Dawson's Pumpkin Patch

Rain, rain, go away. We have a birthday party today! It didn't work.


We have a fairly large backyard, and for weeks I was thinking about the party. I try to plan parties that will provide entertainment for all ages of kids attending. Taking a 3+ year old to a baby's first party with  no activities can be tough. We moved our pumpkin patch to our front porch, our pumpkin decorating station to our garage and everyone else into our house. Yes it was crowded, but it was our village and we don't mind being close to our village.

Caramel and chocolate cakes, birthday cookies (pumpkins)
and cupcakes. 

our porch pumpkin patch

chili bar missing the other chili and toppings

ready for his first taste of cake!

Dawson liked the cake, but didn't eat as much as I expected. Elsa
made an appearance, too. 

Baylee painting her pumpkins. 

Hadley painting her pumpkins. 

Harper, Gus, Brendon and Caroline's pumpkins. 

Dawson turns one!

...and then he was one. I have enjoyed being mama to my sweet Dawson, but I have done a terrible job of documenting his first year. Looking back at his monthly pictures, it amazes me that month 1 and month 12 are the same little boy. I was so worried when he was born that adding him to the family would change my love (somehow) for Harper, or limit it. That has not been the case. I savor my solo time with each one of them and enjoy watching their interactions (and expressions of love, concern, joy) develop. They love being around each other and that is all I could hope for, and it makes my job easier.

 (Pictures of months 1-6 are in another post.) Here is Dawson from month 7 to 12.

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

 At 12 months, Dawson weighs a little over 27 pounds, he is 31.5 inches long and he has 5 (almost 6) teeth. He loves to eat avocados, pears, hummus, apples, most vegetables, croissants, yogurt, strawberries and scrambled eggs. He loves water and almond milk. He says hi, bye, dada, mama, dog, ball and he barks. He just started walking and he still climbs everything. Unlike his sister, Dawson will hit his head on things when he is mad (he quickly learned that gets our attention -- oops!) and he has started screaming LOUDLY if we are eating a meal and haven't made his plate yet. He just started going to music class, and he seems to enjoying bouncing up and down, hanging out in the center of the circle and watching other babies. My favorite thing he does happens when I pick him up out of his crib. He will lay his head on my shoulder and pat my arm and back. He is normally so active and looking around that these sweet moments are rare and special. He enjoys riding in his kangaroo seat on John's bike. Both of my kids prefer to be outdoors, and I am so happy about that.

Here are some sweet pictures from his 12 month photo session. Thanks to Jillian for her patience with us and her skill with the camera.

Harper turns 3

Our darling little lady turned 3 on April 2. I can't believe that we have a three year old. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and learn. We are currently experiencing lots of emotions and tantrums, but it's nothing we can't manage. Dawson gets a kick out of Harper melting down -- so at least someone is happy. Her meltdowns (like most toddlers) typically are triggered by being tired or hungry. For the most part, she is an active little girl who loves being outside, friends, school (or camp), occasionally enjoys ballet, loves helping in the kitchen, planting flowers (and watering them), helping with Dawson and reading. She also likes to watch movies, but she rarely watches one from start to finish.

She had her birthday party at Champion Kids this year. Due to her large play group and 9 cousins, we weren't able to invite any of her friends from school. That will have to change next year :)

There are so many things I just want to savor about her right now. So many. She calls avocados "dabocados," she will fall asleep naked in some random place in the house while trying so hard to avoid the nap, instead of 'once upon a time' she says "ponce a time," she is so independent and wants to do everything herself, she loves to climb into Dawson's crib when he wakes up (the smiles on their faces is the most precious sight.) There are many more things but I will save them for just her. John and I set up email accounts for both kids when they were first born. We are trying to send emails to them so that they can read them one day -- and that is so exciting for me. Because right now -- this point in their lives -- this is our everything. We hang onto every moment and it's hard to imagine that in a few years our memories of now will be few. Granted, they will be replaced with other memories but I am not ready to let these go just yet. Staying at home with the kids all day is HARD. At night I am so ready for bedtime. Once the kids are in bed, I scroll through pictures from that day and I miss them. It's ok, though -- Dawson doesn't let me miss him for long. Man, I love these kids. I feel so honored to be their mom.

Monthly Pictures

Dawson is just the best. If you take away the fact that he developed a dairy/soy protein sensitivity around 6 weeks and we struggled with it (poor little guy) until he was about 4 months old then you have the perfect baby. Really. I want to have more just like him. I am also realizing that Harper was such a great and easy baby -- I just struggled with what Doc McStuffins might call "First Time Momatosis." (Mom humor. ha.)

So let's recap. The first month with Dawson was great. He nursed basically the whole time. He was born weighing 9lbs1oz and measuring 22 inches long, and after one month he was 23 inches long and he weighed 13lbs5oz.

He looks like SUCH a different human here

sweet sweet baby face

At two months, Dawson made quite a jump and measured 25.7 inches long and weighed in at 17lbs12oz. I got very little sleep because this guy would wake up every couple of hours to nurse. The lack of sleep is much easier the second time around in case anyone is wondering.

It's around this time that we were going to the doctor quite a bit because he was crying a different kind of cry -- one that is hard to hear because you know it means your baby is in pain. I stopped eating all dairy a week before Thanksgiving. All dairy. That means no obvious dairy (milk and cheese) and then pretty much everything else -- BECAUSE EVERYTHING CONTAINS DAIRY or dairy proteins. No whey. No casein. The first few days were really hard because I didn't have time to read the labels on everything, so I ate oatmeal. 8 straight meals of oatmeal. Trips to the grocery store became an hour long because I had to read the label for everything. I figured that if I ate a mostly vegan diet then I would be avoiding dairy. And things got better.

We started noticing that Dawson's sensitivity was reappearing and I was getting really upset because I knew that I wasn't eating dairy. A lot of babies that have sensitivities to dairy also have sensitivities to soy AND most NON-DAIRY food items are LOADED WITH SOY. Poor guy. So I cut out soy. He started getting a little better. We went to an amazing pediatric GI (side note: my PCP, OB/GYN, Harper's pediatrician and this doctor -- I want to be friends with all of them. They are brilliant and hilarious and just great people) who assured us that babies tend to outgrow this around the time they start eating solid foods....which was just around the corner for us. Such a relief to know that there was light at the end of the tunnel and that we weren't causing any permanent damage to him.

At 4 months old, Dawson was measuring 27.7 inches long and 21lbs3oz. The only time he has been in the 98% for weight was at birth/1 month. After that he has been off the charts for both length and weight. That's how we knew that his sensitivity wasn't a major concern -- because babies who really have an allergy (or one that is cause for concern) will not "thrive" and our little man was clearly thriving.
 

At 4 months Dawson was well into rolling over. He began to hate the carseat. He clearly loved Harper and would constantly smile at her. He still refused to take a pacifier or a bottle and he giggled -- a lot.

At 5 months, Dawson really started trying to sit up. We were prepared for these early developments to take a little longer because he is so big, but he is right on track. He loves eating oatmeal, blowing raspberries, sticking out his tongue. He continues to smile a lot and giggle. He is always pulling my hair so it is (and will remain) up in a messy bun. He seems happiest when he can be completely naked.

At 6 months we introduced him to carrots. He did NOT like them at first, but he grew to tolerate them. He really enjoys sweet potatoes, Mum-mums and avocado. He rolls and scoots across the room much faster than I would like, he laughs when he hears Harper laugh, he found his playful screaming voice and really loves gnawing on his corn on the cob teething toy. The smile on his face when he wakes up in the morning can make you forget how little sleep you got that night. He finally took a bottle (two in one day) and now I feel like I have a little more freedom.

We are late in taking his 6 month photo, but I have several cute pictures to share from his first 6 months with us.

5 Month Catch-up Post

Dawson turned 5 months old yesterday. It seems so crazy to me. It's true what they say -- you don't get as many pictures of the second child as you do the first, but I don't think that's because you care less. I can honestly say that I am enjoying this experience more than the first 5 months after Harper and I am living in each moment, not snapping pictures of it. Why? Simply because I am better equipped. It is exhausting. I really want to be a stay at home mom at another home because after a day of play and entertaining, cooking and some cleaning... our house is a mess. It's full of toys, burp cloths, my high heel shoes that Harper takes everywhere, socks, more toys, beaded necklaces. 

 So here I am at the hospital. September 27. We waited until Harper went to bed because we wanted it to be an easy night for her -- knowing that major changes were in store for her the next day. My dear friend Adam Schaefer has the most fabulous parents. Mike and Kathi came and spent the night at our house and spent the morning with Harper. Harper loves spending time with them -- so it made all of us very happy.

 I was having contractions every few minutes but nothing was happening. I walked around for a while. My favorite doctor (the one who delivered Harper, my nephew and who I really want to be BFF with) was on call until 8 am. I was determined to have this baby.

At some point in the night my contractions just stopped. They start increasing my pitocin (ugh!) to get things going. I never really sleep. I watch Silver Linings Playbook on my phone. I watch the clock. I have to have this baby before shift change. 6am rolls around. I know that my doctor is waiting to visit me last -- I like to believe that we are friends and she knows I want her to deliver my baby. 6:30 comes and Dr. Purdie isn't around and my nurse is leaving soon. I start sobbing. I don't feel much of anything (thanks to the epidural) and I am just a mess. I meet the new nurse. She is really sweet. It is her first day back from maternity leave. I know it is hard for her. She has a student from Emory with her and I really like her, too. Dr. Purdie comes by at 8:15 to let me know that Dr. Weinstein is now on call. I also really like him. They check me. Wow. The baby is right there. Dr. Purdie tells Dr. Weinstein she would like to deliver me -- despite no longer being on call. AWESOME. Let's do this. I am so pumped. She goes to get her gown on and the nurse says to give a practice push. And then screams to stop. Dr. Purdie runs back in and Dawson was born at 8:35. Hours of contractions and one push.

Everything was great. I held him and cried. He was big and healthy. Another 9 pound baby. It's in the genes. He didn't cry during his bath. He was so quiet and calm. This was such a different experience than with loud mouth Harper. I tell my parents to hurry home to get Harper. She gets to meet her brother first. She came in and was so curious. She was so gentle with him. My mom heart just melted and I was forever changed. This picture was taken just before I was moved upstairs -- before the incident occurred.

We decided to go up to my recovery room together. We happened to pass the windows where Harper sees her grandparents -- both sets of grandparents together! She was so excited so she went to see them. John took her to see them and they would bring her upstairs when we got settled. I can't tell you how thankful I am that she went with them. I entered the room with my nurse and her student. They tell me to stand up (with their help and very slowly) and sit on the bed. As soon as I stood up blood went everywhere. Everywhere. She told me to sit down. I said I feel like I am going to pass out. I wake up a few minutes later. John is getting me on the bed. I wake up a few minutes later. A room full of nurses and doctors yelling. Someone is putting this awful smelling crap in my face. John is talking to me, telling me to open my eyes. I wake up a few minutes later. Same thing. "GET THE DOCTOR IN HERE." "Who is the President? Alyson, can you hear me? What year is it? Alyson, open your eyes. Stay with me. Stay with me." It was so hard to open my eyes. It was so crazy. I had no concept of how long it lasted until John told me later. I was unconscious for 10-15 minutes. I lost  a lot of blood. I was moved to the high risk labor and delivery rooms. The ones that have one nurse for every two patients. I was given medicine during the episode which helped contract the uterus. That and an extra bag of pitocin.

I was so cold. And sore. They were pushing on my stomach (trying to get my uterus to contract) to stop the hemorrhaging. Poor John. I just kept apologizing. I felt so sad. I cried a lot. My face was so swollen from crying and all the fluids they were pumping in me. I wanted to hold my kids. I wanted to eat and drink something. Ugh. It was scary. It had to be awful for John. He just kept in my face the whole ordeal talking to me, telling me it was going to be okay. And it was. I recovered quickly -- didn't need a transfusion. The uterus, you see, is like a rubberband. The more you stretch it out, the hard it is for it to come back to its normal size. Big babies and multiple babies make it even harder.

I was glad when I could see my family, love on Dawson and get some sleep.

 When we got home, we tried to keep up like nothing changed. We took Harper and Dawson to the pumpkin patch when Dawson was three days old.

Life got a little more complicated when John returned to work, his mom went home and my mom went home. But we managed.

I will post more specific pictures later, but we are doing great. I just love watching my kids interact. Dawson adores Harper -- he smiles at her all the times and stares at her while she plays. Harper likes to "watch" Dawson while I am cleaning -- she brings him toys, wipes away his drool and spit up and only occasionally (accidentally) throws a toy at him.

I feel very lucky. All the time.