Happy 1st Birthday Dylan!

The First Birthday Party. We decided to have Jeff & Dylan's birthday party at Grandma & Grandpa Gray's house. It was calling for rain but somehow we lucked out and the weather ended up being sunny and warm. The perfect day for good food, friends, family, cake & ice cream, and even riding for some of the boys.

Happy Birthday Jeff! I still think it is incredible that Jeff & Dylan share the same birthday. While Dylan got to play and socialize, Daddy got to jump on the bike for a few laps here and there along with few others.



After everyone arrived, Dylan finally woke up from a nap and came outside to socialize with everyone. This is Dylan with one of the twins, either Kadie or Kaylie (sorry I forget which one). I just know I got to keep an eye on these two. I saw her trying to kiss him, haha.

The cakes. Grandma Gray made the huge train cake. Each car was for someone's birthday including Jeff, Dylan, and Grandpa Gray. Also with close birthdays are my cousin Nicole whose birthday is 2 days after Dylan and Blake whose birthday is on the 3rd of October. Happy Birthday Everyone!

Dylan's Cake. At first he kept looking at me and trying to figure out if he was allowed to just shove his hands in. He just picked at it for a while actually eating it. Eventually he started to dig in though. With a little help from Daddy, he got it everywhere.


Present Time. Dylan loves Elmo. Uncle Dust & Aunt Alisha got him this one. As you can see, he was pretty excited about it, haha.

This enormous box was from Aunt Amanda. Dylan liked ripping open the presents. Although sometimes he would get distracted by the paper itself.

Dylan just dove right into his presents. When he was done opening them, he would put the presents right back in the bag. There were a few toys here and there that were hard to pull him away from just to get him to finish opening his presents.

And there's the sugar rush, haha. Dylan running around after the party. He took quite a tumble shortly after this in an all-out sprint to Daddy. No biggie though, he just got back up and kept going.

Baltimore Aquarium

After camping and hiking for 3 days, Jeff and I decided to go to Inner Harbor in Baltimore the next day. We asked Grandma & Grandpa Faith to come up and babysit Dylan for the day so that we could go to the Baltimore Aquarium. When we got to Baltimore, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe' and then headed for the aquarium.

Neither Jeff or I had been to the aquarium in a few years and we knew there were a few new additions. The first thing I noticed, obviously, is the new entrance. When you walk in, this is your new view. A huge waterfall coming down from the Australia exhibit above.


"Aww...look, it's Nemo!" Do you know how many times I heard this while standing at this tank. Even when it was just adults walking through and no kids in sight. Poor fish will forever be known as a "Nemo" fish.




The Lionfish just looks awesome. There were a tons of really awesome looking fish but this guy is one of my favorites.




We just happened to walk into this viewing area right as divers were starting to feed the giant sea turtle and all of the rays. It was crazy watching them just swarm him almost immediately. The giant turtle eats 8 heads of different kinds of lettuce!!



Then there are the sharks. They are insanely hard to take pictures of because the tank itself is so dark. This guy was just relaxing.

The Amazon River Forest area is my favorite. The scenery, the fog, the turtles and dwarf caiman. Yep, definitely my favorite part.

Hiking Tumbling Run

Tumbling Run is between Caledonia State Park & Pine Grove Furnace. It is an absolutely beautiful hike. This is how we decided to start off our vacation. We dropped Dylan off at Grandma Gray's house Monday morning and then heading out to climb up Tumbling Run and over to Lewis Rocks. This was our "first" vacation since Dylan was born. We took trips here and there all through the summer but not for this long. It was the first time either Jeff or I had been away from Dylan for more than 24 hours.


This is at the beginning of Tumbling Run. At first you just follow a decent size path along a stream up through Michaux State Forest (I think). It was a perfect day for a hike. When we first started I remember being just a little chilly but that didn't last long.



This is the bottom of falls. Everything past this point is just giant boulders, water, and trees. We went straight up through the rocks to the top. Clear skies, fresh air, no cell service. It was nice to get away, haha.



I think that this was by far the best spot on the whole hike. There was a lot of water rushing under all the rocks that you were standing on, under trees and roots too. All of the water was so spread out and going down through the rocks in so many different places.


This was at the top of Tumbling Run. Resting on a rock for a minute before we kept hiking across the top of the mountain to Lewis Rocks.

The view from the top. We seriously could not have picked a better day to hike up here. At the top, I could see several rows of mountains all of them varying in shades of blues and green.

At one point, Jeff climbed up some different rocks to get more pictures and while away I heard some loud crazy animal noises. I seriously thought I was about to be attacked by a bear or pig because that's what it sounded like. Nope...it was these huge, big, nasty, ugly, scary-looking birds!

Nine to Twelve Months

The football season had started and of course Dylan was sporting the Eagles gear! In these months, Dylan practiced his walking skills and it didn't take long for him to go go go. Dylan spent very little time walking along furniture. He was brave and let go and started walking on his own at about 9 1/2 months. From then on, Dylan just tried to go faster and faster until he officially mastered the running stuff, haha. Now I spend my days on a marathon run with him. If you don't believe me, babysit him for a day, haha.


This summer was very fun for all of us. We took a trip to North Beach, MD and stayed at Aunt Laura's house.

Dylan stayed with Grandma and Aunt Laura while Jeff and I went to watch the Motocross national at Budds Creek with Grandpa and some others.

This summer was full of fun trips to Raystown Lake. Every Sunday morning all three of us would pack up the car and head to the lake. We met Grandma & Grandpa Gray there as well as Aunt Amanda & JR.  

Dylan had fun in the sun and splashing around the lake while Daddy was busy trying to throw Mommy off the jetski, haha.

Mommy's little monkey. We were hanging out with the Faith family at Aunt Joan's house swimming, playing with the girls, and running all over.



Playing at the playground while camping with Grandma Ginger in Gettysburg. Dylan loved the swing and walking around in the sand with bare feet.

This is at Raystown again. Unfortunately for Dylan, the area had a little slope deal going on. He was fighting a constant battle of not rolling down a big hill and climbing to where he wanted to go, haha.

Dylan James Gray. You are by far the most adorable little boy in the world. So many things have changed is a year. You have grown in so many ways. You are the greatest gift!

Six to Nine Months

Dylan & Reese. These two were so cute to watch play together. We took a few trips down to Lancaster to visit with Shelly and Reese. In these three months, Dylan become really mobile, haha. He learned to sit up, get up on all fours, crawl, pull himself up, and cruising along anything he can touch.


Dylan and I took different trips here and there to visit family or to just get out for the day. This is at Gifford Pinchot State Park which is about 15 minutes from our house.



This was also at Pinchot but a different day. Dylan was such a big boy at 8 months old. He already weighed 20 pounds and was almost 28 inches tall. And as you can see...quite photogenic, haha.





Dylan and Reese playing together. Or should I say practice their sharing skills, haha. By the time Dylan was 9 months old, he learned all sorts of new entertaining tricks. He learned to wave bye-bye, give high fives, points to everything, and walking as long as he has something to touch. He got brave and let go a few times too.

Three to Six Months

The days of putting the little one somewhere, for example, on a blanket on the floor and turning your head away even for a second are already gone, haha. My little boy went from an immobile little peanut to a determined, independent, and curious monkey so incredibly fast.

By 4 months old, Dylan had already grown to 2 feet tall and weighed 16 pounds. He could roll in both directions and constantly tried, haha. Dylan never really liked sleeping in his crib until this point. Now he started sleeping much better and longer in his crib. I just want to say a special Thank You to whoever bought us the bouncy chair, haha.

Once again, the entertainer. The easiest way to get Dylan to smile or laugh at you, is to smile and laugh at him. It's so strange to watch them become more and more aware of what's going on around them. There are little things here and there that you see them notice for the first time.

Mmm...real food. At 6 months, Dylan got his first taste of flavor. Mmm...Mmm...sweet potatos. He tried rice cereal a few weeks before but that doesn't really count as food in my eyes, haha. Dylan loves food and all of it!

Still no teeth...

The First Three Months

So I obviously just started this blog and Dylan is all but 12 months old now. His birthday is in less than 2 weeks. It's so hard to believe that it has been almost a year already! Where...seriously...where did the time go? Looking at Dylan though, it seems like he has changed so much in a years time.



My little Peanut. During the first months, Dylan did alot of this...napping. He was such a good baby. He took to breastfeeding right away and slept pretty well through the night. Well...as much as I could ask for, haha. Overall, he was always so content. Little smiles sneaking in here and there.




I was so happy to get out of the sponge bath phase. Dylan hated every second of it and we usually rushed through it as fast as possible. However, once we moved up to his bathtub, he absolutely loves bathtime.



At 2 months old, Dylan was already the entertainer. Always flashing smiles and making all kinds of noises. This seems to be one of the favorite pictures by many.

Ahh...somewhere between his 2nd and 3rd month, Dylan started sleeping competely through the night on a consistant basis. Thank God, haha! His personality was really starting to come out even more. He was always smiling, laughing, and making goofy faces.

Baby's First Christmas! My adorable little elf boy! We spend out first holiday together traveling to WAY too many houses trying to visit all of the family on the holiday. Dylan got a bunch of cool stuff for Christmas but was a little too young to actually enjoy the opening of presents, food, and toys. Next year...watch out!

Prego days

My pregnancy with Dylan went way too smooth from the very beginning to the end. A few things were really sucky but not too many. First of all I was 7, 8, and 9 months pregnant during the hottest months of the year and one of the hottest summers as well. Not to mention I was a grand total of 45 pounds heavier than I was used to by the end. Oh the heartburn and leg cramps were the other things that were very irritating. Of course this is completely disregarding the every pregnancy syptoms like never being comfortable, not being able to sleep, and constant bladder issues, haha.



Anyway, we all made it to the end. My due date was the 25th of September and I had a doctor's appointment that day. They hooked me up to some machines to check things out since it was my due date and I was obviously not having this baby now. It was funny because I honestly didn't realize I was having contractions until the nurse asked me if I could feel them. I felt them the whole time but it wasn't what I was expecting. I just kept thinking it was little man stretching out and rolling around, haha. Needless to say, they were surprised that I was having so many contractions but they weren't regular or getting any stronger so I went home with another Dr's appointment set up for that Monday but the Dr. laughed and said there's a real good chance I'll see you before the weekend. This was a Wednesday.



Thursday rolls around and now I was actually having regular contractions but they were spaced out by like 20-30 mins and definatey weren't that strong and stayed like that the whole freakin' day. Jeff decided to stay home with me that day as well since they were getting so regular. Somewhere in the middle of the night they turned from "oh these aren't too bad" to "oh dear god" contractions. I remember trying to sleep in between the contractions which were still 15 mins apart, haha. Friday morning, Jeff's Birthday, was a very nerve wrecking morning. I knew I was obviously in labor now and was scared out of my mind. Now I had to freakin' wait at home until the contractions were so far apart for a couple hours! I thought they were all crazy but we stayed for what seemed like years. We finally left for the hopital around 4:00 pm I believe.



Of course Harrisburg Hospital is completely overflowing with women and babies, haha. Seriously every single room was full! I was so scared but luckily I still got a room right away. They were so busy that I didn't even have a nurse assigned to me for a few hours. While I waited, I jumped in the jacuzzi. Oh yeah...that was a good idea. Soon everything started happened so fast or at least it seemed like it for me. Jeff was amazing and he did it all on his birthday! Thank god for him and my mom who helped me get through everything. Dylan joined us at 11:30 p.m. on his Daddy's birthday, September 28th.



He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. He was so sweet from the very moment I saw him. He only cried or should I say screamed his head off until they were done weigh, measuring, and diapering. After that, he was so quiet and content and staring at everything around him. He was so beautiful and perfect in every way.