Lion days of summer?

Life with Dawson is nothing short of an adventure...rescuing him from the room where he just closed the door and has no way out. Protecting him from the evil toilet water (yes, he knows how to open the lid now and I've caught him splashing around a few times...at least there were no "leftovers" in the bowl!) And conquering "the nap".

But some adventures are more fun. Like watching him take steps behind his push toy. Seeing the gears turn as he copies most every move we make and thing we say. Or at least makes a solid attempt.

Last weekend we spent on Lake Wisconsin with my family. It was quite the weekend...I would say there was not much relaxing involved but Grandma was there with some relief. We have gone the two previous years sans kid, and let's just say it was a big adjustment this year. But Dawson did love lounging on the hammock, kickin' it in his floaty and discovering all sorts of "no's" at a new place (in case you were wondering, he did find the toilet at the cabin).

Next week, Dawson is taking his first airplane trip! We are headed to Boston to visit my friend Lisa and her little man Brody. When we first found out we were pregnant, but didn't feel far along enough to share, I spent lots of time on the What to Expect When You're Expecting website and found a message board for expectant moms in September 2009. I was dying to talk to someone since baby was all I could think about. It was great to compare stories with people and ask the questions you are afraid to ask people you know for fear of great embarrassment. Enter Lisa. I was joining in a discussion one morning and there was the other mom-to-be that had similar thoughts with a sense of humor that made my nerves disappear (at least for 30 seconds or so). We exchanged emails and were a little surprised by how much we had in common: same birthday, anniversary a week apart to high school crushes, pregnant with our first with the same due day (and both with a boy we would eventually find out) to name a few...

We hit it off instantly and emailed several times a day throughout out whole pregnancy. And since our little men were born we have been on the phone basically every day since keeping each other sane, exchanging ideas, fears and frustrations.

So next week we take off to visit Lisa and Brody (born 4 days before Dawson). We are so thrilled to have our little men meet and to hang out in person!

A few new things D is up to...
- Will "roar" and "moo" (although the "moo" is more like brrooo") when he sees a picture of them in a book or when we ask him what they say
- Is starting to "oink" too...although it sounds more like "ink, ink"...it's stinkin' cute
- We have been doing a few signs with Dawson (more, all done, please, thank you, etc) and he has caught on to all done. Once he is done eating, he will very exaggeratedly sign all done and say "ah-duh". It's really funny...he rocks his highchair when he signs....I wasn't kidding when I said "exaggeratedly" (which who even knew was a word?)
- Points at things that interest him

Check out some photos from our time on the lake....Thanks for checking in!

Life is good.

The gang's all here...

D and Uncle J...one of my most favorite pics

Water break with Mom

Yeah...that's my Grandma. She's pretty neat.

D rockin' his floaty and living the dream...

Hurry and take the photo before he grabs the glasses!

"What? You got to be joking Grandpa! This lawn needs some stage 3 fertilizer and a good mow at a 45 degree angle stat. How could you not see that?"

10 months and "soo big"!

Life with this little 10 month old man is such a joy. His personality is showing more and more each day as he cruses around everywhere discovering anything he can get into. He pulls himself up onto furniture, walls, his crib, doors, drawers, etc with total ease. He walks along furniture some, but still is a little slow to do so. Dawson is kind of a timid little dude. He needs to be fairly confident he can do something before he attempts to actually do it. But then there is the occasional situation where he thinks he can fly off the edge of our bed or couch...in which case mom or dad come in to "save the day" before things get ugly. Our timing so far as been working in our favor...


Dawson continues to be a champion eater. This boy can chow down food. A few recent favorites: black beans, peas, toast, bananas, quesadillas, veggie straws (chips) and as much cheese and he can fit into his mouth at a time. He is basically eating "table food" with the exception of the few jars we are finishing up. He still takes four 8oz bottles a day with about 4 small meals mixed in.


Dawson's sense of humor is starting to come through too. It's so completely charming. Goofy faces, dancing to music, silly noises. He laughs at funny things and does some tricks of his own. A few days ago, he started feeding mom his breakfast and thought that was pretty funny. He laughs with us (or maybe it is as us?) which is the best sound a parent can hear.


This past month has been full of adventure for D. Mom and Dad had a getaway to the Ozarks with some wonderful friends of ours (Andes, Havercamps and Laudonios) for a long weekend while Daws camped out with G&G Towns. He also attended Pete & Caty's rehearsal dinner, the zoo, swiming, Chula Vista water park with his ladies (Averi & Veda) and many, many walks! Dad was gone for a week long trip to Colorado to Young Life Wilderness Ranch. Me and D kept busy with various things but were so happy to have Dad back home!


At 10 months, Dawson...
- Loves having dance parties in the kitchen with Mom and Dad
- Waves...all the time.
- Can do "Soooo big"
- Smacks his lips together to a big kiss! It's adorable. Check out the video of when he first learned it at Grandma's house!
- Is such a copy cat! Mimicking faces, words, actions...it's too funny!
- Is getting to be a much better napper. Takes two naps a day, 1.5-2 hours each! This makes for a happy momma!
- Is so close to having his top two teeth come in. You can see them setting through his gums. But I think they are getting close as we had a rough night last night and a case of the whines today...poor baby.

D with Caty the bride!

Hello Mr. Giraffe!

Look Ma, it's a goat!

The arranged marriage has begun! :)

We still can't believe how big he is getting and how fast he is growing. We are soaking up every minute we can get with this handsome boy!

10 Month Photos

Our friends, Josh and Nikki, have a really nice camera that they were so kind to let us use for a little photo shoot this past weekend at their house. Josh took most of these photos and then I had some fun editing them. I am so excited with how they turned out!

Our little man

As summer continues to slip through our fingers, we are soaking up every minute with this little man. He is busier than ever "rearranging" the tupperware drawer, banging the pots and pans, pulling clothes out of drawers, pushing chairs around the kitchen and anything else he can get his hands on. 

Dawson continues to learn new things all the time. He loves to say "Uh-oh"....or "uh-uh-uh-oh" as he sometimes puts it. He loves to push a ball or small toy in front of him as he continues to crawl after it down the hall or around the living room. Today he kept hitting it under the couch and was trying to fish it out himself peaking under the couch and trying to swat it out. He is also really starting to understand how to put smaller items into containers and then take them out.

Dawson isn't as easily fooled these days either. Before if he was playing with a remote or cell phone, we could just set it behind us or under a pillow and he could forget about it. Not anymore! No cell phone or remote is safe within a 15 foot radius!

As you can see in many of the photos below, D's knees are really skinned up. Carpet, wood, tile, grass, concret or gravel, he will crawl over it all resulting in some bad knee burns, cuts and bruises. I tried putting some big bandaids over his knees one day and that seemed to help some. Oh well, what can you do? :)

The pictures below are mostly from a night with the Kalschuer's at Concert on the Square and a few others. Hope you all are enjoying summer as much as we are! Much love...

Dawson (in his pj's since that was our only spare outfit) at Concert on the Square with his favorite food...cheese curds!

D and Miss Averi

How cute is the peanut? And could her eyes be any more blue?

Daddy feeding duty!

And then it was story time...look at those sweeters...

Veda showing D how to smell the flowers at the Karls' on the 4th of July. 

To smell the flowers, V blows out her nose...so cute!

Swinging at the park with Daddy!

Let the games begin!

A few days shy of 9 months (!), Dawson is learning news things every day. Its so much fun to watch him understand how things work, noises he can makes, sounds he can put together and how fast he can move. I have been told by lots of other Moms that at 9 months things start to take off and are so much fun. It's so true. D's personality is coming through more and more each day. He's so interactive. It truly gets better every day.

At 9 months, Dawson is...
- Crawling like a mad man. He is everywhere. We have baby proofed so that this child can run wild...and that's exactly what he does. He is cruising.
- Pushes our stools and chairs all around the kitchen floor.
- Loves to repeat syllables of words we say to them. He is trying to sound out words all the time. Sometimes he does, sometimes he is close and other (most) times he is very far away. Regardless it is so fun to be able to communicate. He is really starting to understand how language works and how to put sounds together.
- Says "Da-da", "Ma-ma", "Cool". He sounds like he says "Oh wow" too, but I am not sure on that one.
- Daryn was singing to Dawson the other day, "E-I-E-I-O" and he repeated that back to him. He says it when we sing Old McDonald to him. It's all squished together and sometimes he drops a few of the sounds but it is so cute.
- Last night Daryn and I were going through this animal book that we have and were making the noises of all of the animals. I kid you not, he repeated the noises back to us clear as day. He said "Rarrr", "Honk, honk", "Ba, ba", "Hoo, hoo", "Cheap, cheap", "ink, ink" (instead of Oink). Daryn and I just sat their with our jaws on the floor. He doesn't know what sound goes with what animal or even what he is saying really, but was repeating them all back to us. It was wild.
- Pulls himself up occasionally but hasn't mastered that yet...which I am so ok with!
- Gives the best kisses (drooly and open mouth) but they melt my heart!
- Can feed himself! It just finally clicked this weekend. He has got the thumb-pointer grasp going on...
- Loves to drink water! Out of cups, water bottles, sippy cups. Anything. Is he his father's son or what?
- When D gets up from his naps or in the morning and we go to get him he is sitting up in his crib yelling at the door for us to come and save him. As soon as we open the door he starts this nervous little laugh. So great.
- Really enjoys being outside...splashing in the pool, going for walks, playing at the park, etc.
- Is wearing 12 month clothes and is really tall for his age. He is the size of most 1 years olds!
- Does really well playing by himself and keeping busy.

Chatter Box

It's official folks...we are putting it in the baby book.

Dawson is talking!

1st word = "da-da"
2nd word = "ma-ma"
3rd word = "cool"

Love. It. :)

...and we're off!

24 hours after my last post, Dawson started crawling! He's still pretty slow about it, only taking 5-7 strides but he is up on all fours and moving...forward that is! It's darn cute if you ask me. I don't know who is more proud, me or him?

Since he is all over the place now and inspecting everything in his path (aka the floor or reaching distance on the couches) he has figured out how some new things work. Like how to make calls on my cell phone, how to turn up the volume insanely loud and how to drink out of my water bottle. I got a little crazy with taking photos but it was so cute and he was hamming it up, so I took full advantage. Check out this little stud muffin keeping himself hydrated...