The Faith Christmas Party

After we left Great-Grandpa Gallagher's house, we headed off to another Christmas party but this time with the Faith family.  My Dad & Stepmom, like last year, decided to have their small family Christmas the weekend before.  It allows everyone to be able to sit, eat, unwrap, socialize, and enjoy themselves without having to worry or run to other houses/dinners/parties.  Not to mention, it also helps alleviate some running and stressing on Christmas Day.  This year, Jeff, Dylan & I, are staying home for Christmas morning to have our own family time together instead of running off to try to squeeze in another Christmas party.  Anyways, so off we were to the Faith residence to visit with grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  Take notice to the HUGE stuffed animal in this picture.  This thing is big, soft, and cuddly.  Dylan spent the next morning climbing, hugging, and tackling the big guy.  I want to know which one of you guys had to carry this thing out of the store or mall, haha?

The Family Photo (left to right & back to front):

Daddy, Dylan, Mommy, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Dustin, Amanda, Aunt Blake, Aunt Alisha, and Uncle Cameron

Yeah it's a big family and this is just the immediate family, lol.

Blake, Dylan & I.  Wow, apparently I have a double chin issue, haha.  The three of us posing for a picture before the present opening begins.

Dylan & Mommy.  Dylan only had about a 15 minute nap before we arrived at my Dad's house.  I tried to keep him asleep as I carried him in and put him down but Dylan had different plans.  He decided to stay up and was surprisingly not grumpy at all.

Dylan playing with the fire truck that Uncle Cameron bought him for Christmas.   He also got a police car from Uncle Cam.  Both of them have buttons that play lots of sounds and music, haha.

Dylan ripping open some presents.  Every time he ripped off a piece of paper, he would say "Yeaaa!" and look around at everyone.  Of course, everyone repeated him and the cycle continued, haha.

Uncle Dustin opening some of his presents.

Aunt Alisha hanging out.  I like the new hair!

Dylan opening another present while Mommy & Grandma watch. 

 

For a little boy who barely had a nap, he was in quite a good mood.  Must have been all the presents, wrapping paper, and toys, haha.

Bow on the head.  It's just a cute picture.

Dylan & Mommy checking out the new toolbelt set that Uncle Dust & Aunt Alisha bought Dylan for Christmas.  Now he can help Daddy fix anything!

Grandpa Faith & Uncle Cam hanging out.

Dylan playing with his new, motorized, CAT dumptruck.  This thing is pretty awesome, I must admit.  Grandpa Faith even made Dylan some blocks to tow around and dump out.

Thank You all again for the fantastic presents!  Happy Holidays!

The Gray/Gallagher Christmas Party

So the Christmas season is here and Christmas is this week.  It is so hard to get to everyone's house for the holidays and everyone knows this feeling.  A few people decided to have Christmas parties a little early so that people don't have to rush out and off to other houses for more parties.  This past Sunday, our family had two Christmas parties, one from the Gray side and one from the Faith side.

We packed up Sunday morning and headed for Hagerstown, MD to Great-Grandpa Gallagher's house for the Christmas party with Grandma's side of the family.

Dylan decided to help pick up and throw away wrapping paper. Or he'll just dig paper out to throw it away again, haha.

Grandma Gray opening some presents.

Grandpa Gray, Aunt Amanda & JR. Grandpa was checking out Aunt Amanda's new/ancient book that she got for Christmas.

Great-Grandpa Gallagher awaiting his turn to open his gifts.

Grandma Gray & Aunt Laura. They were reading our family Christmas card. It was full of information, haha.

Adam checking out his new book that he got for Christmas.

Dylan & Aunt Tina.

Dylan & Brian.  Dylan stretched out and laid down on Brian's lap.  Dylan had a blast playing with his buddy Brian.

Dylan opening one of his Christmas presents.  It takes him a little bit to open them.  He tears off small pieces of paper at a time, haha.

Dylan checking out his presents.  He got a cute & cuddly Pooh and a Pooh jacket too from Aunt Laura.

Dylan playing on his new music/dance mat that Matt, Tina & Brian got him for Christmas.  He was dancing in circle on it before the batteries were even in.

Dylan playing with Grandma Gray's snowman.  He liked this guy!

Thank You everyone for all of the wonderful gifts! Merry Christmas!

A Visit from "Aunt" Nicole

My old roommate, Nicole, came up to Dillsburg yesterday to visit with the family and hang out for a bit.  Although she is not technically his "Aunt," she is definitely an Aunt.  Since she was probably not going to be able to see Dylan again before Christmas arrived, she brought some Christmas presents for him.  A+ on the choices too, haha!  Dylan got a super soft giraffe, a video camera, and a leap frog radio!

Dylan had a blast playing with them all day yesterday and so far that is all he played with this morning, hehe.  Dylan even wanted to take his new giraffe along with bunny to bed last night!

Dylan liked Nicole. He was on his best behavior all day and warmed up to her very quickly. When we came downstairs from his nap, Nicole was already here and hanging out in the living room. Dylan did a few glances back and forth between Nicole and I. I put him down and walked into the kitchen. He started to follow me but stopped a few steps in. He was pointing into the living room and then making a waving motion with his hand. I told him to go say hi and he slowly peeked back into the living room. He shyly stood up against the wall, waved, and said Hi to Nicole. Dylan played, danced, and talked up a storm while Nicole was here. He even gave her a kiss goodbye.

Thank you for the early Christmas gifts Aunt Nicole!

Christmas Tree

Last Christmas was a somewhat hectic Christmas for the three of us. Dylan was a tiny tot at 3 months old. We decided we were going to try to go to all or at least most of the family Christmas parties since it was Dylan's first Christmas. It did feel slightly like a marathon at times, haha. Long story short, Jeff and I never bothered to put up a tree last year.

Grandma & Grandpa Faith bought us a tree last year after the Christmas season. And that's how we got out first tree, lol. This year we got to put up the tree and decorate it with Dylan's help, of course. Notice how there are very few ornaments at the bottom within his reach, lol. A couple weekends ago, Dylan, Daddy & I went out shopping to put up the remainder items needed to decorate our tree. We might have picked a not so smart time to do it, but oh well. We ended up driving home in a small snow storm that turned out to be pretty slippery.

Dylan is definately excited about the Christmas season. He is not quite sure what is going on but he knows something is up. He keeps seeing trees inside peoples houses, lights everywhere, white stuff falling from the sky. It should be a blast to see how he takes it all in this year considering how much more aware he is. Last year, he pretty much slept through Christmas while Daddy & I fought over opening presents, haha.

The other side of Dylan

For the most part, Dylan is a goofy, happy, and silly kid. However, he obviously has some moments that aren't so happy. Sometimes Dylan is quite emotional and it's usually around bed/nap times, haha.

In this picture, all that I did was put his cup of milk on the table which he wanted to put in the cupboard under the sink. Most of you don't get to see this face, therefore I figured I would let you see what it's like to break the poor little boy's heart when he's having a bad day. He was very upset with me. I hate being the reason for this face. I can't wait until he is purposefully breaking out the puppy dog eyes to try to con me. I quickly resolved the issue by handing him the cup. He took a drink, smiled, and then put it back on the table himself. What? Apparently it's ok if he does it, but not the case for me or at least at this moment in time, haha.

(Oh, just an FYI...I checked the timestamp on these two pictures and they were taking within the same minute, haha.  I was not exaggerating, lol.)

So I've heard something about getting back what you were like as a child or something like that before.  I really really really hope that is not the case, lol.  Nothing against Jeff.  It's more of my attitude problems/tantrums as a child that I'm worried Dylan might throw back at me.  I know it's hard to believe, me & attitude problems, but it's true.

But in all seriousness, Dylan is such a joyful kid.  I love spending my days with him and he keeps me smiling all day.  I have found that if you are having a bad day or just in a bad mood or funk, Dylan will find a way to be just goofy enough to make you smile and laugh.  He always makes my day better.  I know that he does the same for Jeff.  When Jeff walks in the door at night coming home from work and he gets two steps in the door to see Dylan dancing and shaking his butt at him, he has to laugh no matter if it was a good day or bad.  Even though I spend all day with him, I look forward to spending every moment with him.

The definition of...

ram-bunc-tious (adj) --  (1) difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous.  (2) turbulently active and noisy.

This week Dylan has shown me the true definition of this word.

One unfortunate consequence to the cold winter season is having to stay inside a lot more.  This does not make Dylan a happy camper.  He loves going outside!  It also allows him to run around and burn off some of his energy.  Therefore, on weeks similar to this one, when the weather is rainy, cold, and just generally crappy, we are trapped indoors.  Dylan starts to go stir crazy and then that eventually starts to drive Mom crazy, lol.

For example:

I'm not sure if he plans things out or not but Dylan sets little traps.  

Step 1:  He makes the kitchen & living room look like a small tornado passed through and uses this to distract me.  Within minutes (I have no idea how he moves so fast) the kitchen/living room is covered in pots, pans, dish towels, toys, books, etc. 

Step 2:  As I desperately try to keep things slightly under control, he'll start making bigger messes that usually involve a drink.

Step 3:  By now, I have been cleaning and picking up mess after mess for several minutes.  As I am carrying things back into the living room to put them away, Dylan will do something that he knows that he is not supposed to do.  Or as I'm cleaning up a mess of spilled milk, Dylan will try to pull the nightlight out of the wall, or start the dishwasher, or try to throw something in the trashcan that does not belong there.

Sometimes I feel like I'm being set up.  Like he might be setting up the small messes to keep me busy while he trys to do all the stuff he knows he can't do.

Oh...not to mention, Dylan also has found great amusement in chasing me around the house by tickling me (Thanks for teaching him that Daddy).  He runs up to you pinching his fingers together and usually tries to tickle the back of your knee.  

I will be very glad when the rain stops so that Dylan and I can get back outside again.  It would even be cool to get maybe a little snow to go outside and play in.

Silly Faces

Just a little photoshop thing of all of Dylan's super silly faces.