My mom is here for a visit, and it is her birthday! Although Sawyer is on a bit of a nap strike, because of all of the excitement, it has not slowed him down in the slightest. Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma/Mom-in-law. We love you!!!
Sawyer was sick over the weekend, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to stand whenever possible. Tonight, after his bath and feeding, Abby put him in his crib. He immediately stood up and started to scream.
Abby picked him up, held him for a bit, calmed him down, then put him back in the crib. Again, he immediately stood up and started to scream.
We stayed downstairs for a little longer the second time, hoping he would grow tired and give up. He did not, tenacious little bugger that he is. Since Diana, Abby’s mother, thinks he never cries or causes any trouble, I grabbed the camera to give all of you a little taste of our last week with Sawyer:
He was so tired he didn’t know what to do with himself. Abby also thinks he’s not quite sure how to sit back down once standing, so that likely had something to do with it. As soon as I shut off the camera and laid him down, he feel right to sleep. What a relief!
To be fair, he gave me his cold from last week, and I’ve been down for the count, so it’s no wonder he was so unhappy. I think he’s just starting to feel better, but still lacks his full energy, hence the frustration.
On a related note, there was one night last week, some time around 2am if memory serves me well, that Sawyer was wide awake and completely uninterested in going back to sleep. Since it was dark, I figured he could play with his firebugs that his Grandparents Truitt bought for him — they blink when struck, and Sawyer loves to put them in his mouth. I think he enjoyed it:
He slept better last night than he has in a long time, as he was quickly falling back to sleep without any fuss. Hopefully tonight will be even more of a success. I’m starting to feel a little better myself, and really hoping that Abby makes it through unscathed. It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun around here.
So, onward with the posts of the family members who Sawyer met when he was in Ohio. In addition to his Great Grandma Cross and the family of my cousin Bill Cross, he met his Great Uncle Richard, Great Aunt Kelly, Great Aunt Beth, Great Uncle Dana, and another cousin, Dana Christopher. My mom is one of 5 kids, so Sawyer has one more aunt and one more uncle yet to meet.
Matthew, Grandma, Sawyer, Richard and I
Aunt Beth, Dana Christopher and Sawyer. Dana C. is 8 1/2. Beth doesn’t know why, but Dana C. loves his hat. He wears it wherever he goes.
Here’s a picture of Beth and I in 1979. I love that her outfit would be totally in style today.
Here is Dana with Sawyer.
Lastly, Sawyer met is Great Aunt Kelly. She is married to my mom’s brother Mark. Mark missed out on meeting Sawyer this time. Kelly has been triumphantly fighting cancer for the past few years. Her strength is so inspiring to me!
Sawyer enjoyed a very fun visit with long time family friend Becky Jones. Becky and my mom judged together in many cat shows over the years for the Cat Fanciers Asscociation. I can remember visiting Becky’s home many, many times as a child. I am so glad that Sawyer was able to experience this as well.
In writing this post, I googled my mom to see if there were any cat related links. In addition to her own cattery website, Velva Cattery, (website created by Scott), she had over 100 hits for articles she has written, show/cats she has judged, and blogs/chat groups by people to whom she has sold cats. That is just the coolest thing!
Sawyer did not get to meet any of the cats when he was home, but I am guessing June will be a different story. He should be able to terrorize them nicely by then.
Sawyer was able to meet his Great Grandmas on my side of the family while we were home. Unfortunately Sawyer’s Great Grandma on Scott’s side, GG, became ill the day before we were to visit. She is doing much better, however, and we will definitely have them meet when we are home in June!
Several years ago, I found a picture which featured four generations, where my mom was the youngest in the picture. She was no more than 6 months old. In the spirit of this picture, I made sure to recreate it with Sawyer. I marvel at the fact that both of my grandmas were born in 1919 and then married in 1941.
First we visited my Grandma Cross at the beginning of our Ohio visit. This is my mom’s mom, and she lives in Germantown. She is not the fondest of photos being taken of her, so we only were able to get one.
At the end of our week and a half stay in Ohio, we visited my Grandma Doernberg.
Grandma Doernberg was absolutely in love with Sawyer. She was so happy and loved to hold him.
If he could, he would be walking already.
Sawyer finally got to meet his Grandma Diana and Grandpa Bob. I’m not sure who had more fun. It might have been me watching my parents play with him!
Some of you may know the story of Sawyer’s birth, but some of you may not. As this blog is as much Sawyer as for family and friends, I will attempt to relate the story as coherently as my very tired memory will allow (believe me this is much easier said than done).
Sawyer’s original due date was 12/14, but as a result of his first ultrasound, it was moved up to 12/5 due to his size. As many of you already know, big babies run on my side of the family on my Mom’s side. I don’t know how this would effect the due dates, but I felt that his due date should have remained where it was.
As a result of the 12/5 due date, my parents decided to fly out to San Francisco to be here for the birth. They arrived on 12/4. My Dad arrived with a cold, which got worst the next day. He remained in his hotel room getting better by eating Quizno’s and taking Nyquil.
My Mom and I went to Bloomingdale’s in the new mall hoping that the walking would provide some “expulsion propulsion” - contractions to you and me. The idea to go walking/shopping was the original idea of my Grandma Addie Doernberg’s back in 1974 as a way to help to encourage my birth. Knowing my love of shopping, it totally makes sense that I spent the entire day before I was born in the mall.
Back to Sawyer, nothing resulted from the day at the mall except my first real backache of my pregnancy. We proceeded to replay the day over the next day in Noe Valley and other small shopping districts in SF, but to no avail. My Dad, although feeling better, was unfortunately called back to Ohio after being here to just under 2 days. (Although I love my teenage brothers very much, sometimes they are a big pain.) It was very hard to see him go home.
While Scott spend the last few days leading up to the birth trying to finish up important work related projects. My Mom and I spent the next few days watching tv and knitting. It was really nice to spend time alone with her, as this had not happened in a very long time (again, I love my brothers, but they have always really loved attention).
So, with no birth in sight, except for the impending inducement day of 12/12, my Mom went home a day early on 12/10. It was very hard to see her go home too.
