Cheeeeez!

Dylan has discovered "cheese". No, not cutting the cheese. He 's been doing that for a long time, now. Somehow, he has discovered that when a camera is pointed at him to smile and say, "Cheeeeeeez". Below are formal pics taken last month when he first learned this new trick. Now, he's cheezin' for real. He recently joined the doctors and nurses at The Clinic for group pics. As the story goes, everyone was worried about getting Dylan to look at the camera and smile. Well, as it turns out, he became the center of everyone's attention by putting on a "cheezin" show for the camera. I haven't seen the pictures, yet, but I just know Dylan will be the only person looking at the camera...while everyone else is smiling, laughing, and looking at him. Doc and Mrs. Patti, I'm interested in seeing those pics when you get them. :)

These pics are a couple of months old, but I wanted to share them with everyone. He's making Daddy proud...sleeping with his ball. He'll make an athlete, yet. We'll give him until August, and then we'll start two-a-days. My goal is to have him dunking by age 3, hitting homeruns by 4, and winning the punt, pass, and kick contest by age 5. Then we can start the weight lifting program! :)

I've been catching a lot of flack lately, and rightly so. I'll admit, I have been doing a super poor job updating the blog. All excuses aside, I am making a vow right now to keep the blog current so that every one can see our "perfect" little child and all the fun our family has been having. So, with that in mind, get out the tide stick and let's play with the ketchup...I mean, "catch-up"!

Dylan turned 1 year old March 19th. Can you believe it? I'm still trying to figure out who I can legally file a lawsuit against in order to get "time" back. Hey, a woman was awarded millions of dollars for spilling hot coffee herself, it could happen. They could at least give us a warning label..."Caution! Don't blink! Days eat hours, and decades eat years. Pretty soon you're not hungry anymore because your stomach has shrivelled up like the rest of your body, and your kids' kids are having kids. Life is happening before your very eyes. See it all, don't blink!"

But, I guess if they did that, they would have to supply a list of side effects, "Not blinking, may (will) cause dry, itchy, sore, red, swollen, irritable, scratchy, or bloodshot eyes. On occasions, people have been reported to experience blindness, but this is a very rare side effect as most people cannot resist blinking for more than 1-2 minutes. If you see spots or nothing for more than 4 hours, you should consult a doctor immediately."

I digress...here are some pics of Dylan's splendid 1 year celebration. Enjoy and come back soon, as I will be posting more updates in the next few days to come.

February

Chilling in the stroller....

Don't you love it when your parents make you wear something stupid?

What? These puffs are good!

Bad to the Bone!! Putting on a show for my homies!

First Ski Trip and First Christmas!!

Dylan's first ski trip was awesome! As you can see from this pic, Dylan enjoyed every bit of it. We stayed in a 1 bedroom 1 bath bi-level condo which had about 3 steps from the living room up to the back end of the condo. Well, he loved climbing up and down the steps and did it pretty gracefully, really. He also loved hanging out with his cousins Tyler, Tanner, and Jenna. Oh, and he, as well as everyone else, LOVED Gran's cooking!!!!

Dylan's 1st snow...it snowed somewhere between 2 - 3 feet while we were there (Mesa, CO @ Powderhorn Resort). We had to shovel snow off of our porch and sidewalk every morning. The snow was great for a ski vacation, but I think we all decided that we would not want to have to live in the snow for any significant length of time. It was COLD!!!

Dylan's first Christmas...Christmas a little bit different this year because it was our (Mine, Laura, and Dylan's) first time to spend Christmas Day away from home. We had Christmas at "the Hampton's" before we left for CO. It was great!!! Then, we got back to the Chapman's for Christmas on Saturday the 27th, where we found that Santa Claus had found all three of us! Needless to say, we all received great gifts. Of course, Dylan's favorite part of opening presents was the paper and boxes. And, Laura's and my favorite part of Christmas was getting to spend so much QT with family!!! It was another Christmas to remember!

Dylan's first plane ride...I almost forgot because it went so smoothly, Dylan flew on an airplane for his first time. And, he was spectacular! Our flight was delayed about 2 hours due to weather. So, we spent just enough time at the airport to wear Dylan out. We barely more got boarded onto the plane before D-Mo was rubbing his eyes. Our flight was 2 hours long. Dylan slept from just before take-off until after we landed. He woke up one time on our descent. His ears bothered him just enough to wake up, but as soon as we gave him pacifier, which La knew would help him adjust his ear pressure, he went right back to sleep. He was perfect...like always!! :)

D-Mo's 1st Halloween

We've been slacking...no we haven't. We've just been really busy! We'll make up for it, though, with a couple of posts and lots of pics to catch you all up.


Dylan turned 7 months in October and enjoyed his first Halloween. He didn't mind the Jack-o-lanterns one bit. In fact, he had a long conversation with a couple of them. Dylan did all of the talking.


Dylan also enjoyed his first Fall Festival at Trinity Baptist Church. He helped entertain everyone at the bean bag toss. We gave out prizes to everyone that could guess which one was the "real Dr. Chapman". What a pair!!!!


What a pair, again!!! Cousin Jack Duckling and Dr. D-Mo in da house. 9 months and a few hours of interstate is all that separates these two. I can tell they're gonna be buds. Jack likes to give Dylan hugs.



D-mo is showing off. Yep, he's pulling up like crazy, now. I believe this was the second time we caught him doing this in his crib. It won't be long until he's climbing up and over...Lord, help us!!!



Dylan cracking up while we make fun of him being a Redneck baby in his camo! If you look closely, you can see his 2 bottom teeth. He's not afraid to use them, either.

You ever get sleeepy after a big meal? D-mo does! He didn't even make it out of his high-chair this night.

Looking Gooooood! Both of you!!

Family portait - "Three Are We"

Crawling @ 6 months

I know I'm milking a dry cow, but time is FLYING by! Another month of memories have been made. Dylan is now 6 months old and changing every day. In the last month, he has started crawling, eating baby food, and sitting up fairly good on his own. Oh, and he got in trouble last week for biting...that's right biting...he bit Gran's finger with his two new bottom teeth.

Laura and I recently experienced our first nights without Dylan. We went on a vacation to Virgin Gorda to visit some friends, and both of us were near miserable. We were gone a total of 5 days and 4 nights. You know how when you go on vacation, the traveling to your destination always seems to go quickly because you're looking so forward to it. Well, this is the first time ever that I was more excited coming back than I was going. Just another example of how becoming a parent changes your life.

He still says, "Dadadadadada" a lot, but he has started truly bonding with Laura. Anytime Laura leaves the room, he pouts and whines. Cute for now.

It's true what they say about dirty diapers getting dirtier when a baby is teething and even more when you add baby food. I hope I don't offend anyone, but I must share. Laura left this morning before we changed Dylan's diaper and yes, it was a nasty poopy diaper. Only this time, it was 3 different colors (light brown, greenish brown, and orange...carrots, I guess) and 3 different consistencies (hard, grainy, and runny). And, I almost threw up at least 3 different times...not really, I actually handled it pretty good, but...there was a time when I would have. Amazing how having a kid changes us. And, what crazy is he's only been around 6 months!! I look forward to all the memories our family will be making!!!!