Birthday (Suit) Pictures

Here's pictures of Dylan on his actual birthday. We gave him another cupcake. That required another bath, after which Dylan had fun running around in his birthday suit. These are the less embarassing ones thanks to the balloon.

Dylan with his birthday presents from Grandma and Grandpa

As soon as these toys came in the mail, Dylan played with them for the next hour. That's amazing. He really likes pushing them around.

Here's Dylan in his Eagles outfit. Dylan did also get a Steelers outfit from my brother so everything is still even. He also got a Steelers tree ornament and a Eagles tree ornament from my parents. Dylan will be wearing this on Sunday when the Eagles play the Redskins.

Last month's adventures Part 2

Dylan's day care had a field trip to Cox Farms last month. Unfortunately Bushra's kids were sick that day at they had to cancel at the last minute but Dylan and I still went. We saw pigs and goats and took a hay ride and went down the slide. It was a lot of fun. My camera batteries died during the trip so this is the only photo I got.

Here's Dylan in one of his new carseats.

Dylan and Martin before church a few weeks ago....they didn't even plan to wear the same thing...

I love this age...

You know how you tell someone how old your kid is and they say "oh, that's such a fun age" and you wonder if they would have said that no matter what you said. I agree with them everytime...I thought 6 months was fun, but then 10 months was even better and now I'm loving 12 months. Dylan walked into the kitchen this morning and just started dancing. Literally dancing and smiling the whole time. I wish I had a video of it.

He's starting to do these really funny and surprising things that just crack us up. And I think I stated this before but he also initiates interactions with us and that is just the most precious thing in the world. Yes, I'm a first time parent marvelling at these things that happen to every kid but we should marvel. Kids are miracles.

The Sixth of November and 300th Post

Yes, today is the Sixth of November, my blog's namesake and Martin's and my anniversary. Hard to believe it's been 3 years since we walked down the aisle. Martin and I have been so blessed with a good marriage and a relatively easy time of it so far.

As I wrote earlier, Martin and I celebrated on Saturday with dinner and a movie and tonight we will celebrate with a red meat dinner, a rare (pardon the pun) occurance at our house lately. We decided that our anniversary gift to each other will be a mantle shelf for our fireplace - we'll get to hang stockings this year!

This is also my 300th post! (Yes, I checked the drafts too Nancy, hence my two other posts today to catch up...:) So Happy 2nd Anniversary Blog and Happy 3rd Anniversary Babe! I love you!!! (Martin, not the blog...:)

Matching Toys and Climbing

Here are some developmental things I'm noticed going on with Dylan lately:

He knows which pieces goes with which toys. It used to be that he would pick up a ring and a cup and bang them together. Now he picks up two rings or two cups. He searches around the sea of toys in our living room until he finds matching toys. He doesn't sort by colors yet but we're working on that.

Dylan is learning how to climb. When I open the refridgerator, he climbs up the shelves before I can even get out what I needed. Dylan has also learned that he if puts a toy or something that's at least 2 inches off the ground near the coffee table he can stand on it and climb onto the coffee table. Once on the coffee table he tries to bounce up and down on it. Actually he will climb onto anything that gets him even an inch higher than the ground - I think that's why he likes the scale in the bathroom. The scariest thing though was the other day when I was working on the computer across the room, Dylan pulled his booster seat off the chair in the dining room, stepped on the booster seat and then onto the chair. When I turned around he was standing on the chair, grabbing a lamp behind the chair. I hear this is a boy thing...

Also, Dylan has really good balance. He has a little rocking chair (it used to be his bouncy seat, it converts into a toddler chair) and he climbs up on it and stands and bounces and doesn't fall. (We are working on training him to sit in the chair and not stand on it.) Also, my mom was really amazed at how Dylan squats to pick up toys and can stay down a really long time without falling.

Happy Birthday Blog!

If you've been with me from the beginning, you know that I started this blog around Martin's and my first anniversary when I was musing on marriage and future plans (i.e., kids) and career. Oh how the more things change, the more they stay the same....

My situation has changed lots in the past two years. I'm no longer a newlywed (and I think at this point I also have to give up the new mom title), I'm married with child, working part time as opposed to newly married living the DINK life. Yet, I'm still thinking about "what's next....kids...timing...career..." I guess one never stops thinking of those things. Even if Martin and I buy a house and I end up staying home in the next few years I'll probably be obsessed with wondering when I should go back to work. Why do we do this to ourselves? (I know from many conversations with other 30-somethings (and also some 20-somethings...yes, you Lisa!) that I'm not the only one.

In my second posting on this blog, I talked about a co-worker who helped me realize my lack of ambition, at least compared to him. This same co-worker asked me last week how long I was going to keep working. How did he know I plan on quitting eventually? I guess I did with my response. I said Martin and I want to have more kids and we'll see how that goes and blah blah blah...I wish I would have had a good, witty, stay out of my business response, but I didn't think of one. Anyway, all that to say, even if I wanted to stop thinking about all this I got this co-worker who keeps pressing me on my "plans." As if I don't think about it enough.

Today as I look back on three years of married life and think about the future, I'm reminded again how much I need to rest in the present and the presence of God who is in control of all - past, present, and future. He brings forgiveness for my past, contentment in my present, and hope for my future. Thinking in this framework when the "what's next?" questions arise allows me to take a deep breath and have peace. You can only plan for the future so far (yes, save for retirement but do we really need to plan out every step before that and book your travel for your retirement trips...no). Over the weekend I heard a friend quote someone who's name I forget "if you want to make God laugh, make plans." This is countercultural and very much a foreign idea to my (seemingly control-freak) co-worker. Yes, I want to be smart about the future, but I don't want to waste my time making plans that will be moot in a few months anyway, as was the case in my second posting thinking that I wouldn't be able to stay in my job part time. So, keep reading maybe I'll get better about this by the time our 30th anniversary rolls around.

First signs of separation anxiety

Our very independent and easy going little guy finally showed some signs of separation anxiety this weekend....it was great...:) Just kidding, but really, it did make me feel better that he does know us and wants to be with us. Martin and I went out for our anniversary on Saturday night and we left Dylan and our friends' house. They have a one year old too so we figured it would be a play date. Dylan goes to day care twice and week and the church nursery once a week without any problems so we didn't think anything about leaving him. Our friends said he cried for the 1st 10-15 minutes that he was there. And then after he calmed down he cried again when our friends left the room to get dinner ready. He had been to their house before, most recently a month ago. But I guess it was just not part of his normal routine so he didn't know what was going on. Even so, the he did fine at our friends' house and even went to sleep for them at 7:30pm.

I didn't realize how important his routine was until this weekend. Some other things showed me that yesterday too. I tried to give Dylan a sippy cup with milk instead of nursing him at church like I normally do. He wouldn't have anything to do with it even though he has taken a sippy cup with cold milk before. It just wasn't in the routine. And then last night he seemed really tired around 5pm and we figured there was no way he was going to eat for us so we tried to get him to go to sleep. He was just about asleep like 3 times and then he would wake up. So we tried dinner and he ate a ton without fussing. Usually with Dylan, sleep trumps eating as far as his needs go but I guess not last night. So then he got a bath and went right to sleep.

I am still nursing him to sleep. Not doing so didn't last very long. But whatever works. I'm trying to get to the point where I'm just nursing him for sleep but this morning I've already nursed him 2-3 times trying to get him to go back to sleep with no avail. Even before the time change Dylan was waking up around 5:30 or 6 and not going back to sleep. So now I'm getting less sleep but I guess I get more done in the morning.

Last month's adventures Part 1

Last month, Martin and I went to the wedding of Molly Jenison and Keith Mertz in Mechanicsburg, PA. Molly is a friend of mine from college and she has also lived in DC ever since I moved here. My insanely-generous-with-their-time parents drove 4 hours from their house to watch Dylan in Mechanicsburg while we went to the wedding and then drove 4 hours home. They love seeing their grandsons. My parents took Dylan to a pumpkin patch where he got his face painted and played with the pumpkins and went on the slides. Dylan did great and had a fun time with Grandma and Grandpap while Mommy and Daddy got to go to the wedding. Here are some pictures from that day....

Another of Dylan's favorite things...

The Swings!

Dylan likes anything really where he is up high and moving or in flight, like being thrown up in the air, or climbing, or going down the slides. He also loves walking, and sometimes running as seen in this video...

Taking the bear for a ride

Here's one of those things that you are amazed that your kid can do because you didn't teach him to do it. Dylan put his (Presbyterian) bear on the push train and took him for a ride. Very cute.

Dylan's favorite things

Here are some of Dylan's favorite toys at one year old:

1) Cups. These have been a favorite for a while and they are still entertaining.


2) More recently, Dylan has taken a liking to his teddy bears. Two in particular, the ones we call Presbyterian Bear and Lutheran Bear. Presbyterian Bear (shown here) is a bear that when you squeeze its hands it says the Lord's Prayer, Presbyterian-style (i.e., debts/debtors instead of tresspasses/tresspass against us). Lutheran Bear is a soft black bear that Dylan got for being a member of the United Lutheran Society (you become a member when you buy their insurance which my aunt got him as a gift). Daddy is now trying to figure out an appropriate denomination for all Dylan's bears.

3) Books. And he doesn't just chew on them. He turns the page and even looks at the pictures now. He's favorites are "That's not my Puppy" and "Babies on the Move." He has moved up from the cloth zebra book which used to be his favorite to the board books.

4) His drum. "Play the drum everyone, play the drum." We have to turn this one off sometimes. It gets way too annoying.

5) The rings/stacking toy. Dylan is actually now starting to put them on the stand but taking them off is still the best part.

6) Any type of plastic bottle, especially travel size shampoo. You know how a lot of parents have one cupboard they let their kids play in? Okay, we have about 3 or 4, but Dylan's favorite is the one with all the travel sized bottles. He like to chew on them and bang them together. Great fun.

7) The magnet on our dishwasher that says if the dishes are clean or dirty. This use to just go straight to his mouth but now he has been trying to make it stick to other things, the fridge, Daddy's leg, etc.

Dylan update

Just got back from the doctors. Dylan only had to have two shots which was good, but one was in the arm and he didn't like that at all.

Dylan weighted in at 17 lbs. 12.8 oz. He was a little less off the bottom of the weight chart this time but still less than the 3rd percentile. Triple his birth weight would have been 19.5 lbs so he didn't make that but hopefully he'll be 20 lbs by the next appointment in January so we can turn his car seat around. We can now weigh Dylan at home on our scale because he can stand on it. Here he's showing us that he weighs 18.6 lbs (with clothes on).

Dylan is 28.5 inches tall (10th percentile) and his head circumverence was in the 50th percentile (all the same as last time). The doctor said he is passed all his little tests. So all good news.

More pictures from the party

Here's the Cheerio-eating contest action...

Oliver's dad, Ted, won the Cheerio guessing contest - how many Cheerios were in the jar before we dumped it on the floor. He was only off by three.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!!

These are pictures from Dylan's party on Saturday. After we gave him the cupcake he sat in his high chair for about 20 minutes slowly eating it (which gave me time to remember the hat and the whole milk!).

No, not in your eyes...or your hair!!

Dylan liked the cupcake and definitely knew something was up when 20 people were standing in a circle around him singing. He looks a little freaked out in these pictures, but as soon as he was out of the high chair, he was running around again.

The birthday boy with the proud parents.

I keep thinking of what I was doing a year ago right now. I can't believe it's been a year! I can't believe we have a toddler! Dylan is so fun now. He knows how to play with his toys and he likes it when we chase him around the room. He has this fun little scream that's excited and fake scared all in one when we chase him. I can't imagine life without him. What did we do before Dylan?

Just some Cuteness...:)

Only a year old and already doing his chores and taking out the trash...

Dylan walking outside in shoes!

I couldn't decide which of these videos to post so I'm posting all three. Notice how the wind stops Dylan's forward progress.

Five years of Togetherness

Yesterday marked the 5-year anniversary of when Martin and I started dating. I remember the day well. Martin invited me over for dinner and because he had "something he wanted to talk to me about." He cooked me dinner at his house including his (family's) famous baked corn. Then we sat on the couch and chit-chatted for about 2 and half hours. I think I went to the bathroom like three times during this time, each time wondering when we were going to start talk about the thing he wanted to talk about. So finally at about 10:30pm (this was a Thursday night) I start yawning and hinting that I need to go soon. That's when Martin explained to me that he really liked spending time with me and wanted to spend more time with and didn't want to just "date" but that he was serious about pursuing me as a potential wife. Suddenly I wasn't so tired anymore. I was very excited about starting a relationship with Martin and I told him such. Five years later we are married and have a 1 year old - things have changed a lot in that time. But I still enjoy spending time with Martin as much as I did then. [I love you babe, you're my best friend!] Since our first date and dating anniversaries are close to our wedding anniversary, we will celebrate them all together next Saturday. We're going to PF Chang's and to the movies.

Another Craig's List Success Story

Since Dylan moved up to the convertible car seat we needed a new stroller since the stroller we had was just a frame that you put the infant car seat on. I've been trying to find THE PERFECT stroller, one that is perfect for every situation in which you'd possible need a stroller. Given that I know a bunch of people with stroller collections, I should have found it no surprise that there is no perfect stroller. But I found one that's close. I've been going back and forth about which one to buy. There was the Maclaren, which I'd have to buy used since they are so expensive, or a new Chicco or Combi that had some more features that I liked. After going to the mall on Monday without a stroller (I used the Bjorn), I knew I needed to get this stroller soon. So I went on Craig's List to see if there were any Maclaren Triumphs for sale. The Triumph is the second cheapest/smallest Maclaren there is. Maclarens are known for their quality, durable, and maneuverability. Well there was on there for $60, but it was 2 years old and the post said it had some stains on the hood and there was no rain cover with it. The 2007 models go for about $150 new. So I figured it was a fair price. I could live with the stains. So I went yesterday to get the stroller and was very pleasantly surprised. The stains were very minor (they were on the side and you could barely see them) and the stroller was in great condition. So we have a stroller now.... I really like it. It's charcoal grey and the hood covers more than I thought it would and the seat reclines. (See picture below.) There are a few features that I miss - cupholder for me and viewing window on the hood. But I think I can get a cupholder for it at BRUS. [Maclaren is British company and apparently the Brits don't understand the American custom of walking and drinking at the same time. If they have a drink, they stop, sit down and relax and enjoy it. Okay, there's some merit to that, but what if you are walking for exercise and want a bottle of water handy?] And I found a rain cover on Ebay for $10.

Week 52

Today, Dylan enters his 52nd week of life outside the womb. Each week since I found out that I was pregnant I've been getting emails from about 3 or 4 different websites (that I signed up with) giving me advice and telling me what to expect from my x week old. We'll apparently I've graduated from the beginning mothers course and now I'm on my own. No more emails. They have all said good bye and good luck to me this week. Hmmm, how will I ever function flying on my own now?! AHHHH!

But seriously, the websites were helpful. Not sure I'll use them again next time around...maybe, I've probably forgotten when the baby is supposed to be the size of the peach versus the small cantaloupe and that's very important to know. :) And the websites were motivating both in eating right and in helping me figure out games to play with Dylan to encourage his growth and what to feed him.

This one year thing is a very big milestone. We will celebrate with pizza party on Saturday and a trip to the pool on Tuesday (I'm taking off that day and working Monday instead). Gotta buy whole milk at the grocery store this week. Let's see what else was I not suppose to give Dylan until he was one - honey, strawberries, citrus,...am I forgetting anything? I'll have to buy those things too...:)

Dylan's possible future interests

Based on what we've observed on Dylan's behavior over the past year, we think Dylan may have the following interests as he ages:

1. Book Eating Contestant - He loves to munch on books instead of reading them.
2. Speed Walker - He motors around the house and the park
3. Drummer in a punk band - He bangs on the drum, and the coffee table, and the door, and the...
4. Olympic Diver - He was always the first kid to jump into the pool
5. Parachute Tester - for his fearless attitude
6. Football Line Judge (the guy who signals Touchdown) - He loves to stick his arms up
7. Mountain Climber - He tries to get as high as possible and he likes "hiking" on Daddy's back
8. Truck Driver - He loves playing with his trucks
9. Headbanger - at least 8 times a day!
10. Environmentalist - he loves to put his plastic toys in the recycling bin.

(I have to credit my DH for this post save for #10.)

Visiting Family in PA

Dylan with two of his great-grandmothers...


And crazy Uncle Justin...

Uncle Justin and his girlfriend Pam (or Pammy Sue as we know her). Pam has become a die hard Mountainer Fan since dating my brother.

Fun day in SWPA

After a night of camping, we headed out to see the Ohiopyle Falls....


...and then to the "Homestead Festival" that was going on in the park....

Yes, that is a bear, but it's been to the taxidermist.

Here's my mom milking a goat.

At this is us at Fort Necessity, our next stop. I learned a lot about history that day. I'm not a big fan of history but the events leading up to the French and Indian war were interesting. Even though the reconstructed fort isn't much to see, the visitors' center had a really nice exhibit that described the events and showed the timeline.

"Camping" with Grandma and Grandpap

Can you really call it camping when you stay in a cabin with a microwave...?


Uh, Dylan, you got something on your face there...
Grandma is always excited to see Dylan!