Lawson's 1 Year Video

Happy Birthday Lawson!

Exactly this time last year I was timing contractions while doing laundry and picking the house up, hoping the contractions were "for real" and that we were headed to the hospital SOON! Preston was getting his afternoon nap in and Jason was at work. To my delight (I was past my due-date) the Doctor told me to come in and get checked. And the rest is history... :)

Lawson, you have added more delight and joy than I ever knew possible. May the Lord grant you many, many more years to shine that smile of yours! My heart is full. So proud to be your MOM! Happy Birthday!

My lil Pumpkins

We love to go to Calloway's each Fall. They have a fun "Kid day" where they have activities for kids and we enjoy trying to get a few pictures too. and by a few, I mean take 300 and get 10 that look okay.

Since I was a horrible blogger in 2009, I'm including pictures from last year and this year. Can't believe how different Preston looks 1 year later, and of course there's a new addition to our family this year! ;)

2009::

2010::

Preston's 1st day of school

Here's Preston's first day of "school" Pic this year. He goes on Tuesday/Thursdays and continues to love it. One of his best friends, Truman, is in his class this year which is so fun for him! He is my social bug...asking each day to have a friend over to play! So I love this little outlet for him!

Couch Pictures (1-6)

Lawson will turn 8 months tomorrow and I haven't posted 1 monthly picture. A dear friend told me yesterday that she still checks my blog for pictures...so convicting. I would LOVE to spend more time on here. It is my desire but LIFE has just not allowed the time for it. Hoping this is a first to many more posts!

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

Glasses!

Our little (big) boy got glasses {in March}. The question I get most often is - How did you know he needed them? And I think that most pediatricians check children at their 2 year appt. Preston was checked using some sort of machine and it came up that one eye was slightly stronger than the other and I was told to take P to see a specialist. But that it was nothing to be alarmed about.

So a few weeks later we got in to see the Doctor and long story short - he cleared us to go home and said his eyes were fine.

Obviously that's not the end of the story! :) Around Jan/Feb of this yearJason's grandmother and dad came to us and said they thought Preston may have a problem with his eyes. They could see that one of his eyes was moving in slightly when he looked at certain things. {I should mention Jason's dad and one of his brothers also had a similar problem so Mimi had a pretty good idea that this was the same thing.} So of course I started watching him like a hawk and thought I was seeing it myself. Then I did some research and decided to get a second opinion.

We went to another specialist and she confirmed our suspicions. He has strabismus - commonly confused with lazy eye, but it's not. Strabismus is more of a crossing of the eyes when they focus.

I had so many thoughts when they told me he needed glasses, but honestly one of the first was how in the world was I going to keep glasses on a 2 year old boy???

But true to Preston style, he adjusted smoothly. We went and picked some out (not a ton of choices in children's glasses, but we found some we liked), put them on and he only asked to take them off a handful of times. And now he asks to put them on when we forget. sweet boy. :)

We don't know how long he'll have glasses, maybe for life? We are praying that the glasses will do their job and strengthen the eye so that we won't have to move on to the next steps...patching and/or surgery.

Jumping.

Quirky!

Happy Easter

In case you didn't get yours in the mail....

Cowboy Preston

Rodeo Day at school (MDO):

Big thanks to Mimi who provided most of the outfit! :)

Looks like....

The Jury is still out on who Lawson looks like....what do you think?

J and Lawson

J and Preston

Lawson - 1 month

Preston - 1 month

Law - Newborn sad face

Pres - newborn sad face

Lawson - first picture

Preston - first picture

He's here!!!

proof that I was very much pregnant. 39 weeks.
Right after delivery. we brought preston in and he was so sweet to Lawson. First thing he said was that he wanted to share his toys with him.
Sweet girlfriends who were there in a moments notice to share in the excitement.
ready to go home.
first pic of Pres holding Lawson. I love this.
The Patterson's coming to visit. More visitors...co-workers and friends.
Friends visiting. Sweet Charlee is just a few weeks older than Lawson. Such a blessing to have a good friend to be pregnant with! :)
Carri Wellborn helping Pres hold Lawson. Preston stayed with the Wellborn's while we were at the hospital. another blessing!!
More friends!

I will not be writing Lawson's "birth story" for the public to read (I will say it was a great experience) but will share some memories:

*Not having a "scheduled" labor may be a little more stressful, but the excitement is worth it

*Laboring at home pays off.

*The way Jason drove to the hospital...let's just say...mad driving skillz

*After arriving my doctor saying we'd have a baby by dinnertime!

*My phone losing all battery when arriving at the hospital because I had been using it all day to time my contractions.

*Walking around upstairs in the hospital with Preston looking at the fish tanks with contractions that took my breath away, but loving those moments of just me and him.

*Sweet friends and family hearing the news that I was in labor and coming up to the hospital.

*Everyone taking guesses on his weight, hair, length, time of arrival.

*The nurse asking me if I wanted to go all natural = no epidural.

*Getting extra bags of fluids because I was so dehydrated from throwing up all night the night before.

*How fast my delivery went...didn't push for very long.

*The immediate love I felt for another child.

*The lungs on Lawson...that boy can be heard!

*The ease with which Preston accepted Lawson into our family.

*Celebrating with friends and family after delivery.

*Lawson never leaving the room after delivery...getting a bath and everything inside the room.

Eating Aina's dinner at 11pm that night because I was starving and she was so kind to share.

*Rachel getting us a "better" recovery room because she went and talked to the nurses.

How big and grown up Preston looked the next day when I saw him.

*Not getting ANY sleep the first night because someone was in the room every 30 minutes doing something.

*How much easier things felt the second time around.

*Fun times visiting with friends over the next 2 days as they came to see Lawson.