Wordless Wednesdays - Let's Go Hawks!!!!!

It was a late night, but well worth staying up!!! More catch up posts, Christmas, etc. coming soon!!!!

Wordless Wednesdays - Random Cuteness

Merry Christmas everybody!!!! Hope you all have a very safe and happy holiday. I'm looking forward to some much needed time off of work (and maybe even some blog time!)!!

Here are a couple of cute pics from the last week :)

So cute!!! Helping me celebrate my birthday :)

I taught Dylan how to say "cheers"...might have been a mistake, he wants to do it all the time, now!!

Dylan is very into saying cheese and giving huge grins! It's super cute, although hard to capture...here he is posing this morning at breakfast for a pic mail to Aunt Ni Ni :)

Roni and cheeeeese!!!!!

D wearing his super cute Snoopy Christmas shirt :)

Wordless Wednesdays - Anta, Anta!!!

That's how Dylan says Santa :) And he knows that he says, "HO HO HO!!" He loves wearing his Santa pjs (they've even become more popular than his ball pajamas) and he likes talking about Santa. When it comes to seeing Santa (or more precisely getting his picture taken with Santa), he's not a huge fan. Our first adventure was when we flew home from Chicago a few weeks ago. Southwest had Santa at a gate and they were taking pics...as you can see below D was not the biggest fan!





I had decided that I wasn't going to force the issue and make him go again, but he kept asking to see Santa so we went to Bass Pro Shop last night. D was all about being there, hanging in the tent (that Santa is going to bring him!) and making ornaments with Aunt Ni Ni...however, once again when it came to sitting on Santa's lap it was a no-go...maybe next year :)

Wordless Wednesdays - Aunt Ni Ni's New Pad :)

We headed to Chicago this weekend to check out Aunt Ni Ni's (D's name for Nicki) new pad (yes, that means she's moving out, but luckily has lots of room in her new condo and we have an open invitation to visit!). Dylan was his normal charming self on the plane! It's so nice to fly with such an easy going baby! And, of course, I eat up all of the he's so cute and he's so good comments from strangers :)

We got to Chicago on Friday night and after our arrival it proceeded to snow about 6 inches. We put unpacking/organizing on hold for Saturday morning in lieu of playing in the park! We had a great time, and D seemed to love how fast he went down the slides (it seems the snow suit combined with some snow on the slide led to very fast trips...in fact the adults had a hard time landing on our feet a lot of the time!).

We spent Saturday afternoon unpacking/cleaning and organizing the kitchen and on Saturday night some of Zach's family came over to hang out. We had a great time making cookies and playing the Wii.

I know I am WAY behind on posting...it's on my extensive list of things to do...so check back, I promise there will be lots of fun things posted soon!!

enjoying a PB&J on the plane :)

Lunch at Aunt Ni Ni's new pad!

Wordless Wednesays - The Big 2-0!!!

Yes, I realize that most people would think 20 years not 20 months, but hey :) I can't believe D is already 20 months old! He continues to be so fun to hang out with!!! He's got such good personality and is very happy! If you ask him how old he is, he'll tell you 2...mostly because that's what Ella says! He's starting to act a bit like a 2 year old in terms of his sneakiness and his unhappiness when he doesn't get his way! His 3 favorite words are: Ella, Papa and no! He can say more words than I can count and seems to understand almost everything we say to him. We had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends and are looking forward to Christmas!

We decided since 'Da Bears are in 1st place, D should sport that shirt for his picture this month. It's also fitting, b/c D is obsessed with anything sport related. He loves balls and would rather watch basketball or football on TV than anything else...definitely his daddy's little man.





Check back soon for the Halloween extravaganza! I have all the pictures posted, just need to add captions/stories :)

Wordless Wednesdays - Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!! Aunt Nicki and I enjoyed a Thanksgiving lunch yesterday at D's daycare. It was so fun getting to see all the kiddos, although I felt a bit sorry for the teachers, because we were definitely a huge distraction/interruption to the day.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for all the friends and family that care about Dylan and me so much! I appreciate you taking the time to follow our journey online; I love updating the blog and knowing that people are reading it (even though sometimes I get a bit stressed when I get behind on postings)! Obviously, especially at the holidays, it's hard for me not to get down. But, I really do take great comfort in knowing how many people there are out there that care about us and want to see us happy. So, even though words aren't enough...thank you!

Wordless Wednesdays - From the Road...take 2!

That's right, I'm in the Boston area on business this week. It's been another whirlwind of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and getting lost (there are NO left turns here!), but I get to head home tonight and see Aunt Nicki and D. Dylan is once again in the very capable hands of Aunt Nicki and is having a blast! And of course, it's super nice for me to not have to worry about him at all! We've even done two video chats from the road :)

This past weekend, we headed to Chicago for some football fun. We had a blast with family and friends (minus Northwestern beating Iowa again!) and D had a great time seeing everybody and a blast hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a little recap with pics we took on cell phones...more later!

Hanging with Carrie Mac and Erin! We had a blast!! And yes, tried to relive the college days...and had a harsh reminder that we're no longer 21!

Reading fun with Grandpa at Borders!


Of course, Grandma and Grandpa couldn't resist buying D a new book! Here he is reading one of his new books at bedtime!

At the Bears game! It was a blast (although a little cold at the end) and the Bears beat the Vikings!

Go Bears! After the game!!!

I love when Aunt Nicki takes care of me! She takes me on super fun runs to the park!!

D is obsessed with all things balls! He loves this toy Chris gave him and loves finding the matching balls on his pajamas!

Coming soon (I promise, now that my business travel is almost done)...some better late than never: Chris comes to KC, Halloween fun and D goes to Chi-town!!!

Happy Veterans Day!!!!

Happy Veterans Day to all!!! And a special Happy Veterans Day to Papa! We enjoyed his complimentary Veterans Day meal at Applebee's today. If you are reading this and it's still Thursday, let any veteran or active duty military person you know that they can go have a free meal on Applebee's today!

D is doing great and is almost back to perfect! We haven't given him any medicine today, and he doesn't seem to be in much pain. We're off to Chicago this weekend and look forward to seeing family and friends!!

Wordless Wednesdays - A surgery update

D continues to make tremendous progress towards recovery! He slept a ton yesterday which I think was partially surgery, partially the medicine he was on. I switched him to just regular motrin last night and he slept until 5:30 this morning. I gave him another round of motrin and he went back to sleep until 7. The motrin appears to be controlling his pain and his fever is completely gone. He's much more cheerful and much closer to his normal self which is so nice to see! I took a conference call from home this morning - D didn't like that I was home but wouldn't pay attention to him! Aunt Nicki took him to the park and we've decided he's at about 90%! Thanks for your continued thoughts/prayers! We appreciate them!

Oh, and as Aunt Nicki pointed out to me the other day...this is the first time ever in Dylan's life that I haven't had to be anticipating another surgery. That is quite the relief!!

This morning after D woke up we read stories in my bed :)

On the slide at the park!

One of my favorite things in the world...going to the park with Aunt Ni Ni!!

Making mommy (and myself) a PB&J for lunch!

So nice to see him smiling again!!!

Tuesday Update

D continues to make improvement! He ended up napping for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon. When he woke up, he was definitely still in some pain and a bit edgy but he ate a pretty good dinner consisting of 'roni and cheese and almost a whole banana.

He slept great last night. He didn't really making a sound until about 5:45 this morning. And then by the time I got to his room with medicine, he had fallen back to sleep. He woke up again a bit after 7 and appeared to be pretty disoriented and in some pain. He slept on me for a while and then as he woke back up, I changed his diaper and gave him some more medicine (still the strong stuff). He had a fever of 102.2 and I talked to the CM nurse and they said that's higher than they like to see it. She said it was too early for infection, but he could be coming down with some other virus. It broke after giving him his medicine, so I'll just keep an eye on it and if not might take him in to see Dr. Kate. He perked up quite a bit after his medicine kicked in and ate a very good breakfast with Aunt Ni Ni. He seemed much more chipper, but definitely isn't back to his normal self. I'm at work, but he's in good hands with papa. He's been asleep again for about 1 1/2 hours, so hopefully he'll continue to improve quickly. This surgery has definitely been much more intense than the last one, and I know he'll be fine but I'm anxious for him to get back to his normal happy self!

A quick shout out to everybody that came up to the hospital yesterday to keep me company! As I mentioned previously, Kylie and Jody surprised us at the hospital. My mom, dad, Aunt Andrea, Aunt Ni Ni and Beth also came up to the hospital to keep me company while D was in surgery. It's a pretty stressful time and I can't say thank you enough to everybody for taking time out of their days to be there to support us. It means a ton! Also, thanks for all the texts/e-mails of encouragement. I appreciate them all, even if I'm not always the most responsive!

Eating dinner last night on the mommy high chair!

Opening presents from the Stump fam!

Eating a sucker this morning...Aunt Nicki said I was being a pushover, but if ever he needs spoiling, I think it's now!!

He fell asleep about 5 minutes into the walk with Aunt Nicki this morning!

Home, Sweet Home

Dylan had his surgery this morning as scheduled. He did a great job and has been very brave. He was not happy about being in the pre-op room and kept telling me all done and bye bye, but for the most part we were able to distract him.

D did great during surgery. Unfortunately, when Dr. Ostlie located the testicle in his abdomen it was no longer functioning, so he removed it. The good news is, it turns out you only need one and as Aunt Andrea said, D is all boy and is certainly not lacking any testosterone. I'm, of course, a bit disappointed but glad that we are done with surgery.

D was still in a decent amount of pain when we got home from the hospital. And he was very out of sorts and did not like it at all! When we got home, he was acting like he wanted to eat, but every time I tried to feed him he would cry. Eventually, we got him his medicine and he's been napping for about an hour. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers!

(*Note - you'll notice that D's face is pretty scraped up. We went to the zoo yesterday and D was running and fell on his face. He recovered fairly quickly and was running around again within a few minutes)

Getting into his fancy operating gown!

They had cars like we have at home! It was a great distraction for a little pumpkin that hadn't eaten all day!

Looking at pictures of Ella is always a good distraction!

Playing with the stickers we got from Kylie's birthday party!

Speaking of Kylie, Jody and Kylie came up to visit us in the waiting room! It was a great distraction and we had a blast playing in the house!

After they brought me to the post-op recovery room, I had to wait for D for a few minutes. After a minute or so, I could hear his hoarse little voice calling mama, mama! Finally, D came through the doors, looking awfully pitiful. He was pretty hysterical and the post-op nurse told me they had given him a couple of rounds of medicine and didn't think he was in pain anymore, but he just kept crying for me. Indeed, he did just need mama, after a few minutes he was sleeping on me.