Hurricane Alex

I love this picture.  It captures the personality, energy, and full motion that is Alex David Lawhorn.  I remember way back when Brady was one.  We looked into that crystal ball of ours and used what we thought was pretty solid logic:  If it took two years to get pregnant with Brady then we better start trying now for a second child and that should put us on pace to have #2 when Brady was about 3 or 4.  By then we would be pro's in this parenting "thing", right?  Well two months later we were dealing with morning sickness and getting the house ready for another little one.  Didn't I say earlier that God likes to teach us that we are on his schedule and not the other way around?  Maybe one day we will realize that is the truth :)

It was during Emily's pregnancy with Alex that we made the bold decision to pack up and move to Nashville to take advantage of an opportunity to take another position with Blue Bell that had just opened up.  We prayed and prayed and finally decided that it was the right move for us as a family.  It was very exciting to think of starting fresh in a new area, but for some strange reason, our parents did not share in that excitement as much as we did when we told them the news.  I am pretty sure we will have our turn to go through that one day, too.  

This was a tough time for us.  Pregnant in a two bedroom Nashville apartment with a one year old while waiting for our house to be built was not exactly how Emily thought she would be spending 2006.  It was at this time that Brady had his foot surgery so it made the living arrangements even more "challenging".  We got by, though, as a family.  It is special when you realize you are on your own without the luxury of calling your parents to help out with the kids.  Not special in a good way, all the time, but special in the way of being on the same page and realizing that we would need to depend on each other to get by.  There were some very trying nights during the first two years here, but it allowed us to develop a deeper faith in both God and each other.  This is something I would not trade for anything.

Now, if we thought the apartment was a challenge with the three of us, we had no idea how it would be to bring a newborn home to an apartment with neighbors above, below, left and right of us.  Those walls were fairly soundproof, but even they were no match for Alex when he got hungry.  That squeaky little voice demanded attention and we did our best to give it to him.  It amazed me how quickly we forgot some little tricks we used with Brady.  We would struggle through feedings, teething, etc and then a couple of weeks into it finally remember how we took care of the situation with Brady.  Poor Alex could have saved a few vocal cords if we would have taken better notes.  Who knew we needed to treat parenting like a Humanities class? 

The first thing that somebody usually notices about Alex is his eyes and animated facial expressions.  He has always had energy just exploding out of his face and I hope he always does.  He is almost 5 now which is ridiculously hard to believe.  It seems he has always been here, yet at the same time I am not ready for him to become a "big boy".  He is as fast as a lightning bolt and at times can cause the same amount of damage.  Even during his "excitement" phases, you can still hear him following in Brady's footsteps of being courteous and caring about others, always willing to help and check on his friends.  He is a wonderful little friend to me and I praise God for evidently thinking that Emily and I were going to struggle as parents so he gave us two kids that had a lot of "good" already built into them.  

One recent example of Alex at his finest... We were spending our first big family vacation at Disney World and the boys signed up for the "Jedi Training" class.  During this class, Storm Troopers come running out and Darth Vader appears and wants to challenge the kids to a light saber dual.  Alex was not sure what to think of this and I was smiling as I watched him eyeball Vader from the group of kids awaiting his turn to fight.  He was very serious and it was at that point that I began to fear for Vader's life (or at least based on the height disparity I was hoping that old Vader had invested in another piece of protective equipment commonly used in baseball).  When Alex walked up to his spot to take him on, Darth Vader told him that he should join him on the "Dark Side".  The instructor asked Alex what he should say and Alex replied, "Noooooo!".  She told him to say it again, and with an intensity that is all Alex, he shouted, "NOOOOOOOOOO!" and the dual was on!  Later that night on the bus ride back to the hotel, I asked him if he was scared to fight Darth Vader.  Alex looked down and said he was, but then looked up into my eyes and said, "but I knew I would be okay because I had God on my side".  They say Disney World is the happiest place on Earth but I have to tell you that on that night, that single, dark bus was the happiest place on Earth to me.  

I love you Alex - don't ever lose your personality or energy - it makes you who you are and that is very special.