Our Long Awaited Vacation

Seriously, we've been waiting for most of the year for the first week in November to come. It meant 7 full days in our previous home, the state of California! One week stuffed with family time, 2 additional birthday parties for our new 3 year old, a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory, and waaaay too much time in a car. There was lots more thrown in there too. Here are a few of the highlights.First off, the Wedding!!! This was the main reason we headed out to sunny ol' Cali. From what I heard, this captured all but 2 of the Slazas side, and had 5 generations. Amazing!Carousel Ride #1 with Dad

A quick trip to a Lego store. I'm sure the little man would love a bunch of these gigantic ones!

Friday we hit up the Jelly Belly Factory. I've been there plenty of times, but what kid can go wrong when they're surrounded by candy? I think Dylan thought he was going to be able to drive this home. Cute car huh?

Our jaunt over to San Francisco wouldn't have been complete without chowder bowls. Yum!

We went by this guy twice and both times had the little dude give him a dollar. He reached into his pocket both times and gave his a little bag of Sweet Tarts back(we threw them away, don't worry). Totally cute watching Dylan just stare at him. And if you don't know who these guys are, they get all silver painted up and dance robot style to music. It's tons of fun to watch. This guy had a quirky personality-He'd move his cup around when people tried to tip them, so they were really working for it. He was super sweet with kids though.

Yeah for the Hard Rock Cafe!

Barking Seals-These suckers are nuts! You could hear them all around the pier.

Carousel ride #2 with Mom.

Thanks to my buddy Courtney I've got tons of pictures with the 3 of us, it's just a matter of going through them all. I'll post some of those soon. We're already missing our California family, but are so happy we were able to spend so much time with everyone. We love you!

Pumpkin Pickin'

I'm on a big time kick to make some more memories with my little family, and a hay ride with pumpkin picking was definitely on the list. Last weekend we made it happen, starting with successfully getting on the last hayride of the day!For a kid with an issue touching grass, you can imagine how well the hay went over when we first got up there. There were plenty of 'Dylan, sit down!'s heard before we took off.

He didn't quite get it, but he looks so darn cute. It was just me being counter productive again.

Andrew-'Sit down Dylan!'

Me-'But he looks so cute! Hold on, let me get another picture.'

Lots and lots of pointing at the pumpkins

And of course, plenty of displays of Dylan's manly strength
It was a gorgeous day. Pictures just look even better with pumpkins in the background.
I love my dudes.Back to the hay ride empty handed (we snagged a tiny pumpkin for the dude back near the entrance)Another wonderful memory with my little family.

Silently Counting

I have to give a little back story to this video in order for you to really understand why we(the parents) were amazed. First off, Dylan is just barely beginning to talk. Words like Map, Backpack, Up and Ball have started coming out in the last two weeks, and we're thrilled! We still don't know how many other things he associates with their actual words though. Tonight we ended up at the local mall to give Dylan some much needed run-around time. There is a board game kind of theme with a large multi-colored path and a gigantic 'spinner'(doesn't actually spin). Andrew looked up at one point and realized that Dylan was jumping from number to number. We quickly caught on to why he was doing this, and I pushed Andrew over to get a video of it. (Just so you know, there wasn't any coaching or counting. He did this on his own. This video was the 5th or 6th time he did it.)

Now to most parents this might not mean much for their almost 3 year old, but this is huge for Dylan! I hope you were smiling and cheering as much as we did!

Our Little Brainiac

Dylan=Little Einstein Lover

Here's the proof

(turn your volume way down-sorry it's so loud)

He's so into the closing scene of this show that I can sing the first few lines over and over again, and he does the actions with me every time. Then of course he signs for 'more'.

{Just in case you were wondering, Dylan shakes his head because at that point in the song the little Rocket ship shakes as it's form of a bow}

Remember Us?

We're back! Man, I've seriously neglected this blog. It's time to play catch-up. Here are some of the little highlights along with some great pictures of the little man and sometimes us, the parents!

Unlimited pancakes-Both my dudes scarfed them down.

{January}

He's had lemons before, but this one he seriously took a bite of. He hasn't had one since!

{February}

The blizzard had us all home in p.j.'s for most of the week. This was also about the time Dylan developed a love for the movie Cars, Mater especially.

{February}

We got these ears a few weeks before Easter and he wore them non-stop for weeks. By the time Easter rolled around, he was done with them. He moved to wearing them around his tummy!

{March}

After hitting the Hershey Factory, we were off to Sonic. The little man turns into a super stud whenever he wears Andrew's sunglasses!

{March}

This year's Egg Hunt was too fun. Dylan still has a bit of an issue with grass, hence the little pinching fingers. Things got a bit crazy once he learned they opened. Fun!

{April}I love my dudes!

{April}

Memorial day was the first swim of the year! He's turning out just like his Dad-Go Sox!
{May} After a much needed haircut a few days ago, this is the little man today!

The mini-trampoline we borrowed from my Mom has been one of his favorites lately. It's better than jumping off the couches onto the floor!

Within the last few days Dylan has gotten into the habit of climbing up behind me when I'm sitting on a chair and throwing his arms around my neck. That's his silent cue for a piggy-back ride, but I just love how it feels!

We've been quite the busy little family lately, and I hope to get more info up soon.
We love you!

It's Update Time!

It's been a little while since I posted about Dylan's speech progress, so I'm here to remedy that. He hasn't had a session in 3 weeks because he's been all kinds of sick, but yesterday things clicked for him. He's still not using words, but he is now signing the word 'more', which is huge. Now Andrew and I have some kind of communication going with him. It's been awesome. A few days from now we're going to try introducing another word and we hope to continue in that way until real words are in play.

Now onto some of the fun things he's been doing. After months and months of wondering why Dylan climbs all over everything but still wouldn't climb out of his crib, he finally did it. Amazingly a week or two later, the awesome Katie offered us her son's toddler bed. Thank you! It's gorgeous and I love it, and so does the little dude.

That didn't stop him from saying goodbye to his crib in his own way. One last climb in and out.

He's also learned that the process for getting out of his eating chair is pretty much the same for getting back in. No clue why, but he keeps getting in it and just sitting there, even when he doesn't want anything to eat. Good thing we keep his chair on the floor.

Now for something Andrew and I have learned. Putting Cake Bites up on the counter does not mean they are safe from the grabby fingers of Dylan.

The toddler-proof latch on the fridge is also getting a ton of use. Dylan's all about getting the condiments and putting them in the dining room.

Now onto Wheel of Fortune. I'm gonna let you in on a very well kept secret. Any idea who trained Vanna White to be such the wonderful button pusher that she is? That's right. Dylan did.

Along with Wheel of Fortune, we've found out that Dylan absolutely loves the third Ice Age movie. Thanks for that fun gift Gramish! Something about the squirrely Scrat character just makes him smile every time.

Things with Andrew and I have been good. He's having a harder time at work because of the colder weather, but he braves it like a macho manly man and I love him for it. My little business is really taking off and I'm loving it. *Snickety Snacks* has been the perfect solution to my need to feel productive and meet new people. I'm loving it! All in all, our little family is doing wonderfully. Thanks so much to all the friends and family who love us. We love you too!

Our Little Growed Up Dude

Dylan turned 2 on Sunday and Andrew and I are still amazed that he's grown so quickly. Even though he's not really talking yet, this little kid has amazing facial expressions that let us know that he totally gets it. He keeps us on our toes, especially with his quick as lightning moves when it comes to grabbing snacks and treats. Here's proof.

I'm completely good with sacrificing cupcakes and such to make the little dude smile. As much as I loved the year just after he was born, I think this last year has been better, just in different ways. The hand holding, smiles, funky noises, headstands, carpet burns, slide riding, nugget eating, circle spinning and hugging days just can't be beat. Excuse me now while I go hug and squeeze on him!