Dinner with Dad...

Dylan loves his spinach! While it doesn't look like a lot made it in his mouth, I can promise you based on the next morning.... it did!



So serious....


Planning his next move....


You leave your eyes off the kid for one second, and yoink... there goes your Coors! Supporting the local team, I suppose. By the look on his face, he knows it's wrong. Only 20.5 more years, dude.

Dylan's Opening Day..and the Rockies Too!

Today was Dylan's first baseball game and the home opener no less. We enjoyed a beautiful Spring day, drank some beer, and rooted for the hometeam (they won, sorry Aunt Amy).


Dylan had to take a break...but it didn't last long!


"I love baseball!" says Dylan. We had a great time at Coors Field! It was so crowded but tons of fun to see everyone going crazy over how cute Dylan was! :)

Video of Dylan's Favorite Game!

The kid loves peek-a-boo! Who doesn't, right?

Broken Plumbing Stinks...literally

Last summer I started smelling something stinky in our backyard. Since I was uber pregnant at the time I blamed it on my hyper sensitive sense of smell and the fact that our neighbor had started a compost pile. Then in February we noticed that Cooper was keenly interested in this certain spot in our backyard. Layne went out to investigate and found a pool of stinky water that was slowly sinking back into the ground. Turns out that whenever we ran our dishwasher or our kitchen sink, the water drained but ended up coming up and forming a pool in our backyard. Needless to say, an 11' trench that was 4'-9' deep was dug and we had to replace our pipes clear to the main line. UGH! Luckily it was only our kitchen line. Here are some photos.


This is our trench.

This does not do the hole any justice. The hole is at least 8' deep. When the workers came the next morning we didn't even know they were down there because you couldn't see them from ground level.

Playing with Dad!

A fun Sunday with Dad. Dylan has to grow before he can fit into his Dad's hat but he still likes to wear them regardless. He is trying to grow as fast as possible. Last unofficial weigh in was 18lbs. He will be 6 months on Thursday! Yikes!

Yo, what up peeps?

Stay in Stockton for FREE!

We would like to thank Uncle Dave and Aunt Joanne for the best accommodations we have EVER had. If you are ever driving through Stockton we highly recommend swinging by Ash Street and knocking on their door. Dylan thought Uncle Dave was one of the funniest dudes in Kansas.

Dylan Meets Great Grandpa Beal

We took our first road trip with Papa Rick and headed due east to Kansas. Dylan was a great little traveler and we have priceless pictures as a result.



Four generations of Beal Boys. It was great fun visiting Grandpa Beal and Vera. They treated us to lunch and a tour of their rec center. They have a pretty nice setup in Hays.


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Dylan's Progressive Mess

Once upon a time Dylan didn't want to eat (as you can tell by his facial expression), so he got to play instead.

"This is more like it" says Dylan.


After all of the fun was had, he looks as though he may have ended up eating too much in the long run.

Where has Dylan been?

The past few weeks have been very busy, but fortunately the blog jam has broken free. Please enjoy the new posts!!

Some quality time with the boys

We had a great time in Vail last weekend, spending some quality time with some of our best friends. We hope Dylan grows up to have a group of friends as close as these. The weekend was a memorial of sorts to our good friend Justin who passed away a year and a half ago. We grew up together skiing and riding the Colorado mountains, so it was only fitting that we paid tribute to our friend in these same mountains. He is missed dearly, but never forgotten. We love you JLC.

Some post-ski hors d'oevres, and hanging with Torms and Joel.


The one and only Max!


E practicing the old baby diversion technique.


Torms and E entertaining little Dylan.

Hangin' with friends

Dylan invited some friends from the hood over for some quality couch time.

Lean to the right....

Get this kid a helmet!

Papa has wasted little time. Who knew they made ATVs so small? Dylan can't wait until he can ride this machine... with a helmet of course!



So how do you make this thing go?

Chillin' in his PataGucci

Dylan is really into high-performance baby gear. We didn't know they made mini-Patagonia. Thanks Laura and Rob!

The little man is either really tired, or he got into Daddy's "juice"


Don't worry Nonna... we still have Dylan on a strictly hops-free diet. Though we've heard good things about barley. For now, it's milk and a little bit of baby oatmeal :-)

Our little "Heartbreaker"

Dylan has been a sport the past few weeks. After coming home from his surgery, he's been working to get back into a normal routine. We're proud to report.... he's close :-)





Dylan really loves tummy time!


He's still working on rolling over...


Hanging out with Nonna!

Dylan in his birthday suit!

Dylan really enjoys being naked... his parents, however, have learned that it would be a good idea to lay a blanket down. Time to wash the bedding!



You lookin' at me?


Nice buns!

Cereal...yummy!

Dylan had his first introduction to "food" today. We were very impressed at how much did not come back out of his mouth. That was until we burped him. However, he did seem to enjoy trying this out and he also wanted to hold my hand and help...too cute!

We are doing well since we have been home from the hospital. Dylan is taking his sweet time getting back into his routine, which is wearing on his parents. But we are all trying to be patient! :)

Kick that CAM, Kick that CAM.... :-)

On Monday, January 26, 2009 the great doctors at Children's Hospital in Aurora were successful in removing the lower lobe from Dylan's right lung. We are into our second day in the hospital and the little man is doing great. He had no idea what was coming yesterday... and thankfully, won't have any recollection of the surgery.

We arrived at Children's at 12:30, driving through a nice Colorado blizzard it took a little longer than expected. Just in time, however, to get Dylan into his tiny hospital gown.

Still practicing to roll over. Dylan will no doubt learn this trick before Cooper ;-)


The family anxiously awaiting. Dylan is more interested in his fingers.


Dylan finally figured out that all this attention meant that they were about to take him away from his Mom's arms.


Pre-surgery (nice abs):


A bit hard to see, but wanted to show all you medically-minded Friends of Dylan the inner workings. Here you can see the middle lobe above, and lower lobe which was removed. The doctor noted that it was visually evident that there was something wrong with the lower lobe (different color and texture). They are sending it to biopsy to confirm that it is indeed a CCAM, and to hopefully give us some comfort that 2 spots identified on the left lung are not of great concern. We will continue to monitor over the coming months, so Dylan will be very familiar with the CT Scan here at Children's.


Post-surgery, and drug induced:


A better look at the chest tube. This, among other things, caused some great discomfort last night. We've never heard Dylan scream so loud, and yet so soft as his little voice was hoarse from the breathing tube.


We are very pleased to report that he is back to his old self... smiling, trying to laugh, and keeping us all entertained.


He of course has been enjoying his naps!


Thanks again to everyone who sent positive thoughts, prayers, and other good energy Dylan's way over the past few days. We know it helped him, but more importantly, it helped Mom and Dad get through it a little easier. We'll continue to keep everyone posted and will post more pictures as we get home and settled.