How does your garden grow?

Last weekend we decided to explore the Huntington Gardens. With longer summer days and a love for long walks, Ryan made the executive decision to splurge on a membership so we can return as much as we want. We went both Saturday and Sunday and I took Dylan again this week already, so it seems like we'll be putting it to good use!









We explored the gardens over a few hours. We went to the Children's Garden, which is always a hit with Dylan. And explored the beautiful Japanese Gardens complete with a bridge, Koi ponds, and rolling hills. The wisteria is in full bloom, reminding me of the walkway of my parent's house where I grew up.

So for this Love Thursday, I'm posting my favorite picture of my boys walking down by the lily ponds.
After an hour of sitting in the stroller as we explored the grounds, Dylan needed to get out and stretch his little legs. So he and daddy ran around together while mommy had a turn with the camera!

Make and Take

This past year Dylan and I have belonged to a very special playgroup.**
Ours is called "Make and Take." It works like this: each mommy takes a turn hosting the group and purchasing the food. We pile the kiddos into the living room to play, take turns either corralling the kiddos and preparing the selected menu in the kitchen, and everyone goes home with dinner at the end of the afternoon. It's a win/win situation for all!

This past Friday was our turn. We made Bruschetta Chicken Bake with my special Chocolate Chip Cookies.
(pictured from left to right: Jake, Sarah, Adal, Rowan, and Dylan)

Dylan enjoyed sharing his toys with his friends.
And he gave his girlfriends lots of hugs (Sarah in first picture on the glider and Rowan here on the couch). What a stud-muffin!




** My friend Kathy lovingly refers to my Friday afternoons as "shake and bake" which truthfully makes my mouth water for fried chicken for some strange reason. But being that I'm on this new low-fat diet per Dr. McFavorite's advice, it's out of the question. So it seems we'll have to stick with the original group name.

The Huntington

Enjoy these pics we took at The Huntington this weekend.

Ana's Daddy

Last night I got a call from my friend Ana's dad down in San Diego, who just-so-happens to be a famous gastroenterologist. We talked at length about my symptoms and I'd like to point out that he was the most kind, gentle, and thoughtful MD I've ever talked to (and working at the hospital, I've spoken to my fair share of these guys).
He reassured me that if this keeps happening, we'll figure out what it is.
And while he isn't certain what is going on with my gut, he encouraged me that it was GOOD news that he couldn't. Because if he could, then it probably was something more serious and damaging (i.e. colon cancer or pancreatitis).
The plan is to wait and see (which makes me nervous - because a future episode is likely to spring on me without notice and I DON'T LIKE THAT)... but the plan also includes going down to San Diego to see him personally when/if it happens again.
Today I woke up nauseated again. But one Zofran later and 6 hours of silent prayers to just feel better somehow, I'm doing better this afternoon. I even ate some lunch with Dylan this afternoon. I think he ate more than I did, but it's a start. Right?

A Day at the Park

Happy Love Thursday everyone. This is one of my current favorite pictures. I love how Dylan has his bucket and shovel slung over his arm as they excitedly walk through the parking lot to the park playground. He loves the sand, loves the slides, loves the energy, loves the freedom of running around without (many) boundaries. And to be honest, I really love the nap that usually follows.

whatcha eatin?

Dylan has 4 new teeth coming in: top two canines and both upper and lower right sided molars. And the amazing thing is how well he's been eating (which if you knew what a picky eater he is, you'd be impressed too)!

Oh, and he peed twice today in the potty! Go Dylan! (even though one of those times was on my leg because he was sitting a tad askew on the seat and... you know). And the fun part was the jelly beans. He sure loves those.

And tonight when I put him down in his crib, he looked up at me and said "night night" and then replied to my "i love yous" with a sweet little "aye oh" (which is his version of the same). Made my day.

And me? I'm eating rice for dinner tonight (the 'ol B.R.A.T diet) while my boys eat yummy treats, including some cookies. I'm jealous. But I'm not nauseated tonight, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Time for more rice. (hey it works for the folks on Survivor, doesn't it?)

Day Two

1. This cat is driving me nuts. Ryan is liable to come home to a cat-less household tonight if Thaddeus doesn't leave me alone!
2. Yes, I'm still nauseated, but it is getting better. I haven't had to take another Zofran yet today (anti-nausea medicine) and I'm actually debating putting some food in my mouth later on if all goes well.
3. I feel like such a slug with all this laying around, but each time I get up to walk to the bathroom I feel dizzy and nauseated again... which brings me back to bed. I feel awful for not being able to go to work again today, but seeing patients when I feel lousy isn't fair to them either. And this morning at 6:45am while I layed here debating that very thing, another wave of nausea hit and my mind was made up. So here I am. Day #2.
4. Ryan is my hero. (did I mention before that we both also have headcolds - and he has graciously taken on more than his fair share of the parenting while I'm sick?)
5. The internet (while it can be helpful in some instances) is a vessel for my worry. Ovarian cysts, diabetes, colon cancer? What ever could this be? I think I need a new distraction for my nausea.
6. This cat is driving me nuts.
7. Ryan thinks that Dylan said "i love you" while waving goodbye to me from the car as they drove off this morning for daycare and work. It brought tears to my eyes.
8. I need a haircut. Oh, and a shower. (maybe I should start with the shower and move up from there, you think?)
9. One of these days I will finish this book sitting next to me on my nightstand. It is a good book in principle, but I'm struggling to really get into it. Actually, it is pretty emotionally draining. I don't want to feel any more drained right now than I already feel.
10. Dylan hasn't used the potty since Friday afternoon.
11. The cat is asleep again. I think maybe I'll join him.
12. Nevermind, the phone is ringing...

Updates:
I finally got a nap.
Dylan ate a huge dinner tonight. He's getting a new tooth coming in (right upper molar), so I'm impressed with how well he ate.
Oh, and Dylan used the potty again tonight after his bath - with a little pee pee success. He got a jelly bean and shouted "yea" and clapped with me when I got excited for him. It was a good night for us over here - (I'm still zofran free, and only a little bit nauseated). Thanks for the prayers.

coincidence?

I'm home again today from work. I tried to go in this morning and barely made it inside the door before rushing to the bathroom and then to my boss's office to tell him I'd be out for the day, AGAIN.
It's the 5th time I've had a stomach flu or whatever in 4 months and frankly I'm beyond annoyed. Ryan has looked at the calendar for a pattern of some kind and interestingly enough most of the times have fallen around the 19-21st of each month. Wonder what that means.
Regardless, I'm tired of this and I just want my old tummy back. I promise to behave, do my chores, and be nice to everyone. Just let me feel better again.

flush

For those of you who have expressed some jealousy for how quickly it seemed that Dylan was taking to the potty training, I have one word: DON'T.
Why you ask? Because I fear that I've created a monster over here. He's obsessed with flushing the toilet. Our plan was to reserve the rights of flushing just to those who actually used the potty. This plan was foiled at about 1:30 today.
I was trying to keep Dylan distracted so he could sit just a wee bit longer on the potty (and thereby buying me more time with hopes that something would come out of his little body as he happened to be sitting there)... so we read books and talked about the jelly beans that he can have when he makes a poopy on the potty. All of a sudden, his little hand slips behind his shoulder ever so casually and FLUSH. Moments later he does it again. I think he flushed the toilet 10 times in 5 minutes of sitting. FLUSH. FLUSH. FLUSH.
And he knows he is supposed to wait until mommy says he can flush it, but he wants to so badly!

And to update you all (because I know the world is just dying to know the potty trend in our household), he hasn't gone in the potty today. And yesterday he only peed once total. Maybe Wednesday was just a fluke day. I don't know. But I can't just ignore it now.

FLUSH.

Guess who can use the potty?

(And I'm not talking about Ryan or I here... thank you very much!)

Yeah, that's right, little D-man has christened the potty chair today. His first official poopy on the toilet, followed by an arching pee across the room (I SO need to get that shield put on the seat so that doesn't keep happening to him).
Anyhow, we were going upstairs for his nap and I totally figured his sudden interest in us going in the bathroom was due to him trying to stall. I was going to change his diaper before his nap anyhow, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let the little dude sit on the toilet for a minute or two. No big deal really.

When he announced "ahh nah" which is how he says all done, I encouraged him to sit for just one more minute (to work on his tolerance for the potty each time we try). He sits there. Sits there. Then PLOP PLOP PLOP he went.
Yes, Dylan can use the potty!

Now I wasn't prepared with any specific prizes or anything for him yet, but we did place a fun little phone call to daddy at work while he still sat up on the potty. A toilet call to daddy. Very fun stuff.

And then I finally let him flush the toilet all by himself (because despite all his interest in the potty, we've made him wait to flush the big potty until he actually USED the potty). Now THAT was a fun moment for him.

Now don't go away just yet because there's more. Seriously there is.
Ok, so then after his nap, he woke up with a dry diaper (surprises all around for us here) and so I whisked him over to the potty and after a bit of deliberation and a little reluctance, he peed again. Go Dylan!

THEN tonight just before bedtime I thought I'd offer the potty again just in case he wanted to give it one last go around...
He wanted to and to our delight actually pooped again. This time daddy got to see it and we all celebrated and Dylan got a hershey kisses for a treat. Big moment. He's totally psyched about that now. Now all I need is a bag of hersheys or other treat that I can use. Any suggestions? I hear M&Ms work good.

The Courtyard

Our little dude is a bundle of energy. So much in fact that I can't even bear to coop him up in the car to drive over to the park some mornings. As such, last week I decided to give the 'ol courtyard in front of our townhome another try and see how much energy Dylan can burn off out there. To my delight it actually worked and he took some nice naps afterwards. Usually we are destined for a long napless afternoon when we don't get out to the park in the mornings, so that was a nice discovery.

Our courtyard just outside our front door. It has a lovely little fountain and some grass and a lots of trees and flowers.

The trees along our patio are all in bloom. Normally I think those trees are too leafy and dark, but right now they are full of blossoms and really pretty.

Dylan loves to run around along the walkway, giggling and chasing after us.

Exploring in the grass.

We ran around, chasing each other. We played peek-a-boo around the trees. We blew bubbles. We ate kumquats off the trees.
He discovered berries on the bushes (and as you can see in the video that we'll post another time, he tries to put them back on the bushes after knocking a few off).

And all this time this little special space for us has been just outside our front door. Go figure.

p.s. The other night as we prayed together before dinner, Dylan held our hands as he usually does... then echoed our amens with a precious little "a-mahn"

Who says little boys can't wear lipstick?

Ok, so maybe it was lipgloss, but whatever.

Dylan has been increasingly more interested in whatever mommy does and putting on makeup is no exception. He wants to share in the experience and be pretty too. How can you resist a little boy wanting to wear lipstick? It's just too cute and to be honest, I don't see anything wrong with letting a toddler enjoy the freedoms of childhood. This short time where little girls still get to play with trucks and touch worms. The time when little boys are still allowed to play dress-up and wear lipgloss and feel pretty and special. I'm not going to dress him up in dresses, per se. However, I'm not going to freak out over the occasional glossy lips either. He's 20 months for crying out loud!

Now isn't he pretty? (then he runs over to daddy and get compliments on his shiny lips afterwards, which is entirely too precious, smiling while he waits for daddy to 'notice').

20 months

Dylan,
Today you are 20 months old. What does a mommy say to that? That I am sad to see the infant months fade into the past as you embark on new and exciting toddler milestone, like the infamous no and mine? Well I am. But I also am very excited about the emerging little person that you are developing into each day. I love how you reach around over my shoulder when I hold you, patting my back, as if you are comforting me. And I love how you wave byebye to the cars that pass us in the car.
Your level of energy amazes me. On Sunday I stayed in the church nursery to help another woman watch the kids during the service, and my jaw dropped at how much energy you had: you seemed to run circles around every other kid your age.
You love my shoes.
You love Thaddeus, our kitty (especially body slamming and sitting on him, which used to go over fine with him - but as you grow, I've noticed that he's a bit more disgruntled by such displays of your love).
You love telephones and we crack up everytime you pick up something (phone or not), hold it to your ear and shout a very drawn out hi.
You have discovered the toilet for more than a place to dunk your toys, as you now relish placing your little elmo seat atop the big-person toilet and get to sit like a big boy. But you still haven't actually GONE to the bathroom in the potty, as you always want to get back down off of it, run away, and then pee on the floor elsewhere. (Cleaning up the floor isn't really a step up from changing a diaper in my opinion, but to each his or her own, eh?)
One of my favorite moments of the day is just before you go to bed and we are snuggling as I fix to put you down in your crib. You play peek a boo with daddy over my shoulder as I hold you, pushing his head down back behind my shoulder to start the game. Squeeling with delight as he pops around my shoulders at you. And then you give us both kisses. I love your kisses. Those are the best. THE BEST.
And so as I lament you growing up and out of your infant-ness, I'm so overjoyed at these little things. The little things that are so big to me. And make me fall in love with you more with each passing day.
All my love,
Mommy
p.s. here is what it is like to chase you around the park (note your knack for finding the one piece of trash on the playground)

Walk a mile in my shoes

Apparently there is a new game at our house. Dylan has a thing for fetching my shoes out of the closet, carefully putting them on his own feet, and sliding around the room with a big grin slapped across his face. Like a little boy hard at work, he grunts while sorting through which pair he wants to wear, carries them out into the room, and then giggles once he has them donned and comes toddling over towards me.

World, here I come

Today as we cozied around the house, casually getting ready for our Saturday errands as a family, Dylan paused to enjoy the view out our bedroom window. His delight in the small things is such a joyous reminder for us to do the same.

So we all sat down and enjoyed those moments together as a family. The trees blossoming with new the buds of springtime. The weather warming outside upward of 80 degrees (not bad for the beginning of March). The quiet humming of cars down the nearby street. It was peaceful. And I'm glad we found that moment together as a family. (p.s. note how Dylan is wearing MY shoes in this picture)

Later we talked about how important it is to find those moments of peacefulness amongst this bustling, busy city we live in. A city that Ryan reminded me today that actually holds over 10 million people.