Living (without) Color

The Gap casting call update...

So I did it. I shamelessly entered my kids in the gap casting call. Maybe one of those 20 amazing, awesome, beautiful/handsome, intelligent (just in case they read this) panelists will somehow (out of the billions of entries and cuteness overload) come across one of my children's photos. I mean if they actually look at them, how can they not pick them (other than *Ava's eye photo--whoops)? I won't solicit votes though. I mean, you can if you want...but I do encourage you to enter your own children!! And then if your child wins you have to take me on your trip to Las Vegas! :) The votes go towards the "fan favorite", which is not the same as being a finalist (those lovely panelists pick those)!

So, I thought it would be fun to vote, however I went to see the top voted kids...and they have like 20,000 votes! Are you kidding me? The top two are brother and sister, and let me tell you...those were SOLICITED votes. lol I mean they are cute kids, but uh, yeah not 20K votes worth. So anywho, I dont know 20,000 people, and it would take a lot more than the 5 blog stalkers I have to vote every day to even come close to that! I will still post the link so you can see which photos I submitted. I realized how bad I have been with taking pictures lately!! I need to get on that!! I need to get on a lot of things...like going and getting Logan out of his crib right now cause all I here is "momma din, DIIIIN, DIIIIIIIIIN MAMAMAMAMA" *din=Done :)

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/ldilley4410/249200147/
http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/dilley331/

If you click "see all entries by ldilley" you can see the others. I also had to submit one under Chris's name because I didn't resize one of Ava's photo *ie the EYE, and all it did was post a picture of her eye. Gee, maybe we'll win on most artistic photo! :)

Counting the ways my kids are AWESOME!

I think most parents have that innate ego that their kid's are the best, cutest, strongest, talented, etc...even when maybe they aren't so much. lol Well, I am no exception. Id like to share a random list of how awesome my kids are, if not only to prove to them when they are older that I DID remember to write some things down in their baby book (both are mostly empty at the moment---a lot like my keeping up with this blog :)).

Ava:

A few different times now that I have picked her up from preschool, one of her teachers walks her out to the car and just completely dotes on her..."Ava is such a good girl, she listens so well, she is just so adorable I could eat her (please don't), she is just so much fun I just wanna take her home (we can maybe schedule that)", etc. I feel myself blush a little when I hear how awesome someone else thinks MY child is, and a little proud to hear that she listens so well to other adults. She IS pretty awesome.


The fact that she came up with "What in tarnation?" all on her own.

She is already starting to refer to her daddy as "father". Perhaps one of my favorites. Our random conversation at breakfast the other day..."Mommy, remember when father bought me a train for the Christmas tree." And last night before bed, "I wish father were here."

She has no fear. Something that as a mother I wish she had a LITTLE bit of, but it still proves her awesomeness. She was the 1 yr old, climbing the highest slide by herself at the park. She is the 3 yo gymnast who does flips on the bar, with praise from her gymnastic teacher about being fearless. She is the preschooler, who asks her mommy to drop her off at the curb. She wants to walk in all by herself. She is Miss Independent, that's for sure!

I love the way she can walk into a room and make friends with everyone there! She LOVES to socialize, and is always trying to plan out our day. I love that she is so outgoing! She takes after her father on that one!

Always says at random times of the day, "I love you mommy". "Logan, I love you" or "I love daddy/father." "I love grammy/grandpa", etc. She is a very thoughtful little girl, full of love. Basically, she is awesome!


Logan:

Started saying daddy right around a year, maybe even earlier (told you Im not good at writing this stuff down). Said mommy right around 16 months, also about the same time he started saying daggy instead of daddy. I LOVE IT!

Has no problem tackling his sissy in a tutu or princess dress (see picture below).

He will try to repeat just about everything you say, and if he doesn't he just laughs...like as if to laugh at you for even suggesting he say that! (I know what you are thinking, age appropriate right? Well if you heard him say elmo you'd understand! His voice deepens, and he puts special emphasis on the oooo. I'll have to post a video of all his words. I know its something all kids do, but watching a baby learn to talk is just plain awesome!

Has been known to climb on top the counters, the highchair, back of the toilet, back of the couch, back of the chair...he climbs so much, I'm pretty sure he is part monkey...or maybe that's just "all boy".

When he does climb on something he shouldn't, I know this because its always followed by him saying "tada"! I have turned around after hearing "tada" only to find him standing on the top slat of the kitchen chair, on top of his highchair tray, and standing on the back of the toilet while I was in the shower! He is for sure going to give me a heart attack! "Tada" also means, "I just put ketchup in my hair", "I just put ketchup in sissy's hair", "I climbed on top of the bathroom counter and knocked down all of mommy's makeup, and now I'm wearing it", etc. Basically, "tada" is like "uhoh" only 1000 times worse. haha

He is very sweet and caring. After watching my friend Mary with her baby, he now will sit and rock a baby doll in his elmo chair and "burp" the baby. He loves babies! One good thing about him being around so many girls, he is gonna be an AWESOME boyfriend and one day husband and father. Yes, I can tell this at only 17 months. As wild and crazy as he can be, he has such a gentle soul. Basically, he is awesome!



Stay tuned to vote for my awesome kids, after I enter them in the gap kids casting call! Its not that I think my kids are the cutest kids ever and will hands down win, its that they have no clothes that fit them and there is a 1000 dollar shopping spree on the line. So please, even if you don't think they are cute, come back and vote for them, so that they might have clothes to keep them warm in the winter! :) Thanks for reading!

Babysteps Photography, Lesson 1: The On/off button

Here is what I have learned so far: I won't learn anything unless I turn the camera on! I started out reading all these "learn how" websites (which I will continue to do knowing me), only turning the camera on to see how the heck everything actually applied to my camera. And, I'm pretty sure the manual is written in a foreign language. :) I have learned a good lesson so far, the manual and the websites won't do me any good unless I just turn the camera on and start snapping away! So I did! And my husband has participated as well (I will admit a bit of jealousy cause he seems to know a lot more than I do and his pictures look better than mine!) Bear with me, as I just uploaded over 400 pictures to my computer!!! We have had a great couple of weeks to capture--The Great LaPorte County Fair and even a little mini family getaway for a friend's wedding. Here is a sweet pic of my little man (courtesy of Images.by.Chris) to keep you entertained while I make my way through editing the other 400 some pictures! :) MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ice cream!

My new toy, updates, and more promises!!

Ok, so I know the world has not stopped in its tracks because of my inability to keep up with this blog. The short of it...having two takes up a lot more time than I imagined it would! Not to mention, Logan has this amazing radar to know when the computer is open and will fly in from across the room (or the other room) to come pound on the keys, pull on the screen, etc etc. As you can imagine that has limited my blogging time to bedtime or naptime, formaly known also as my bedtime or naptime. However, Ive got a new toy and Im picking up a new hobby! Photography is something I have ALWAYS wanted to get into, and that desire has grown more and more since having children (the PERFECT subjects). I am planning to devote more of that former sleep time to my new hobby. My loving husband has made this all possible by gifting me, probably the best gift EVER---a brand new DSLR camera. (don't worry, I just learned what that means too) Basically, it means I have this really awesome camera, that I know nothing about! Its time to put my money where my mouth is and invest some of my sleep time into learning my new hobby! Im going to hold myself accountable by providing weekly updates (photo updates) of my learning progress.

My lesson learned this week...even on Auto, I hardly have to do anything to these pictures! Im very excited to learn the manual side of the camera, but for now Im just enjoying taking pictures without having to go in and edit every single one of them! Plus, I think I have finally got a picture that really shows their true eye color. A detail that is priceless to a mother! Whatcha think?

Ava is 3 and Logan is walking!!!

Where is the time going? Ava's 3rd bday was 3 weeks ago, this is how awesome I am at updating everyone! :) But, she had a wonderful birthday! We spent the sunday before at Grammy's house for a bday party, followed by Monday (her actual bday) with her best friends at the bounce house place, and then later that evening with Grandma and Grandpa Dilley! And Logan is walking more and more each day. He really started taking off this past weekend, after months of taking a few steps at a time. I thought Id do some spring cleaning on my blog, add some pictures, and a nice little update. We are all EXTREMELY ready for spring! Not a day goes by that Ava doesnt ask to go out and play. We were lucky with a week or two of park days and even one beach day! Hoping this 40 degree weather passes soon! Anyways, here are some pictures and video of the last few weeks...birthday, beach, walking, etc. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Logan's surgery

Logan had his hypospadias repair on Monday at Children's Memorial in Chicago. It could not have gone any better! It is such an awful feeling knowing your baby has to go under general anesthesia, but he did (and continues to do) amazing! We got there first thing in the morning, 730 am. I had woken him up at 330 am so he could nurse one last time. Knowing how much my little man eats, I thought being NPO was going to be so hard on him. But, he did great right up until it was time for him to head back to surgery. He crawled around in his gown, played peek-a-boo with the doctors and nurses outside his sliding glass door. He found his EMPTY sippy in my purse, which was enough to break my heart! He kept trying to shake it, then take a drink, then shake, then drink. Of course there was nothing in it. :( It was so hard to let them take him back! I thought I would be able to go back with him until he was asleep, but the anesthesiologist said he would be asleep within 2 min of leaving me, so its best if he just carries him back. UGH that was hard. But, Logan didnt cry, which made it easier. He just stared at the doc, holding his frog and sucked away on his paci. They put him under general, and also did a caudal block, which is like an epidural for pain control after the surgery. I couldnt believe how well he did!

They finished the surgery sometime around 11. The doctor came to talk to us for maybe 10 minutes, then we got to go see him in recovery right away. He was already WIDE awake and he had chugged down 4 oz of juice! He nursed right away and did so well they only kept us back there for a few minutes. We waited maybe another hour for his discharge instructions and prescriptions and just like that, we were on our way home! He didnt even snooze on the ride home. He took his normal nap and went to bed just like normal. He hasn't even been overly fussy, which is something we were definately trying to prepare ourselves for! Kids are amazing and so resilient! He was a little bummed today, after I took his dressing off. He seemed a little pissed off at me, but honestly thats the most change Ive seen in him ALL week! What a relief this has been! I keep waiting for the ball to drop and things to change. But, overall we are very thankful this is over with and that he has been holding up so well! What a trooper!

Mommy and Logan before Surgery

Playing peek-a-boo with the doctors and nurses

He found the empty sippy! :(

Trying to escape!!

AFTER surgery, still clinging to frog

Daddy and Logan after surgery
Grammy and Logan

Here he is later that day, 6 hours after surgery!!