So Thankful

I met some friends for lunch at Red Butte Cafe yesterday and one of my friends just found out that she's pregnant. She and her husband had adopted a little boy about 2 years ago because they had given up on ever conceiving, so they are really excited that it has finally happened for them. It got me thinking how crazy it is that people can give up all hope of ever getting pregnant and then - presto! - it happens. Scott and I were actually going through the same adoption agency at the same time as my friend and had been with the agency for about a year before we decided to do in vitro fertilization. Actually, it was Scott who really wanted to do it. I was on the fence about it because it was so expensive and there was no guarantee that I would be able to get pregnant from it. We had done just about everything else and nothing had worked so I wasn't very positive about trying it. I'm so incredibly glad and thankful that Scott talked me into it, and for all of the fasting, prayers and positive thoughts of my family and friends at the time we went through the whole process, without which our beautiful baby would not be here. I will never forget the overwhelming emotion I felt on the day I found out I was pregnant and on the day I gave birth to our precious Dawson. Babies, no matter how they come to us, are such wonderful miracles and in our case it's truly awesome and amazing because we waited for almost 16 years to get our child. I just feel so thankful that God has finally answered our prayers. There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank Him for this adorable and much loved child, either in prayer or in my heart. I am so blessed.

Our Monkey Child

We got a security gate the other day to separate our family room from our kitchen because Dawson is always trying to climb up the tile step into the kitchen and we were worried he was going to really hurt himself. I'm so glad we got it because I was having to chase and/or block him most of the day to keep him from climbing the step. As you can see from the pics, he loves to pull himself up onto almost everything so we call him our Monkey Child. As you can see, he's very proud of his climbing accomplishments. It sure is fun to see him cruising around but it's also a lot of work to keep him from falling and getting hurt.

Easter

I was able to stay for all three meetings of church today thanks to my good neighbors Kurt and Gaylynn helping me out with Dawson. He's such a little wiggleworm now and just wants to crawl and climb all the time so it's a little difficult to keep him happy at church. Kurt entertained him during Sacrament Meeting and Gaylynn got him to sleep during most of Sunday School and Relief Society. I'm so lucky to have such great neighbors (and friends)!
We went to Scott's parents' house for dinner so Dawson got to see and play with his cousins. Scott's mom got Dawson a high chair this week and made a big bib for him so he got to eat Cheerios while we were eating dinner. I think more of them were stuck on his face, hands and clothes than actually made it into his mouth.
Scott is feeling better today, thank goodness. He's been pretty grouchy from having the flu the past few days so I'm glad he's getting over it now.
I forgot to take any pics of Dawson in his Easter clothes so he's looking really casual in the pics I took of him at Scott's parent's house. The first one is of his cousin Alicia playing with him and the second is of him playing with his Grandma Parker.

Movie Time

Chuck, Suz and I went to see "Shutter" this afternoon while our niece Andi watched the chilluns. There wasn't anything else that we wanted to see and going to a movie seemed to be a good way to get out without the kids and have some time to ourselves. The movie didn't get very good reviews so I think we all liked it more than we expected to because our expectations were low going into it.
Scott was home sick with the flu so I think he was glad to have some peace and quiet for a few hours.
Here's a pic of Suz and me getting excited for the movie.

What A Waste! & Two Little Rascals

So I just finished reading "Atonement" by Ian McEwan and I'm really bugged that I wasted my time reading it. It started out okay but the ending was absolutely stupid and pointless. I don't know how different the movie is from the book but I have no desire to see the movie now. If someone has seen the movie, you'll have to let me know what you thought of it. Hopefully it ends better than the book did.
On a lighter note, I took some pics of Dawson and Zeus (our two little rascals) this morning while Dawson was eating some zwieback toast and making a mess of himself. Our big fat mooch of a dog likes to position himself right next to Dawson's high chair so that he can eat all of Dawson's scraps. Dawson doesn't seem to mind sharing with him either. I think these two hoodlums are going to get into a lot of trouble together when Dawson gets a little older.

Hanging out at Suzi's

Dawson and I went to Suzi's house last night for dinner because Chuck is out of town on business this week. We played outside for a little while since the weather was so nice and then we put the kids on Suzi's bed because they love to roll around and play on it. I wasn't able to get any pics of the two of them together because Ander kept crawling away as soon as we would sit them side by side. I hope they like playing together when they get older because they don't show a lot of interest in each other right now. Ander does get really jealous if Suzi holds Dawson but other than that they both do their own thing when we put them together.
Dawson is starting to pull himself up to stand while he hangs onto our couch, ottoman or his toy box so we really have to watch him to make sure he doesn't fall. I took a pic of him this morning holding onto his toy box while standing and he fell right after I took it.

Kid to Kid and Mr. Naughtypants

I never thought I'd do this but I actually went to Kid to Kid yesterday and bought a Megasaucer, since the one Dawson has is getting a little worn out. Of course I sanitized it like there was no tomorrow but it looks like it's almost new. It retails new at $59.99 and I bought it for $29.99 so I thought it was quite the bargain. I admit I'm pure white trash now (even though I don't live in a trailer). I don't know if I'll go back there again but I thought some of their stuff looked pretty decent and they also carry some brand new items. Dawson really seems to like playing in the new Megasaucer - he was getting a little tired of the old one. I took a picture of him enjoying himself in his "new" toy.

Dawson is also getting to be quite the Mr. Naughtypants. Whenever we leave the main floor bathroom door open, he'll crawl into the bathroom and make a beeline straight for the toilet. He's never actually touched it yet, thank goodness. I just need to remember to keep the bathroom door shut from now on, otherwise I might find him swimming in the toilet. You can see by the picture above what a little mischief maker he is.

Pics from yesterday

Ok, so I'm new at the blogging thing and couldn't figure out how to add pictures until just now. The top picture is of me holding Dawson and the bottom pictures is of me holding Davis, Jon & Becky's baby.

Dawson is 10 months old!!

I can't believe our little bubba turned 10 months old yesterday. It seems like I had him just a few weeks ago. He is such an active and fun little guy and is always on the go now that he's crawling. I'm a little worried about how he'll be on our flight to Hawaii in a couple of weeks. 7 hours is a long time to try to keep him entertained!
We had our monthly Sunday family dinner last night at Jon & Becky's house and it was really tasty. Becky is such a great cook. The kids all kept Dawson entertained during dinner and Jack & Stockton played with him in the family room after dinner until he started getting fussy, at which point they brought him to Becky to try to cheer him up. I think he gets a little overwhelmed when he's around my family sometimes since there's so many of them.
We decided to put him to bed tonight while he was still awake on the advice of Becky and Chuck and it worked out well. He only cried for a minute before he fell asleep. We've always waited until he was asleep before putting him to bed and it hasn't always been easy because he will sometimes fall asleep around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. So I think this will work out much better going forward.