Bitter Sweet

Well, J.D. has left me to go on the spike elk hunt. This is a HUGE deal in my family. My brother and his kids fly in from Missouri every year to come. All the boys go on this same hunt, and have been doing it since I was born because I can't remember not ever having it. They used to allow the girls to come up for one of the days. I'm sure they still would, but we are all so busy and have a different lifestyle than we did 10 years ago. Even so, we are still not allowed to stay the night, it's a boys only ordeal.

Anyways, it's been really calm around here without J.D. I have found myself without anything to do. Dawson has cried every day since he's left. It is the hardest thing for me to see Dawson cry and want his daddy. Nights are little scary b/c I don't have someone here to protect us except neighbors (who were out of town). And I'm a worrier, so I thing of all the things that could go wrong and analyze a plan for each one...it'd be a lot easier if J.D. were just here. This is the bitter part of the whole thing.

The sweet part is the fact that my house actually stays clean...ALL DAY! I am so calm, and less stressed because my house is always clean. Even Dawson has been happier because I don't spend so much time cleaning up and can play with him more. I have everything to make all of my dinner meals! I don't have random things gone. J.D. just grabs what he can and makes something of his own out of it instead of what I make. The milk has lasted forever!! I hate going grocery shopping so I try to do a once a month big shopping day and then sometimes I have to go get small things because J.D. has eaten them, or the milk is gone. AND the gas in the car..well it's still full and has been since the day J.D. left. I know he has to go to school-I'm talking besides school.

Needless to say, it's a bitter sweet couple of days while J.D. is gone. :-) Even with the sweet part of him being gone, I would rather have him here because worrying takes a bigger toll on my life and sleep. I'm pretty sure my life line on my palm gets shorter every year because of all the worrying I do. lol! However, I will NOT admit any of this to J.D. in fear that he will know he is actually right and I'm wrong.. :-)

Fun with Grandma

I just wanted to include this pic to remind me of how funny Dawson is with his outfits. :-) It never gets old, and makes me laugh everyday. My mom came to visit Sunday night and Dawson was on cloud nine. He loves his grandma so much! I love it too! Who doesn't love it when there mom comes to visit? Some days you really just need your mom. Something about having your mom there makes life seem so simple. My mom is a pretty special grandma- she spoils ALL of her grandkids by actually getting down on her hands and knees just to play with them. She will crawl around, give them rides on her back, play hide and seek, or just even read to them. She has a way of making each of her grandchildren feel so special. She's also the kind of grandma that doesn't make you feel like you're walking on egg shells if your child breaks something, or ruins something in the house. She just says, "There are more important things in life." I had and still have the greatest example for being a mom and later on maybe grandma.

She always seems to bring the best treats too! This time it was dilly bars! Of course Dawson got all excited to see a suprise. He did get his own, which he downed in a short time. So he thought he'd go get more from his grandma....literally..MMMMMMM!!!!

Dawson is a pretty creative kid. He's extremely creative when grandma gives him silly ideas to do like try on mom's new sports bra...the hat to go with his outfit is 100% Dawson's idea. You can just see his personality with this face.

Dawson wanted to play cowboy with his new hat and guns. His face tells you how much fun this was. He would shoot my mom, and she died....he thought that was funny (kind of scary to think that it's funny...oh well!)

BUT he didn't let it end there! He would give her a big kiss to wake her up again! HAHA! This was repeated for 20 more minutes- shoot her, she dies, kiss her, she wakes up!

The next day we had Dawson play with our new neighbors! This is Lilly! We invited her over so her parents could get their house back together. They were gone all summer for an intern, and just returned. So they basically had to move in all over again. They had so much fun together.
Matching HATS!

Thanks for coming to visit mom!

Dawson's Update

Dawson had a visit to the doctor and dentist this last couple of days. For the doctor's visit, he was in the
83th percentile for height
56th percentile in head circumference
15th percentile for weight

Still tall and skinny. He doesn't look extremely skinny, he is just light weight. He is a pretty healthy boy other than his throwing up problem. He has had this since he was born. At first I wasn't concerned, but now that he is 2, I just feel like it shouldn't be happening as often as it does. The good thing is that it is NOT affecting his health as far as growing. It does NOT hurt him when it happens. The problem is that he should have grown out of it by now, and it could be tearing up his esophagus. This could lead to permanent damage, and possibly lead to cancers later on in life. So we got a referral to go see a G.I. specialist. It's not a emergency concern, just something that needs to be controlled.

I am not way concerned, or stressing out over the whole thing. I just would like to have to not deal with throwing up once a day and I don't want this to be a cause of something more serious for Dawson later on. I think I am mostly scared about what they will have to do to find out the problem. I am extremely terrified of hospitals, and ALWAYS try to find a reason not to go. I definitely have anxiety thinking about all the things that could happen. I don't mind doctor's offices, or clinics, but hospitals are and have always been hard for me to cope with. I think it is probably because of all the things that actually do happen there...and partly comes from scary movies that I shouldn't have watched.

The dentist office was good to. We did have to wait 1 hour and 45 minutes! They had 2 emergencies that morning and were trying to catch up from a 2 1/2 hour wait. I was so exhausted from trying to keep Dawson happy.. He did alright until the end, which was nap time. We finally got called back, and had to wait in the room for another 30 minutes. That was torture on my part. There were so many things Dawson wanted to play with that I had to keep restraining him from. And finally the Dentist came. He was so nice and apoligized a million times for the wait. Dawson had no cavities and the dentist said his teeth look GREAT! So he go a certificate to Red Robin! We ate and then went to my mom's for a nice nap.

He is growing so much! and talking tons! He loves to cuddle or hold hands when he falls asleep. He doesn't like being alone. He loves to read us books, his horses, and guns. He has the funniest sense of humor! With all this cuteness comes mischievousness too. He LOVES to test everything we say 'no' to. His eyes will look at us while he continues to do the things we ask him not to. His other new love is doing what the big kids do. He thinks he can just do whatever everyone else does. It's so funny to watch him stand like the big kids, laugh when they laugh, and just follow them around.

There is Dawson in a nutshell!

FINISHED!

I just wanted to share my excitement of finishing my courses for the semester. I finished my last class in 1 week-literally! I still have 1 month before the semester is over for me, and I'm going to try and finish 2 more classes. It doesn't cost me anymore to finish more classes, so i might as well save money than take a 1 month break.

YAY! for me! lol! It really is nice to see progression, and feel accomplishment.

Powder training

I wanted to blog about this before I forgot. This is the funniest and cutest story ever!

On Sunday evening Dawson comes running in naked! He keeps doing this, especially since he would rather be naked than wear clothes/diaper any day, at any time. I guess he just thinks it's easier to be naked. ... So does Dawson's dad. J.D. will come home, and take off his clothes because he is more comfortable just walkin around in his G's..or sometimes without. ;)

Back to the story- Dawson is naked, and loving life.
Me "Dawson, do you need to go potty?"
Dawson, "No potty."
Me "Well, you need to go get a diaper soon okay?"
Dawson "k."
Dawson runs off. J.D. and I are busy working on school stuff, and all of the sudden we hear water in the bathroom. In case you've never been to our house, the bathroom is in the most awkward spot- right in the middle of the living room basically. So you can hear EVERYTHING!

I go running into the bathroom and see Dawson facing forward on the toilet and going potty! He had climbed up there..somehow.. and was sitting backwards from the normal way you sit on the potty. make sense? I thought it was pretty smart of him to figure that out and just go on his own. Plus he didn't even tell us! He climbs off, flushes and says, "Hands! Hands! Water!" So I put his stool in the bathroom so he can wash his hands by himself too. I went back to studying, and Dawson goes off on his own again...

Next thing, Dawson comes running in to me carrying a diaper, and lays down...except he was COVERED in baby powder! He had powder on every spot of himself, except the spot that it really goes. HAHA! He had tried so hard to do everything on his own, potty, powder, and just needed help getting the diaper on. I was so proud of him, but in my mind I kept thinking...what does the bathroom look like, if you look like this?...

After putting on his diaper, Dawson went to play with his toys and I headed towards the bathroom. Powder was EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE! He didn't miss a spot, literally! The whole bottle was basically empty. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Dawson is so smart, and tries so hard.

Needless to say, instead of potty training him (he's got it down) I am going to be 'powder' training. :-)

Dawson's Birthday Party

We threw a party for Dawson 1 week early (on my brother Matt's birthday) because it worked better for everyone's schedules. We had a blast! It was pretty small, and only a couple of friends. Mainly family. J.D.'s family was missed-they couldn't make it because of a family funeral.

My mom thought it was funny that my 2 best friends growing up were Brie and Andy- my mom had them both in preschool and just mentioned the fact that we were all best friends since we were Dawson's age, and now our kids our best friends. There was only 1 family of 3 there that my mom didn't have in preschool. Pretty fun party/reunion!

Dawson definitely scored at his party. He was tired right when we started, but as we opened the gifts, his face just lit up with the biggest grins! He said, " wow!" & " Cool!" and just got big eyed over all of the gifts. Thank you everyone! He immediately put on his new hat, and back pack!Aunt Jori and Carson got Dawson some Cowboy guns with a holster. HE WAS SO EXCITED! He just kept saying, "boom! Boom! Boom!" Thank you Aunt Jori and Carson!
The pinyata has a story to go along with Dawson riding it. I took Dawson to K- mart in St. George to find a pinyata. They didn't have much selection. BUT, Dawson started yelling, "horse! Horse mom!" Get the horse!" I kept looking through wondering where the horse was. Turns out, it was actually a mexican bull. I put it in the cart, and Dawson rode the 'horse' throughout the rest of the store. :-) And that's why he's riding it now.

He didn't want anyone to hurt the 'horse'...so he cried during most of the pinyata hitting time. :(
Here is my friend Brie and her daughter Addi hitting the pinyata! It was so cute to watch the little ones hit it.

We tried to get him to hit the pinyata..but he didn't want to hurt the 'horse.' From here on, all the cousins got to hit the pinyata but it never broke...only when Uncle Matt's turn came.

I promised my brother that he could hit the pinyata because it was his actual birthday that day. He hasn't hit one in probably 20 years-that's not exaggerating! I spun him, and spun him, and spun him around. I figured it was only fair since he was older-lol! He totally PEAKED at the last second and whacked the pinyata! Well, this bull didn't even bust, it just broke the rope part! lol! Matt actually loved doing this, and he tore open the pinyata and threw the candy EVERYWHERE!

After the pinyata, we did the cake. I couldn't do a fancy one like last year because there were too many candles between Matt and Dawson. It was so cute watching them blow out the candles together! You can see how excited they both are!

Dawson did get a scooter for his birthday, and besides the guns (which he NEVER puts down) he loves his scooter..aka 'bike' (is what he calls it)

Afterwards, we ended with a little kite flying. Cedar is the perfect place for this because the wind never stops blowing. Everyone just LOVED this part of the party. Dawson kept running around with his, and kept getting it caught with other kites.

Here is Brie and I! Best friends since preschool! Her daughter is one of Dawson's girlfriends.

I have to put this on here-this is my other best friend Andy and his wife Kenzie (she is pregnant with a little boy!!) I told them I was taking romantic pics of them at the party and I wanted to post one to show them I wasn't lying...lol!

That night, Dawson put on his new pj's, his new hat, and new guns! He is the cutest little cowboy!

Dawson's buddy Brenton couldn't make it to the party, but he came over to play today. Dawson got this little 4 wheeler from both grandparents and his own parents. Since Dawson can't drive very good, Brenton drove. SO CUTE!

Thank you to everyone for the gifts. We definitely missed the Steven's side of the family! We had such a good time with everyone who was able to make it!

What's going on now....lol

Well, as usually, the Stevens household is crazy busy.
J.D. is going to school taking 16 credit hours, and applying to Dental Schools, and getting ready to re-take the DAT. He just got a calling in our ward, but it is more of just a sunday job and doesn't take up time on any other days.
Me: I am going to school and being a mom. I have 1 class that i'm currently working on. I plan to have it done in 2 weeks and i will then have my ASSOCIATES! Finally! I have more than enough credits, but I was missing a 1 science credit...so I will have that soon!! I am excited to have something to show for all the work I have done. I have a calling as enrichment cordinator-which does take up time, but it's stuff that's right up my alley of fun. I stay at home with Dawson all day and take care of him. It's been easier to do that since he is more independent and growing up so much.
Dawson: He is talking and conversing so much! He loves to tease his mommy, and push every button as far as he can. He is so smart too! He likes to do everything that I do-which J.D. doesn't always approve of..things like painting nails, wearing earrings and necklaces, cooking, and cleaning. He also likes to copy J.D. when he shaves his face. haha! He is so much fun!

We just go all the time and try to enjoy life day by day.