On the Road Again

Just like last week, this Tuesday John, Dawson, Bentley, and I loaded in the car for another road trip to Tennessee. For not having driven up since July, we went two weeks back to back this month! After getting in town on Tuesday we helped my brother, Logan, celebrate his 16th birthday! We had dinner at Aubreys (our favorite restaurant in Maryville and where our rehearsal dinner was hosted) which was great, as always. Logan passed his test like we knew he would, and is now a licensed driver! Congratulations to Logan! After dinner we had birthday cake to celebrate!
On Wednesday we just visited with familyand did some cooking for Thanksgiving.
Then Thursday was Thanksgiving and my birthday! We celebrated Thanksgiving twice at lunch and once at dinner. Although it is usually hectic going from house to house, this year wasn't bad, and more than anything, we are thankful to have family with whom we celebrate! We got to ee my newest cousin, Josie, who is adorable! We also go to see Corbin, my cousin's son, who is 2 months older than Dawson. He is a cutie too! It was great to see a lot of family members we don't get to visit on a regular basis.
That night we also had a delicious birthday cake (strawberry cake with strawberry icing-yum!) to celebrate my birthday. John's mom baked mine and Logan's birthday cakes this year, and they were great! My parents kept Dawson that night while John and I went to see a late movie. It was nice to get to go out on a date, especially on my birthday! We saw Couples Retreat which we thought was pretty funny.
This morning we got up, packed the car up, and drove back to Huntsville after saying our goodbyes. In the car on the way home I was excited to have some relaxing time to start reading Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, that I have been wanting to read and that John got me as one of my birthday gifts! It's really good so far, as I got to read a good amount while Dawson was taking a little nap in the car.
We are so glad we got to see a lot of our friends and family in the past two weeks, but now we're looking forward to spending the upcoming week at home (hopefully decorating for Christmas)! We hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Above: Dawson in his walker, still in reverse, while we

were packing for Tennessee.

Above: The guys! Dawson, Logan, and John at Aubreys.

Above: Dawson with his Lolly and Pop at Logan's
birthday dinner.

Above: The night before my birthday, Dawson

gave me his gift early, and Bentley had to

get in the picture too!

Above: Our family on Thanksgiving Day (and my

birthday).

Above: Dawson on Mamaw's (his great

grandmother) lap on Thanksgiving.

Above: Me and Mamaw on Thanksgiving.

Above: John and Eric with the little boys.

(Dawson kept reaching out to touch Corbin as

you can see in the picture!)

Above: Dawson with his "Baby's First Thanksgiving" bib

ready to eat his Thanksgiving dinner of

squash and sweet potatoes.

Above: Corbin (left) and Dawson (right) through the side

of the Pack N Play during Thanksgiving dinner. They

were pretty entertained by each other!

Above: My birthday cake!

Tennessee Trip

We just got back from spending a few days in Tennessee. Although we will be going to visit again soon for the holidays, we decided to drive up for a visit and to help Mamaw celebrate her 80th birthday.
On Tuesday morning we got up early and packed up to start the drive. We hadn't been up to visit since July with Dawson was only two months old, and this drive was much different. At two months old, he slept almost the entire trip, however this time he stayed awake the whole trip. He was happy though. He played, looked out the window, talked, and tried to grab Bentley's ears (we made her ride in the seat beside him so it would provide him some entertainment).
Tuesday evening we went to Mamaw's surprise 80th birthday party. She had a great time, was surprised by the party, and surprised that we were in town. It was a lot of fun and several friends and family members who had not met Dawson before got to see him.
On Wednesday we met our newly engaged friends, Jeff and AT, for lunch which was great fun! We got to catch up, hear about all of their exciting wedding plans (even more exciting because John is in the wedding), and they got to see Dawson eat his oatmeal for lunch which is entertainment in itself. After lunch we did a little shopping at Turkey Creek which we were excited to see is even more developed since a couple of years ago when we were out there last.
Thursday John got to play golf with his Dad at Rarity Bay. That evening Dawson and I went to visit Steph in Knoxville. She cooked some great pizza for dinner, and we had fun catching up and watching her Yorkie, Bear, react to Dawson. Stephanie drove all the way down to see Dawson when he was only three days old in the hospital, she saw him in July, but hadn't seen him since, and he's changed a lot. We had a lot of fun, just hanging out like old times!
We also had fun seeing family while we were in town and plan to do more of that while we're in for the holidays. Unfortunately we didn't do a good job taking pictures on this trip, so I only have a couple to share with you all. Enjoy!

One of Mamaw's birthday cakes.

(It was made by John'sMom's new bakery in

Maryville, Something Savory.)

Dawson with his Auntie Steph.
(I was impressed that she was already
decorated for Christmas!)

6th Month Update

I had typed this and attempted to post it to our blog last Saturday, November 14th, but it did not upload for some reason. Some of the information, of course, is dated to last week, but here's attempt two.

It's hard to believe, but Dawson is six months old today! All the sudden he is able to do so many new things. A couple of weeks ago Dawson said "Ma ma" for the first time. John and I were so surprised that we thought it was accidental in the middle of all of his baby babble. We decided for this to count as his first word he would have to say it a few more times. Over the past few weeks he has said it several more times along with "da da" now too! We are so excited! Of course, he doesn't say it when we want him to or when we're trying to get him to say the words, but that just makes it that much more exciting when he does decide to surprise us with the words. He doesn't know who Mama or Dada are, but it's still sweet.
Also, a new thing for Dawson is sitting up on his own. Now he can sit for a good amount of time without anyone or anything supporting him.
We decided this past week that Dawson was ready to play in a baby walker, and he loves being able to move around the house. At this point he can only go in reverse instead of walking forward, but it's so funny!
Dawson's six month check up was Tuesday. He weighs 17 pounds 11 ounces and was around the 75th percentile for all of the measurements they took. Unfortunately he had to get four shots, but after a nap and infant Tylenol he was fine. We don't have to take him back until he is nine months old which seems like forever away, but I know it will come sooner than we realize. We really like Dawson's doctor and nurses. They all come in to peek at him when we're there to see how he had grown. The doctor is really patient and puts up with the long list of questions we always have for her at his check-ups!
At his check-up the doctor told us that he is ready to start baby food. We were very excited as we have been waiting for this day in hopes it would help him sleep through the night, or at least logner stretches of time. The first night he slept great, but after that he's been back to his old sleeping (or lack of sleeping) habits, waking up between 1 and 5 (sometimes 11) times a night. Even though it hasn't helped him sleep, starting baby food has been fun and messy!
For months now I have been reading about how to make homemade baby food, and I was excited to try it myself. It is so easy! I would recommend it to anyone who has a little time to make it! So far, I've made carrots, yellow squash, and sweet potatoes. For the carrots and yellow squash you peel and steam them and then put them in a blender for a long time until they get to the right consistency. The sweet potatoes you bake with the skin on, then peel, then put in the blender with a little water for a while. After you get the food to the right consistency you pour it in one ounce size ice trays and freeze. After you freeze them you pop them out, wrap them, and then put them in freezer bags. Each cube is one ounce so it's easy to gage how much Dawson is eating based on how much I thaw.
We decided to start Dawosn on veggies so he wouldn't get used to the sweet fruits and then refuse veggies. So far he's only had carrots, as you give them the same food for 4 days straight to make sure there is no food allergy. Tonight he will get to have yellow squash for the first time. He seems to like carrots okay, but still prefers rice or oatmeal cereal.
We have also started giving Dawson a sippy cup this week once a day with water. This way he can teach himself to drink from it with a clear liquid inside (easy clean up). He has had the sippy cup for four days in a row now, and I think he's managed to get about 1/8 of an ounce of water total. He's more interested in chewing the cup than drinking the water.
In the midst of helping take care of all this new stuff that has gone on with Dawson, John has been really busy with work as they are getting ready for all of the Christmas shoppers. He also got the chance to play golf (a rarity in the last 6 months) with a couple co-workers on Thursday. The weather was perfect, and he had a good time! I've stayed busy with working out (in addition to caring for Dawson). I've even started attending a cycling class recently which is intense, but fun! Our gym has childcare, so it's a nice break in the day for me to work out and leave Dawson in "playcare" for an hour or two.
I'm getting excited about decorating for Dawson's first Christmas soon, even though it's hard to imagine with the weather in the 70's that we've been experiencing here in Alabama. We're looking forward to visiting family and friends soon with all of the holidays and birthdays coming up, so hopefully we'll see a lot of you all soon!
Enjoy the pictures below!

Dawson's first time eating baby food. He's not sure

what to think about these carrots.

Dawson's first time with a sippy cup!

Dawson was rolling around in the floor
when Bentley decided to join!

Always a ham for the camera!

Dawson's first time in the walker,

going in reverse, of course.

Smiling in the walker!

This is what the food I make looks like. This is obviously

frozen, but it is one ounce of yellow squash.

Ever heard of putting your foot in your mouth?!?

Rolling around on the living room furniture.

I think he looks like such a little boy

(not baby) in this outfit!

Dawson with his Mommy.

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween Dawson dressed up as a giraffe. We stayed home Halloween evening and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. We probably had about 60 trick-or-treaters stop by for candy. My mom was also in town for a visit the weekend of Halloween, and she got to see Dawson dressed up. While she was in town we shopped, went out to eat, visited, and played with Dawson. Unfortunately Dawson was a little sick with a cold which was really his first time being sick, so of course we gave him extra love and attention. He is doing much better now, but still has a slightly runny nose.
The Wednesday before Halloween we began celebrating by carving our pumpkins. We got one pumpkin for each member of the family, but we didn't carve Bentley's. John got the biggest pumpkin which proved to be really difficult to carve. We ended up spending over 3 hours working on our carvings. I carved mine and Dawson's, but I was the happiest with his little pumpkin. I carved a "1" into his for his first Halloween.
In the past few weeks, John has stayed busy with work as they are getting ready for Christmas shoppers, and I have stayed busy taking care of everything at home. I still love being a full-time stay-at-home-mom. It's amazing how quickly time goes by playing with Dawson and doing things around the house everyday.
Last week we had another dog at our house to take care of. Our friends, The Hough's, went to Florida to see the launch last week, and we kept their Golden Retriever, Maggie. She was a good dog and easy to take care of, but Bentley was so jealous of the attention we gave Maggie. It showed us (not that we were even considering it) that Bentley needs to be an only dog because she thinks she's the queen around here!
When Dawson had his little cold we took him to the doctor to make sure nothing else was going on, which it wasn't. He weighed in at a booming 17 pounds 9 ounces, so he is growing well. We will have more to report after his six month appointment next week.
I received the exciting news a couple of weeks ago that my friend, Lauren, is engaged! She as the maid of honor in our wedding, and now I will be the matron of honor in her wedding. We are excited for Lauren and Dillon as they begin the wedding planning.
This past weekend I received a call from Amanda (AT), another good friend, with the news that she is getting married to one of our other good friends, Jeff, who was also in our wedding. We are so excited for the two of them and can't wait!
Also, we wanted to say congratulations to our friends, The White's, who celebrated their one year wedding anniversary over the weekend!
Enjoy the pictures below...

Above: Dawson after church a couple of weeks ago.

Above: Dawson in his Johnny Jumper while we're carving pumpkins.

Above: Pumpkin Carving.

(Yes, I have the smallest knife possible

out of fear of cutting myself.)

Above: Before

Above: Left to Right: Bentley's, Mine, Dawson's, John's.

Above: Dawson with the pumpkins.

Above: Dawson with the pumpkins.

Above: It was hard to get a picture

because Dawson just wanted to touch the pumpkins.

Above: Daddy with his little giraffe.

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday (Friday, October 16) John and I took Dawson to pick out pumpkins. Last year we took Bentley to the pumpkin patch with us, but this year we thought it would be too much to have Dawson and Bentley out there. I will post pictures of the pumpkins we picked out after we carve them, but I wanted to go ahead and share these with you all! Yesterday was one of the first cold days we’ve had here, so we’re all bundled up in the pictures. We ended up bringing home four pumpkins-one for each member of the family, including Bentley!

Above: The whole family with our wagon of pumpkins.

Above: Dawson and mommy.

Above: John, Dawson, and John's HUGE pumpkin!

Above: Dawson and Daddy looking for the perfect pumpkin.

Above: We picked this small pumpkin for Dawson.

Our Family Vacation

Last week (October 3-10) we took our first vacation with Dawson, and we had a wonderful time! Unfortunately we’re now back to the real world, but we took lots of pictures!
On Saturday, October 3rd one of our friends, DeeDee, was so nice to drop us off at the Huntsville Airport so our vacation could begin. You would not believe how much luggage we had tot take so we would have all of Dawson’s “necessities.” In January when John and I went to Fort Lauderdale we took 2 bags. This time, however, we took 2 suitcases, 1 duffel backpack, 2 carry-ons, the stroller, the carseat, and the carseat base. After arriving at Huntsville International and checking our bags we found out that what was supposed to be a 1 hour layover in Atlanta was going to be 5 hours due to a delay. Although we were concerned about Dawson flying and now the long layover, we really had no reason to be because he did GREAT! We could not have asked for him to do better. He even did surprisingly well eating his rice cereal in the Atlanta airport Chili’s that night. Dawson slept the entire flight from Atlanta to Tampa which was a nice break. We were excited that the particular plane we were on had personal tv screens that got ESPN. So we actually go to watch the Tennessee game in the air (even though they lost). Not to mention I was excited because we got to fly on one of Delta’s pink planes; it was painted pink for breast cancer awareness month.
We finally arrived in Tampa around midnight and my Dad and Logan were there to pick us up and take us to the condo where we were staying in Indian Shores Beach, Florida.
On Sunday John’s parents, Emily, and Drew flew down to spend a few days with us at the beach. Sunday we just enjoyed the sun on the beach. My parents brought a swing for Dawson to use on the beach which was great! We lotioned him up with 60plus SPF baby sunscreen, put him in a hat and under the umbrella in the swing and he was a happy camper on the beach the whole week. Despite all the sun protection by the end of the week we could tell he had a very slight tan line on his pale legs!
On Monday we were beach bums all day, but had dinner at the new Bubba Gumps Restaurant at John’s Pass with everyone. John and I have been to a few Bubba Gums before, but it’s still fun to look at all the memorabilia and use the “Run, Forrest, Run” sign when you need your server. We took several pictures here that you’ll see below. After dinner we walked around all the beach shops on John’s Pass. It was really fun for me to take Dawson to John’s Pass since I have been there so many times growing up.
Before we went on our trip I decided I wanted to rent a waverunner on the ocean while we were there since I have never done that before on the ocean. So on Tuesday, Dawson stayed with his Nana and Aunt Emily while John and I rented a waverunner. We had so much fun! I would rent one again. While we were out on the ocean we came within 5 feet of several dophins and had fun on the waves! That night for dinner we went to the Italian Villa and had the biggest pizzas I have ever seen (and good too)!!
Wednesday was a beach day again! My Dad, Logan, and John fished off the shore. Then that evening John, Dawson, and I went to dinner with John’s parents, sister, Drew. We tried a new (to us) place in St. Pete called Philthy Phil’s. Although it doesn’t sound appetizing, it was a fun little place with good food.
Thursday morning we were sad to say goodbye to John’s parents, Em, and Drew as they had to go back to Tennessee. We were glad they got to come though. That morning John, Logan, and my Dad went deep sea fishing with Hubbard’s Marina. They all came back with a lot of fish and some stories. We are planning to cook all they caught the next time we’re all together. They caught close to 50 fish and kept about half that many. While they fished Mom, Dawson, and I spent the morning on the beach.
That evening Dawson stayed with his Lolly, Pop (my parents), and Uncle Logan while John and I had a dinner date at a local steak house, Sam Seltzer’s. It was nice for us to get to have a date and for Dawson to spend time with his grandparents.
Friday was unfortunately our last day at the beach, but we had amazing weather again. The whole week we were there the area was experiencing unseasonably high temperatures. The temperatures were like they are there in July and August. It was nice though, as I don’t mind the heat at the beach. Friday I tried fishing off the beach with the net for bait and with the fishing pole like the guys had been doing all week. It turned out the fish were definitely biting that afternoon. We were catching one mackerel after another.
We stayed out on the beach as long as possible on Friday since it was our last day. For dinner we went with my parents and Logan to one of our favorites-Crabby Bills. After a great dinner we all had to sadly return to the condo to pack.
Saturday morning Dad and Logan dropped us off at the airport at 4am and we were back in Huntsville and back to reality by 10am. Unfortunately we returned home to rain and temperatures in the 60’s.
We had a GREAT vacation and are grateful to my parents for inviting us, letting us stay with them, and helping with Dawson. We’re also glad the Zorio’s came and thankful for their watching Dawson some as well! We could not have asked for a more wonderful first vacation with our son, and it was great that all our family got to be there too! We took a lot of pictures, some of which I’ve put below! Enjoy!!

Above: Our little family on the beach the last evening.

The three of us on the beach.

John and Dawson with ALL our luggage before leaving our house!

Above: Dawson and I in the Huntsville International Airport.

Above: Dawson fell asleep in his stroller while we

were walking around the Atlanta Airport.

Above: Dawson's beach attire.

Above: This is where Dawson spent his week.

Notice the cute sunglasses-his Uncle Logan wore

those when he was a baby!

Above: Dawson's first time sitting on the

sand in the ocean.

Above: Dawson at Bubba Gumps.

Above: John and I at Bubba Gumps.

Above: Me, Dad, Logan, and Mom at Bubba Gumps.

Above: Emily, Drew, and Dawson at Bubba Gumps.

Above: The whole gang at Bubba Gumps.

Above: Dawson wearing his Daddy's hat and playing

in the Exersaucer Lolly and Pop brought all the way from

Tennessee for him to play in.

Above: Dawson with his Grandad.

Above: Dawson with his Mommy watching the waves.

Above: Our little family one evening after dinner.

Above: All the Zorio Men. Left to right: Grandad (John's Dad),

Dawson, John, and Drew.

Above: Dawson with Nana.

Above: Dawson with his Aunt Emily.

Above: Dawson hanging out with Daddy in our condo.

Above: Dawson with Mommy.

Above: John and Dawson on the beach.

Above: Dawson's 2nd time in the swimming pool.

Even though it doesn look like it in this picture, he enjoyed the pool.

Above: John with some of the fish he caught on

the boat deep sea fishing.

Above: The first fish I caught off the shore.

Above: Dawson with his Pop, Lolly, and Uncle Logan.

Above: The last evening on the beach.