Saying Goodbye to My Little Scooter

Dylan is now 19 months old! He has gone through so many changes in just a few short months. He is officially on the move & is WALKING :) Ryan & I were so happy for him. We always knew he could do it, but because he had a bit of a slow start, it was pure joy to see him accomplish this milestone. I hated seeing him still be in the"crawler" class at daycare & watching younger kids move up to next class before he could. When he was moved up to the "walker" class, I hated that he was the only child that couldn't walk. Dylan never crawled, but he had the cutest little scoot I have ever seen. He was the fastest scooter I've ever seen too!! A tiny part of me is sad to say goodbye to my little scooter.

 He took his first steps on July 15th (17 months old) & started walking on August 3rd ( 18 months old). He is unstoppable now!! I spend a lot of my day running around after him. I'm not complaining one bit. To see him happy makes me happy!!!

Here are a few of my favorite pics of Dylan walking :

Cruising before taking his 1st steps

Walking with Nonna & GG

Walking with Aunt B

At 17 months Dylan got to the point he wanted nothing to do with his crib. We had about a month of restless nights trying to get him to sleep in his crib. Then we started letting him sleep with us. He slept better, but having a child, a dog & 2 adults in a queen bed made for restless nights for Ryan & I. It was also a habit we didnt want to start. Although it was earlier than planned, we decided to move Dylan to a toddler bed. To our surprise it solved all our recent sleep issues. The first few weeks he did wake up several times during the night. I hate to admit it, but during that time, either Ryan or I  would end up sleeping on the floor next to his bed. He never tried to get out, but knowing one of us was there helped him sleep through the night. He now sleeps all night ( without us by his side)  & I think the whole family is sleeping better:)

Putting together his big boy bed with Daddy

Back to sleeping all night

His physical therapist mentioned at our last session that the more mobile he became, the more he would talk. I was a bit skeptical of this at first, but she definitely was right. It is amazing how many words he has picked up in just a few weeks. He will try to say anything you ask him to. He says juice, drink, car, dog & bye the most, but is picking up on others very quickly. Being UL fans, we are very excited that his favorite phrase is "Go Cards". Its adorable. Sounds more like "Go Car" but he likes to say it a lot :) He doesn't quite understand the meaning, but today a man wearing a UK shirt walked by us in line at the store. Dylan smiled at him & said GO CARDS!! Dylan instantly became a hit with all the UL fans in line & even the UK fan.

He likes to imitate anything you do. He knows most of his body parts ( Head, eye, ear, belly, fingers, & toes) & knows the sounds of a few of his favorite animals ( dog, cow, duck & cat). It just amazes me how quickly children learn. I feel like my life is in fast forward. He changes & is doing something new daily. I love watching him grow & change each day, but cant help but wish he could stay this age forever.

look what Aunt B taught him!!

Shopping with Daddy

For Father's Day, we gave Ryan a gift certificate to visit the KY Speedway & take 3 laps around the track in a race car! On August 18th the 3 of us had our first Nascar experience. There were several people there so by the time Ryan checked in & actually got to ride we had been there a couple hours. Dylan did great & enjoyed watching the cars go around the track. I was a nervous wreck knowing Ryan would be going so fast! Ryan had a blast &  I enjoyed the 3 of us spending time together.

Ryan climbing into the car!!

August 21st I celebrated my 31st birthday. I am a huge birthday person & normally start counting down the days a month before. This year was different. I'm not sure if becoming a mother or your 30's change how you feel, but I just didn't care to make a big ordeal this year.  I stumbled across a blog of a lady who decided to do 35 random acts of kindness to celebrate her 35th birthday. As soon as I read this, I knew I wanted to do the same. I thought this will be a great tradition to start & although Dylan doesn't understand now, it will set a great example for him in the future. I started my random acts a week before my birthday. After reading the inspiring blog along with suggestions from friends, I was able to complete my goal. Some were very small & common, some where bigger & a few unique, but they all made a stranger smile & me as well. I was hesitant to post about this on my blog. I felt like I was defeating the purpose of RANDOM acts of KINDNESS if I was telling everyone all the "nice" things I did.  So many people have asked what I did, so I realized that by telling, hopefully it would encourage all who read this to do the same. Kindness is contagious. The best part of doing this was not only helping unsuspecting people, but the fact that Ryan, Dylan & my sister all helped & became a part of it.

Our Random Acts:
1. Surprised the morning crew at a restaurant with breakfast
2. Paid for the person behind me in line at the drive thru
3. clipped coupons, went to Kroger & placed the coupons next to the product they were for
4. Taped change to the vending machines at the hospital ER
5. Baked cookies for Dylan's physical therapist & co workers
6. left 100% tip to our server at a restaurant
7. brought the trashcans in from the driveway ( Ryan's job which Ive never done)
8. Mailed a friend who I haven't seen in a while a letter
9. A fan at a reds game loved Dylan's Reds outfit & wanted one for his child, he gave us his email if we ever wanted to sell it, I emailed him, got his address & sent him the outfit with a note that said "Enjoy, from one reds fan to another"
10. While out in a busy place, I let a big crowd of people go ahead of me
11. Smiled at EVERYONE I saw for an entire day
12. held the door open for someone every chance I got
13. let a person ahead of me in line
14. bought a small toy at the gift shop & gave to a random boy as we were walking through the zoo
15- 17. Mailed cards to a few of my favorite people just because
18 & 19. Mailed a card to 2 soldiers to Thank them for all they do
20. Picked up trash in the parking lot at the YMCA
21. took the time to have a conversation with a total stranger
22. left candy on the desk of coworkers
23 - 27. bought 5 scratch off lottery tickets & gave them to the employees working at a restaurant I was having lunch at
28. baked & brought dessert to new parents
29. put coins in the washer at a laundry mat
30. donated to the Humane Society
31. Donated shoes to a program through the YMCA

I hope we all look for ways to make a stranger smile each day. I promise it will make you smile too!

15 months

15 months has brought a lot of excitement. Dylan is so full of personality. He "talks" up a storm. Mostly jibberish but his favorite words at the moment are "Hi" & "Juice". He is very loving. loves to hug & kiss mommy & daddy & his favorite toys. He continues to enjoy making kissing noises & now blows kisses. Waving & clapping are still apart of his regular routine. He is at the stage everyone warned us about..he is in to everything LOL. He also likes to imitate everything you do. Its very cute. I was working out with 5 pound weights one day while Dylan was playing. That night he took his toy microphone & started "lifting weights" with it. Simply adorable!!  He recently learned how to drink from a straw. It is so cute how proud he was when he realized his newest accomplisment.

Dylan was very excited to finally get to the toliet paper before I could catch him.

Dylan has shown even more progress in his physical therapy. He visits his PT Lauren once a week. She has been working with him for 5 months. We are very sad that he just recently had his last visit with her. Due to our insurance we had to switch. He will begin with his new PT this week. We were so upset but very happy with how much Lauren has helped him out. His last few weeks with her, he started taking steps if we held on to his fingers. We were so happy!!

My biggest concern all along has been the fact that he could not transistion. Although I was so happy when he started scooting everywhere & then putting weight on his legs, we hadnt seen much progress from him transitioning. He was not able to go from a laying postion to sitting, or from sitting to stand. I began working with him non stop teaching & showing him each movement he needed to make to get from A to B. After weeks of this I could see somewhat of an improvement. Then... he shocked us!!

My sister & her friend stayed the night with us last week. You have to know that Dylan is a great sleeper. Our usual routine is when he starts acting sleepy I put him in bed, he closes his eyes & goes right to sleep. This paticular night I put him in bed & he would cry. I got him out, figuiring he just wasnt ready especially since we had company. He doesnt like to miss a thing! He styed up for a while & i tried again. Several attempts later,  I decided I had to let him cry it out. After a few minutes of crying, my sister walked past his bedroom to the bathroom. She came back quickly & said " he is standing in his crib". I seriously thought I misunderstood. I ran in his room & sure enough there STOOD a mad & crying Dylan. I was so happy I cried!! I was so proud that not only did he show us he could sit up from laying down but that he could also pull to a stand!!!

The past month has been rough health wise for Dylan. He has had RSV, & 2 back to back double ear infections! Unfortuately it doesnt stop there. This monday he started running a fever & pulling on his ears. I couldnt believe it. He still had a few days of (his 2nd round) antibiotic left for his ear infection so I couldnt imagine that his ears were still infected. A trip to his peditrician confirmed that his ears were actually looking great & the antibiotic was doing its job of healing them. His ped was very concerned of how swollen his lympth nodes were, his high fever & his blood count was high. He told me to go home, pack a bag & head to Kosair. My heart sank.
Kosair did an ultrasound on his nodes to make sure they were not fluid filled or infected & they were able to get his fever down. Once the ultrasound results confirmed that the nodes were fine just very swollen, we were discharged & sent home. They diagnosed him with a viral infection & we were to check back with his ped on friday. The next 3 nights were awful. He felt horrible. I stayed home from work & spent a lot of time cuddling with him. We were told all we could do is alternate tylenol & motrin for his fever, watch him closely for any changes & give him lots of fluids. Out of all the times he has been sick this scared me the most. He had never had a fever for so long & never that high.

Both nodes are swollen but his right was significantly bigger than the left

Today was his check up & it went great. His counts are down & getting closer to where they should be & his lymph nodes have gone down a bit too! Dr says it can actually take weeks for the nodes to go all the way down. He is now going on 12 hours fever free & is slowly acting like our happy Dylan again. I pray that he remains fever free & continues to go uphill from here. I also pray that sickness is behind him for a long while!

On a happy note here a few recent pics of our crazy boy

Relaxing in the dogs bed

Feeling better & reading a book

12 Months Already!!

The past year I have said the phrase "Time Flies" more times than I ever thought imaginable. I now understand why people constantly tell you how fast the time goes once you have a baby. It feels like just yesterday we were at the hospital awaiting Dylan's arrival. We had such a rocky & scary start but the moments & memories we have had this past year have been such an incredible blessing. I have learned & loved more than I ever thought I possibly could in such a short time. I recently attended my first MOPS meeting at a friends church. I had a great time. At the beginning of the meeting a lady said something that will forever stay with me. She was talking to the the entire group & said "You all were chosen. God chose you to be a mom". Not everyone is fortunate to have the experience of welcoming a child into this world. It made me realize that as much as I have been dwelling on Dylan's early arrival, his stay in the NICU or my health issues after delivery...God chose us to have those experiences. He knew we could handle it & he knew it would only make us stronger. Thank you for choosing me :)

Since "Time Flies" was on my mind so much, we decided to have Dylan's 1st birthday party with the theme " Time Flies When Your Having Fun" . We had airport signs around the house. "Check In" was at the gift table, "Baggage Claim" where the kids could pick up their party favors ( candy filled plastic airplanes) "Arriving Flights": airplane pins with kids names who were attending the party , "Jet Fuel" for drinks & we decorated above Dylan's highchair with clouds & airplanes. We also had a banner with all of our favorite pictures of Dylan throughout the year. I LOVE to plan parties so needless to say I had a BLAST planning for his big day.

Dylan had a great time. We were so blessed to have most of our family & close friends to celebrate with us. Dylan was showered with gifts & really enjoyed his first taste of cake. We started him off in the highchair but he had the most fun when we moved him to the floor with his cake. He even dug his toes in!!

At 12 months Dylan has become much more independent. He used to want me within arms reach all the time.  Now he is very content playing on the floor with his toys. He still goes to physical therapy to help with his delays in his milestones. His improvements have been amazing. Right before he turned 1 he began putting weight on his legs and standing at the coffee table. We are still working on him pulling to a stand but for now he really enjoys standing to look out the window or standing to get any & everything off the coffee table. He is officially on the move! He is not a crawler but a scooter. He scoots everywhere & is in to everything. Ryan & I spend most of our time these days following him around or picking him up & putting him back where his toys are. He LOVES our coat rack. He seriously has a strange obsession with it. He constantly is trying to get to it before we can catch him! He waves & smiles at it all the time!!!

He still loves to give me slobbery kisses on the cheek. He also now makes a kissing noise to give others a kiss. It is so cute. If I say give a kiss..he puckers his lips & makes a big smooch noise :) He always seems to have a new way to melt our heart.

The day after his first birthday we decided to try & give up the bottle cold turkey. At this point Dylan was still taking 3 bottles a day so I really didn't think it would work. I was SHOCKED when it did. That day he ate dinner as usual but I put whole milk in his sippy instead of water. I put him to bed that night with out a bottle. He slept all night. The next day I offered a sippy with whole milk all day long. He was such a champ. Never a whine or whimper. Its been 3 weeks & I am still shocked. The transition couldn't have gone any better.

Dylan recently had pink eye for the first time. He looked horrible. As bad as he looked it only seemed to really bother him at night. He had several restless nights. It took an entire week to clear up. Luckily no one else in our family caught it.

These are actually the "good" pics of his pink eyes..I decided not to share the nasty & horrible ones!

It has been such a memorable year. I am so excited for all the new memories & milestones this year will bring us.

*I had originally decide to keep this blog to document Dylan's first year & then have it printed into a book for us to have. I have had so much fun I have decided to continue. I wont be updating every month but want to update a few times a year to reflect on holidays, fun moments & milestones.

11 months old :)

It is so hard to believe that in less than 2 weeks my baby boy will be turning 1. This has truly been the best 11 months of my life.

Dylan has so much personality these days. He is now a pro at waving bye bye . He likes to wave at everyone & everything. He likes to do it on his own terms ( this is where the personality chimes in). If you ask him to wave chances are he will wait till you turn around & actually start walking out the door. With that said.. he likes to wave to random people, our dog & our coat rack on his own !!! LOL

He also loves to give mommy kisses...LOTS of them!! I have become accustomed to having a VERY WET cheek :)

He got his 1st real big boy hair cut this month with the clippers. I wasn't too happy looking at his uneven scissor cut I gave him so I figured I would try out the clippers. He didn't like it..but it was much quicker & looks much better with the clippers. He looks like daddy with his mini- Ryan haircut. He is too cute.

Dylan has made so much progress since beginning physical therapy. In a month & a half he now: scoots ( using arms & legs), reaches for toys out of reach, puts weight on his legs, moves all over crib at night, tolerates tummy time & most recently is pulling to a stand with our assistance! All of these are huge milestones for him. We are so proud of him. He gets braver & stronger each & everyday. We spend time everyday with him doing exercises we have learned at physical therapy.

This was the day Dylan shocked us put trying to pull up to a stand..with a little help...

Mission Accomplished!

We recently took a trip to Cincinnati to meet with a neurologist his pediatrician had referred us to. We were very confident going to the visit that everything was going to be OK. The neurologist was very nice. He looked over Dylan's EEG results, gave him a physical exam, tested his reflexes, etc & asked us many questions about my pregnancy, his birth, family history & more. He decided that since Dylan has made such rapid progress from physical therapy he had no concerns that his delays were neurological. We will meet with him again in 6 months so he can see all the improvements that Dylan makes within that time. Although we had been so optimistic it was still a huge relief to hear it from the Dr.

Last week Dylan started swim lessons at the YMCA. They call it Diaper Dip. It was his first time in a pool. He was a little unsure when we first got in, but the longer we stayed the more he enjoyed it. By the time the class was over he was kicking, splashing & having a blast. I enrolled him because since we spend so much time out on the boat in the summers, it is very important that he is comfortable in the water. I do not swim well & I want to make sure he does. This class meets once a week for 6 weeks but we will continue to enroll him in each level of class as he grows. I also thought the exercises would be good to strengthen his arms & legs to help him in therapy.

Dylan continues to go to daycare 2 days a week. I have realized I LOVE the fact that he is at great place with wonderful people & gets to spend time with babies his age. I have realized I HATE the illnesses that daycare can provide! He most recently got Hand Foot Mouth Disease....

-  "HFMD usually affects infants and children, and is quite common. It is moderately contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. It typically occurs in small epidemics in nursery schools or kindergartens, usually during the summer and autumn months. The usual incubation period is 3–7 days."

His started out as what I thought was a bug bite on his hand & nose. By the next day he had more "bug bites"..I quickly thought he had chicken poxs until I heard HMFD was going around in his class. After a trip to the Dr, it was confirmed. He was lucky that he had a very mild case..only a few spots on body & one in mouth. His Dr said some kids get it so bad in mouth they are miserable & won't eat :( We were also lucky that my mom was off work that week & she stayed home with him for 3 days so I could go to work.

We gave Dylan a puzzle play mat as an early Bday present. He LOVES it. He loves to take it ALL apart so Mommy & Daddy can put it back together for him! p.s. we do this several times a day :)

In 10 days we will be having Dylan's 1st Birthday party! We have invited family & some friends to celebrate at our house. I already am emotional just thinking about it. So many people tell you how fast time flies once you have a child. You always agree, but you dont truly believe it until you see it for yourself.  That tiny newborn quickly changes & next thing you know you are sitting back reflecting on the best year of your life.

Christmas & New Years 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Dylan had an exciting 1st Christmas & New Years Eve. He received many many presents but most importantly was able to spend Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with Family :) Dylan also turned 11 months old on Christmas Eve. I will let the pictures recap all of our Holiday festivities!!



 Cookies for Santa

  After our Christmas Eve celebration with Ryan's family :)

 Christmas Morning. Look what Santa brought :)

 Aunt Barbara & Dylan on Christmas Eve

 Opening presents

 Nonna Dylan & Poppy Christmas Morning

 Aunt B & Dylan Christmas Morning

 Playing with all his favorite toys at Grandpa Charlie's house Christmas Day

 Happy New Year!!!

 We had a nice quiet New Years Eve at home. Just the 3 of us:) Dylan actually stayed up till 8:30!! ( he usually goes to bed at 7 )

 Almost forgot...Dylan was not a fan of Santa ..better luck next year!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Ryan, Brooke & Dylan Sale. We hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy & Blessed 2012