long overdue update

well, i know i've gotten behind in some of my routine tasks but why its been a long time since i've updated this blog. the good news is not much has changed unless you count Dillan's amazing day to day development. Luke and I are still loving parenthood and often more tired then we are sane.

We had a joyous Thanksgiving visiting Grandma Spence in Arizona. Dillan loved all of the attention from Ruth, Stan and Dorothy. Turns out he's not that fond of mashed potatoes.

Dillan is getting so excited for his first Christmas, especially when we go to the store and he gets to see all of the shiny decorations. Still working on walking, but he is incredibly fast on all 4. He babbles up a storm, including saying mama, dada, hi, bye and ba-ba indiscriminately.

His powers of mimickery are truly amazing. I learned how talented he is when we spent a few minutes next to an older kid throwing a fit and Dillan commenced to copying the kid's screams inflection for inflection.

Thinking of all of you this holiday season and praying for God's grace and glory to abound in your family.

New pictures ares up on this blog.

New videos are posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqnorepSRkk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S24FhKkl6Y

Enjoy.

oh what a month!

we have had quite a busy month! in addition to dillan getting his first two teeth, learning to crawl, stand and toddle around the living room (while holding onto the couch) we've also been to san francisco twice, palmdale once and had a visit from my mom and John, Carol and Peggy Dolaghan. Luke also went back to work where he is teaching a full load plus tutoring in at the community college.

the most significant changes have been in dillan's personality. he loves to play and has learned to throw a huge fit when his play is interrupted. we've also started mommy and me swim lessons which are easily the best part of my week. we spend 30 minutes floating and kicking and splashing and giggling. i truly believe dillan is close to reaching his goal - drinking the entire pool in that 30 minutes. He has also taken to blowing raspberries and seems to think my tummy is the best place on earth to practice.

Dillans favorite past time is following Dakota around the room and then tackling her. Poor girl - she just lays there and suffers through the indignity of being pulled, pinched and drooled on.

i'm busy obsessively researching how to get and afford an iPhone and trying to figure out which superhero dillan should be for his first halloween (suggestions welcomed).

Sad to see summer end but we have so much to look forward to this fall and winter next summer will be here in a flash.

The attached video shows Dillan crawling after the laptop (he has a huge fascination with all things electronic). Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2XY-JqqXts

Colorado

So as our summer comes to a close (Luke goes back to work on Monday), we fondly remember our great trip to Colorado (last week). We got to spend a lot of time of Luke's parents, brother and sister-in-law. We also got to see some of his college buddies and their families as well as Victoria's little sister and her son. Such a great trip - constantly surround by the beauty of Colorado and the love of great friends and family.

Dillan isn't quite crawling yet but he is definitely mobile, even is he has to drag his face along the carpet to get where he wants to go. He just started sitting up on his own and has learned to press his lips together in a raspberry/"G" sound - which makes us all laugh.

I put up 160ish new pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Family Fun Day

After a long sleepless night, our family fun day started out with a great mid-morning nap for D and me while Luke went for his weekly long bike ride. Image yourself riding the back streets of Fort Ord only to "accidentally" end up on the course of a real bike race. As you ride along, people are cheering for you, handing you free drink and food and not seeming to notice your lack of a race number. Luke was feeling very fortunate and found himself wishing for this support every Saturday morning. Just when he was at the top of the world, he noticed that all of the racing bikers who had been flying past him were women. Pride cometh before the fall...

We headed up to Watonsville for the much acclaimed Strawberry Festival. Some strawberry glazed chicken, shortcake, popcicles and milk shakes. We also had the great privelge of seeing some revolutary protestors. They marched around for much of the festival shouting What do we WAnt? "Revolution" Whose our leader? "ROnald Reagan"...maybe I heard them wrong - or maybe they don't know he's passed away?

Dillan cut his two bottom front teeth this week and is sooo close to crawling we are scrammbling to finish the last of our baby proofing. As I write this he is slowly inching his way to, up and over Dakota.

All and all, a great day with my amazing men.

new video!

here is a super cute video and picture of our little guy. we are having a great time - especially now that he loves to play so much. bug news of the week - he slept through the night! just once, but the night before and the night after he was only up once!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZnQOAjk2UU

We have a belly sleeper

Our little man is just growing too quickly! its amazing. He can't quite crawl yet, but gets where he wants to go by rolling over multiple times and scooting like an inch worm. all he has to do to start crawling is get his knees under him and figure out the mechanics - he has the rest of it down.

We started him on solids about two weeks ago - so far rice cereal, peas and squash. Likes them all moderately well and is working really hard to figure out how the spoon works. However, he is enjoying his new toy - Gravity - which apparently was invented just for him while he's in the high chair.

Dillan and Dakota are also starting to bond. They take turns licking each others faces and pulling each others ears (ok, maybe thats only one way). Whenever Dakota walks into the room he squeals in delight and tries to launch himself at her.

Today was a big day for me - left him at Kids Church for the first time. I was so nervous and spent the whole service wondering how he was doing. Of course, they did a get job and he was well taken care of.

strangely he also really likes all the MJ tributes, especially the music. Must be the high pitched voice.

so thats the Big D update. Luke and I are doing fine - just being the doting parents.

Trip to Oregon

We just got home from a great trip up to Oregon to see friends and family. After spending the week before moving (thank you Ma and Pa Spence for making it happen while we stay sane), we hopped on a plane and flew up to Portland. We spent 4 days with Adam and Anna and their kids, Lucas and Lainie. It was such a blessed time of hanging out and getting to know them all better. Then we headed across the state to Union and saw my Grandma, Aunt Pauline, Uncle Colvin and cousins. Dillan has now met all 4 of his great grandmas - something pretty special I think.

Today Dillan started laughing out loud - its amazingly cute. His manual dexterity is improving every day. He can now grab his pacifier and put it in his mouth and is starting to take an interest in our food (although we won't give him any for a few more weeks).

Below is the slideshow from our trip. My LCD screen broke on my camera about midway through our trip, so I couldn't see what I was taking pictures of - came out pretty good considering. New pictures are also up on the blog.