Dayton's Dedication

April 7th was a big day for little Dayton! We dedicated him to the Lord at our church on Sunday, April 7th in front of our family and friends. Dedicating him meant that we were vowing to raise him in church, teaching him to walk in the Truth of scripture, and praying over him daily. We are going to raise Dayton (and Sawyer) to love Jesus and hopefully they will come to know Him at an early age. Isn't that every Christian parent's dream? It is certainly ours. We searched for verses for both of our children and the one we chose for Dayton is Psalm 84:11 "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." DAYTON has many meanings (such as town of David and dairy town), but one meaning we found is SUN. We loved that one of the verses we found for him said "God is a sun…" and so that helped us narrow it down from about 3 verses to this 1. 

During Dayton's dedication we were called up on stage where they showed a slide of him with a cute picture and his life verse. Our friends and family stood in support and Casey & I were each asked to vow that we would raise our child under Biblical authority and with the support and encouragement from our friends and family. We vowed to love and nurture him and pray over him. We closed the service in prayer. It was a sweet time. :)

Here is Dayton's slide from the service!

A recap of the day:)

 my handsome boy

 Several of the families on stage…

Our little family of four :) 

praying

 The little reception area in the lobby!

 

My family

 Casey's family

 The Coats and The Rickersons

Dayton & Mathis are 4 months apart and are sure to be good buddies :)

Dayton got several gifts! Ginni got him a super cute little Bible with a furry Lion front. So cute! He also got a "My First Bible" from c|Life as well as the cute cookie bouquet!

Such a sweet day dedicating our baby boy to the Lord!

We love you so much, Dayton Lee!

23…it can't be.

Sawyer's 23 months old and as I write this we are only 2 weeks from her birthday! I promise it has been the fastest 2 years of my life!!! I know all parents say that, but it really does feel that way. 

Sawyer has turned into a smart, spunky little girl - she's more like me than I'd like to admit and Casey definitely thinks so, too. ;) She's got a little attitude and ornery streak that really does remind me of myself, haha. She's also sensitive and sweet and super entertaining! We crack up at her daily.

Here are some recent highlights:

• Sawyer talks non-stop when we are at home! She chatters to me all day long and recently she has  added asking questions to her repertoire! She asks "Momma, what're you doing?" and "What's this?" and "What's that?" It's funny, but of course, can get old after following me to each room while I'm cleaning asking "what're you doing?" about 50 times. ;) 
• Sawyer loves pointing out things she sees and telling us what they are. For example if she sees a plane or a bird in the sky she'll say "momma! birds! momma! plane!"  If she sees a dog it's always "momma! dog! ruff!" :)
• Sawyer knows animals noises, she can count, knows the names to 15ish body parts, & remembers faces and people really well! Her most favorite people are Avery & Mathis ;) She talks about those 2 friends multiple times to me during the day and will pretend call Avery on the phone :)
• Sawyer sings Jesus Loves Me, ABC's, Wheels on the Bus, Clean Up Song, & Ring Around the Rosie
• Sawyer still loves to dance!
• She has a blast in water whether it's in the bath or just the water hose or in the sink! She's getting a water table for her birthday! :) We will have lots of summer fun!
• Sawyer loves her brother and asks about him as soon as she wakes up in the morning. She calls him "bubba" and "Dayton". She gets concerned when he starts crying and always lets me know. :)
• Sawyer loves her daddy!! She is becoming more and more of a Daddy's Girl! At the end of the day though, when she's sleepy and we're putting her in bed, she wants her Momma! I know she'll always come back to me! ;)
• Sawyer is particular and likes things done a certain way…it's hard to explain, but it's definitely a Lauren quality…haha. 
• Sawyer is obsessed with being outside! She loves to play in the backyard and cold/rainy days are especially hard because she cries when she doesn't get to go outside and doesn't understand why I don't let her! She loves playing on her swing set (swinging & going down the slide). She also has a blast playing with her toys in the sandbox. She especially loves moving the sand to other places in the yard - we have purple sand so the evidence is everywhere. :)
• Sawyer is wearing 2T clothes (occasionally 18 months) and size 3 diapers. She wears size 5 or 6 shoes. 
• Sawyer is in the middle of potty training! She uses the potty at least once a day! Today she used it at least 3 times that I know of. She doesn't really tell us when she needs to go…but she goes when we set her on the potty and she'll tell us if she's already gone. I think we're getting close…just need to be more consistent. She's getting her first pairs of panties for her birthday. :)

Here's my baby big girl!

With G-Momma on St. Patrick's Day!

Having some fun :)

monkey face :)

 She wanted to lay by her bubba :)

 kisses :)

outside love 

Chuy's for lunch!

Her first time to play without me in the Chick-fil-A playground! Finally!! 

 Chillin' in bubba's bouncy seat!

getting rocked by daddy during her asthma/bronchiolitis sickness 

 Dying Easter eggs!!

 bath time beauty!

 like mother, like daughter

 she loves bath time!!

 2013 Easter!

We love you so much, sweet Sawyer. Looking forward to all the fun that being 2 years old will bring! I know it is going to be a blast!!!