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.

New Look

The bright orange was getting on my nerves. I like this softer look better. Hope you do too. But now it requires more scrolling to read. Oh well.

Dylan update

Dylan weighed 10lbs. 7oz. this week without any clothes on. (Can't really compare that to last week's since it was a different scale - the digital one was out of commission last week.) Strangely, he actually lost like .04 of an ounce after I fed him. Maybe I waited to long after feeding him to weigh him.

Dylan slept his longest stretch over the weekend - 8 hours. Unfortunately, I didn't know he was going to sleep that long so I didn't go to bed with him at that time (he went to bed at 8pm). Sunday he went to bed at 6pm (then got up at 11:30pm). I think we really tired him out over the weekend. Saturday we went to Tysons Corner Mall - that place will tire anyone out (wow, the kids and strollers and aahhh - we were in the food court area near the little playground they have there - soo many people). Then we went to two parties - a baby shower and a two-year old's birthday party. That was the night he slept 8 hours. Then yesterday we went to church and then hiking. That was when he went to bed at 6pm without any help. So I'm wondering though, is this good for him? I think it great - we get to go out and do things with him and then we get to come home and have him sleep. Although, he does get tired when we are out and starts to get fussy. I'm starting to think he's more fussy than a lot of kids when he's out. It seems the other babies I see at parties and bible study and the support group don't cry as much. Probably nothing to worry about, that's just Dylan. He's so content and happy at home with us and I want others to see that. I think we need to keep taking him out though so he'll get used to it and other people.

Four Generation Pictures

What a blessing of family!

Dylan meets his other great-grandmas and great aunt and uncle

(Great) Grandma S. was in tears as she met her great grandsons.

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Paul (you can see his head at the bottom of the mirror in the background) hosted our Christmas Day celebration.
(Great) Grandma Z. couldn't stop smiling!

Christmas Morning

The girls and their boys....


The boys and their toys...


And mom/grandma full of joys.

Here we go Steelers, here we go....

My mom saved my brother's Steeler outfits from when he was an infant. (This marks the second time Dylan wore Uncle Justin's clothes - he wore Uncle Justin's baptism outfit too. Martin hopes that I'm not as much of a saver as my mother.)





These pictures were taken on Christmas Eve when the Steelers played their last game of the season. Uncle Justin was at the game doing the stats. Uncle Justin was born 8 months after the Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl. So this year was the first Super Bowl win for the Steelers in Justin's lifetime. I wonder how long Steven and Dylan will have to wait for a Steeler Super Bowl win in their lifetime. (Aunt Carrie only had to wait five days from her birth for the Steelers to win a Super Bowl (their 3rd) which was the first Super Bowl win in my lifetime as well as I was born 5 months after the Steelers 2nd Super Bowl win.)

Dylan meets Aunt Carrie and Uncle Rob and cousins Erik and Steven

The cousins finally meet! These are pictures from when we were at my parents' house at Christmas.





























Uncle Justin looks on as Dylan meets Aunt Carrie.
This is an awesome pic of my sis and bro-in-law.
















Here's Erik with his little bro Steven.

Dylan's baptism

Dylan was baptized at McLean Pres. Church on December 10, 2006. We had a small family gathering at our place after the service.

Dylan meets his great aunt and great uncles on Martin's side

Here's Dylan with his Great Aunt Katrina. She and her husband Great Uncle Bob came to town for Dylan's baptism. Dylan's Great Uncle Dave and other Great Uncle Bob (Martin's mom's brothers) also attended the baptism. They are pictured here with Dylan's Great Grandma F. and Grandma Marna.

Names for Dylan

Here are the nick names we've come up for Dylan. When he was swaddled and in his cap, I thought of calling him "bug-a-roo." Since it has been shortened to Bug. Martin called him "Little Guy." Martin also calls him "Bud" or "Bub." And we sometimes call him "the dill-miester" or "the dillman." My dad calls called him "the dylanator." So much for the rule about not naming him a name that has a nickname. :)

Shopping for a Crib

Anyone have a recommendation on a good crib and where to buy cribs? I found Baby Bargain's "good" recommendations at Walmart.com and Target.com. I couldn't find their "better" recommendation though (Sorelle). My price range is $180-280. That wouldn't include shipping. This is one of the many items on the "things I need to do before going back to work" list.

Dylan meets Uncle Matt, Aunt Kelly, and cousins Savva and Jeremiah

We were so excited that Martin's brother Matt and his family were able to join us last month for Dylan's baptism. Jeremiah (in the picture above) is holding a little kitty that they brought for Dylan.

Dylan update

Today Dylan weighed 10lbs 9oz after eating and with his clothes on. (He weighed 10lbs. 5oz before eating so I know he 4oz - that's good to know to know how much milk to leave with the day care provider when I go back to work in four weeks.) There was a woman at the group today who remembered Dylan from a month or so ago and hadn't seen him since and couldn't believe how big he got and how alert he was and how he was looking around.

Also at group today and at a party this weekend, a bunch of folks are saying he looks like me. And a few are still saying he looks like both of us. I'll post some more pics soon to see what y'all think....

Talking to myself and about myself

Today Martin had a deacons' meeting after work and hasn't been home yet (as of 8:30pm). I did go out to my new mom group this morning but since then I've been home with Dylan by myself. My mom asked me today if I was getting bored. No way. But I do feel a little insane sometimes talking to only an infant who can't understand what I'm staying. I feel like I'm talking to myself. It's very important to talk to infants and this stage so Martin and I have been trying to do it as much as possible. But I do feel silly about it often times. The worst part is talking about myself in the third person - "mommy's going to do this now Dylan." And the think that makes me think I'm going nuts is that I talk like that to myself when I'm by myself without Dylan. And now that Dylan is starting to "talk" (i.e. make noises) and the pediatrician recommended repeating the sounds he makes, it's going to get even more silly! :) Although I did have one of these "talking" times with Dylan today. We were looking right at each other and making these silly sounds. That somehow felt less crazy. Like I was actually talking to him and he was actually listening, you know like we were communicating. It was special. Anyone else ever have fun interactions like this with a child (your or someone elses)?

More great places to nap

Oh, I forgot that Dylan was also gracious enough to sleep on the metro ride to DC and back on the day he and I went into my work for my office Christmas party last month.

And this weekend we went for a stroll around the arboretum in DC. Dylan slept through most of that. I was hoping that he'd wake up though so I could feed him in the park (a very non-public, public place) so we could stay out longer.

Dylan didn't sleep through a party we went to last Saturday but he stayed pretty content for the 2 hours we were there though. He even let someone else hold him! Rachel was the lucky gal!

Chronicles of Dylan

As I mentioned before, Martin likes to chronicle major events in our lives. Here's the latest installment.

Places Dylan slept through that we were grateful he did (also known as creative places to take a nap):

• Dylan slept contently all through the first 6 church services. This allowed us to worship without major distraction to ourselves or to those around us. During his baptism, he didn’t sleep much. But fortunately he was content during the service and during the baptism. (11/06/06 – 12/10/06)
• Dylan slept all but the last 20 minutes of his first road trip (which was 3 hours, 50 minutes): Christmas ’06 at Grandma and Grandpap’s. We were able to drive all the way from Falls Church to Uniontown before Dylan even stirred. He awoke in Uniontown, but didn’t fuss for the remainder of the ride. He also slept all the way home after Christmas. (12/23/06, 12/26/06)
• We decided to take a risk and go hiking while Dylan was two months old. We didn’t want to venture too far from home, so we parked at Turkey Run Park and hiked down to the Potomac and hiked along the river for a while. We managed to stay out for 1.5 hours. Dylan stayed content strapped to Martin’s chest. There were times where we were unsure how he was breathing because he was pushing his nose against Martin’s chest and wouldn’t keep his head to one side. (12/30/06)
• Dylan also slept contentedly during a number of Home Fellowship Group meetings.
• Dylan also complied with a number of trips that Heather made running her errands. He slept as Heather shopped for groceries and bought Christmas gifts at Target. He even allowed Heather to meet with some women to plan the retreat and to do her financial counceling. (12/06)

Places Dylan didn’t sleep that we were hoping he would:

• Dylan didn’t sleep the first time we went over to Ted and Krista's to meet Oliver. Oliver had just come from the hospital and we wanted to go over and meet him. He was content through the entire evening, however Dylan was extremely fussy and little could be done to settle him. We felt bad since they had just brought Oliver home from the hospital and we brought a screeching baby into their house.
• Our friends, Jen and Chris N., came in to town after Christmas and Jen’s sister, Aimee arranged a small party so that they could see their friends. We decided to go, figuring Dylan would sleep through the party. He slept and awoke screaming as soon as we walked in the door. It took a while to calm him down, and eventually he did so. He stayed content and we got to visit, but after a while, the commotion became too much and the Dylan couldn’t be settled. We decided to leave a bit earlier than we planned. (12/30/06)

Amusing Dylan stories:

In the first few months of life there hasn’t been much that Dylan has been able to do except eat, sleep, poop, and cry. (But he has been smiling more and more which is really exciting!) Since eating, sleeping, and crying are not that amusing, most of the amusement revolves around bodily fluids:

1. The second time Martin changed Dylan’s diaper, Dylan peeped while his diaper was open. Pee went everywhere even up into his face. Dylan managed to sleep through the entire experience. (10/31/06)
2. While Heather was changing Dylan’s diaper once, he managed to pee over the edge of the changing table and into the trashcan next to the table. A pretty good shot! (12/28/06)
3. We were ready to head out to church on Sunday morning. It looked like we were going to be able to get there ahead of time and get to spend some settling in and getting into a worshipful mood. Dylan was dressed, in car carrier, wrapped up and drifting off to sleep. Heather and Martin were finished getting ready and about to leave, when the unmistakable noise of pooping came from Dylan’s direction. A mad dash ensued to change the diaper so that we could still make it to church on time. It was quickly found that a quick change would not occur when poop was discovered everywhere. In the haste, Heather even managed to get some on her nice blouse. The diaper was changed, and we all made it to church with seconds to spare. (12/30/06)
   

Dylan update

Hi everyone. I know I need to put pictures up from the baptism and from Christmas but I think I only have time right now for some text. Plus, I haven't written much lately, I've just posted pictures, so I felt like I should write something.

Today Dylan had his 2 month appointment at the doctors. He weighed 9 lbs 13oz (wasn't Jack that at birth Laura? :) and was 21 and a half inches long. His head is 15 cm around. For weight he's only in the 10 percentile but doctor said he is very healthy. The doctor said that Dylan is strong (since he could pick his head up and he has strong legs by the doctor's tests) which is awesome because that's something specific that Martin and I have prayed about for Dylan. So PTL for answered prayer!

The doctor said that the best thing we could do for Dylan's development now is to talk to him. After the appointment I went to the library and got a bunch of books to read to Dylan. The doctor also said to take him outside as there was a study that found that breastfed babies don't have as much Vitamin D as they could use which is probably because breastfeeding mothers don't take their kids outside and out and about as much. So we did and will take that advice. (We went hiking on Saturday with Dylan in the baby bjorn. It was awesome. Martin carried Dylan because I was afraid of falling since there were some steep parts. But he had a walking stick and was fine. Even when we had to cross this stream that was a little higher than expected.)

Dylan also got 5 vaccinations - 4 of which were shots in the thigh. He has two bandaids on his legs right now and we've got him drugged up with Tylenol for the pain. I have never seen him scream like he did when he got his shots (which is a good thing, I suppose - that means he's never been in pain like that before). The needle was so huge I thought it was going to come out the other side of his little leg...:( He's not crying more tonight, probably because of the Tylenol, but his cries are definitely different. We feel sorry for him. The toughest thing for me I think is know that he has to go through the same thing again in two months. And I feel like he's thinking why are you letting this happen to me. Obvious spiritual lessen here that I was reminded of - we think the same thing about God when we face trials - why are you letting this happen to me? Knowing that I want the best for my child, it helps me to see that God wants the best for me too. It's all for my good.

Dylan with Daddy (and one with Mommy)