18 Months!

My baby turned 18 months yesterday! How has a year and a half went by already? Dawson has grown and changed so much since his first birthday it's amazing. We've reached the point that he understands so much of what we're saying and he'll respond the right way. He is saying a ton of words and it's so fun to hear the new ones that come out almost every day. He loves to copy anything we do, especially when Daddy's using his tools as you've seen in the past blogs. I love my sweet boy so much and can't wait to see what happens over the next 6 months!

Here is Dawson's 18 Month picture (it was a little tricky to get him to sit still):

Here's a reminder of his 12 month picture: How it all started, his 1 month picture:

Crazy how his hair went from so dark brown it was practically black, then blonde and now brown with blonde hilites. And it's so straight, we all thought he would get Chad's curly locks.

Dawson had his 18 month check up today and once again he's doing wonderful. Developmentally he's doing great and physically he's went through a growth spurt (at his 12 month appt he was only in the 25th-weight and 50th-height & head percentiles). His "stats" are:

Weight: 26 lbs. 6 oz. (55%)

Height: 33 1/2" (80%)

Head: 48.5" (70%)

In the past I've tried to get pictures of Dawson in the exam room sitting in his diaper to chart his growth but since I knew that would be impossible today since I had to go to the appt solo, I settled for a picture of him standing in the waiting room.

A Day at the Park

Is it really January? We've been enjoying this great Winter weather we've been having by playing in the yard and going on walks. We still have to bundle up but at least it's not raining and dreary out. Today we picked up Aiden so Lynn and baby Owen could have some relaxing time and went to the park.

Check out our new stroller. It worked great for the two boys today. The thing I love most is all the different seating postitions, they can face eachother, both forward or both backward and our car seat will attach to either seat when the baby comes.

Anytime Dawson has the freedom to run he's happy. Aiden saying "CHEESE"

Down the slide with Daddy

Ready, Set, "GO"!

Hard at Work

Dawson is obsessed with his tools! The huge smile he gets on his face when I pull out his screwdriver is priceless. He runs around the house looking for things he can "fix". A couple nights ago Chad was installing a few cabinet door locks so Dawson had to go find his drill to help.

"Hi Cousin Owen"

Dawson is very interested in his new cousin Owen. He always wants to be right there checking him out. I think this is really going to help Dawson understand more of what's happening when we bring his little brother or sister home in about 12 weeks! Everyone gets a kiss!

Kisses for Baby

Chad and I have been trying to find ways to make Dawson understand that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but haven't had much luck. He's only gotten to the point that when he sees other small children when we're out he'll point and say "baby". One time I asked Dawson if he wanted to give the baby a kiss, so now any time that we do talk about the baby he comes over, pulls up my shirt and gives my belly a kiss. :)

Look at How They've Grown!

On Saturday we had another reunion with our childbirth class. All of us mom's get together for a play group every Thursday with the kids so we get to visit a lot but it's nice to get the husbands together at the reunions. It's so fun to compare these pictures from our previous reunions!

From L to R: Jack, Andrew, Maxwell, Mason, Riley, Alena & Dawson From L to R: Riley, Alena (not very happy) & Dawson Same order at the 6 Month Reunion

Close up of Riley, Alena & Dawson. Look at all those chubby cheeks!

Same order at our first reunion. Can't hardly remember when they all just laid there so still!

Close up of Riley, Alena & Dawson

Big Shoes to Fill

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Yesterday we celebrated my Grandpa's birthday, he turned 80 on New Year's Eve. It was a pizza and beer party complete with a champagne toast.

Dawson got to try on Grandpa's new hat. What to buy Grandpa?...a bottle of scotch seemed to be a good choice.

Mmm pizza, and there was even more in the kitchen. Party hats for our toast.

Happy 80th Grandpa!

We had a lot of fun celebrating with you!

Introducing...

Owen Robert Bennett

Christmas Day 7:08pm

7 lbs. 13 oz. 20"

With proud Daddy and big brother Aiden.

He's here! Owen came 2 days early as a Christmas present to us all. He is sweet, healthy and looks just like Aiden did as a new baby.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day we celebrated at my parents. Another great day spent with family and good food!

My adorable boy with his new Christmas shirt.

Mother & Son

(aka: Dad & Grandma Gartner) Dawson hanging out with Grandma.

We always do a gift exchange at Christmas. It's not white elephant gifts but Aunt Lilly got a kick out of hers.

Mom's was wrapped 3 or 4 times, ended up being an Olive Garden gift card-Yum.

Dawson decorated ornaments for a gift to his Grandparents.

Merry Christmas.

Thank you to all our family for everything, especially the great memories!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was wonderful. Dawson woke up to find that Santa had left him a blow up car full of balls and a stocking filled with more goodies.

Dawson also got an animal puzzle that makes sounds when you put them back in the right place, a wagon full of blocks and lots of other fun stuff.

More climbing, dancing and jumping off the big boxes.

Love this picture. Dawson got a power drill that came with goggles. :)

Prego Sister in Law's

So glad we got a picture of both of us with our pregnant bellies before Owen decided to make an early arrival!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Lynn & Shane's house. One of the best things about the holidays is all the delicious food. We had such a good dinner with turkey, ham, potatoes, casseroles and then tons of the yummiest desserts!

This is their Christmas tree. I love it! It's like a huge Charlie Brown tree. This has finally convinced me to go up in the woods (with a permit of course) and cut down a "real" tree next year.

The best we could do trying to get a posed picture of the Bennett cousins. All they wanted to do was jump off the box they were supposed to be sitting on...big surprise. Grams & Gramps Bennett got Dawson a car. It's fun to see him with the same toys I remember having as a kid.

Finally interested in unwrapping a present.

Johnny & Beth couldn't take their eyes off the digital frame we all got them preloaded with pictures of their adorable grandsons.

What 2 year old doesn't need a Spiderman punching bag?

We also got Aiden a bean bag chair that luckily arrived on Christmas Eve, gotta love ordering online.

Matching jammies for Aiden and the new baby...

...which leads me to the most exciting part of the whole evening, Lynn's water broke while we were over there!! More to come on the arrival of sweet baby Owen.

Christmas...a little early.

We celebrated Christmas with my parents, Grandma and Ryan & Megan on December 20th because unfortunately Ryan was going to be working on the boat over Christmas day. It was such a perfect day. We tried to create a Christmas morning and had everyone came over early (well, 10:00) and had a delicious breakfast together with hot chocolate and mimosas. We listened to Christmas music (and had the football game on in the background) while we opened presents and then we played a few games.

Dawson's favorite part was his stocking. Surprisingly, he wasn't that interested in unwrapping presents so he loved just being able to pull fun things out of his stocking.

We were all spoiled yet again this year!

Among all of our wonderful gifts my parents got Chad and I one of those 3" mattress toppers from Costco and new bedding. We just switched to a King size bed and my pregnant body is loving all the room and now it is so comfy! Chad got some new shoes.

Dawson got a tool set that he LOVES! Some of the things even light up and make noise. Now any time he sees Daddy fixing something he'll run to get a tool so he can go help. It's probably one of the cutest things ever! :)

Chad, Dawson and I got Ryan a pear tree because he was so impressed by the one in our yard. Had to wrap a pear since I can't pick up the tree until February.

Instead of unwrapping the presents, Dawson just wanted to climb on top of them and dance.

Dawson and Grandpa

Can't forget about Ryan & Megan's dog, Cash.

Mr. Fix It

Dawson loves to help Chad with anything that has to do with tools. He always wants to follow Chad out to the garage and then gets all excited when he sees a stack of screwdrivers. The other night Chad was putting on seat cushions that my Grandma recovered and Dawson couldn't wait to get in there!

Enjoying the Season

I love this time of year!! I couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving to start playing Christmas music. No surprise to a lot of you...our tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We didn't know how Dawson would do with a tree in his play room (aka: our living room) so we decided to be safe rather than sorry. We actually put the tree up on a table, thank goodness we have vaulted ceilings. It felt a little funny at first but I'm sure it's saving me plenty of "no no's". It's the perfect height for Dawson, he'll walk under it with his arms up and it's just barely out of his reach. Here it is: Last weekend Chad and I took Dawson to a Holiday Festival at the Ferry Terminal. Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus were there and they have a gingerbread house contest that is amazing.

We took Dawson to the festival last year too...look how sweet and little he was!Of course Dawson had the most fun playing peek-a-boo with a wall structure.

Here is our gingerbread house. Tina was so sweet to give them to all the kids to decorate. Dawson was really into it at first but lost interest after I wouldn't let him touch too much since it all went into his mouth, maybe next year.

Unfortunately since we don't have a mantle to decorate by the fireplace I had to improvise and hang our stockings from the hutch. I'm sure Santa will still be able to find them! :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Baby #2

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday and it was amazing! Baby was cooperating and moving all around for us to see. I've been able to feel baby move since my 17th week (I didn't feel Dawson until I was 22 weeks) so it was so incredible to feel it move and then see those movements on screen. We chose not to find out the sex of the baby at the appointment. We did have the ultrasound tech write it down and put a picture of the "proof" in an envelope so if we decide to find out before the due date we can open it at a special time with just Chad and I. We are both so on the fence. At one point, we think it would be such a wonderful feeling filled with so much anticipation and excitement if we waited to find out until delivery. But of course the planner in me, and Chad being not the most patient :) just wants to know so we can be ready. Honestly, we'd be okay with either sex, especially obviously as long as the baby is healthy. I'll admit, deep down I would love to have a little girl but I now know how much fun a baby boy is and can only imagine the fun (& trouble) Dawson would have with a brother. My intuition is definitely feeling boy, in part because of my two pregnancies being so similar and it may also have a little to do with the "Bennett boy curse". We'll have to wait and see what happens. Do you think Chad and I are going to be able to make it the whole way without finding out? :)

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby.

Big Yawn. Baby was waving to us!

Baby has all ten fingers and ten toes.

The ultrasound tech even did a couple 3-D pictures for us. Technology is amazing!

I love this profile picture with baby's arm curled up and then the other one poking out on the side of it's face.

So what do you think, boy or girl?!

Stoneyridge Farm

We took Dawson to Stoneyridge farm. He loved running around getting totally dirty and playing with all of the pumpkins. To see all of the pictures we took go to: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNnDFo1ctmLjI&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar. Here is a sneak peak at a couple of my favorites and some of the "comparisons" from last year:

4 Months & Growing!