A love letter

Dear Dylan,

I love everything about you. I love your big smiles. I love how serious you can be. I love all your coos & how you love to talk to us. I love the way you say "Gee!" when you're not a fan of whatever's happening, and the way you say "Voo" and "A-goo" when you're a happy critter.

I love your hands. You're starting to study them, and it is sooo cute. I love your adorable feeties and the way you were using them to kick your rubber duck & splash in the bath tub tonight. I love the shape of your eyes, the curve of your forehead, your chubby cheekers, your beautiful mouth, your adorable chin, your ears which are so soft I can't help but nibble on them, the little upturn of your nose, your golden brown eyelashes, your lip dimples, and every other teeny detail about your face. I love your soft, soft hair. I love your pudge - we work hard to make those rolls! I love your knuckle dimples, the soft nibbley spot at the back of your neck, your cutie pie belly button, and your kicky little legs. I love you head to toe.

I love the way you smell. I love your ornery personality. I love how smart you are already. I love that you love it when we read to you. I love that you love your baths. I love the way you're pulling your legs up SOOOO high and using them to kick things on your play gym & to wiggle all about. I love the way you're learning to grab blocks, rings, and my hand when they're in front of you. I love to watch you learn and grow.

I love the way you feel in my arms. I love to hold you while you sleep, or carry you around facing out and show you the world. I love it when you snuggle the nook between my shoulder and neck. I love to nurse you, and the way you like to hold on to me while you nurse. I love the birthmark on your finger. I love how soft your skin is.

I love everything about you, Dylan. Everything I've written here and so, so much more. I can't wait to watch you grow and to teach you things. Thank you for being wonderful, amazing you.

Love,

-Mommy

Water Baby

Dylan loves her baths - even the sprinkling-water-on-her-head bit! Here she is in her blue whale bathtub, being sprinkled by the little orange whale, and smiling at Daddy all the while. :)

"More sprinkling please, Daddy!"

"Every night Mommy encourages me to splash in my bathtub, and we talk about all the fun we're going to have at the beach this summer! I hear that I will probably think sand is delicious, and we will hunt some of my crab relatives on the beach at night with flashlights!"

Mimi & Daddy admiring our Sweet Pickle enjoying her bath.

Our Sweet Dyl Pickle

Possibly my new favorite picture of Dyl. :) Smiley with a hint of ornery - that's my baby!

I suppose we see a fair amount of this pout face too - but it's awfully cute as well. :) I think she might be an actress when she grows up, she has such an expressive face.

This picture just looks like she's laughing so hard! Really it's just a smile, she's chuckled twice now, but I can't wait till she's giggling all the time.

Her outfit is correct. Her mommy does love her - and so do many other people. She's a lucky little girl, and we are lucky parents.

Looking at Penguin & his associated rings, which she is becoming quite the pro at hitting and grabbing. She's started to study her hands, and is really making progress on the hand-eye-coordination front. It's so amazing to watch her grow & learn!

3 months

Our little Dylly-roo-hoo loves her books!

She particularly enjoys this Sesame Street book about being kind, she gets all excited and kicks and wiggles when I turn the pages.

Here we are, pointing at the different characters and learning what colors they all are.

Dylan has to reach up and touch the pictures too - once she's even held the corner of the book for a short second!

Aunt Kelly & Uncle Jesse got her an awesome book for Christmas that's called "Peek-a-boo Forest" - it has crinkly fabric pages, with different flaps that have various animals hiding behind them. She loves to crinkle the flaps and look at the big-eyed animals hiding behind them! But really any book with bold colors & sharp pictures will do - with a preference for books that rhyme of encourage Mommy & Daddy to make funny noises or sing. We have so much fun together!

Christmas Day

Dylan's first Christmas! And oh my, it was a wonderful one!

"Hey now! It's Christmas, why do I have to do this terrible tummy time business?!?" (Her facial expression clearly conveys how she feels about tummy time.)

"Ah, this is MUCH better - snuggled in Mommy's arms!"

Grandma, Grandpoppy, & Dylan - talking together after Christmas dinner. <3

Christmas day was a wonderful, relaxing day. We had our stockings (Dylan got a light up rubber ducky for bath time, from Grandma, that she just LOVES.) We went for a walk - it was in the 40's, sunny, & windy. Then everyone was just hanging out together, enjoying our Christmas presents, and fixing Christmas dinner. We made a ribeye roast, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, peas, & gravy - quite tasty! (It was my first time making yorkshire pudding, and though I didn't get to taste it - because of the milk in it - everyone said it was quite tasty and there wasn't a bit left over.) I just love Christmas so much, but it always flies by SO fast! Next year I think I will wish for Christmas to be longer, as my present from Santa. :)

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas from the Stevelt-Mitchells! Christmas Eve is our big Christmas around here, and we had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas Eve. We had a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, ham, red cabbage, green beans, potatoes, rolls, and stuffing....

...lots and lots of oh-so-nice presents...

...good times singing and dancing around the tree (we were making Uncle Jesse practice his baby holding skills to encourage the procurement of some Stevelt-Cantrell babies :))...

...a wonderful family (sorry you're not in this picture too, Mom & Dad, we needed a group shot!)...

...and of course, lots of adorable Dylan time! (Here she is modeling a headband Great Aunt Patty & Uncle John sent her! I'm not sure how thrilled she is wearing it, but it's awfully cute!) Dylan made our Christmas so wonderful - the best present of all! (I just can't say it enough!)

Glaedelig Lille Julaften!

Our lille julaften dinner table! Can you spot my favorite feature?? That's right - the high chair! :) I can't wait till next year when she can actually be eating ris-en-gott & drinking grape juice with us! (But I'm not wishing any time away, I'm looking forward to every day between now & then too!)

We had our Christmas gift exchange with Grandma McMillan (Mimi) tonight, because she has to head back to Wooster tomorrow. Here's a shot of Jesse & Grandma starting in to their presents. :)

Grandma & Dylan snuggling & watching everyone open gifts.

Dylan's present to Uncle Jesse - she was so anxious to give it to him, she had to give it to him tonight! The caption says "What would Uncle Jesse do?"

He LOVED it! Doesn't Aunt Kelly look thrilled that he's already wearing it? Jesse was already plotting how he could wear it to work...

Daddy showing Dylan the adorable Baby's 1st Christmas ornament that Mimi gave her for Christmas - so cute!

It was a lovely day & a wonderful evening - we are so grateful for our family! We love you all so much!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I do love our Christmas tree - every year I think I suggest to Chadmo that we have a Christmas tree year round (more troublesome since we have a real one though). There's that awkward spot in our middle living room that just never feels right except when there's a Christmas tree in it!

I know Dylan's pack n' play is a mess, but can you spot the thing that doesn't belong?

Nope, it's not Elephant. He's supposed to be there. But you're very close...

You got it - one very naughty cat named Farrah! Who absolutely knows she's not supposed to be in there, but can't seem to resist that fabulous, comfy nest of blankets with a perfect 'cave' made by the changing table.

She got such a complex from me photographing her behaving poorly that she had to extricate herself as soon as I walked away. Here she is sitting innocently on the living room rug, pretending she wasn't just trying to get herself on the 'naughty' list a few seconds ago.

Then I went back to check on Daddy & Dylly to see if Miss Roo was being good and going to bed. She'd seemed asleep and Chadmo had laid her down, but instead of sleeping she had tricksily wiggled her crabclaws out of her swaddle and was just playing away in her crib. (It's dark in there, this is all flash lighting.) When I took her picture she looked rather pleased with herself, our little night owl! We love you bunches Dylan!

Today felt very Christmas-y - Dylan and I went over to Oldemor's house to give her her Christmas gifts. We stayed for a couple of hours, had tea & cookies, and played underneath her Christmas tree. It was a very cozy afternoon that we'll have to repeat soon. Then we headed home and had our Christmas exchange with Sheri & Christy, who gave us all sorts of nice things and who seemed pleased with their gifts as well. Finally, I ran over to the Dickerson's to drop off some Christmas presents we'd picked up for Emrie, Hen-Hen, & Greta. The gifts were quite the success and now I'm just dying for the day when Dylan can be that excited for Christmas presents!

Tomorrow night is Lille Julaften, which Chad, Dylan, & I will be hosting at our house. Grandma McMillan (Mimi) is coming down, and Kelly, Jesse, Mom, & Poppy will all be here too. I can't wait! Then there will be Christmas Eve festivities, Christmas Day relaxation & loveliness, and then we have a couple of Christmas parties to go to next week. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Family, friends, good food, cozy nights, & Christmas trees. <3

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (but only inside, not outside)

Dylan spending some quality time with her Oldemor (great grandmother in Danish) today. Dylan was teaching Oldemor about the special techniques she requires to trick her into napping. :)

But Oldemor figured out the patting-your-head-rubbing-your-tummy acrobatics required for a Dylly nap, and they had a nice snuggle while I got a chance to eat some lunch! We were out at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and they were busy making delicious, delicious kleinjer (a danish Christmas cookie.)

A special "D" kleinjer that Grandma made just for Dylan! :)

I am so in love with and so grateful for this little girl - Merry Christmas to me!!

BIG stretches! I think it's a side effect of swaddling, she can't get enough of stretching and kicking when she's 'free'.

"Grandma, are you paparrazi-ing me again??" (We're glad you play paparazzi, Mom, you get some of the cutest pictures!)

It has been quite un-seasonably warm here, 57 degrees & sunny in Logan today. But I'm not complaining, I think I'm just nervous that we might pay for all this lovely weather in January & February. But we'll hope that's not the case, and enjoy the spring like weather while it's here. (We didn't really have much of a spring this year, so maybe it's just decided to come now?) I was having trouble feeling Christmas-y with this warm weather, but being out at Mom & Dad's while they made kleinjer made it officially seem like Christmas is here! I have a few presents left to wrap up tonight, and then hopefully we are ready for the weekend!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Daddy & Dylan spending some quality time together yesterday evening. Aren't they cutie pies?

Well we do lots of rocking, and our rocking chair is near our Christmas tree, so I guess that counts as 'Rockin' around the Christmas tree'! :) We've been having fun this week because our friends Aaron & Andrea Ogle, and their kids Asher & Anna, are in town till after the New Year. We got to hang out with them for a bit on Sunday evening, and then tonight Dylly and I went over and hung out with them while Chadmo was at a work Christmas party. They've been living in San Francisco this last year, and we haven't seen them since last Christmas, so it's lots of fun to have a chance to catch up with them & see their kiddos who have grown so much. Aaron's parents live right across from the cemetery where Haley-Bug is buried, in fact Aaron's Mom was the person responsible for finally getting us a headstone that we liked. On Sunday they saw us out at the cemetery, putting up Haley-Bug's Christmas tree, and Asher (who is only 5.5 years old) could read almost the entire back of her gravestone which is in cursive! I was so impressed! They have some smart munchkins. :) We're looking forward to spending a lot more time with them before they head off to Philadelphia after the New Year, and with the Dickersons, & the Klingelhafer-Gallensteins who will be in town next week. Of course we can't wait for the holidays with our family, that's what I love most about any holiday, but it's great to have so many friends in town to spend time with too!

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

My sweet Dylan-roo, snuggled up in my arms for a nap today.

Last night Dylan slept from 11:30 pm till 6:20 am, and then from 6:45 am till 10:00 am - it was AMAZING! The best night's sleep I've had in 3.5 months! Thank you so much Dylan, Mommy needed it. :) Then she followed up her good night's sleep with a sleepy day. We had lots of good snuggles today, and it was just lovely.

We had an adorable mini photo shoot of Daddy & Dylan this evening, but I'm missing my camera-to-computer cord and can't get the pictures onto my computer. :/ So you will have to settle for the above ipod photo for now - I still think it's awfully cute!

Hope everyone's getting ready for Christmas! We wrapped lots of presents today, and I finally got my Christmas cards in the mail, so we're getting there. Only 6 more days till Christmas!!

Baby It's Cold Outside

FINALLY caught on camera in a non-blurry picture: a Dylan smile!!! :) Isn't it fabulous?? She's been so happy the last few days, it's been just wonderful. I love seeing my little critter smile so much!

Snuggling with my Sweet Pea - there's nothing better than this. <3

(P.S. Doesn't Dylan's hair look auburn in the picture with me?? Poppy & Grandmom have been saying that all along, but I've only noticed her eyelashes looking auburn until this picture! Her hair will be gorgeous if it ends up being that color! Or any color really - I'm sure I will always think she's gorgeous. :))

No elephants, or rhinocerosuses, I only like...pink ponies

"Well hello there, Pink Pony, my favorite toy! (Excellent work Great Aunt Patty.) I think I will wish for a real, live, Pink Pony for Christmas from Santa Claus..."

"What? You mean ponies don't actually come in this color???"

"Well. That's disappointing."

"Oh well, I'll just wish for a white pony. Then I'm confident that Mommy & Grandma will go out and dye it these colors for me on a regular basis, just to keep me happy! I'm spoiled like that. :)" (I don't know why this is underlined.)

A big thanks to Aunt Kelly for coming to babysit Miss Dylan last night so Chadmo & I could have a date night! We managed to watch half of the movie "Limitless" before Dylan decided she needed me to come back & feed her, but it was lovely to be able to have both Chad & myself just sit and relax for a bit. Also, thanks to Mom & Dad for loaning us their house, since there are no dairy-free restaurants or movie theaters to go to in Logan!