Dawson

I've been looking back over past blog entries and realized that in typical middle child fashion, Dawson has been getting jipped of facetime on our blog lately. So this post is all about him.


Wow, what can I say about Dawson?! If I had to describe him in one word, it would be spunky. This little guy has more spunk that I know what to do with. Dawson is such a free spirit, and cannot stand anyone messing up his plans. He is way too familiar with the word 'no' and doesn't hesitate to use it in any situation. Most of the time he really wants to say yes, but since it wasn't his idea to begin with, the answer has to be no. Dawson is a button pusher. He knows exactly what buttons to push with each family member to get a reaction. He also knows how to turn on the charm. I hear "mommy, I love you." about 10 times a day, and it never stops melting my heart. Although he just turned 2 in January, Dawson has been talking for ages, and can communicate his thoughts and wants very well. Last night we took him to get ice cream, and after finishing his own ice cream, he reaches over and takes my ice cream. When I reach for it back, he looks me in the eye and says, "Mommy, don't think about it."

I love this kid. He adds so much flavor to our family. Plus I think I can give him most of the credit for me being able to lose my pregnancy weight so quickly! Thanks for keeping me on my toes Dawson.

slacker

I didn't really realize the effect that Justin has on my life until he left. He's been gone for 4 days now, and I can honestly say, I feel a little bit lost without him. I've been so lazy since he's been gone. Without Justin around there is no one calling me on my mothering skills. It's common for me to hear Justin say "well you're the mom, so you do it", when I ask him to do too much for me, or "You're the mom, so it's your job to play with me" if I'm not spending enough time with him. Well now that he's not here, I'm getting away with a lot more. Dawson doesn't care so much what I do during the day, as long as his needs are met. (having his diaper changed, being fed plenty of snacks, and having free reign of the house, including Justin's room.) I have to say that it's been so much quieter without the arguing between Justin and Dawson (and between me and Justin!) Now as I reread this, it sounds like it should be a nice vacation for me having Justin gone, and it has been at times, but I actually feel unmotivated and unsure of how to spend my time! It's weird for me to realize that Justin is a huge motivating presence in my life. He challenges me, and that makes me grow. Without him here, I've been wasting a lot of time. I'm still in my pj's and it's almost noon, the house is a mess, and I don't think I've done laundry since he left! Thank goodness he gets home this afternoon or it could get really chaotic around here! I'm so thankful for the unique personalities each of my boys have. I'm thankful for Justin for challenging me and helping me to be a better person. I'm thankful for Dawson for letting me relax a little and just be silly when I get tired of trying to be supermom. I'm thankful for Chase for just being so darn cute and loveable, and most of all I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who does all of those 3 things for me, and more importantly who puts up with all of my craziness, and loves me in spite of it!

I'm leaving on a jet plane

This morning Justin left to go to Idaho with
my parents. As I was helping him get dressed, he asked me

J: “Mommy, you know that thing
at the airport that they stick your
stuff through?”
Me: “You mean the metal
detector?”
J: “Yeah, what does that thing do?”
Me: “Well it’s to make sure that nobody
brings weapons onto the plane. You know
like guns and knifes”
J: “Oh.”

So that was the end of the conversation. 20 minutes later we go downstairs and he sees his backpack and I tell him that I’ve put a couple of new surprises inside for him to open on the plane. Of course he is super excited about this. He walks off to wash his hands, and gets halfway across the room before turning to me and saying, “ there’s no guns in there right?”

I love this precious little boy. I am sad and proud that he is mature enough to go on this trip without me. He’s growing up way too fast. I am thankful for moments like this when I realize how innocent he is that he thinks that all guns are plastic toys for little boys. I know that he won’t be like this for long, and I treasure these special moments. I love you Justin. Have a wonderful time, and know that I'm missing you every second.

Getting Old!

Now I realize that at 26 years old it is laughable for me to say this, but I feel old lately. I have a theory that every child you have ages you at least 5 years, (mentally and physically) so that would put me at just over 40! There are a few things making me feel this way. First of all Justin is starting Kindergarten in July, and I'm not sure why, but I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea. He's gone to preschool for the past year and a half, but for some reason kindergarten feels so much more official. I don't feel old enough to have a school age child, and I don't like that Justin's growing up so fast. The other thing that's aging me is that I've had a nasty headache for over a week now, and it's driving me up a wall. I feel like a little old lady with all the pain medicine I've been taking, and all the sleep I require. The pain is right behind my left eye, and it's constant and throbbing. I'd appreciate any tips if anyone has experience with this type of headache. I've been alternating prescription motrin, and tylenol every 3 hours, and that barely takes the edge off the pain. The last time I had this kind of headache was about 2 years ago when Dawson was 5 months old. I'm wondering if it could be something hormonal that happens 5 months after giving birth?! Has anyone else experienced this?

Completely Smitten

I just can't get over how much I love this little guy! He just melts my heart about 15 times a day. I've never considered myself a baby person. I know that I enjoyed the time when Justin and Dawson were babies, but I don't remember being so enamored as I am with Chase. Maybe it's because he's my third, and I've finally realized how quickly these little guys grow up, or maybe it's because he is such an easy baby. Whatever the reason I am thankful everyday for the opportunity to know this precious little spirit.

Peace on Earth

Or at least at my house today. I have always been extremely blessed to have boys who take great naps. I'm talkin like 3-4 hour naps. Nap time is the reason that I can have all these crazy boys, and not go completely insane. It's my time for myself. Most days during naps, even though I should be catching up on my never ending list of chores, I do something that I want to do, whether it's sewing, talking on the phone, watching T.V., or just laying around. So about 6 months ago when Justin started fighting me at naptime, I started panicking. But I got through it because I figured out that he would still give me a good nap every other day, then it turned into every 2 days, then every 3, until finally nap time for Justin was just a distant memory. Well today there is peace on my earth again because for the first time in what seems like forever, all 3 boys are asleep at the same time!!! I hardly know what to do with this unexpected free time, but I've decided to get our Easter pictures posted before Christmas hits and it's just too ridiculous to post them anymore!


We had a great Easter. I've been teaching Justin about why we celebrate Easter, not really knowing how much was sticking. So yesterday morning, before church, I was so proud when I asked him to tell me about Easter and he said "Well Jesus suffered for our sins and then bad guys killed him on a cross. Then he rected (short for resurected I'm sure!) so now we can live forever with Him." The kid's amazing, and I know that the credit cannot go to me! Anyway, we spent the afternoon and evening with my family, and Grandma spoiled the boys with plenty of Easter treats like she always does! They loved hunting for eggs all over the house and yard, but were a tad disapointed to find that all the eggs were empty. Grandma explained that they would get the candy after they found all the eggs, but I think they had a hard time understanding what the point was with no candy!! We had a wonderful dinner, and left completely stuffed.

New Look

How do you like our blog's new look? Now I realize that everybody else in the blogging world has figured out how to personalize their blogs ages ago, but I finally figured it out today, and I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself. I am not a computer person at all, so this was a huge accomplishment for me! Now just in case anybody reading this still might need help with this, here's the blog that walked me through it
http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/
As you can see, clickable links are something else that I havn't learned yet! Maybe next month.