Merry Christmas from The Daytons 2011

We started off the year with a new addition to our family which now feels so long ago. Benson Ron Dayton was born on January 15, 2011. We feel so blessed to have him in our family and are grateful for his sweet spirit. We just thought Benson was a fussy baby until he had an allergic reaction to milk which resulted in a call to 911 and a discovery of milk, egg, and nut allergies. Since we figured that out, Benson has changed into such a happy, and easier going baby. He is quickly and surely becoming Owen’s partner in crime. Just last week, I found him in the kitchen cabinet under the sink eating out of the trash.

Owen is 2 ¾ years old and he sure has grown into his role of older brother this year. He is especially good at telling Benson, “no, no” and quickly correcting the naughty deed Benson may have done. I should mention that these are normally things that Owen does on a daily basis but apparently it is different when your brother performs the action. He is also a very sweet brother and enjoys singing Benson lullabies, being there when Benson wakes up, and he LOVES climbing in bed with Benson. Owen astonishes us every day with his knowledge of new things. He just soaks up learning. He has shown quite the interest in reading/spelling and is always asking what certain words he sees around say.

Brienne is keeping busy chasing after these cute boys. She loves just being with them. She has been able to use some of her teaching degree more formally this year with Owen starting Mommy School, basically school with Mommy. She has also been busy teaching the young children at church, quilting with quilt group, and teaching preschool among other things. When she gets a free moment she enjoys blogging, napping, and crafting.

Ryan really enjoys his job as a tax accountant and loves the people he works with. He says he loves the challenging work. Ryan also finished his CPA exams this year, Hallelujah! He is now an official Certified Public Accountant. He has also been working with the 14-15 year old scouts at church and enjoys their company. I think he feels at home there. Ryan doesn’t get very many free moments but when he does he is playing with his boys and they sure do love that. He had a brief stint with Insanity(Brienne did too!), an exercise program, until the downstairs neighbor got a little upset, that will hopefully continue in the new year with a move to a new place.

We have had an amazing year with an outpouring of blessings. We are so grateful at this time for the birth of our Savior and His life on this earth. We wish you all the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year!

With Love to Our Family & Friends,
Ryan, Brienne, Owen, & Benson Dayton

Wiggles & Giggles

When Owen turned 2 1/2 we started feeling like he really needed some more things to do to keep him busy. We had already begun doing Mommy School which was working but he still needed some more interaction with other kids and he needed some more ways to get his energy out. That is about the time I was asked by one of our church leaders to help another sister out with playgroup, which proved to be wonderful as that is how we got the co-op preschool class started. We also heard about these classes through the recreation centers near our home. We decided we thought Owen would really enjoy one of these. Owen also doesn't have the best motor skills, they aren't horrible but they are a bit behind the other kids his age so we wanted something that would help him with that. So, we signed up for Wiggles & Giggles a class for 2-3 year olds that had fun songs, finger plays, parachute play, gymnastic play, dance, instruments and other fun things like that. And, Owen loved it! Every Monday morning he would inform me we had to go to, "wiggles and giggles with Ms. Karen" it was cute to hear him talk all about it. He did really well and since it was a Mommy & Me class we had fun together as well. I was a little worried about what to do with Benson, but he seemed to like it too. He would just sit in his stroller and watch all the other kids run, dance, and play. He was so sad to stop going when the class was over. We will have to sign up for another one soon:) Owen's favorite things were the instruments and the parachute. He absolutely loved them. He has such a love for music, I feel inadequate to know how to foster that. I'm not very musical and Ryan is a little but really, he LOVES it and he is constantly wanting to make a song up. He will get a big bowl out and spoons and be a drummer or he does really well actually. The other day he said the funniest thing, he said, "I'll play a song and you dance!" this was in a very demanding tone. What a silly little guy. We sure do love him a bunch! Anyway, Owen had so much fun in class and here are a few pictures of him one day. We had a bunch of pictures but all are blurry except these two since he was always on the move.

Favorite Friends

My best friend growing up, Ashley, and I were pregnant at exactly the same time with our first child. We also were both going to have a boy. And, they are almost exactly 2 weeks apart in age. Now we live about 35 minutes from each other and we are able to play together often. Our boys love each other to pieces and we are hoping there is a budding BFF friendship growing. When I was teaching Owen about having favorites, I asked him who his favorite friend was and after naming Benson:), which was so cute my heart was melting. I explained to him what a friend was and he quickly said that Pierce was his favorite friend. He also tells Benson that his favorite friend is Tyson, Pierce's younger brother, they are 4 months apart. We are so lucky to have such good friends that live so close and we love it.


Meeting for the first time at 1 month old, and look at them linking little arms. This seems like so long ago, time goes too fast!



Look closely at Owen, this was an amazing shot. He spit up right as Ryan took the picture, haha, oh the joys of motherhood:)


Owen and Pierce meet again for the 2nd time at 1 year. They even exchanged little birthday gifts.

And, since 18 months they now live near enough to see each other on a regular basis. These picture were take at 2 1/2 years old.

What cute boys!

8 months!

So, I'm writing this post on Benson's 11 monthaversary! I can't believe he is that old, it has gone by way too fast! Well, I'll update you on him at 8 months so that hopefully I can get to his 11 month update soon.

Benson started rocking on his hands and knees all the time, since previously he was just doing the gimp army crawl and not getting his belly off the floor. He is loving his tongue, and is always sticking it out and experimenting with it. He loves to play the game where he drops his toy over and over again to see how many times you'll give it back to him. Feeding Benson has become quite difficult as he is always trying to grab the spoon and is pretty fast too, you always have to be ready. He thinks this is so funny and will laugh and laugh when he gets it. The same thing happens whenever you tell him, "no" he will just smile this huge smile and laugh, like he knows hes gotten the better of you. If you don't know where Benson is, just find Owen:) So, there have been a few appointments that I needed to take Benson too alone so Owen wasn't with us. And, Benson was so crabby in the car. He HATES being alone back there, I thought it was just a bad day for him, but every time Owen isn't back there he gets really fussy. And vice versa, when Owen is around Benson is super good. Benson is starting to attempt pulling up to standing. His sounds consist of bababa and dadada, Ryan is SO proud:) Benson will copy Owen's noises as best he can, especially if Owen crys out of screams. I hope this doesn't continue:) Benson LOVES feeding himself puffs and other finger foods. Benson has finally reached the point where he won't stay still. He did so well being content with being held, but he is now at the point where he wants to be in the thick of it all. He is a pretty tall baby, and has lost a lot of his chub. He still has his chubby checks but other than that he is thinning out. Benson loves balls and balloons. Benson has become quite vocal and will talk to people, especially at church. He loves to look over the pew and make all kinds of sounds at the people behind us. He is always sticking everything in his mouth, haha, I hope this stops soon! We sure do love Benson and are so grateful he is growing so well. He is such a joy to have in our family!





We were at my parents house and I couldn't figure out where Benson had gone. I found him here, behind the tree. What a silly guy, he had wiggled all the way back there by himself and was so proud of his accomplishment. He is growing up to be a little too much like his older brother:)

This picture was taken as Ryan was blowing on Benson's face, he kept making this funny face(the picture doesn't do it justice) and then he would laugh really hard since he thought it was funny.

Preschool Bound

Owen's First Morning of Preschool

Owen started preschool in the end of October. A few other Mommys and I started a co-op preschool where we each take a few weeks and host/teach preschool at our house. It was such a big step for us. All of the kids are 2 so it is pretty simple right now, just having the kids get used to doing things together. I was so excited when we started planning it but the night before Owen's first day I was sad. What a silly Mom I am?! I couldn't believe my little boy was big enough to go off to preschool or anywhere without me on a regular basis. It is only one day a week for 2 hours, but Owen loves it! It has been super good for both of us too, he has a set of little friends that he is used to playing with now and he loves to talk about each of them. He can often be heard asking, "Where are my friends, Mommy?" and then he will follow that with asking where each friend is individually. I just finished teaching my 4 week chunk yesterday and it was so cute to be able to see Owen in that environment. He absolutely loves learning and he loves school. I hope this is an attribute that sticks! Here are a few pictures from a few of our preschool adventures.



Owen loves getting to play with all his other friends toys:)

Here they all are and a few extra siblings made it in the picture as well. Benson, Emma, Hallie, James, Liam(Emma's older brother), and Owen

3 of them working hard on a little art project.

7 Months for Benz!

Well, to keep on updating on Benson here are his 7 month pictures and an update. During Benson's 7th month he finally got his two bottom middle teeth. They came all the way through. Benson also army crawls wherever he wants to go, usually following Owen around all day. He started playing with Owen some even, like real playing. It is so cute, I love it! Benson will also follow me wherever I go. And, when he wants to be picked up he will crawl over and put his head down over my feet and nudge my shins. It is so cute:) When he is super excited and happy he closes his eyes while smiling. One day I came over to get Owen ready to go and Benson had spit up directly into Owen's shoe, gross but a bit funny. Benson is still a chunker at 7 months. He loves finger foods, especially puffs and he LOVES feeding himself. He responds to his name really well and has done this for awhile, but now he does really well finding others if you ask him, especially Owen, that couldn't be because I have to say his name a thousand times a day(not always for good reasons) could it?!:) When Owen has to go take a break in his room, we leave the door open and Benson ALWAYS makes a bee-line to go in there with him. Whenever Benson goes to bed now, Owen sings him a night night song, it is so sweet. Benson still LOVES his binky! We finally mastered sleeping without his arms swaddled, that was a relief and a stressful milestone, having his allergies under control helped a lot. He still has his floofy hair and his blue eyes. He is starting to chatter and will attempt to copy you as well, he says babababab. Benson loves balls! He also loves to put everything imaginable in his mouth. Benson starts what we call the superman pose. He lays on his belly and arches his back in an arch and keeps his arms and legs off the ground. Then he usually starts to move like he is swimming, it is hilarious and he does it all the time. Benson loves bananas. He went on his first swing ride at the park. He hates sitting. He just rolls out of sitting position and onto his belly to keep scooting around. He hardly ever stays still. He does however let you hold and cuddle him still. Benson loves balloons and is really good at grabbing the string and slowing working his way to get the actual balloon in his hands. He has started eating 4 times a day, yay!


Benson is a crazy man in this jumper, it is so hilarious to watch him.

These drawers are where we keep some of Benson's clothes in our closet and they went from this to...

THIS! And, I bet you couldn't guess who helped with that. One day I let Benson play in the pack n' play for a little while and Owen was in there too. Then, Owen came out with an empty drawer and I honestly thought he had only dumped one drawer and I also thought he had dumped in on the floor, man was I wrong! Can you find Benson in there???

You can't really see them in this picture but it was taken to document finding his teeth.

Superbenson!

I can't tell you how many times I find Benson stuck under the table and crying out for help, silly guy! He crawls all over under there.

Benson at 6 months!

Well, even though I haven't been keeping up with the blog posts about Benson I have still being taking the pictures and jotting down notes at each month. So, in an effort to update you on his growth before he is a whole 1 year old, I'll start where we left off. Benson's half year birthday was a big milestone of changes for us. This first picture I love because as you can see he has the little ribbon from the peanut, which explains this whole photo shoot in a nut shell. From this age onward I dread the day we need to take our monthly picture as I know it is going to be one big wrestling match. By the end of this shoot he was smothering Peanut and the ribbon was off and he was eating it:) silly little guy!


Using his feet to get Peanut.

I'm so sad this picture is a little blurry, but I really love it. It is just Benson to me, so happy!

Well, we have a few pictures from Benson at 6 months to help describe his personality a bit more.

I was doing a sewing project and had laid out a big piece of fabric on the floor one night. Ryan and I had both went into the other room for just a minute and we came back to the picture above. Benz had rolled himself up all the way in the fabric. When we wen to get him out, he just kept laughing and trying to do it again, he thought he was so funny!


We received a box of used clothes, we are so grateful for friends and family who donate clothes to us, thanks! One of the pieces of clothing was this. It wasn't exactly our style, so as a joke I put Benson in it, to see Ryan's reaction. It told him that since we didn't have any girls this was about as close as I could get. Poor Benson, he just smiled through the whole thing, I'm sure he is going to hate this picture when he gets older. And, no we didn't actually dress him this way to go anywhere.

Don't Tell Owen! This is Owen's Glowen, his best friend, the friend he has to sleep with or have when he is sad. Benson has taken quite the liking to him and will snag him whenever Owen is not on the watch. I think Santa has a good idea of what Benson wants for Christmas from this toy.

Benson eats everything! This is just one of many examples! I wish he wasn't the one with allergies!

See Benson's eye. He has scratched his Cornea several times since birth, all due to his itchy face because of his allergies. It is always so painful, I feel so bad for him, when this happens.

And, Benson is officially our Binky Baby! He loves them and they go wherever we go. Around 6 months of age was when Benson was trying to figure out how to stick his binky in himself, I came over to him one day and this is how he had it. Silly Guy!

As for other 6 month updates, Benson started rice cereal and loved it, that was on July 6. And, on July 8th we spotted his first tooth coming in, the bottom left. Although, it took awhile for that tooth to fully cut, it was not a fun process. He also started to army crawl/scoot around. He crawls just like Owen did, we call it the Nemo crawl since he/and Owen as well dragged one arm like it was lame, haha, it is hilarious. I have no idea why they both do it exactly the same.

And, for Benson's big story at 6 months, we found out he has severe food allergies. If you remember from some of his previous posts he had really bad rashes and eczema since he was born. I even tried taking out certain foods from my diet and nothing seemed to help. The doctor finally said that she thought he must just be that way. She said that we could check him at 9 months for allergies just to be sure but to wait until then. Around this same time, due to circumstances in regards to me, we decided that it was time to ween Benson off breast milk and switch him over to formula. The doctor had told me to use a sensitive kind due to his reflux issues. On July 17th we gave him formula right before bed and he was super fussy when we put him down. We went back in and he had thrown up all of the formula, like tons more than normal and he had hives on his back. We had used some sample formula from the hospital that we had left, so we just thought that maybe it was because we hadn't used the exact sensitive kind the doctor had given us the name for. I was still weening him at this point so he had a few normal feedings before he would need formula again. I was so scared to give him the formula since he had thrown up before but was confident that the new sensitive kind would do the trick. I fed him in the afternoon and again he was getting ready to go down for nap. He seemed fine at that point. I went in to put him down, and felt very strongly that I needed to watch him fall asleep, so I stood and watched him. He got really fussy again and started sneezing, coughing, itching, and basically going crazy. He was not comfortable. I picked him up and took off his clothes and he had hives covering his entire body, his neck, and his face. He was still breathing fine at this point, so I called the doctor. I then called Ryan, crying because I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how serious it was. It was one of those times where I just kept questioning if I was over reacting, should I call 911? His breathing got a lot quicker and more shallow and he kept doing this cough like he was having trouble so the doctor told us the amount of benedryl I should give him and said to call 911. Ryan had come home from work at this point and he dialed 911. They came within minutes and by that point the benedryl had kicked in some so he was breathing a lot better. He was also getting more comfortable so he was smiling at all of the EMTs. They gave him two more doses of benedryl to make sure the hives went completely down. We actually had two different sets of EMTs report to our house, it was packed and they all kept trying to make him smile. Owen was napping at this point and when he woke up, he was so confused, but excited about the lights on their cars. Mimi also came from work to check on us, since she works close as well, and she took Owen down to see the ambulance, etc. Luckily, we didn't actually have to go to the hospital. We made an appointment with the doctor that night and she gave us a hypoallergenic formula that Benson could use until we got all the results back. So, after all the testing and allergists visits we found out that Benson was indeed allergic to Dairy or the milk in the formula and also Egg, and Peanut, that is why when I went off milk his rash didn't go away, I would have had to know to go off all of three things at the same time. The allergist also had us give him soy formula after we figured out he wasn't allergic to that, and it was like night and day. The formula the doctor originally gave us was hypoallergenic but it still had traces of milk that wouldn't give him a full on reaction but were still irritating his skin, so when the test came back negative to soy, we were so excited! Ever since then, Benson has been like a different baby, so much happier and so much more comfortable, it is amazing! I feel so bad that for the first 6 months of his life we just thought he was more cranky, poor guy, was feeling sick all the time. We feel so blessed that things worked out the way they did and know that the Lord's hand is in all things and that he was watching over Benson and us. We definitely experienced a lot of tender mercies through this experience.

Conference Weekend

In early October we were able to go to Mimi & Pop Pop's house for the weekend to watch General Conference as a family. General Conference happens two weekends a year when our church leaders share spiritual messages with the world wide church. It is a nice relaxing weekend where we can be uplifted and gain insight. This year we were able to go up on Friday evening and go to a carnival the night before Conference which was being broadcast on Saturday and Sunday.

The little carnival was so fun and Owen really enjoyed it, at least until I got a little too excited for him and scared him by having him go on this really fast spinning ride. I honestly didn't realize how fast it was going to be. He still did okay but he was much more hesitant to go on other rides after that. I hope I didn't scare him for life. I think he will most definitely go back though since when we were leaving for the night, he kept asking to, "go again". Oh and his most favorite thing was one of those prize booths where you pick different numbered rubber duckies and you get the corresponding prize. He would have spent all of our money on that one booth, I guess when you get a prize for pretty much doing nothing, why wouldn't you want to keep coming back.


Owen really loved this lady bug ride and would have went on it again and again, but we decided to have him try a few other things. I guess I should have just stuck with this ride, because when we came back after going on the scary ride, Owen didn't want to go anymore:( because he was a little scared.

The ride we shouldn't have gone on.

Ferris Wheel


Benson was there too!

So, Owen wouldn't go on any of the horses on the carousel, he just wanted to sit in the set with Daddy. Hopefully, we can get his confidence back soon, and be a little more smart about the rides we think will be okay.

Then it was on to watching conference and enjoying time with family. Owen even got to do a little finger painting which he thoroughly enjoyed. And, we set up a tent to watch conference and everything after talking about King Benjamin and all of the people who faced their tents towards him as he spoke so they could learn the words of God. We do this every conference and I didn't take a picture of it this time, but these pictures are from Conference back in April.