Cute!

Spiky hair after bath time...

"Dylan where's the burp cloth"...."It's over there Mom..." :)

Dylan update

Dylan weighed 11 lbs 10oz at the hospital on Monday. That was with clothes and a diaper though but I think it's safe to say he's passed the 11 lbs mark. Yesterday was his 3 month "birthday." We celebrated with ice cream and double stuffed chocolate Oreos and Nancy's house! Dylan didn't have any of course and the thing that made it special was the cookies since Mommy eats ice cream about every other day anyway...:)

Dylan's latest things are grabbing clothing - his own and ours when we're holding him or changing his diaper. And he also grabs the pacifier out of his mouth (much to his mouth's surprise since his mouth would like to continue sucking on the pacificer but his hand doesn't know that...:) He's also starting to "rotate" in his crib. He starts out the night perpendicular to our bed and ends up parallel to it, all still on his back though.

Martin and I have been having lots of discussions about Dylan's temperment and sleeping habits lately. Martin seems to think we have a "fussy" baby and I disagree (probably mostly out of my own pride and insecurity about parenting). This has come up because Dylan hasn't cooperated with us the last few weeks at Bible Study and church. Dispite all our planning he isn't sleeping through them anymore. And other babies his age that we see seem to go back to sleep a lot easier than Dylan does (we say because he's so curious and wants to learn about the world and not miss anything). When Dylan wakes up during these times, he's not inconsolable (which is why I wouldn't call him fussy.) He just needs to sleep and has a hard time calming himself down. So he needs to be consoled and it takes one of us away from BS or church to do that until we can train him to put himself back to sleep. I've been trying to follow the recommendations of the Baby Whisperer (Tracy Hogg) but willing to try something new. Dylan sleeps fine at night but during the day it's hard to get him to go down for a nap. Any other book recommendations or suggestions are welcome - Nancy, could you remind me of the one you suggested? This is especially important as Dylan starts day care two days a week tomorrow. I was hoping he'd be on a schedule (as in taking a morning and afternoon nap consistently, regardless of the exact time) by now but not so. Anyway, please pray for Dylan's adjustment this week and next. (And for mine too!) Thanks!

The Mommy-do

As you may know, I've been growing my hair out for about 15 months now to donate it to Locks of Love. My reasons for this were 1) it's a great charity, providing wigs for kids with cancer and 2) because I was sick of paying $40 every 3 months to get my hair cut. And that was at the moderately priced places. Now was a good time to cut it since long hair tends to get in the way a lot with a baby and because my hair will be easier to take care of now which is good because I have less time to tend to my hair. Here are the before and after pics.

I Iwas able to donate 10 inches of hair and I still had enough left to not have to have a short-short man haircut. It's great. I love it. I was so sick of my hair. It's funny too. I had highlighted my hair about a year and a half ago and the point at which the stylist cut my hair was right above where the color changed. So I donated all the blonde hair and now all my hair is my natural light brown color. The best thing of all was that the cut was totally free. I got it done at Andrew Taylore Hair Designs. (Oh, and I had an American stylist! It was great to be able to talk to my hair dresser for the first time in 5 years!) They even shipped the hair for me to Locks of Love for free. I did tip the gal $5 but I didn't expect them to mail the hair for me so I was really excited. Now the question is will I start paying again for haircuts. I think I might ask for gift certificates to this salon for mothers day (score, another holiday where I get gifts...:)or my birthday. She said normally she charges $40 for a haircut. I think I'd rather pay the money than go to hair cuttery. I can start buying suave shampoo at costco instead of the pantene I've been buying and that should cover the cost if I don't the gift certificates.

Arboretum

On the way to the Arboretum, we got this awesome view of the Washington Monument. The monument is all dark because of the position of the clouds even though we were in the light. The monument looks grey instead of the tan.

Even though it was January and there wasn't much to see at the arboretum, it was still a cool trip. We walked around the grounds, saw the bonsai exhibit with the 400 year old bonsai tree, and hung out at the Asian garden. I even nursed in the Asian garden - first time in "public."

Hiking

We've been blessing with a very warm January this year. On two occasions we were able to take Dylan hiking and we went to the arborium another day (see next post). These are pictures from the first time we went hiking. We dressed Dylan in a little snow suit we borrowed from Laura H. The second time we went hiking we didn't even need the snow suit it was so warm (high 60s). On this day, it was in the low 60s. Both hiking trips were on the Potamac Heritage Trail which follows the Potamac river from the American Legion bridge to Roosevelt Island. We did the 2-3 miles closest to the bridge on these two trips. (In the fall we did the 2 miles closest to Roosevelt Island. Yes, we have asperations to do the whole thing.)

Mommy and Dylan

Are his eyes closed? Is he asleep?

Getting back in shape

I haven't gotten on a scale lately but the maternity clothes that I was still wearing (just a pair of jeans and another pair of pants) are getting really loose. Most of my work clothes fit, so I think its just a matter of getting into my skinny jeans again. That's the priority, not necessarily loosing the pounds. Although, I guess I'd also like to get to the point where my scale isn't fashing "++" after it gives me my body fat percentage which means "obese." Just one "+" means overweight. Granted, that probably doesn't mean anything since I'm breastfeeding but even, it's getting to be the point where I can't use the excuse that I just had a baby for not keeping in shape. As of Tuesday Dylan won't be a "newborn" anymore...:)

Friday I went for a walk with Laura B. for over an hour and Saturday I did a 40 minute workout on the ball and Monday I went to the gym for the "Body Jam" class. I'm going to try to go to the gym twice a week. Monday nights and then either Friday night or Saturday morning. I think I'd like to focus more on weights and toning than aerobics at this point. I feel like I do enough walking to keep up my fitness in that respect although just walking won't get me to lose weight.

Any one know of any videos that focus on flattening your tummy after having a baby?

Dylan update

I didn't go the support group this week since it snowed. So I don't know how much Dylan weighs currently but I'll find out on Monday. I'm particularly interested since he seems to be going through a growth spurt this week, eating like crazy. On Monday Dylan was 12 weeks old and next Tuesday he'll be 3 months old! He shows no signs of growing out of his 0-3 clothes though except for his socks! So I guess my kid has big feet.

Back to the old stuff

Given the problems some are having with the new format I'm going back to the old template. Let me know if it's better. It's a little screwy on my computer with several posts running into each other but that shouldn't be a problem going forward. I have no desire much less time to learn HTML so I guess I'll just have to deal.

Daddy's favorite outfit

A friend from church bought Dylan this very cute dinosaur outfit that Martin loves.

Dylan in his swing

Smiling

Dylan has been smiling for a while now (since the beginning of December) but it took us a while for us to get some good pictures of it and it has taken me a while to get them uploaded. But here they are....

Taking down the Christmas tree

So I finally took down our tree yesterday. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I was the last person I know with a tree up. Except maybe Larissa, but she's Russian so she's got a reason...) But the incident was not without casualty. Somehow I managed to poke myself in the eye with one of the faux pine needles. And even though it was flexible, it hurt my eye pretty good. My eye's not red or anything but it keeps watering up and it's sore. Not all the time and sleeping helps. I'm not too worried but it's still a pain.

some more December pictures

Dylan usually does this pose when we put him in his carrier. He's either scared silly or ready to fist fight.
















This is our friend Suzanne who came to visit.


















Dylan in his swing that Grandma and Grandpa (Etner) bought him.

more family pictures

more Christmas pictures

Uncle Justin playing with Steven's toys.












Women and Children.

Etner family pictures.



Me and Steve-o.

















Grandpap Wayne with his two grandsons.





Aunt Kathy and Grandmas with their gifts.