Birthday Boy: Sawyer Is One

Sawyer turned one on Sunday. Due to nap, church, nap, and anticipating that Sundays are generally a grouchy day, we delayed celebrating until Monday. It was very exciting to celebrate Sawyer's first year of life. It kind of broke my heart to know that a year has already passed by and he is growing up too fast. 

Sawyer is now a walker. Not a perfect walker but it is his main choice of mobility. He has been capable of walking for awhile but rarely chose to walk over crawling. He is getting faster but still kind of walks sideways due to a slightly longer stride with his left leg.

Sawyer loves to moo like a cow. If he sees a cow or an animal with similarities to a cow he will begin to moo enthusiastically. He will also moo on demand. The only other animal that he will mimic is a dog. He huffs air out in the pattern of a dog bark with only a little bit of sound behind it.

Sawyer loves the "uh-oh game." He will intentionally drop something just to say "uh-oh." Sawyer also knows when he isn't supposed to do certain things and will say "ah-ah" in those circumstances.  Or he will continually repeat after he has been told "ah-ah." (The equivalent to "no" in our house.) He can sign "milk" and will sometimes sign "all done." He also made up his own sign for "Dad."

He loves his soft light weight blankets and loves to snuggle with them. He takes two naps a day and sleeps well through the night. If he does wake up early it's usually due to hunger and he will go right back down if he gets fed.

Sawyer loves reading books and having books read to him.

His favorite place to hang out is on the sofa or love seat (I don't know why) and if one takes him off before he's ready he will throw a fit.

Food is delicious to him. He is very good at trying new things and eating a lot. He out eats Crew many days and does well with different textures. But no way he'll eat a banana if it's not perfectly ripe. No green and no brown on the skin. It has to be a clean yellow. His new favorites are black beans and quinoa.

Dad is his favorite. If given the option he will pick Abe ninety five percent of the time.

He loves his bath time and doesn't mind getting splashed in the face or having water dumped on his head.

When we are outside he likes to sit in the dirt and pick up rocks. Many times he tries to eat the rocks! He doesn't have a love for the four wheeler like Crew did/does. If it's cold he whines until we're done. I guess he will only get rides in the summer. 

He just started trying to jump on the trampoline. It's fun watching him figure it out.

Sawyer will still put most things in his mouth. I didn't realize how blessed I was with Crew growing out of that stage so quickly and he was never as bad as Sawyer. I have to fish things out of Sawyer's mouth on a daily basis. And it's not that I don't watch him, he is just very quick! He will now open his mouth on demand if I say, "aaaaah." It makes things much easier.

Sawyer, in general, is a very happy and social boy. He plays well with Crew and does well at keeping up and not complaining. 

He only has 2 bottom teeth but I have been closely watching his top teeth moving around under his gums. I think on days he is grouchy that this is the culprit. 

We love Sawyer so very much! 

Here are some pictures of Sawyer. He did not want to smile for me (or hold still and look at the camera) which is sad because it's not his personality to be serious. But I still think he looks handsome.

he had to throw a little tantrum because he wanted Abe

"aa DAAAAD!" If Abe is not around this is how he will sign "Dad" (without the phone)

(this picture reminded me of Crew)

Crew (1 year birthday)

uh-oh, Dad had to take a call

small tantrum

Crew was so patient with Sawyer getting 100% of our attention and asked if I would take his picture at the end. "Cheese!"

Handsome Boy: Crew

I finally got around to getting Crew's hair cut and it made him look so handsome! And, like always, made him look more grown up. I seriously feel like I just had Crew and now I have a little boy that is growing up too fast. We have full length conversations about many things, he knows what he wants, he's very particular about certain things, he is exploring a wider variety of food, has a hilarious personality, is very obedient, and it a great older brother.

I asked him if I could get a few pictures before church because he looked so handsome. He gave me the run around trying to get a picture of him smiling. He was being a goof ball!

He loves to sing, dance, yell, and play hard. Crew is becoming much more "boy" in his play. More rough, rowdy, and loud. (Sawyer is catching on quick!) So I cherish the moments we get to sit quietly and play while Sawyer is napping. We usually play with his train set, do a new activity, or play a matching game. During all of this we get to have quality conversations. I hope to build a trusting and loving foundation in our communication. He too seems to enjoy this one on one time because he will ask me if we can do certain things during Sawyer's naps. My house isn't as clean and sometimes dinner is a little late, but I know my time spent with Crew is the most important.

Laundry

Crew loves helping. Today he (and his frog, that is really a chameleon) helped me fold all of the kitchen wash cloths. He did an amazing job!!

Juicing

I was falling into a rut of not eating as well as I should and I decided to watch a few documentaries on healthy living. Abe became very interested in the juicing world and decided to get a juicer. I had juiced back in my single days and didn't think he would be a fan of it. Much to my surprise I enjoy it more now and Abe is way involved with juicing every day. Crew is enjoying tasting the delicious drinks. We are also expanding horizons for him because he is enjoying the flavor of foods that he would normally gag on due to their texture.

Beets, carrots, spinach, lemon

This is the face I get a lot now!

I am now trying to gather up recipes to use the pulp in. We don't want to miss out on all of the veggie goodness!

When It's Cold

Build a fort! Crew and Sawyer love playing in simple forts. I think their favorite part is crawling through the sheet to the other side. It's fun to hear them giggle and watch them wrestle around with each other.

Sick Boys

When a whole bunch of people get together, it's inevitable that someone gets sick. I always prepare mentally with the anticipation of this.

Sawyer was the first to get sick and then a few of days later Crew fell ill. I didn't realize that Sawyer was trying to fight off a double ear infection as well (I thought he was teething) and that was the onset of his misery. On Saturday he had a fever and to make sure I didn't have to go to the hospital for something on Sunday I took him into the doctors. I normally don't take my kids in for things like this, but he seemed to be going down hill. That's when I found out about his ears and the Dr suggested he might have RSV with the order his symptoms came but never tested. I now know the fever was a prelude to sickness number 2. 

Sunday morning he woke up with a rash on his legs with the worst of it being on his upper thighs. I started doing a lot of research on rashes and nothing was matching up. Finally I looked up "hand foot and mouth on the legs" and images popped up that matched closer than anything else. But it wasn't on his palms, or soles of his feet. There were 2 or 3 small spots around his mouth and there is no way he would let me look in his mouth. I then found this article and it made me more certain that he had a new strain of hand foot and mouth. But, I never went to the doctors because we had just gone and I didn't feel he was going to get any more medical help that he couldn't get at home. He was never officially diagnose but I quarantined my family from anyone else anyway. Monday Crew was fine all day, he worked out with me, ate well, played hard, and overall enjoyed himself. I put on a show for him to watch while I made dinner and Sawyer was napping. When the show was over Crew started rolling around on the floor and whining. I thought it was because he had almost fallen asleep, his show was over, and that he probably needed to go to the restroom. I went over to ask him and rubbed his back. He was hot! His temperature was at 103! I put another show on, gave him some ice water, and he fell asleep. I resisted the urge to give him tylenol and he woke up .5 degrees cooler. After dinner we had a very early bedtime for both boys.

When Crew woke up on Tuesday his temperature had broken and he let me take a look in his mouth. He had several spots on the roof of his mouth and a few on his knees and calves. But he was much happier and played all day in his pajamas.

Crew let me take a picture of his mouth but then wouldn't let me take a picture of his legs. The rash on the first day never really looks all that bad; red spots that are appear to be raised but are mostly flat when touched.

Sawyer was much happier too. He got a better nights sleep and lit up when I pulled my camera out to document his rash. He was loving the attention and gave me a great show!

This was my first picture of Sawyer. Once he realized the attention was on him he went into action.

Not a single rash on his torso. It was all on his arms below the elbows and on his legs.

Only three on his face

The beginning of scabbing over. The rash initially appeared like it might head out or get a blister but the next day it had sloughed off the middle and scabbed.

Thursday Update: 

Sawyer: Day 6

Crew: Day 4

Quarantined and getting a little bored.

Crew wrist with newer rash

Crew's knee with older rash and a little lint

The worst spot for him. I believe it's because this is where he has the most sensitive and prone to dryness skin.

Sawyer's scabs are almost gone

New rash on Crew's ankles

I will be majorly sanitizing and deep cleaning when this all passes! We look forward to getting out of the house again.

Sunday Update:

The kids both have rash still. Sawyer's is nearly gone and Crew still has some large scabs that need to heal up. We are ready to go out and have fun but we are waiting so we don't pass it to anyway.

Once There Was A Snowman

 We hardly ever have snow and when we do it melts fast! It has caused one anxious (and slightly confused) boy that has wanted a snowman. Every time snow would fall from the sky, but not accumulate, Crew would excitedly yell, "Snowman. Snowman!"
Finally, we got enough snow in our yard and it stuck around for awhile. While Sawyer was asleep we went out it in the snow. There wasn't much snow, and my snowman building skills are a bit rusty, but we were able to make a quick snowman. Crew finally got it, and he loved it.

Checking out the snow

We built the snowman in our pajamas.

"It's a snowman, Mom!!"

The snowman was ridiculously small, had no face, and was well appreciated. After coming inside we proudly checked out our work through the window.