Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was so nice to get out there on one of the few days that actually felt like fall. The kids had a blast and I loved watching Dylan taking it all in! He definitely loved his first trip :)

Dylan - 8 months

Little Bubba is 8 months old today! Can you believe it? This little guy is all over the place, crawling and climing on everything! I seriously can't turn away from him for a second before he's booking it for the stairs. He pulls himself up on everything he can reach and is trying to figure out how to walk along the furniture. He also LOVES to eat. Whatever anyone puts in their mouth he wants and wants it now! He's a little grunter, so if you don't turn and give him a taste, or two, or three he'll let you know he's mad! He might soon need an intervention on his addition to fruit puffs, but that's a whole nother post! He loves to give kisses and he says Mama! I love to to hear this little man call my name, especially since Gracie said Dada for about two months before she said Mama. Remind me that I said this in three years when he's calling out MOM about 150 times a day ;) He has so much personality and is such a joy to be around. I really am lucky to have such a fun loving boy!!

Don't you just want to squeeze these cheeks?

Wordless Wednesday

Hair Today...

Gone Tomorrow

My little guy got his first haircut last night. He looks like such a big boy without his curly little baby locks!

I think he was a little stunned with the result, what do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Let's go Dodgers!

We all went to the Dodger game last Thursday for Manny's big return. Thanks to my Dad for hooking us up with the sweet VIP tickets. This was the first game they'd been to so I wasn't sure what to expect but to my surpise that were both awesome! Of course Dylan had to flirt with the ladies behind us but that just mean that his big sis got hooked up with popcorn for the evening.

Here's Dylan after the exhaustion of waiting for Manny to do something big. After the third strike out, he just couldn't take it anymore!

Emliy's Birthday Party

I know, I know, I've been so terrible in keeping up to date, but I've actually been falling asleep around 10:30 which is usually my blogging time. Anyhow, two weeks ago was Gracie's BFF, Emily's birthday. It was at the Chino Kids Museum and the kids had so much fun. I would've never thought about having a party there but it was PERFECT! Tracy rented it out just for the party so the kids got to run around the whole place and us parents didn't have to worry about other people being in there. It was actually nice to be able to relax. Gracie had the time of her life and her and Emily were inseperable, as usual!

This is Gracie, Ryan and Emily. Ryan used to live down the street from us and the three kids were total pals. We haven't seen him in a while and couldn't believe that he's now a whole head taller than the girls. He's only 7 months older than Emily.

Little Dyl having a blast.

It took Nathan a while to warm up around all the kids, but once he did he had so much fun.

The Campos Family.

Best Friends!! Look at the post below to see the two of them just a year ago.

Dylan - 6 months

My little baby boy is half a year today! How did this happen? Where did the time go? He's halfway to one? Why can't he just stay little just a bit longer?

Well he doesn't have his Dr. appt until next week so I don't have any stats to share, but I can tell you that he's gotta be pushing close to 20 lbs.! My little man is a chunk :) And boy does he LOVE to eat!

So little man, here's to your 1/2 birthday! And to celebrate, here's just a few things that I love so much about you.

I love:

How your smile can light up any room.

How you search so hard for your sister the minute you hear her voice.

How you love to cuddle, especially with your Momma :)

How you practically dive for your bottle the minute it's in your sight.

How you talk in your crib for 15 minutes before you're ready to get up.

How being outside makes you so happy.

How you're such a good and happy boy, even in 118 degree weather in Havasu.

How you LOVE to chomp on your toes.

How you're trying so hard to sit up by yourself right now.

Your sweet baby smell, especially when I rock you to sleep at night. Oh how I wish I could just bottle it up.

Your contagious laugh. It's just like your sister's.

How you have so much personality. I can't wait to see that grow.

How you've added so much to our lives in the short 6 months you've been here.

.

I love you with all of my heart, my little Dyl Pickle!

A Typical Weekend

In Havasu that is!

We spent with weekend in Havasu with the Campos family and had a blast, as usual! The boys, um I mean DADS, got a little out of control thinking they were the latest rock band and singing until weee hours of the morning! Oh how I wish I had pictures of THAT to post! It was all in good fun though and we were able to spend time out on the lake, hanging out by the pool, bbqing and just plain relaxing. I hope we'll all make it back up there together before the end of the summer.

New Obsession

OK, so I decided quite a while ago that I was going to attempt to make all of Dylan's baby food. I know a few people whove done it successfully and all their kids seems to love veggies so much more as they turn into toddlers. Dylan's babysitter told me yesterday that I needed to start sending more cereal cause my little guy is HUNGRY! So instead, I decided it was time to make him some food. I stopped at the market and bought a sweet potato, yellow squash, pears and peaches. I started with the sweet potato. I put in in the steamer, tossed it in the Magic Bullet and....MAGIC!!! Fresh, homemade baby food that's quite delish I might add :) I bought one tray of Baby Cubes which you can put the food in and freeze. It was $10 though, so I just used regular ice cubes trays for the rest. I'm obsessed!! I wanted to puree everything in the fridge!

My new LOVE, The Magic Bullet. My mom bought this for us two Christmas's ago and I barely brought it out. This bad boy won't see the darkness of the pantry for a LONG LONG time. I even made my morning smoothie in it today. 100x better than the blender! I heart you, my new little friend :)

YAY for sweet potatos!

My happy boy waiting for a taste test! He loves his new high chair. Thanks Grandma Patsy!

Dylan - 5 months

The little guy turned 5 months yesterday! He's getting so big, so fast. Here's what he's been up to.

To say he's a talker is quite an understatement. He LOVES to talk. Sometimes he sounds like an owl, sometimes a cat but it's just about my favorite sound of the day :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a roller! He's rolled a couple of times here and there throughout the month, but nothing consistent. That was until this morning. He must have rolled himself over in his crib a good 5 times between 5:00 am and 6:30 am. How do I know this? Well that would be because every time he did, I had to go in his room to roll him back over since he was not a happy camper after he ended up on his stomach.

He's now eating his cereal and bananas every day and loves it. We're on to oatmeal and then veggies later this week.

This guy LOVES his sister beyond words. She can make him smile faster than anyone! The minute she enters a room he's in (and trust me, everyone can hear when she enters a room) his whole face lights up.

He loves to be in his baby einstein exersaucer and his jumperoo. I love this becuase it means free time for mommy...not to blog of course ;)

Just after a bathtime
My obligatory nudie cutie pic

Big boy on his rocker

His favorite thing to chew on right now

I love you D!

Eatin' like a champ

After several unsuccessful attemps at feeding Dylan cereal it seems that he's finally got the hang of it. He was actually enjoying it tonight. Well, for the first 5 minutes anyway. I'm thinking that he really just might not like the cereal so I may just try to give him food and see how he does with that. Here he is eating away!

You know those nights where everything just seems to go right? Where dinnertime, bathtime, storytime, and bedtime all go so smoothly? Well you have no idea how glad I am to say YES ladies, tonight was one of those nights!! They have been coming few and far between so I surely celebrate them when they are here. To share my celebration, here are my two little angels right after storytime being oh so sweet!

Another Fun Weekend

Well it was another great weekend in Havasu for the Valdivia Fam. Driving up at night was definitely the way to go and both of the kids were great! We woke up and hung out for a while and in typical Arellano fashion, didn't head out to the lake until about 1:00 pm. So there we were in the Marina waiting for Gabriel to park the Suburban and get back to the boat.

We've got the kids all geared up
Sunblock on - check
lifejackets on - check
hats on - check
sunglasses on - check
icechest filled - check
towels, blanket, dylan's bumbo - check
alarm sounding on boat - check

Yep, that's right. Before Gabriel got back on the boat, the stupid alarm went off AGAIN!! Yes Tracy, it was Deja Vu! We just had the water pump replaced and the boat serviced at a hefty price last month when this happened. This should not have happend again. We brought the boat back in, which does not make for happy ,hot, sweaty kids. We took the boat back to the shop, left it there and headed back to the house. This is where having a pool makes for a great plan B. The guys had went to the market earlier that morning and had picked up some great food to BBQ later and so we just ended up enjoying the afternoon in the pool and the guys heated up the grill. Gracie's getting a lot braver and is doing better swimming without her floaties on. She'll definitely be swimming on her own by the end of the summer. Dylan went in the pool for the first time and LOVED it.

The guys picked up the boat later that night and all was fixed. We headed out to Moabi on Sunday and spent the afternoon there. All the kids were great as usual and they had a blast.

Nathan loved hanging out in the boat pretending he was driving. Although, he seemed to have gotten a bit distracted when Uncle Gabe turned up the jams and the girl next to us proceeded to jump up and down, up and down, fake boobs and all! Hmm....thanks Uncle Gabe!

We ran into some of Rudy's friends from work and they were in full party mode (Oh, the good 'ol days). They had Rudy bring out the beer bong and we had two very interested onlookers. Dang...where are those kids parents?? Don't get any ideas kids, you've got a good twenty years 'till you're having this kind of fun!! Stick to your sand toys for now!

We wound up our weekend by celebrating Grandpa Mike's birthday. We spent the afternoon at my in-laws with the family enjoying some more great BBQ. Gracie woke up this morning and the first thing out of her mouth was "Mmmm...that was some good birthday cake Grandpa Mike had!" Silly girl, she must have been dreaming about it! Happy Birthday, Grandpa Mike!!

Dylan - 4 Months

My little D went for his 4 month appt. today. He's actually almost 4 1/2 months but we couldn't get an appt. until today. He's doing great and is right on target. Current stats: 14lbs. 10oz., 25in. This puts him right at the 55th percentile. Poor guy of course had to get his shots today, so he was pretty out of it for the rest of the afternoon and only woke up to eat, then went right back to sleep.