Due to the awful traffic we encountered on I-75 we arrived about 30 mins late, and Sarah and Brynleigh had already fed a Toucan! They met us at the elevator and we started our journey through the rain forest.

I recently acquired an iPhone 4 so I went a little overboard with the number of videos I took, but they will give you a little on-line tour of aquarium and some of the most exciting things Dylan saw on his rain forest trek.

The otter were little clowns and played up to the audience. They kept swimming right in front of Dylan and Brynleigh. I think they liked the babies. The babies certainly enjoyed watching the sea otters swim it up.

I have been to the DWA before and remembered there were quite a few monkeys in the past, so I was a little disappointed to see a couple of monkeys. I am not sure the babies got a real good view of the monkeys because they were kind of hanging out in the distance. They are cute!

We were able to park the strollers pretty close to the turtles and stingrays so the babies got a great view. Dylan said, “Turt-le. Turt-le.”

Dylan normally asks to walk when we are in stores and other places, but I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the people and animals because every time I asked him if he wanted to get out of the stroller and walk, he responded, “No.”

We spent quite some time in front of the HUGE aquarium. The babies liked watching the fish, turtles and manatee swim around.

After the aquarium we decided to go outside and visit the penguins!

These little penguins seemed a little sleepy. They pretty much just stood their and squinted their little eyes.

Luckily a few of the penguins decided to swim a little.

Here are the cute little stroller buddies checking out the penguins. They are cute!

About this time Sarah and I decided that it was getting a little too crowded with all of the daycare groups and it was almost lunchtime, so we started to make our way back out of the aquarium… and we somehow stumbled on an entire section we had missed!

So we saw some flamingos. (Miss Brynleigh liked these!)

We saw the shark tank. Dylan likes to say,”Shark! Shark! Chomp!”

And we saw a sleepy kitty… or LEOPARD.

We had a great time at the aquarium. When we got home Dylan kept on talking about it. He would say, “Fish! Turt-le,” or make monkey noises.

Although the DWA is a little pricey, I would suggest going, and going EARLY. It gets SUPER crowded after 10:30 or so.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Jim, Laura and Liam came over for breakfast this morning and the boys went swimming. Here they are enjoying the pool on Father’s Day.

So, here is a quick run-down…

Dylan is a 1 1/2 years old now! He is getting so big. At his doctor check-up on the 10th he weighed in at just under 27 pounds which put him in the 50th percentile for weight and he was just over 33 inches which put him in the 85th percentile for height. He is starting to slim down; although, he still has a baby belly on him.

We have been lucky to have him home with us since school ended and he keeps us busy all day! He still loves reading and has taken a bigger interest in building things with his blocks (instead of just knocking them down). Oh, and he likes to sort things… ANY things - he arranges them in piles by color, or size, or whatever else his little mind imagines.

And he talks… A LOT! His vocabulary is growing rapidly. Some of his favorite things to say are -

• Mom-my, Mama, and Mom
• Dad-Dy, Dada
• Pup-py and Abbey
• Mam-maw, Pap-paw
• Hi
• Bye-Bye
• Moo, Oink, Baa
• Eye, Ear, Nose, Mouth
• An-i-mal
• Bo-bo (belly button)
• Poo-poo
• Shoe (or sh-oo)
• Shhh (he likes to put his finger to his mouth and do this)

And of course… “No! No!” He says this to Abbey while shaking his little finger at her.

And one of my favorite new developments is all the hugs and kisses he gives us. He is a good boy.

I didn’t have high hopes that Dylan would enjoy it because I know it frightens a lot of children the first time, but Dylan seemed to really enjoy it. Here he is getting geared up for the big ride.

Once the music and the carousel started, Dylan seemed to be a little uneasy, but he didn’t fuss. His eyes just got big and he looked around. (Sorry the video quality isn’t great. The battery ran out in our Flip and Kyle had to use his iPhone to video).

Towards the end of the ride Dylan got a little fidgety and wanted down from the horse, but overall, he seemed to have fun.

Dylan has seen snow in Kansas before but he has never seen it at his own house. We thought he might enjoy the chance to frolic in it, but he did not even like to touch it.

Kyle made Dylan a little Snow Baby, but Dylan wanted nothing to do with it.

Hopefully he will get a chance to play in the snow when he gets a little older… maybe he will like it then.

Dylan has been busy since Christmas. He has moved up to the 12 - 18 month class at daycare and has become the baby “pack leader”. He is all over the place and his little legs move so quickly.

He loves playing with his Mega Blocks (mostly taking them apart) and knocking down his blocks; although, he has recently begun stacking them as well.

Here is a video of him playing with his blocks.

Dylan is a very busy baby! He loves playing, opening drawers, closing doors and getting in to things. He is still a happy little guy who loves to make people laugh. One of my favorite new traits of Dylan’s is to give his mama lots of hugs.

And this Christmas he looks like this…

I am amazed every day at how much he has grown in one year. He is still as sweet and as handsome as ever! We look forward to all the Christmas celebrations to come. Until then, here are some photos from Christmas this year.

Dylan has been blessed to celebrate Christmas SEVERAL times, and he even has one more to go (with Uncle Chris). The first presents he opened were from his teacher, Ms. Luisa, who gave him a cute stuffed frog and his Uncle Neil and Aunt Amy who sent him a stuffed Pooh bear. He then opened the gift cards from his Aunt Dana and the Martinez family (we haven’t bought him anything with them yet because we have been so busy). I was bad and didn’t take any pictures of him opening any of these presents, but I can assure you that he enjoyed it!

For Kyle’s birthday and Christmas Eve, we headed to Kansas to celebrate with family there. Our first stop was Lawrence to see Uncle Anthony, Aunt Jessica and the girls. Here he is spending some time with Jasmine and Samantha before bedtime. The girls gave Dylan a cute Jayhawk sweatsuit, but again, I failed document the present opening. He had so much fun playing with the girls and getting their undivided attention.

Since we were in Lawrence, we had to go visit the KU campus for some shopping and photo opportunities (Warning - LOTS of photos to come).

Here is Dylan posing with the “mythical” Jayhawk outside of the student union.

And here he is relaxing from shopping and practicing his basketball shot in one of the stores.

Dylan could actually stand in front of the statue of Phog Allen outside the Field House for his yearly pose.

And here is yet ANOTHER photo of Dylan with dad in the Field House (I might have taken hundreds of such pics… or at least it felt that way).

After spending time on the campus, we drove to Kansas City to see Uncle Andy’s house and eat at Jack Stack’s Barbecue where Dylan tasted a little brisket and pork; he wasn’t sold on it.

Then, it was time to head to Wichita, Kansas, to see Nana and Papa Smith and spend some more time with Uncle Andy. Dylan took a haul of presents away from Wichita! One of his favorites is the beautiful wooden rocking chair they had made for Dylan (which was technically a birthday gift, but he opened it on the 23rd so I am including it in the Christmas post). He thinks he is such a big boy because he can move back and forth and rock himself.

And, here are some of the other photos from our trip to Kansas.

Dylan is taking a load off in his new Mega Blocks wagon (again, technically a birthday present). He loves unstacking the blocks and putting them back in to the wagon. He hasn’t actually gotten the hang of building with them yet.

Dylan was a little astounded after opening all of his Santa presents and seeing his pile of toys. So much to play with!

More presents upstairs (non-Santa gifts)! Dylan got a Sock Monkey!

Here is Dylan giving Nana Smith some cuddles after all the presents were opened and everyone got dressed. He loved seeing everyone, opening presents and getting TONS of attention.

We had planned to leave Wichita on Christmas Eve after dinner to be home for Christmas Day. We intended Dylan to wake up in his own bed and have Christmas morning at home with Mom, Dad and Abbey, but the snow in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas kept us in Kansas until early afternoon on Christmas Day. It turns out that it was okay because we got to spend more time with the Smith family and have a fun-filled Christmas!

More Christmas posts to come…  Christmas with Mom and Dad (and Papa and Grammie Stevens’s gift) and Christmas with Mamma and Pappa Stevens.

You can check out all of the Christmas photos (at least the ones I have posted so far) at Dylan’s Flickr page if you are interested.

I hope all of you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did! We are grateful to have you all in our lives.

He thought about sending out thank you cards for the gifts he received (and he still might eventually), but he has been very busy with Christmas shopping, traveling and opening Christmas gifts (there will be some Christmas posts up shortly). So, until he gets around to writing the traditional thank you cards, he will thank everyone here.

He received some gifts in the mail and/or from people who couldn’t attend, so thanks to…

• Papa and Grammy Stevens for the Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical table. He LOVES it.
• Uncle Neil, Aunt Amy and Riley for the bathtub toy boat. He especially likes to chew on the anchor.
• Great-Grandma Stevens for the birthday money which went in his piggy bank.
• Aunt Dana and the Martinez family for the cute little Adidas track suit and Target gift card.
• Mammaw and Pappa Stephens for his big Tonka truck and Little People Farm.
• Ms. Luisa for the fun pull phone.

And thanks to those who attended!

• Sarah and Brynleigh brought him a fun Little People airport that he has enjoyed playing with (or chewing on the pieces).
• Jim and Laura for the KU wind suit. He made sure to wear this on his recent trip to Kansas.
• The Creegers for the fun Little People Bus. He likes to dance when it plays music.
• Phillip and the boys for his fun Caterpillar Cause and Effect toy. It makes awesome noises.

Here are some highlights from the event.

Opening presents…

Opening more presents…

Blowing out the candles.

And trying his first cupcake!

You can check out all the photos over on Dylan’s Flickr page. Thanks to all of you for making Dylan’s first birthday and his first year great! He is a very blessed little boy!!

In case you need a refresher, here is Dylan one year ago today…

And here he is when we left the hospital. He was so tiny!

Today Dylan can walk, say a few words and get in to trouble! Here are some videos I took of him this evening before bed. Enjoy!

Walking and playing with Abbey…

More playtime with Abbey.

Dylan attacking the camera.

And Dylan unwrapping a book before bed.

Happy birthday Dylan! We love you!

Today I have finally decided to take a couple of minutes to post some information about Dylan. Since my last post was about the visiting the pumpkin patch, I will start with Halloween.

I had initially intended Dylan to be a monkey for Halloween and had even purchased him a costume, but when I tried it on Dylan, he HATED it. He did not enjoy the “hood” that went over his head or the “mittens” that covered his hands, so I made a last minute trip to Target and fashioned a little construction worker costume for him… the mustache is my favorite part.

Here he is looking cute.

Dylan has been walking for awhile now (about a month or so), but we haven’t been able to get any video of him in the act. He sees the camera and sits down (I think it is his tiny rebellion). But, the other night, Kyle had his iPhone handy and caught a couple of seconds of Dylan walking to ransack his books before bedtime.

Here is Dylan walking it up…

I didn’t take any video at Thanksgiving because I was too busy eating, but I did get some cute video tonight of Dylan talking on the phone his Mamma and Pappa got him.

I think he is calling his Mamma to wish her a happy birthday.

Dylan will be a YEAR OLD in a little more than a week… I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!