Holiday Wrap Up

I can't believe Christmas is over and we are back in Houston. We had a wonderful trip back to Mike's hometown in Idaho but I must say it feels good to be home and sleeping in our own beds. Now the trick will be getting Carter back on schedule, because right now we are back at square one. Between all three of us being sick, flying, being out of town for two weeks and then a new tooth for Carter, I feel like we have digressed and I am so discouraged. On a lighter note, here are a few highlights from our visit.

Cousins - We were able to see a lot of family and introduce Carter to his cousin Landon, just three weeks younger than him. This is a video from the first introduction. It took a while for Landon to warm up to Carter. Mostly because Carter continually tried to roll on top of him, or other times it was because he "talked" back to him and it scared Landon. By the end of the visit they were good friends. We miss you already little Landon. :)

Christmas - Our first Christmas with Carter was a joyful experience. He loved wrapping paper, shiny bows and most of all the attention he got. Mike got me an mp3 player and loaded it full of songs so I can take it the gym and rock out while working off my last baby pounds. He liked the mp3 player so much, he asked for one too. This year I made a family calender for my mother in law and I think she loved it. I've decided that homemade presents are the best to give and receive. Here's a clip of Carter opening his first present. (This is mostly for my family, we weren't able to make it to VA so I promised to provide some video and posted more pics on flickr) If life will be filled with memories and experiences like these - bring on the happiness.

Snow - After living in Logan for four years I never thought I would miss the cold or the snow. I am happy to report that we were so excited to see snow while we were in Idaho. It was beautiful. I had forgotten about the smell and sound of snow. It's magical, unless you have to travel in it, which we didn't, so we were able to sit inside and watch it float to the ground and cover the earth. It was also nice to bundle up in sweaters during the visit. It just doesn't feel like Christmas as much if you are running around in shorts. :)

If you've made it this far through my post, congratulations and thank you for taking some time to catch up with our family trip and putting up with my long post. I didn't realize I'd have so much to write... I also updated pictures on flickr.

Merry Christmas, Love the Dilles

It's been an interesting holiday for our little family. Through this holiday I believe we have all learned how important family is and what a blessing it is to have a loving family. Mike's dad went into the hospital on Christmas Eve for surgery to have his thyroid removed and won't be home until tomorrow night. So we had an early Christmas on Sunday for his dad. It's funny how unimportant Christmas presents are and what a focus they have become in our society. No one really cared what they received but what we cared about was the opportunity we had to gather everyone together, siblings and spouses and grand kids and parents. It's the chance to laugh together and the chance to feel the Saviors love that truly matters. So this Christmas I am grateful for my little family and I am grateful for the Savior, for his atoning sacrifice for me and I am grateful for the gospel. I hope each of you have a blessed Christmas full of love, peace and joy!

PS- We believe Carter will be getting his first tooth from Santa this year. I'll post more about our recent adventures tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Photo Shoot

These are some pictures from Carters holiday photo shoot with our good friend Marie. She was so great and patient. Here are a few photo "out takes" from the session. My favorite photos are on our Christmas cards this year. Thanks again Marie!Rylan Holleman, Tayson Ramage and Carter Dille. We couldn't help but get a picture with all three of our boys. Tayson is the oldest, then Rylan and Carter. They are only a few months apart. Carter had the same facial expression in every group picture.

Carter toppled over and discovered the trees behind him.

And here he decided he wanted to eat the santa hat rather than wear it. Oh well!

Marie showed me some new photo shop tricks.

Action

Carter in Action... The "Army Crawl."

All Giggles and Squeaks.

Carter Turned Six Months this Week.

Top Six Things We’ve Learned Over the Past Six Months

6. Sleep. We were told it would get better and it does. Our little man is a sleeper now and boy has life changed. Mike and I get adult time together and I finally feel like I have progressed from a zombie state to a somewhat well adjusted and rested mommy.


5. Solids. This was a battle at first and now he can’t get enough of them. Carters new thing is to kick his arms and legs with excitement when he sees the spoon. I have also learned that sweet potatoes are great, except for the times when he sneezes with a mouth full. Orange sweet potatoes every where, all over him, me and the dogs who are always nearby.


4. The Excersaucer. If you’ve seen our pictures on flicker you know that most of our pictures of Carter are of him in the excersaucer. He loves it and so do we. It provides hours of entertainment (not all at once, in small doses of 15 minutes or so throughout the day) and the best investment we made to date. Cleaning this thing is a whole other story, the soft triangles you see in most of the pictures have never been the same since Mike tried to “clean” them and then “dry” them off by flinging them in the air. The result was about an hour long project of piecing/sewing them back together –thank you Mike. Needless to say we are more careful these days with all of the mini attachment toys.


3. Mimics. Facial expressions, sounds, giggles and raspberries, he loves to mimic them all. One of my favorite moments was over Thanksgiving when Carter was trying hard to match my laugh at the table with my mom. We were all laughing and his little mouth attached to my cheek and gave me the biggest raspberry. It was such a pleasant and slobbery surprise. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know how he did it but it was way too cute.

2. Schedule. I remember the days when we didn't have kids and I thought Lindsay was crazy with her kids schedule. Now as a parent I know why she did it and she's my role model. :) It has changed our lives and brought order to our days. I have also learned through Lindsay that no one else understands the schedule like the mommy, and when I am able to get out I need to be happy that I am out and not give Mike a hard time about "messing" up the schedule.

1. Family Time. I cherish the times we get to spend together as a family of three. Nothing makes me happier to see Mike with Carter and the love he has for our son. It is in the quiet moments when we settle Carter in for the night when I can see the Lords hand in our lives. I know that Carter was meant to be ours and that he is the greatest blessing that we have received so far.

Carter Beau Dille turned six months on Dec. 4, 2007. He is now 19 lbs 4 oz and 27.5 inches long.

Nap Time

Yesterday afternoon Carter refused to take a nap. He laid in his crib for over an hour wide awake. So I took him out gave him to Mike then left the room and came back to find this. Mike having some "nap time" and Carter still wide awake and playing. Carter was awake from noon until around 7:30, with only a 15 minute nap in the car. Amazing.

Hurray for the holidays!

I love the holidays. With this being said, I have decided to deck our blog out holiday style. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. This is just the beginning I can see other creativity blooming in the near future for me. Mike came home today, looked at what I was doing with the blog and then commented about how he was jealouse that I could stay home take care of Carter and play on the internet. I have to admit I really do love being a mommy!