The Zorio's Are Moving

A few months ago John interviewed for and got a different position with the company he already works for, and that new position is in Knoxville!  So the past few months have been busy with attempting to sell our house and plan for our move. 

We are excited to move closer to family, but we are going to miss all of the wonderful friends we have made in Alabama.  When we moved to Huntsville four and a half years ago, I never thought I would enjoy living there so much or make such wonderful friends!  We have gone through many major life experiences with all our Alabama friends-being newlyweds and starting families all around the same time.  We are going to miss you all, but please come to visit us in Knoxville!

As the move drew closer and we started packing boxes, Dawson had about a million questions a day.  Were we taking his bed?  His covers?  The bathtub?  The ceiling fan?  The toys?  This toy?  That toy? And on and on, I assured him everything was going with us to Tennessee, and said, "Don't worry!"  This is one of his favorite things to tell me, John, and Bentley now.  We will be doing something and he'll randomly say, "Don't worry!"  So sweet!  We told him a big truck would be coming to take all our things to Tennessee, and he was so excited about seeing the truck.  He talked about it for weeks before the move! 

When it was finally time to get serious about packing some of our wonderful Huntsville friends helped by either watching Dawson while we packed (thanks, Stephanie!) or helping us pack (thanks, Kelly!)  for several hours and what a help this was! 

When the moving truck finally arrived we had everything packed (a task that sounds much easier now as I write about it than it actually was to complete the packing) and ready to be loaded.

Now we're attempting to get settled in Knoxville as John prepares for his first day in his new position which begins in about a week and a half.  Dawson likes the house because he can see the lake in front and behind our house-and he asks to swim in it every day (of course, it's WAAAAY too cold!).  Every day when he talks about the lake it makes him think about going to Lake Martin with his friends Jude and Jasper in September.  He has asked us every single day if Jude, Jasper, and Tessa (their dog), is at "Dawson's lake."  I can't wait for Dawson to make some friends here because he's already missing all his friends and talking about them a lot.  Yesterday we put pictures on the fridge of all his friends, and he was thrilled to talk about each friend!   

He also likes the house because we have seen a lot of deer around it.  Yesterday morning there were 4 deer less than 10 feet from the front porch.  Dawson (and Bentley) went crazy, and they prompty scared the deer away.  Since then Bentley has taken a permanent spot by the front window attempting to guard the house against deer, squirrels, and in general, anything that moves.  :)  Dawson has told everyone there were, "Four REINDEER in mine yard.  I want to catch them!!"  :) 

He also likes the house because he gets to sleep in what he calls "a big, big bed."  Last January we moved him from his crib to the toddler bed (which he called his "big boy bed") when he starting climbing over the side and out of the crib.  When we moved to Knoxville, we decided he was ready to sleep in a twin bed (with side rails).  He came up with the name, "big, big bed."  Silly boy!  He loves it, and has been sleeping later than normal each morning, which I love!  :)

We're still attempting to get settled and unpacked, but as we do there will be more updates to come.  As for now, enjoy the pictures below...

Our last family picture in front of our first home. 

We have so many wonderful memories here that it

was really sad to leave it!  :(

(Dawson insisted on wearing his rain boots this

sunny day as you can see in the pictures...not to mention

they were on the wrong feet!)

Family photo in front of some of our

boxes in the garage.

Look how little Dawson looks standing beside

our big moving truck!

Dawson was so excited to see the moving

truck that he had waited on for weeks!

He wanted a picture taken beside the wheel!

After the truck was unloaded, Dawson and

Daddy snuck in the truck for a quick picture!

(Dawson always has to be just like Daddy,

so when Daddy squatted down for the picture,

so did Dawson!)

Dawson's first night in his "big, big bed!"

Look how happy he is!

View of the lake from the front porch.

It's been cold here, and Dawson was

excited to get to wear his gloves.

After we put them on, he requested

we take his picture.

Dawson has enjoyed all the extra attention

he has gotten from family.  Here are Dawson

and Cousin Drew at Aubrey's Restaurant. 

Unfortunately, when I got out the camera

Dawson decided to show off his trick of

hanging a spoon from his nose...

such good manners!

Far away view of the house.

Close up view of the house.

Dawson was thrilled to unpack the

Tennessee gnome he got for Christmas.

So we have a gnome on our porch.  :)

Our Pea in the Pod: Carter at 26 Weeks

We are now 26 weeks along with Carter!  I can't believe how this pregnancy is flying by; it's unreal!  He is growing well (if you can't tell from the pictures below!), and he is very active!  I remember feeling like Dawson moved constantly when I was pregnant with him, but I think Carter may be trying to out do his big brother already.  :)

At 24 weeks we got to have another ultrasound, and things still looked good!  They said that he seemed to be very healthy and growing well.  The ultrasound technician was amazed at how active Carter was too!  At the beginning of the ultrasound he was head up and by the end he was back to his favorite head down position.  It took several attempts to get a lot of the measurements of his bones because he would make big movements as she tried to freeze the frame to be able to measure. 

This ultrasound was a especially meaningful because Dawson got to come!!  I was so thrilled to take him with us, and we had talked about it for days leading up to the ultrasound.  Dawson couldn't wait to go see his brother-he kept talking about it and asking questions leading up to the appointment.  Dawson was wonderful during the entire ultrasound, and his very favorite part was getting to see Carter's face for a long time.  He also liked getting to see and hear Carter's heart.  Dawson is already such a great big brother to Carter!

Enjoy the pictures below...

23 Weeks Pregnant with Carter

Dawson wanted to be in one of the 

23 week pictures too!

24 Weeks Pregnant with Carter

25 Weeks Pregnant with Carter

26 Weeks Pregnant with Carter

Another "it's a boy" ultrasound picture.

He's obviously not very modest at all because

at every ultrasound they have been able to tell

the gender immediately!

Our sweet Carter's profile!

The things that look like bubbles above him

are actually part of the umbilical cord.

Carter's legs and ankles.

Interestingly when they took all the measurements

from the ultrasound every body part on Carter measured

a few weeks ahead...EXCEPT his legs which measured

right where they were supposed to be.  So either

he's going to have short legs or his legs are about

to hit a growth spurt.  I thought this was funny because

Dawson has always been in a high percentile (around the 90th)

for height.

Carter's sweet feet.

His little toes looked so long!

Another picture of his feet!

Carter's nose and lips.

Carter's face.  This was the favorite

part of the ultrasound for Dawson-getting to look

at Carter's face.

A Very Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! 

We began by starting our Christmas cooking a few days before Christmas.  In the picture above you can see Dawson using his Melissa and Doug mallet to help crush Nutter Butter cookies to make Nutter Butter Bark.  He's so resourceful!  :)  Dawson LOVES to help me in the kitchen so he was thrilled to help me make a few new recipes, and he helped for over an hour before he lost interest!

We began our festivities by traveling to Tennessee on Christmas Eve.  We arrived early in the afternoon, and Dawson's Uncle Logan gave him his gift early.  Here Dawson is with the BIG gift!  He was thrilled!

It was hard to unwrap!

YAY!  Dawson loves it!  Uncle Logan did a great job shopping for Dawson.  He loves his masculine kitchen!  No pink in this kitchen-just brown and green! 

Christmas Eve night we went to my Aunt Janice's house for the traditional Wade Christmas Eve Gathering.  Dawson kept asking if it was a birthday party and saying he was so excited!  We told him it was a birthday party for Jesus.  The photo above and the one below is of the kids at the gathering.  Left to right:  Dawson, Ashton, Josie, Eli, and Corbin.  Dawson and Corbin are only 2 months apart, and Dawson has talked about Corbin several times since Christmas Eve.

One more picture of the kids lined up.  It's hard to get 5 kids all looking at the same time!

All the kids got several gifts to open.  Here Dawson is tearing into one of them!  Then the adults played our usual game of Dirty Santa, which always makes for a good time!

Dawson was excited about the cars he got!

(Also, notice he's wearing the Christmas bow tie I made for him.  When we put it on him, he asked if we were going to church! Hah!)

Christmas morning we woke up at Lolly and Pop's house.  On top of all of Dawson's presents there was a box of gummies (his favorite!), he was thrilled with this gift alone.  Not to mention when we got to Nana and Grandad's he got ANOTHER box of gummies...I think his grandparents really know what he likes!  :)

After getting over the excitement from the gummies, Dawson got to open his bigger presents.  Check out all these Thomas the Trains he got.  Thanks, Lolly and Pop-we will never have to buy another train.  Dawson's recent favorite has become Percy, and we've even learned of some trains we had never heard of before.  John and I are excited to use our gift from Lolly and Pop in the next couple of weeks-we got a trip to Harrah's Casino in Cherokee, North Carolina plus childcare by Lolly and Pop for Dawson (and Bentley) while we're gone!  We all had fun exchanging gifts Christmas morning!

After exchanging gifts with Lolly, Pop, and Uncle Logan, we headed next door to Jeannie's house for our traditional gift exchange and mimosas (just orange juice for me and Carter this year!).  The picture above was Dawson on the walk to Jeannie's.  His hat says, "Santa's Helper," and he was VERY interested in this birdbath.  We just thought it was sweet of him standing on his tip toes looking in the bird bath.

After Jeannie's, we walked back to Lolly and Pop's house for a get together with Lolly's side of the family.  Here Dawson is with his great Mamaw!  Dawson and Carter are the youngest great grandchildren all of which are boys!  It was great to see everyone, but we were unable to stay too long because we had another Christmas gathering to attend. 

Next we went to Nana and Grandad's house.  We ate a yummy lunch and visited with everyone.  In the picture above Dawson and Jared are opening some gifts!

Tearing into his Aqua Doodle which he loves!  He has fun doing anything art or writing related so this was right up his alley.

Dawson also loved his chain saw from Nana and Grandad.

And he was quick to find a wall in their house that he thought needed repairs!  :)  I think almost everything has been "chain sawwed" since he got it!  He even pretended to give me a hair cut with it the other day! 

Aunt Emmie gave Dawson a pillow pet turtle.  Dawson LOVES his pillow pets.  Since the one he has to sleep with every night is a panda pillow pet, he calls all pillow pets pandas.  He also has a dog pillow pet at home which he calls "panda doggie."  Aunt Emmie was hoping he would see the turtle and call it Mike the Turtle.  :)  When she asked if it was Mike the Turtle he said, "No, it's panda turtle."  Oh my!  He loves that panda turtle though!  She also gave us a University of Tennessee Garden Gnome, and I wish I had on video how excited Dawson was when he opened that gift!  He cannot wait to put it outside.  Thanks, Em!  :)

On Christmas night we drove back home to Alabama.  We had planned that Dawson would sleep in the car since we wouldn't get home until 11pm, but he stayed awake talking about Christmas the entire foggy drive home.  Santa visited our house on Christmas night, and we awoke the next morning to open gifts on "our Christmas." 

Dawson immediately went to open his largest present first!

I think this was the gift we were most excited to give Dawson.  He turns every stick into a pretend weedeater, so we thought a real weedeater would be perfect.  He loved it!

We also gave Dawson his first game for Christmas.  He loves playing Don't Break the Ice!  Here are Daddy and Dawson playing for the first time.

Dawson also got some army men.  I'm pretty sure my former co-workers at Hawk would be happy about this gift!  :)

AND FINALLY...the last package Dawson opened was the only thing he had really asked for....SUCKERS!  Every time someone had asked Dawson what he wanted Santa to bring him, his response was, "SUCKERS!"  When Dawson opened the last box and saw that it was a bag of 600 dum dums the picture above was his reaction!  He held up a sucker and jumped up and down!  We loved watching how excited he got over the smallest gift!

Here is an action shot of him jumping around holding one of his many suckers in his hand.  He was thrilled!

After all the gifts were opened we assembled this construction site he got.

It has trains and dumptrucks...perfect for Dawson!

Playing with Christmas toys.

Dawson showing off his Christmas pajamas that have a cute little reindeer on the side!

One of Dawson's stocking stuffers was the capsules that expland into shapes and animals when put in warm water.  He thought these were the coolest thing!  Here he is watching the first couple "grow."

The first one grew into a lobster!

Dawson was excited about the rain boots we got him and insisted on wearing them over his footed pajamas...it's a good look for him, I think!  :)

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!