Great Grandma Beil

Today was such a special day for us. My Grandma had been visiting for about 2 weeks and was on her way home. My Aunt Sonja was driving her to Vegas to the airport and they stopped in Cedar City! I haven't seen my Grandma since last fall at my Grandpa's funeral. Dawson saw her, but he didn't really remember who she was because there were SO many people around. I was so excited for him to meet her and get to spend some time with her. She is his GREAT Grandma on the Shelley side. I never knew my Greats growing up, so it was important for me to make a big deal for it with Dawson. He loves Grandma's and Grandpa's, even if they aren't his own! Any old person he sees he will say, "mama!" or "papa!" He loves the elderly. He has a Great Grandma on both sides of the family- which he adores his Great Grandma Stevens (he knows her because she has a cane and he loves to bring it to her to use).

Back to our special day, Grandma and Aunt Sonja picked up my cousin Billy who is here in Cedar as well. Then they came to pick us up! All day long I had been showing Dawson a picture of Grandma Biel so he wouldn't get confused about which Grandma was coming. They pulled up and Dawson flew out the door! He ran right up to Grandma Biel and gave her the biggest squeeze! Then...all of the sudden he started to get shy. I told him, "It's okay. Why don't you go get the camera to take pictures." (This was something else I told Dawson. I had told him he could take pictures of Grandma when she came. So I knew this would probably get him excited). I was wrong... he didn't want pictures... as you can see he was a little nervous.

BUT Grandma's always know what's best and NEVER go wrong. My grandma pulled out her purse. She speaks so softly. Dawson was really into listening to her. She pulled out a silver clip. She showed Dawson that 'this is where I keep my money.' He started to get more interested.... Then she gave him a whole dollar! She said, "Now this is for you. You can go get you an ice cream okay?" He was SO EXCITED! He just replied, "Oh gosh Mama! Thank you!" And this is what happened next.....

From then on, Great Grandma Biel or 'mama' was Dawson's best friend. We went to lunch and Dawson insisted on sitting by 'Mama.' We sat down for dinner and he ate his soup because 'mama' was eating her soup. He talked and talked and talked to 'mama.' He kept bringing up his dollar bill and saying, 'Ice cream!' Great Grandma Biel was so happy and sweet to Dawson. She kept saying how cute he was, what a little gentleman he was, and how well he could talk. They gave each other the biggest hugs and kisses when they had to leave.

This made my whole day to see my Grandma, and watch my son create a sweet bond with his great grandma. I love how kind Dawson is and how polite he is becoming. I love how much he loves family, especially Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Dawson Update

My little guy is the cutest and darnest thing ever! He seriously makes J.D. and I laugh everyday!

He is so TALL! He is in 4T and is not even 3. We have to watch what we buy because we have to get the slim 4T things. He is so skinny it's hard to find clothes that don't hang to big on him. BUT if we buy smaller things then he looks like he has high waters or his tummy is slightly showing. It's so hard! My mom tells me that she went through the same thing with most of her kids. Dawson definitely gets his height from my family. Most of the guys in my heritage were all over 6 feet. The women are shorter for sure, but there is a lot of tallness.

Dawson is getting so good with his coordination too! He loves to kick the ball around the house, and is asks me everyday if we can go outside to play baseball. He still has a love for animals and especially horses. We had to buy him 2 new hats already because the ones from his birthday are pretty gross and WAY worn down. He still loves to have the least amount of clothes on as possible. He loves to dance! When fun music comes on from a movie or my phone, he will always grab my hand and say, "Mommy! Dance with Dawson!" I am the luckiest mom ever! He is better at taking his vitamins and flouride pill than I am. He reminds me quicker than I can think. He is still into trains and dinosaurs-it amazes me how much he loves Jurassic Park the movie. It doesn't scare him at all! He loves that movie! He has become quite the expert with making mac and cheese! lol!

Dawson can be proper sometimes- he won't eat without a place-mat on the table. He loves the routines of getting the place mat, silverware, cups and preparing to eat. He loves to shower by himself! He has learned to wash himself and rinse his hair without my help. He even closes his eyes. He is the biggest helper with cleaning. laundry, and dusting!

Dawson is talking so much too! Every night I try to go through sounds of letters with him. He was starting to have a lisp and stick his tongue out for 'S' and 'l' and 'f.' BUT after 3 nights of the sounds he doesn't even make the lisp noise anymore. We have still been going over sounds for about 3 weeks, just to get him used to hearing and making the right sounds. My mom started pre-school with my nephew, and when Dawson wants to, we go as well. We have learned about circles and Dawson is practicing writing his name. We are starting colors as well. He is doing amazing!

He is eating so much better than ever before! Mostly because he isn't sick and is growing so much. We only have 2 more molars on the top to get. We went to a dentist appointment and my Dawson got a small chip fixed. They drilled, and sanded, and filled the chip in- he didn't cry! Not once! He likes the dentist! He didn't cry for his hair cut today either! He lets me know when he's wet, and will hide to work on his stinkies. He isn't a big fan of nursery, but he loves to go to primary with me and sing the songs with the older kids. I love it too! He isn't always so perfect- he can definitely throw a really good fit. He plays J.D. and I against each other ALREADY! If I say no, he will go ask his dad. Is that normal for a 2 year old?

Other random updates- he love his face tickled with my hair. He loves to have his back tickled. He loves to drive his four wheeler around the house to get things done. He loves to sing in sacrament for church. He will lead with his hand and sing. I didn't teach him this- he just mimicked the chorister. He loves to go to church and get on his nice clothes. He loves routines or doing things like putting chapstick on, putting hand sanitizer on, brushing teeth, going potty on the toilet before getting in the tub, reading scriptures and saying prayers before we eat, and getting ready for the day. He is a little prankster and tease with J.D. and I. It's the funniest thing. He loves to be held and rocked.

AND last but not least- he has slept through the night 3 nights in a row!!! :-) AND he is still taking a nap most days. :-) We are happy parents!

Summer please come!

We are so ready for the rain and the snow to disappear for a couple of months. We had a couple of good days here in Cedar, but then within a hop, skip, and a jump it was gone! In one day we had sunshine, wind, rain, snow, and sunshine again! I can't handle mother natures mood swings anymore. It's time for summer!
Dawson loves to play outside, and I love a good tan...so for a few days we were living the life! And now I have to tell Dawson its too cold to stay inside. Both of us are struggling with being cooped up any longer after the winter season. We love flip flops, no shoes, shorts, t-shirts, swim suits, tanning, baseball, parks, picnics, and ESPECIALLY the LAKES! We don't have a boat, nor any sort of lake water toys. BUT we just love to swim and play in the sand, BBQ, and be in the sun with friends and family. Dawson loved it last year, and we couldn't get enough of it either! I will admit, some days it just gets too hot, but if you have a lake to go swimming in then life is great!

We have already made up a summer list of things to do! We usually don't get all of the things done, but it gives us great ideas when we find ourselves with a spare day. This year a couple of things we want to do besides lake trips, is going out to see J.D.'s sister Lynette and her family, see my brother Chad and his family, and my dad and brother in Colorado. J.D. loves to travel- I do too, but I like taking my time to do things and not make our visits a rush. However, seeing family- I'll take what I can get. So will Dawson! He just loves family! He has a big heart for traveling and seeing family as well. He is willing to go through any car ride to see family.

The Moon, My Cowboy, & Jammin

A while back when we went to Kanab, my niece came home late one night and ran inside yelling at all of us to come outside. We were all up still, so we ran out and this is what we saw.

If you look closely you can see it. It's the moon with a HUGE lit up ring around it! It was amazing! I've never seen anything like this before-so here I am documenting that I've seen a ring around the moon. :-)

I have the funniest little cowboy ever! Not only is he a little prankster, with a touch of sarcasm, he is hilarious about everything! He can make you laugh on the roughest, most boring days. This was today's laugh of the day. He knew he was being silly because he came out smiling and saying, "No pants!" and then he'd just laugh and laugh about it. The only thing he had me do was button up his shirt- he did everything else!

Check out how long and skinny his legs are!! Dawson is super skinny and tall and my mom always says how much Dawson reminds her of my brother Chad. He was built just like this, except Chad wasn't as tall as Dawson..so the height comes from my dad, or my grandpa Petersen...or on my grandma Shelley's biological side (unknown because she was adopted).

Now here's my little jammer! This pic does not do him justice, so watch the video!
Uncle Matt gave Dawson this guitar when we went to Kanab last, and Dawson would NOT put this thing down. He knew he was so cool playing the guitar.

He tries so hard in this video to bob his head! It's the cutest thing ever! AND you gotta love how he jams with only a diaper on...that's scary for a mom.

Latest News for us

I don't have pictures for this post, but I do have lots to say as usual. :-) We headed down to sunny St. George again..well, it's been over a month since we went last, so we figured we were due time for the sunshine. It was amazing! We ALWAYS feel like we are on vacation when we go there-this is why J.D. wants to live there. I wouldn't mind living there, but I get a little too hot in the summer. That sounds crazy right...me too hot? Yes folks, it's true, I have a hard time with controlling my body temperature. I like the fall the best, I am never too hot or too cold because I can control putting on and taking off clothes to be just right. (ONLY IN THE FALL). Every other season I am too freezing or too hot.

We have lots going on in our lives-but just the normal busy. Hopefully in the upcoming months we will have more exciting news...hopefully. I am not going to post all the new happenings that could be good happenings or bad happenings. This is because...well, I just hate being a disappointment or having a lot of 'bummers' on here. I want people to be happy about what I post. Also, I want to remember happy and important things. So if our 'new haps' don't turn out, I would post about a lesson I learned, or post months later about it when I realize why it worked out and how the Lord knows us better than we do kinda thing. Plus, we've been down some rocky ROCKY roads with trying to understand the Lord's way for us and that not going the way we want it to. Make sense?

The regular normal things going on are-LOTS of studying...LOTS! For me, I am trying to get through 2 classes...which I have only 6 assignments to do so, but it's a bit of a stressor when I look at how much my calling, Dawson, cleaning, and trying to take care of myself go along with it. J.D. is just ending his spring break and so ready to graduate. YES- J.D. graduates! I can't wait! He has worked so hard and in May, he will have some gratification. All you graduates can relate I'm sure.

Dawson is so much fun! His new favorite thing to say is, "What the heck!" or "What the heck are you doing?" I'm not sure where he learned it...J.D. and I don't say it very that often, but he's picked it up and loves to say it. He is a little cowboy at heart- he just loves anything cowboy no matter what time of day or his mood. His new favorite show is "Chuggington" from Disney. I have to drag him away from it after too long because he LOVES it. He really just loves trains! His new favorite movie...yes, Jurassic Park. He loves the dinosaurs! So there is my little boy in a nutshell, sarcasm, dinos, trains and is a cowboy at heart. He has been telling me for a while now when he's stinky or wet. He will go hide or hang out by himself when he is going poop. It's so funny! So here are 2 stories,

Last week he went in his room, shut the door and locked it. I easily unlocked it and tried to open the door. Dawson pushed against it to try and not let me in. I got in and he said, "No. Please go out." I got a pretty good wiff of what he was workin on in there, so I knew why he wanted to hide. I left and he locked the door again. 5 minutes later he came out saying, "Stinky! I stinky mom!" He had a diaper in his hand too.

Today, J.D. went to a luncheon after a baby blessing. He took Dawson as well. I had to do sharing time for primary. J.D. said during the luncheon Dawson stepped outside in the hall by himself and was staring out the window. J.D. went out and said, "Dawson why don't you come back in." Dawson said, "No! Go dad. Go!" So J.D. not knowing what Dawson was doing, just let him be. He later learned that Dawson just need his time to do some good in his diaper.

Dawson is playing so good by himself. He is communicating in 5 to 6 word sentences! It blows my mind how well he's been talking. I work on letter sounds with him because he has had a little lisp with his 's'. He has gotten some much better at pronunciation. He is the biggest helper when it comes to cleaning- he will help with no questions asked. He loves to eat now! YAY! He has been eating so well lately! He is a prankster for sure! I can't believe all the funny things he does to J.D. and I already. He's only 2! He is an EXTREMELY GOOD negotiator! Through all of this, he still loves to be rocked and swaddled. :-)

We have a new thing in our home...it's our 'Good things Jar.' No, that didn't come from Good Things Utah... I made it up. haha! This past year we've learned lessons, and still don't understand things that happened for us... The other day I realized that we were starting to focus on a lot of negative things not just for ourselves, but others. SO, I just broke down and realized how it was effecting us. I didn't want that! I want people to look at us and see joy, happiness, and lots of positive! I wanted to remember positive things about ourselves and others. I really wanted to have confidence in myself, and the decisions J.D. and I make. So this is where the 'Good things Jar' came into effect. It's not a thankful jar, it's a Good Things Jar. Every day we have to write at least ONE good thing that happened to us for the day. Even if it's just "Dawson took a nap and I got to study." Simple, yet positive. Then each week for FHE we would read about them. J.D. and I figured that this would really help us be more positive and happy people. I think life can really get to you, but we felt through this that we can work through it a little bit better. My goal is to have a stranger on the street notice how much joy I have in my life. Wouldn't that be amazing? I mean, wouldn't it be so rewarding to have a stranger say, "Wow, you really have a lot of joy." I can't imagine how rewarding and motivating that would be to hear someone say that, but I know I will. :-)

It's the 20th so I need to make a shout out for everyone's birthdays today. J.D.'s dad, our niece Breslynn and nephew Daxon (twins) who turned 2, and my bestie Brie! :-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Doctor Stebens

Dawson has recently learned his name, however he pronounces it Dawson James Stebens-instead of Stevens. haha! It is adorable! He will point at J.D., me, and himself and say, "Daddy Stebens, Mommy Stebens, Dawson Stebens James." haha!

We went his doctor a month or so ago and he got pricked to get blood for pneumonia. Since then Dawson will say, "Doctor hurt." and point to his finger. We really didn't want him to think the doctor was mean, so when he gets hurt we will say, "Let the doctor fix it. Let Dr. Stevens fix it." So now when he gets hurt, or one of us gets hurt, Dawson will say, "You need Dr. Stebens to fix it. okay." And he will pretend to fix our owies. It's the cutest thing! He now refers to himself as 'Dr. Stebens.'

What a CRAZY/PRECIOUS night!

We had such a crazy experience last night- we still aren't quite sure as to what happened. We got home around 10pm, and right as we walked in the door I set Dawson down on the couch. I went to get him some corn, but before I could he was fast asleep. We made his bed (which is still on the floor in our room). I got his pj's on, and laid him down. J.D. and I got ready for bed, read our scriptures, said prayers and turned out the lights, and tried to go to sleep. After 20 minutes, all of the sudden Dawson started screaming bloody murder! I jumped down to him and he started smacking me and hitting! He kept screaming, so I turned on the lights and he still flipped out. I kept saying, "Dawson-it's mommy. What's wrong? Dawson it's mommy..." He finally quieted down, but kept smacking his face and saying,
"Bugs! Bugs! Eyes!"
So we asked, "Are their bugs in your eyes?"
Dawson, "YES!!"
Daddy,"Bugs like you get in your nose? or bugs like spiders?"
Dawson, "Bugs like spiders!" he continued to scream and then started ferociously rubbing his right eye. He wouldn't open it, he just kept rubbing and freaking out. J.D. got down and shook out the blankets, however we figured something was still in his eye.
Mom,"Do you want to go shower to get the bugs off?" I knew he was still pretty traumatized, so I figured we'd just play along and see how it went.
Dawson,"Yes. Please. Shower."
So we hopped into the shower. He would not let go of me for the life of him, but I had to ask him to put his head and eyes in the water. He was so tough! He just kept opening his eyes and rinsing them with water all by himself! I just held him and kept telling him things he needed to do so he could better rinse. Finally, I asked if they were gone, and Dawson said, "Yeah.."he sighed. He still kept rubbing, but he'd keep them open long enough for us to look in his eyes to see if anything was there. We couldn't find anything, so we wondered if it was an eye booger from sleeping, or an eye lash.

We started up a bath to calm Dawson down, however he still wouldn't let go of me. He just kept saying, "Hold me mom! hold me." So I did, but I was still concerned he was hurting in some way. So I decided to check his vision by asking him where my eyes, nose, or hands were. He never responded except to say, "I don't know. where is it?" He wouldn't point to them, he'd just look straight forward. J.D. was getting really concerned. He checked his prescribed medicine for the RSV to make sure he wasn't having any allergic reactions within his eyes because he was so concerned. Finally, I asked, "Dawson, do you want bubbles?" He got excited and said, "YES!" He started to be happier as well. J.D. then set the bubbles on the floor outside the tub and said, "Okay, you get to get the bubbles and poor them in yourself!" AND Dawson jumped out, grabbed the bubbles and dumped the ENTIRE container out! LOL- I was of course still in the tub, and now I was covered in bubble solution. haha! BUT- we were relieved to see Dawson could see and was acting calm/excited.

After our bath, Dawson got very clingy again. He wouldn't let go of me at all. So, I told him he could pick out a blanket from the tote (this is where I've put blankets that we don't use. The baby blanket box is what we call it). Dawson loves blankets, so he was excited to see all of his old blankets again. He picked out his favorite one-which was J.D.'s favorite blanket too as a child. It's pink, silky, and worn down completely. BUT it gets my boys to sleep :-) Yes, J.D. still uses it from time to time because he LOVES this thing. I put it away because it was so worn, and I wanted to save it. BUT, tonight this blanket was a much needed and wanted blanket. I wrapped Dawson up, and then Dawson pointed to the rocking chair and said, "Mom sit. Dawson." I definitely wasn't going to pass up time to rock my little one to sleep. I sang our special lullaby that I made up and Dawson fell asleep after an hour of just looking up at me. It was so special and precious. It reminded me of Dawson when he was a baby baby. He always calms down to our song, and J.D. fell asleep too. I just love my boys!