lots of pictures!

Seriously, how adorable is that daddy/daughter combo?

I'm so long overdue for a post! So, I'm going to post a bunch of pics here to make up for lost time. (especially for you, Lara!) So, Dylan wasn't the total gem we hoped for during our roadtrip out to PA, but we still had a great time while we were there. A highlight was going to the beach - Ocean City, NJ with Matt and Emily and staying overnight at a hotel right on the Boardwalk, Ocean 7. It was so fun and something I won't forget. Dylan had an AMAZING time on the beach.

Before we went to PA, we also went to Iowa to visit J's family for a family reunion. We had an awesome time with everyone and really got to relax and enjoy the great outdoors, Iowa style.

Dylan LOVED the fountains at the Coralville, Iowa pool.

We put these on her as a joke, but she didn't want to take these goggles off! I don't know how she could see anything, but we thought it was hysterical.

This is when we realized we can't live in the city forever. She's so happy out here in the "wild!"

In between both of those trips we went to Lollapalooza, an amazing musical extravaganza in Chicago's Grant Park. We saw SO many fabulous bands and it really started to feel like pre-baby with all the time we had together as a couple. We did bring Dylan with us one afternoon and she had a fun time participating in a drum circle and just chillin in the outdoors.

She walked up and down these little mini "hills" under this tree about 60 times. So cute!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for watching!

journey out east

Now is when I ask all you mothers and fathers for your advice. Traveling with youngsters. We embark on a 12 hour car trip to Souderton, PA this afternoon (broken up nicely in half with a stop at a motel with a pool in Youngstown, OH tonight). We are visiting college friends Matt and Emily Rittenhouse for almost a week, and I am having a girls weekend thrown in there with three other girlfriends from college too. I am slightly worried about a screaming one year old in the backseat with my whole back of tricks exhausted within the first hour. I wish she was old enough that we could all listen to a family book on CD, or I could give her a fun new coloring book and crayons and she'd be thrilled, but most likely she'd suck on the crayons and then just throw them on the floor. SO...any advice for entertaining a one year old on a long car ride? Anything you have for me will be much appreciated.

Here's what I'm planning so far:
lots of snacks to pass back
books to read from the front seat
good kids CDs to sing along to
a few favorite toys that might last 30 seconds each
????? I'm drawing a blank...

Write back soon if you read this and I'll be anxiously awaiting your help.

talking baby

Dylan has recently (the last few weeks) exploded with a vocabulary. It's amazing and I am constantly shocked at the words she spews out and her eagerness to try almost any word if you encourage her. I thought I'd include a short list of my favorite recent words she says (or at least has said once)...Dylan pronunciations are in parentheses

sleepy (seepee)
clock (cock)
ladybug/bug (bugga bugga)
blender (bendee)
santa (satah) - dylan on santa's lap is our desktop wallpaper on our computer
happy (hahpeee)
no-no-no-no-no - I guess we say this enough now that she points at something she's not supposed to touch and says this just like we do, with the same emphasis and everything...we need to come up with alternative ways to say no.

We also realized that she is listening to EVERYTHING we are saying. In the car, I yelled at the car in front of us, "Why are you going so SLOW?!?!" And Dylan immediately yells "SLOW!" It was hysterical and we were cracking up, which now causes her to crack up. She wants to be in on the jokes, so she always laughs when you laugh at something. Let's all take inventory of the words that come spewing out of our mouths now!

Dylan's new best bud

We all new that cousins were special. And when my sis Lara and I had little girls 3 months apart, we thought it was pretty cool. But no one knew how fast they'd become buddies! Dylan and I just spent 4 days down in Champaign with my parents and Lara and Anya. It was so fun to watch the two little girls start to actually semi-play together! We had to do a little mediating, but mostly it was just good fun. We didn't realize Anya liked Dylan so much, until we were leaving. They all came outside to see us pull out of the driveway (Anya has a need recently to see exactly where people are going), and Anya started crying as we were leaving. She totally got it, and was SO sad! It was the most touching thing. And then when they went inside, I later learned she was still crying pretty hard and they asked her, Do you want Grandma? "NO!" Then, Do you want Grandpa? "NO!" And, Do you want Mommy? "NO!" Last, Do you want Dylan? "YES!"

Unbelievable. They are little humans!

Ooh hee haw humph

This is the sound you hear from Dylan when you ask her a question she wants to respond "YES" to. It's an adorable sound in person, and I wish I could put a sound clip here to show you just how cute it is. But combine the ooh hee haw humph with an ear to ear grin and a little jump of joy, and you can really picture it, no? A few questions she will respond this way to:

"Do you want to eat _____?" (Yes, she will seriously eat anything at any time.)
"Do you want to swing?"
"Do you want to take a nap?" (Only when she's really tired will ooh hee haw humph be the response here, but it just happened 2 minutes ago, so I'm including it.)
"Do you want to listen to music?" (which usually means to her...we're going to dance!)
"Do you want to watch Signing Time?" (the only tv she is allowed to watch, it teaches her some american sign language through songs and such...)
"Do you want to take a bath?"

Here are a couple of pics of her lastest favorite things to get the "ooh hee haw hump" response...

Dylan loves to eat anything she can hold herself and take bites...hard to do with only 1/2 of a tooth, but she tries.

Daddy and Dylan have a blast together at bathtime. Can you tell?