Baby Dedication

Today was an extremely special day for us.  We had Sawyer dedicated at our church, North Point Community Church.  It was unlike any dedication I have ever witnessed.  They had us set up in round tables by family.  The program was about an hour long and consisted of our local pastor speaking to the parents and their children, a couple of songs, a slide show of pictures of the babies being dedicated and a few moments for conversation at the table.  Prior to the ceremony, we were encouraged to come up with 5 values and 2 habits to put in place for us and Sawyer, as well as, write him a letter. Then, we had to share what we came up with at the table.  Jared and I truly feel that we are stewards of Sawyer for just a very short time so we really wanted to put a lot of thought into our values and habits.  Giving Sawyer back to God realizing that we are trusting him with our precious child is an indescribable emotion.  We both feel blessed with the opportunity to be trusted as parents to such an amazing little boy and hope that family friends will continually hold us accountable for leading Sawyer in a Godly environment.  Therefore, I am going to share the values and habits we came up with.  I'm sure we will make a lot of mistakes along the way but being reminded of these will hopefully help us keep focused on the most important goal for Sawyer's life, which is to lead him into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Values

1.  Love Jesus and place him first in your life

2.  Be truthful and do what is right even when it is hard

3.  Obey your parents and elders

4.  Have and show compassion towards others

5.  Be giving and selfless

 

Habits

1.  Pray nightly

2.  Say “yes ma’am” and “yes sir”

Like I said, Sawyer's dedication will be a day we will always be proud of.  I loved having all of my family attend, enjoying the cloud 9 cupcakes provided during the ceremony, having brunch at J. Christopher's and yes, even the Trace Adkins song "You're Gonna Miss This" that had all of us balling like crazy!!! (and those of you that know me well, know I do NOT listen to country music)  Here are just a couple of many picture we took of the day:

 

 

 



8 Months

I noticed just how long it has been since I've updated my blog once I came on to blog about Sawyer being 8 months old and noticed the last post was his 7 month update.  Ooops!  Well, a lot has happened between 7 and 8 months.  Sawyer still isn't cutting any teeth but he has learned how to crawl.  Now that he has figured it out there is no stopping him.  He crawls super fast and tries to get into everything.  We can have a out a floor full of toys but he will still try to get into things he shouldn't be getting into.  He constantly wants to get down and explore...not much cuddling going on these days.  Sawyer hasn't gained much weight this month weighing in at 17.5 lbs.  He still eats and sleeps great.  We really are blessed with a great baby!  He is so happy and never meets a stranger. It is so much fun seeing his little personality starting to to show. It's hard to believe how close we are to having a one year old.

 

 Teething on mommy's apple.  He's also eating dry cereal and puffs and it is so stinking cute to watch him gum it :)

 

 Trying out a sippy cup for the first time...I think it may be the wrong way :)

 

Weagle and Sawyer love playing together

 

Crawling :)

7 Months

I feel like every time I fall asleep and wake up it is time to update my blog with a new post because Sawyer is another month older.  He is quickly starting to look/act more like a little boy than a baby :(.  He is measuring in at 17.5lbs, eating like a champ, and sleeping like a champ.  He is starting to get the hang of crawling.  He'll crawl two knee crawls and then flatten out.  He somehow still manages to get to where he wants to go so I'm having to constantly move him or things around him.  It seems as though he is moving at ALL times.  If I hold him, he's bouncing, if he's in his carseat, he's kicking his legs.  Typical boy! He started giving kisses back and reaching up for me...melts my heart!  Sawyer is also super intuitive right now.  He notices and studies everything! He has a smile that will light up the room and I hope he will never lose that.  Love you, Pumpkin!

 

 

Sawyer's First Christmas

This Christmas was such a special one!!!  It was Sawyer's FIRST Christmas.  Although he doesn't understand this year, we had a lot of fun pretending he did. :)  We went on our usual "Southeastern Tour" to see family.  We stayed in our home town for a few days and then traveled up to Gatlinburg. Out of all the driving he only had one spell of crying, so overall the trips were successful.  Sawyer, of course, got a lot of toys, books, etc from everyone so Santa brought him a lovely storage bench to keep in the living room to hide all of his fun things.  We'll take advantage of that while we can.  I don't want to rush time because we all know time really flies...especially with babies, but I really look forward to when he understands the meaning of Christmas.  I look forward to advent activities to teach him the true meaning, giving to others, ornament exchanges, bright eyes Christmas morning, and yes, traditional holiday baking with me, Nonnie & Aunt Bethany.  I must say he did act as though he knew exactly how to open presents because he tore into all of them!  It's hard to believe it's already over.  We are truly blessed with our most favorite gift this year...Sawyer!

 

 

Trying to figure out how to get into everything.



 

Sawyer and Nonnie

 

Sawyer and Aunt Bethany

 

 Sawyer and Sister Weagle :)

Sawyer with Nana Penny and Paps

 

My first trip to Christmas Lane (a home town tradition)

 

 Sawyer and Cousin Elyn

 

Sawyer and Mimi

 

We FINALLY got to meet our new friend Micah...he's precious!

 

Sawyer watching "The Night Before Christmas"narrated on YouTube...arent' we modern :)

 

My boys fell asleep waiting for Santa

 

Christmas breakfast

 

PRESENTS!!!!

 

I HAD to post this because he looks like baby Jesus :)

 

Sawyer and "Earl"

 

Gatlinburg



6 MoNThS!

How is it possible that my buddy has been here for half a year already!?!?!  Sawyer is growing and growing and becoming more fun by the minute.  At his 6 month check up he weighed in at 16.5 lbs (25%) and 26 in (50%).  He has started sitting up by himself but still rolls to get everywhere.  We'll continue to work on the crawling.  He doesn't have any teeth coming in yet but definitely "gnaws" on everything in sight.  Sawyer now eats fruits along with his veggies.  His favorites seem to be bananas and mangoes.  I guess he has taste for the Jamaican cuisine :).  We are all getting excited for our first Christmas with Sawyer.  It brings a whole new level of excitement for Christmas morning!!!!

A few of my favorite things at 6 months:  sleeping with your bum in the air, bouncing like crazy when I hold you on my hip, the HUGE grin you give everyone that speaks to you, the silly dance you started doing when I change your diaper and the rare moments you fall asleep in my arms.
We love you so much buddy!

Bananas are YuMMy!!

 

 

 Sweet angel baby

 

 

 6 Months

 

 

 My 6 month photo shoot

 

Laughing at my silly mommy popping bubble wrap

 

I had so much that I just fell asleep