10 Months

Today my baby celebrated 10 months of life. He's into the double digits! Wow! We've had quite a big month of developments, both with life skills and physical changes.

After lots of practice, he's achieved perfection in crawling, both in maneuverability and speed so he's on to bigger things - climbing stairs. Under our watchful eyes (and hands at the ready), he's gotten faster and faster scaling all 14 of our steps. When motivated, he can climb from bottom to top in about 30 seconds or so. I wonder if there are some baby races we could enter him into...

In addition to climbing stairs, he's starting to attempt to scale just about everything. Much to the cats' dismay, he can scale over blockades we've made to the couches and get to them. Poor cats....they're tormented by him on a daily basis. We try to keep the peace as best as possible between all the kids.

Two more teeth have busted through his gums and, I must say, are really adorable. That 4th one is also very close to the surface. There have been lots of sleep interruptions over the last month. It's hard to say if it's teething or something else but it takes a toll on us. We're hoping his 10th month has more nights of longer sleep.

Teeth!

Dylan's still a great eater and will shove in just about anything we put in front of him...literally. Gone are the days of him picking up one bit of food with his pincer grip and eating bit by bit, one at a time. Now, he tries to shovel up just about as much as possible in one scoop and shove it into his mouth.

Broccoli Explosion!

A few other discoveries that Dylan has made in the last week should start making life at our house a little more interesting. He figured out a while back how to close a door but now he swings them both open and shut. The same has been discovered for drawers. We've only had one small incident with some slightly smushed fingers, but I foresee a lot more of those in our future....and a lot more emptied drawers. Speaking of incidents, his 10 month b'day brought another first....a fat lip. He caught the edge of a drawer on the way down to the floor. Poor guy!

Fat Lip

Dylan loves to be where we are and in the middle of the action. It's fun, and sometimes challenging, to get ready with him in the morning. He enjoys having his little teeth flossed. Mostly he enjoys the taste of my mint floss, but it's become a fun daily ritual for the both of us. Over the course of our cabinet installation in our room redesign over the last week, Dylan has brought in his toy hammer and helped us put things together. He also is a great "help" to Dad around the house. His best household talents are with laundry and the dishes. Pulling clothes out of baskets and throwing them on the floor as well as removing plastic cutting boards from the dishwasher are fun pastimes.

Our Little Helper

(Note - somehow this picture didn't make it my original post - oops!)

He's quite the little monster getting into everything and constantly screaming to hear himself. And we're enjoying every minute of our little terror!

Dylan, 10 Months

Extreme Cuteness Closeup

Long Rambles of the Last Couple of Weeks

We have had so much going on that I haven't had time to blog! So, I'm going to stray from telling about our Texas trip (still have to post stories and pictures about all the cousins together) and give you a briefing of our last couple of weeks.

Most of our time, outside work and baby, has been spent redecorating our "lounge\guest room." It's been the Achilles heal of design in my house. We have tried lots of different configurations but nothing ever seemed to work. The room plays a lot of parts - craft storage, DVD storage (and Mike has A LOT of those), TV room, chinchilla room, my office and guest bedroom. So, we scrapped just about everything we had in there and came up with a new plan. It's been interesting trying to find time working on it either with a cooperative baby or when the baby's asleep, which means it's been sucking up just about all of our time. Once we're done with it, I'll post some before and after pictures.

The week before last, Thursday night to be exact, we did something really crazy - we hired a baby sitter and went out! Dylan's Nana and Bumpa have watched him as well as his Auntie Maureen (with cousin Emily) and neighbors for small stretches of time, but we've never hired a sitter. By recommendation of a friend, we had a high school girl watch Dylan while we went to a Red Sox (vs Rangers) game. While I had a lot of anxiety about it all leading up to the event, the night went very smoothly and we had great seats in the fabulous Fenway park:

Unfortunately, it wasn't a very exciting baseball game but it was a fun night out with just each other.

On Friday (just over a week ago), Mike got an invitation from some of his soccer buddies to meet out for a drink near our house. He got picked up just after I got home from work and Dylan and I spent the evening together. After Dylan went to bed, our wonderful neighbor came over to listen for him and I joined the boys (and significant others) for a while. Two nights out in a row! What wild and crazy parents we are.

Mike's soccer season is back in session which means games on Sunday mornings. Since back surgery #3, he's officially retired as a player but decided to stay on his team in a coaching capacity. Last Sunday, Dylan and I went to his game and Dylan had a BLAST crawling around on the grass, destroying dandelions. After the game, it was off to Mike's sisters to drop Dylan off. He was spending a little time with his Aunt and cousin while we had yet another special event for the weekend....

For Christmas, Mike got me roller skates! I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly excited I was about them. Since the rollerblading trend has taken over, Mike and I have done some rollerblading together. However, I've never really enjoyed them as much as I did roller skating back in the day. I've mentioned it before and my husband, the wonderful gift giver, remembered and got me some awesome roller skates to use on our trips. Since his back surgery happened right after the holidays, I haven't had a chance to use them. It was preferable that my first try back on them would be indoors in a controlled environment. So, last week, I finally got my chance. We went to a roller rink near his parents house. I had SO. MUCH. FUN! I loved it and can't wait to go again! If I had time to give this event it's own post (that it deserves) I would have to tell you all about how ghetto fabulous that roller rink was. Now THAT is a place for people watching!

After our skating venture, we went back to Maureen's house for a little birthday party for her boys. Her son and husband's (Patrick and Joe) birthdays fell on the weekend so we had some cake and celebrated.

That brings us to last week (finally). Other than still spending all of our nights on the room redecoration, I had a work dinner on Wednesday and last night we went out with Mike's sibling and their spouses. We had a fantastic time with them and Dylan had a fun time playing with his cousins. His sleep hasn't been very great at night for the past week plus but after a night with cousin chaos, he slept like a rock. Thank you cousins!

Today I've spent a lot of time boiling water (thanks to a major water supply glitch for Boston and surrounding areas) and the rest of it outdoors. Man, is it hot today! Dylan and I got in a nice, long walk at the arboretum before the heat of the day hit this morning. Tonight, since it's too hot to turn on the oven (well, aside from what we've had to do to boil pot after pot of water), we decided to go out to eat. I think this is our first time eating out with just the three of us. Mike and I enjoyed sushi and Dylan enjoyed getting fed rice by chopsticks. Afterwards, we went to the ice cream shop for a treat. The first time Dylan tried ice cream (at around 4 months old), he didn't like the cold. This time, he was into it!

Alright! Sorry for the long post, but that brings us pretty much up to date. See, we've been staying busy and keeping out of trouble....well, mostly!

My Austin Peeps

After a 4 hour flight (but full day's journey) to Dallas, what else would one want to take on with a baby but a 3 hour drive to Austin?!? What a trooper our little guy is. He really traveled well on the trip (except for not sleeping great while we were there) and enjoyed all the activities we threw at him.

First stop in Austin was at my dear friend Amy's work. She happily took her lunch break with us and we made it easy and just ate at the cafeteria at her office. We arrived around 1 so we missed the lunch rush and had the place to ourselves. After the long trip in the car, Dylan had a great time getting some energy out by crawling all around while we visited and had a bite to early.

Amy, Dylan (Live Long and Prosper) and I

Next stop on the Austin tour was a play date in the park with Shaunna and her son Luke. Luke's just a few weeks younger then Dylan so Shaunna and I have been in touch more than ever commiserating about pregnancy symptoms, experiencing the ups and downs of having an infant and even discussing the many aspects of transitioning back into work after maternity leave. I felt honored that she took the afternoon off to meet up with us.

Luke was just waking from a nap and Dylan, loving all the other kids he's around (sometimes too much), might have been a little too aggressive for Luke's taste, but they did seem to enjoy each other most of the time. The highlight of the play date for the both of them was the swing!

Playdate! Dylan and Luke

Next stop on the tour was the Malones. I was the after school nanny for Mary and Pete's kids for several of my college years. Though I don't talk to them nearly enough, I do keep in touch with the family and always make a point to see them when I'm in Austin. Mary's a nurse midwife and was very interested not only in meeting Dylan, but in hearing about his birth story. While I filled her in on all the nitty gritty details (hey, she wanted them) I'll spare you that story!

Not only was she kind enough to invite us to stay with them for the night, she opened up her home to all of my friends so that we could have a central spot to visit. I was thrilled to be able see so many great friends. Though catching up with everyone was far too brief, I'm so glad I got to see all the friends I did that night. People came and went as their schedules dictated and it worked out perfectly.

One of my friends, Lisa, dabbles in photography and grabbed our camera for some candids. This is my favorite from the night:

As the night went on, Dylan had to go to sleep so we took Mary and Pete up on their offer to babysit and the gals still left at the party (and Mike) moved on to a bowling alley\karaoke\live music\restaurant\bar down the street. We hung out there for a while but after a long day, Mike and I called it a night pretty early.

Mike, Amy, Lisa, Lindsay, Colleen and Me - Group Self Portrait

To wrap up our less than 24 hour stay in the capital of Texas, we met up with Amy and Shaunna at Mike's favorite Texas spot, Taco Cabana, and enjoyed a Tex-Mex breakfast. Then, it was back to Dallas. A quick trip but well worth the travel!

Tub, Bluebonnet, Hoky

What do all of these items have in common? They make really cute baby accessories!

One of the fun things we did while in Dallas was have a little photo shoot to get Dylan's picture in the old tin tub. My parents have pictures of all the older grandkids in it so it's become a family tradition. It was Dylan's turn. In just a few minutes, we got a lot of ridiculously cute pictures. Here are a few

The Winner! This will be the one to hang beside the others.

His Hogan's Heros Look

Sans Hat. Pure Dylan Cuteness.

For some reason, Dylan was obsessed with my Mom's Hoky (a carpet sweeper). He had a great time watching her sweep up with it and a great time playing with it when it wasn't in use.

Hoky Boy

Last Thursday morning, we borrowed my Dad's car and left Dallas for a quick overnight trip to Austin to visit some friends. I picked bluebonnet season, purposefully, as the time to go to Texas. Bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas and grow wild all over the state. I love them! It's an Easter tradition for Texas families to plop their kids down in a patch of it and get some great shots. So, on our way down to Austin, we got to enjoy the sight of bluebonnets growing on the side of the highway and, at one point, even stopped to get some pictures of Dylan in them. He was super grateful for the break from the car and loved playing with the flowers. I couldn't pick just one shot to share, so here are some of my favorites....

Again, Dylan did great on the trip and we arrived in Austin for a short period of time but we packed a lot in. Enough that it will have to make it's own post.

Dallas World Aquarium

The Monday after Easter, we headed to the airport and flew to Dallas. The first flight we took there last November was extremely stressful to me. Packing and figuring out what\how to take\check all the baby stuff was pretty overwhelming. This time, it was nice to have that experience under our belts and I was pretty relaxed about that aspect. Though, I did worry just a little bit about having an active crawler in my arms for 4 hours.

Having been a parent for just 9 months, I've learned the "go with the flow" lesson and tried not to think about the flight too much until in the moment. While Dylan was extremely wiggly (gave my arms a good workout) and cried for a few minutes before being able to fall asleep, he did really well and we got through the trip with no major meltdowns. After traveling for that long, he was ready to play when we got to Mimaw and Pipaw's house!

I've also learned that baby proofing, for the most part, is not something you can do too much in advance. You do it as you see what your little monster is going to go straight for. At Mimaw's and Pipaw's, that was the cat food and the plants....oh, and of course, the cat! After figuring out how to move\block off most of that, we just had to keep an eye on him and Cleopatra, the 19 year old cat. She's clawed some other grandbabies in the past. We kept a vigilant eye and our time there passed without incident between the two of them.

We passed Monday and Tuesday just playing, going for walks, and enjoying our time with my parents. It goes without saying that Mimaw and Pipaw absolutely love having Dylan around.

Wednesday, we decided to have an outing to the Dallas World Aquarium. Though you generally expect to only see fish at an aquarium, this one has morphed into a kind of zoo. In addition to all the aquatic life, the have lots of birds, monkeys and other critters to see.

Towards the beginning of our journey through the exhibits, we saw these river otters. They were very active, jumping in and out of the water and swimming around. Lots of fun to watch!

River Otters

Shortly after that, I was looking down into the water at a manatee when my mom started trying to say something while laughing hysterically. At first, all I made out was "poop" and "head." I looked closer at the manatee to see the poop on his head when my Mom said, "Dylan! Dylan has poop on his head!" I looked down (he was in his carrier) and sure enough, there was a glob of purple bird poop on his head!

As you can see, he didn't seem to mind. All I could think was "better him than me." If it had happened a split second later, it easily could have been me! Does that make me a bad mother??

After that incident, we just had a great time looking at all the critters. As always, family favorites of ours are big cats. The aquarium had this beautiful jaguar that we admired for a while.

Jaguar

One of the major highlights\attractions of the Dallas World Aquarium is the shark tunnel. You literally walk into the middle of the exhibit and have sharks swimming beside and above you. We had fun sitting in the tunnel and looking around.

Dylan and I at the Glass

Shark Above Us

I have no idea what we were all looking at, but the expressions on all of our faces are hilarious!

Nice Smiles

Even though Dylan was pretty tired and hungry towards the end of the museum, he was so into looking at everything that he stayed calm. We all had a really fun time.

Easter Excitement

As we traditionally have done for the last few years, we headed to Mike's aunt and uncle's house just outside of Gloucester, Ma for Easter. Mike's parents made the drive up with us and we met up with all of the Lee cousins there.

It was a relaxing day with good weather, good food and good company. Dylan got to try something for the first time - crawling in the grass! He loved it and had a great time exploring their front yard. We snapped some shots on the day and I just wanted to share a few.

Dressed to the Nines!

Dylan loves "walking"!

Fun Times Crawling in the Grass

My Happy (And CUTE!) Boys!

9 Months

3/4 of a year...that's how old my baby is today! We had to cheat and take this picture a couple of days early, in his Easter outfit, since we're now in Texas visiting my family. What's good is that Dylan now knows that his crib is where he goes to sleep. The bad part of that is that he got upset when we put him in the crib for the picture since he was not ready for a nap! So, this is the best shot we could get before he started crying.

Dylan at 9 Months

We've had a really eventful month of developments with our cute little guy. He's keeping us (and the kitties) on our toes with his crawling. He's fast and seems to have an unending supply of energy. Every day he continues to explore something new inside and outside the house. On Easter Day, we even let him loose on the ground outside for the first time. He really enjoyed pulling the grass and getting his hands and knees dirty.

At One With Nature

Less than two weeks after he started to crawl, he pulled up to standing. He's perfected that and has even "cruised" (moved a couple of steps while holding onto furniture) just a little bit. That's opened up another level of exploration in the house to him (and is leaving less places for the cats to sleep peacefully).

He is a really great eater and has happily taken just about everything we've given to him. During this last month, we have given him a lot more actual solid foods that he can feed himself (as opposed to the baby food mush). Among his favorites are scrambled eggs, grapes and broccoli. On March 26th, the tooth we've been waiting for finally broke through the gums. 3 more will be coming soon....at least that's the way it looks. So, he'll have help shortly in eating all of these new foods.

His other big new tricks are clapping and waving. He's mostly been doing them randomly (and often) but it seems that he's finally starting to understand that when his hand waves, people tend to wave back.

We will definitely have to start finding more social outlets for him. Lately, every time he sees another kid, he giggles. I guess he's started to tire of only seeing our old faces everyday and finds a lot of amusement in people more his size. It's really cute.

That little personality is getting more and more pronounced daily. It's fun to watch!