Go Cubs Go!!

We made it back from Chicago safely. Dylan was a rock star as usual. He got to meet a TON of new people and was great throughout the whole trip. A special thanks to Toni for being such a great host! And once again to Nicole for coordinating as perfect of a weekend as there could have been.

I'm both physically and emotionally exhausted...so I'm going to post a recap that my mom sent to her family for now. I'll post more details later this week and a million more pictures. Thanks to everybody who made this weekend so special...it was super hard but Zach was smiling down on us...and in case you haven't heard...the Cubbies are in 1st place now!!

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Yesterday the Harsch Clan and the Lichtenbergers and many friends attended the Cubs game at Wrigley Field. In case you missed your Baseball Tonight highlights, here is a brief recap of the game:

CHICAGO (AP)—Day, night, home, road … Rich Harden(notes) says the when and where don’t matter.He proved it Sunday with a dominating 5-2 victory over the reeling, aching Cincinnati Reds that put the Chicago Cubs atop the NL Central for the first time since April 21.After being told that manager Lou Piniella was pleased with his six-inning, one-hit performance, Harden smiled slyly and said: “Yeah, and it was during the day, too, wasn’t it?”Harden, whose previous Wrigley Field day victory had been Aug. 24, 2008, snapped two inexplicable trends: Going into Sunday, he had a 1-5 record and 7.38 ERA in day games (vs. 5-1, 2.23 at night) and a 2-5 record and 7.59 ERA at home (vs. 4-1, 2.03 on the road).

At 9 am before the game, the Cubs let a few of us on the field for a brief ceremony. We circled on the warning track near the left field foul pole (355 feet from home plate) and joined hands, prayed the Lord's Prayer, and sang "Take me out to the Ballgame". We left a little part of Zach in Wrigley Field--and took some Wrigley Field dirt with us.

Here is a picture of us on Wrigley Field before the game--perhaps a little tear stained. Bobbie and the rest of us have mourned hard the last few days---her wedding anniversary was July 16th. This was Bobbie's first time to Chicago without Zach in the last nine years.

We returned later to watch the Cubs win and move into first place in their division. There were about 30 of us at the game.Bobbie and Dylan and the rest of us did fine.It was a perfect summer day in Chicago and it was so nice of the Cubs to let us have our little memorial.

Still as Cute as Ever!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Work has been pretty busy lately, so it's been getting in the way of things :)

Dylan has been doing great. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for his surgery last week. The good news is I think this is all much harder on me and everybody around me than it is on Dylan. Dylan was a bit sleepy for the rest of the day on Monday after surgery, but was already smiling by Monday night. By Tuesday, he was pretty much back to his normal smiling/laughing/adorable self!

We head to Chicago this weekend to take Dylan to his first Cubs game ever. And through the generosity and kind heartedness of a lot of people (can't say thank you enough carrie mac!), we are going to get to go on the field on game day and say a little prayer for Zach and get a picture of Dylan. I'm most grateful to everybody that has been working on making this happen for the last few months. Nicole gets a lot of credit for coordinating everything we have going on in Chicago this weekend...helping me get ready to fly with Dylan...and most importantly taking amazing care of Dylan day in and day out.

We are also so excited to get to see lots of friends and family this weekend, many of them meeting Dylan for the first time. Of course, as with many things the trip will be bittersweet for me. I think it's the first time in almost 9 years that I'll be in Chicago without Zach. It will be tough, but I'm thankful for all of the support surrounding me!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Look forward to some great shots from chi-town this weekend!!

One of Dylan's happiest places to be is in his Aunt Nicole's arms!!

Dylan loves when Liz O. visits...not just because she always brings us cookies!!!
Lars came to visit Dylan after surgery. He was smiling up a storm at her!!
Dylan a little sleepy during post-op. He would open his eyes every few minutes as if to make sure I was still holding him, and then would go back to sleep.
Nicki is turning into quite the chef this summer! On top of basically helping me with everything, she has perfected making b-day cakes and a ton of other fabulous meals!!
We got this carrier for the trip to Chi-town this weekend. Dylan loves being walked around in it!

Jessica came to visit us and brought us yummy Panera. Of course Dylan charmed her and was full of lots of smiles for her!!

These are a little late, but hey better late than never...for the fourth of July we went to the Lenexa parade (for those of you who don't know, Lenexa is where we live...and why haven't you visited yet?) We met my coworker and his wife and baby for the parade (thanks so much for saving us seats, Matt and Jody). Their little girl, Kylie, had a stint at Children's Mercy Hospital while we were there, so we have gotten to know each other quite well. The parade was fun, and Dylan loved being outside.

Enjoying the parade with grandma :)

Jody, Matt, Kylie, Bobbie and Dylan...isn't Kylie one of the cutest little girls you've ever seen!!

4th of July night at the Morris family house! Yes, that is Ella holding Dylan's hand. It was so cute! And yes, Ella's shirt says American Baby and Dylan's says Born in the USA.

Home from the Hospital

We're home already from the hospital! Dylan did a great job and even had some smiles for the surgeon (who validated he was one of the cutest babies he's ever seen). Dylan was not super excited about not getting to eat this morning, especially after the nurses were messing with him getting his vitals. But my mom managed to get him back to sleep for a while before he went back (he was not happy when I was holding him and not feeding him, but seemed more okay with grandma). He is now sleeping very peacefully in his pack-n-play and will just need Tylenol for the pain. Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. They are much appreciated! And a special thanks to my mom, dad, Andrea, Nicki and Beth for entertaining me in the surgery waiting room so I didn't go to crazy waiting.

Isn't this about the cutest hospital gown you've ever seen!?!

My Little Moose!!

I took Dylan to the doctor this morning to get him weighed. He's been doing so awesome with everything; this was the one thing that was still a minor concern, so his pediatrician wanted to weigh him at 3 months instead of waiting until his regular 4 month appointment just to make sure he was still tracking.

Dylan once again surpassed everybody's expectations and weighed in at 11 pounds 4 ounces. For those of you keeping track, he gained 38 ounces in 30 days (as I've mentioned before, an ounce a day is on the high end!). So, needless to say we're super thrilled! He's also growing a ton and is up to the 25th percentile in length (he was at the 10th a month ago) and is at the 10th percentile for weight (he wasn't even on the scale last time). We anticipate him continuing to catch up after his slightly slow start.

Have a great 4th of July weekend! Read below for his 3 month update :)