Reunited...

As mentioned in my Mother's Day post below, I was able to catch an earlier flight on Friday that got me in 4 hours earlier than planned, which meant I was able to see Dylan before he went to bed!! I even got to go with Shane to pick him up from day care. When we got there, he was playing on the floor in a little play gym. I put my face over his, and immediately got a huge smile...kind of like this one:


I picked him up and squished him and he was all smiles. It was so nice to know that he remembered who I was. We took him home and hugged and kissed him all night long. It was wonderful!

I also learned from Shane and the babysitter that maybe my absence was a good thing. In the five days I was gone, Dylan learned to: (1) sleep through the night, (2) fall asleep on his own for naps, (3) STAY asleep for 1.5-2 hour naps at a time, and (4) reach for and grab everything in sight! I'm pretty sure the last one was just his normal development, but the other three point to one major factor: I was the source of a lot of Dylan's sleep problems.

Anyway, my posts have been lacking pictures lately, so here are some picture-filled updates:

First, I know I mentioned it in passing, but my work paid for nightly milk shipments from Chicago to Phoenix. It was quite amazing, and quite a process... My hotel room was full of little bottles, styrofoam coolers, and ice packs but it was definitely worth it. I came home to a counter and dishwasher full of bottles as well. To be kind to my work's budget, we're saving them for my next week-long training in June. And luckily, my sweet boy had no problem transitioning back to nursing after five days of bottles!

Part of the reason Dylan has been taking longer naps is that we discovered how to help him sleep comfortably... The babysitter lets him sleep in a beanbag-ish thing and now, so do we, but even being propped up by a pillow works. If he's comfy, he falls asleep on his own, stays asleep, and sleeps through almost any noise!

When I left, Dylan would grab things if we put them right on his chest near his hands...but I came home to the grabbiest baby ever! He'll reach his arms out/up as far as they go to try and grab anything and everything he sees. For example, my camera:

Shane was good and kept up with the Daily Dylan pictures while I was gone...that will be another post of it's own, but here's a sneak peek:

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll post a Daily Dylan catch-up soon...