Dylan Walking

Twas the day AFTER Christmas... and guess who started walking??? Only two days after crawling forward for the 1st time, Dylan decided to be brave and give walking on his own a shot! He started off with two steps to Aunt Erin. Success!! After seeing everyone's joyous reaction he thought "you liked that, well you're gonna love this" and walked up to five steps on his own!

Over the past few days he has mastered his new skill. He now can change directions and walk toward whatever his heart desires... mom, dad, toys, the coffee table, or the dogs (of course).

It's official, my little baby is now a little boy. I can't believe how in 10 months he has changed so much! Sometimes I get a little sad that he is growing so fast. I get a little teary when I have to put away clothes that no longer fit or toys that are no longer interesting. But then when I get to witness something so amazing, like walking for the first time, it makes me SOOOO EXCITED for what's to come!!

Christmas

Dylan's 1st Christmas was great- a wonderful time was had by all! Mom and Erin flew into last night without any trouble and Dylan was so excited to see his Grammy and his Aunt Erin in the morning. Fred, Diane, Darren, Elise and Ava came over around 1PM and by the time everyone put all the presents under the tree you couldn't even see the carpet in the family room! Top Chef Dustin cooked the most amazing turkey- it was seriously the most juicy, best tasting turkey ever!! After lunch we all watched the Chargers game (it's a good thing they won or Christmas might have been ruined). We are so blessed!!

Who's That?!?

Dylan & The Dogs

It took a couple of tries to get the new crawling skill caught on tape. I had to publish this "out take" because it's just too funny! It's a perfect example of a typical day at our house trying to manage the dogs and the baby at the same time. (You have to watch it with the sound on for the full effect)

Dylan Crawling

Twas the night before Christmas... and guess who decided to FINALLY start crawling!?! That's right- Dylan!! I should clarify by saying crawling forward... Little D has been "schooching" backwards for a couple of months, but didn't figure out the whole moving forward thing until now. It was like something just clicked in that little head of his and he was like "oh that's how this works". Going forward is much more productive than going backwards! (He used to back himself into corners all the time.)

And what motivated him for this magnificent accomplishment you might ask... the dog bone. Everybody has been asking what to get Dylan for Christmas and I jokingly say "dog bones and bowls". He is fascinated with everything "dog". Forget all those toys under the tree... Dylan is easy, just give him a dirty bone or a tug rope and he'll do anything, even crawl!

Christmas Letter

Dear friends & family-

Merry Christmas everyone!! It’s me- Dylan!! Mom and Dad have been super busy, so I decided I would take care of the Christmas letter this year. Sorry in advance if you’re getting this letter a little late…

Let’s see, where to start… This time last year I was snug as a bug inside mommy’s tummy. It was so nice and comfy in there- I decided I might just stay in there forever! Dad says I’m just like mom- “always late”!! Almost two weeks past my due date, mom, dad and the doctors decided they were tired of waiting and served me an eviction notice by inducing labor. How rude right?!? So I decided (well, honestly I didn’t have much choice) that maybe entering this world wasn’t such a bad idea after all and I made my grand entrance on March 1 at 11:26PM. Shout out to Dr. Biter & Dr. Cap for taking such good care of mommy and me for 9 months!

If I had only known how much great stuff was waiting for me “on the outside” I think I would have done that whole “being born” business much earlier. Wow!! I got all kinds of new clothes, fun toys, and cool baby gear! By the way, mom told me how she never got around to sending thank-you cards for some of the baby gifts and I know she feels really bad about it. On her behalf I’d like to give everyone a big “THANK YOU” for all the generosity. I really do have the best friends and family in world!! I’m a lucky, lucky little man!!

Let’s see. About me. In the beginning I was busy doing all the normal “baby stuff”- lots of eating, sleeping, and pooping. Life was so easy back then. Well, it was easy for me at least… mom and dad were busy “adjusting” to a new baby in the house and operating on very little sleep. Let’s just say I can be a little “high maintenance” at times… just like mommy! Thank goodness Grammy, Aunt Erin, Pop-Pop, Nana Barb, Aunt Corey, Aunt Caitlin and mom’s best friend Colleen flew in all the way from the east coast to help. Grandpa Fred, Grandma Diane and my Great Aunt Marlene, who flew all the way from Toronto, were also a huge help! I know mom and dad really appreciate all the extra hands!!

In May I met the girl of my dreams… Ana, my Brazilian sweetheart. I know it’s a little early to be talking about true love, but I can’t help myself. Ana has been my girlfriend for 7 months now and things are working out great! We go for long walks to the park, read books, and play with all my toys- all day, every day! She even gives me baths, makes my meals, and changes my dirty diapers. It’s a sweet life! It was hard on mommy when she had to go to work, but I think she feels a lot better knowing that I’m in such good hands.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about my future career. I know it’s early, but I’ve got to plan ahead if I’m going to keep a girl like Ana! At the moment I’m undecided between becoming a cowboy or a professional walker (that’s a career right??). I think I’m leaning towards cowboy. Girls love cowboys right? I’ve been practicing a lot lately by riding the dogs around the house. Katie is a little crazy- sometimes it’s like riding a bunking bronco! Leila is more my style- like a sweet little pony at the petting zoo (aka “lazy”). Maybe I should be a professional walker though… after all walking is really my passion. I love to hold on to your hands and walk all over the house. I walk and check out the dogs, look out the windows, and most importantly make sure nobody is stealing my toys!! Heck, sometimes I just like to walk in circles- it’s so much fun!! Crawling is for babies anyway. No offense to my crawling counterparts, but I’d much rather be on my feet. I’m a big boy!!

I’m becoming a bigger boy every day. I’m already over 30in (95%) and almost 19lbs (22%). I’m tall and thin, just like mom and dad. I’ve even got two teeth now!! I don’t want to brag… but I have been told that I’m pretty darn cute. I’ve got strawberry blonde hair (mom thinks that sounds better than “red”) and daddy’s blue eyes. I’m also a little smarty pants- it doesn’t take very long for me to figure things out. Ladies watch out!!

I’m really excited about my first Christmas. Grammy and Aunt Erin are coming all the way from North Carolina and Virginia to spend the week with me. Plus, all of Daddy’s family, including my favorite cousin Ava, is also coming over for a big Christmas dinner at our house. Don’t tell, but I peeked under the tree the other day and noticed that almost all the presents are for me. Score again!!!

Well I should probably wrap it up. It’s nap time! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and fabulous New Year! Hopefully I’ll get to see you all soon. Mom and dad said you are all welcome to come play in the California sunshine anytime!

Much Love-
Dylan

9 Month Appointment

Dylan had his 9 month appointment last week and it went great! He continues to grow like a little weed: tall and thin, just like mom and dad :-)

Height: 30.25in (95%)
Weight: 18lbs 14oz (22%)
Head: 45.75cm (60%)

He's hitting all the major milestones... well almost all the milestones. He's not really into crawling... forward that is. He's mastered the backward "scootch", but hasn't figured out the whole moving forward thing yet. Crawling is for babies anyway. He'd much rather walk. And man does he walk... he holds onto your hands and walks all over the house. Literally all over- all day, every day. He loves to go explore and look out the windows, check on the dogs, just walk in circles... whatever floats his boat! Have you ever seen the movie Weekend at Bernies? He walks exactly like that. Hips forward. Head back. Doing a crazy head "bob" with a silly little grin on his face- it's so cute!! (BTW- Doctor isn't worried at all that he isn't crawling yet. She said lots of babies are going straight to walking these days. As long as he can move both sides of his body and is somewhat "coordinated" he's fine.)

Teething is going ok, especially compared to some of the nightmare stories I've heard from other moms. He's got 1.5 teeth now! The 2nd tooth is only half way out so that's why it only gets partial credit. He waking up now in the middle of the night a little (he had been sleeping through the consistently since 4 months) and I think it's due to teething pain. Usually it just takes a bottle and a little love and he goes right back down. We're hoping the waking up in the night thing doesn't last much longer though.

Other updates- He's standing on his own really well and is almost pulling himself up! He loves playing with his wooden blocks and "playing the drums" with pots, pans and a wooden spoon. No new words yet, he's still just saying "mama" and "dada" (starting to associate with the right person) and babbling up a storm. He did just learn to wave "hello" and "good-bye/nite-nite". He also just learned to shake his head "no" when he doesn't want something (not sure if that is a good thing). He's also now drinking out of a sippy cup on his own! Such a big boy!!

Dylan Meeting Santa

Santa Hat

Playing In The Park In PJs

Gangsta Baby

Snuggle Bug

Dylan loves to snuggle with Daddy...

Thanksgiving

Daine and Fred hosted Thanksgiving this year and it was wonderful- Great food and company! Dylan and Ava even played together for the first time! I think Ava is starting to realize that maybe Dylan isn't so bad after all. :-)

1st Tooth!!!

Fall Pics

Bat Boy

Pumpkin Patch

Da-Da

Check out this video of Dylan and "Da-Da" having a conversation. So cute!!

(Dylan started saying "da-da" about a week ago. He's also really close to saying "Ana" or "Nana")

Dylan's 1st Word

Sunday morning we were all hanging out in the family room after our fabulous family dinner the night before. I go to pick up Dylan out of his exersaucer and he says.... "mama". It was clear as day!! I look at Dustin, then I look at mom. I'm thinking "I'm I hearing things?? Did anyone else hear that???"

Yes! He just said MAMA!! Everyone heard it. I have witnesses!!!

For the next several days every other sound is "mama"! He's saying it so much I don't even think to grab the video camera (which was on the charger). Of course the minute I try to catch it on video Dylan gives me a blank stare like "what's wrong with you mom??"

He's not saying it as much as he was when he first learned "oh- that's how you make that sound" but he still says it almost daily. I WILL get it on video- this is my new mission in life. It's sooooo cute and melts my heart everytime I hear it.

Chef Daddy

Dustin has taken a major interest in cooking lately, which is fiiiiine by me because cooking dinner is about the last thing I want to do when I get home from work.

Like all things, Dustin doesn't just "dabble" a little... he goes all out! The Food Network is now one of his new favorite channels (second only to ESPN) and he's become obsessed with shows like Top Chef, Iron Chef America, etc.

So a few years ago, while visiting Napa, Dustin and I had the pleasure of eating at The French Laundry restaurant. This restaurant is pretty much impossible to get a reservation (thank you Fred) and the 9+ course meal is out of this world, literally. I won't even tell you how much this meal cost us... let's just say it was back when the real estate market was MUCH better. At any rate, one of our favorite courses was a dish called "Peas and Carrots". Sounds simple right- maybe even a little gross?? Well well well, don't let the name of the dish deceive you. Thomas Keller's idea of peas and carrots is a lobster crepe served above a ginger-carrot emulsion with a pea shoot salad on top. Fancy fancy. (No, we don't eat like this every day, not even every year.)

When Dustin told me he bought the French Laundry cookbook so he could try to make Peas and Carrots, I said "Oh honey, that's a great idea" but in my head I was thinking "Has he gone mad????". So we decided to have a big family dinner so Dustin could put his newly acquired cooking skills to the test. Gathering up all of the ingredients took almost a week- you can't just run to the neighborhood grocery store to get all the fancy-pants things you need. Cooking the dinner took almost 2 full days- the recipe was three pages long... single-spaced, in paragraph form!! Needless to say there were a lot of steps. The most dramatic of which was dropping the three LIVE lobsters into a mixture of boiling butter water. Anyone that knows Dustin knows that he's a huge animal lover... He's the guy that catches a fly and then releases it outside. So the "killing the lobsters" step was hard. If only we didn't love the taste of lobster so much...

So after all the hard work and planning, I'm proud to say... dinner was AMAZING!!! It was fabulous, "melt in your mouth", "better than I remember", "omg I can't believe my husband made that" DELICIOUS!!! In addition to the Peas and Carrots, Dustin also made two more courses- mussels and sea bass (another recipe from Thomas Keller). Dylan and I were so proud. Because Dustin did such a great job, I've officially named him "Top Chef" of the Bradley house.

6 Month Pictures

As you can see from the pictures Dylan is a very very happy baby! All smiles, pretty much all the time :-)

First Bites

6 Months

When I was little it used to drive me crazy when my parents would say "you're growing like a weed"... but now I know what they were talking about! Kids grow fast!!! I can't believe our little D-Man is already 6 months old! He is changing every day and just when you think there is no possible way he could get any cuter... he does!!

It's been a while since I updated the blog (sorry!!) so there is a lot to catch everyone up on. I'll start with the baby basics- sleep, eat, poop. Dylan has been sleeping through the night since about 4 months. YEA!!! (Now I need to knock on wood real fast.) He started rolling over around the same time and now he prefers to sleep on his tummy. He can manage going from his back to his tummy really well, but we're still working on tummy to back. He goes down every night around 7-8pm and sleeps until 6-7am in the morning. When he wakes up he doesn't really cry- just makes enough noise to let you know "hey I'm ready now". The minute he sees you're coming to get him he gives you the biggest, brightest smile you've ever seen. It's the best alarm clock ever!

Now eating... We waited to start solids until he was 6 months. We started with rice cereal, which proved to be the worst mistake ever!! (I'll cover more on this in the "poop" section of this blog entry.) All that "practice eating" Dylan did with Ana paid off because he took to the spoon no problem. Sometimes he forgets to swallow, but hey we can't all be perfect right?? Anyway, so after a few days of rice cereal we switched to green beans. Now is my time to brag about myself- I've been making all of Dylan's baby food! Yep that's right. I'm pretty proud of myself. We'll see how long it lasts, but for now I'm really enjoying it. Dylan seems to like the green beans ok. His favorite food so far is avacado. He's not really a fan of plums... but we're going to keep trying. Today I bought him some pears- I'll try to whip those up tomorrow. I'm thinking he's going to dig pears- who doesnt like pears?? Plus pears start with a "P" which is in the food group we are supposed to stick to right now according to the doctor. This brings me to my next subject- poop.

Oh wow- where to begin?!? If you've never seen a constipated baby consider yourself lucky. Thanks to stupid rice cereal we've had poop drama all week. Not just a little constipation... we're talking about some MAJOR constipation. We tried everything- prune juice, baking soda baths, all breastmilk, bicycle exercises, babylax, etc. Nothing worked. Poor baby was turning purple and screaming crying every hour trying to "get it out". After talking to the pediatricians office everyday last week and being told everyday "don't worry- today is the day" they finally told us to bring him in on Friday. After an exam the doctor confirmed "it's as hard as a rock in there". DUH! So we had to move onto the next phase of the evacuation plan- an enema. Oh it broke my heart. Dylan screamed like I have never heard him scream. Ana and I cried the whole time. Thank goodness it worked- in a few hours we got a ping-pong ball. The next day we got 2 marbles and then another ping-pong ball on Sunday. Finally yesterday we got the mother load. Mom is visiting from NC while Ana is in Europe and got the pleasure of changing that diaper! So it looks like Dylan is on the road to recovery now. Thank goodness!!! For the next few weeks our adventures with solid food are going to be focused on "P" foods (prunes, plums, peaches, pears, etc) that keep things moving until his little digestive system has time to adjust.

Other updates- Dylan is almost crawling, but shows a lot more interest in walking. He always wants to be on his feet! He loves his new exersaucer and playing with all the toys- he even dances when he pushes the music buttons! So I know every mom thinks their kid is advanced... but get this- Dylan has started to stand on his own when holding onto the coffee table! That's pretty impressive right?? I think so!! He's also sitting unassisted, laughing and talking up a storm, loves reading, and is putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. He's such a BIG BOY now! Here is an update on just how big he's getting- tall & skinny just like mom and dad:

Height: 27.5 in (82%)
Weight: 17 lbs (41%)
Head Circumference: 45 cm (76%)

I'll post more pictures soon. Grandma is here so the camera is getting lots of use! :-)

Learning to eat

Ana is teaching Dylan how to eat with a spoon! We haven't started solids yet (waiting until 6 months) but we are getting ready! Right now we are just practicing with a little milk :-)

Sophie The Giraffe

Sunday Crossword

Dylan is only 5 months old but already mastering the Sunday crossword.

Nice Shades!

Thanks Nana Barb, Pop Pop, Corey & Caitlin for my cool new shades!! I also love my new onsie & mommy really appreciates the AAP & baby signing books! :-)

Reading

Dylan loves reading all of his new books with Nana Ana!

Bouncing & Laughing with Dad

Swimming

Professional Dylan Pics

Dylan 4 Months

Dylan had his 4-month check-up Friday... can you believe it 4 months!?! He is doing great- growing like a weed and hitting all of the milestones. He weighs 15 pounds and 2 ounces (55th percentile) and is 25 1/4 inches tall (61st percentile). His head is 43 cm, which is the 75th percentile... must be that huge brain! You can tell he's going to be a smarty pants, just like his daddy. He is very aware of everything going on around him- you can just see him processing all of his surroundings. He only cries when he is hungry or wants to be held. His favorite song is the A-B-C's, which just happens to be the only song mommy and daddy know all the words too. He's holding on to objects, reaching, smiling, laughing, and "baby talking" up a storm. He also loves to stand on his legs, which makes me think he's going to want to walk before he crawls. He raises his head and chest when on his tummy and is almost rolling over- soooo close.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July this year! We went over to our friends Chris and Kimberly's for a great cookout. Forget hamburgers and hot dogs- they did it up right with surf and turf steak and shrimp!! Unfortunately we didn't make it to the fireworks- Little D was really tired and so were Mommy and Daddy. Next year :-)

Check out the 4th of July onsie Corey, Caitlin & Nana Barb made him. So cute!

What a face... looks like a milk overdose!

Fathers Day

Did you hear who won "Father Of The Year" this year??? That's right- DUSTIN!! Even though he's only got three months of fatherhood under his belt, he's done such an amazing job that everyone agreed he should win! For his prize he won this snazzy t-shirt and hat.... and of course the most adorable baby EVER!! Congratulations sweetheart- thank you for being such a great daddy and husband. We love you!!

New Toy!

Side note- We found out we were pregnant a year ago today!! In just one year he's gone from a little tiny peanut in my belly to real live human being playing with toys. Wow :-)

Pics From This Weekend

Like Father Like Son

The Dogs

Dylan has been getting so much attention lately we haven't posted new pics of the dogs in a while.... they are so cute!

Rolling Over... Almost!!

Sooooo close! I'll think he'll get it by the end of the week!

Playing With Toys

(Yep- That's a pink Bumbo he's sitting in... Grandma didn't realize they come in different colors and mommy is too lazy to return it.)

Dylan 3 Months

1st Day Back @ Work

I wish I could say this day went ok.... but it didn't. Today was by far the hardest day of my life. I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest when I had to say good-bye to Dylan this morning. All day I literally had chest pains just thinking of my little man without his mommy.

I love my job and it was nice being back in the real world, but I couldn't have imagined it being this hard. They say it gets a little easier everyday... my fingers are crossed for tomorrow.