you would think that as a mom taking pictures and posting on a blog would just be second nature but for some reason it is so hard for me. WHY?! in fact the only reason i am MAKING myself sit down and do this is because of my dear sweet sisters that guilt trip me every time i am on the phone. "i still check your blog every once and a while hoping to see an update, but nope- still just dylan's bald head". i felt like that was going to be the quote on my gravestone because i heard it so often. Dallas is getting so big and it's hard that no one on my side of the family gets to see it so i have some recent pictures that i can blog-brag about.
Dallas loves to brush his teeth. whenever he sees ours out he must have his at that exact moment as well. it doesn't matter if he's eating or getting a diaper changed, if someone walks in brushing their teeth it's like if you give a mouse a cookie... "if the dally mouse sees a toothbrush... he's going to need one of his own. because nothing in the world matters at that moment then brushing his teeth."i threw this one in because he is so cute. look at how long his hair is. my goodness i love the side wings. haha. i don't know when i will ever be able to give him a real haircut not just a trim.
this next sequence of pictures is cute Dally bug again as he eats a ppj. why post it? because this defines the reason blogging was invented. to show off cute pictures of your kids and have them permanently saved to be remembered; because sometimes the little things like this are the biggest things you never want to forget.
at Dallas' 18 month check up he was finally tall enough to be on the chart! I knew you would grow little buddy. That was so funny before that his height was not even in a percentile range. just deemed "short". And his head size is now in the normal range. hahaha. he is in the 70% head size, 31 inches tall, and weighing 28 lbs. too bad Dallas had to get shots again. but the good news is that he is now done until kindergarten. Dallas was very brave in taking 3 shots and only cried for a minute then decided he was ready to go. He even wanted to walk out on his own. Sweet baby. I took him to wendy's for luch and then the park to eat. This is the picture of him in the car on the way to the park. Look at how happy he is with his toys and his blanky. He is one tough cookie. I LOVE THAT KID!
the best part of the day is the evenings when Dylan gets home and we have dinner, play, and give Dallas a bath. When he gets out he loves to run around and take as many books down from the shelf as he can before we catch him. (look at how good I am at getting modest-enough pictures. talent.) and then we have scriptures and prayers while Dallas drinks his bottle then when he decides he's had enough of us reading he'll say "night night" and we know it's time to say a quick prayer and tuck him in. I love our routine!
We went down to "papa and lala's" house to do some yard work and get flowers planted since the weather was so nice and Dallas had so much fun pushing his tractor around the yard and being outside with everyone. this is just another one of those days you need to have blogged :)
and before you know it Dylan is leaning over the bathtub asking me to take the scissors and cut his hair as short as I can so that he can take a razor to it.
He went through with it and now I am married to a bald man. I never thought I would say that. haha. I was worried about what Dallas would think. He was never really scared, just confused.
But now he loves it and tries to pat it whenever Dylan holds him. Tuesday was a relaxing day with Dallas and I watching his baby einstein and snuggling in the morning and cleaning and fun stuff like that the rest of the day.
Wednesday I went to a play group at a friend's house.
It was so much fun to chat and gossip and talk about girlie things. Thursday I had my friend Kristen over for lunch and again it was just so much fun to watch Dallas play with her son who is a month younger and I loved catching up with Kristen. Friday was a branch picnic at the church building. I love our branch! I can't say that enough. Everyone is so awesome. There was even a bounce house that Dylan and Dallas loved playing in.
Saturday was the Taste of Duneland in Chesterton.
There was lots of different foods from local restaurants and farms. It was fun walking around and eating different foods. Dallas especially liked the fresh corn on the cob.
Yesterday (sunday) The Caggianos came up to visit for a little while in the afternoon and it was fun to see them. They miss not seeing Dallas as much. They're an awesome family and so cute with Dallas. He loves the attention :) I think I have over used the word "fun" to describe the events of the week but it WAS a really fun week.
I love our walks! It is beautiful and peaceful and paved :) 
We walk for about an hour and during that time Dallas does not make a peep. He is so happy and content. He loves to look around at all of the interesting things.
There are black squirrels that I have only ever seen in that place. They are jet black and shiny. They're so pretty. One of my favorite headstones (if you call it that? Statue thingy... I don't know on this one) is of a girl that from far away looks like a little buddha child.
I love it because it is so intricate and also creepy but awesome. When we get home around 7:00 pm We feed Dallas dinner then bath him (Dylan usually does that because he gives me a chance to sit down by myself. ahh the little things to keep us mothers sane. I love Dylan for it.) Then we all lay in bed and we have scriptures and prayers while I nurse Dallas and then Dylan lays him in bed. I love our routine. Although dinner is never a set time. Dylan and I sometimes eat before our walk, the same time Dallas is eating, or after Dallas goes to bed at 8:00 pm. But tonight was Family Home Evening and we went on our walk and while Dallas was eating his dinner Dylan gave the lesson on Christ. It was a great lesson and we felt the spirit. Dallas' favorite part of FHE is the singing. After Dallas had his bath we showed him how we make our refreshments which was popcorn. We went to the store today and bought the old school shake-it-over-the-stove kind so Dallas could see it fill up. He didn't know what to think about it. 
While we let that cool we had our scriptures and prayers and Dallas fell right asleep (he didn't take his 5:00 nap.) 
He was so cute. Dylan was so excited because he never gets to hold Dallas when he's sleeping. After he was tucked in to bed Dylan and I ate the popcorn and watched a couple episodes of SCRUBS. The good shows never get old. Our favorites are scrubs and friends. Both awesome. Now Dylan is studying (and unfortunately he'll be up late but we're so glad he took some time out to have family time! He's amazing at balancing everything.) And after I finish this post I'm going to bed. It is past my bed time but I had to reminisce about the beautiful day we had :)
I could not believe how squished they were. I know in the picture you can only see 3 but there were actually 5 birds stuffed in that nest! haha. it was crazy. They could not budge!
We have been to the beach quite a few times now and Dallas isn't scared of the water anymore. I love his little wet suit. He was having fun with his grandma while mommy, daddy, and Taitum were in the water. It looks like he's laughing at a secret she's telling him. haha. He loves his gma!
I know it's a random post but Dallas has fun with so many people and I wanted to blog it. You understand right? :)
I already have two teeth and I am learning so many new things. Some of my favorite things to do lately are:
* staying inside all day
It kept Dallas very entertained. Dr. Brogan said that it was time to ditch the pacifier which he didn't mind as much as I thought he would. It does take him longer to fall asleep for his naps but other than that he's been fine. We do still use it for church though. A couple of concerns I had was the rash on his thigh has not gone away in over a month and I have called twice before about it and the first time they just said use desitin and the second time they said to use an anti fungal cream but when we were there I asked the doctor and she said it was eczema and to put a different cream on it. Dallas has always had sensitive skin poor boy. But I was very frustrated that I could of saved almost 2 months of Dallas being irritated if they would have just let me go in and check it out earlier. I don't know if it's because Dallas is on medicaid that they wouldn't let me go in, but he's only on part medicaid. He's still covered on Dylan's insurance and medicaid just pays for anything not covered by that. Anyways it was annoying. My other big concern was that Dallas was STILL waking up 3-5 times a night! COME ON! I can't believe I have been doing this for 9 months now. Dr. Brogan said that weaning Dallas from the binky will help but if he wakes up let him cry for atleast 10 minutes and then send Dylan in to lay him back down and if necessary give him the pacifier at that point. When he sees me he just wants to be fed and I don't know why that never occured to me before. I just always got him because Dylan works and I wanted him to be able to sleep but I can not believe the difference it has made sending the hubby in. The first night was pretty rough because we didn't feed Dallas at all and he's not used to that but it only lasted one night! It has been over a week now and Dallas has only woken up three times on three seperate nights and when Dylan goes in Dallas will go right back to sleep. It is amazing! I couldn't even remember what it felt like to sleep a whole night and MAN does that make all the difference! I am so much more energetic, happier, productive, and nice :) also since we have been putting the RIGHT cream (finally) on Dallas his rashes are almost all gone. So it was a good appointment. I can't believe his next one will be his ONE YEAR check up! Wow!
I love this picture. Dylan couldn't waste any time and had to brush his teeth while we sang happy birthday. While he was at work Dallas and I went shopping and got him some shirts, swim trunks, sandals, and a few other things. I was supposed to get a golfing pass gift certificate but I ran out of time so I lamely just wrote on a piece of paper "you need to go golfing!" and threw it in a bag. haha. If that's not lame I also had to put every present in bags... paper bags. I have no Idea where my wrapping paper is from moving and that's all I could think of on the spot. haha. Dylan was a good sport.
An hour later we're all sunscreened up and swim suited, and out the door. We don't even make it a mile before Dallas is just screaming bloody murder and still will not calm down for anything! at this point we hang our heads and accept defeat. Hungry, headaches, bummed out and tired, we go home and unpack and just bathe Dallas and put him in bed. I started crying because I felt so bad that Dylan's birthday party was ruined and we were both frazzled and that is the last feeling you want your husband to have on his birthday. Dylan gave me a big hug and kiss and brought me a slice of birthday cake and we sat on the floor and listened to Dallas scream himself to sleep. I didn't even get to have the candles in the cake, singing happy birthday, and taking pictures as he blows the candle's out part of the birthday but as we sat there eating cake Dylan called Papa Johns and had them deliver a pizza and it ended up being the best birthday party I have ever had. We sat in the dark watching netflix and eating way too many things that my diabetes didn't like but I didn't care. It was worth it. I'll always remember that birthday and I am so glad that I have the amazing husband that I do. He is so good at making the best out of situations. Even though it was his birthday he ended up making me happy and I love him to pieces. Thank goodness he was born! :) Happy Birthday hubby!