Well, its hard to believe it but Lawson is two years old now! He is such a big boy and so sweet. What a great past year it has been. When I look back, I think about how much better this past year was even more so than that first tough year after he was born.
I feel like I really paid my dues wisely as a mom that first year and am starting to reap the benefits of raising our son the way we thought was best. As a parent, I am a firm believer of nursing, cosleeping and not letting my baby cry it out in his crib and really believe that had such a huge impact on who our son is today.
I know I am one of the rare parents that believes in those methods in today's busy world of bottle feeding, sleep training and the CIO technique, and trust me it wasn't easy but in the long run I do truly believe it makes a difference on not only the child but the bond between parent and child. Lawson is so bright and in touch with who he is and his feelings. He tells us when he is happy and when he is scared. Prescott and I are always in tune with Lawson and have such an incredible bond with him that I don't regret all those hard, long nights of driving or strolling him down as opposed to just throwing him in the crib to cry himself to sleep. In fact when I look back on it, those walks are some of my favorite memories. It was the perfect time to unwind from the day, check in with each other's days and get some exercise while we were at it.
It definitely would have been easier to just throw him in the crib, shut the door and hop in our own bed, and everyone has their own method of raising their child, but it just didn't feel natural to us to do that. I think my number one piece of advice that I would give any new parent would be to follow your gut and not to listen to how everyone else tells you to raise your child but to how you and your partner want to raise your child and what you feel in your heart is right for your family.
It's like my grandma told me after I had a baby, "You just love that baby and you can't go wrong" and that is exactly how Prescott and I have raised Lawson, with a lot of love. Some might call it "spoiling," some might say its silly, but for us it was the only way. Now we have a sweet loving toddler who occasionally ends up in our bed in the middle of the night because he's "scared" and we are okay with that :) He won't want to do that forever and for now I am treasuring these moments.
It is amazing how much Lawson has surprised us with his kindness and intelligence. Prescott has been making a list of all the words Lawson can say by the age of two and we were at almost 300 that we could thing of, which seems crazy to me. On the top of the list were phrases like "Oh alright mommy" and "Yippee, daddy's home." Today Lawson showed me the difference between his "excavator," "tractor" and "digger!"
He absolutely loves tools, tractors and trucks, hence the theme of his second birthday. Granted, the party planner in me wanted to do an adorable woodlands party theme, but I unselfishly caved in to give Lawson the birthday that we knew he would love with all of the people that he loved too. He had a blast and we were happy that we could share it with some of our close friends and family. Here are some photos below of his big day :)
