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!

Halloween

Well, last week was my last week at home with Dylan.  I officially start work on Tuesday.  Due to daycare issues, Grannie Annie will be watching Dylan for the first 2 weeks that I am back to work.  I think this will make the transition much easier for mommy.  Dylan will start Scottsdale Academy at Southwood on November 14th.  We had a busy week having fun and running errands to get ready for work and daycare.

Mommy had a few appointments this week and Grannie Annie was nice enough to watch Dylan a couple times.  Dylan had a good time trying on Grannie's earrings.

Saturday we went to a Halloween party.  Dylan was super excited about it! 

Since the weather has finally cooled off a bit, all week long Dylan got to wear some really fun leg warmers!

Thursday Dylan had a playdate with Sydney who is just 2 weeks old.  The girls had a really good time together.  I can just picture them now, as teenagers, getting into trouble together.

Dylan also learned how to roll onto her stomach from her back.  How can she be old enough to be rolling over already?  Next thing you know, she will be studying for the SATs.

Although I am not super excited to be returning to work, I think that Dylan will be very happy at Scottsdale.  Look at the fun stuff they did with the babies last week.

Dylan has also been trying out some of her toys.  She is almost big enough for her johnny jump-up, her bumbo, and her excersaucer.  Here is a pic of her playing in the johnny jump-up with daddy.

Our friends Jill and Jason were nice enough to give us a few costumes for Halloween.  Their son, Zeus is almost exactly one year older than Dylan so it's great that his stuff from last year fits her.  First she was a giraffe.

Arrggghhh mateys!  Then she was a pirate.  She was having a swashbuckling good time.

Mommy was so excited by the costumes, that she had to get a few pics of Dylan in the tutu that Auntie Kate had bought for her.



Dylan turns 3 months on Monday!  Where has the time gone?  It has been a really fun 3 months, and we finally seem to have a routine down.  Just in time for us to change it.  Wish us luck as we transition to the working outside of home mom.

Football and pumpkins

We had a very exciting weekend.  Saturday was a home game and we headed to tailgate early.  It was cold, so Dylan got to wear a jacket for the first time.  She looks really amused, doesn't she?

The cousins were there, so after Dylan's mid-morning snack, it was time for fun with cousins.

 Don't you just love that gummy smile :)

 Campbell loves to hang out with Dylan and even held her for a while.

Kenyon was really into petting Dylan's head, but was not so into us taking a picture of the two of them together.

Kenyon had a little accident and ended up pantless for the seccond half of tailgate, which did not phase her at all.  The girl does love to accesorize!

Even Whitman (D's dog) joined in on the tailgate fun!

Sunday we made a stop at the pumpkin patch.  We did not buy a pumpkin, but we did get some great pics of our little pumpkin.

We have been working on sitting up in the Bumbo and standing on mommy and daddy's laps.  Here is a pic from Dylan in the Bumbo from a couple weeks ago.  She is getting much better at it every week.  We also tried out the excersaucer and the johnny jump up on Sunday.  Dylan is almost tall enough and strong enough to use both.

She has been having a great time playing on her activity mat.  She can now reach for and grab her toys.  She will lay on the mat and smile and giggle at all of them.  We keep trying to get some video, but as soon as we pull the camera out she will stop, so camera shy.  Sunday morning, her 12 week birthday, she also rolled over onto her side to take a nap.  Such a big girl!