Monday, April 25, 2011

Watson is 2 Months

Our newest addition is TWO months old today. Time is flying by of course. I am trying to get good one on one time in with him every day so that he doesn't get slighted. The best time for that is during sister's nap time. I want to be able to give him lots of face time like Hayes got. But that is not as easy this time though. He is the SWEETEST and most lovable little baby. When I say I could just eat him, I mean that with every ounce of my being!! I never thought having a boy would be as sweet as having a girl. I was wrong. They are EQUALLY precious to me.



He is still wearing Size 1 diapers (until we run out, then moving on up to 2's soon!)
Wearing 3-6 month clothes
We have his 2 month check up on Wednesday, so I'm not sure about his weight and height. All I know is that everyone looks at him and says he is big. He looks and feels big to us too! We will see on Wednesday. And with all those little layers and rolls on him, you would think he could sleep longer at night. I think he has regressed. Right now he is at 3-4 hour stretches. He seems to be a hungry boy at night. One of these nights he will surprise us!
He naps best in his swing during the day. He enjoys the playmat for short periods of time. He likes it better if Hayes is down there with him. He is constantly entertained by her silly self. She likes to sing to him.
He loves a pacifier when he starts getting sleepy.
He smiles alot. I catch him looking up at me or Nathan and smiling. And he really smiles alot during bathtime. He's a happy little camper for the most part!



She loves to sing to him. Here is a little playtime video...


We love you little Watson! You are a precious addition to our family. We didn't know what else we were missing until you came along. You are a perfect fit for us and we thank God for the blessing you are to this family!

Easter 2011

We had a very busy and fun Easter weekend! My Mom and Gregg came on Saturday for the weekend and stayed until this morning. I was so glad they were here! They are good entertainers for Hayes and always come w/fun surprises. They keep things action packed w/lots of playtime when they are here. Hayes did not have a nap either day I do not think! All weekend we played outside, hunted eggs, dyed eggs, played w/bubbles and enjoyed the new playhouse. On Sunday we went to church (Watson made it the WHOLE hour in the service, only had to leave at the last 5 minutes. I was so proud of him and SO excited to be there and not have to miss out on the Easter service and music!!) Then we had lunch back at our house and my Dad came for the day. Everything was delicious. Saturday night my mom and I made a cute Easter bunny cake-actually she did most of it and I just helped cut and decorate at the end. It turned out cute and Hayes loved it. I'm sure we'll be doing that every year from now on!

A sweet little boy!


New bubbles from Nana and Papa


Loves her new playhouse!!




Nana and her bunny cake


Licking the cake batter, only because her grandparents are here!









Papa and Nana and Hayes and Watson


Our family before church


Our sweet babies on Watson's 1st Easter (this is the best pic I had of them both, but I think she is pinching him? I've learned to take whatever I can get w/them together!)


Pop Pop and W


Thanks for bringing me all that sugary candy, Pop Pop!! Now I just need to find where Mommy hid all of it.


Egg hunting!










It was a special weekend with lots of good food and fun memories with the big and little people we love. Hope you enjoyed a happy Easter too.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Easter Week Playtime

I'm so excited it is Easter weekend! We have family coming in town tomorrow, so we are looking forward to a great time all weekend. We've been excited about Nana and Papa's visit all week long. Hayes loves when they visit and we do too!

We went to a fun little Easter egg hunt on Tuesday at my friend Lindsey's house with some girls in our Sunday school class and their babies. (I know I've mentioned on here at some point about how much we love our church and Sunday school class. Almost everyone in our class is at the same life stage-married w/little ones-and it's so comforting and encouraging to be with other moms who are going through the same things at the same time-nursing/sleeping/sicknesses/life in general/etc. I love getting their tips and advice on baby stuff. They are all great mamas and they are a huge blessing in my life. I firmly believe moms need other moms to stay sane!!!)
Back to the egg hunt, all the little ones hunted eggs and then we ate lunch and cute Easter cookies Lindsey made. Hayes had a ball playing w/Anna Leigh's toys. Other people's toys are always way more fun than your own! Watson napped on and off. One day he'll be able to get up out of that carseat and participate. But for now he is a happy boy just relaxing and watching everything. Thank you Lindsey for having us over-we had a FUN time playing! I wish I had taken some better pics but my attention was divided!









8 weeks TODAY


On Thursday we had a West girls playdate. West is my old school where I taught kindergarten. Amy Mc. and I taught K and Kara taught 1st and Dawn is the counselor! We all had our 1st babies in the same year, so they are all 2 now and Emma Kate will be 2 at the end of the summer. These 4 will all be in kindergarten together in a few years at VHEW and of course I could not be happier about that! We decorated cookies at Amy's house and then they played/destroyed her house. Hayes has now had enough dessert this week to last her until December.



She loves some sugar. After she decorated her cookie she just ate the rest of her icing w/her spoon. Nice!


Sweet Walker


Hanging out w/my friends


Emma Kate, Mary Carmen, and Hayes


Bye Walker!


I can't leave out Watson and little girlfriend Clara! They had their own date over by the swing. He had a major blowout diaper-thanks for letting us borrow your shirt Clara! Clara is Amy Mc.'s new baby girl, just a few weeks older than Watson and so precious. I was hoping she would give him some pointers on sleeping while we were there. Last night was slightly better.


My mom and I are attempting this little guy tomorrow for our Sunday dessert. We will see how creative we can be. I'm not sure ours will turn out like this one. But I don't think the sugar monsters at our house will care how it looks, only if it tastes good! I'm using this coconut cake recipe.



Happy Easter!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Re-Post-I Don't Want to Raise Successful Children

I was re-reading some old posts on my blog from 2009 and came across this article that was from the Proverbs 31 ministries site. I've since seen and read it again (and loved it!) on my friends' Kara and Regan's blog. It is a great read if you have a few minutes. The whole article really sums up what we are called to do as parents-to point our babies to Jesus at every step in their life, or in our case every tiny moment of our sometimes looooong days together. I often wonder if I am doing enough each day to point someone towards God's kingdom in the way I live my life. I'm fairly certain I fail at that daily. Most days I am home all day so it's not like a see a TON of people except at the library or maybe Publix! But then I know that if I am being the very best wife and mommy I can be at home and showing Jesus to my 2 every day plus Nathan, (and I do mean showing His love and patience in my EVERY action and reaction to a demanding toddler and needy newborn, and that is hard!) then I am honoring Him. That's the whole purpose of our lives right? To honor and glorify the One who made us and loves us more than anything. I hope Hayes and Watson understand that at an early age.

I Don't Want to Raise Successful Children
19 Nov 2009
Lysa TerKeurst

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

I don't want to raise successful children. That's a shocking thing to read, and a shocking thing for a mother to type. So, let me clarify.

I used to define success according to my child's report card. Good grades and academic achievement would surely equal a good child with great potential in this world. But then several of my children wound up being average students with average grades. Though we carted them off to tutors and spent many a late night at the kitchen table helping them, they remained average. And I remained concerned and frustrated.

One report card day I found myself facedown in the fibers of my carpet crying and wonderi ng, "Where have I gone wrong as a mom?"

I dug into Scriptures. I begged God for wisdom and discernment. I prayed for God's perspective with each of my kids. Finally, one day it dawned on me - what if I simply chose to embrace the natural bent of each of my kids as God's way to protect them and keep them on the path toward His best plans for their lives?

What if my A student needs academic success to prepare her for God's plans while my average to below-average student needs to be steered away from a more academic future? What if my sports star kid needs that athletic excellence for his future assignments by God, but my benchwarmer kid is being protected from getting off course by her lack in this area?

And that's when it finally dawned on me. My job isn't to push success for my kids. My job as a parent is to recognize the unique way God created each child and point them to Jesus at every turn along their journey toward adulthood. Yes, I wan t my kids to learn and thrive and grow up educated, but it's not a flaw in me or them if they don't have straight A report cards and trophy cases full of sports medals.

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (NIV).

I am challenged to ponder these words, "… in the way he should go." Are we training our kids that the "way he should go" is to chase worldly achievement or to chase God? Whatever they learn to chase as a child, they will chase as adults. Therefore, we must be challenged to honestly assess the way we are pointing them to go.

My daughter, Hope, is one of my average students. She has also warmed many a bench in the sports she's tried, and can always be found hiding on the back row of the stage during school concerts. Using the world's benchmarks for achievement, Hope wouldn't be seen as a child positioned for success. But God…

This past January, my 15 year old Hope, shocked me when she announced she wanted to go to Ethiopia with some missionary friends of ours and live in the remote African bush for the summer. Yes, she may not have trophies and straight A report cards but she does have a heart of gold. And because she's not entrenched in sports and academic pursuits that could have created obligations for her summer, she was free to go to Africa. Free to chase God in a really big way.

One of the first e-mails she sent me from Ethiopia read, "Mom, I've fallen in love with the AIDS orphanage children. They rushed at me when I held my arms out and I tried with all my might to hold all 30 of them at once. I love it here."

Now, don't get me wrong. I do expect Hope to return to her studies this fall, give 100% effort, and finish her high school career having done her very best. She will most likely then go to college. But she probably won't be delivering the valedictorian address or wearing the honors cords and medals. She'll be the on e with a vision of a dying AIDS orphan pressing against her heart ready to chase God's plans to the ends of the earth.

So back to my original statement, I don't want to raise successful children. It's true, I don't. Though Hope's sister coming behind her is an A student and can always be found on the front row of school performances - we don't chase after success for her either. I trust God that she needs those things in her life for the plans He's unfolding in her life. We train with that bent in mind. But, we don't chase it. Just like Hope, we point her in the direction of God at every turn and pray like crazy.

I stand by what I said and I'll say it again, I don't want to raise successful children. Because--- raising God-honoring adults who will set the world on fire for Christ is just so much more rewarding.

Lysa TerKeurst

Monday, April 18, 2011

7 weeks and 3 days


This little boy had a really long and sleepless night last night. He was awake almost every hour for some reason. Every night for the past week at bedtime Nathan and I both think, okay this is going to be a great night...he is going to sleep all night, yay! But oh no, not yet. Each night has been about the same since we came home from the hospital. He usually goes to bed around 7 after I feed him, then I pump a bottle for Nathan to feed him at 9:30. He normally gets up twice to eat, some nights just once, so it's been fairly easy so far for me to be able to get up w/Hayes the next morning and get ready for the day. So last night I decided to keep him up later and give him an extra feeding before he went to bed at 8:30. I guess he did not like my plan. He constantly woke up all night like he was starving and I ended up feeding him THREE times, and then he still could not make it until 7. I'm hoping this is just a growth spurt and he needed extra milk all day and night? I'm constantly trying to figure out what is the best night time routine for him. I don't really remember what Hayes' night time routine was this early, which is why I am trying to document everything. Nathan says to stop experimenting. And now I agree!



Needless to say he is taking REALLY GOOD NAP #2 right now for the day. He is back on his normal 3 hour feeding schedule now, so I'm praying tonight will be better. And I'm going back to our normal night time routine tonight. No more switching his routine around. I know he'll sleep longer when he is ready!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Dawson Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday we took Hayes and Watson to the Easter egg hunt at church. It was fun! They had egg hunts, bouncy houses, pony rides, a train, flower planting, cookie decorating, etc. Lots of great things for little ones. Oh, and Chick Fil A so that was fun for me!



Nathan's mom, Shug, spent her whole spring break here with us last week, and she and Hayes had at least 75 egg hunts all week. She could not get enough of hiding the eggs. So we knew she would know what to do in a real egg hunt, but, she only ended up with one egg! Same as last year, she only got one egg, and that was only because her friend Maggie gave her one! She is obsessed w/opening the egg and taking it apart, so of course she did not get any more. Next year we'll talk about speed!


Somebody was not in the mood for pictures. This is Mrs. Betty, one of Hayes' SS teachers and their class helper, Hannah.


Watson hung out in the stroller. He may be ready to hunt eggs next year!












Her new favorite food group lately is dessert unfortunately, just like her Mommy. I cannot blame her!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Celebrating Grandmama

Our sweet Grandmama passed away almost a week ago. It's hard to believe that is true as I am typing this. She has always been such a huge part of my life and I've been so fortunate to have her for almost 32 years. She had a beautiful service this past week, and I know she would have loved it. It definitely felt like more of a happy day than a sad day. It was a very personal service and a beautiful day, and that is just how she would have wanted it. Everyone had so many wonderful stories and memories of her. I know I've mentioned on here before about how it is hard to talk about "just her" without also including my Grandaddy and Ease (her twin.) Ease always spent alot of time with them after her husband died in 1990. They are all such special people and we miss them so much already. We have joked and joked about what a sense of humor God must have when he made Grandmama and Ease. I'm sure they are entertaining everyone in heaven with their hundreds of jokes and songs!


(This was her last Watson family Christmas dinner with our whole extended family in December. She always LOVED the Christmas dinner!)

It's a very happy thought and so comforting to know right where she is, with all of her loved ones and with JESUS. I know I'll continue to miss her for the rest of my life, but I have so many of her sayings and jokes in my mind, and I know those memories won't ever go away. I'm so thankful that she was my Grandmama, so special and one of a kind (or two of a kind if you count Ease:) and I'm so grateful for the relationship we had!


(Grandmama, her sons, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren-our little Watson makes #14 for her and my Grandaddy-he never could learn all their names!)

Friday, April 15, 2011

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to our sweet, smart, talented, and funny niece Mary Hannah! It's hard to believe you have been here for 7 years and are almost a 2nd grader! You are sooooo special to us and we've loved watching you grow.

Meeting Watson...




Hayes adores you...


and hopes you can teach her your super talented art skills!


Such a happy girl...


we look forward to the plans God has for your life.


We all love you so much Mary Hannah and are so grateful that you are a part of our family!