Christmas at the Beach

Our old camera came through one last time for us with these amazing beach pictures of Dylan on Christmas day.



Dylan was much less afraid of the beach this time. He even braved the water with his feet.

Trip to Daytona pictures

The day after Karl's wedding we drove to Daytona and only made 3 stops. We left at 7:30am and got to Martin's parents house at 9pm. One of the stops was to the Georgia Pig. Making this stop is a tradition of Martin's family. Martin says its the best BBQ ever. I thought it was okay. The place is crazy though - the parking lot isn't paved and the place is basically a shack. You'd never find it if you didn't know where it was even though it's very close to the highway. And for some strange reason you couldn't take pictures inside so here is a picture of Martin outside on the porch. He was very happy after eating lots of meat.

Here's us Christmas Eve at Martin's grandmother's church.
Christmas morning at Martin's parents house. The balloon was from Martin's grandmother's birthday almost two month earlier. Dylan found that more interesting than the wrapped presents. After we got them unwrapped he did get into his toys. Although he did go back to the balloon periodically over the stay.

Reading with Grandpa...
I think I'll just take a break and sit down for a while...

Growth Spurt

Dylan is definitely going through a growth spurt right now. He's eating a lot which is usual for Dylan and he's sleeping a lot - and at a regular time (10am to noon). And his 6-9 month clothes are starting not to fit. I got him on the scale and with clothes, a dirty diaper, and while holding 2 rubber ducks, he weighed 21 lbs. He's got two more weeks to be 20 lbs without a diaper.

Dylan has been so interested in food that he climbs up on the dining room chair and sits down and points to his Cheerios when he's hungry. Last night, while Martin and I were eating dinner (Dylan ate earlier since I got home late), Dylan climbs up in the chair next to Martin and starts doing the sign for more. We try giving him some of our food (rice, red pepper, broccoli, little bits of meat) but he usually spits it out. He is eating most fruits with his hands now. He like bananas and clementines a lot. And he eats bread and Cheerios and cheese by himself too. We're working on veggies. I think I need to steam them more to make them softer so he'll he them.

Dylan is very interactive with us. He comes over to us and if our feet are exposed he tickles them. He likes when we sing to him. He starts to dance. He makes fists with his hands and shakes them up and down. That's his dancing. I'll have to get a video of it. I'm still trying to figure out the new camera we got with our Christmas gift cards.

Karl's Wedding

Here are some pictures from the wedding Martin was in last month. I know some of you wanted to see proof that Karl actually got married, unbelievable, I know. The first two pics are from the rehearsal dinner. For my readers who are not married to him, the guy on the left in the first picture is Josh who was another groomsman.

Karl is really into music (a rock snob if you will) and while there was no dancing at the wedding, Karl made a wedding CD and gave a copy to us. The first song is the song that Karl and Katherine would have danced to if they had dancing at their wedding. The second song was the song that Martin and I danced to at our wedding, and the third song was the song Josh and Catherine danced to at their wedding. I was totally impressed that Karl 1) knew songs we danced to at our weddings and 2) put them on the CD. Karl is probably the only other guy besides Martin who knows which song we danced to at our wedding ("In your eyes" by Peter Gabriel).

Anyone else still have their Christmas decorations up?

When does it become noticable to neighbors? I'm going to try to find sometime this weekend to take them down but I wonder what my deadline is before people start talking. Jan 15th, MLKJr Day, have I already passed the deadline?

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

Dylan is all about imitating us these days. We are trying to use this to our advantage, like in teaching him how to pray, brush his teeth, blow his nose, etc. Sometimes its just too funny - like when we cough and he imitates that. Of course we need to be careful too as he could start imitating our bad habits - I think I've already caught him reaching for his hair to twirl like I do.

I started singing Itsy-Bitsy Spider to Dylan and he loves that. He sort of flaps his four fingers on each hand together and says "SSSPA, SSSPA" when I sing it. I think he's trying to say Itsy-Bitsy. Actually he seems to be practicing his "S" sound a lot - he points at the ChriStmaS tree and says "sss."

I guess this is a good time to learn animal sounds and the like. Anyone have any other imitation games that could be useful for learning?

Being Daddy

Dylan likes to put Daddy's badge around his neck. Actually he seems like everything about Daddy these days. In the morning, after I nurse him which is the first thing we do, he says "Da?" and does the sign for Daddy, wondering where Martin is.

He even likes to try Daddy's shoes on. Those are big shoes to fill son.

THE mantle

For the 3 and a half years that I have lived in our condo, I have wanted to get a mantle for our fireplace. It's been a dream of mine to have this mantle especially around Christmastime so we could hang stockings. This mantle has been the desire of my heart and my emotion I feel towards it is only surpassed by my love for my husband and my son. I have longed for this day since the first time I walked into the house when we house shopping nearly 3 ½ years ago. This year it became a reality. In the words of my husband, it is now the third love in my life. As an anniversary present to each other Martin and I agreed to get the mantle. But after 3 Saturdays that passed with out us finding the time to shop for it, I thought my hopes of having it for Christmas were crushed, especially since we'd probably have to special order it. These things typically need to be ordered in general and especially in our case since we have a light switch "brilliantly" placed 4 inches from the edge of the fireplace. Well, God provided the perfect mantle in time. And my husband gave me a wonderful gift. The store had a one in stock that was exactly the right size and shape and color. And all we had to do was put it up. Martin (and consequently my dad who got recruited to help) were under pressure to make sure the mantle remained perfect and they did great...:) The skilled craftsmen adeptly performed the task of installing the mantle. The mantle is perfect. I would just stop and stare at it and smile and still do. As I welled with joy over this masterpiece of carpentry, I began to decorate it for the Christmas season. My mom found the perfect stocking holders - 5 holders that spell PEACE. (Apparently that means she's expecting no more than 3 grandkids from us...:) I had also already bought some greenery and made the stockings (see below). Here is the result.

Pre-Christmas Pictures

Here's Dylan in a Santa outfit for a party we went to.

Opening presents with Grandma and Grandpap two weekends before Christmas since we were going to the other Grandparents in FL for Christmas. It took us forever to open presents since we tried to get Dylan to open his own. He was much more interested in the big blue bag. We couldn't even get him interested in ripping paper. But oh well. We should cherish these days.

Christmas Decorations

The "extras" of the holidays (decorating, mailing cards, traveling, parties, concerts and recitals, etc.) have pushed out blogging on my priority list for the last month so I need to catch up on a few things. This year (since we decided to finally get a mantle shelf for our fireplace, see later post) I decided to make Etner family stockings. So I go to Michaels to get the stuff and wonder how many I should buy. Knowing that we would like to have more kids, and knowing how I would be really annoyed if all our stockings didn't match, I decided to buy enough stockings to cover any future children. I bought 8 stockings all together. Not saying that we plan on having 6 kids but just in case, and I bought green ones for the boys and red ones for the girls (4 of each) so if we have 3 boys we're still covered. My mom is slightly worried that I'm actually serious about having many children which would mean I'd be having children into my 40s (oh no!). We shall see what the Lord brings, but in the mean time, I'm preparing...:)

Here are the stockings I made. This is about the extent of my craftiness, anything more I'd really screw up. I was pleased with the result.

Dylan the Destroyer

Dylan has become a destroyer. If there is a sense of order, which in our house is minimal, it must be disordered. Toys cannot stay in a line. Stuffed animals cannot remain on their low perch. And of utmost importance to Dylan, books cannot remain on the bookshelf. See for yourself:

1) Dylan, the agent of chaos, methodically removes books from the second shelf to a disorderly pile on the floor.

2. The enemy of order rests to contemplate his strategy for the next shelf of the bookcase.

3. Satisfied that his work is complete, the destroyer savors his triumph with a tasty bookmark.

More pictures from Thanksgiving trip to PA

Me and Dylan playing the piano.

Presbyterian bear and Lutheran bear joined us on the trip.
Here's Dylan and my mom on the train at the mall.
I think Dylan really liked the train.

Dylan's first haircut

Dylan did great at his first haircut. He wiggled a lot but the hairdresser (Heidi) was able to cut his hair despite the wiggling. It took awhile but he didn't really cry much at all.



Ta-dah. The finished product...

"Before" pictures

Here's how crazy Dylan's hair was before we got it cut...

Dylan update

Dylan is finally sleeping through the night! It's been going on for about a month now and I think it's been long enough that I can say it for sure. (But he'll probably prove me wrong tonight now that I've said it.) Sometimes, he'll even go back to sleep if he wakes up early (like 6am). But usually Dylan sleeps for 12 hours straight. 7:30pm-7:30am.



Nap time is all over the map though. Sometimes that's a good thing because I can move his naps according to my schedule. Dylan has been sleeping for a longer time period. He actually takes 2 hours naps now! Sometimes even more! For a while he wasn't going down for his morning until late in the morning (which pushed back his afternoon nap til almost dinnertime and too close to bedtime and some days he wouldn't take an afternoon nap) so on Monday I tried to skip the morning nap and just give him an afternoon nap. Well, he about fell asleep in the high chair at lunch and then when I tried to get him to go to sleep it took an hour (I think I missed the window). So now my strategy is to stick with the late morning and late afternoon naps and work dinner and bedtime around that.



Dylan got his 8th tooth over Thanksgiving. Now he's even on top and bottom.



I'm still nursing. I don't have a strategy on this. Dylan takes milk when I'm at work fine. I nurse him when I'm at home (mornings, nights, and naptimes or attempts at naptimes when I'm not at work so 2 to sometimes up to 5 times a day.) I thought with this schedule that my supply would go down to nothing but it hasn't. I still pump once a day the two days I'm at work and I consistently get about 3-4 ounces. So I figure that's what I'm producing each time Dylan nurses too. Dylan eats a lot of yogurt and loves cheese so I'm confident he's getting the calcium so I'm not worried about him not drinking more cow's milk. And I don't mind nursing on this schedule...I minded the pumping though. I think Dylan is less cranky when he nurses and he's much easier to get to sleep that way. So my only concerns are....1)if I keep going with this is it going to be harder for me to wean when I want to and 2) Dylan not sleeping at day care because he's only used to being nursed to sleep. But with 1) it would be hard now to stop completely because it would harder to get Dylan to nap and he might be crankier and 2) not napping at day care doesn't seem to affect him too much. Actually, I think she is usually able to get him to take an afternoon nap around one but I think it's usually just a cat nap. So, I guess now that I've put all my thoughts down my strategy is to keep going like we are for now. Oh, and there were two nights in a row last week when Martin put Dylan to bed without me so I know he can fall asleep on his own at least at night.



Dylan is babbling a lot. He says mama and dada but it's hard to know if he's just making sounds our saying our names. It another one of those anti-climatic "firsts." What that it? Does that count? Last night Dylan said "ah-da" and kinda did the sign for Daddy and was looking at Martin so I think that counts. Which bring me to his "signing update." Dylan's signing really took off at one year. He got "eat" down really quickly. See video:

He also signs for "more" and "all done." We're working on "milk," "mommy," "daddy," "hurt," "diaper change," "drink," "bed," and "(teddy) bear" now. It's so much fun now that he's getting them. He gets them so quickly.

Dylan has been eating a lot lately so I'm wondering if he's going through a growth spurt. It would be nice to be able to turn the car seat around before our big trek to Florida but I'm not going to push it.

Christmas Tag

I was tagged by Nancy.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Gift bags because they are recyclable although I will do paper when I run out or when the gift bags I have won't work with the shape and size of the gift.

2. Real tree or artificial?

Artificial. And this year it's a small artificial since the big tree with a 13 month old in our little condo seemed totally unworkable. So I got a small tree for $3.75 at Michaels and its on a tv tray table inside the supergate in front our our fireplace.

3. When do you put up the tree?

First weekend in Dec.

4. When do you take the tree down?

First or second weekend in January depending on the date those weekends fall. I like to keep it up for Russian/Orthodox Christmas but might take it down before that depending on my schedule that year.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Yes, in small doses.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

The thing that comes to mind is an electronic keyboard (piano).

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

Only in a tree ornament. My husband had one that he kept up all year in the Maple Ave. bachelor house but I think it got lost in the move. It was probably still at the MAMC until the great purge of 2005.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My husband. He doesn't want anything, at least anything that's not uber expensive.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

My mother-in-law.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Leopard print slip on shoes. My mom wanted to get me the shoes but those where the only ones they had in my size. She really wanted to buy them because they were $2. I think she took them back.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?

Not sure if this is a movie but it's the yogi bear christmas special.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

In the late fall.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Yes. I even brought a gift that I had gotten early to a white elephant gift exchange that same year. Hey, the gift got stolen once so someone who actually wanted it got it.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Peanut M&Ms.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

Definitely clear. I think colored lights are tacky. That said I have colored lights (the M&M lights) on the small tree this year.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Joy to the World.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home

Travel. This year to Florida.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Yep.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Neither. A big bow.

21. Open gifts Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

The whole merry christmas/seasons greetings/happy holidays thing. Every thing about it - that people don't say merry christmas, that others get insanely upset at stores that don't say merry christmas, that you have to worry about what you say to what people, etc.

23. What I love most about Christmas?

Finding the perfect gift for people and them recognizing how thoughtful it was. Yeah, that's not the Sunday School answer. Maybe someday my heart will be in line with the Sunday School answer.

Okay, I tag Catherine, Christine, Amy, Cara, and Martin.

Visiting Friends

Here's Dylan and Brenna (our freinds Jen and Rich's daughter). Dylan and Brenna played well together. Brenna is 2 (there's a 14 month age difference between the two of them). It's really fun to start to see Dylan play with other kids. Mom and Dad got to enjoy a nice dinner and conversation with our friends too.

Visiting Great-Grandpap

When we were in PA for Thanksgiving we visited my grandfather in the nursing home. Dylan liked his wheelchair. (Great) Grandpap got to come home yesterday. He has been in either the hospital or nursing home since September.

Random pictures of Dylan

Here's Dylan playing with this toy where you have to put the balls in a round hole. Dylan decided Mommy's mouth looked like right shape too. Daddy was sure to get a picture of this one.

Here Dylan's wearing what we've been calling the green monster suit. We've also been told he looks like a little turtle, dinosaur, frog, and alligator. We got the suit in a bag of hand-me-downs from a friend of ours. Dylan has worn this to a PALS trip to the Washington Monument, the Help the Homeless Walk-a-Thon, and outside at grandma's house (shown here). He's gotten a lot of wear out of it already.

What Dylan has been up to...

Climbing! Here's how Dylan gets on the coffeetable.

Step 1, approach the table.
Step 2, lean forward, swinging legs up into the air.

Step 3, wiggle forward until knees are on the table, come to a kneeling position and then...

Step 4, come to a standing position.

Also see this video...

Dylan is pretty good about getting down too. He can do it by himself.

Dylan also likes to climb on less dangerous objects, like the trivia pursuit game. He is so proud of himself. Touchdown!