Greer's Baby Dedication and Mother's Day

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?

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

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

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???

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!