Weekend at Nama's

This past weekend we went down to San Diego to see Ryan's grandparents in town from Florida.
While we were there, we took Dylan to the zoo, as promised when he was 'potty trained'. Now I need to preface this and say he's not COMPLETELY potty trained, but Ryan and I are. We know when he needs to go and he's been wearing underwear pretty solidly for a few weeks. We promised he could go to the zoo with his 'Football Nandma' when he could wear underwear all day.
Dylan helping his grandma and great-grandma read the map at the zoo.
Ryan's grandma and grandpa.
Dylan as 'Aqua Boy' - spending record amounts of time in the pool, until his fingers were red, pruney, and raw from the concrete!
Swimming with daddy.
Ryan with his hair a bit grown out... I'm voting for him to keep it longer from now on.

Back to work

Tomorrow morning I go back to work for my first full day since March. It's been a long time and I hope I remember everything I need to remember at work so I can do a good job. Ryan is staying home with Addie and is planning to bring her to me at my lunchtime so I can nurse her and see her halfway through the day. That'll be something to look forward to!
I spent the second half of today briefing Ryan on what Addie's routine is and what things I've figured out that she likes/dislikes and how to soothe her when she's gassy/fussy/hungry (obviously, feed her, but you know what I mean...) and he was very receptive, which made me feel much better. Knowing that he's in tune to what works for her and wants to spend this time with her makes ALL the difference to me.

On another note, Kathy suggested a new weekly post where I put up a bunch of pictures of Addie in all the cute clothes she has worn the previous week... like a "Picture Wednesday" or something like that. Any votes for what day and a name to call it? Knowing that some of her outfits in the closet will only get worn one time, it's probably a smart idea to take pictures of her in each of them. We've started already this weekend and what fun it is dressing her up and doing our little photo-shoot each morning!

it goes by so fast

I was watching some old videos of Dylan on YouTube.com tonight and in an instant I found myself wishing I could go back and enjoy those moments again as Dylan's language was first emerging, his learning to walk, his discovering the world around him. I suppose he still is learning, always will be. But I miss that time, a year ago, when everything was a BIG deal. Remember when he went through his 'moon' phase? We went outside every night and looked for the moon in the sky together.
Now our family has grown and Addie is at the point where she's smiling and cooing and noticing familiar faces and showing excitement over that. It's fun to do it all over again and remind myself to enjoy each stage.
Because it just goes TOO fast.

This Little Piggy

All Girl

My Aunt sent Addie a package that we got today. This little tutu outfit came straight out of the box and onto her. It was too cute!
...and the bow on her head from the box? Well, I just couldn't resist. I'm a party animal.

I have to admit that it makes me giddy thinking about tutus, painted toenails, and hairbows. And seeing her in this little outfit, oh my, it just makes me giggle out loud!

p.s. I just realized that she fits into her 3-6 months clothes in length (but not weight - as she's just over 10 pounds now)... I guess I better throw some of the 'not worn' outfits in her closet on her this next week before they don't fit anymore. Gosh, where did the last 3 months go?!?

3 months

Addie is just about 3 months old now. She's changed in the past week, I've noticed. She likes constant movement and went from dislike of the swing to total contentment in them. Thank goodness we now have one upstairs and one downstairs for her.

She found her hands and loves to suck on them.

She likes to hold my fingers while she falls asleep.

She loves being in the bathtub. Smiles, coos, and has learned how to kick her legs to push off the tub wall when I'm holding her so she can 'swim' across the tub while I hold onto her. She was proud of herself yesterday when she figured that trick out, practicing for at least 30 minutes at it!

She doesn't like a lot of noise. In fact, she prefers a quiet room with just one or two people around. If we are in the car, she seems to like the Dixie Chicks and her hanging turtle toy to look at.

She has had a lot of gassiness and constipation, which causes her great discomfort, but we are working on it and I think today I learned a few new tricks to help her out. If nothing else, she's always happy when I put her in a warm bath.

Picture of the Day

Kathy requested a texted picture of the day while we were up in Oregon. Here are some of the ones I sent her. My favorite is the one of Addie snuggled into a plastic bin (we needed a cozy place to lay her down in the shade while we sat out in the sun on the boat dock - and this turned out pretty good)!

Last Day :-(

We canoed out to a cool sandbar today with Dylan and realized we should have been using that spot all week because it was perfect for Dylan. He played on the sand and the water was only knee deep for him. A good idea for next year!

Heceta Head

Yesterday we spent the day up the road at Heceta Head.
We hiked up to the lighthouse.

Taking pictures and picking wild blackberries along the way.
Then a picnic by the ocean.
This morning Ryan took the canoe out by himself for a bit while the lake was still quiet.

Swimming with Daddy in the lake.
And here's another one of Addie with a new hairbow debut...

More from Oregon

Oregon Day 1

We got to Florence, OR yesterday and had fun today playing on the lake.
Dylan's grandma and grandpa have a trampoline raft anchored out in the cove of the lake they live on, and Dylan and I (Ryan) swam out to it. Dylan had fun jumping till he had no energy, and I had fun watching him.

Dylan and I took the paddle boat out, then came back and picked up mommy for another ride. By this time Dylan actually was so tired he almost fell asleep in the boat.

Meanwhile, Addison enjoyed the cool breeze off the lake all day.

Neuron!

Awesome news:
Ryan's paper is being published in Neuron!!! It's really something to celebrate, as he will have had one paper published each year now for the past 5 years. This Neuron publication will be something that hallmarks his post-doc and hopefully will pave the way for an academic faculty position this next year. I'm so proud of him and all his hard work and diligence.
And while he has proved to be highly productive at work, it doesn't mean we don't see him at home as well, which is a blessing that I count each and every day. He is home every night for dinner and stays around each morning to help me with the kids, feeding Dylan breakfast and letting me get the baby settled with a feeding before he leaves for work. He makes time to spend with Dylan, like going with us for family walks on nice summer evenings and staying involved in Dylan's extra activities such as sports class.
I love this man. Not for his accomplishments (although I'm SUPER proud of him!), but for his heart, his soul, the love for both his family and his work.