Pro Pics

On Dylan's 3 month birthday, we met up with the photographer that took our wedding pictures. He took some pictures of our little guy and our family. It was a fun couple of hours with him and we got LOTS of great pictures that we will enjoy for a lifetime. Here are just a few.

New Year of Life, New Do

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday. It was so great to hear all the great b'day wishes from friends and family. Y'all rock! The weather was great and I had a great day with my boys.

Dylan woke as usual and then I got to open a gift from my hubby and a card from my parents. Later, Dylan and I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the weather. I also was able to schedule a last minute haircut. I hadn't had my hair cut since BD (before Dylan) so I was WAY overdo. I've been throwing around the idea of a drastic new haircut for quite a while and finally had the guts to go for it. I think I like it! What do you think?

My wonderful husband arranged a big surprise for me - a babysitter and dinner out! So, we drove over to Mike's sister's house and had a fantastic dinner out with just the two of us. What a nice treat! Thanks, hubby! While we were all dressed up, we had Mike's sister take a family picture. Here we are!

While we had dinner, Dylan had a great time playing with his cousin Emily! She's a great babysitter....doesn't even mind changing diapers.

Emily and Dylan

A great birthday thanks to my husband, son, family and friends! Love all of you!

First Mountain Hike

He's now an official hiker. Dylan climbed his first mountain. Okay, technically I carried him up but he was there, awake for some of it, and did really well!

Last week we decided to get to our NH getaway to see the peak of the foliage up there. We headed up Tuesday afternoon and planned to hike on Wednesday. I looked for a good hike for us to take and decided upon a small mountain with great views of Crawford Notch, about an hour away from our condo.

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed that way. Unfortunately, my plan had some flaws I didn't consider. First, the notches in the White Mountains (Franconia and Crawford) are always a little windier and colder than the surrounding areas, hence the colder seasons arrive quicker to them. As we got into the notch, we realized that peak season that was elsewhere in the mountains had passed here. More leaves were on the ground than in the trees. Also, as soon as we parked at the base of our mountain trail, the wind picked up and snow flurries started falling! Since I had packed lots of layers for Dylan but didn't really have sufficient winter clothes, we had to abandon our Plan A.

Crawford Notch

Plan B consisted of driving another half hour to North Conway, home of lots of outlet stores, and buying Dylan some good winter clothes. It was a little eerie arriving to lots of closed stores...some entire strip malls were empty. The economy had definitely taken a toll on this shopping town. Even though a couple of stores we wanted to go to had disappeared, we still found a few great kid's clothing spots and got some good winter clothes for Dylan. Armed with proper bundling for the little guy, we planned our hike for the next day.

So, for Thursday, I found a spot closer to our house where there would be better foliage. We decided to hike Mt. Stinson, a trail we snowshoed two winters ago. It had nice views of Baker Valley at the top. The weather was pretty chilly and cloudy, but we still figured it was nice enough to have a nice hike.

All Bundled Up!

Dylan was awake for about 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the journey and was really alert and observing all the pretty trees around us. Then, he fell asleep and just relaxed for the rest of the ride up the mountain. We started out around 1100 feet in elevation and hiked up to just over 2600. Even though Dylan's a little guy, carrying him up was a lot tougher than I thought! It was a pretty difficult hike for me. I was so pooped when we got to the top that I honestly wasn't sure if I could make the last little climb up the rock to get the view. With some encouragement from Mike, I did! Here's what I got to see:

And yes, that is snow on the trees! About 2/3 of the way up, there was snow on the ground. Wow, winter is coming early this year. (In fact, as I write this in Boston, we have a wintry mix falling. It's not sticking to the ground but I think this is the earliest I've seen winter weather in my years here.) After a snack at the top to refuel and a few photos, we needed to start heading down. When Dylan woke from his nap, he would surely be hungry!

Dylan and Me - His First Mountain Climb!

Given that I'm vertically challenged (aka short), it was slow going downhill since I couldn't see where I was stepping unless I looked around Dylan's head. So, once we got to a not too steep spot, we transferred Dylan over to Mike for the trip down. I had trouble keeping up with the pace that Mike was able to keep while carrying Dylan! So, it was still a challenge for me on the way down.

We didn't quite make it back before Dylan woke and was unhappy so we did have to stop for a quick feeding in the cold. Then we continued back to the car, stopping along the way to pick up a few souvenir leaves.

Though a tough day physically, we all had a great time!

Month of 3's

So as a big number nerd, I realized that this month has lots of big 3 events in it. Not only did Dylan have his 3rd month birthday, but last week Mike and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary and next week I'll celebrate my 33rd birthday (man that sounds old)!

Here are 3 other random things to report from last week's events.

1) Dylan and I went to an infant massage class. Why? It was free, so why not? Instead of Dylan finding it mellow, he mostly thought it was funny and smiled and kicked throughout it all. After a big long poop (that the whole class heard) and a big long belch (that the whole class heard), I think it was safe to say that he at least was relaxed! As the teacher said, "my, isn't he windy!" Yes, yes he is. As my mom said when I told her the story of our class experience, "his uncle Jody would be proud!"

2) I got a message on Friday that my boot camp class had been cancelled. I'm seriously bummed. It was a big part of my get back in shape post pregnancy planned. I'm still working on a new plan.

3) Dylan has some new tricks up his sleeve. He laughed out loud and rolled from his back to his stomach. It's fun to see him develop but also sad....he's just growing up so fast!

Of course, I can't have a posting that includes info on Dylan without a picture. Here he is in his big 3 month size fall outfit. So cute!

3 Months Old!

Happy 1/4 year birthday little guy! As you can see by his giraffe picture, he's been doing a lot of growing.

Dylan at 3 Months

About 2 weeks ago, he decided to start sleeping most nights which has allowed us to spend a lot more time playing with him during the day. By far, his two favorite activities are kicking around on his play mat and flying around the house as SuperBaby. Diaper changes and tubby time are also hilarious to him, which is a 180 from the beginning of his life when he screamed bloody murder during those activities.

He's still very easy going which makes it relatively painless to take him on car trips just about anywhere around town. Taking walks in his stroller is also a fun pastime for him. One of the biggest changes from 2-3 months old is that he now smiles right at us. When he started smiling, it seemed overwhelming for him to do it when looking us in the eye. Not anymore! He will often flash us a beautiful smile back when we grin at him. That's pretty great!

Since I've only begun to start sleeping again, I'm definitely not bored yet of being at home with my boys. In fact, I'm enjoying my time with them immensely! Here are a couple of other shots we've taken in the last couple of days.

Enjoying Time With Mom

Flashing That Award Winning Smile!

Staycation Part II

While Amy was staying with us, we did manage to do a few fun touristy things. The first full day she was here was a rainy Sunday. Our friend Lisa (moved to Boston from Austin about a year ago) joined forces with Amy, Dylan and myself to do a tour of Orchard House. This is where Louisa May Alcott lived when she wrote the beloved story Little Women. We had a great tour guide and a sleeping baby so the tour was very enjoyable for all of us! I love it when visitors come to town and I get to take advantage of all the great historical sites this area has to offer.

Lisa, Me and Dylan at Orchard House

Tuesday was forecasted to be a nice day so Mike and I wanted to take a little road trip and show Amy one of our favorite day trip destinations - Rockport! It's a cute little seaside town with great shopping.

Infamous Rockport Red Fishing Shack

Me, Dylan and Mike by the Seaweed Left by the Low Tide

As promised, the weather was fantastic. We had fun shopping and buying treats for ourselves, bought some swordfish steaks fresh off the boat from neighboring town Gloucester to take home, and enjoyed some ice cream. It was a great little day trip.

The next day, Amy, Dylan and I went to Allandale Farm near our house to stock up on some fresh veggies. We also bought some pumpkins, including a small size for Dylan, for Halloween carving.

That evening, Mike grilled up those swordfish steaks and some of the veggies for a fantastic dinner!

Other than those few trips, we spent the week hanging out, chatting and playing with Dylan. One of his favorite alter egos that he, nor we, get enough of is SuperBaby! He just loves flying around the house!

SUPERBABY!

It was a great week with a great friend. I'm so glad she was able to come spend some time with our family and get to know the newest adorable family member.

Our Staycation

As I write this, my very good friend Amy is flying back to Texas. She was just here for a week visiting Mike and I. Let's not kid ourselves though, she was really here to meet and get to know Dylan. We had a great week with her!

Dylan and Amy Meet!

While she was here, life wasn't too much different than usual for us because Amy was looking for a relaxing week with friends. All we do is hang around the house while taking care of and playing with the baby, so she joined us in doing so and we felt like we were vacationing with her. Thus, a staycation for the Hines family!

We did manage to do a few fun touristy things during the week which I'll blog about another time. For now, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank her for a great week and for helping to spoil our new boy with very important gifts - Texas gear!

Dylan Modeling His Longhorn Outfit

For some reason, Mike does not understand why it's so important for this baby to have UT stuff. Well, I guess the fact that he's not a Texan means he won't ever get it, but I do and I LOVE that Dylan can now sport it. Thanks, Amy!