Dylly's 1st night at Grandma & Grandpa's

A sneak preview from our photo shoot with my friend Carrie Patterson when she was in town in October. I asked her to send me one of her favorites, and now I'm just dying to see more. I think I love everything about this picture, but I REALLY just almost can't stand how adorable Dyl's toes are. I could just nibble them right off!

Dylly stayed the night at Grandma & Grandpa's last night (without us) for the first time ever! It sounds like she had a wonderful time, and she was a good girl and slept from 9:10 pm - 7:15 am for them. (Traitor baby. ;)) She got to have pizza crossing with them last night, and a french toast breakfast this morning. They brought her back at about 10:30 am today. She nursed and then fell asleep instantly and proceeded to take a 2.5 hour nap! Her longest nap EVER! She must've partied hard with Grandma and Grandpa. ;)

Chad and I had a super fun evening - we went to a party at our friend Tom's cabin. I actually played a game of King's, and I know it has been at LEAST 3 years since I last played a drinking game. It was tons of fun, and I even managed to not be hung over today. A+ for grown up moderation! After the party, we came home (Chad was the responsible DD - thank you Chadmo!) and slept a consecutive 8.5 hours - for the first time in 1.5 years for me. It was so incredible, my body thought it needed to go run a marathon or something. Then Chadmo continued his sweet husband streak and made us a french toast breakfast-on-couch. Dylly arrived home shortly after we finished breakfast, and our wonderful night was made all the better by hearing how good she'd been for Grandma and Grandpa, and having her safely back in our arms.

I must confess, when we got home from the party I had a desperate moment of begging Chad to take us out to my parents' to sleep. It was so hard to be here without Dylly sleeping in her bed, and I wanted to go to where my baby cakes was. But my DD was a meanie and insisted we stay at our own house and soak up the uninterrupted sleep. It was a step we needed to take sometime, and the uninterrupted sleep was glorious. Thanks for standing strong Chadmo. :)

A huge thank you to Mom & Poppy for taking such great care of our Dylly-roo and giving us such a fun evening out! We love you bunches!

More of our cute little zebra :)

The computer finally cooperated, so here are more of the pictures from Halloween and Dyl loving her zebra costume! 

Dylly with her two main men. :)

Proud parents of a zebra filly. ;)

Striking the perfect zebra pose.

"Can zebras climb stairs??"

"This outfit is SO awesome!"

"What do you mean I don't get to wear this every day??"

On the move. <3 p="p">

"I'll get you, Grandma!" (She was having so much fun!)

Showing off for Grandma and Grandpoppy.

Checking herself out in the mirror. 

Also - Happy Birthday to my Mom! We love you bunches and bunches, and we don't know what we'd do without you. We wish you hadn't had parent-teacher conferences tonight so we could've celebrated with you on your actual birthday, but we're glad we got to have dinner with you and see you last night. Love & hugs from all of us. XOXOXO.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our little zebra, to you! She loved her costume, it was sooo cute. Hopefully I'll be able to get more of the photo shoot posted soon. For now, here she is with Grandma & Daddy! 

A trip to Wisconsin

Chad, Dylan, & I just got back from a lovely week in Wisconsin. We stayed the first part of our trip with the hostesses with the mostestes, Nancy & Bill. A big thank you to them for having us and making us feel so incredibly at home (and well fed!) :) We finally got to meet our adorable new nephew, Connor. We went to Chad Schroeder & Abby Nelson's wedding. We spent lots of time with lots of family & friends. We stayed the last couple of nights of our trip at Chad's mom's house and soaked up some time with Grandmum Wisconsin (as Dyl 'calls' her), and Granny & Grandpa Lee. Then we broke up the long drive back to Ohio by spending the night at Matt & Mandy's new house in Wilmette, IL where Dyl developed a large crush on the adorable Will. :) All in all it was a great trip, and as always there wasn't nearly enough time to do everything we wanted to do. I guess we'll just have to go back soon. :) 

Melissa & cutie-pie Connor.

Leighton (16 months), Aubrey (19 months), & Dyl (12 months)

Ella (9), Lexi (10), Kylee (3), & Claire (9.5).

It was quite the henhouse! Brad & Will, the 2 boy cousins on this side of the Mitchell clan, couldn't make the party. So it was all these lovely ladies and 9 week old Connor! He was one lucky guy. ;)

Cousins and kiddos. :) I'll have to track down some pictures from the dinner at Patty & John's later that day and get some pictures of the Meade side up here too!

Connor, the most content baby ever. 

Dylly loving her bath in Nancy's kitchen sink. This is the night she first said the word 'duck'! 

Walking with my friendly dinosaur...

"Oh, what fun! Just listen to him roar!" (I think I'll remember that song forever.) Thank you, Aunt Jackie, for Dylan's walker dinosaur. She loves him and has walked many laps back & forth across our living room with him. :)

Dylan (1) & Cameron (almost 3) in Mimi's TV room. Cameron's not sure what to think about Dylly encroaching on his territory at Mimi's. But Dyl sure loved him, she wanted to sit right next to him and hold his hand. It was too cute. It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of the two of them in one frame, much less holding still. This was the only picture where someone wasn't moving. It'll have to do.  :)

Dyl, Chadmo, & I just got home from a lovely time at Mimi's house. Our weekend was filled with lots of quality Mimi time, Amish country shopping, visiting with our Amish friends, visiting with Tracy, Kaiden, & Cam, a horror movie for Tracy & myself, delicious Swiss Steak made by Mimi who always makes it best, outlet mall success, Pine Tree Barn, etc. It was over far too quickly. We love you bunches & bunches, Mimi. Come visit us soon!

My Lovely Girl

Playing with her toys in her bedroom...

"Hey! I hear someone taking my picture!"

"Haha, I caught you Mommy! And I see that super awesome iPod out and about and within my reach..."

"Here I come!"

"I'm so fast - that iPod is about to be mine!"

"Triumph!"

Fair Days

The Hocking County fair was a couple of weeks ago, but with the moving madness, I never got a chance to post the cute pictures from Dyl's first fair. She absolutely loved it - I think the Merry-go-round might be her favorite thing ever. We had a blast, and I can't wait to take her in the coming years as she can ride more and more rides. Hopefully someday she'll be showing animals in 4-H!

Waiting in line for her first trip on the merry-go-round. She thought it was exciting just to look at it!

"Oh my goodness!! You mean I actually get to sit on this thing?!?"

"And it MOVES!!" (It was so cute, she started holding on with two hands as soon as it started moving.)

Waving at Grandpa & Daddy. (And Grandma/photographer. :))

Us!

Dyl's second fair ride: the teacups. She thought it was really fun while we were waiting for it to start. Then the actual ride was a little faster than anticipated, even though we didn't spin the cups ourselves at all. She didn't cry or get upset, but she looked a little like "whoa!"

I think this is the coolest shot - thanks for capturing these moments for us, Mom.

Daddy's turn to take Dyl on the merry-go-round, and this time she knows what she's in for! She was so excited, she was squealing and kicking her legs while waiting in line.

"This thing is AWESOME! We should do this every night, Mommy & Daddy!"

"Look at me! I'm such a big girl, I can ride a horse."

And a 3rd and final trip on the merry-go-round for that night. We did go back one more night that week and Dyl got to go on the merry-go-round 2 more times, and on the barrels once. I think we have a future fair addict on our hands. Someone's taking after her mother... :)