Jesus Loves Me

Turn the volume up to hear this, because it'll melt your heart. At least it did mine. Had no idea that Dayson had paid any attention to this song when we've sang it or he's heard it playing on the CD player until he started singing along with it yesterday. He still has a hard time pronouncing words, but you can tell the parts he knows clearly.

I like how he got a little camera shy for a moment. My little outgoing child does have the rare quiet side as well. So glad I got this as I know when he's older and I can't remember what he sounded like as a toddler, I can always look back and watch it over and over again.

22 Months

Two more months and I'm going to have a 2 year old running around. That just doesn't seem possible. What a blessing these past several months have been in watching Dayson grow from a little baby to a toddler. I've loved seeing how not only he's changed, but the rest of us. Iyana is such a great big sister. As much as they squabble with each other, they have a closeness that only siblings can have. I love seeing them together.

Here's a brief update on what he's been up to lately.

As of right now Dayson weighs 29.5 pounds and is about 34 inches tall. We're still working on making up the weight that he lost when sick. I feel like he's in a constant growth spurt as he's always hungry. He really likes his routine of having a banana and a cereal bar in the morning. When we've run out of those, the mornings don't go so well. Funny how some kids have to have the same things everyday or it really messes the day up.

To add on to his growing this month, he still wears a size 2T in most clothing, though like I've said before there are some 3T things that fit him perfectly. He's bumped up a size in shoes and now officially wears a size 7. I'm hoping that we don't have any more major growth spurts until closer to fall. I really don't want to have to buy a new wardrobe for him in the summer if I don't have to.

We finally took Dayson in to get his hair professionally cut. I've trimmed it about three times but it was just getting too long. On top of that, because his hair is so thick, the curls were making him pretty sweaty when he was running around (which is all the time of course). Needless to say though, the haircutting experience did NOT go well. Not only did he throw himself this way and that so that the gal couldn't cut his hair very easily, he ended up getting hair in his mouth which made him gag and then throw up two or three times. I lost count in just trying to get the whole ordeal over with. The hairdresser was really nice about it and didn't freak out that he had gotten sick, she just kept working away as fast as she could. Considering there's a couple of spots that you can tell are not cut the best, I think it turned out pretty cute.

He was growling at me in this shot, just showing how tough he is I guess ☺

Speaking of his not liking things, or more clearly, his temper, Dayson is in the stage of full blown temper tantrums. I thought before when he was giving me the occasional one was bad, now it's almost every time we say no to something or he just plain doesn't like something. And it's not just the kicking and screaming that we get. It's the all out drop down on the ground in a very dramatic fashion and thrash about. Getting him into the carseat when he doesn't want to be in it is not the easiest thing in the world either. Have I mentioned how strong he's gotten? I'm scared to see what things are going to be like when I'm a lot further on in my pregnancy. Let's just say that baby #3 has gotten his/hers fair share of kicks and headbutts already.

One thing to add to the temper tantrums is that he learned it was not very smart to throw one while in the swimming pool. This child LOVES water but HATES getting his face wet. The other day we told him it was time to get out. Of course that wasn't to his liking so what does he do....drops down face first into the water. The water was high enough that it went over his head. He got up as quickly as he could screaming the whole time but was more than willing at that point to get out. BJ and I got a good laugh out of that one.

Some things that he still loves to do are helping out anyone who's working on something. Whether that be emptying the dishwasher, sweeping (watch out or you'll get hit with the broom), moving tables at church (a huge favorite) or anything else he "thinks" you need help with. I'm hoping that he keeps this kind of liking as that will be a huge help when he's older. Maybe he'll be my child that can't stand a mess and has to clean it up without me asking...wouldn't that be every parent's dream?

 

He loves anything to do with toy cars. Hotwheels or Matchbox cars are a big hit right now. Of course, they all end up under the oven since it's just the right height and it's so fun to push them under there...grrrr.... Really anything that has wheels right now gets his attention.

And one last thing before I close. He's still not saying too many words (well, unless you count 'yup' which is what he answers to almost anything). He actually prefers to imitate sounds. If he hears something more than once, you can almost guarantee that you'll be hearing something similar from him later on or when he hears it again. One that cracks me up is the jingle to the radio station that we sometimes listen to.

We love you Dayson and are continued to be blessed by being your family!

Catching up

I've gotten so far behind in posting. With the kids being sick, VBS and me dealing with my own morning sickness, blogging hasn't really been a top priority for me. Here's the rest of the pictures from our vacation last month.

This little humming bird got stuck in the skylight. Thanks to dad, he (or she) was able to get out and fly away.

Nice sunny day which means great fun with bubbles.

He loved chasing them.

Diesel also loved chasing them which brought a lot of giggles from the kids.

Aunt Cris, Aunt Rhonda, Grampa, Mom and Aunt Bonnie (missing Aunt Kay)

Four generations.

Me and my Grampa

All the grandkids enjoying a tractor ride with Papa.

The whole family.

Mr. Cooper

BJ teaching Dayson how to drive the tractor.

Daddy and his kids.

He loved playing with these things.

Such a sweetie.

Having a race across the lawn.

Papa's little helper.

She loved the gloves.

And getting her picture taken in various places

Papa and Grammy Niki with the kids.

Sick...

Sorry for the lack of blog posting. This past week has been one of the roughest we've had in a while. Last Sunday started off like any other Sunday. Everyone was feeling fine, we got ready and went to church. After church was lunch and then the normal naps squeezed in between the busyness of the day. Half way through his nap, Dayson started crying...a lot. Since that's not normal for him, I went and checked on him. Poor guy had gotten sick while he was trying to sleep. That started the course for the next five days. I won't gross you out with all the details, but lets just say it wasn't pretty (ok, I will say one detail to help explain things). Dayson was throwing up every 15 to 40 minutes (there's the detail for you) which eventually ended us up in the E.R. that night. They didn't think he was dehydrated enough for an IV, so they gave him some anti-nausea meds and a popsicle and told us to come back or go to his doctors office if he didn't improve. He didn't improve. We ended up in his doctor's office that Tuesday for another check. By this point, he was so worn out and wouldn't take any fluids. I was having to give it to him through an oral syringe which of course he wasn't always happy about. At the doctor's office, he cried and screamed almost the whole time...it was miserable. Again they didn't think he was dehydrated enough for IV's but said if he continued with the vomiting through the next day, he would be admitted to the children's hospital for fluids. Thankfully he went 24 hours with no vomiting and we we're finally able to get some fluids into him. He did end up getting sick again, but thankfully it was only one or two more times, not the every half hour like we had dealt with before. Needless to say, this past week has been EXHAUSTING. Our poor little guy lost at least three pounds. Friday was the first day he finally started eating again. Not much and he was very picky but at least we got a little bit down him. By Saturday he was almost back to his normal self though with a lot more temper tantrums as he still wasn't feeling the best. I'm so thankful that we've made it through this, it was a very long week indeed.

In between everything, he did a lot of this.

Our little sleeping arrangement for the week.

When he was awake, this is the expression we saw most of the time.

This was taken on Friday when he was finally starting to feel better. Not a great picture with the shadows and he definitely wasn't in the mood for me taking this (he was mad because he couldn't get the screen door open), but you can see how much weight he lost here. 

This young lady was a great help when I needed her. (picture courtesy of Tonya L.)

As much as she thinks she can't handle vomiting or anything like that, when I needed something, she was there helping me out. Some friends of ours took her out on Wednesday to give her a break which was much needed. On Friday, she got to have a sleep over at grammy Sheba's house which was another bonus. Unfortunately, Saturday morning bright and early, she woke up with a stomach ache and ended up getting sick several times herself. The good thing is it didn't last very long and she is on the mend right now. I can tell she's feeling much better as she has been talking almost non-stop for the past few hours. Now we're just hoping that BJ and I can stay as healthy as possible. Though for me, I'm wondering if I would know for sure if I had the bug or just plain morning sickness (by the way, have we mentioned that baby #3 is on the way?? ☺).

Thank you Lord for helping us get through this week and giving us the needed strength. I don't know how otherwise we would have made it.

Vacation

Over the past couple of weeks, we've had the opportunity to spend time and relax with my family in WA. It was so nice to get away for a while and not worry about all the daily rushing around that we normally do. Here's a bunch of pictures to sum up our time. Dad and Mom, thanks for having us. We had such a great time. We love you very much!!

Running around with his new best friend and protector.

Lots and lots of wagon rides, mainly for Dayson.

Action shot! This is right after the ball was thrown.

 

He practiced so much on these steps until he had them mastered.

 

Lots of scooter riding.

 

One of our favorite things to do...sitting on the front porch swing, enjoying all the sights and sounds.

Wonderful time spent with cousins.

Fun tractor rides while Diesel followed along watching closely.

Sweet nephew Levi.

Seriously thinking about getting one of these. Dayson burned a lot of energy on it.

Nephew Jasper who Dayson is so much like.

Cousin Olivia and Dayson. They had so much fun this time around. Lots of laughs and giggles and showing each other new tricks.

Saying goodbye.

Iyana loves her so much!

Another new favorite...crawling under the saw horses.

Trying to launch the ball for Diesel.

I love the expressions on the dogs faces as they go after the ball.

Dayson thought Diesel was so funny.

Another skill mastered...jumping off the front porch.

Sweet Iyana

Perched on her favorite rock.

Well, I have plenty more pictures to share but think I'll stop for now. Besides that, I got a message from google saying that I had used up all of my picture space and would either have to buy more storage or get rid of some pictures. They did say that if I shrunk the pictures down to a certain size, it wouldn't count against my space and I could upload as many as I wanted. A little more work but worth it in being able to share more pictures.