8 months

My sweet Dylee Bug is 8 months old (as of yesterday). It's hard to believe that it has already been that long since he was born. My babies are growing up too fast!
Dylan has really started to really develop a personality and keeps everyone entertained. The last few days he has giggled every time someone says "beep-beep!" It's adorable.

He is now full on crawling, pulling himself to standing, and sitting himself up. When we play downstairs he often tries to climb the stairs and can get one knee up on the bottom step. This usually results in him falling and crying for about 2 seconds. He is FINALLY sleeping through the night (for the most part). We've started a new routine with him of having Dan take him to his room and rock him before bed. We always did this with Collin and he always slept great. That combined with Motrin for his teeth at bedtime has really helped! His top gums are super swollen and this set of teeth seems to really be kicking his butt. He's able go through the day without medicine, aside from the occasional swipe of orajel, but at night time he's awake every couple of hours without it. Hopefully those teeth will pop through soon!

Dylan loves to be right in the middle of whatever his brothers are doing. It doesn't matter how many toys I get out for him to play with, whatever his brothers have is always more fun. I often hear Collin or Ronan saying "Dylee!!! Mommy! Will you come move Dylan?" Which of course makes Dyl laugh. Ornery squirt!

I know I'm his mommy so I'm going to be biased, but seriously, this kid is awesome. He's incredibly sweet and loving (though he's become somewhat of a mama's boy and tend to cry for daddy) and giggles at everything. He loves to snuggle, yet takes naps in his bed without a problem (most of the time).

He is an absolute joy in our lives.

baby food

With each of my boys I have enjoyed making homemade baby food. With Collin I did it really well in the beginning and then tappered off. With Ronan I did some but he threw everything up in the beginning and didn't really get to eat much until he was ready for finger foods. With Dylan however, I'm stocking up and ready to go!

So to make my baby food, in case you were on the edge of your seat waiting, I simply steam the vegetables, or for apples cook them in the crockpot,

puree them in my Magic Bullet, or blender for bigger batches,

and spread the puree into icecube trays to freeze. (I bought trays with lids at Dillon's)

When the food is frozen I pop them out and put them into labeled freezer bags for later.

So easy! Each cube is approximately 1 oz of food. So far I have made peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini and applesauce. We haven't tried the applesauce yet, and are going to try green beans tonight. So far he hates carrots and peas but loves the zucchini, especially when I mix it with oatmeal. Wouldn't be my first pick, but he loves it and last night..... he FINALLY slept through the night. Dan had to rock him for about 3 minutes in the middle of the night, but otherwise he slept from 9:30-7:00. Awesome! Hopefully it continues because it was the first time I had slept through the night in nearly 3 years!

Our Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,



It's hard to believe that 2010 is already drawing to a close. Once again, the year has brought many blessings for myself and our family. The biggest blessing of the year came in a 7 lb 2 oz bundle on May 31st that we like to call Dylee Pickles (Dylan Lawrence). Dyl is now 6 1/2 months old and brings so much joy to our lives. He is constantly on the go, rolling and scooting all over the house,but loves playing in his jumper most of all. Dylan is always full of smiles his brothers adore him, and he in turn is constantly in awe of them.

Ronan is now 22 months old. He is able to say his entire alphabet, count to 10 and talks well beyond his years. Him being able to tell us what he wants/needs is nice, but whispering is still somewhat lost on him and it can make church seem rather lengthy early Sunday mornings. Ronan is full of energy, and is my sweety snuggly boy. Even though he is very independent these days he still loves to be held and rocked and would dance in mommy's arms all day if I let him.

Collin is now 3 years old. He is 100% potty trained, knows all of his shapes (even cresent and octagon!) colors, numbers, letters and a little more than half of his letter sounds. He loves to learn new things and is forever seeking new adventures. Though very independent and somewhat ornery, Collin has proved to be the best big brother Ronan and Dylan could ask for. He is very helpful around the house and loves to play with his brothers. His new thing is to say "I don't need you mommy" when he is going down for nap or going to use the restroom, but I know he still needs me when he surprises me with a hug and an "I love you."

Dan continues to teach first grade in Maize and still rocks at being an amazing husband/father. Our boys adore him and I can see in Dylee's eyes that he cannot wait until he is old enough to wrestle Daddy like his brothers. In the past Dan has always coached wrestling this time of year, but decided to take a year of from the demanding sport to spend more time with us. He is going to try to help out once a week, but didn't want to feel obligated 3 nights a week plus every Saturday.

Now for me. I am in my second year of being a stay-at-home mom, and couldn't be more thankful. Our boys do so many cute and crazy things during the day that I can't even imagine not being here for every one of them. I am still watching a few other children to supplament our income which keeps me very busy, and sometimes leaves me feeling guilty for using the phrase "mommy is busy" so many times in one day. However, this allows me to be with my children every day, and for that I am thankful. Being home all day every day with rarely leaving the house for more than church on Sunday can sometimes make me a little stir crazy. Dan has been wonderful at letting me have some time to myself to work on sewing projects, items for my Etsy shop or even just running to the grocery store to get away for a while.

The fun never stops around the Berry house, and we wouldn't change it for the world.

Wishing you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.



The Berry's

a new place to play

Collin and Ronan are best friends, which can make my life easier at times. The other night while Dan was at the library tutoring and I was cooking dinner, I went back to check on the boys in their room to find this.

The toy chest itself isn't new, but they have just recently discoved how fun it is to play inside of it.

6 months

Today I took Dyl to the doctor for his 6 month check up. The boy is a stud. He weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz and is in the 60th percentile. His height is in the 30th and his Berry noggin is in the 80th. My boys have big heads to make room for all them brains!
At this point in time Dyl is working on getting his first tooth. It's just starting to poke through. He can get up on all fours and rock, but army crawls like a champ ALL OVER the house. He also enjoys rolling everywhere. He loves to play in his jumper. The kid can go 30 minutes non stop. I can't help but laugh at him whith his chunky little thighs hanging out the bottom.
Dylan's sleep routine has gotten better. He's napping in his crib really well, and sleeps 4-5 hours at a time at night. He eats every 4 hours, and really only cries if he's super hungry, overly tired, or hurt. I try not to let him get hurt, but let's face it, he has 2 older brothers that LOVE him and want him to be big enough to wrestle.