oh joy...

The joy of teething. Poor Dylan. She now has 6 teeth. 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom. She got 2 this last week. The first 4 didn't bother her too bad. She would be a little fussy, wake up a couple times at night, whatever. These two she got this week have been hell. Poor baby, I wish I could go through it for her. It started with nonstop fussing and if you know Dylan, you know she's just not a fussy baby. So when something continues to bug her, you know something's wrong. I then realized she had a painful rash in her diaper area. Not just a diaper rash, I'm talking solid red covering her skin under her diaper. It was accompanied by a minor fever. Once I got the rash treated and got her some Tylenol, she began to feel better. She was a little restless that night and then continued with a small fever on and off for about 5 days. She was also a little fussy here and there. She got both teeth through and then it got worse. The last two days she has been nonstop clingy, crying, fussing, whining, sleepy and fevery. This is soooo not like her! I feel so terrible for her! Today she has been sleeping most of the day. Normally she takes 2 one-hour naps during the day. However, the last two days she's been very tired and today she has only stayed awake about 45 minutes at a time! (hence the time to blog!) I ended up calling the doctor today (and of course my dr. whom I love and totally trust is out of town!) because Dylan's fever spiked to 103.3. However, rest assured because it's the under-the-arm temperature, her core temp is much lower. So....anyhow, the Tylenol, teething tablets, frozen rings, damp washcloths continue. I pray that this passes quickly. I miss my sweet baby Dylan! I did happen to capture some bittersweet pictures of her today. They are so sad, but precious and I know I'll appreciate having them later. These are from my iPhone with a filter applied to them.

Happy Father's Day...

to Chad. You have been a father for a little over 9 months now and I'm so proud of who you have become. You have always been an amazing and caring partner and friend, but to see you as "Dada" is such an incredible blessing. You are always attentive, caring, compassionate, helpful, honest, playful, and most of all loving when it comes to Dylan. To have you alongside me in this adventure means the world to me. I know you are ready for more and whenever that time comes I know that you will continue to be as incredible with any others that come along as you are with Dylan. Thank you for being the daddy that you are. Dylan is so lucky to have you.

Great Strides

As many of you may know, our dear friends Justin and Holly Reynolds have a daughter, Ojaio, who has Cystic Fibrosis.  Every year we participate in the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis walk to raise money towards finding a cure.  Unfortunately, this year we will be out of town and unable to attend the walk.  However, I don't want this to deter our fundraising efforts.  The following is a note from Holly, Ojaio's mom.  Please read it and support our friends with your prayers and if possible, a donation in any amount.  Also, please pass this on to anyone and everyone!  Thank you! (and thanks Josie for the pic of me, Ojaio and Dylan)

Ojaio Lux -- Investing in a Lifetime

Dear Friends and Family,  By now you have probably heard Justin or I explain, "It's all we know," when asked about raising a child with Cystic Fibrosis. This past year we have begun to truly feel this way. The daily regimen of treatments and medications in which we were at one point bombarded with now feel normal, like changing a diaper, or giving a bath. Ojaio is as healthy as any other three year old. While we are always living with CF, these days, we have been able to focus more on living.  From the heart of someone surrounded by Ojaio's love everyday, let me tell you a little bit about her spirit. Ojaio is determined, loving, dramatic, independent, funny and extremely intelligent. The first time we played the memory game, she won. Ojaio is dainty, and at times prissy, but very strong. Sometimes she amazes us with her grip, or by the things she can lift over her head. She prefers hopping, skipping and tip-toeing to walking, she can shake her booty and carry a tune. Ojaio is special. She makes friends with everyone she meets, she knows how to be cute, and she eats up attention. Some of Ojaio's favorites are books, chocolate, our dog Oka, and her cousin Rhianna. She is athletic, and interested in soccer balls, fishing and bicycles, yet equally enamored by dress up, nail polish, and anything in the color pink. She sings, she dances, she giggles. She is hugs, she is cuddles, she is kisses. Ojaio is love.  Though we have become used to it, living with Cystic Fibrosis and keeping up with all it entails is a full-time job. Throughout the day Ojaio takes seven different medications multiple times. When she is healthy she does two half-hour breathing treatments each day, and when she is sick, this doubles. When things are going well, we see the CF team every two months. Ojaio has five doctors, a dietitian, a nurse case manager, two respiratory technicians, a physical therapist, and a social worker. This is what it takes to keep Ojaio alive. For Justin and I, parenting is more than providing shelter, ensuring proper growth and love. It also means investing in new therapies, and a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. I truly believe we will find a cure in Ojaio's lifetime, but only money will make that possible. Drug companies and the government will not invest in CF, because it is not profitable -- only 30,000 Americans suffer from this disease. It is up to us to give our kids a long life. Cystic Fibrosis is the number one genetic killer of Children in the US. While the median age of survival is 37, as hard as we try, sometimes it doesn't matter. CF does not discriminate. More than 60% of kids with CF won't make it to adulthood. My cousin Megan lost her precious son Liam to CF as an infant. Just last month, an eight year old lost her life to this disease. We CANNOT let this happen to our Ojaio.  Times are tough, but please give what you can. Five bucks will bring us that much closer to a cure. Any amount is appreciated.  After you give, please send this to your friends and family. Justin and I need the world to know how special Ojaio is, how much we need her in it. Thank you.  To make a donation, please visit http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/HollyReynolds Words cannot express our gratitude. Thank you so much, Holly, Justin and Ojaio Reynolds

nap time

Okay, so sorry for the obnoxious amount of posts right now, but Dylan's napping, the house is clean, Chad's gone so I don't have to fix a big dinner.  Therefore, it's time to blog!  Check out how big my girl is getting!  

Oh Dylan B!  You:

are 8 months old

are one of those speed crawlers

have two bottom teeth and are working on the top two!

say "Dada"

love to give zerberts (or raspberries) on our faces, shoulders, arms and even your own arm!

are just now starting to reject some foods, but mommy knows good tricks and you eat them anyway!

sleep a lot.  two naps during the day and 10-11 hours at night.  

no longer nurse at night

are the youngest member of our church

just started doing the cutest eye squint thing!

are waking up from your nap

look at those pearly whites!  haha!

Dyllie at the park

in her frog pool!

is that a gang sign?

Dylan playing guitar with Chad

ah, life at BJ's.  the best thing I ever got from working at BJ's was the relationships.  I met a lot of people working there for so long, but there were a few who I know will be lasting friendships.  These are a few of my most favorite people in the whole wide world, honestly.  I absolutely love each one of them. Since I vow never to return to work at the restaurant again and because some of them will be moving on from there soon as well, we have committed to meeting for lunch hopefully (yes please!) once a month.

Amy, Andy, Sara and Erin.  I love you guys so much and miss seeing you all the time.

just a shot of Dylan in her room (yes, it's still a work in progress, are you surprised? really? didn't think so).

oh the sheer delight of being tossed in the air...look at her face!!

keepin' up with the Jones'

For those of you who don't know, the Jones fam, Darrin, Julie, Sawyer and McKenna, are super special to me and my family.  Darrin was my youth pastor for a couple of years when I was in junior high.  He worked at a church with my mom at the time.  He is also the one who married Chad and I nearly 4 years ago.  He is an incredible person and his family is no different.  I can't say enough about how wonderfully spiritual and loving this family is.  God called them abroad several years ago and they have been living in the south of France, where Darrin has been pastoring a church since then.  They are now moving to Africa where they will be working at a school.  They were recently here for a short visit and we were able to spend some time catching up, hearing stories, laughing and enjoying their company.  They also got to meet Dylan for the first time.  We love you guys and hope to see you again next year!

Dylan with Julie

having fun with silly McKenna

p.s.

one of my fave sites, ohdeedoh.com, introduced me to an awesome bike by Madsen Cycles.  I was on their website checking it out and they are having a giveaway!  So...I've posted a link (to your right) and you can help me win the bike by following the link to check out their super cool new bike...click away my friends!  Thanks!

"Easter Bunny Bock Bock"

We started off our Easter day with a celebration service at the Pacific Amphitheatre where 150 people were baptized!  It was awesome.  We then headed down to Fallbrook to Uncle Phil and Aunt Debbie's house for the annual party there.  Thanks Aimee for setting up a wonderful day!  We had so much fun and Dylan got to spend some quality time with the fam!

singin' and dancin'

Casa de los Campos 

Dylan and Daddy ready to find the "Golden Egg"

getting ready to start the egg hunt

cousin Natalie found the "Golden Egg"...OF COURSE!

lovin' on Aunt Debbie

cousin Natalie was plotting a scheme to kidnap Dylan...but now she doesn't have to!  Congrats Darby and Natalie!!

the view from their place

happy birthday dude...

Chad is currently working on filming for a video that's due out this fall.  Usually, the team is given a pretty good amount of time to film for a video.  In this case, it will end up being a little over a year.  Naturally, this allows for Chad to spend a lot of time with the filmer.  Fortunately for Chad, his friend Ricki "the Dude" is Element's filmer.  Ricki is also our neighbor.  His birthday is Saturday the 9th, so I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to him.  However, I couldn't just say a "Happy Birthday Dude!" and leave it at that.  Oh no...Ricki has a great blog that keeps me in the loop about the day-to-day process of filming for a skateboard video (and some other fun stuff too).  Ricki has many posts on his blog of things (like this and this) that him and the skaters find while out filming.  It's hilarious all of the paraphernalia they find.  With that said, this one's for you Ricki.  When my cousin Nichola brought her family out to visit a couple of months ago, we made a trip to Seal Beach so they could see the ocean (hey, they're from Texas).  While there we made a lucky find!  Right there in the sand it was...glowing!  Chad said, "quick take a picture for Ricki!".  So I've been sitting on this one for a while and there's no better time to bust it out then now...so here you go Uncle Dude...Happy Birthday...we hope your day is as HUGE as a MAGNUM!

quick question...

is it normal?

to be this cute?

once again...

you gotta love the iPhone!  yes, I got a new app!  haha.  such a dork.  a few pics down you can see the new quadcam app in action.  I've been working on the ever so tedious job of making room on our computer.  It's been slow-moving for a while now because we only have just under 4,000 photos in iPhoto!!  yes, 90% of them are of Dylan.  Can you blame me?!!?  Anyhow, I've been organizing the photos by month, burning them on to discs and then putting them onto our external hard drive.  I can't bring myself to upload anymore photos until this is done and I'm able to make some room.  Once I do that (don't worry, it's almost complete) I will post pictures of Easter, hangin' with the Jones', lunch with the BJ's crew, Dylan's room and lots more!  Until then enjoy my new recent faves from the iPhone...this first one is my ultimate favorite of the moment!

long time no blog...

I know, I'm a terrible blogger, it's gone neglected, but I do plan to make up for it.  It has been a busy couple of months, but memorable to say the least.  Lots of new things going on with Dylan.  I think the best way to do this is just with a list.  So, many posts follow this one, but there are still more to come...bear with me.

I know that at about 5 1/2 months I reported that Dylan started to pull up on the ottoman.  That was just the beginning.  You can hardly set her down on her butt.  She stiffens her legs and wants to stand.  She doesn't want to be sitting, if she is, she crawls to the nearest thing, pulls up and stands there for however long we let her or until she gets bored and wants to go to the next thing.

She practically crawls, we call it the worm.  She does 2 or 3 crawls, goes to belly, back to crawl, and so on.

She has two teeth, the bottom front two...soooo cute!

She puts everything in her mouth.

She loves Cheerios.

She drinks from a sippy cup.

She is learning how to wave.

She said "gleeba" (haha not really, that's a joke).

She loves the swings at the park.

She loves baths, the sink, any running water, she just doesn't like it in her face.

She loves to look out the window in our living room to the backyard.

She loves mirrors.

and I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now!  

Enjoy the pictures, there will be more to come...

just some cute recents...

playing in the laundry basket

cocoon

drivin'

attended daddy's shoe release party...

the Tim Tims

family shot

jeffrey

went on a road trip...

Okay, this post got kind of messed up, but I don't have the patience to go back and fix it right now.  These are from our trip to San Jose where Chad spoke at a conference at the Calvary Chapel there.  We stayed with our friends Jose and CeCe and their dogs Miles and Cero (Miles is the little french bulldog, Cero is the massive american bulldog).  We had a great time and Dylan did really well in the car.  We even ran into a truck stop that had pre-made milkshakes in a cup.  You just take it out of the freezer, put it in the machine and choose your thickness...it was actually pretty good!  Thanks to Jose and CeCe for letting us stay (and for introducing us to that great BBQ place!).

leaving L.A.

our view of Dylan

in the middle of nowhere