Faux Hawk

We literally get stopped on the street by people anxious to comment on Dane's hair. It's pretty ridiculous - all of his hair is in the vertical center of his head, and while that hair is long, he's bald everywhere else.

It can be hard to see in pictures, so we've made it easy for you. We had to wipe him down pretty good after dinner (hair included), so while we were at it anyway, we water-spiked the hawk. And we threw in a bonus - pic of Dane pre-wipedown. Please enjoy.

Jell-O Surprise

Dane had Jello recently. It was not his first taste of it, but it was certainly an experience. Cherry Jello at a buffet. (Hey, there's always room for Jello). Here's the photographic documentation of our Jello surprise - Jello for Dane, and after, a surprise for us...

I fought the Jello...And the Jello won!

Goodbye Willie.

The world lost a friend today. Willie Spicer (Jackie's brother-in-law's mother) passed away this morning, with family by her side and a lifetime of great memories in her heart. Her life was inspiring and her battle courageous, and we are the better for having her in our lives. If you had not the privilege of knowing her, she was a remarkable woman full of compassion and strength and kindness. Although she will be missed, her life is surely celebrated and her spirit is survived by her family and friends.

The world lost a friend today. And Heaven indeed gained an angel.

Picture of the Week

Here's one we've saved from our beach trip. Daniel and Dane dug a hole in the sand, and Dane had a blast playing in it. I think we wound up taking the hole's worth of sand home with us...

Fancy Footwork

Dane's been taking steps for nearly two months now, but it took a while before we would say he was actually "walking". He would do great if we distracted him sufficiently, but as soon as he realized he was not holding onto something, kerplunk! He'd pull himself down on his butt.

He must have gotten a confidence booster because today he took off. He was zipping across the house like he had been doing this forever! It seems that LITERALLY over night he has morphed into a toddler.

So Jackie, who has the treasured dream come true of staying at home, calls Daniel at work repeatedly to say things like "Oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe" and "He just went from here to there!". He asks "Did you get it on tape?" .
......
Why had she not thought of that? HOW had she not thought of that?! So Jackie grabbed the camcorder shamefully collecting dust in the corner, powered on, and was lucky enough to capture a few clips of Dane no longer just taking steps, but walking. We're sharing our favorite with you. Dane is trying to make his way to Mommy, and has to work around his chair and tunnel. Notice he sidesteps around the chair! Go ahead, tell me that's not the most darling thing you have ever seen. We are sooo proud of our big boy.

Must be the Ocean Air...

When Dane was having such a ball this weekend, we told ourselves "it must be the ocean air". And when he fell asleep as soon as we laid him in his pack & play and slept longer than usual, everyone said "it must be the ocean air". Well, I'm beginning to think it's lingering on us, because Dane is totally a different little dude than the past couple weeks. We're hoping the ear infections have cleared up, and all signs are pointing to yes on that one. He's gaining weight like you would not believe. 19 pounds at one year puts him at the 5%, and I think we're going to make it! It's the stinkin' cutest thing you have ever seen because he's long and lean, and growing a little potbelly - it's all going to his tummy! But he's doing just great and we're so glad to see the improvement.

Weekend Wrap-Up

After the past few sucky weekends, we were treated to a wonderful one. We ditched the stresses we've been dealing with lately, and hit the beach. We went to Wilmington and soaked up the sea and sunshine. Dane had a blast, and consequently so did we. We played in the ocean, splashed in the pool, meandered in the aquarium, and feasted on seafood... and sand. =)

This was Dane's first road trip, his first time swimming, and his first time at the beach. Dane was a trooper on the long car rides to and fro, he ate like a champ, slept beautifully, and took to the water like a fish takes to... well, water. He was so much fun to be around and we are so proud of the little person he is becoming.

Here's proof of our great time.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy FIRST Father's Day to the greatest daddy out there.

We love you, Da-da!

~Dane & Jackie~

Weekend Wrap-Up

Our weekend was pretty rough, but all is well that ends well, so we are not complaining. On Friday, Jackie took Dane to the doctor for his first "sick visit". Last week was really weird for him; he was whiny and fussy. He is normally a very happy, smiley, giggly baby.

Dane has a double ear infection. His little baby ears are pretty bad, and the doctor said he bets Dane was carrying on about it! He's on a ten day round of Amoxicillin. We were told he should start feeling better through the weekend and he has improved some, according to his demeanor.

He weighed 17lb 13oz with clothes on. He hasn't been eating well and he's lost half a pound in the past week and slipped below the 5th percentile. This combined with our nursing less led the doctor to recommend starting Dane on whole milk. He said he'd like us to get Dane on 3 sippies of milk a day for the calories. A few days in, and we've discovered Dane hates milk! We'll add chocolate to it for a while to get him to take it and when we've hooked him, we'll gradually decrease the chocolate.

And on Saturday, we took Danny in to Urgent Care. He stubbed his toe. No, I'm not kidding. Daniel unsuccessfully tried to maneuver through the obstacle course of toys, a wild infant, and furniture we call a living room, and stubbed his toe on the coffee table. His big toe nail was barely hanging on by a little skin and it hurt (as you might imagine). They numbed him up, scalpelled it off and gave him pain medicine. The doctor told him to expect it to hurt and said that he had not seem that much damage to the toe nail bed before. 1 of 3 things will happen: a normal nail will grow, a funky looking nail will grow, or it will not grow back at all. No sandal season for Danny!

On Sunday, we were as still as we could be, purposing to not get hurt! Mission accomplished.

Picture of the Week/ Favorite Things: New Game

Yeah, that's right. A PoW slash Fave Things.

It's my blog, I'll do what I want.

This is a video of Dane's new favorite game and one of our favorite videos of Dane thus far. I think it's something like 2 minutes long and again, Mommy is very loud and muffles out Dane's giggles (Someone please show her how to hold the camera away from her mouth when videographing...).

The game takes place this time in the pool with Jackie and Dane. "You take it, I take it" is a hot potato of sorts, where Dane passes an item to you and you pass it back as long as he desires. I counted 29 passes in this video. He loves loves loves this game right now, and we just wanted to share this with you. Enjoy.

Welcome Home

There is nothing like getting home after a long day at work and being greeted with this:

Who wouldn't want to come home to that?!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This was a weekend we were glad to see end. Rather than bore you with the details, we're going to give you a high/low rundown.

Low's up first:

The power went out in our neighborhood... And it stayed out... for 20 hours. So the hottest day so far that year, we had no air. We had no light. We had no video monitor for Dane's room. And Dane's room had no noise maker. It was the very first day in Dane's life that he had not napped at ALL! Everything from our fridge and freezer had spoiled from mayonnaise to breast milk (you can't buy that at the store), so we spent a day emptying the unit out, scrubbing melted chocolate ice cream and whatnot from every crack and crevice, and doing our best to rebuild our fridge/freezer stash. A wasted day. Thanks Duke Power!

And the high:

Our adorable niece Katie danced in her very first ballet recital. And she kicked some little ballerina butt! It was absolutely precious and we could not be the slightest bit more proud of her and her accomplishments. This was her first year dancing and she did such a fabulous job. No flash photography was allowed, so you'll have to settle for a few less professional shots Kit-Kat was kind enough to grace us with at her after-party.

Tell me you have ever seen a more beautiful ballerina...

And I'll call you a liar.

Picture of the Week

We had a mini photo shoot to get the right picture of Dane for his birthday invitations. And while they all came out precious, these were some of my favorites.

But if a picture was to be chosen, this would be our pick.

Stow Away

When traveling with a baby, it isn't uncommon to lose toys. We bring small travel toys along on playdates, to church, roadtrips, errand runs, family's houses, the park, and just about anywhere else you can imagine we go. It's inevitable to lose an occasional toy and you learn to take along the ones you could live without or do a toy head count in the car when leaving to return home.

But this curious creature made its way into our toy bin recently. Oddly enough, I happen to know exactly where it came from. But I'm interested to see if the owner can place it.

Tell me, does this stow away belong to you?

New Car Seat

Another new car seat. It took one scary day of Dane getting a boo boo at home while his car seat was in the other car (being driven) to push us into buying a second car seat. The boo boo was absolutely nothing, by the way, but it gets you into the mentality of "what if this happened, what if that happened....".

The plan is that the main car seat stays in Jackie's car, and the other one stays in the house on deck. It can switch cars for when Dane stays with Gramps or when Jackie's out with Jen and the kids or when Danny's got Dane for a boys day.

This was Dane's first time in his new car seat.

Happy Hour Pool Parties

This spring's weather has oddly felt like anything but spring, although the rain has kept us in check. Now that we're back at a billion degrees outside, we are ready to party. We bought a kiddy pool for our dogs last year (yes, we are serious), and with the heat we have found much use for it. Dane really enjoys splashing around, kicking his feet, and crawling in it. We get in with him and his toys and have a happy hour party. It's a lot of fun and a great way to spend time together. A very sound $12 investment for you with little ones. Here are some pictures of our swimmer.One month from today Dane will be 1 year old. I have it on good authority that outdoor toys would be greatly appreciated for those looking to get him something for his birthday.