The Ladies Man

CAMP SEASON IS OVER!!!!!!! The Hempens hosted their annual "end of camp" bbq (one of my favorite nights of the year even though this year it ended a little earlier for Declan and I) and Declan got to spend some time with his favorite ladies! We had a great night hanging out and Paul was very proud of his boy woo'ing all the women ;) I'm ok with it while he's still under the age of 2.........................

   In any case, we had a great night and we love our Colorado fam!!!! Looking forward to a summer full of nights like this :)

Ladies lovin' on some DB

Three awesome awesome AWESOME girls - they were at our wedding and now they're holding our little boy :) Very cool.....

I love when Aunt Tracy plays with me!!

And I loooooove when mommy kisses my feet :)

Moorreeeeeee phone pics....

again - I am unable to help myself when it comes to this cute little thing :)

Our little Soprano baby - just needs a gold chain and some gel in his hair and he'll be ready to roll

Father's Day outfit - Daddy's Yankee boy

ALL about the feet these days - he's SO SO close to rolling from back to front.....

Little buddy in his exersaucer at Nana and Pop's

Like father..............

.............like son. always with the blanket near the face

And just in case anyone is missing the early years.............I bet you don't miss THIS! After a long, hard day's work......

GIVE ME MY BOTTLE!

We've been practicing him holding his own bottle for awhile now and he's really starting to get pretty good at it! You have to watch out though, the minute he eyes that bad boy its over. He'll start pursing his lips and reaching for it - no matter how you try to turn his head too he'll turn it right back to the bottle - he's got it on a swivel! He's already got that "eye on the ball" thing down ;) Here he is yesterday feeding himself!!! We obviously have to help when it gets low because he hasn't quite gotten the "tip" down yet but he'll get there............boy's getting BIGGGG!!!!!

he's eating and watching the World Cup at the same time - mommy's little multi tasker ;)

Paul's 1st Father's Day!!!!

....and we spent it at Prent-Up Field :) Go figure, right?! Paul's in the middle of his camp season, this particular one being the boy's overnight camp so we hadn't seen him since Friday and we MISSED HIM! I know he missed us too and he snatched his boy up just as soon as we got the field to visit him. It was too cute, the minute Paul saw Declan he broke out into a huge smile and coached the rest of his session with Declan in his arms. 

Paul - we love you more than we will ever be able to put into words. You are more that just a father or husband, you are both Declan and I's hero and we are so so lucky to have you. Can't wait for many many more.................kids and Father's Days ;) LOVE YOU LOVE.

Rice cereal, attempt numero uno...........

After Declan's appt yesterday our doctor said we could start him on some rice cereal and here is the photo proof that it did not go well :) Tomorrow we try again........................ ;)

I can't wait to use the pictures on him when he's a teenager trying to bring home some ladies ;)

Another video - trying to use the spoon :)

My boys

I knew Paul would be a phenomenal father but I think until you have a child you don't know the love you will truly feel and/or be able to see in your spouse. It is just too cute how sweet Paul is with his boy.....I have never seen him happier and it is absolutely amazing.

The look of love:

SUPERMAN!

Watching the Yankees....my two boys................

Finally able to get their attention.........

Who is this pouty kid?

Does this make you want to cry? 'Cause it does me.................I think he just misses his mommy! ;)

ROAD TRIPPPPP!!!!!!

Oh my word - we will not be doing that again any time soon :) Times like these make Paul and I REALLLLLLLLLY wish we were on the East coast, or at least closerrrrr to the East Coast than we are right now. My best friend was getting married in Atlanta and Paul's family lives in Atlanta so we thought, "perfect time to bring Declan on his first road trip!!" - holy sh*t - while it was so so so nice for Declan to get out and see his Nana and Pop and Aunt Nancy and Uncle Scott, traveling with him was the opposite of anything fun. The entire night before while we were packing and trying to figure out last minute logistics the only thing we could think to say was, "this was a really bad idea". We're so positive ;)
   Seriously though, the Hogan's had gone far out of their way to get what we would need while we were there (car seat, pack n play for him to sleep in, food, toys etc etc etc) but still, the amount of thought and planning that had to go into traveling with this little 14 pound monster was ridiculous. And just a huge massive thumbs up and high five to Paul because he's the one who actually traveled with him - I just packed...that was the easy part.
   Needless to say, we all made it out alive, we learned some things along the way and Declan got to spend some good quality time with his Hogan fam. They took such good care of him and he is a lucky little boogar to have spent the time he did with them that he did.
   Here are some fun pics from the trip:

Nana and Pop!

Beautiful Aunt Nancy

Deco loooooved him some Uncle Scott! Always making him laugh :)

Aunt Nancy and Declan checking themselves out

Pop making Declan giggle

Little Cowboy

Someone likes his swing........

Smiley boy in his daddy's baby outfit!!!

More videos........

One of these days he will look at the camera and just smiiiiiiiile but until then, proof that the minute he sees the camera he goes mister seriouso on me: check out the smiles and then BOOM - big eyes!

Declan and daddy smiles!

THE MOHAWK

Check it out - we have to put so much lotion on his head because of his skin issues that we decided to try to do something with his hair so that he didn't look like a greaseball for no reason - thus the mohawk :) He's got a good solid 8 hairs to work with so this is what we came up......I think its pretty becoming on the boy! Can't wait until we can get a good one going!!

 "mom WTF are you doing to my hair"

Before the US/England World Cup game - waving the American flag early!

Cuddling with Gabs

4 months and climbing the ladder!

What?!?!?! Has it already been 4 months????????? We now have a little boy and not just a little newborn - Declan Brady has certainly started asserting his hilarious yet stubborn personality and I LOVE it. 4 months is such a short time but its amazing how much he has changed and how quickly he has grabbed a hold of Paul and I's hearts. We kiss him more than is normal for any human being to be kissed but I know I speak for Paul when I say, "WE CANNOT HELP OURSELVES!!!" There is nothing more that I look forward to than coming home and tickling him or kissing his legs and inside of his arms and hearing his belly laugh. I love holding him up in front of the mirror as he dances and kicks his feet whilst cackling. My heart melts when I'm nursing him and every minute he looks up at me and smiles. Literally every minute..............makes nursing an extremely long activity these days. Its so exciting to see him really start to understand that when he pulls a toy on his chair that its going to make noise, and so he does it over and over and overrrrrrr (you get the jist... ;) ) Most of all I just enjoy the time that Paul and I have together watching this little stinker grow and change. It is truly amazing that no one day is the same and I'm starting to embrace that - I am a creature of habit so it was a hard transition going from lots of predictability to NONE but it is so unbelievably exciting not knowing what Declan is going to do today :) A few things are certain though - he will smile, we will love him more than we ever thought possible, and he will poop or pee on mommy. It is what it is ;)

Little buddy's 4 month stats:
Height: 24.5 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 14lb 15 oz (50th percentile)
Head: 43.18 cm (75th percentile)
-----we're just climbing up the ladder..........

One thing that has been a little rough is his skin issue, but we seem to be getting that under control. He continues to have these little spots on the outsides of his arms and on his face that flare up and get better, flare up and then get better.............he had a rough patch when we took him up to Vail for an overnight trip and so after that the doctor prescribed some steroid cream which I didn't fill until this past weekend just because I was scared to use it on him - I finally broke down and got it and it has worked WONDERS. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it under control because it really is messing up my pictures ;) Jeez Declan!!!!!!!!

This is for you D.....

My brother is friggin awesome and I swear everywhere he goes he thinks of his nephew :) Its very very cool and even though Paul is incredibly anti-Carolina, even he can appreciate how much Davis loves Declan so he allows him to put on some of his gear - thus the little mini Tyler Hansborough thanks to D :)

The camera continues to freak him out

Almost a smile....

The next karate kid

Auntie Twace Face teaching Deco some of her moves ;)

Declan's sweet moves

Johnny Jump Up!

Declan LOVEEEES to play like a big boy and stand with our help so I figured maybe its time for the johnny jump up....clearly not - all he wants to do is eat it.

we'll keep trying...........