Stroller Success (*knock on wood*)

"I scratched myself on the side of my nose today."

"It's very sad."

"But I can still play and have fun! I'm a tough baby!!" :)

"See my favorite toy over there?? I am THIS close to getting that yellow one figured out too..."

We had a fun & productive Sunday today. We met Derek, Kate, Jace, Jeslyn, & their newest addition - Jett (2.5 weeks old) Harden, Jennifer, Jeremy, Caleb, & Lauren Coakley, and Tom & Jess Steinbrink, at Panera in Lancaster for lunch. All of the many babies and kiddos were adorable as always, and it was great to get to meet Mr. Jett! He is adorable, and a clone of his big brother Jace. We hear Jett already sleeps 7 hours uninterrupted at night, so we are hoping he rubbed off on Dylan while we were all hanging out together. :) (Though I do need to give Dylan credit, she did sleep 6 hours & 45 minutes in a row last night - but not till after she was up twice between 11:45 pm - 3:15 am.) It was fun to see everyone and catch up, it's been too long since we all got together. Now that the holidays are over, hopefully we'll have more time to meet up once a month again.

After lunch, Chad, Dyl & I went mattress shopping. We were testing out Tempurpedic vs knock-off Tempurpedic vs Latex foam mattresses. I think we need to go to Columbus and try a wider variety of the Tempurpedic beds, and actually I'm a pretty big fan of the Latex foam beds too. So many options!

Then we went to Lowe's and bought insulation sleeves for our hot water heaters (you know you're old when that's part of your exciting Sunday. :)) And finally we went to the Lancaster mall and did some more strolling. Luckily Dyl seems to like the new stroller, unluckily the Lancaster mall is so boring I'm not even remotely tempted to go back and stroll there again. Maybe TJ Maxx or Target...

On a side note: I just finished the books "Oryx & Crake" and "The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood, and I absolutely loved them. Now I'm reading a book called "Matched" which I like pretty well so far, but is definitely not to the standards of Atwood's novels. I'm on a real dystopian fiction kick at the moment, I love this genre!

Sleep-in Saturday

Dyl helping us make a delicious brunch of egg and turkey sausage english muffin sandwiches, fried potatoes, and oranges. She sat in her highchair the whole time we were cooking, and while we ate - what a good baby!

Trying out her new ride - it's very icy outside today, so we did some in-the-house strolling. She seemed to like it! We're excited to test it out at the mall tomorrow. :)

Well, she seemed to like it so long as it was moving. Not so much when it was sitting still for photo opps.

And I just think this picture is too cute for words! She's a very helpful baby, she does lots of chores already. In this moment she was upstairs helping Daddy shred junk mail. I wish I looked this cute doing chores around the house!

A big thank you to Chadmo for playing with Miss Dyl all morning so I could sleep in and catch up on some much needed Zzz's. We were in bed at midnight last night, I got up with her at 3:15 and fed her, then Chadmo got her back to bed. Then she slept till 8:45, and he brought her to me to nurse in bed and then took her out to the living room to play for the morning so I could go back to sleep. He brought her back for me to nurse again at 11:20 am, took her again, and I went back to sleep AGAIN! I slept in till 1:00 pm, laid about for a bit, got out of bed at 1:15, and Dyl woke up from her nap at 1:20 pm. Wow, talk about some much, much needed sleep. I even took at nap from 4:30-6 too, I have been absolutely wiped out the last couple of weeks. So thank you to Chadmo for taking care of Dylan, and thank you to Dylan for putting in some reasonably long stretches so I could actually catch up a bit!! Dylan's been a wonderfully happy girl today, and it's been a nice day at home. I love the weekends!

(This baby's outfit lies.)

SUPER DYLLY... to the rescue!! (Her outfit says "Sound Sleeper", but that's clearly not her super baby power ;), so perhaps she rescues people from bad musical notes?)

"Hee hee, I mock this outfit's sentiment, but I do look awfully cute in it!"

I just LOVE my smiley girl!

Do you see the bubble under that ornery smirk?? Dyl is an expert bubble blower these days, this is just a small example. And as of this evening, she can also blow raspberries!! (Only when she's complaining, but it's still super adorable. Now even her complaining is cute!)

It's so cute, whenever she thinks something's really fun and silly, she smiles big and crinkles forward. Almost like it's so funny she can't keep herself upright. Of course, this does make it challenging to photograph those big smiles at times!

"Look at me - standing up, all by myself!" *cough cough*

It was most adorable this evening, Chadmo was lying on the floor next to Dylan while she was playing in her play gym, and she reached over and grabbed his nose. She just kept a good hold on it for awhile, as if to say "I caught you Daddy!" :)

Our favorite time of day

Bath time! Are you tired of bath time pictures yet? It's really just one of Dyl's happiest, most fun times of the day, so I can't resist taking pictures. Plus it's our family activity most nights, we all love it so much that nobody wants to miss out. :)

Big eyes at getting head sprinkles! Also, a small peek at the ever elusive baby neck.

Dyl chews on her fingers ALL the time now. She's managing to look rather pensive in this one, thinking "Daddy, are you going to sprinkle me with that whale again?" (Note that Forrest is always lurking in the background - he also loves bath time, even when she splashes him.)

This is what Miss Dylan thinks of getting her face washed. BLECH!

"Buh?"

Dylly loves her Daddy! And I have to admit, in this picture she looks SO much like some pictures I have of Haley-Bug. My girls do have some moments of looking an awful lot alike...

So smoochable.

Looking thoughtful, she's a smart baby. :)

We slept pretty well last night, but I'm so sleepy this evening that I feel like my brain is wrapped in a wool blanket. I can't think of anything clever or interesting to write, so I think I'll just stop while I'm ahead. Good night all!

Miss Serious

Dylan is being Miss Serious this evening for her photo shoot - she's really been very smiley today, so I guess I just picked the wrong time to take her picture! She's not unhappy, just in one of her serious, absorbing-every-little-thing moods - my mom says she gets that from me. Apparently I was a serious baby too (see picture below). I guess she comes by it honestly... ;)

Naked feetie smooches - she loves them and curls her toes all up and stretches her legs out for them!

"I see you with that camera, Daddy..."

There's a little half smile!

Telling Daddy something very important. I love our little chatter box. :) Today she was trying to imitate me blowing raspberries (without any success), she kept making a "buuh" sound but without the associated lip vibrations. It was most adorable and quite funny - I love watching her learn!

Hello, my bright-eyed, floof-haired, cutie-patootie pants!

Today was productive - Dyl and I roasted a chicken & yams, set the table, made a batch of cookie dough, and did a load of laundry before Daddy got home. It probably doesn't sound like much, but for us it's progress! Go team!

Dylan's on a roll!

Dylan ROLLED OVER for the first time today! She was in her crib, after just waking up for the morning. I'd unswaddled her and I was talking to her while she was smiling. She kept rolling onto her side, facing me. So I knelt down and talked to her through the slats of the crib to encourage her to "come over" to me, and she did! I clapped and cheered and jumped about which made her have a BIG smile - and then she started fussing because she was stuck in that horrible tummy time position! It was so cute & so exciting - and I'm SO glad she did it when I was watching! Go Dylan! :) Then, for more excitement all in one day, she started grabbing her bare feet today while I was changing her - another first! Our sweet Dylly-Roo is growing up so fast!

Here she is on the play-gym at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Sunday, looking rather serious & very 80's!

Not the best picture of Dyl, but here she is playing with her new favorite toy - it has 4 'bugs' on it, and 4 different types of triggers that make them pop up. There's a lever, a knob to twist, a thing you slide side to side, and a button. She can do all of them except the knob, which I find most impressive! She really thinks it's fun too, though sometimes she gets frustrated that she can't make the knob bug (yellow bug) pop up, so I have to help her out from time to time with that one so she doesn't get too mad. I'll have to take a picture of just the toy itself later, it's an excellent baby toy - good job Santa Grandma!

It's so exciting to have Dylan reach these big milestones and it seems like she's learning something new or doing something impressive every day now! I'm so grateful that I get to be home with her 95% of the time so I can be here for all of these big moments with her - she's my sweet pea. <3

Aunt Kelly's belated birthday party

Kelly & Jesse were down this weekend for Kelly's belated birthday dinner, now that everyone is healthy (*knock on wood*). We had her birthday dinner on Sunday at lunch time, and then we had some fun Bezzerwizzering in the evening after Kelly, Jesse, & Poppy returned from volley ball.

Today was just a relaxing day hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's house. We had lunch with Kelly, Jesse, and Poppy (Mom was off shopping in Columbus! Lucky duck!), and Dylan managed to squeeze in a few more quality snuggles with K & J before they left. :)

Dylan thinks I'm so silly - it's great to have someone who thinks I'm funny! :) Check out her awesome Baby Legs - I wish I could pull off that outfit & look so cute. Move over Katy Perry & Rihanna, Dylan's rocking the pantsless look!

Dyl, smiling at her Mommy. :D I love this little girl sooooooo much.

Smiling at Grandma behind the camera - an elusive moment! Possibly my new favorite picture of the moment! (Also, I love Chadmo's smile - even if that's all you can see of him!)

Happy 31st Birthday, Kelly!!

I think every weekend should be 3 days long and filled with family, friends, and good food! But back to the real world tomorrow, at least it's only a 4 day week!