Sawyer at 14 Months

Sawyer will be 14 months old in a couple of days.  He is learning so much everyday.  I love to see all of his new developments and study him as he grows!

14 Month Highlights:

- Lots and lots of language development took place this month.  He is starting to understand more and more about language being powerful, mostly because it is easier for him to get what he wants if he can tell me what it is.   For example, when he is thirsty he says "baba" (meaning his sippy cup).  When he is hungry he walks over to the refrigerator or pantry and says "ca-cuh" or "mmm" to let me know that he wants food. It's just so incredible to see him develop.  Other fun words this month include "rawh" (to answer the question, "How does a tiger sound?"), cack-cack (to answer the question "What sound does a duck make?"), mow (to answer "What sound does a cat make?"), bah (for ball), dada (for everything, including his Daddy), and mama (to melt me heart).

- I always heard people refer to their children as little monkeys, but I never knew quite what they meant until now.  Sawyer truly is a little monkey.  He is climbing and crawling on everything, which has meant lots of falls, bumps, and bruises this month.  I cannot turn my head for one second because he will be on the top of the couch  and trying to climb up the window or perched on top of the coffee table ready for flight (both of these circumstances took place this month). 

- Sawyer experienced his first burn this month.  On our engagement day anniversary, I decided that I was going to do something special and grill out steaks for dinner.  Steven was supposed to be home any minute, so I put the steaks on while Sawyer and I played in the yard.  He had not paid a bit of attention to the grill the whole time we were outside until the worst possible time.  While he was playing on his playplace, I walked over to the grill to get the steaks off.  I was holding my plate in one hand and the tongs in the other as I lifted the lid.  Just as I was putting the last steak on the plate, Sawyer ran over to me, lept up, and grabbed the grill. I immediately dropped everything, and got him inside.  At first, I thought that he must not have touched very hard because he wasn't crying, but I'm pretty sure he was just in shock because the tears came out in a fury after a couple of minutes.  After a trip the pharmacy and lots of love, he calmed down and never really seemed bothered by it.  Although, he still blows on his completely heeled hand all the time (I guess he formed a habit after watching mommy do it so often). 

- Another day, another ear infection.  This month he experienced his sixth one in about six months.  We have made an appointment to see an ENT about tubes.  Steven had to have them as a child, so I think this might be the best thing for our little man.  I HATE to see him so down and out, and an ear infection seems to suck the life right out of him.  The only good part was that his infection gave us an excuse to have Mr. Steve and Mrs. Theo in town to take care of him while we were at work.  We are so thankful to be a part of such a loving family. 


so sick :(

- Sawyer still LOVES animals, although every animal he encounters is called "doh" (for dog).  Our neighbors have three huge cats that nap on our front sidewalk every afternoon, and Sawyer loves them, although I'm pretty sure they do not feel the same way about him.  However, one of them is pretty friendly, and tolerates his "petting" (which looks a lot more like hitting; we are trying to teach him to be gentle, but that is easier said than done).  The others immediately run away as soon as they see him get out of the car...

- Last but not least, Sawyer has a lot of new teeth.  He cut six teeth this month, so there were quite a few moments of irritability.  Steven (endearingly) calls him gap-tooth because of his gappy smile, but this momma loves it!

Mom's 50th Birthday!

 Ain't it nifty?  Look who's fifty!!!

My beautiful mother turned the big 5-0 on February 7th, so of course we had to throw her a party!  Aunt Sherry, Betsy, Whitney, and I all wanted to do something special for mom because it was such an important birthday.  We decided that she probably wouldn't come if she knew about it because she has never liked to be the center of attention.  The only problem was that my mother may have missed her true calling as a detective.  She has a keen ear and can usually spot a lie in a second. 

In order to make her less suspicious, we set the date for January 26th, which was almost two weeks before her actual birthday.  I sent out the invitations to everyone but Mom.  Meanwhile, Aunt Sherry made a fake invitation to a party being thrown for my dear Aunt Annie Lou (we knew that Mom would never miss a party thrown in Annie Lou's honor).  Sherry even got my cousin Chris (who it said was hosting on the fake invitation) to address the envelope because we were scared mom would recognize Sherry's handwriting (I'm telling you, she is a detective).

After talking with Aunt Sherry, I decided that mom would have her radar on if she thought I had mysteriously decided to make the trip to Moulton for the weekend on a whim, so we made up a little fib. One evening, I called mom and told her that Steven had surprised me with an early Valentine's trip to Nashville, but we needed someone to watch Sawyer for the weekend.  Of course, she was quick to agree. 

On the Friday night before the party, Steven and I met mom in Priceville to give her Sawyer and head on up to "Nashville".  We parted ways quickly because I was so scared that if I said anything she would know something was up.  That night, Steven and I spent the night at Michael and Betsy's house where we were going to prepare all the food the next morning.  

After a long but fun day of preparation, we headed over to Aunt Sherry's church, who graciously allowed us to use their fellowship hall for the party.  All of our family and friends arrived a little before five o'clock, but we had instructed Taylor and Dad to make sure mom didn't arrive before 5:20.  

When mom walked through the door and everyone yelled, "Surprise", she was truly surprised!  I think that everyone had a fun night and mom was able to show off her two grand babies to all of her friends and family members.  I was so happy to be able to celebrate the beautiful, Christ-filled, complicated, fun-loving, and gracious life of my mother.  She is someone that I have and will always look up to in so many ways.  I am so blessed to be her daughter.  I love you, Momma!  Happy 50th Birthday!

Hanging out at the party with my cute little date :)

Sawyer and Big Papa doing what they do best!

the McCulloch Girls

Buttrams + McCullochs

13 Month Update

On January 22nd, Sawyer turned 13 months old.  This month has been a lot of fun because his personality becomes more and more pronounced every day.  He is a little character and loves to laugh and play outside.  His language skills have also increased dramatically over the past month. It is so incredible to watch him grow and learn new things!

13 Month Milestones:

- Sawyer is now in the one-year-old class at school.  He seems to really love it, especially because they get to go outside and play on the playground every afternoon.  It is so fun to get to the school and watch him play from inside with all the other little babies.  His teacher says that he is doing fine and has transitioned well. 

- New words: "cacuh"= cracker, "baba"= sippy cup; My favorite new thing is that he learned that a cow makes the "moo" sound.  We practice this in the car on the way to school every morning.  I guess I would clap and say "yay" in response to Sawyer making the correct sound, so now when I ask the question, "How does a cow sound?"  he says, "moooo" then immediately claps and says "yay".  We will have to work on correcting that later.  For now, it is just so cute!

- He loves to be O-U-T-S-I-D-E.  We literally have to spell it because if he hears the word he starts beating on the backdoor.  Rainy days are really hard at our house because this kid is already an outdoorsman at heart. 

- Sawyer LOVES his daddy!  When we get home in the afternoon, he constantly runs into the living room, points at the back door, and says "dada" over and over again.  When Steven finally gets home, Sawyer will take off running towards him in an all out sprint.  It is precious to see them together. 

- Sawyer has transitioned into only taking one nap a day.  This has been one of the hardest transitions that he has made.  He goes down at 11:30 every day at daycare and the goal is for him to sleep a solid two hours.  When he does, I can tell a difference than those times when he only had a short nap.  For the first few weeks, he would come home tired and would give me all the signs that he was ready for an afternoon nap, but when I would put him down he would just cry until I came and got him.  This was not like him at all because he usually LOVES and afternoon nap.  We are finally getting more used to staying up in the afternoon and going to bed a little earlier at night.