A new Luthier in the Lawrence Violin Shop

Yesterday I cleaned out a drawer in Jesse's work desk to put Rogan's "tools" in. He hung out in the drawer for awhile before I put his tools in there. :) Won't be long before he's working on violins.

Everyday Somthing New

I put Rogan down for a nap today and I noticed that he was jabbering on for awhile and then he started "calling" me. He does this if I don't come get him when he's jabbering. He had been so sleepy when I had put him down and he's usually not one to make a fuss when it's time to take a nap. I thought he would just jabber himself to sleep. But once he started calling to me I knew he wasn't going to go to sleep. What could be keeping him up? I went into his room to find that he was standing in his crib holding onto the side. He was so very proud of himself! I guess nap time was over. Not sure how I'm going to help him understand that his bed is for sleeping...not playing. This might be an interesting week. :)
This time of my life is so very wonderful. Watching my son learn to do new things each day. I love seeing his face when he understands something for the first time. He eyes light up with excitement. He is learning how to communicate with us. He can only say a few words (like Mama and Dada), but he understands a lot of words..like milk, cat, dog, food, chew, hi, and no. When I say milk he will spit out his pacifier, ready to eat! When we say cat or dog he will look in the direction of the cat or dog. He understands no and even though he doesn't always stay away from the "no-no's" he does react when we say "no." Twice now he has turned around and headed away from the objects that we have said "no" about. I've heard that kids can understand "no" at a young age, but I never knew it would take so well. Ok, so I know that we still have a lot of work and perseverance left (about 18 years) with this little guy and that he will test us and see what he can get away with. I hope though that we can stay consistent with him and all three of us will stay on the same page. :)
I was thinking about the times that he has cried to let us know that something was wrong, but it wasn't easy figuring out what to do and I was baffled and a little frustrated because I didn't know how to react or help him. He has got to be feeling the same way! Here we are jabbering at him and trying to make him understand something. I'm sure there are times he thinks "I have no idea what these people want me to do." It's got to be frustrating for him! I'm hoping that by being patient with him he will learn patience. Patience though, doesn't mean that you don't re-enforce. I'm a strong believer in consistency and re-enforcing.
Wow...I just read my post and it really doesn't make sense...oh well. I'll post it anyways. :)

Rogan's Laugh

Tiny Tots was this evening. Rogan has been to all of them since they began and he seamed to like the music and he REALLY likes the rhythm sticks. Tonight though, he was different. He was so excited about the music and he was bopping to the beat of each song. I know that I'm a bias mama, but none the less, I thought it was really cute. He seams to have good rhythm!
Rogan was so silly while I was feeding him lunch today...if I can figure it out, I plan on putting a video on here of him laughing...I'm going to do that now...

...There I think I did it. I just love Rogan's laugh. :)

Crawling!

It's official! My little guys is finally crawling! He was very early sitting up at only 4 months and also early at getting on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. This started in early November and everyone told me that he would be crawling any day. I don't in anyway want my little Rogan to be delayed in anything, but it's my nature to cling to each phase. I enjoy each and every stage and even though i look forward to his growing and learning I do so love his babyness. So I was a little sad when I knew his infant stage was nearing and end and he would be on to crawling. I just wasn't ready for that yet! Well here we are three whole months later and he finally got the hang of it. I went from not wanting him to crawl yet to "come on baby, you can do this!" I think I was more ready for it then he was. :)
He is enjoying his new found freedom and, as you might suspect, is getting into everything. I love it though. His favorite thing is to crawl over to his canned food (that I keep at floor level) and get them all out of the box and scatter them everywhere. It's so cute! He is also very interested in doors and if they can be slammed into anything he'll SLAM it over and over and over again. This loud game never seams to loose it's appeal.
He tries to pull up on things, but it usually ends in him on the floor with his legs in a tangled mess. He did succeed once, but that's probably because he was trying to get to Mama and Daddy's ice cream. Thanks to Auntie Laura he is very fond of ice cream.

Two in one day....Just catching up

I wrote this several weeks ago on a site called babyfit....I thought I would put it on here as well.

I was thinking about Rogan today, like I do every day. I can't believe how big he is getting. It feels like just yesterday Jesse placed our little rogan in my arms for the first time. I remember his perfect little face, his tiny fingers and his cute little cries. I can remember life before him, but I can't remember what it felt like.
I was also thinking about how I felt the moment I knew that there was a life growing inside me. I knew it was a precious and special little life, but I never could have known just how awesome he would be. I loved him the moment I knew about him, I loved him even more the first time I felt him move inside me, and more when I saw his little profile in the ultra sound, and again more when I saw and held him for the first time. Every day I love him more and more. I think about his future and wonder what it has in store. I don't ever want him to experience pain or fear. I pray for him, that God will bring him happiness and success. I pray that he will be blessed some day with a good wife and that he too will experience the awesomeness of having a child.
I can't believe that seven months has just flown by. Rogan is getting so big! There are a ton of miles stones and I should have been writing them all down so that I would remeber them all, but I guess I would rather spend my time playing with him then writing on my computer. :)

The first month was awesome! I was sore from the C=section and exhausted, but I enjoyed every minute with Rogan. (not sore or exhausted enough to keep me from the Lake Wood garage sales only 4 days after he was born. Can't believe I did that!) He slept a lot and I took a lot of naps with him. I would spend hours just holding him in my arms and we would look into each others eyes. Just bonding and getting to know each other. He was so happy and hardly ever fussed. We took him to Ottawa KS for a week to a violin/strings camp. There was always a ton of violin music around him and he slept through most of it, but I think that the music helped stimulate his mind.

In month two his personality started to show a little. He let us know that he wasn't fond of his car seat. He cried all the way to church one Sunday morning. We were able to take him to Springfield, but we had to make a couple of stops to just let him have some time out of the car seat. He became very attached to his passi when we found that he would only take one for a 6+ moth old. Silly baby. He started smiling in month two. He was mostly fond of the ceiling fan and would rarely smile at us. Month two was July and it was a hot July. I took him to Bible School with me every day and he did so well.

I want to remeber

I decided to start a blog not only so others can read about what's been going on with the Lawrence family, but also to help me remember these wonderful years while my son is still so young.
It feels like just a little while ago I told my husband that I was pregnant. We spent that evening curled up on the couch dreaming and talking about what it would be like to be parents. The joy and excitement was almost unbearable. Now, 18 months later, I look back and remember the way that felt. I thought it would be wonderful, but I had no idea just how awesome it would be!
I want to write about this awesome experience of motherhood and the joys of building a family! I know there is no way to truly express the joy I feel or the love that I have for my son and his wonderful father...but I'll do my best. :)