Some Firsts

I want to remember some of Dawson's firsts. There was his first bath, where he whimpered like a puppy. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. That first night, as we tried to sleep through his squeeks, I asked Erin whether we accidently picked up a puppy from the pound.

The first time I changed Dawson's diaper was the first time I'd ever changed a diaper. The very first one was just wet. The 2nd was his first poopy diaper. I took off the diaper too soon, though cause some more of the tarstuff came out in a bubble. I just about gagged... Erin took a picture of that, but I don't really want to post it.

There was the first time he came through our front door. It was an amazing feeling taking him out of the hospital and snapping in his car seat. We were taking home our little boy!

His first fit happened about a week ago. It started with serious gas pain. Dawson hurt so badly his legs locked up, so he was standing on his own (which I guess is also a first). But he then wanted to eat and we refused to feed him, since we were trying to establish a schedule. He threw an actual fit. I turned to Erin and declared, "our little boy is throwing his first fit."

I first saw Dawson as he was being wheeled out of the delivery room. We had been sitting in the waiting room for a long time and after several false alarms, we'd started to doze off. Then Kendra Rogers gasped, jumped up and ran into the hall and I caught a glimpse of the back of his head. I was able to squeeze into the elevator with him and Erin and I stared at him in awe. We were then able to be alone with him in the nursery and that was the first time we held him.

And what might be one of my greatest memories ever was our first few moments alone with him. It was late at night, everyone finally left us alone for a bit and I opened my bible and read from Ephesians chapter one, a section about adoption. It took a long time to make it through the passage because I kept chocking up. The waves of emotion were overwhelming. Erin just stared at him for awhile and then announced, "I love him." At that point, we were still a tiny bit nervous simply because he wasn't legally our child yet. We were trying to guard our hearts, but our hearts were pulling him in. Erin then read him "Horton Hears a Who." I'll never forget that night. It only lasted a few minutes before a nurse came in again, but I'll never forget those first few moments alone.