6 Months Old!

Our 6 month old not-s0-little baby no longer likes being rocked to sleep

Will talk himself to sleep

When he's happy, he lets out an ear-splitting squeel

Can rollover from front to back and back to front

When we hold him in our lap and read / sing "Snuggle Puppy" he turns to look up into our faces and smiles

Has monkey toes, grabs his psychadelic elephant with his toes

LOVES his excersaucer, spins the wheel with a vengeance

Wrinkles his nose while he laughs and gets a serious expression while concentrating

Smiles as the baby cereal pours out of his mouth and down his chin

During peek-a-boo, his expression changes from wide-eyed anticipation to giggles of pure joy

Enjoys sucking on his toes

Is an aspiring singer

Spends Tuesdays and Thursdays at Aunt Casey's, where he's loved on by three of his cousins

Is in the top 90th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight

Still spits up a LOT, with no warning whats0ever

Gets daddy up early (4:30 - 6:00) for runs but then falls asleep in the jogging stroller

Did NOT enjoy his 6 month vacinations

A visit from Miss Brianna

Dawson's birth mom, Brianna came over last night for her monthly visit with Dawson. It was a good visit, though Dawson was fussy most of the time and Brianna got some quality time with Dawson. Brianna was able to feed Dawson a bottle and some solid food, read him a book, see him in the outfit she bought him and rock him to sleep.

We'd made a commitment for Brianna to visit once a month for Dawson's first 6 months. Those 6 months are now up and Brianna is moving to Minneapolis. It was a rather sad evening, though Brianna seeing how healthy and happy Dawson is was heartening.

A little gift

Tonight we were at the annual vision rally for the Kansas City District Church of the Nazarene. There were a couple thousand people there to hear our District Superintendent give his annual report on our KC churches. During his report, our DS shared a powerful video telling the story of our church's Love Wins ministry. People were crying and applauding, it was a wonderful moment.

During the entire two hour service, Dawson was being held by a friend of ours, Jerry Godwin, who was a father-figure to Erin as a teenager in her home church. Jerry's incredible skill with babies has earned him the nickname "the baby whisperer." His baby skills were in full force as he somehow kept Dawson happy the entire two hours. I'd never seen anything like it.

But when our video came on the big screen, Dawson started giggling with joy. He would look at us then look at the big screen, mommy and daddy larger than life. And when my voice came over the PA system, he would give a happy coo.

Thousands of people were clapping for us throughout the video but I have to say that Dawson's excitement at hearing our voices gave us a joy deeper than the applause of the crowd. As we said our nightly prayer over our son, Erin thanked God for "this little gift of Dawson's joy."

Five Months Old!

laughs when we make animal noises in his ear

rolls from his back to his side A LOT (has rolled from back to stomach and stomach to back a few times)

arches his back to see whatever is behind him

giggles when we play "This little piggy"

calms down when we sing to him

puts anything he can get his hands on in his mouth

LOVES his exersaucer, (thanks Garcia Gag!) especially the spinny toy

spits up at least twice after every meal!

has tried cereal and LOVES to chew on the spoon

wiggles and touches Mommy's face when trying to go to sleep

goes to sleep on his right side, in our arms, but we lay him on his left to avoid a flat head

screamed his head off for three different babysitters who love him

doesn't mind wearing a hat

has yet to be in the pool... even though we have a VERY cute swimming outfit!

smiles A LOT!

jabbers ALL the time