Roman's Dedication, 1st Easter, the gender reveal of his new cousin, and My 1st Mothers Day!

A lot has happened in the last month! We have been busy, and we've had a blast letting Roman "see the world" and take him out of the house FINALLY! This Mother's Day we got to dedicate Roman to the Lord in front of our church. The last time I was on that stage I was telling my testimony after finding out that I was pregnant with twins. It was kinda surreal standing up there again, now with Roman in my arms and Kaiya in Heaven. Our preacher mentioned that Roman had a twin sister who is now in Heaven. It was very important to me that Kaiya be mentioned, because I had always envisioned her on that stage with us. Not only did we dedicate Roman to the Lord but Kaiya was already dedicated to the Lord and is in His arms. I held back the tears on stage.

One of the greatest responsibilites we have as parents is helping shape Roman's character. What we say and do, how we live our lives will model character to him. I believe sitting down with him later and having conversations with him about his character will even be more important. He needs to know that the person he becomes is more important than what career or what he does. He won't take his career into heaven, but he will take his character. "It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for...part of the overall purpose he is working out in everthing and everyone" Ephesians 1:11 "In your lives you must think and act like Jesus Christ" Phillipians 2:5. When we do this we are preparing our character for eternity in heaven. So my goal is to teach Roman that this life is preparation for the next. It's the "get ready stage". Our time here on earth with its good times and challenging times is where we learn all of the lessons that grow us up in character to become more like Christ. It's the time that matures us spiritually so when we get to heaven we aren't spiritual babies. I want Roman to know that life is not always easy, and that he will be tested. Every year of school, his career, his marriage, and parenting his own children he will be tested. Every situation he encounters in life, good or bad, will be a character-building opportunity.

In front of our family and church while holding Roman we dedicated and committed ourselves as his Mother and Father that in order for him to walk in the abundant life that Christ offers, we promise by God's help and in partnership with our church, to provide him a Christian home of love and peace, and to raise him in the truth of our Lord's instruction and discipline, and to encourage him to one day trust Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. What a PERFECT first Mother's Day!!!!

After church my sister and brother in law came over for some swim time while the guys watched the Maverick game.

My mom and Roman at church

We all went to lunch after church as a family

These shots were taken as part of our "Coker" Easter. We bought matching Easter outfits for Elijah and Roman :)







Roman loves to walk when you hold his hands!


How am I ever going to say "No" to this face?!





















Haley is always so sweet to Roxi when no one else wants to be :)



















At our first church service together on Mothers Day :)













































All 4 grandchildren including Haley's baby in her belly!!!

















































I've added and rearranged the nursery some so here are some updated pictures of it! I think it is so awesome that I have Roman and Kaiya's embryo pictures. The frame I have them in reads "Before you were concieved I wanted you, before you were born I loved you, before you were here an hour I would die for you, this is the miracle of love.







Check out all of Roman's hats!!













Haley had an awesome Gender Reveal party!!! They found out earlier that day and in this picture she knows but we don't know yet....

Aydia was holding out for a Girl, but the video revealed that it is a....

BOY!!!!!!!! I was wrong! Grady Christopher Dodson will be here in October!!!! We are thrilled!!!!!





Roman is so excited to have a boy cousin that will be so close to him in age!

His 8 month pictures!







Since taking Roman out of the house he has caught 2 colds, 1 sore throat and 1 ear infection. This picture was taken at the 2nd trip to the Dr. You can see he doesn't feel good, but he's still smilin'!

This is Elijah when he was Roman's age. Looks like Roman doesn't it?



We took Roman to my mom's horse barn and it was his 1st time to see and get on a horse!!!

























I love his fat little belly poking out here!













He was fine for a while and even got on him, then he got terrified and it was so sad but funny!































Roman has so far had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avacado, bananas, rice cereal, and oatmeal and has loved it all!!I am making his food at home with a food processor and so far its been really easy!

Check out them cheecks!!!

I put on a bow on him to see if he could pass for a girl....I don't think so!!! He'll kill me later for this!





Kaiya's photographer got us this gift. Its an ipad cover!!! I Love it!!!!





Check out our eyebrows! They are identical! I was 9 months in this picture. If Roman has the same attitude I had as a little girl, then we're in trouble!!!



Him doing the "Legend" stance





Aunt Toto got to come visit! Roman LOVES Aunt Toto :)

My friend texted me this picture of Roman she found on her phone. I can't believe that is my baby. Look at the purple pacifier in the picture. This is a mini pacifier. Its about half the size of a regular pacifier...CRAZY!



Roman has urinary reflux grade 3. This is actually a pretty common diagnosis that alot of people have and don't even know it. We have him monitored every few months to see if it has gotten any worse or better. He is at high risk for urninary track infections so we have him on a daily antibiotic to help prevent this. His urologist wanted to rule out that there was no blockage in his kidneys that was causing his hydronephrosis so he had to have a renal scan at Cooks Childrens Hospital. Doesn't sound bad right? Well it was!!! We knew he was going to have to be awake for the procedure and was going to have to have an iv and a cathedar :( We dreaded this day so much! That morning Roman was so happy and had no idea what was coming his way :(

This is him and daddy in the waiting room. He loves to grab our face and give us kisses



This is him with his gown on. Still a happy boy...

This is during the hour long procedure that he had to stay still for. He did so good!

They had to stick him 3 times to get his iv to take!!!! It was torture!!! He was screaming and I was crying. They finally got it in one of his arms after trying the other arm and anckle. We almost just took him and left!

This was taken after everything was done and you can see he is emotionally drained as well as I am. It turned out there is no blockage. Praise God!!!





Roman sat up on his own!!!! This is the picture of him sitting up for the very first time!!!! I got it on camera :) He was so proud of himself!!

He loves sleeping with his doggy :)















His shirt reads "Dude your wife keeps checking me out" :)





Sleepy head!













This is a picture of our sweet Roxi who is 12 years old! She still "sits pretty" even though she can only walk on 3 legs after hbeing hit by a car when she was 3 years old.



The Pierson family is loving life!!!!