The Dawson's Journey of Life

Your Help Requested

2011-03-21T17:21:00.002-10:00

Hello again please read the letter below and help us out in any little way you possibly can! Thank you for your love and support!

March 21, 2011
Brian P. Dawson
Bachelor of Arts in Pacific Island Studies
55-550 Naniloa Loop
#6301
Lāʻie, Hawaiʻi 96762

Dear friends and family,
We all know education and real life experiences would not be complete without one another. Therefore, I am excited to share my news about a real life learning experience that I have been selected to be a participant of. For the spring of 2011, I have been chosen to be a part of a special internship program in the Cook Islands with the Political Science/Pacific Island Studies department(s) at BYUH.

Many of you have shown confidence and support time and time again in my educational efforts and I am reaching out to you at this time for some financial support with this new opportunity. My goal is to reach $2000, and I am attempting to reach this by 28 April, 2011.

For my Internship, I will be assigned to work in the Office of the Minister of Education, Marine Resources & Tourism, under the supervision of Honorable Teina Bishop. I will be receiving instruction through His chief administration officer, Mr. George Turia, an experienced leader who was previously an executive administrator of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand.

I will undergo a high profile work experience and will be placed in an office in the center of Avarua, the foremost district on the island of Rarotonga, the national capital of the Cook Islands.

A numerous amount of you are aware that the focus of my studies has been in the Pacific Islands. As such, this experience will serve to strengthen not only my knowledge of Oceania, but will create a strong foundation in the field, producing a springbord for future educational endeavors.

I have established a PayPal account linked to my familyʻs blog for convenience. The blog website is located in the left column. If you are uncomfortable with the internet in situations such as these, my address is provided in the left column as well. As a thank you for your support, I will be sending you a piece of a Pareu (a commonly worn screen printed fabric) with your surname.

In regards to PayPal and the blog website: a yellow “donate” icon has been attached at the top of the blog, under the “ocean” picture. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me if any questions need to be answered.

Thank you in advance for your support,
Brian P. Dawson

If you need to contact us by phone and need our number just drop us a note in the comments sections and we will send our number to you!

Itʻs a great Pumpkin PATCH Charlie Brown

2010-10-23T15:00:00.005-10:00

The one and only Pumpkin Patch on the islands. Me and the girls got to go and check it out with another friend and her girls... The most exciting part was getting there. Hereʻs the breakdown:
4 girls under the age of 4.
whiny and sick with colds
The whining began for snacks 15 mins into the hour and half ride
Had to stop for the first potty break for the older 3 girls at a starbucks (the fourth is still in diapers)
Then we got lost 10 mins before arriving at destination
1 girl had to poop an hour into the ride
WE stopped at a gas station to fill up, use the bathroom, regroup yada yada yada
The bathrooms were closed for cleaning and would take 20 mins to be done. (at the gas station)
The little baby (mine) finally woke up
She doesnʻt like carseats AT ALL she screamed and cried
So I nursed and fed her (at the gas station)
The girls attempted the bathroom once again at the gas station (SUCCESS)
We spent a total of 45 mins at the gas station.
Finally hit the rode again and arrived at the one and only Pumpkin Patch 10 mins later
As other friends of ours are leaving or have left the one and only pumpkin patch
So we played by ourselves at the one and only Pumpkin PATCH

We took pictures to remember the exciting day at the pumpkin patch... yes the one and only

BUt no worries we will most likely do this again next year!! Life is an adventure that we donʻt want to miss out on!
I canʻt wait to puree the pumpkin and bake goodies with it... It will make that day ALL the more worth it

In Honor of Halloween

2010-10-13T09:44:00.006-10:00

Pretty sick right!!

Donʻt worry people it was only a strawberry...
I love it when babies can start to eat. Itʻs a beautiful mess. She loves to eat bananas, gauva, apples, peaches, pears, green beans, carrots, peas, avocados, mangos.... yes she has had all of this and more but only after turning 6 months. Iʻm pretty adamant about waiting to give my babies real people food because itʻs a step towards weaning or AWAY from me!
I know I need to let my children grow up and be their own person but they are only babies once and that time that they are completely dependent on you flies by much tooo quickly. So I hold on as long as I can.
But when I do let go it makes for great pictures, here is more of the strawberry slaughter.

Hereʻs a throwback picture of Chioma as well. Just for fun!

Make new friends & keep the old

2010-10-10T13:22:00.005-10:00

Chioma is our social butterfly. Her first word was "HI." So needless to say she has this desire to always be surrounded by "her friends" regardless of how much older they are than her. So many days if we go for walks or go to the park she believes that we are going there to play with "her friends." Her little face is so sad when she gets to the park and her friends are not there... Then the questioning begins "Mommy whereʻd my friends go??" Makes me wanna cry. But this post is to show Chioma and what she does best... Making friends

This is a pic of Chiomaʻs best friends in NY getting ready to eat her birthday cake right before bedtime. Oliver and Aolana will forever be good friends to our CJ! you donʻt get much better friends then these guys.

Here she is at a birthday party spreading frosting on a cookie with her new friends from her nursery in our church.

Hereʻs Chioma and Noe one of her favorite new friends here. I think itʻs because they are both into the same things like princesse,s and disney characters, and getting their own way, and hugging their little sisters. But they are so cute because they get so excited to see each other every sunday at church. IT looks like they are just meeting for the first time in this pick but I guarantee Chioma is just trying to get some of her snacks. HAHA

Chioma and little Gwennie who taught Chioma how to jump into the pool from her trampoline... so fun!

Chioma, Gwen and ʻDeli emptying the water from the pool that they should be playing in. OH well!

My favorite pic of Chioma and her best buddy Lana on the last day they saw each other. They have been buddies since the day they were born...Actually lana was in the room when Chioma was born that should say something about their bond. Chioma got to see her this last week on skype and for the next 2 days she kept asking me if she could go to Lanaʻs house...sad face I just choked up and said we donʻt have money to fly to NY to see her but one day we will get to see her. Hopefully her mom will get here soon (wink wink April)

A tired daddy

2010-10-02T07:16:00.005-10:00

Brian has been in school full time and working part time since the day after we moved to Hawaii. It really feels like there has not been much of a break for him except for the 4 days that he got in between summer term and fall semester. Currently he gets up at 5:30 am to make it on time to his 7:30 am Tongan class. And then if he works that same day then we (meaning I donʻt cause the girls are asleep) donʻt see him until 10:30 or 11:00 pm that night. But he does his best to spend time with the girls when he is home even if it means the time together is sleep time.

I love this man and I love how important it is for him to spend time with his family regardless of what it is we do.
In family relationships Love is spelled T-I-M-E. -Elder Dieter F. Uctdorf

6 Months and counting

2010-09-09T07:15:00.004-10:00

Hi all well I turned 6 months and Iʻm doing all sorts of things. I learned to crawl. I eat real food. I crawl around a lot. I play with my big sister. I love to babble. Iʻm pulling myself up on everything, and did I mention I love crawling?? Here are some pics to prove it

Our mini mommy

2010-09-01T09:34:00.008-10:00

I canʻt stop smiling when I think about our little Chioma mostly because she amazes me with all the things that she chooses to do. She loves to play like every other kid but even more than play she loves to do EVERYTHING that we parents do. She insists on helping us cook, clean, change and feed Daluchi, put away laundry, start the dryer, wipe things down, sweep, mop, the list goes on and on. I just keep thinking "where did you come from?" here are some shots of Chioma "helping"
When our neighbor is doing yardwork Chioma follows him around and constantly asks "watch doin" and then asks to help him or come with him so I guess he finally decided to let her water the plants. I didnʻt take these pictures the foreign ESL students took them and posted them on her facebook page when she went back to China. I cracked up when I saw them.

ONe day I couldnʻt get Daluchi to eat her rice cereal so it was a shock to me when I turned around and she was eating it from her sister. I just overheard Chioma saying "Now open" and she did so good.

Another time we had some unexpected guests at dinner time and I stopped cooking in order to talk to them. Needless to say Chioma felt it was here place to finish where I left off... she must have been really hungry... oh and the sunglasses she always cooks in style! LOVE our MIni mama!!

Sooo it didn't work

2010-08-25T18:28:00.007-10:00

I couldn't figure out how to get the second video from the last post to work so I gave up and will just post a link to the video later.
My mother in law says I need to get more pictures up... so this post is dedicated to her just some fun pics of the girls!!!

Chioma in front of the Laie temple!!

Daddy and daughters waiting at the bus stop

Chioma getting buried in the sand and then quickly going to wash it off of her.

Daluchi's first time playing in the sand

The verdict is still out on whether she likes it or not :)

Chioma's first tattoo

The girls wrestling... a new favorite pastime of theirs

Chioma's sandy baby beach bum... I love this picture!!

Passed out after a long day of playing... this girl can sleep anywhere.

And if you want to see that video from the last post just click on this link it's faster than me trying to post it on this blog
http://gallery.me.com/besoul#100105

The Polynesian Cultural Center

2010-08-23T07:56:00.009-10:00

We live 3 miles from this amazing hub of Polynesian celebration so if you ever come to visit us this is a must do!! Also did you know that this is Hawaii's #1 paid tourists attraction? It's an amazing place with lots of talented performers, dancers, singers, artists and great food! We got to participate in a lot of the activities one of Chioma's favorite things to do was use the Poi balls. Below are some of the videos taken while we were there. This first one is of Chioma trying the poi balls
The second video is of a Maori competition where the professional women compete with poi balls.

SISTERS AND BEST FRIENDS

2010-08-10T22:35:00.006-10:00

There is something so special about having/being sisters. I am so lucky and blessed to have the sisters that I have, their friendship and love is irreplaceable and I don't know the type of person that I would be without them.

When I found out that we were expecting another girl I was so excited because I know the fun times that you can share with only your sister, and I want so badly for my girls to experience the same excitement and fun from being sisters that I had. The secrets they share, laughs they have, the fights, the boys, the toys, the clothes and shoes makeup and on and on... I know a lot of you may think it's going to be HELL when my girls reach the teen stage of life... and I agree it just may be that but when the time comes to look back at your life and where you have been I know I can say that my sisters were always there at my happiest moments and at my worst moments. So here is a very special shout to my sisters for all you are and do for me!! I know my daughters have a lot to look forward to together because of our experiences. Thank you for it all girls!

Laie Day's parade and food fest

2010-08-04T18:22:00.010-10:00

Last weekend we went to Laie, which is the city where Brian's school is, and also the city next to where we live now, and also the city that I grew up in from the ages of 1 to 7. I love that city because I have a lot of fond memories. A favorite memory of mine would be the PARADES!!!!!! Random I know but I remember just always having the best candy and seeing the coolest things and people in the parades like

the cool Polynesian guy all dressed up for the parade

and the beautiful chinese dragons that scared Chioma a little bit.

We even got Chioma a little stash of candy from this parade
Nothing like free candy to make a great parade!!

Later that day we went to food fest we had a good time eating some mouthwatering Samoan/ Poly food. We were with my old friend and college roomie Esther
also her two daughters and her nephew Pono.
Chioma took an instant liking to Pono and ended up following him around a ton even cuddling up to him every chance she got.

I started thinking "hey little girl... he's 8 years older don't go starting THAT so soon." hahaha... I'm so glad she's still a baby!

All in all it was a good day with Family, friends, food and fun

Right before we moved

2010-07-30T15:37:00.010-10:00

Less than a week before we moved out to Hawaii a friend of ours, Mckenzi, asked Brian and I to use our superior modeling skills and let her practice her blossoming photography skills on us. Of course we took her up on the offer for a few reasons. 1. because no one ever wants to take nice pictures of just us without us having to pay them 2. Most of our recent pictures are with either me and the girls or him and the girls, but hardly ever us two. 3. It would be a fun photo shoot in our dear home of Albany, NY (which we will miss, especially the tap water). Here were some of our favorite moments from the photo shoot!!

All the shots were taken at Washington Park. Kudos to Mckenzie for having such a good eye and finding the great backgrounds.

Chioma and the Ocean

2010-07-29T10:05:00.004-10:00

I swear this girl was born to be near water. She has very little fear of the ocean and it's waves and she enjoys every second of us being at the beach. The only thing she likes more is big kids. Here are some pics I took of her while just following her around.

All she needs is a few more friends to come and play with her.

Oliver, Aolana, any takers?? Of course you have to ask your mommies first but you are always welcome.

Hello let me introduce myself

2010-07-29T07:14:00.011-10:00

We haven't been formally introduced. My mom's been too busy doing "other things".

My name is Daluchi Jordan Leialoha and then obviously Dawson. I was born on my mothers birthday Feb 26, 2010. Which funny enough is 2 days after my big sisters birthday. I look forward to huge parties in the month of Feb. in the future and you all are welcome to join.

I would say my entry into this world was a pretty easy one... just ask my mom, it was quick, and she was up and walking around shortly after... it was kinda funny though, she kept asking for an epidural and they told her by the time she would get one that I would be in her arms already... that's a good birthday present for her I would say.
SO, here we are 5 months later and my mom says my first 2 months with me were rough, aka I never stopped crying... I gave her a good scare, she thought I was colic... but I really just had a lot of mean gas problems. It only took her 2 months to figure it out...thanks to aunty April who showed her how to do leg lifts with me and push it out.

Speaking of, I want to tell you that I looove my big sister soooo much!! She can torture me and I will still smile at her and want to be where she is. Just look at the beauty she made of my face when my mom was busy yesterday.

I currently have 2 bottom teeth that just appeared 2 weeks ago. Can you see them in that pic? My mom wouldn't get her fingers out of my mouth trying to get this picture. It's entertaining to see my moms face light up when I use them on her. I also am learning to crawl which is very cool, cause I can get around by myself but, I'll admit that it is a lot of hard work. Some days I just wait on my hands and knees and scream until someone picks me up... what? don't laugh I get tired alright.

Well, all this talking is wearing me out so I think it's time for my first nap. Come back sometime for more updates and check out the pic below of a spot my mom found on our walk yesterday... I know beautiful isn't it???

Sleeping with the roosters and time change

2010-07-28T04:37:00.004-10:00

SO the biggest thing about moving here that I really have to get used to is the time change. It's 4:30 am and I am wide awake. One because of the 6 hour time delay and two because of all the roosters crowing. There are soooo many roosters and they just roam the streets and the neighborhood.

One was even in the Mcdonalds with us the other day and I thought how ironic as I was eating my chicken nuggets. I think that people keep them as pets cause I never see anybody out trying to kill them. Because that is just what I would do.... I would try to kill the rooster that is constantly crowing from 3 am to 10 am and keeping me awake. Might I also mention that it does not help that I'm already a light sleeper due to having a 2 year old and a 5 month that still nurses occasionally at night.

The time change is just funny. Daluchi was the one it was the hardest on for obvious reason. She was just getting used to her time schedule just to have it switched around again. At three in the afternoon the poor baby was soooo cranky and tired and she just kept looking around trying to figure out why it was still so light out and no one was going to bed. Her poor little face was just so desperate. I laughed about it but mostly felt bad for her. she is adjusting by taking extra naps in the day time... something I wish I could do.

Here's a note to all you east coasters who try to call me please wait until it's at least 1pm to call me. Don't call me when you first get up because I am not just getting up... on the other hand I probably am up because of the darn roosters! Good Morning (I'm going back to bed)

A new beginning

2010-07-27T11:02:00.008-10:00

This last year or so has been marked by so much change in our family. We welcomed a new member to our family Daluchi Jordan Leialoaha (she came on my birthday).

Brian graduated with his associates degree from HVCC.

We welcomed a new niece/cousin Olivia Anya.

We said goodbyes to many people include the girls great grandfather on the Dawson side Brian's grandpa.
And our biggest change of all was we moved to Hauula, Hawaii, aka Paradise, for Brian to pursue school at BYU-H. A lot of changes you think... I think so...
It's hard to fill in all the gaps as to what we did in between all of these major events because there was a lot that was done, but rest assured the Lord has been with us by our side all throughout these changes.

I hope that now that we are in Hawaii I will be able to find more time to blog about and update the growth of our family... but I will make no promises. The least I can do is take lots of pictures and put my favorites on here for you to enjoy. I really want this to be a way for us to keep in contact with old friends who want to know how we are doing... especially since we are 6 hours behind from NY. If you are curios about anything going on at all with us feel free to comment on our blog and I'll be glad to update you. Enjoy!

It's been a while

2009-02-18T11:24:00.003-10:00

I know I know it's been awhile but i don't even know who reads this blog anyways so I figure it's mostly for my entertainment. Well at leas I have a lot of good excuses to not keep up with the blog for the last couple of months. It's been quite a whirlwind of adventures in the Dawson household so i'll try to recal them one event at a time.

My favorite thing that happened in the month of November was Chioma learning how to walk. Our little 9 month old decided it was time to give up living life on her knees. I'll post a video of that later.

Another highlight in November was spending time with some of my cousins that live in New jersey for Thanksgiving it was a blast there was somewhere between 25 and 35 people that were there inculding a set of triplets that belong to my cousin. There is nothing like spending time with family. Here are some pics for memory sake.

Did you miss us? 8 month Chioma update

2008-10-29T04:12:00.004-10:00

SO the last 2 months have been a blast I wish I could slow down time but it just seems to be picking up speed the older and older Chioma gets. Here are some highlights from September and October.

We went to Vegas for Brian's cousins wedding and Chioma flew on a plane for the first time she was a champ! She only cried on the way home but it was only because she was constipated. She also survived a three hour delay in Richmond VA because our plane ran out of fuel from flying around and not being able to land in NYC. That trip is a whole blog in itself I may get around to it later
Chioma loves to wave bye and says "Hi", "dada", "bye-bye", and something that sounds like "all done." (I'm still working on her learning "mama"
Brian quit his retail job that he's been doing for the last 7 years of his life and traded it in for books at the local community college and his midterm grades are 2 A's and 2 B's (That's after not being in school for 10 years way to go baby!)
Chioma started climbing up stairs and off of the couches.
I'm still working at the same job with the same pay (Albany Medical Center Endo clinic administrative staff) but now I'm the bread winner (scary) budgeting has never been so FUN :)
Brian got 2 tickets a speeding ticket and a cell phone use ticket while driving it was on two different days at the exact same exit (like I said budgeting is fun lol)

That's most of what I remember from the last 2 months that warrants blogging and now for the good stuff here are some pics for memory sake.

Chioma spending quality time with her aunt Susie and aunt Judith it's always a good time with them.

This is when we took Chioma and my nephew Kayson on a nightswim in Vegas Chioma loved it Kayson not so much

Finally this is how she lets me know that she's hungry for real food lol

Chioma would really like to come out and play (notice he drool down the front of her shirt lol)

The Dawson Family at the Enrnestburg/Thompson wedding (Brian's cousin)

Chioma loves following her older boy cousins around above she is insisting that she be let out to play with Cousin Kayson and below she sits with her adorable cousin Ocean

Acting real cool because they are swimming at night those two are such a cute pair.

Chioma waving bye bye as we get ready to take her to the pool

6 months

2008-09-14T14:19:00.009-10:00

Chioma is now six months and is actively crawling, screaming, falling, laughing, and playing. She is so much fun at this stage and she has so much personality we can't keep all of this to ourselves! So I will be nice and share some fun pictures and videos of her and her silly self.

Chioma's new hobby

2008-08-13T14:35:00.000-10:00

For the last 2 weeks our little Chioma has been on the go. It is absolutely amazing to see this little child progress. It all happened one day at church as she watched the older children crawl around her and crawl away from her. She tried earnestly to grab onto one of them and keep them next to her but that was to no avail!! So I guess she decided if you cant beat them then she might as well join them.When we came home that day she started imitating what she saw the "big kids" do. Anyways ever since she started she just won't sit still and it's very entertaining watching her crawl after daddy's remote controls and keys. We thought we had at least a month more before the need to baby proof the home arrived but I guess we were wrong our 5 1/2 month old baby is a genius as is destined to keep her parents busy. Enjoy the videos

Dawson Look-alike Meter

2008-08-05T15:16:00.001-10:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family web sites - Geneology

This is really funny to me because ever since she was born everyone has commented on how she looks just like her father spitting image even. Well HA I guess this proves some people wrong it seems she needs more facial hair in order to look more like Brian... lol. OH well 6% more like me isn't saying very much I mostly think she's a pretty good blend of the 2 of us.

Chioma Jane's week of firsts

2008-08-01T12:42:00.000-10:00

OK so no one wants to play the memories with us game the way they are supposed to so I guess that I'll just post a new blog about our little Chioma's exciting week! So a week ago the poor little child had a runny nose the sneezes and a light cough with a phelgmy (sp) sound to it and I thought OH NO! She caught an ear infection from my friends child who had spent a couple days with her without knowing she had an ear infection. Needless to say being the overprotective new mom I decided it best to keep her away from people for a day or two to recover. At the end of the two days shes she was doing much better but also awoke with a new little friend.

Yes siree she got her first tooth that pushed through and Susie and I fought tooth and nail (ha ha ha) to get these pictures. But she did really well handling her teething, she only woke up in the middle of the night once and stayed up for 2 hours but eventually we were able to put here back to sleep.

With this new development I thought it very appropriate to finally introduce her to solid foods. My preference was to really wait for her to be 6 months but hey the way she's moving and crawling around she might as well be 6 months. Anyways the first feeding was really annoying because she hasn't figured out how to swallow yet without her tongue getting in the way and so it was wayyy messy

Anyways we have been practicing eating rice cereal everyday this week and she has been getting much better. I think next week we'll move on to bananas I know she just can't wait I sure can't!

Memories with us

2008-08-01T12:06:00.000-10:00

Memories with us?
I copied Jenny's post b/c I thought this would be fun

Please play along-b/c that's what makes it so fun :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I or you and Brian had together. It doesn't matter if you knew either of us a little or a lot, anything you remember will be just fine!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Simple steps really-just think about something and comment about it. :) Thanks so much!

Hooray for July Birthdays

2008-07-18T09:00:00.000-10:00

This photo courtesy of my sister Judith aka "J-fast hands" the candles were all lit for less than 3 seconds

So the day after our trip to Palmyra we had a family get together for both Brian and JB since their birthdays are on the 1st and 2nd of July. It was really just an excuse to get together with the family and catch up on old times and laugh and feel loved... and I know that sounds cheesy and corny but it's really what it was.

Telling stories about when we were kids and how Alfred my older brother always got the rest of us in trouble.

The youngest girls on the Ojukwu family side and they all have great smiles!

We went on a walk as a family to get ice cream from upstates New Yorks finest ice cream store STEWARTS!!!! and it was a hot day too so it made the day so much more bearable.

Chioma and Uncle Kenneth staring each other down (both of their stares are very intimidating)

This was such a funny moment because I think sometimes we all want to do this to Alfred because occasionally he talks too much... but Chioma was so entertained by her cousin Aiyanna.

A big shout out to all our friends and family with July birthdays! Wish we could celebrate with all of you! (Ashley this means you too and thanks for the friendly reminder to blog more)

Hill Cumorah Pageant

2008-07-17T03:26:00.000-10:00

The Hill Cumorah and its stage

Last week we were so lucky to go as a family to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY. We had such a great time while were there. We first picked up Susie from Young Women's camp. Then saw a bunch of church historical sites like the Smith family log cabin and barn, the location of the first BOM printing press, and our favorite the Sacred Grove. We had a great time watching the pageant in the very front row on the grass. And it was a really great time to bond as a family not in front of a TV lol.

This was on our tour of the church history sites we love the temple peeking through the trees in the background.

Sitting in the Sacred Grove and Brian and Susie in a tree in the Grove

On the Palmyra Temple grounds.

Our front row seats as you can see Chioma was very excited.

The last 4 months

2008-06-24T00:41:00.000-10:00

Our baby CJ is 4 months old today and in the last four months she has grown up so much. I work full time so just haven't had as much time as I would like to show off all her new skills she has gained and all the fun she's had. So let me catch you up on her short but eventful life.

She's celebrated Michael Jackson's 25th anniversary Thriller album

She's learned to be tough even when people tease her about her pants being pulled up really high

She's realized that her mom is the coolest woman she knows that was the same day she received her baby blessing surprisingly enough.

She's hung out with her cooler older cousin Kayson.

She's learned to stick her tongue out at people

She's tiptoed through the tulips with her aunt Susie

And most recently she's begun to sit up on her own and roll over not sure what she she has in mind to do next but I'm sure it will be big!

Flashback Friday:)

2008-06-20T07:36:00.000-10:00

After checking out some other people's blogs I found some cool ideas for writing topics. One idea I especially liked was Flashback Friday. I'm not promising that this will be a recurring thing for our blog but I thought that this Friday would be an appropriate Friday for walking down memory lane, especially since our 3 year anniversary is coming up on the 24th of this month.

I am so grateful to be married to my hubby for so many reasons... 1) because he's so much fun 2) I never have to worry about finding a date for friday night. 3) He always tells me what happened at the end of the movie if I fall asleep 4) He takes every opportunity he can to tell me how much he loves me.... and many many more. Below are just some flashback pictures of our dating and engagement days

Well that last picture was actually on our wedding day. The last 3 years have been so much fun, I never want to go back to the single life again.

We're alive

2008-06-13T09:11:00.000-10:00

Ok so I know its been a while but we are still here and I really do try to blog more frequent I have like 3 blogs that are still in draft form that I never got around to finishing so I'm going to do this again and hopefully it makes the cut. Our
family is growing like weeds. Especially Chioma! she now weighs 13 lbs and is 24 inches long. That's in the 73rd percentile for her height. I thought she was looking kind of long when her dresses were barely covering her diaper. But we all know that MODEST is the hottest. lol. SO I packed up those dresses to hopefully be used again in the future. Here are some up to date pictures of her from last weekends graduation for my little brother Lars.

This picture was Brian's way of getting Chioma in the picture with Lar's and his niece's without waking her up. So funny!

And then there were three...

2008-02-28T04:23:00.000-10:00

Announcing Chioma Jane Iwalani (CJ). She entered the world on 2/24/08 at 4:11 am weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. The battle was long but we were victorious!

Patience what a virtue!

2008-02-13T10:25:00.000-10:00

SO tomorrow is my big due date. and for those who don't know I am still working. I couldn't bring myself to wait around at home for nothing (or something) to happen. The hardest part about this decision is constantly being bombarded by EVERYONE about my going into labor. It's kind of put me on edge... and I really want to snap at everyone who is telling me what I should or should not do in regards to my own body and the self induction of labor.

With that said I have found myself pondering on a daily basis this great virtue known as patience. I'm definately no expert at patience, but I realized that our lives will forever be challenged (especially with a new baby) to develop this talent (and it is a talent). I found some quotes on patience that helped me realize that others before me may have had the same thought process as myself. This helps me to better incorporate patience into my life. It's nice to know that I am not the only one that faces the challenge of developing patience... and if all else fails I can always remind myself that no pregnancy lasts forever!!! HALLEJUAH!! Enjoy the quotes.

“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.”
-Stacey Charter

"The patience of a mother might be likened to a tube of toothpaste - it's never quite all gone”

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

“There are nine requisites for contented living: HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure; WEALTH enough to support your needs; STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them; GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them; PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished; CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor; LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; FAITH enough to make real the things of God; HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

“Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit.”
-Turkish Proverb

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” -Arnold H. Glasgow

more pics from the shower

2008-01-17T09:43:00.000-10:00

There's still a ton of pictures from the shower that I love. I just had to add a few more to the
blog.

My younger siblings are so cute it seems as though they have their own secret language that I was never informed about so don't ask me what they are doing. Even my friends daughter between them looks confused.

Below are all the handmade party favors that my very crafty friend Trina created she's so good at what she does!!!

I love this picture of me and my siblings (even though one of my older brothers is missing) It's such an exciting time in my family's life and it's great to have such a strong support system all around me!

My sister came up with some cool word search and baby word scramble games. They had me and the rest of the guests boggled at some of the answers. And anyone who sat in the area pictured at the bottom left hand corner pictured would automatically win any game that was played. All in all it was quite party and I would definately do this all over again!

OH BABY

2008-01-15T06:15:00.000-10:00

Brian want to thank everyone that has been supporting us throughout the last 9 months.
Last weekend we had our very first baby shower and it was loads of fun. My sister Judith planned it and she's not very big on planning. But I'm proud to say that she did an amazing job. It was a good time with family and close friends and I have the pictures to prove it.

The kids all thought it was a party for them it was so much fun having them all around. In case your wondering there were 7 and a half kids in this picture.

No one is quite sure what Alfred is doing but it was very entertaining at the time.

This game was the guess how wide around I am game. I can't believe the nerve of some people everyone went way overboard with the string except for Nicky, Seqouia and Sarah women that I truly love ha ha ha!!

This game was so much fun you had a baby clothespin and if someone overheard you say the word "baby" then they could steal it from you at the end of the party the one with the most clothespins won. He was very upset that all his clothespins that he collected were now being reposessed by Nicky nice try Will!

seven things

2007-11-30T10:16:00.000-10:00

Yay I've been tagged in something called seven things by RJ so i think I'm supposed to tell seven things about me Seven Things! here are the rules.
1. Share seven random facts about yourself, in your blog.2. Include these rules.3. Link back to the person who tagged you.4. Tag seven more people and list their names & blogs. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged. Here it goes...

I'm obsessed with everything associated with babies but I have not bought a single thing to prepare for the upcoming birth of my child nor figured out anything ab0ut her nursery and what it should look like

I'm excited for christmas in NY this winter cause hopefully we'll get real snow as opposed to sleet rain like in TN last winter

I want a nice set of measuring spoons for christmas and Brian wants a new 50 inch flat screen TV and I think that it's perfectly ok... (that doesn't mean he's getting it of course)

I miss college now not for the classes but for the losing contact with so many cool people...it's really an emotional subject for me

I LOVE MOTAB!!!! I could listen to them nonstop but Brian thinks it maybe harmful for the baby to listen to it as much as I do...lol (MOTAB=Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
I wish I knew how to crochet or knit I admire women who can spend hours with string and create masterpieces!!
I've become a couch potato during this pregnancy and I absolutely love it!!! (NO regrets for now at least)

I don't know very many other bloggers so I'm going to suggest that everyone that reads this blog feel free to tell 7 things about yourself and then leave me a comment telling me you did it so I can read all about you! Thanks RJ for the tag http://goodhale.blogspot.com/

Hypochondra Momma

2007-11-08T12:50:00.000-10:00

OK so it's official I am a hypochondra momma. For those of you wondering what that is it's a first time pregnant woman who thinks anything is a sign of something going wrong. (Sad I know). So this week the problem was I couldn't feel our unborn child's movement as well as I would have liked to. Last week her movement was quick paced, erratic and extremely constant. It was so annoying i felt like she wanted to kick and punch her way out. But then Sunday rolled around and it was like a complete 180 I couldn't feel her movements at all. I drank warm milk, jiggled my belly, laid still on my back after eating, and the response if any was sluggish. I immediately panicked and started reading everything I could on fetal movement. Poor Brian did everything he could to ease my fears but what does he know about carrying a baby right???? Oh well so that he wouldn't have to deal with me staying awake all night poking and prodding at my belly he urged me to call the doctors and she had me come in the following day to make sure everything was ok. During the ultrasound baby was just as active as she was the week before up to her normal kicking and punching and there was nothing that they could find that was wrong with her. Apparently she needs her resting time just as much as her mother and father do. Who would've thought that???? Certainly not hypochondra momma... OH well at least I got some more cool ultrasound pics from the visit!

Red Sox Insanity/Infatuation

2007-10-25T13:47:00.000-10:00

This last week has been quite exciting for the Dawson family. Brian felt the baby kick for the first time, our living room walls have finally been painted, and the Redsox are playing in the World Series for the second time in 4 years, with homefield advantage!!! Soooo naturally our vacaction before the baby is born was planned to take place in Boston. Unfortunately we didn't plan to purchase tickets at 700 bucks a piece so we spent what we could on redsox gear for ourselves. I almost felt guilty but then I saw how cute Brian and I looked in the clothing and I couldn't resist! It took everything I had to resist purchasing redsox baby gear as well. I know the day will come when she'll have all the redsox paraphenalia she can stand.

The living room color was also changed by us. I picked out the color and Brian primed and painted it all so thus "WE" painted our living room... Brian's response "What is all this 'we' business?" I approved it all and he got dressed in painting clothes and used his manly muscles to get the job done so "WE" did it lol... anyways it turned out a lot nicer than we expected.

Lastly our little girl has finally gotten strong enough to be felt by the outside world... Susan, my little sister, got to feel her first. Naturally Brian wasn't to excited that he wasn't the first but when he finally did he forgot all his worries and was so excited that he called his mom to tell her that he felt his child kick... go BABY!!!

Now can you guess of all those events the one that drew the most tears for Brian??? If you guessed not having tickets to the world series game you guessed absolutely right!!! I love my Husband no one could EVER take his place!

Inspiration

2007-10-10T07:14:00.000-10:00

I don't know what to call this so for now it will be inspiration. I think blogging is really dumb but I realized that it isn't just for me I guess. family and friends who love us but are just too lazy to call us are still interested in what's going on in our lives and so why not make it easy for them to find out??? Thus the beginning of the Dawson family blog. I came to this conclusion after realizing that a good friend of mine was pregnant at the same time as me which is so cool but I didn't call her to find out because I am so lazy but I read her blog and discovered this!!!!! So for those who may wonder about us (meaning Brian, myself and our future unnamed baby girl) there will be answers to your question of "I wonder what the Dawsons are up to?"