1 Year Old

Sunday was Dylan's actual birthday, but this kid could not sit still for a minute to get his picture taken. He was even all over the place at church.

Here is the birthday boy coming down the stairs. 

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since he was born.  That was a crazy birth and the year was pretty crazy too. In his first year of life, he had 3 surgeries and a lot of doctor visits with too many shots. When he was born, he would eat at least every 2 hours and he still eats every 2 hours.   He needs that energy to keep up with his busyness. He is the size of a 2 year old. I love his smile and all his silly looks that he gives.  He has just started liking to read books and will now grab a book and walk over and come sit in my lap so that I can read to him.  He has a cute laugh and no one makes him laugh more then Blake. The other day he said "eat it".

He got his blood drawn last week and we have his check up tomorrow with an ultrasound within the next week.    

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Dylan turned 1!  We had some family over to help celebrate the big day.

Dylan loves his cousin, Seth, and luckily, Seth also loves Dylan. Seth believes that Dylan only smile when Seth is around.

Was Dylan excited about opening presents next or that BYU had won?

Here is the family who were able to come.

My brother, David, and his family.

Sarah and Rob brought some yummy cupcakes. Dylan loves his Oreo cupcake from Frostings.

He ate nearly all of the cupcake.

For his dinner, we made Cafe Rio burritos and it was a big hit. We played a game where we put questions about Dylan in a balloon. There were enough balloons for everyone to pop one. Then we opened some presents.  Blake, Seth and Kaleb basically opened the presents while Dylan kept on walking off and going up the stairs.  We then sang "Happy Birthday", which Blake did a really good job singing because he practices that song every day.  Sarah and Rob brought their dog, Scout. At the beginning, Dylan did not want to be around Scout, but later on, he couldn't stop "playing" with Scout. However, Scout chased Blake around the house and terrified Blake. Blake is not a fan of Scout.  Happy Birthday Dylan! We love you!

Trunk or Treat

Friday night our church hosting a Trunk or Treat. Dylan, Blake and I were a bit sick that week and Blake was the worst the day of the event.  But...off we went since Aaron and I missed it last year since Dylan was born the same day of the trunk or treat.

Our little fireman sat on a chair most of the night, which was proof that he was not feeling himself. It was really weird to have Blake not running around.

The boys. Who can guess what Aaron was?

Even though Blake was sitting, it didn't stop Dylan from walking.  He walked around the room where we played games all night long. The only game he wanted to play was were you stick your hand in a bucket full of water and get an apple. He loves apples.

Cousins, Seth and Kaleb, were able to come join us.

Helpers

My kids love to help me clean.  Most of the time, it is pretty great. Blake loves to help vacuum, clean the dishes, clean the bathrooms, weed, water the plants, put his clothes away, put the clothes in the washer and put the detergent in, clean up the lint on the lint screen, and put the clothes on the dryer from the washer, turn on the dryer, throw the trash away, take the trash cans to the curb on trash day, and clean up his toys.

Dylan is starting to help out too. Although, sometimes the wipes end up in his mouth. He enjoys mopping, throwing away his diapers (once his dirty diaper is off, he will pick it up and walk it over to the diaper pail and throw it away), throwing trash away (and non trash items), and helping with laundry.

And he can find the cleaning stuff...yep, he keeps me on my toes.

Happy Boy?

You can tell from this picture that Dylan hasn't been his happy self lately.  This morning he woke up in the wee hours of the morning.  Aaron is out of town and so it meant that I could have slept in because he wasn't here to teach seminary, but Dylan made sure I didn't sleep in. After my brain was working, I realized he got another tooth. He is up to 3 teeth.  He is just like Blake...getting all his teeth at once, but Dylan is kind of a wimp about it.

The fun thing is Dylan is walking. He has no fear, so the gate at the top of the stairs is worthless because Dylan can pull it down. What do you do with a kid that has no fear and can't sit still?  I don't sit still. I try to use furniture to block the kid...doesn't work...he climbs over it or around it...he can open doors.  

This picture wouldn't make you think he has been sad. But he isn't really ever sad when he is eating. Speaking of eating, the other night after our dinner prayer, he said Amen. I guess with all the times that he eats, he hears that word a lot. My brother, David, claims that Dylan said "thank you" although we haven't heard it.  Maybe he is just polite to other people.

And this picture just makes you laugh.

Blake is now 3 1/2. We went to the park the other day and there was a 5 year old who was the same height as Blake.  Makes sense why Blake is in 5T clothing. With Dylan's birthday coming up, Blake is really anxious for his birthday and he is telling everyone what he is getting (Well, hoping he gets for his birthday.  We all know he will change his mind at least 100 times before the actual day).

Deal me in, baby!

You may disagree with me, but you'd be wrong.  I have the funniest kid alive, maybe even of all time (I don't know as I wasn't there when Noah was around and reportedly his kid Ham was a hoot).

Yesterday morning, we were all siting around the table.  Blake was getting ready to eat some "wassles".  After saying a prayer, he looks around, places his hands behind his head and while stretching says, "Deal me in, Baby!"

Now, we're not gamblers, nor do we watch anything besides kids shows while he's around, so where he came up with "deal me in" let alone "deal me in, baby" is a huge mystery.  It might battle the other great mysteries like "what came first the chicken or the egg?", "did Adam have a belly button?" or "who are 'the Others' on Lost?" for the greatest mystery of all time.


Later that day, after church we were eating dinner---I know, I know, is there ever a time when I don't start out a story with "while we were eating.."?  I mentioned to Blake that I was going to go to a basketball game of one of my seminary students this weekend and that he could come with me if he wanted to.  He asked if Michelle was going to come with us.  Michelle said that she probably couldn't come as Dylan wouldn't last long sitting through a basketball game.  Blake then looks at Michelle's brother, James, and says "James, can you watch Dylan while me, Daddy, and Mommy  go to the basketball game?  You can stay here with him, because he has to go somewhere?"

Blake's not shy about asking for what he wants.  Now, I need to look for a way for me to capitalize  on that somehow.

As a side note, Dylan loves playing with his trains.  Thought this was a fun video.  Hope you like it.

Scalawag and Firemen

James has recently been calling upon a young lady named Amber.  Blake really likes Amber.  When she comes over he freaks out.  When she's not here, his first question to James is, "Where is Amber?"  The other day, Amber came over while we were babysitting Michelle's other brother’s (David) kids.  They, of course, already know Amber as well.  But when Amber came through the door, Blake did his, now normal, run-around-the-house-freak-out routine, yelling that Amber's here.  So, he grabs Amber's hand and pulls her into the room where his cousins are playing.  He walks her right up to his cousins and says, "Kaleb, Seth, you remember Amber right?"  A great introduction if I've ever heard one and what a well-mannered young man.  That's what I would have thought if I wasn't laughing as hard as I was.

Blake goes through phases with many things, but this story relates specifically to his phases with words. Michelle tries to teach him new words every few days.  Of course, he picks up new words all by himself at times.    

So, that same night, Amber and Blake were playing.  Amber got Blake down and was tickling him unmercifully.  He was playfully telling her to stop but she wouldn't relent.  So Blake says, "Okay, okay. Stop.  Stop you scalawag!"  We all, of course, got a big chuckle from that word, which was as you can guess a word he picked up all by himself.  And because he got that chuckle--big mistake--he now uses scalawag quite a bit.  

Earlier that same day we had all the boys (our two and the two cousins) out on a walk.  Blake leading this wild parade starts up a story with (and for those that have seen Blake tell a story, he uses his whole body, arms, hands, legs---his whole body).  

"Well, when I was at school…." this wouldn't give pause to many parents, however, we both know he isn't in school, so we paused.  Blake continued, "…you remember my teacher at school. Yeah, that teacher, she was crazy."  What made it crazier was the way his arms flung around as he said ‘crazy’. 

And for an encore....

Tonight, James walks into the kitchen while we were eating and Blake asks him, "James, you gonna eat with us?"

James replies that he is.

Blake then informs him very authoritatively, "Well, you can't eat it all, James.  You can eat one and then eat another."

"Oh, okay, "James replies with a smile.

I then turn to Blake and ask him, "Blake, when you grow up are you gonna be a policeman or a hall monitor?"

He responds with "No, I'm going to be a doctor...no a fireman.  That way I can spray people with water."  

Very heroic and noble huh?  

Tough Growing Up

This morning Dylan woke up at 5am.  Later in the morning I saw another tooth had come in...love the teething and less sleep. 

We went to the park on Wednesday and he was crawling/walking/scaling around and fell on the spongy surface on the playground, which scratched his face a little.  He has taken 5 steps at a time now. How long until he is actually walking?

Blake is not teething, but actually smiled for a picture.

As a side note, today is our 11th wedding anniversary!! Love you Aaron.

11 Months

This happy guy is 11 months old. He actually hasn't been his super happy self because he has been teething. He just got his first tooth.

But teething didn't stop him from trying to walk. Yesterday, he stood up by himself and stood for awhile then took 3 steps over to me.

One of his favorite things is to walk around and around the train table.

That is the drool we get with teething. Since he has been teething, he loves fruit. His favorite snacks are pears, strawberries and grapes.

Blake took this picture and says "It's so cute".

His other favorite thing to do is to climb onto Blake's bed and then climb down...over and over.

This gate is almost not serving it's purpose because he has almost figured it out...and he also tried to climb over it.  A couple days ago we were playing downstairs and Dylan says, "Mom..bye bye" and then crawls up the stairs.  He is great at crawling up the stairs but not so much on the way down. Although, like most things, he is much better when he doesn't have help from Blake. He grabs the railing and goes sideways down. He has learned how to sign more (so since he likes to eat a lot, he gets to sign this a lot) and all done (but sometimes he just shakes his no). He is fantastic at playing by himself and will occasionally come over to me to get a hug and then go back to playing.  Other times if he comes over to me and won't leave me alone, he wants food or his diaper changed.  People constantly tell me that he is a happy baby and I agree, as long as he is fed, then he is a super happy baby. He has no fear and loves to explore.  This is not great since he is so tall.  He can reach more things than an 11 month old should...he can open doors and reach counter tops.  

Kaleb's Birthday

We recently had the family over to celebrate our nephew's birthday.  Kaleb wanted to go swimming, which pleased Blake.

He loved the surfboard.

While everyone else was swimming, Dylan played with Robert and Sarah's dog, Scout. Dylan loves Scout and Blake doesn't like Scout.