Tigers, monkeys, bears....oh my!

We took Lawson and Liam on their first ever zoo trip yesterday to the Memphis Zoo! My mom and I went since Andy had do some things at work and around the yard.  We had a blast...I think the boys even enjoyed it too! :)  I haven't been to the Memphis Zoo in probably 15 years so it was neat to go back.  I love seeing all of the wild animals up close like that.  Lawson was just the perfect age, and I really loved seeing his face light up with excitement each time we saw a different animal.  Liam did really well and even took a good nap in the stroller.  We will definitely be going back at least one more time this year.  We had a great weekend together, and the weather was perfect for an outdoor adventure!!!  We are happily welcoming the first day of Spring at the Fortner household today! Here are some pictures from our very fun weekend!

Rub a Dub Dub....

I had to share the pictures that I took tonight during Lawson and Liam's bath!  They were too darn cute not to share.

Notice Liam's spikey hair!

 I love that the boys can takes baths together now because it makes life so much easier!  Liam gets so excited when I start running the water, and he gets mad when I take him out of the bathtub.  He is going to be a little fish like his big bro Lawson!  Rub a dub dub friends and brothers for life! 

Liam is 9 months old!!!

Liam is already 9 months old! Where in the world has the time gone???? It seems just like yesterday we were packing our bags and heading to the hospital to get checked in for our induction at 6 PM.  I remember when I was pregnant with Liam having that feeling of not knowing how in the world I could ever love another human being as much as I loved Lawson, but as soon as I layed eyes on Liam Asher Fortner I knew I would always love him the same!  God gives us a special power to love each one of our kids the same, and everyone always told me this....but until I had my very own two special boys I didn't understand.  I love both of my boys more every day, and every day they each do something to make my heart grow bigger.  I will never be able to express in words to these two boys just how much I love them, but I hope through my patience and loving actions I can somewhat let them know how much they mean to me.  I have already started planning Liam's first birthday party because I know that May will be here before we know it.  It is going to be an owl theme so I am having a lot of fun with it. 

Below are pictures of my latest sewing projects.  I have really learned a lot about sewing already so I look forward to the future to see what creations I make.  Thanks to Mamaw Jo for having patience with me and guiding me through step by step and answering the millions of questions I have!

The stuffed animal pillows

Liam's pants with applique shirt and Lawson's shorts.

RSV, the "Plew", and a root canal...

Liam Asher will be 9 months old in a few days and has really started to mature in the last few weeks!  He is now pulling to stand and loves standing.  He gets so excited when he gets up.  It is the cutest thing.  He has also starting to really not liking having to take naps and go to bed...I guess he is afraid he is going to miss something.  He is starting to turn into his brother.  I doubt he will have more energy than Lawson....I really don't think that is possible.  We have had some really difficult times the past few weeks...Andy's aunt Tilda lost her battle to lung cancer last week, and she was only 56 so this was a very difficult time for the entire family.  She was a very Godly lady so we know she is in a better place and is no longer suffering, but it is still so sad to have to say goodbye.  We know it's not goodbye forever so we are clinging to this peace.  Liam was sick 3 weeks ago with what we're pretty sure was RSV, and then the following week Lawson had the flu so needless to say we are VERY ready for Spring and warmer temps!  And to top all of this off Andy had an extremely painful absessed tooth and had to have an emergency root canal.  God is good, and I strive to praise Him even in the midst of these storms we've been going through.  The past 3 days we've been enjoying playing outside with the highs being around 72 so it is a nice change from the 30s and snow that we had been experiencing.  The picture I attached is of the boys when Lawson was teaching Liam the proper way to crawl.  Lawson is so sweet with his baby brother and tries to teach him how to do things.  I look forward to watching my sweet boys grow up and the two of them learning life lessons. 

3 years and 2/3 year

So my boys are officially starting to play with one another, and it is the sweetest just to sit back and watch them interact.  Liam has started crawling (well it's a modified crawl), and he is getting all over the place pretty quickly.  Liam watches Lawson as though he hung the moon.  Lawson loves his little brother...until he starts to take apart his puzzle or knock down his block creations!  Lawson has started tattle-telling, and it makes my heart smile just seeing Liam getting into things and wanting to interact with his big bro.  I know in a year or two I won't like the "Mommy he won't leave me alone" stories so much so I'm trying to enjoy them while I can and while my nerves can stand it.  I love being a mommy more than ANYTHING else in this world, and I love being a mommy to TWO precious boys even more than that!  Don't get me wrong...having 2 munchkins is definitely harder than having only 1, but the rewards are double as well so the good by far out ways the bad days!  I wouldn't trade my life for the world, and I wake up every day thinking that the boys' ages right now have got to be the best yet, but then the next year I think the same.  So here are a few stats on my two team players....

Lawson is 3 years and 3 months old and weighs approx. 35 lbs.  He is the MOST energetic ball of fire I've ever seen.  He is not still unless he's sleeping.  He has been this way his entire life so I don't expect that to change at least for 10 years or more.  He is sleeping by himself (as of this past week), but still cries a little before bed for his dad to lay down with him.  Andy spoiled him somewhat and slept with him the past year so it's been a challenge to get him to sleep alone like he did before.  Lawson is a very smart boy and learns very quickly.  He can put together a 25 piece puzzle without any assistance, and he can ride a scooter that is for ages 8 and up with no problem.  He is definitely going to be an athlete because he can jump about 3 feet in the air from flat feet, and he can outrun the best of them! I can't wait until we can sign him up for soccer because he "plays" soccer every night so I know he will love it.
Liam is 8 months old and has really started to become mobile.  He is doing an army crawl  and can get all around the house without any trouble.  I have even lost him a couple of times when I've left him in one room, and he will end up in another room within a few seconds.  He would much rather prefer to be on the floor than in his jumperoo or being held.  Liam is such a sweet baby and has always been the much more laid back of our two boys.  He has slept all night for the past 3 weeks, and he even puts himself to sleep without any fuss. We lay him down around 7 and turn on his Baby Tad's nighttime music, and he is usually out within minutes.  God knew that we needed an easy baby for #2, and he gave us that when Liam was born.  I can not believe that in less than 4 months Liam will be 1 year old!  Seriously, where does time go?  I thank God every day for my blessings, and these 2 sweet boys are certainly at the top of that list!  Below are a few of my most prized pictures that I have of my 2 angels.  The first one was taken when Liam was 3 days old.  The second one is when Lawson came to the hospital to meet Liam for the first time.  The third picture is the very first picture that we got of the two of them.  Enjoy...

Isn't life precious?!? And again I say.... two are so much better than one!

Sew much fun!

I mentioned Lola in a previous post.  Well I took her to Ms. Jo's (Andy's grandmother) house, and she got her hooked all up and running for me. So I was on a sewing rampage for a few days.  I strolled down the fabric isle at Wal-Mart just to see if they possibly had anything cute and low and behold there were bazillions of cute kits on clearance so I got 2 purse kits, 3 apron kits, 4 stuffed animal kits, a superman cape kit, and a bib kit along with a few patterns and fabric.  I was so excited!! I got all of the above mentioned goodies for about $20 so you can't beat that, right?  I decided to be brave, and I picked one of the purses to make for my FIRST EVER sewing project.  I did great until my bobbin ran out of thread (of course Ms. Jo threaded it the first time so I wasn't even sure how to do it). 

I got out my user manual to see how Lola went about threading the bobbin. I followed each direction carefully, but when I finished threading it the bobbin was not very neat looking so I could foresee problems in my future.  Well I went ahead and installed the bobbin and went on about my sewing business when what would appear but a ragedy seam (and 8 tiny reindeer)! :)  I stopped immediately and ripped out the seam.  I read the manual and saw where it said my tension on the bobbin was too loose so I thought I had solved my first sewing problem.  Well to make a long story short that was not the problem at all.  I was just not installed the thread quite right.  I took old Lola back to Ms. Jo's, and she saw right away what I was doing wrong.  She fixed me all up, and I went right back to working on my purse.  A week later after solving my sewing problems.....VIOLA....here is my very cute reversible hobo tote!  Pretty good for a first timer don't ya think? 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

                   The snow just starting to fall.

                          Our yummy snow cream we made!

                    Our house covered in snow.

                     6 1/2 inches of the white stuff!

And snow it did! 6 1/2 inches at that! It was the most snow Andy or I had either seen our entire life.  I think I was just as excited and had just as much fun as Lawson did! It started snowing around 4 PM on Sunday and when we woke up Monday (1.10.11), we found the ground, house, and everything outside covered in snow! I could not believe my eyes!! The weather man predicted it, but you know how it goes with their "predictions".  Of course we do not own an official sled so we searches high and low for anything that we could use to sled down our enormous hill. The best apparatus that we conjured up was an inflated kid's knee intertube thing. It wasn't that efficient, but I guess Lawson was just the right size and weight for it because he sled all the way down the big hill several times.  He was so excited!! It made my heart so very happy to see that big smile on his sweet face. I wish we could have a snow day like this once a year!