood-as-mission-field-by-rachel.html

Missing Daddy

2011-06-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Welp, the ole' hubs is in France for the Air Show for the week, but it's all good because 2 little lucky kiddies and I are in Fairhope, Alabama for the week, and well...that's SO much better than Paris :). Sike your mind. We are on day 2 of yet another solo parenting excursion, and so far so good. I won't lie, there are a lot of things in life that I'm like "O.K., God, I don't understand this or that," but one thing I know for sure is that the Lord has us living where we live right now so that I can be close to my family. Their service to me and my family is so much more appreciated than words can explain!

I am always sad when Lee leaves. Always. However, I was way more sad than usual when he left Friday. Of course it would be nice to have the extra help with the kids, but really I just miss my husband when he's gone. BUT...I know that God is good ALL the time, and He will give me all the strength I need to survive. Thankfully, he has given me the Haygoods for the past couple of days :). Day 1 was filled with tons of backyard time with 3 of the cutest and sweetest girls I know. These girls cater to Knox Lawson when they are around, so needless to say... he was in hog heaven. We introduced the Buzz and Woody slip-n-slide to him yesterday. Hilarious. He was timid at first, but after watching the girls AND his 30 year old mommy sprint towards the plastic and scream all the way down, he warmed up quickly. He couldn't quite make it to the end, so he was able to lobby a little extra help from the crowd:

I have about 50 pictures of them going down this thing, but I will spare you and only post 1. I'm not sure who had more fun...Knox or the girls. They took turns dragging him down and catching him. He was a good sport and let them have their fun with him :)

After they got tired of that, Abbie decided it would be fun to put the sprinkler under the trampoline and let the water spray them from underneath, but Foxie wasn't sold on it. He decided to be a spectator:

My sister and dad (and the girls) came back after nap time and brought dinner to cheer me up. It was so nice to have them here with me. I can only imagine how lonely it would be if they weren't here! Thanks, guys!

Today was day 2, and we decided to have a "sitter," a.k.a. Ashton, come over and play with Knox while I did some things around the house.

I took them to pick up chic fil a after Greer's nap and we went to have a picnic in the park. Wouldn't you know that Ashton lost her front tooth while eating lunch and SWALLOWED it?!?!?!? Isn't that crazy? I reassured her that the tooth fairy would definitely come whether she had the tooth under her pillow or not, and she was very comforted by that. I don't want to rush my kids into growing up, but it's so fun to have real conversations with the girls. I can't wait for the day to come when I can talk to Knox and Greer like that. They are such sponges, soaking in every little thing. Makes me realize how much of an impact we have on our kiddos.

Knox has really gotten to understand how to use my phone. He can take it, unlock it, and go straight to his little toddler games. It's nice when we are in grocery stores, but it's a little scary how well he can use it. I downloaded some new shapes games and made the mistake of showing him last night. I laid Greer down beside him to read storied and say prayers, and little man did not want to give the phone up. I think it hurt Greer feelings :). She even looks like she is trying to bite him in one picture!:

Tomorrow we are headed to my mom's house. She had back surgery last week and is still in the recuperating stages, so hopefully we can take them lunch and bring them some merriment!

Looks Who's...

2011-06-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

(semi) sitting up like a big girl now!

She only has eyes for brother, and would prefer to watch him rather than look at the camera.

And...she had her first solids and loved them-bananas!

She even blessed her meal

Looks like bananas are a keeper :)

Hodge-Podge

2011-06-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last week the girls from study weren't able to get together Wednesday night due to husbands being out of town as well as some sicknesses, so we decided to all get together Friday during the day with all of our kids. We threw them all in the backyard and pulled out every toy we had for their entertainment. Hilarious. The scene was totally ghetto and it looked like we were running an illegal in-home daycare. It was only Angie, Brady, and I..and between the 3 of us we had Trevor, Charlie, Olivia, Shephard, Sawyer, Sanders, Knox, Greer, and we also picked up Teal's kids (she is still in Africa), Caden and Murphy. So that's 10 kids, not to mention 5 of them were age 2 and under...and.... we had a set of twinsies. WHOOP WHOOP! Now that I think about it, we should have invited all the teenagers in a 10 mile radius to come on over...they would have had a great dose of birth control :).

Knox and Sanders were a little warm and thought that they should actually get IN the water table

It was super chaotic, and the adults didn't get to sit and chat like we hoped for, but the kids had fun.

Friday night, after we put the kids to bed, Lee and I poured a glass of wine and blew off the dust from our rehearsal dinner slideshow. Some pictures were so funny that I laughed until I cried, and some were so bad that well...I just wanted to cry. I want to personally thank everyone that continued to be my friend through some terrrrrible hair decisions, clothes decisions, make up decisions, etc. Man, some of it was hard to watch. However, I did love seeing some pictures of us as babies since we have children of our own now. I almost spit the wine through my nose when I saw this picture of Lee:

He was in the 10th grade. I can't handle the skinny-ness. I am almost certain that my own arms and legs have never been that skinny. Even when I was a newborn. Hilarious.

We both instantly agreed that Greer Lawson looks JUST like Lee in this picture:

And then we both SCREAMED when we saw this one. I am Knox's mother, and I can honestly tell you that I had to do a double take. They could have been identical twins!

Here is my baby picture. Yep. They look NOTHING like me. The only thing that I passed down is the baby pug nose :). Greer and I have the same exact nose. K's was pug too. There you go, kiddos. My gift to you. O'well. Maybe you'll have my dancing skills.

And this one just made me smile. We were engaged and Lolli had just given us some cute trinkets for our tropical honeymoon. We look so carefree and young. So much has changed since this picture was taken, and definitely for the better. No, it hasn't been easy having 2 kids so close in age within 5 years of marriage, but it has challenged us, strengthened us, and drawn the both of us closer to the Lord, and well...that's always better :)

It was really fun to sit with Lee and look at all the pictures. If I had time, and it wasn't annoying, I would post all of them on here. It has been a sweet thing for my heart to look back and see where we came from and all that the Lord has taken us through in the almost 5 years that we have been married. When I was engaged, people told me that marriage wasn't always easy. I scoffed. My marriage would be different. Easy. Loving all the time. Pleasant all the time. No tears would be shed and I would never be frustrated with my sweet husband (or frustrate him :)). One word for that brief vision of deception: humbled. I love looking at the picture above, but I more so love looking at the picture of where we are today. Continuously being molded and shaped into the children, spouses, and parents that God wants us to be. Hard at times, but always good.

And lastly, I'm going to continue to "give it up" for the big guy for as long as I can. I was telling Brady yesterday that I am going to really continue to praise him for all that he is doing because so often I focus on the negatives and I can really get sad and frustrated when he doesn't behave the exact way I want him to. Terrible, I know. So...Knox is still doing awesome in the big boy bed, AND he is really blowing us away with his eating! He will eat anything I serve him! I'm talking anything. He even ate a whole piece of baked fish the other night with all the sides, and he loved it! He also sat for the entire meal at chic-fil-a with Lee and I on Saturday and ate every bite without really being distracted by the playground. So pleasant! For those of you who know our struggles with this, you know how big this is. I am not naive enough to think we are in the clear, but I am definitely thrilled enough to praise this little boy's pants off while I can! Thank you, Lord, for even the smallest of things that can make parenting so much smoother. It's little peaks like this that can really help encourage us when we go through the valleys!

You rock, Foxie!

Praises!

2011-06-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make note that this guy has really amazed me for the past week. Not only has he slept in his big boy bed every night and waited for either Lee or I to come get him in the mornings without getting out (even during nap time), but he has also sat down for every meal without whining and ate practically EVERY SINGLE BITE of his food. I'm talking NEW foods that he has never tried before. I honestly can't convey how much this means to my heart and what a battle it has been. I have no idea what next week holds, but this week...THIS week...I chose to relish in his obedience and praise his pants off for making "happy" plates. I have practically done every kind of crazy dance and cheer for him in the kitchen for doing such a good job... some of them scary, I'm sure. It's like all of a sudden he has decided that he loves food...all kinds of it. I am almost tearing up over it since it has been such a challenge. Thank you, Jesus (and I do NOT say this lightly). Wanted to give my guy some credit where credit is due...he definitely deserves it! Yay, Foxie! So proud of you, big guy!

5 months

2011-06-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

G-girl turned 5 months yesterday. I am actually a little sad to type this post. I feel like I don't have a baby anymore. I know that's not the truth, but I definitely don't have a newborn anymore and that makes me really really sad. BUT...the good news is that she is healthy and wonderful, so we have a lot to be thankful for!
I only spent about 2 seconds getting pictures. It was a little hectic and she was tired, as you can tell in the pictures. I know if I put it off and try to take pictures later I won't ever get around to it, so I might as well document what I have!

The only pic that I have of her looking at the camera

Once we brought the rattle in, all eye contact was over

And when I tried to change locations, it was complete game over...nap time.

Man, oh man, does she look like her daddy :)

G-girl, at 5 months you...

* Are still a super sweet baby

* smile through the majority of every feeding

* sleep from 7:30 to 7:30

* just started rolling like crazy, and it sort of ticks you off. In fact, mommy and daddy have actually tried to prevent it as much as possible. We actually DON'T want you to be mobile just yet!

* have the cutest squeal and talk ALL day long

* Love watching Knox and being close to him

* grab your toes

* blow bubbles

* get really really mad when you have a stinky diaper

* do NOT like to be hot

* are very interested in everything that dangles from your exersaucer

* still have very little hair

* love to hold things and put them to your mouth

* will go to anyone (big difference from Foxie!)

* have brown hair and blue eyes

* prefer to sleep on your tummy

* are so calm and incredibly gentle. I just re-read Knox's 5 month post, and I can't believe you 2 are

related! I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings, but I hope you wait a while before you crawl and

walk. Mommy will definitely have her hands full when that time comes!

* Look just like your daddy!

And lastly, here you are again beside your brother when he was 5 months old. You guys don't favor each other as much as you once did (at least, to me you don't).

We love you sweet girl, and are so thankful for the sweet blessing that you are to this family!

Oh, and an added bonus: My sweet friend Christie and her husband came through town this weekend. They live in Mississippi now, but when they lived in Daphne I think we spent every waking moment together. I was so sad when they moved! However, when they visited this time they had their precious baby Hayes with them. He was so so so cute! Both babies were headed down for a nap so we were only able to get this one picture, but I am so glad that I got it (she's holding G and I've got sweet Hayes)!

Love and miss you guys!

Stay Classy, Fairhope.

2011-06-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

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May Compilation

2011-05-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

As usual, things have been a little crazy around the Lawson household, so as you can see, blogging has taken a back burner. Instead of doing many separate posts, I am just going to make a little compilation of May in one.

Probably the biggest thing that happened since I last blogged is one of my closest friends, Misty, moving back home to Enterprise with her sweet family. Her husband got offered as awesome engineering job that they could not refuse. They are both from Enterprise, so they have all of their family there just excited beyond belief to have them back home. Our loss is definitely their gain, and I am a better person having known Misty and shared life with her. During their last week here they came over and cooked out with us and played in the bouncy house that Knox got for his birthday. Yes, his birthday is in July, but this puppy was on sale and we thought it would help with entertainment during the summer months...

Marissa and Knox play so well together. She was setting up a little early bday party for Knox since she wasn't going to be here to celebrate :(. She went through the house and pulled out all toys for decoration and gifts. SO cute!

And here's one of my favorite babies in the entire WORLD! Sweet, beautiful Holland. Man, oh man, am I going to miss her.

We also got the opportunity to go to the beach for Memorial Day weekend with another close friend, Teal, and her family. To say it was awesome is an understatement. Between the 2 of us we have 5 kids, and they all did so well! We took the boat out to the island, and Knox and Trotter (her youngest) didn't even go down for a nap until 4:30 because they were having so much fun. First time ever that I didn't put Knox down at his normal time, and I am very proud of him for not losing his mind. He likes his afternoon nap, but apparently he likes swimming at the beach a lot more. I took next to zero pictures while we were there, and the ones I did get aren't good at all. We were too busy playing. Heck, I even stayed up until 1 a.m. with Teal the first night we were there. WHAT?!?!? This grandma is usually hitting the hay around 9:30 ish. Teal's grandmother lives next door and she is incredible. We woke up every morning and just walked next door for breakfast and coffee. She is such a servant. Not to mention, hilarious!

I mean, how gorgeous is she? I think she might be the prettiest person I know. Not a stitch of makeup, people! And here's another fun fact about Teal: If you live in the area then you have probably heard of the store "Objects" at the Eastern Shore Center. Well, she and her family own it. Such a cute store! If you've never been, you should check it out...

Murphy and Knox

Caden and Knox

Trot-Trot and Knox fishing for ice cubes...one of their favorite past times.

Greer literally slept on the boat in the shade the entire time we were there. SUCH a laid back baby, thank the Lord.

Sun-bathing beauties

Catching dinner

One of the boats in the middle had a man singing and playing the guitar. It was awesome!

Teal is actually getting ready to leave on Thursday for a 16 day mission trip to Africa. I am so encouraged by her and excited to see all that the Lord is going to show her. She rocks!

Next...guess who is in the process of transitioning to a toddler bed???? THIS guy!

Lee really wanted to go ahead and start the process, but I was a little reluctant and envisioned him coming out of his room all hours of the night. I am very happy to report that he stayed in there all night and didn't come out until 7 this morning. Lee said that he was standing in the kitchen and Knox's door flung open and he popped out and smiled at him and just walked over to his seat at the breakfast table. Precious! Ideally, I would love for him to stay in his room until we come and get him, but for now-considering the energetic toddler we are dealing with- we'll take it! I hope the trend continues. My baby boy is growing up ~~too~~ so fast :(. Pretty soon he will be off to Kindergarten and then before I know it he will be driving himself to school. Please slow down a little bit, life...

And lastly, here are some random pics taken from around the house. Trying to do some fun things each day to entertain ourselves and pass the time until daddy gets home.

I will say that this bouncy house has really been good. Knox LOVES it. He jumps, slides, eats his snack, lays and listens for airplanes, etc. on it. Big shout out to Brady and Amy...they each have one and suggested it since it worked so well for their kiddos. It takes under a minute to blow up and less than 5 to deflate and roll up. So easy, and we like easy around here!

Started making some fresh smoothies since it is so. stinkin. hot. outside.

Survey says: It's good!

And of course, a box of raisins to wash it down with.

My sweet girl. She gets better with ever passing day. Her favorite thing is to be next to and watch Knox, and he is MORE than happy to do it. I am still shocked that he is so gentle with her. He even runs up to her, takes her fist, and gives her a "gentle" fist bump like 15 times a day. He pounds our hands off when he gives us fist bumps, but he knows to be gentle with "Gear" and has never done anything besides be sweet to her (so far, that is!). She is still holding strong with the blue eyes and brown hair. Her hair is dark brown inside, but light brown in the sunshine. So funny how things change so much with babies. I still think she looks just like her daddy!

Poor girl had some stuffy nose issues a couple of weeks ago. You can tell she doesn't feel good in this picture. I had to saline and suction her a few times, and you guessed it...she laid still and smiled through it all. Bless her sweet heart...

This guy is still holding strong to his paci at bedtime and nap time. Lee wants to cut the paci off cold turkey on his 2nd bday. Yikers. We'll see how well that goes. But for now, he wants to share his with you :)

Showing Greer where his ears are...

Just spotted his football on the floor and is trying REAL hard not to throw sissy on the ground so he can run and grab it...

Platypus Greer

His favorite seat in the house, and he loves watching Buzz Lightyear this way! In fact, he's a little Buzz-crazy...

He went fishing with daddy for the first time and LOVED it:

My good friend from college, Grant, and his wife came for a visit. Knox enjoyed wearing Grant out!

And let's not forget the sprinkler...always a great entertainer for Foxie. This kid loves water!

That's about all I have time for, for now. I hope everyone had an awesome Memorial Day weekend and is enjoying all the pretty weather!

Greer's Baby Dedication and Mother's Day

2011-05-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

What a special day this was for me. Not only did I wake up to celebrate being a mother to 2 of the greatest gifts the Lord has ever given me, but today was also the day we dedicated Greer to the Lord. We had family and friends join us in celebrating her dedication, and it turned out to be a beautiful day all together. I am so thankful for the family that traveled down to be a part of Greer's special day, and also for the family and friends that took time out of their own Mother's Day to come celebrate with us in our church and eat with us afterwards. It was truly an amazing day.

Greer wore the same gown that Knox, Lee, Jessica and her girls (Lee's sister), AND Lolli (Lee's mom) wore when they were dedicated. I just love love family heirlooms, so this gown was extra special for my children to wear. I took about 800 pictures of Greer that day, and out of those she stuck her tongue out in about 790 of them! I hope to get a chance to dress her back up for some better photos...

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to dedicate our children to the Lord (since they already belong to Him), and what it means in our role as parents. As I was standing there listening to our pastor, Mark, read over different scriptures, it occurred to me that it really felt like I should be dedicating myself to Greer (and Knox). That I would dedicate my life as a mother to seeking out the Lord's wisdom and guidance in raising them, and that I would be obedient to all the places He is calling me to lead them. The girls from small group and I are always talking about the fact that if we are truly wanting to raise our children in Christ's image, then we are going to have our work cut out for us. It seems as though raising child in this day and age to follow Christ means going against the grain in every area. It means not blending in with their peers. It means being the super weird parent at times. It means being focused on other things rather than popularity and success (although we do expect our children to give 100%, but accepting their natural bents). It pretty much means to train our children to be what society is calling "uncool" these days. How easy does that sound? Man, just the thought of the kids getting older makes me want to run and hide at times...

Greer Bennett Lawson, I dedicate my life to raising you under the supervision of the One who gave you to me. I can promise you that it will be extremely hard at times - almost too hard, but I can also promise you that He will never leave you or forsake you. The Lord tells us that "He who began a good work in you will carry it out until completion" and I can assure you that there will be trials of many kinds to refine you and shape you into the complete woman He desires you to be. I promise to pray with you and over you, I promise to speak truth to you, I promise to hold your hand when it hurts really bad, and most importantly I promise to never, ever stop loving you along the way.

And in closing, I wanted to show you what Lee did for Mother's Day. He took both Knox and Greer's birth announcements and had them matted and framed. I love it... So creative! It hangs on our bedroom wall, so now I get to see my babies first thing every morning.

He also cooked a delicious breakfast (with the help of a certain red headed guy), and let me lay by the pool with my sister the Saturday before. Let me tell you...those few "off" hours were NICE! I wish every weekend was Mother's Day weekend :). I could definitely get use to it!

Me and the 3 Lees?

2011-05-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a random thought: Maybe this title should be my new name for the blog, 'cause these chitlins that I'm raising are straight up carved out of my husbands back-side...

Anyways...I took G-girl to the doctor today for her check up. All is well, so we are super thankful for that. I am trying not to get too anxious over it (but if you know me, then you are probably laughing at that last statement), but our little girl is HUGE! Reason 5,356,789 that I am so glad I have kept records on the blog, because I can easily look back and see that while Greer is a pound less than Knox was at this point, she is an entire inch longer than Knox was. Oh man. I am not against having a tall girl or anything like that...it's just that I am envisioning sweet Greer to be over 6 feet tall in middle school, able to palm a basketball, 3 feet taller than her friends, and never a good candidate to ask to the Homecoming dance since most boys don't want to dance with the tall girls. Overreacting? Perhaps. Will I put a brick on her head to slow down this excessive growth? Most definitely :)

Weight- 15.7 - 75th percentile
Height- 26 3/4 - And as the doc stated, "No where near being on the chart." Thanks, bud.
Can't remember head, but he said 50th percentile.

Waiting our turn to see the doc

This was taken yesterday. Lee calmly told me to quickly come in to the living room, and this is what I found. Lee said he grabbed her hand and wouldn't let go for at least a few minutes.

We went to the local zoo Saturday morning. I don't know why, but I always laugh when I see Lee in the baby bjorn...

Someone really enjoyed her cousins' pink tu tu! When she wasn't trying to eat it, she was laughing out loud!

And a little update on the Foxie front: I am sad to report that he seems to be losing the baby fat on his legs :(. We noticed the other day at Wawa's that half of his rolls are missing. He still has a few, but no where near what they use to be. I think I will be OK with it if I can just be assured that his cheeks will last through his adult life. I'm sure 20 year old Knox wouldn't mind it if I sucked on his cheeks then like I do now...

4 months

2011-05-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

G-girl turned 4 months old today. Hard to believe that in 2 months she will be half a year old! Can I hit the pause button, please? Our doctor appointment is not until Tuesday, so I don't have any stats right now. All I know is that she is growing like a weed. She is still a happy and content baby, but over the past week or so she has really found her vocal cords, and home girl will definitely let you know when she is hungry. She can go from calm and smiling to breaking window panes is about .00002 seconds. As soon as she is fed then she is back to happy land. Pretty sure she gets that from me.

She is on a 4 hour schedule now. Feeds at 7, 11, 3, and 7. Sleeps from about 7:30 at night until 7 in the morning, which is lovely. She naps from 9 to 11, 1 to 3, and maybe for about 30 to 45 minutes in the late afternoon. She is dropping the 5 to 7 nap, and only catnaps from 5 to 5:45 ish. SO...that means that she gets to join us at the dinner table now which is fun. She loves to stare at Knox. We catch her smiling and drooling at him ever so often. He, of course, is going 90 to nothing, but will come to a hault to run over and kiss her or point to her and yell her name with a huge smile on his face. Just like every other mom on the planet, I love seeing them interact with each other. I am excited for the day when they carry on conversations and openly discuss important things... like how much they love their mother. Ha!

I was telling my friend, Christie, yesterday that every single minute of my day is accounted for. I always have at least 1 child with me if not 2. Knox goes to MDO and I am so thankful for that because it is a nice break for me to get things done. However, alone time is few and far between and by the end of the day I am a little worn out. But it's a good worn out. I just hope that I am doing the best job that I can of instilling Jesus into their lives with my daily time with them. I could sit here and list out all the mistakes I've made, but there is not enough time in the world for that. I just pray that I am loving them the way He wants me to and resembling Him through that love. Not just in the sweet moments, but even in the times of discipline and melt downs. Parenting can be so hard at times and I will be the first to admit that I can really doubt myself and wonder if we are doing the right things. I mean, don't we all want to do the right things? I am learning to really commit myself to praying for guidance for that. It's so easy to compare parenting and behavior to other children. Not right, but easy. I mean, I would love it if Knox sat in his highchair and ate up every scrap of food we gave him with a pleasant smile on his face while we were at a restaurant. Heck, I would probably fall out of my chair. But it ain't happenin' these days. I think if I had to confess our biggest struggle right now, that would be it. It's very easy for me to look at people around me that have children that sit pleasantly through meals and I wonder what I have done wrong as a parent? Might sound crazy, but it's the truth. ANYWAYS...I'm rambling, but the point is that I am really trying to react to situations like that the way that the Lord would want me to and show Knox unconditional love with a balance of discipline and grace, and to understand that every child is different. He has really grown up so much over the past few months. All the tantrums that he use to have rarely show their face these days (I hope I didn't just jinx myself), he is SO SO funny and says hilarious things and laughs out loud ALL the time, he loves to be loved on and is so desperate to get your praise, he has absolutely amazed us with how gentle he is with Greer-something that I was so worried about, he is super independent, extremely helpful, crazy energetic, and loves to hug and kiss you. The list could go on. What I am trying to say is that the Lord is teaching me to be thankful that Knox is JUST the way he is, even if highchairs in restaurants are a struggle for us. This probably sounds elementary to most of you moms, but if you really know me then you know that this is revolutionary for me. I have expected Knox to behave the way I want him to 100% of the time, and I guess you could say I am slowly learning that that's not realistic. My goodness, I definitely don't please the Lord 100% of the time with MY life, so why should I expect it from my 21 month old? Oh Lord, how you continue to humble me...

O.K., so now that I randomly typed my thoughts out unexpectedly in the paragraph above, I will move on the Greer turning 4 months old today. I love her. With every single ounce of being in me. I love that I get to be super hyper and crazy and wrestle with Knox, and 2 seconds later be sweet and gentle and calm with Greer. I love the way she looks at me...like nothing else in the world even matters. I can't wait for her to discover that there is a God out there that loves her EVEN MORE than I do, as unfathomable as it seems to me. Oh how I pray that her sweet spirit would remain. And Oh how I send up 1,000 praises a day to the one that gave her that sweet spirit...

Looks like she's working out with dumbbells. Interesting move, there.

Feet!

Loving her cheeks and sweet eyelashes :)

If you're looking for Knox, you know where he can be found

Daddy's eyebrows!

Growing up so fast :(

Joining us at the dinner table now!

So random, but this guy decided that sliced apples are no longer cool. Eating it whole is what's up.

As parents we have so much to be thankful for, even the things that we wish we could sometimes change. Look at what the Lord has entrusted us with as mothers...what an honor!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Mother's Day this weekend, and you enjoy your day with your beautiful families!

Disney On Ice

2011-04-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

An old sorority sister of mine gave us the hook up on some discounted Disney On Ice tickets last Friday, and I am SO glad we took her up on them. Lee and I realized the other day that we have not been alone with Knox since Greer was born, so we decided to make it a full out date night with him and take him to dinner before the show. Papa and Nana were kind enough to keep Greer so that we could enjoy Foxie one on one. We weren't sure if Knox would sit through the whole thing or not since he is usually all over the place, but he LOVED it and stared in awe for the majority if it. He laughed and screamed and danced at some of the parts as well, and it just filled my heart with so much joy to watch him get so excited and have so much fun. Lee and I were so funny...we kept "fighting" over who got to hold him, sit next with him, etc. I am sure little man enjoyed all the attention :). Knox usually goes to bed around 7:30, and the show was in Mobile and started at 7:00 and didn't end until almost 9:00, so we were definitely being risk takers. So proud of him for behaving so well!

We just dropped Greer off and he looks so confused as to why he is in the backseat by himself...

Just told him we were going to eat "Chic-ul-a" and going to see Mickey Mouse

Sitting beside daddy like a big boy

He kept kissing Lee. Hilarious.

Infatuated with the Mickey Mouse spinner that Lee bought him. He's such a sucker.

Playing golf with it, of course.

Walking to our seats

We ran in to an old college friend, Alison, and her little boy, Cole, during intermission :). My little sister in Chi - O, Stephanie, was in the section behind us with her son and I am SO SAD that I didn't get a pic of Knox and Banks together.

Very very serious!

Mickey and Minnie :)

Knox has just recently become a fan of Toy Story and almost lost his mind when the finale had Buzz and Woody!

Knox for the first part of the late drive home

And Knox for the second part of the ride home :)

The show was really cool, and we had such a great time with our little guy. I am so glad that we did it, and I hope we make it a habit of getting good one on one time with him. I said it before and I will say it again...HAVING ONE CHILD ON YOUR HANDS IS SOOOO EASY! Why didn't I know this before Greer came along? :)

Happy Easter Weekend???

2011-04-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

I assume you saw the question marks in my title. Let me first say that I am only half-joking. Easter is my second favorite holiday and is DEFINITELY a happy celebration regardless of our circumstances. However, the fun and exciting Easter plans that I had for the fam-jam was quite a no-go. Let me break it down for you...
Saturday morning the boys woke up and went for their usual Saturday morning doughnuts while G-girl and I hung around the house and spruced up the place a bit. This particular Saturday Lee took my car so that he could get it serviced while they were out, and they were also stopping by Target to pick up a few things. While I was at the house cleaning, I took a break to feed Greer. I went to her crib, picked her up, walked in to the living room, and suddenly fell to the floor. My back went out and this is the worst it has been in years!!! I honestly could not move and it hurt so bad to even breathe. My legs were sort of tucked underneath me and I was propped up on my elbow. After about 10 minutes I was able to get Greer to the couch and lay here there. Thank goodness she is a relaxed baby. My phone was in the kitchen and I knew there was no way I could get to it, so I just sat there like a statue on the floor in the ONE position that didn't bring me to tears and waited for Lee to get home. It was only about 15-20 minutes before he got there, and when he walked in and saw me he was like "What in the world are you doing???" When I told him what happened (he is quite familiar with my back issues), he felt like he needed to help me by trying to pull my legs out from under me. I was screaming and crying at the top of my lungs and begging him to stop because I was scaring Knox. Lee freaks out in situations like this and wanted to call 911. I was threatening him with everything inside of me that if he called 911 I would be sooo mad at him (big threat, huh?). He ended up calling my orthopedic doctor on a Saturday morning, which I am sure he loved, and got some tips from him. It was about an hour after that that I was able to get myself up on the couch. To make a long story short, I have degenerative disk disease-which we've known about for years-but the doctor told us that there will be no more running. Ever. And definitely no half marathon :(. AND...on top of that, I was not able to participate in the Easter egg coloring this year...which is always one of my favorite things, nor was I able to find Easter eggs with Knox Sunday morning or play with him and his Easter basket stuff. I laid on the couch on a heating the entire time and popped pain killers and muscle relaxers. Booo! Lee was sweet enough to actually go and get stuff for the kids' baskets (which made me smile because he got the most random things. Knox loved it, though, so that's all that matters), he did all the Easter bunny stuff by himself on Sunday morning as well as colored the eggs with Knox Saturday night. So thankful for him!

We had lunch at my sisters house, and I was not feeling too much better so I walked around at an awesome 90 degree angle staring at the floor the entire time. Lunch ended up being a little later than expected and Knox was more than ready for a nap, so he was quite a peach :). And, just in case you aren't feeling sorry enough for me yet, I was not able to take any pictures! Ahh! Lee took a few quick ones right before we loaded the car to head home (when Knox was nasty and sweaty from playing outside :)) so that we would have some record of Easter 2011. I know, pure sadness. But you know what??? Today is a new day and I woke up able to stand a little straighter, and I have had a fun morning with the kids, so I need to be thankful for that! Perhaps I should boil some more eggs, dress the kids up, and pull out the camera and pretend that today is Easter and none of the above ever happened?? :)

Anyways, here are the very few pics that were randomly taken yesterday. No pics of the kids with their Easter baskets or outside in the beautiful weather, but that's O.K.. The GOOD news is that Jesus rose from the grave so that we could have a relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven, and that is the only thing that matters.
My very talented mother in law smocked Knox and Greer's matching Jon Jon and bubble. I wish I had her skills!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

We had the honor of spending 5 days at the Caribe Resort with the Haygoods this week, and we had a blast! I have tons of pics, so I will try and keep my wordage short. It was Spring Break in Baldwin County, so that's what we owe this nice little beach retreat to. To be honest, the word "relaxing" doesn't really come to mind when I describe this trip. Taking 2 babies with us and accommodating 2 different schedules called for a lot of sacrifice and selflessness. WAY unlike my spring break trips in the past! However, watching Knox's face go down the water slides and play with all of us in the pools and on the sand was way better than any of the relaxing trips I've taken in the past.
Lee was sweet enough to stay up in the room with the kids during nap time EVERY day (from about 1 to 3:30 ish or 4), so that did allow me some time to just lay at the pool with my sister and chill out a little. He rocks. We did a lot of rotating with Greer. We took her with us to the pool as much as possible and let her lay and sleep in her little mobile swing. That puppy has been clutch!! Thanks again, Misty! There were times when it got a little hectic toting all of our kids- and stuff that comes along with them- around, but it was so worth it. I am so thankful that we were able to go on this trip. I am thankful that I have a husband that works hard so that these trips are possible. I am thankful that both of our parents did a great job of instilling a strong work ethic in us so that we understand and appreciate the value of things like this.
And lastly, I am super thankful for the Haygood girls :). These 3 are like little babysitters 24/7. The obsession they have for Knox and Greer is precious, and Knox DEFINITELY feels the same. I am sure Greer will as well when she gets a little older. Knox's laughter filled the hallways and bedrooms of the condo for the last few days because he was so entertained by the girls. Constantly. I love watching him with them, and they never ever leave his side!
Oh...and we added a nice treat to the mix. We stayed back with the kids one night and let Robyn and Dane have a date night, and they did the same for us. That was awesome! I always love the chance to have dinner without kiddos with my husband. Thanks for an awesome time, Haygoods!

Heading to Lulu's

The girls fed him breakfast every morning, and gave him some lessons on body parts and words while he was trapped in his seat :)

I mean, they even followed him and played with him during bath time...

And of course they had to join the fun.

Greer's set up

Knox wanted to check on her and make sure she was cozy...

But then he saw a cute girl walk by and was quickly distracted. "Call me!"

Burying Abbie in the sand

Feeling the sand for the first time :)

After lunch and nap time, we went and conquered the slides!!

He LOVED them! Timid at first, but after he went down once, it was " Gain! Gain! Gain!" after each time he went down. Lee and I MAY have sent him down by himself a few times on the slide below. Hilarious. One sent him and one stood at the bottom to wait for him. Sometimes he came out backwards. That boy didn't care. You could hear him yelping and laughing all the way down. His mother might have ridden them a million times herself...

And of course he had to break for a snack from Cha-Cha and regain his energy to ride the slides 100 more times...

Riding the Trolley with Daddy

Smiling a lot lately :)

Hanging out in the condo while big brother gets to go play. Oh well...she'll catch up with him next year.

Doughnuts and beignets for breakfast one morning...

The girls begged for him to have a chocolate doughnut with them so they could see him get messy. He didn't disappoint!

Loved the elevator rides

PLaying peek-a-boo with Abbie in the sliding glass closets

Love this one

Check out those black feet!

"I think I'll have some of those...."

"And a bite of that..."

Look at Abbie cooling off his oatmeal. She is such the mommy bear

I walked in and found Lee sipping his coffee while Carley had baby duty. She didn't seem to mind...

Oh, don't doubt dancing Elmo made the trip...

Tee-time with Daddy

And wouldn't you know that we planned on taking beach pics the last night we were there, and by the time we came in to get showered you could not even see 10 feet in front of you due to heavy fog?! BOO! Guess that just means we will have to make a trip back soon!

Lord, thank you for my family, the beautiful weather, the MANY laughs that were had this week, and most importantly for providing for us and allowing us to have a family vacation. Without You none of these things would be possible!

The Challenge

2011-04-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Last night was our weekly discussion of the book Crazy Love. We all know how I feel about the book, so I won't bore you with continued details of my love for it. Anyways, our discussion last night led to a conversation about how much time we waste during the day doing things that are really...pointless (for lack of a better word). We always talk about "back in the days" when we were raised...how we don't remember being inside that much, how we were so filthy dirty from playing outside most of the time, ZERO technology, and how life just seemed a little bit simpler during those days. Maybe we were young and naive, but it sure felt that way to me.
Before I get too off track here, let me tell you about the challenge. My friend Teal and I decided to nix facebook for at least a month. Reason being that it just ate up so much time that we could be doing other things- like focusing more on bible study, playing OUTSIDE with the kids, and actually picking up the phone to call a friend instead of checking out her status to see what she was up to. You know...takin' it back to the old school, if you know what I mean. Hear me when I say that I love Facebook and feel that it is such a great way to stay in touch with people. I really do. For me, it's more of a personal conviction. It has become so much of a habit for me to just check status's frequently during the day, and I honestly haven't talked to the majority of those people in years. I guess I am realizing that there are so many other things that I could be doing, so I am hoping that by deactivating the account I will be able to focus more on what's really important to me. Girlfriend ain't ganna lie...it is probably going to be a tough loss, sadly enough. But I do hope to find myself refreshed after this "hiatus".
In the meantime, I will continue to document our lives through the ole faithful blog, shooting for once a week.
I thought about stopping that as well, but I really really love the documentation that I have going on here, and like I've stated in the past, I hope the kids will get to read it one day. Plus, I really do enjoy reading details about family and old friends and keeping up with everyone children. I think there are honestly like 5 or 6 blogs I read, and oddly enough I have come to love the families that I am reading about.
So, that's that.
Secondly...training is going slow, but going. I am pretty sore, but as they say "no pain, no gain", right? I just keep reciting 13.1...13.1....13.1 in my head as I'm ~~slowly~~ running.
Thirdly...The Lawsons are about to spring break it with the Haygoods! Whoop! We will be vacationing at the beach all week, and my husband will be with us the entire time!! My heart is super full right now. Stay tuned, and have a great weekend!

Training Has Commenced...

2011-04-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Not sure if I know what I just got myself into, but tonight I signed up for the half marathon in Atlanta for the first weekend in October. My hands were shaking as I registered online, but I know that it is something that I needed to do. I need a goal to work towards, so hopefully I will be steadfast with commitment and discipline in training - starting TOMORROW. I have never done a half marathon before. My hope is that I will one day be able to complete a full marathon, and an even bigger hope (probably far fetched) is to complete an Iron Man. I know, it sounds ridiculous, and who knows if it will ever happen in my lifetime, but I have a LONG way to go and I have to start somewhere. My friend Brady is an amazing, disciplined, and motivated runner, so I know that I have her (plus my sweet husband) in my corner encouraging me and helping me, and I'm so thankful for that.

Here's to many hours of pounding the pavement...

Weekend Get-A-Way

2011-04-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

My mom called me Friday morning and said that she knew it was probably too last minute, but the bay house was available for the weekend if we were interested. Umm...bright skies, warm weather, and kayaks?? Yes... we were absolutely interested. Lee had been out of town with work for a few days, and he also got a chance to go to Augusta for the Masters, so it was a nice treat to get away and relax together as a family. After I hung up with mom I was super pumped and ready to go. And by ready I mean that it took me about 100 hours to pack up ALL of our stuff for our new family of 4. This was our first time to go anywhere overnight. Yikers!
Anyways, we had a great time. The Haygoods came down for the day and cooked out with us Saturday night, and that always makes everything more fun :). I know I mention it all the time, but I love how he gets to play with his cousins all the time. They always have a great time and are so sweet to him. I wish all of our cousins lived down here with us. Maybe one day!

"I'm so excited we're going to the bay, I could just kiss myself!"

All packed up and ready to go...snacks included!

"CHEESE!"

Swinging and watching the sunset

His mother is hilarious...

Up past bedtime and enjoying a cold snack...

Sticky bath

Pancakes for breakfast with daddy!

She wore an itsy-bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka-dot one piece :)

Ready for the day!

Seldom looks at the camera...

Drool Monster!

Momma was feeling a little nervous...

And they kept going...

And GOING....

"Hey Dad. Did you see the look on mom's face? I think she was really trippin' out back there on the wharf. Maybe next time she should just stay inside."

G-baby was pretty content in Misty's swing. Thanks for letting us borrow!

The girls...9, 7, and 5. Laying out. I can only imagine what the future holds...

Sprinkler Time!!

Here's what Mama Abbie did the rest of the afternoon....she's such a sweetheart!

Love this one

Snoozin' with dad late afternoon

The girls!

More kayaking

Her favorite spot :). A great way to end the day!

Thanks for handing over the keys for the weekend, mom! We had a blast! Love you SO much, and thanks giving us a weekend "away"!

3 Months Old Today!

2011-04-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

Today, this sweet girl turned 3 months old!

And when I say sweet, I mean sweeeeeeeeet.

She has been so much more than I expected from a baby. If that makes sense.

She literally coo's for the majority of the day. When she isn't cooing, she's smiling. Or sleeping. I am amazed at how wonderful she is. I can say this because-even though I love the stinker-this experience is so different from Foxie. She will lay very content wherever you put her. She sleeps through the night. She rarely cries. She is a little slice of heaven on Earth, and I am praying with everything inside of me that she remains this way. I thank God every single day for the demeanor that He has given her. It was something that was definitely prayed for by many, and man oh man did He hear our prayers.

Sweet Greer-

At 3 months old, you are working very successfully on your cheek development :)

You also:

Love to let mommy play dress up.

Have deep blue eyes.

Loves watching the ceiling fans.

Really love watching Foxie run ALL over the place.

Eat every 3 hours (although we are about to shoot for a 4 hr. schedule).

Seem like you could care less about eating, and would rather talk or sleep during that time.

Love warm baths.

Enjoy watching her monkey mobile in your crib.

Sleep in a sleep sack.

Definitely are a fan of the paci!

Have brown hair.

Starting to get some edible rolls on your legs.

Love being outside.

Things that I am praying for you lately:

That the Lord would turn your heart towards Him at an early age.

That you would find your significance and self worth in Him.

That your relationship with Knox would grow and strengthen by the day.

That both you and Knox would be joyful and obedient children.

That your sweet spirit would be used for drawing others closer to Him.

I love you, sweet girl. You are the absolute perfect addition and balance to our family. I can't remember what life was like without you, and you have only been here for a short time. I am so glad you turned out to be a girl :). You are teaching me so much about myself and you are definitely bringing out an emotional side of me that I never knew existed. You are wonderful. Happy 3 months to you! We love you very much!

Special Visitors!

2011-04-02T19:46:00.001-07:00

We were soooo blessed to have Lee's sister, Jessica, and her precious family come down for a visit this weekend. Major props to them for packing up a 3 yr old and 5 yr old and traveling down from Birmingham. We were so excited to see them! Jessica really feels like a sister to me and I love that I'm related to her :).
We had a big day today that started off playing around in the backyard...then ventured to the bay for a picnic and playtime...then back to the house for nap time (Jess took me to the nail salon as a surprise treat!)...then we packed it up and headed to LuLu's for
Dinner. I can't put in to words how awesome it was. The weather was perfect, the kids played in the sand, the daddys got to play corn hole, and the live music was awesome! Jessica has some seriously precious girls...Annie and Lily Kate. They are always so well behaved and super sweet to Foxie. What a treat to have them come play with us! We love you guys so much and are so thankful you made the trip. Can't wait to see you next month!!

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Mirror Image

2011-03-29T06:09:00.001-07:00

I am taking Greer to have her 12 week pictures taken this morning. I pulled out Knox's picture at 12 weeks old and found it a little crazy how much they look alike. Most people say she doesn't resemble Knox too much anymore, but clearly they are wrong. Umm...my little Knoxette needs to start growing some more hair so people will know she is a girl! My friend Brady and I decided to go with the theory that Greer doesn't look like a boy...it's more so that Knox looked a little like a girl when he was a baby. I'm just going to stick to that notion :).

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Hot Date

2011-03-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

My sister watched G-girl yesterday afternoon so that I could take this guy on a hot date. I tell you what...it was goooood for my soul. I loved having him one on one, and I have no doubt he enjoyed it, too! After getting his haircut we ate lunch at CFA (naturally) and then came home and played in the backyard for quite a while. how can anyone stay inside with this beautiful weather?? I wish I had pictures to give you a visual of him on the trampoline. He doesn't really bounce too well...he more so likes to run like crazy into the net and then fall backwards and bend like a pretzel. Looks painful, but he thinks it's hilarious. Well, I decided to hop in yesterday and bounce him around a little bit. It started off light, but soon turned in to me double bouncing him practically above my head. He was screaming laughing and drooling all over the place. Whenever I would stop he would shout "pweeeeease!" so like a good mother, I kept on. Until, that is, I noticed some chicken nuggets being regurgitated. I decided to call it quits and move on to playing T-ball in the sprinklers. He has a lefty swing right now, by the way, and grunts when he hits. Awesome!! He is so much fun and saying so many funny things. I'm posting this because I'm crazy sad right now. He left me this afternoon to go be spoiled by Lolli in Auburn for a few days (thanks, lolli!). My plan is to spring clean this house like crazy and do things I wouldn't normally have time to like update baby books, clean out closets, make Greer's Easter basket, and just plain spend time with quite possibly the sweetest baby girl on the face of the Earth. Hopefully I can toss her a dust rag and she can jump right in and clean with me! I mean, she can sit up in a bumbo seat now, so doesn't that mean it's time to introduce her to the vacuum?

Gotta earn your keep around here :)

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This and That

2011-03-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

I don't really have just one thing to report in this post, more like a hodge podge of things. First of all, and most excitingly, C.K. came for a visit this weekend and it was MORE than awesome to have her here. We all went to a baby shower/bunco night for a friend Friday night, and then we all walked in the Fairhope Spring Fever Chase today. The weather seriously could not have been more beautiful! I mean, I love Fairhope all the time, but I REALLY love Fairhope in the spring time!

The bunco night was super fun...considering I have never ever played before. It got a little out of control loud at times, which I loved. I think I am addicted and will definitely need an invite from ANYONE who reads this blog and plays bunco. If you question my skills, lets just say that I sat at the high table most of the night, IF you know what I mean. That is, if you can call throwing dice on a table skills...

Here is Andrea and I chatting before the chaos began:

The girls after the walk this morning:

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of the Arts and Crafts Festival today. Downtown Fairhope is slammed with cutsey booths and vendors all along the streets. It's incredible and so fun. We are planning on heading back tomorrow, so maybe I will snap a few then...

Let me slip in some comments on my girl, Cathie (top row, second from the left). This sweet girl came down to get filled with girl time, and ended up spending some of here time here...with this guy:

Yup...the pediatrician. Why, do you ask?? Well, we had a multitude of reasons. First off, Foxie was super, DUPER eager to get his hands on the pork loin that daddy was cooking the other night. So eager that he walked right up to the grill and placed his fingers on it:

Am I a bad mom for posting this? I promise that we watch him carefully (most times), and he only cried for a few minutes after it happened. Poor Lee felt HORRIBLE. Knox hasn't been bothered by it at all really, but he started running a low grade fever the other day, off and on, and I was worried that it might be infected or something. Luckily, no infection and the doc said it's healing well. He also had a chemical burn, that's right, chemical burn on his bottom! Most children would call it a diaper rash, but since this little guy has skin as sensitive as Casper, he woke up with a dirty diaper the other morning and it had literally peeled sheets of skin off his bottom since he had slept in it for a little while. I would post the pic of what it looked like, but then child services would be at my doorstep within a matter of hours, and I would prefer to have my children live with me. We got some prescription cream and it has pretty much cleared up now, so that's good. Yesterday morning we let him walk around the house without a diaper on after his bath so that it could air out. Don't worry...I started feeding him oatmeal standing up since it hurt him to sit down and about 5 bites in to it, I felt some warm liquid on my foot. I guess Knox thought my toes needed some watering because he relieved himself right there on the spot. All I could do was laugh at the poor guy, and then run to the bathroom and wash my foot off immediately...

He wouldn't smile for the camera so I got an action shot of him playing with the car:

Anyways, all this to say that Cathie is a trooper for coming with us since she had just spent the week dealing with her sick child and Dr's offices.

I have a few more pics of some randomness that I will post. Nothing too exciting these days. Still loving on and am super emotional about the family that God gave me. I know that I mentioned it before, but I seriously recommend the book Crazy Love. It has, hands down, been one of the most eye opening books that I have ever read. The more I read it, the more I am blown away by how much God loves me, and how I only give Him whats "left over" at the end of the day. He wants and desires so much more from us, and I desire to give Him everything, but somehow I manage to let the small, non-significant things get in the way and distract me so easily. I love meeting with the girls each week. It's so encouraging to hear everyone's different view and what they are learning. It's also awesome accountability. I am so thankful for the women that God has placed in my life. I think I mention that in almost every post, and I will continue to do so because the body of Christ is so important, and I have been so blessed. I don't think I really grasped that until I graduated from college. While I was in college, I totally took it for granted.

So, back to the pics. A little bit of here and there...

Lee was cutting the grass with Knox the other day and ran inside to get his wallet. I wonder why?? :) That's right. Our neighborhood still has the 1980's ice cream truck stroll through. If you look closely, you can see the blinds that Foxie likes to peek out of. I let Lee be in charge of the cold treat while I was inside with G-Baby. This is what I came outside to find! I love it!:

We went to the Fairhope Art Walk the other night with Trotter and Murphy. Aren't they adorable?

Twinkies :)

Sheriff Foxie:

I'm not sure how much longer these stilts for legs will be able to fit in the car seat!

Laying around the house:

Tummy Time:

This might be my favorite for the week. Look at her and Holland holding hands! LOVE IT!!!

And lastly...I wanted to report some big news...

G-BABY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT!

Praise the big man above for that one! Lee woke me up by shaking me like I was robbing him to tell me that it was 6:45 and neither one of us had gotten up with her. After I saw she was breathing on the monitor, I was like "Close your eyes, you crazy man and go back to sleep!"

WHOOOOOP WHOOP!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!