A beautiful Monday

It was 75-80 degrees, gorgeous, & sunshiney here today. Dyl & I celebrated the gorgeous weather by dressing her in one of her adorable summer outfits for the first time. I just love getting to actually see her bare cutie-pie arms, chubby legs, and oh-so-nibbley toes! 

I took Dylan up to see her pediatrician today, mostly to confirm that poor Critter has allergies and not just some upper respiratory infection that I've been neglecting. Dr. Gibson said it was indeed allergies, and then she did Dylan's well check while we were there. She weighed 18 pounds 3.5 ounces (75th percentile), was 27.75 inches long (80-90th percentile) and her head was off the charts at >95th percentile (I can't remember the actual centimeters.) Our little Crabcake is not so little anymore! :) She's wearing 9-12 month clothes these days, and we had to move her exersaucer legs up a notch. I can't believe she's 7 months old already - and she gets more and more fun each day. We love you, Dylan!

A day of walks

"Come here O-ball."

"Ta da! I've caught you and passed you off to the other hand. Now who else to add to my collection?"

"Oooh, fancy block, you look fun." (Note that O-ball has been flung out of the scene in this picture.)

"Yay, block! What?? I'm allowed to be fickle about my toys if I want to." (Dyl's new favorite game is definitely: pick up one toy, fling it away, move on to the next.)

We've had a fun & relaxing weekend at home. Our dinner/slumber party last night was lots of fun. Today we took some lovely naps, and then Chad, Dylan & I (and the dogs of course) went for a 2 mile hike out at my parents. On our way home we picked up some Chinese food for dinner, which was quite tasty. Then at 8 pm I met my friends Heather & April in town and we went for an ~2.5 mile walk in town. It was lovely to get out of the house on my own for an hour - I'm hoping I can join them on these walks regularly! While I was walking, Dyl & Daddy went grocery shopping, came home, Daddy fed Dylly some green beans & squash for dinner, and then gave her a bath. I made it in the door just in time to kiss Burrito-Dylly all rolled up in her hooded towel, fresh out of the bath. Then the 3 of us played on the floor in the nursery, had story time, and then I nursed Dylan to sleep. Talk about a refreshing evening. Now I'm off to take a bath and then head to bed myself. Goodnight all!

Slumber Party Saturday

"Well, hello there! It's been awhile since we've had a bath tub photo shoot!"

"My Daddy is SO funny - I love him bunches & bunches! He is the best Daddy."

"I don't think he's so funny." says curmudgeon-y Forrest. "Harumpf."

"Necky washing - a necessity for one with cheeks like mine. I do like to hoard things in my neck fold."

Such a big girl - sitting up in her bath tub, 'fishing' for her ducks and sprinkly whale. She loves the water so much. I'm looking forward to taking her to 'Mommy & Me' swim classes this summer. :)

The party in our bathroom this fine Saturday evening. Dylly baths are the ultimate in entertainment. :) Cheers to Dyl-frill!

"But Mommy, I don't want to go to bed. I want to stay up and play with you guys..."

We're having a lovely dinner & slumber party with Sydney, Spencer, Katy, & Greg tonight. Dyl's been enjoying having lots of people to fuss over her, and to enjoy bath time with her. We're so glad we have such good friends!

An Oldie but Goody

Still one of my favorite pictures of Dylan & myself, but every time I see it she makes me think of Donald Draper from Mad Men. Just as I have the "Chairman Mao" picture of Haley-Bug, this shall forever be the "Donald Draper" picture of Dyl-frill. :)

No new pictures from today - I was a bit of a frazzled mother with a baby who only napped for 20 minutes twice, before 6:30 pm. Dylan was pretty happy considering, but she even looked sleepy. Maybe I was just having work withdrawal, after being on vacation, because I really enjoyed my afternoon at work today. (And I hear Dylan enjoyed her afternoon with Grandma & Grandpoppy - going for a hike in the Kelty backpack, eating sweet potatoes & green beans, and other general merriment. :)) I got to do a crazy emergency dentistry on a little dachshund who had such gnarly teeth that she'd displaced one while she was eating yesterday, and now she couldn't close her mouth or eat today. I ended up having to pull 27 teeth, she was already missing 14 teeth, and that left her with one, lonely tooth in her mouth. Her bottom right canine tooth was just fine, so we polished it up, and in it stayed. Sheri and I took to calling her "One Fang"- ha! It was fun to jump in and do something other than seeing appointments, I guess I miss working mornings and doing surgeries more than I realized. I love being home with Dyl, but I do love my job too. I can't wait till she's a little older and I can just pop her up on a barstool and have her watch me do surgeries!

Ask and ye shall receive :)

Here are some more awesome pictures from our trip to Wisconsin, specifically from the Mitchell family get together at Nancy & Bill's on Saturday! Thank you, Aunt Nancy, for responding so fabulously to my request for more pictures! :) 

Claire (9), Lexi (9.5), & Ella (8.5) playing outside - during most of the party they were building a fort in the woods with lopper choppers in hand - a group of industrious little girls! Ella told me later that Matt and Mandy's big, black labradoodle gave them quite a start when they thought a black bear was sneaking up on them during their fort building fun. :) Thank Heavens it was just Morty!

Will (21 months) driving Aubrey (15 months) around in his gator. The gator claimed it was for ages 6 years +, clearly they weren't accounting for the advanced gator driving genes in the children of Lodi. ;) So cute!

Dyl & Auntie Melissa (& Baby boy Marshall!) playing in the grass.

"Whoa. Spinny & shiny. That thing is AWESOME."

Dylan with Grandpa Chuck, Auntie Arielle, & Grandma Beatriz. Apparently Grandpa's head makes a good foot rest... ;)

"I do not approve of the modifications to my hat. Even if it does keep it from falling in my eyes. Harumphf." says the Queen of the Pout Lip.

Another cousin picture! Tessa (almost 5), Mason (6), Brad (12) holding Aubrey (15 months), Mitchell (8), Ella (8.5), Lexi (9.5), Claire (9) - sorry if I botched any of the ages! They're all so cute, and I absolutely can not believe how grown up they're all getting. It seems like just yesterday Mitchell was 2 years old and saying "I'm a lucky boy, I'm a lucky boy" at Andrea & Adrian's wedding shower...

Aubrey (15 months) and Dylan (almost 7 months) - Aubrey's playing with the super cool baby record player, and Dyl appears to be growling at the camera. Ha.

A different version of the picture from yesterday's post. Just getting 12 kids, ages 9.5 years and under, to hold still for a camera for 2 minutes is a huge success - no matter who's crying or not looking!

The newest of the babes: Will (21 months), Aubrey (15 months), Leighton (9 months), & Dylan (almost 7 months). I love that there seems to be a "Round 2" of cousins/grandbabies, and that almost all the various families are participating! :)

Chadmo, Dyl, & me - The Stevelt-Mitchells! We had a wonderful visit - thanks for taking great pictures, Nancy!

Poor Dyl-frill is apparently allergic to Ohio. She'd been intermittently snuffly for a few weeks before we went to Wisconsin. While we were in Wisconsin, she was clear as a bell & slept fabulously. Yesterday, upon returning to the pollen pit that is the Hocking Valley, she was instantly stuffy again. Poor Critter was up every 2 hours last night and her nose ran like a faucet all day today. At least I know it's not a dog allergy, since Melissa & John's dog Tripp was at Grandmum Wisconsin's house with us. Let's hope it's just a pollen allergy and not a cat allergery. Time to acquire an air purifier for Dyl's room I guess...

This afternoon, my Mom, Dylan & I had some retail therapy at TJ Maxx since it was too rainy to go for a walk. It was quite the successful shopping trip, and Dylan was wonderful for the whole trip. We had a tasty girls' night out dinner at Chipotle before heading back to Logan. It is good to be home, to see Grandma & Grandpoppy again, to have all our pets with us again, and to have our own comfy beds. (Now if only we'd get a chance to catch some sleep in them!) ;) I do enjoy traveling, but I also love coming home!

A Trip to Wisconsin!

Dylan's first plane ride! We flew from Columbus to Milwaukee - Dyl fell asleep before we took off and slept until about 10 minutes before we landed. Yay for our excellent flier! :) (She was very good on the flight home too, even though we ended up being stuck on the plane an hour and 15 minutes longer than planned.) 

Dyl with her Great-Granny Lee. She loved that tulip. I know her arm's blocking her face in this picture, but I just love the way she's reaching.

Dylly and cousin Kylee sitting on Grandmum Wisconsin's couch. Take 1: cute Dylly smile, but both models were distracted by Bambi on the TV.

Take 2: Now only Dyl is distracted by Bambi - talk about an adorable smile, Miss Kylee!

Dyl-frill and her Great-Grandpa Lee. She just smiled and smiled at him, it was adorable. We can't wait till he can take her to see the moo-cows like he does with Kylee. :)

Dylan with her Great Grandparents - Bob & Mary Lee. It was wonderful to see them, Chad and I hadn't seen them in almost 2 years, and it was their first time meeting Dylan. We can't go so long between visits again!

I managed to sneak in a picture of Auntie Melissa and Grandmum Wisconsin, the behind-the-scenes entertainment to trick Dylly into smiling/looking at the camera. Isn't that pink vulture puppet awesome?? ;)

4 generations of Lee-Mitchell-Stevelt-Mitchells!

A picture of Dylan with most of her 3rd cousins from the Mitchell Family get-together at Bill & Nancy's on Saturday (this picture brought to you by Emily's blog! :)) Starting on the left: Mitchell holding Nolan, a sad Kylee, Mason giving Tessa bunny ears, Ella holding Dyl-frill, Lexi holding Leighton, and Claire holding Will & Aubrey. Not pictured, but present at the party: Brad & Marah. We're so sad we don't live closer so that we could spend time with this awesome crew more often - Dylan loved ALL of them! We definitely have a party animal on our hands. 

Dylan and Great-Aunt Patty Meade, at Patty & John's house on Sunday.

And the most random of pictures from our trip, but too cute not to add on here, Emily giving Tessa & Nolan their bath in Grandma Patty's awesome, big bath tub. :)

So I'm a terribly negligent picture taker, and am ashamed to admit that these are really all the pictures I have from our awesome 5 day trip to Wisconsin. (And even one of these is hi-jacked from Emily.) Dear Wisconsin family - please send us any pictures you might have taken while we were there - we'd love to have them for our own collection and to share on the blog! :)

We really had an amazing visit, and Dylan was such a good traveler. She actually slept through the night (HALLELUJAH!) 3 of the 4 nights we were there. Apparently the trick to having Dyl sleep through the night is to absolutely exhaust her by being on the go constantly, meeting about 20 new people per day, and having other small children around. That's going to be a hard schedule to maintain...

Thank you so much to Grandmum/Mum for having us, to Auntie Melissa, Uncle John, and Kylee for bringing every baby necessity imaginable to Grandmum's and making our trip so much easier and spending so much time with us, to Nancy & Bill for hosting the incredibly fun Mitchell family get together (and for loaning us the exersaucer), to all the extended Mitchell family members who came to said party, many of whom gave Dylan very sweet gifts, to Judy & Jim for coming up from Illinois to visit with us and feed us an incredible brunch on Sunday, to Patty & John for having us for dinner on Sunday, to Diane & Chadmo for humoring me by suffering through shopping at Century House with me - yet again, to Becky, Jim, & Ella for showing us their new house and introducing us to their new dog Lily, to Granny & Grandpa for just being there, and to Bob for coming to join us for a few meals and for being sweet enough to drive us to the airport today. We are so glad we finally made it 'home' to Wisconsin again - we love you all!

Fun at Grandma's

Dylly having fun on Grandma's big bed today while Mommy was at work. She sure loves her Grandma!

Superfluous pants wearing

"Well, hello there! Happy Wednesday to you! Do you want to play with my poppers with me?"

"Well yes, now that you mention it, I'm not wearing any pants. But this is Ohio (in honor of Maggie White 'Welcome to Ohio! Take off your pants!') and we hate superfluous pants wearing. Anyways, I'm adorable in my underbritches."

"And see, I work just as well in my underpants as anyone does in regular pants. They're really not necessary."

Sadly blogger would only let me upload about 1/4 of this video. But here's a bit of Dylly-cuteness.

Dylan has a new food in her repertoire - mango! Isn't she an exotic and fancy baby? I feel like we should vacation to south america or something. (Except I don't have any desire to get a raging bout of diarrhea, which seems to be the lovely side effect of every trip I've ever heard of to anywhere south of the border.) Maybe we'll have to settle for a trip to Whole Foods & the Columbus Zoo.

*Le Sigh*

"It's hard to be a baby. Everyone's always smothering you in smooches, hugging you excessively, making ridiculous faces and noises at you in an attempt to make you laugh." *Le sigh*

I imagine I'll see more and more of this face as the years go by. The "Moooooom, not in front of my friends!" or "Mooooooom, gross!" or "Geez, Mom, I'll be home tomorrow. Control yourself." expression. But isn't 6.5 months a little early for it?? Poor baby, her life is hard. ;) Sorry Dyl, your mommy suffers from a serious lack of self-control in the kiss department. Maybe I do need to attend that smooching intervention my friend Carrie was talking about...

Its' own gravitational force

The Pasta Primavera Casserole that Dyl & I made for dinner tonight. It was the first time I'd ever made this recipe, and I think it turned out rather tasty if I do say so myself. And it was pretty, too. :)

"Oooooh! My abacus!"

"This thing is awesome to play with with your hands OR your feet. But there are so many cool things on it, it does take a lot of concentration. Also, you have to be careful not to pull it over on yourself and bonk it on your head. Especially when you have a large noggin' like I do, it tends to have its' own gravitational force."

Cuter than cute. :) We love you so much, Dylan!

Oh my, today was a crabby day. Possibly the crabbiest day in weeks. I actually had to call Grandpoppy and ask him to come in for lunch so I could do something without hearing little Miss fuss. But then seeing Grandpoppy seemed to cheer Dyl up, and she was happier this afternoon than this morning. (Thank Heavens!) We went for a couple mile walk in town with Grandma this afternoon, and it was hot, beautiful, and windy. There were kids playing in sprinklers, people out mowing, and summery sights everywhere. It was lovely. After our walk, Grandma took Dyl while I went to the chiropractor, and then she and Grandpoppy stayed for dinner. (Pictured above.) Now Dyl, Chadmo, & I are just relaxing for a bit before bath time - yay for long summer evenings!

Please excuse the iPod quality photos & video

My adorable Dyl-frill, all wrapped up in her swaddle and looking at me like "I don't think I want to nap right now, Mommy, but I'm happy to be snuggled up in your arms."

"Look Mommy! I'm a big girl now. I can hold my spoon and feed myself!"

"See - I'm even a member of the clean plate club!"

Watch out Dylly - Daddy is coming in for some sneaky neck smooches!!

Here's a little video of Miss Dylan, "feeding" herself. She sure loves her spoon!

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend, we sure did! Today we were productive all day: mowing, doing laundry, making cookies, etc. Then we finished up our day with an ~2.5 mile walk and a delicious dinner of burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, guacamole, and chips! Poor Dyl never would take her short evening nap, so she was a bit of a hot mess when she decided to go to bed. She went to bed early but has been up a lot since, let's hope that that's not a reflection of how tonight will go... The last 2 nights have been so wonderful - I just wanted that pattern to stick! Dyl's been such a good girl all weekend, I just love it when she's happy.

We love the weekends

"That party was fun, Mommy, but I'm glad to be home in my jumpy pony."

"This red-spinning thing is my favorite part of my pony today. I'm so into the details lately..."

We had a very fun evening at our friends', the Amicks, last night for dinner. Tonight we went to the wedding reception of our friends, The Luzzis, who eloped to Vegas recently, and we had a great time catching up with lots of old friends we hadn't seen in awhile. Dyl's been loving all the people watching, but she is SUCH a serious critter around new people. She's not shy, but there's no way a new person is going to trick her into smiling, particularly not in a crowd. As Grandpa says, she's as serious as a deacon! I guess she just likes to save all her smiles and laughs for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and close friends. :)