November...a Revue!! (and picture marathon!!)

Okay, so before I get too far into this, yes I know it's mid-December and I'm ridiculously behind on stories and pictures...that's why there are 56, that's right count them 56 great pictures with this post :)

Dylan continues to be a delight! He's so happy all of the time! He still hasn't mastered crawling (he doesn't like hanging out on his stomach b/c of the bulge, but he is very quickly mastering standing. I have a feeling he might not crawl for very long before he just moves on to walking. He loves pulling himself up onto just about anything he can (he still needs a bit of help), and loves dancing at his music table. I promise to get the dancing on video soon, its super cute!

Dylan is having surgery a week from tomorrow (12/21). We don't know what time yet, but I'll make sure to post updates as things happen. Dylan has been home from daycare since the week of Thanksgiving, and we're doing everything we can to make sure that he stays healthy so we can get this surgery out of the way! There's some chance we'll do Christmas in the hospital, but we'll be surrounded by friends and family so it will still be great.

And now for November...

We started the month off going to Dylan's first birthday party. We went to Kylie's birthday party and had a great time. It was a Halloween themed party, so Dylan went as a pumpkin :) It was at the Lenexa Community center and Jody and Matt did a great job decorating. All of the food was great, and we had a fabulous time! Kylie is definitely one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen!!

Princess Kylie with Daddy (Matt, who I work with)

Dylan having fun with Felicia!!

They had this super cute place to take pictures...Dylan was mostly interested in eating the hay!!

So cute!!!

I promised Aunt Nicki and the fellow Cats that I would post the picture of Dylan sporting his Northwestern sweatshirt...and yes for those of you wondering, this was BEFORE they beat Iowa in football. We'll see if he ever gets to wear it again ;)

The second week in November, Dylan and I headed back to Chicago for Carrie Mac and Larry's wedding. It was our first time flying by ourselves, and of course Dylan was a total rock star. On the way out, we were able to bring on his car seat. He got fussy for a few minutes right before take off because he was a bit tired, but soon after fell asleep and slept the entire flight. I even got a bit of a nap in, which was awesome.

When we got there, Aunt Nicki picked us up and we went and had lunch at Grandma Toni's. Toni had a great time showing Dylan off, and Dylan charmed the entire office!! After lunch, Nicki and I went and got pedicures and manicures while Dylan took a nap in his car seat. After that, Nicki dropped me off at Erin's office and took Dylan on a field trip to Evanston. I changed at Erin's office and we headed to the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was fun and we ate some really great food! After that, we headed to the rehearsal. The wedding was at the Naperville Settlement which is a "19th century historic museum village". It was a really neat place to have the wedding. After the rehearsal, Erin and I went over to her parents' house for a while. It was great getting to see Jim and Jane, especially since I missed the trip to the lake this year!!

Saturday morning, we got up fairly early and I went to get my hair done. Toni had arranged to have my hair done by the person that did Zach and Nicki's hair growing up. It looked great :) Afterwards, Nicki dropped me off at Carrie's parents' house and headed to the hotel we were staying at to check in and get Dylan dressed. All of the girls were at Carrie's house getting ready, and of course Carrie looked absolutely beautiful! It ended up being the perfect day for a wedding! I had harassed Carrie about getting married in mid-November in Chicago...who knew she had ordered a mid-60's, sunny perfect day :) We went to the train station to take pictures before heading to the church. The ceremony was nice, although it was pretty hard. Afterward, while Carrie and Larry were dismissing people, Dylan definitely did his part in cheering me up. Erin and Nicki were also a huge support and I couldn't have done it without them.

After the ceremony, we headed out in the limo to take more pictures around Naperville. After the pictures were done, Erin and I met Nicki, Dylan, Toni, Aunt Beth and cousin Alyssa who were having lunch nearby. We said a quick hello, I fed Dylan and we headed out to the hotel. After a quick stop at the hotel, it was reception time. The reception was a blast! They had a photo booth with lots of props which was super fun! Dylan, Nicki, Erin and I had a great time dancing. There were also some other Kappas there, so it was great catching up. Dylan was a super charmer and did a really good job even though we kept him up a bit past bedtime. Nicki took him back to the hotel to put him to bed while Erin and I stayed at the reception. It was a great time and we wish nothing but happiness to Carrie and Larry!!

Dylan visiting Grandma Toni's office :)

Playing with Carsten in Evanston!!

At the rehearsal

Carrie's official introduction to the Marines :)

Erin and Dylan getting ready in the hotel!!

Making mommy smile after the ceremony :)

Having fun on the limo afterwards with Erin!

Husband and Wife!!

Looking adorable with Aunt Nicki!!!

Hanging out with Carrie's nephew, Grant!

Carrie always makes Dylan smile :)

Southpaw made an appearance at the wedding! Dylan knows that we aren't White Sox fans, but we're huge fans of Southpaw!!

Having a good time with mommy and Aunt Nicki!

Erin and I reliving some of our college days!

Have you ever seen a cuter little man in a suit?!!?

Hanging on the dance floor!


Mommy, just because there are hats, doesn't mean you have to put me in them!!!

Seriously...

Okay, now I'm done :)

Drink a beer, drink a beer!!

Dancing with Larry!

On Sunday, we had a brunch with some of Zach's family. It was very nice getting to see all of them. Dylan had a great time getting to hang out with everybody :)

Hanging with Aunt Mary and cousins Joey and Ben!

With Great Grandpa Lee and Grandpa Richard

With Great Grandpa Lee and Grandma Rose!

Having fun at his last day of daycare for a while...

We headed to Des Moines for Thanksgiving! Nicki had come to KC the weekend before to help watch Dylan while he was out of daycare. So, she was in KC to help me pack, get everything ready and drive up to Des Moines. We left on Wednesday afternoon and had a pretty uneventful drive :)

Thursday, Grandma Toni and Grandpa Karl drove over from Chicago. It was super nice of them to come to Des Moines so we could all be together for the holiday! My dad made a great turkey (as always!) and all of the food was fantastic!!! Actually, we had a slight mishap with the sweet potatoes, but I don't like those anyway ;) And in big news, the women took back the Trivial Pursuit crown!! It was a close race for a while, and then we got on a roll and won the game! It was great!!!!

Friday, we did something I usually completely refuse to do...we went shopping. Toni and some of her coworkers are sponsoring Christmas for over 100 people at a homeless shelter near Chicago. So, we went to buy 55 toys for all the kiddos. Dylan stayed home with Papa, while Nicki, Toni, my mom and I hit up the stores. We were actually fairly efficient and ended up with great toys!!

After we got back from shopping, Remy came by for a while. She'd been over for Trivial Pursuit, but Dylan had already been in bed. Dylan loved getting to meet her and is excited to go to her wedding in August! JoAnne and Sarah also came over to hang out and play with Dylan. It was great getting to see them both and catch up!

On Saturday, Nicki and I went running in the morning while my mom walked with Dylan. Billy's friends Nick and Erica came over to meet Dylan and hang out. It was nice getting to see them and Dylan had a great time playing! Saturday afternoon, Dylan got baptized at St. Ambrose (the church where Zach and I got married). It was hard being back in the church, but I'm glad we got it done there. Dylan was a champ throughout the mass and the baptism ceremony. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the water getting poured on his head, but didn't cry at all. Protective big cousin Ella, wasn't too happy about somebody (other than her) messing with Dylan. It was very cute! JoAnne, Jeremy, Sarah and Jeremy all came to the mass. Sarah and JoAnne took pictures and videotaped. Afterwards, we headed to Noah's (my favorite Italian, or really favorite period restaurant in DSM). Remy and her fiance Dave met us there and we had a great time.

Nicki rode back to Chicago with Toni and Karl and left fairly early on Sunday morning. Andrea, very sweetly, offered to ride back with us, so we didn't have to go alone. I fed Dylan around 2:30 and we hit the road a bit after 3. We stopped to buy gas and then noticed that the low tire pressure light had come on. We didn't have a tire pressure gauge, and the QT was out as well. We went to another gas station and checked the tires and they were all a bit low. I tried to put air in the tires, but I couldn't get the nozzles lined up right (for the record, the gas attendant came out to try to help and he couldn't get it either!). So, we headed to yet another QT and successfully filled the tires with air. We got back on the road and Andrea and I had a really nice time hanging out. We stopped once for dinner and to feed Dylan...my dad had left before us and ran into a bunch of traffic from construction, so we were able to take a highway around and avoid all the back up. Dylan did great, although got fairly cranky towards the end of the drive. I think he was just tired of being locked in his seat. So, the trip home ended up being well over 4 hours, but we made it :)

Thankful for Mommy :)

Papa is teaching Ella and Dylan about pool early on!

Pretty impressive that Andrea can handle both of them at the same time!!

Nicki and Billy showing Ella and Dylan how to play airplane :)

Proving that mommy still has strong legs and can hold up Uncle Billy :)

Awfully cute with Aunt Andrea!

Hanging with Grandma Toni and Grandpa Karl :)

Papa and the grandkids :)

Toni went a little overboard with Christmas presents for Dylan...just kidding, all of the wrapped toys for the homeless shelter!

Having fun with Grandpa Karl!

Hanging out with JoAnne and Sarah!

Why is this guy pouring water on my head?!?

Getting baptized

Getting ready to go on a walk with Papa

We decided to go visit Santa at Bass Pro shop a few weeks ago. Dylan was pretty chill about the whole thing (most things, actually) and sat on Santa's lap without protesting. He was really excited after he realized that he could pull on Santa's beard (Santa was less excited!). Ella wanted nothing to do with sitting on Santa's lap, but enjoyed hanging out in the winter wonderland. She especially liked sitting on the chairs inside the tent with Dylan.

All I want for Christmas...

Inside the tent :)

Okay, so this might officially be the longest post ever to date!! Like I said at the beginning, Dylan is scheduled for surgery a week from tomorrow. Any extra thoughts/prayers that could be sent our way would be much appreciated. I promise to update fairly regularly with any news about the surgery and our timeline to get home. Merry Christmas :)