1.05.2012

I Don't Know How It Happened...

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!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1.03.2012

12.21.2011

11 Months (and 16 days)!

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!

12.13.2011

One To Follow...

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/

12.10.2011

Updates All Around...

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!



11.21.2011

Greer- 10 months (and 16 days)

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!


11.14.2011

Advent Calendar Verses

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!