First Birthday

Wow, so we have been busy living life since the last time I posted.  Dylan turned 1 last week and we had a HUGE party with all her friends (and our friends) and family to celebrate.  There was water fun outside for the kiddos and pizza and cupcakes.  It was a lot of fun, but I am glad it is all over.  Here are a few pics from the birthday week festivities!

 Mommy and daddy got Dylan a cool water table and a small stuffed cow.  Dylan immediately snuggled up with the cow, but she LOVED playing on the box of the water table.  I almost felt bad having daddy set it up for her since the box was so fun.

 MMMMMM...Birthday dinner of homemade mac and cheese and rosemary and orange roasted chicken.  The highchair decorations (2 balloons) were met with limited success, but she did enjoy playing with them.

 Singing happy birthday.  Dylan is wearing a "crown" my mom made her.

 MMMMMMM.... Cookies and cream cupcake!

 Fake choking - her new favorite past time.

 HAHA - just kidding - I love my cupcake!

 Birthday girl all dressed up!  She hated the tutu and the bow so we tricked her into putting it on after the party when she was too exhausted to fight it.

 Cupcake table - 5 dozen cupcakes.

 Baby pandemonium in my living room - this picture does not accurately capture the craziness that happened.  Most of the big kids and their parents were outside so the kids could play in the pool and the slip n slide.

 Smash cake made by my friend Megan.  It turned out awesome!

 Smash cake results - not much eaten.  My mom made her cry and then she was pretty much done with the whole thing.

 Chillin with my brother!

Most of my family.  I'm sitting on my mom's lap.  My sister is next to me and then my 2 brothers and my three nieces.  Don's grandmother and aunt are also in the background.

Dylan with one of her school boyfriends, Luke.  They had a really good time together.

6 months!

Oh my goodness!!!  How is it possible that Dylan is 6 months old?  It has been a busy few months with Christmas, New Years, Betsy's birthday, and life - work and family fun.  Thought I would update briefly with some pictures to show what has been going on in the Miller household.  Dylan has grown so much in the last couple months.  She had her 6 month checkup and all is good.  She was 26.5 inches long and almost 16 pounds (read taller than rounder)

She is now eating solids (sometimes).  She has tried butternut squash (her first food) and it made her gag.  Since then she has tried avocado, sweet potato, peas, apples, and green beans.  So far, green beans and avocado are the only ones she has been interested in at all.  Next up will be some pears.

Sunday night was Dylan's first bath in the big bath tub.  As you will see in the pics below - it was a BIG hit!  There is no crawling in sight and we are just fine with that.  Dylan is a great sitter though and loves her excersaucer she can waalk around and her johnny jump up.  Her bottom 2 teeth are barely visible under her gums - so we are expecting teeth at somepoint, but it does not appear to be anytime soon.  Only time will tell... 

So here are a few pictures from the last 2 months.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Hanging out with her cousin, Campbell.

Oooooohhhhh - what is that mommy? 

Mmmmmmm......this paper is delicious!  She loved eating the wrapping paper.  Maybe next year she will enjoy what is in the package too.

Mom, what is this?  Why would you serve me avocado?  

I think I'd rather just play with it and my spoon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

First bath in the big tub.  It was a huge hit!  Someone loves splashing.

Oh my goodness daddy, this is so much fun!  I get toys in my bath?!?

I have more pics on my phone and some videos, but my tech support is out of town for the night, so I will have to post after he returns.

Thanksgiving, beach, graduation, and SANTA!

It has been a long time since I have posted.  I apologize for the absence, but our house has been crazy.  We took our first trip out of town as a family for Thanksgiving and everything went well except Don got pneumonia on the last day and was very sick for 2 weeks, so mama has been a little preoccupied.  Here is our life in pictures for the last month.

Dylan continues to grow despite our attempts slow her down.  She is now great at sitting (assisted) and great in the excersaucer.  But her all time favorite activity is standing on mommy and daddy's laps!

We headed to Daytona for Thanksgiving and got a room on the beach.  We were so excited to take Dylan down to the sand and water for the first time.  She was rather unimpressed with the whole adventure, but mommy and daddy had a GREAT time with her.  Check out her cool shades (and chunky thighs) :)

We also got to see a rocket launch.  For all the years I have been traveling (even living) in Daytona for work, I always seemed to miss the shuttle launches.  One time I got up in the middle of the night to watch a shuttle launch and we couldn't see it.  I was beginning to think that it was a conspiracy of everyone who lives in Daytona to tell the tourists that you can actually see the launches.  Now I believe.

On our way to Lake City that Saturday we stopped in Barberville to get a picture of Dylan and the giant chicken.  This is just one of many giant chickens, horses, lions, etc. that they have at this store.  If you are in the market for an over priced giant animal statue this is the place to go!

We stopped in Lake City on our way home to see Grandpa DJ and Grandma Lorraine.  Poor Don was sick as a dog and we had to cut our trip a little short, but Dylan got to spend some time with both of them.  She was having a blast showing off all her cool tricks and smiling for everyone.

Last weekend was Don's graduation.  First, we celebrated by dressing Dylan up in some awesome holiday gear.  She actually really likes dressing up and wearing bows.

Check out her cool holiday leggings!  We are getting a lot of use out of them. She may seem disinterested in daddy, but that is because she was busy watching a football game.  Our baby loves football!

Don graduated!!!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Dylan was able to dress up in her finest dress, courtesy of Great-Grandma Harriett.

The whole fam came up to celebrate.  We had a great time with everyone who was able to join us.  We headed to Momo's for pizza and beer afterwards.

Check out her cute baby bottom during bath time :)

This morning we hung out in pjs for a bit before heading to see Santa.  I had to get some pics of her in these pjs.  They are so cute with little pink bunnies all over them.  As an added bonus they are made from organic cotton and are super soft.  Despite our best attempts it is so difficult to get a good pic of her smiling.  She smiles ALL the time and then we grab the camera and nothing.

 Check out the adorable outfit she picked out in which to have her Santa pictures taken.

We headed to the Harley Davidson store to meet our friends Buffy and Billy and their daughter Sydney, who is about 10 weeks younger than Dylan, to have the girls' pictures taken with Santa.  Santa is sitting on a Harley while holding Dylan.  He was a GREAT Santa!

Dylan appears to have a big crush on Santa.  She was all smiles!  We all headed to Momo's for pizza and beer (do you see a theme here) with Buffy, Billy, and Sydney, and some other friends after the girls had their pictures taken.

We finally bought a Christmas tree tonight and will be decorating it tomorrow.  We were going to do it tonight, but Mr. Sicko over here was too tired after today's festivities to decorate.  Stay tuned for more fun first Christmas pictures.

First day of school

It has been a busy couple of weeks with mommy being back at work.  Many, many thanks to Grannie Annie for watching Dylan for the last 2 weeks.  Dylan definitely enjoyed her time with Grannie Annie.   Unfortunately mommy did not get many pics of Dylan those first 2 weeks since she was busy adjusting to working life.  However, mommy has been getting in some 5-7 am snuggles.  Dylan loves sleeping on the couch and waching law and order with mommy in the wee hours of the morning.  Daddy caught us one day :)

Our friends Jason and Valerie came into town last weekend for the FSU game.  They were nice enough to buy Dylan some gifts before she was born.  Since they come from the swamp they bought her an awesome pacifier (as well as a gator onesie - no pics of that).

Dylan loves to read books.  Here is a pic of her and Valerie reading before we head out to tailgate.  Dylan rolled herself onto her stomach.  Everytime we look over, she has rolled herself onto her stomach.  We don't need to force the tummy time - she makes sure she does enough every day.  On Veterans Day, while daddy was watching her, she even rolled herself onto her tummy to nap - such a big girl!

It was cold on Saturday for tailgate, so Dylan put on her most adorable hat before heading out.

She always enjoys tailgate, but she doesn't necessarily enjoy being forced to smile for pics with mommy.  Trust me though, she was having a great time :)

She has grown so much and is into so many of her toys.  She enjoys the excersaucer and is getting better at using it.  Though, she often ends up with an arm stuck down in the leg hole.  Thanks Aunt Carrie for the toys!

It was beautiful on Sunday, so while daddy did some much needed yard work, mommy and Dylan headed out to the front yard to enjoy the day.  She had a great time enjoying the breeze and the sunshine!  A coworker rode by on her bike and got to meet Dylan too.  It was a fun time!

Finally, today was Dylan's first day of school.  She hung out in her bumbo while mommy and daddy were getting ready.  She can sit up in it, but prefers to hang out to one side - gangsta style!

Exhausted after her first day of school.  It was her first day playing with other babies, and apparently it tired a baby out!  Hopefully she will get a little better at napping at school or mommy is in for a fun time.  As soon as we walked in this morning she found a male friend who was a couple days older than her and gave him a BIG smile!  She seems to love her teachers and I can't wait for her to get through this adjustment period.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving in Daytona.  Our first car trip and hotel stay - hopefully it all goes smoothly.  I am sure there will be many pics from our adventures!