I was small once...

Look at me!

I'm actually surprised and delighted to see that Dawson resembles me when I was little.

 My Aunt Sandi just emailed me a bunch of pictures that she had stored away. Not many pictures of me when I was little exist.

Thanks Aunt Sandi!

The Tale of the Tire

Meet Dawson's new best friend. Tire. Come along as I take you on their journey together...

Jason bought a green jeep for Dawson. This jeep was sweet! It had 4 wheels! As we soon discovered, all of Dawson's toy matchbox cars he had were mysteriously breaking. I'd find car doors, tires and pieces of Dawson's toy cars laying around. So I'd throw them in the trash as I found them. However, I noticed that the jeep was still in tact, all except for 2 tires. I found one of the tires laying in the bottom of his pak-n-play. The other tire I found in the palm of his hand. He had this one tire that he would carry with him everywhere...

It came with him for lunch and dinner. He would sit at his high chair and scream and carry

on for his food (nothing short of pounding his fists on the tray chanting "I want food, I want food) unless THE TIRE came out to play! So I'd have it on hand as a back up just in case his filet mignon with au jous and asparagus was not ready. And he would sit and be quite content in his highchair making his "vroom vroom" noises while rolling tire across his tray until I presented him with his meal. Once the meal was consumed he would usually be a mess.

Then.. it was off to the bathtub.

Now for heaven's sake. The bathtub? I don't argue with him. Sure Dawson, you can take the tire with you.

Actually, he will still play with the tire but he doesn't carry it around like he used to. Now that he has taken a liking to his "I Love Trucks" book, he carries that around and jabbers while he walks. Too funny. What a cutie. What will it be next? Probably a Wii.

happy birthday to me.

Captains Log

Stardate:

April 22, 19XX

The birth of Joy Dawn Depew. (that's me) And that makes me

30 YEARS OLD!

*big sigh.

Wasn't yesterday beautiful? I enjoyed a lovely birthday. Big cloudless sky, bright sun emitting warmth and a perfect amount of breeze.

Jason surprised me and we dropped Dawson off at my sister Karen's house for them to babysit. Dawson was in his element playing with his cousins and being outside. Then Jason and I headed to Jefferson Pointe to do some shopping and watch a movie. I haven't been to a movie since they started making them in color. After the movie we headed to Biaggi's where I ate more than the people at the 3 tables beside us and topped it off with some Krespy Kreme doughnuts. Then, we picked up Dawson and went home blissfully happy.

And full.

I love birthdays. I just don't like getting older.

Although I still FEEL 29. So it's all good.

Thank you all who called and left me messages.

Thank you Krispy Kreme for doughnuts, though I had to pay for them.

Thank you husband for my fun day!

Thank you God for... everything.

Even Dawson is happy!

Shape Up!

I decided to resurrect a couple of my old workout dvds a while back. One of which, is The Firm Cardio Sculpt. Tough workout! Anyway, during my workout Dawson was determined to carry the weights around. These weights were only 3 pounds but I actually didn't believe Dawson would be strong enough to lift them. Guess I was wrong. He tried grabbing both but after several attempts gave up and came to the conclusion that one was enough.

 Anyway,

Have a look at our first rainbow! 

A month or so ago, while God was poking jabs at the meteorologists, we had a rainy day. My sister Karen and her husband Tim came over with the kids to see the house. The kids were outside playing and they came running in shouting something about a rainbow. So we went outside to see for ourselves and not only is there one rainbow, but it was a double rainbow! God will not flood our neighborhood twice!!

 Sometimes I can talk Jason into giving Dawson a bath while I make supper. On this particular occasion I hear Jason yelling at me to come see Dawson and bring the camera. This is what I got:

 That's right. It's Dawson G. Fro

And here are just a few random pics..

Dawson and Daddy on the patio.

Believe it or not, he actually likes being in there.

Naps with mama.

And these last two pictures are examples of the swaddling method for one year olds.

Do we really need groceries?

Last night I went to Wal Mart. It was just me and Dawson. I had to buy groceries.

Now, have you ever gone to WalMart and heard the screaming baby?. The one whose cries are heard through every aisle, and shoppers roll their eyes while some others think "gosh! do something with your kid"!

Yes. That baby was Dawson. All through the store.

WAH. (did you notice the emphasis I put on the "wah"?) Trying vehemently to escape from his shopping cart prison seat.

Have you ever seen the desperate mom who will do anything to get her screaming child to be quiet, so she grabs the snack she is planning to PURCHASE, opens it and shoves it in the screaming baby's hand in an attempt to bring peace to the shoppers around here and save her own sanity?

That mom was me.

I had to give Dawson 3 wagon wheels during the whole course of the shopping experience. All the while I'm running the cart down the aisles like a drunk woman on a shopping spree. Not that I've ever seen a drunk woman on a shopping spree. But I bet it'd be funny.

All in all, thanks to my shopping list, I have at least one week's worth of meals and all under the amount you would pay for a new car.

Next time..

It's DADDY'S turn.

The Long Trip

Last week we took a road trip to Dayton, OH for Grandpa Dave's funeral. I have since learned that Dawson is not particularly fond of road trips. He did well before he could walk. Now he whines because he doesn't want to be confined to his car seat. He did fine when he was sleeping though.

It was really good to get together with family. And now that we're back, we miss everyone. I actually got to meet a few cousins I had never met before.

Dawson did puke on me once after the funeral. Where was daddy? He hasn't been puked on yet. I was puked on twice this week. That didn't get Dawson down though. Puke and go. He got to spend some quality time with Grammy G, Grandpa and Aunt Nessa!



 There was so much going on, Dawson had trouble napping. He took one good nap on our bed in the hotel room. Jason and I couldn't stand those pillows. Go ahead Dawson, you can have it.

And one last look at my NEWSIE!

Posing with Aunt Jen.

Matzo boy

I wanted to get a few more pictures posted of Easter. As I said in my earlier post, my mom  

holds a Passover seder. Well, I'm addicted to the matzo crackers. I'm unselfish in my addiction though, I share the love. Eat up Dawson.

Here is a picture of mom doing the Passover meal. Before the Passover festivities began. 

My sister Bobbie donned some bunny ears and posed for Easter magazine with the children.

I have to tell one of the highlights of our Easter. We were all gathered around the table just chitchatting. Obviously the kids were through with their meals. Out of nowhere here they come dressed in their dads sweatshirt and running pants 

stuffed with pillows. We all just busted up laughing. The real kicker for me was when Kazlan fell down. She couldn't get back up so she started yelling "CLEAN UP ON AISLE ONE!". oh man. How'd she think of that? I still laugh about it.

Easter

I'm sad to say that we had a difficult Easter this year. We received sad news that Jason's grandpa Dave (also known as papaw, or paps) passed away early Sunday morning. We had traveled to Dayton over the holiday weekend to visit him while he was in hospice care. He was on a breathing machine and was not awake. But we still talked to him and let him know we were there.

We will miss your version of show tunes and your one-liners Grandpa Dave. Now Jesus gets to enjoy them. :)

Dawson didn't get an Easter outfit or even an Easter basket this year. There was just too much going on. However, I did need to run to the store to pick up some stuff to make punch so I bought him a "barrel of Monkeys". If I could have, I would have made this Christmas outfit of Jason's be Dawson's Easter outfit because I was laughing so hard when I put it on him I nearly peed. Jason was 9 months old when he wore it and we put our little haus in it at 12 months! At least the buttons didn't pop off.

Our Easter was still meaningful despite the circumstances that could have taken our eyes off the One who deserves to be lived for on that day and every day. My mom always does Passover and that is a tradition I have come to love. A lady who came to join our family dinner asked us if were Jewish. My nose looks like I am.

I love you Jesus. Thank you for dying for me and not ending it there.

You rose again.

I Love Trucks

Last night I had two books picked out to read to Dawson before bed. "I Love Trucks" and "1,2,3 by Elmo". I clearly have a misunderstanding as to the cognitive development of choice in 14 month olds. I started with the I Love Trucks book. I tried reading slowly but the book a board book and it's only 5 boards long! Dawson was all relaxed, sucking his thumb and staring intently at he trucks from page to page. I finished and moved on to the Elmo book. Wham! Dawson slapped that book and sat upright, grabbing at the trucks book. "Elmo who?" he said. (not really, but that little embellishment is really adding to the quality of my story). So I went back to the trucks book and he relaxed again. Then, for good measure and out of pure ornery curiosity I cut the trucks book short and quickly tried for the Elmo book again. REJECTED.

Sorry Elmo. IN a contest, you would be run over by Dawson's truck.

Here is what happens when DADDY reads to Dawson...

I think he may need to use a little more inflection in his voice. Nevermind the puppet on Dawson's head.

Moving on...

Several weeks ago when Dawson was sick, Gramma KK came stay with him so that he could stay home and Jason I could still go in to work.

Thank you Gramma KK! Funny how much attention will do for a sick boy. By the way, a spoon full of sugar does not help the medicine go down. It causes ADD.

This picture is solely for the purpose of having a memory for Dawson.

Dawson: when you are tired, you do one of two things.

This 

or This.

Precious

Several weeks ago we took Dawson to see my dad. My dad calls and says "are you gonna get that kid over here? Next time I'll see him he'll be in combat boots."

If you know my dad, you know why this picture is so precious.

Dawson wanted to play all day at his house and not take a nap. Not today pal. So I got Dawson's blanky and had dad rock him until he finally fell asleep.

Because my parents are older than most of my friends' parents, I cherish the moments I have for Dawson to spend with them. Thanks Gramps!

Precious.