Over the Hills and Through the Woods...

...to Dawson's Lolly & Pop and Nana & Grandad's houses we go!
This week John, Dawson, Bentley, and I went up to Tennessee to visit with our families and to celebrate Dawson's 1st birthday with them. We had a great time visiting with everyone while we were there, and Dawson loved exploring his grandparents houses since this is the first time we have gotten to visit since he can walk. John got to play golf with his Dad, and I got to do a little shopping with my Mom; also while we were there Dawson got all of the attention he could possibly need! :) John and I also got to have a Buffalo Wild Wings date one night while Dawson stayed at his Lolly and Pop's house. We also got to meet up with our friend, Kealan, from high school while we were in town.
One of the most fun parts of our trip though was the birthday party that my parents had for Dawson since his party for friends was here in Alabama. It was an Elmo theme since he absolutely LOVES Elmo. I had fun getting to decorate another birthday cake and then watch Dawson make a BIG mess eating it! :) Dawson, of course, loved being the center of attention and having a room full of people who wanted to play with him at his party. We had a great time seeing our family while in Tennessee, and we hope to see them all again soon!
Enjoy the pictures below...

Above: Dawson's Elmo cake!
Above: Dawson thought his Uncle Logan
was pretty cool!

Above: Dawson and his Pop.

Above: The cake and ice cream table at Dawson's party.

Above: Singing Happy Birthday.

Above: After singing to Dawson and blowing out the candle!

Above: Dawson with his cake!

Above: "Finally some cake to wash down

all that milk!"

Above: Dawson LOVED the cake!

Above: Dawson with his cake.

Above: Dawson opening a gift.

Above: Dawson with his Great Mamaw (my

grandmother).

Above: Dawson with his Lolly.

Thanks for throwing him a birthday party!

Above: Dawson with his Nana, Dad, and Cousin

Drew.

Above: Dawson with his Nana.

Above: Me with Dawson and Mamaw.

Above: Me with Dawson and Jeannie.

Above: Dawson with his Grandad.

12 Month Check-Up & More

Above: I sat up Bentley's pool (left) and Dawson's pool (right)

beside each other, and I thought each would play in their own

pool...yeah, right!

Above: Dawson pointing out his pool's water feature! :)

Above: Bentley and Dawson both try to catch the water
from the fountain!

Dawson and Bentley checking out the crab pool.

Dawson's cool pool!

Above: Even though Dawson had a cool pool of his own,

he went to visit Bentley in her pool.

Above: Dawson playing in Bentley's pool.

Above: Bentley playing in her pool.

Above: Dawson's first time drinking milk!

Above: The first sip of milk! Yay!!

Look how happy!?! He LOVES facing

forward in his seat. This was his first time

in the seat facing forward.

Again, first time forward facing. He kept talking

to us and kicking his feet. He was so happy!!

Dawson during our playgroup.

Some of the other kids playing during our

playgroup.

Dawson going for a walk in his birthday gift.

It is a trike for kids his age. It has a push bar

on the back so I can walk behind him and push

like a stroller. It also keeps him strapped in, and

he loves going for walks in it!

After he gets old enough for a real tricycle, he will

get to use mine from when I was little!

Above: One more picture before our walk.

I normally put the pictures at the bottom, but I accidentally mixed it up today. Keep reading to find out what all the pictures are from...

Tuesday was Dawson's 12 month check-up, and he got a great report card! :) The doctor said he is very healthy and right where he should be developmentally. He weighed in at 22 pounds 14 ounces and was 30.5 inches tall. When he was born he was 7lbs 13 oz and 19.5 inches long, so he has gained 15 pounds and 1 ounce and grown 11 inches in his first year! While we were at the doctor's office Dawson tried to explore the entire exam room and did not like for the doctor to look in his ears or listen to his heart. We did find out though that his first little ear infection from last week has completely cleared up. Overall, Dawson's 1 year check-up was uneventful, the biggest thing we will begin working on with him is switching him to cow's milk. We are also hoping that he will begin sleeping through the night since the doctor again confirmed for us that he does not need to be getting up during the night to eat, but we're not going to count on uninterrupted sleep happening any time soon!

Also, this week we invited some of Dawson's friends over to play, and we had the biggest turn out at one of our playgroups yet! We had 6 kids total and 4 moms! Dawson's friends Matthew (11.5 months), Jack (18 months), Ethan (21 months), Austin (21 months), and Caroline (3.5 years old) all got to come along with their mom's Stephanie, Heather, and Sara. We had a great time, but I had a hard time getting any good pictures with all of these kids on the move now!

John got to go play golf with a former coworker this week, and I went to a girls scrapbooking night this week also!

This week Dawson also got to try cow's milk for the first time and ride in his car seat facing forward. He LOVES being forward facing in the car. I am not sure who was more exciting about him being able to ride this way John and I or Dawson. It is so nice to be able to glance back and see him or hand him his cup or a toy!

Today is a scorcher here in Alabama. It was 93 degrees out at lunch time. To stay cool (and allow Dawson to spend some time outside today), I got out one of his birthday gifts we haven't used yet. I filled up his crab kiddie pool and put it in the backyard. I had to put Bentley's pool next to it to keep her out of Dawson's. (Yes, Bentley has a pool of her own. Every summer we get it out and fill it up every so often to let her cool off. She loves it!) Dawson liked splashing the water and being outside in general so I was able to get a few pictures.

My First Mother's Day & Zorio Family Update

Last Sunday, was my first Mother's Day! Last year Dawson was born just four days after Mother's Day and I remember hoping he would be born on the holiday with no luck! This year I got a great surprise for Mother's Day... John had to work the night shift the whole week before, and so he ended up being off work for the weekend of Mother's Day. That itself was a wonderful gift, because we all got to go to church and spend the day together! Saturday night (the night before Mother's Day) Dawson slept through the night (which is rare), and that was a great gift too! :) But Dawson and John did pick out a dress and purse for me and John gave me a very sweet card and a dozen roses. I've got two thoughtful, sweet guys! :) John also made breakfast for us that morning which was a nice treat! I had a great first Mother's Day! :)
If you're wondering what else we've been up to...
We've mostly been preparing for Dawson's first birthday and birthday party which I will write a blog about later this afternoon, but we have also been going on a lot of walks and wagon rides. Dawson still loves being outside even when it's 90 degrees, so we push him around the neighborhood in his stroller and he's perfectly happy to ride along and point to things for you to tell him what they are. He just rides up there happily kicking his feet. What makes him even happier than a walk in his stroller? A walk in his wagon! He has my old Radio Flyer wagon from when I was little (thanks to Pop for repainting the inside), and he would ride in this for hours! He loves it!
On Monday, Dawson had to go to the doctor because he was acting like he felt bad, and it turned out he needed some antibiotics. When we took him to the doctor one of his ears looked like it was starting to get infected. :( This was his first ear infection ever, so I guess we're luck he almost made it through the first year without one, but we're crossing our fingers this won't happen again for a while. After a couple of days on the antibiotics though he was back to his normal, happy self!
Also, at church Dawson officially got to move up to the walkers class which is made up of kids who are walkers up to 16 months. He loves being in this class, and recently, he has not been crying when I leave him there, and I haven't been getting paged to come pick him up early!
Other than these few things, we've been spending most of our time playing and preparing for Dawson's first birthday party. He has his one year check-up (I can't believe it) on Tuesday, so I plan to blog his current weight, height, etc. after his appointment.
Enjoy the few pictures below...

Dawson and I on Mother's Day in front

of our house.
Dawson's first time riding in the wagon in our yard.

First wagon ride outside!

Mother's Day!

An attempt to take a picture of the three of us on Mother's Day.

Happy 1st Birthday, Dawson!

On Friday, May 14th, Dawson had his first birthday! John and I cannot believe how quickly Dawson's first year went by. It seems so recent that we brought Dawson home from the hospital, watched as he learned to hold his head up on his own, saw him learn to roll over, witnessed him crawling for the first time, and cheered him on as he took his first steps. We have truly enjoyed every day playing with Dawson and watching him learn more and more each day. So, even though we still can't believe it, our little baby is now one, so here's how we celebrated...

On Friday (his actual birthday), John and I took Dawson to McDonalds for breakfast to have pancakes. Pancakes are, of course, his very favorite food. He ate two big pancakes while we were there. Later we took him to the UAH duck pond for a picnic and to feed the ducks. He LOVES animals, so he had a great time watching the ducks. We took some stale Cheerios to feed them, and we attracted every duck we could see! John fed the ducks while Dawson and I watched them come closer and closer, and Dawson loved it! We spent the rest of the day playing at home in the playroom and going for a walk (which Dawson also loves).

We celebrated Dawson's birthday on Saturday with a party. We decided the theme would be Dawson's First Birthday Barnyard Bash. Since Dawson loves animals so much the farm theme was perfect. Our invitations said:

Oink, Baa, Cock-a-doodle-doo;

Dawson wants to share his 1st birthday with "ewe"!

The party's on the fifteenth of May,

We'll see you at 1:00 on this special day!

Until the cows come home at 3:30 this party will last,

Because we'll be having an "udder" blast!

At 1:30 we will be serving lunch

To this rowdy barnyard bunch!

Bringing no gifts is our request,

Just wear your barnyard best!

RSVP Yeah or Neigh to Mother Hen

By May 10.

On the invitations was a picture of a barn and a few farm animals. We also stuffed hay in the envelopes like confetti. For his party we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs which we called Bessie Burgers and Bentley Dogs. We also had haystacks, chicken feed (chex mix), and farm fresh veggies (carrots and celery). Of course, we also had a farm theme cake and a smash cake which I made with a little help from my friend, Kelly. We set everything up in the backyard and had chairs and hay bales for seating. My favorite part of the party was our petting zoo! We had a petting zoo bring 2 bottle fed goats, a miniature pony, and a bunny for the kids to pet and feed. We were thrilled to have great weather since the forecast had called for rain and thunderstorms, but it ended up being hot and sunny which was perfect for everyone to be outside for most of the party. I think everyone had a great time, but I know that John, Dawson, and I had a GREAT day! We loved having all of our friends and Dawson's friends over for the afternoon. We are so thankful to have made so many good friends during the almost three years we've lived here in Alabama!

We took A LOT of pictures, and I've posted several below. Enjoy...

Above: John, Dawson, and I with the mini-pony named Snickers

at the petting zoo in our backyard.

This picture is out of order, but this was Dawson's smash cake.

Dawson enjoying his pancake birthday breakfast.



Dawson got hungry watching all the ducks

eat Cheerios, so we gave him a snack of his own!

Dawson squealing as he watched Daddy

feeding the ducks.

Dawson and I at the pond on his 1st birthday.

Dawson and I again at the pond on his birthday.

Dawson wanted to walk around the ducks.

Dawson opening a birthday gift.

Dawson and I with the smallest goat named

Squirt.

Dawson and I with Squirt again.

Dawson even got to ride the mini-pony

named Snickers.

Dawson with his Daddy looking in the petting zoo.

The bunny!

Dawson's birthday cake that I made.

It is all edible (except the hat), even the farmer and animals.

Dawson on a wagon ride with his friend, Sawyer, while

Sawyer's dad, Michael, pulled them around the yard.

Dawson's friend Sawyer wanted to help by pushing the wagon.

I thought this was so cute!

Dawson's highchair decorated and ready for him!

The small goat named Squirt was 3 months

old and just got weaned from the bottle

so she would come up and suck on your fingers.

Dawson LOVED her!

This was the big goat named Gracie. You can barely see her

tummy here, but she's pregnant.

The mini-pony named Snickers.

Dawson's friend, Sawyer, decided to pull the wagon

for Dawson. :)

The "Chicken Feed"

The Home Grown Veggies

The hay stacks.

The Burger and Hot Dogs

Dawson's cake with his one little candle burning ready

for him to blow out!

We took Dawson's shirt off and he wore a bandanna for a bib

while he ate his smash cake!

Dawson with his smash cake. At first he touched the cake

wasn't interested in getting his hands dirty.

Still not sure he wants to get his hands dirty.

But THEN he tried a bite, and realized it was worth getting his

hands dirty. He was more interested in eating it than smashing it.

More eating.

Look at that mess!

More smash cake!

We eventuall had to take it away from him, because

I think he would have eaten the whole thing, and he's never

really had very much sugar at all. He did enjoy it though!

John had the grill outside our fence so the kids wouldn't

touch it. So some of the guys congregated at the grill.

Inside the petting zoo in the backyard.

John with Snickers, the mini-pony.

Dawson riding the mini-pony, Snickers, and

petting his mane.