Daily Dylan Catch-up

After going through our pictures, there's quite a bit of Daily Dylan catch-up to do, so here we go:

March 14

March 16

March 17 {This face pretty much sums up his attitude the whole day...}

March 18

March 20

March 21

March 22 {Grammie came bearing many new outfits for Dylan so the next few photo shoots were so much fun!}

March 23 {Shane bought this hat as soon as we found out we were having a boy and has been trying it on Dylan's head almost weekly since he was born. It finally fits just enough for it to stay on. Shane was so excited!}

March 23 {Dylan took 3rd place in the open division of the pinewood derby...which is pretty good considering he slept through quite a few of the races.}

March 25

March 26 {My mother affectionately called him her little Easter egg when he was in this outfit. I can see it...especially in the round, striped belly area}

March 26 {Dylan messed up his Easter egg outfit, so we then took a naked photo shoot...}

March 26 {...and then another clothed photo shoot}

March 27 {Sleeping during our picnic in the mountains}

March 27 {Dylan's first hike!}

March 28 {Since conference is on Easter, we decided to dress up a week early}

March 28 {Wearing boat shoes like Daddy}

March 28 {Dressed down for the trip to the airport with Grammie}

March 29 {Pooped after an afternoon walk}

March 30 {Today we decided to stay in our jammies all day...}

March 30 {...and lounge around reading books...}


Well, I think we're all caught up. More posts to come...

Temporary Absence

I know you were all devastated that there was no Daily Dylan last week...but it looks like there might have to be a double post this weekend. I'll most likely be taking a break from blogging this week because...

Grammie is in town!


Dylan may not look very excited in this picture but he LOVES his Grammie. When she first got here, he'd look at her but always turn back to me unless I left the room. Now, he definitely prefers her over me since she so much fun. How much fun, you ask? Just watch this video to see:

He seriously lights up when she plays with him. I've never seen him smile so big or laugh so hard! Hopefully I can find the energy to be as fun as she is once she's gone or Dylan will be quite bored...

Little Swashbuckler

Last Sunday, we had Dylan over at our friends' house for lunch as usual. He was in his backup outfit from his diaper bag, which had apparently been in the bag for a while because we hadn't needed it. Well, apparently it was a little too small for him...

Our friend commented on how his feet were being squished and he couldn't straighten her legs and said her mom would cut the feet off her kids' clothes if she sent them to her house in ones that were too small. So, she found her scissors and snipped off just the feet of his jammies. We didn't realize how short they were until the feet were gone and more than half of his little legs poked out the bottom!

With the ocean theme of his outfit and the tattered legs of his pants, we thought he looked like a little pirate... Needless to say, all 0-3 month pajamas have since been retired in our house.

Like father like son...

Saturday afternoon Shane came home from his hike with the scouts and collapsed on the couch. We only had about an hour before we were heading out to the Mikos house for dinner and cousin time, so he was trying to recover a bit. I was trying to get things ready for dessert that night, so I sat Dylan on the couch next to Shane and told him that he'd probably only be happy there for a few minutes and asked if he'd play with him once he got bored. Thirty minutes later, I looked back in the room and saw this:

College basketball was on TV and both were intently watching... I love the close-up even better:

...remote tucked between them, binky at his feet...he's even got the slouch down!

Mind you, Dylan has been quite clingy to me lately and he didn't even notice that I was in front of him taking pictures. Shane was quite pleased with his son!

Daily Dylan

Here are this week's Daily Dylan pictures. Shane forwards his daily pictures to a few coworkers and this week they got a special treat: a real-life Dylan visit on Friday. He was the center of attention in the lunch room!

March 7 {You can't see it, but his shirt is collared...his cheeks just cover it all}

March 8

March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

Today Dylan is wearing a very cute outfit, but Shane has the camera with him on his hike so it'll have to be included in next week's post. Instead, here's a video of Dylan's attempt at laughter. Sadly, he usually only laughs when he's close to nap/bed-time, so he probably only does it because he's delirious and it eventually leads to crying, but it's so cute!

{I apologize for the angle and movement of the camera. I was holding it off to the side because he usually gets so distracted by it}

P.S. Thanks for all the responses to my last post. We still haven't had any luck with him taking a bottle... On Wednesday night he chose to cry from 6:00 to 8:30 instead of taking his bottle (he hadn't eaten since 3:15!). We've tried a faster nipple, different times of day, and even Grandma!! Hopefully this is just a phase, so we'll keep trying.

We think the evening crying is due to him being overtired because his naps are so short (40 minutes max if he's in his crib). So the last few days I've held him for at least 15 minutes when he first falls asleep and then I put him in his boppy pillow and he usually ends up taking a 2 hour nap. The first evening after at least on 2-hour nap he was quite pleasant, although yesterday he had two 2-hour naps and he was still fussy. I think he has a hard time deciding if he wants to be awake or asleep so he just cries...and then stops for a while and is quite pleasant...and then cries some more. Oh, and I realize I'm going to eventually have to deal with the napping situation since no day care is going to hold him for 20 minutes while he falls into a deep sleep and then set him gently on his boppy pillow, but I decided to start with a well-rested baby instead of a sleep-deprived one.

H-E-L-P

Hello friends, we need a little parenting advice in our house... We've encountered two new problems and are willing to try anything:

Problem 1: Dylan will no longer take a bottle. He used to be a rockstar when it came to bottles...he'd take them no problem and drain them. Then, all of a sudden, this Sunday he absolutely refused his bottle. He screamed and screamed until Shane pulled me out of Primary to nurse him. He took it later that day from a friend of ours, but since then we've been trying a bottle every evening and it's a battle to get him to drink it (Shane's battle...I have to leave the room because I'm pretty sure my presence only makes it worse). I partially think the reason it's so hard is related to problem 2, though, so I'd like to figure that one out first...

Problem 2: Dylan has become an evening screamer. I understand that children are "fussier" in the evenings, but this isn't fussy, this is screaming. You see, Dylan will get a little sleepy around 4:30 or so, so I put him down for a nap. Before he goes down, he's a happy little boy, but starts fussing a little because he's tired. It's usually a short nap (30-40 minutes) like all his naps. After he wakes up, he's a raging screamer. He just cries and cries and cries no matter how you jiggle him, whether he has his pacifier, or whether or not I'm holding him. The only way to calm him down is for me to nurse him (even when he just ate) until he falls asleep (which is sometimes over an hour). Seriously?? I don't think this is normal...

Part of me thinks his stomach is hurting him because his diapers have been quite runny and mucus-y lately (sorry for the nasty details). Plus, even if we get him a little calm, it only lasts for a few minutes and then he's back at it. The only change in my diet (I'm quite a creature of habit) was my new Vitamin D is in a gel capsule instead of a dry pill, and it contains soybean oil. So I'm going to hold off on the Vitamin D for a week or so and see if anything improves.

Unfortunately for Shane, I've had two evening things for church this week so he's been left to feed Dylan (slowly by quickly switching out the bottle for his binky until he realizes he's eating and starts screaming) and rock the little screamer. Hopefully we figure this out soon since I'm supposedly going back to work part time in 3 weeks and he needs to be able to take a bottle (and not scream all day for whoever is watching him).

Any suggestions?? All will be greatly appreciated...

{*UPDATE: 2 comments already...thanks girls! I am planning to go buy a faster flow nipple tomorrow because I watched the "eating" (i.e. 3 ounces sipped over a 1.5 hour period) when I got home tonight and noticed that Dylan will suck once or twice and then start crying so maybe he's not getting the food as fast as he wants it. A good first step... Also, I do think he's still tired when he wakes up, as he is with all of his naps, but usually he'll go back to sleep if I rock him, which doesn't work at night. We're still trying to figure out why he wakes up at 40 minutes like clockwork. Oh, and I'm going to have Grandma try and give him a bottle at an earlier feeding tomorrow when he's normally happy to see if the problems exist independently. Any other thoughts?? Keep them coming!}

Daily Dylan Extreme

This week's daily Dylan feels quite large to me... I think it's because (1) some days we went through multiple outfits, (2) we actually took pictures on the weekend, and (3) we received a package of new clothes this week from my mom, which means pictures of ALL the outfits (including jammies). So here we go:

February 24 {True to the shirt, Dylan pooped out of his diaper shortly after these pictures were taken...}

February 24 {Horizontal-striped bodysuits just aren't very flattering to a 17-pound almost 3-month-old}

February 25

February 26 {Dylan loves his monster outfits...especially because the monsters on his belly are bigger than the monsters on his shoulders...}

February 26

February 27 {Thank goodness for the boppy pillow...the only way to take an afternoon nap!}

February 28 {My boys...}

February 28 {Getting ready for Spring Training}

March 1

March 2 {All day jammie day!}

March 3

March 3 {New jammies from Grammie!}

March 4 {More new clothes from Grammie!}

March 4

March 5 {Even more new clothes! Excuse the non-matching socks...his feet were cold}

March 5

And in the tradition of taking a new bath picture every 4 weeks, here's what 18-pound Dylan looks like in comparison to his 8-pound version:

{Click the picture for a larger version}

We might have to graduate to the bathtub soon...

Paparazzi

Yesterday, I sent about seven pictures as part of Shane's daily Dylan email...mostly because I knew he wanted copies of certain pictures from the weekend (like our Sunday pictures) on his work computer. Shane then sends those pictures to quite a few people: coworkers, family members, friends (my version is posted on the blog weekly so if you don't receive Shane's emails, don't feel left out).

Yesterday, Shane sent the seven pictures to his mom, who looked through them with our 4-year-old nephew, Brody. The very last picture of the bunch was this one:

When they reached this picture, Brody explained that Dylan was sad because he didn't want his picture taken anymore.

Brody might have it right... Today during our daily photo shoot, I captured this shot, which made me think of pictures of celebrities trying to get the paparazzi out of their face:


Poor Dylan... Someday when he can talk, he can tell me how much he hates having his picture taken. Until then, I'll just pretend he loves it!

{P.S. Dylan is 3 months old today!! Where did the time go? An unofficial weigh-in (i.e. on the scale with me) puts him at 18.2 pounds. Yikes!}