Calazones

Delaney has been loving the kitchen lately. The other night we made calazones together. It takes a lot for me to let my hair down and let the kid and the kitchen get messy, but I'm making great strides in this area!

Playing in the flour was Delaney's specialty.

This munchkin was such a great "help."

Delaney insists on wearing my apron like a cape every time she's in the kitchen with me.

Yup, we had some fun.

Baby Boy

We received the very exciting news on Monday, September 20th, that we will be expecting a baby boy! To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. For various reasons, I had my mind made up that we would be having another girl. Steve and I are so thrilled at the prospect of raising a little man. A whole new world is opening up to me! Not being a boy myself, I am a little unsure of how to even go about raising a boy; however, I am blessed to have many friends that are mommies of boys. I'm sure they'll help steer us in the right direction!

If you talk to my family, they'll refer to the baby as Jimmy Doug. This is not the baby's name, but feel free to humor my Dad. We have decided on naming our little buddy Jude William Dunlap. We chose Jude because it means "praise" in Hebrew. Also, it's an amazing Beatles song. William was Steve's Grandpa John's middle name, and it just seems to fit.

According to my ultrasound and midwife, Baby Jude is healthy, perfect, and squirmy. So keep growing, little man! You have a host of folks who can't wait to meet you.

18 Months

Today is Delaney Marie's 18 month birthday. That's 1 and 1/2 years of existence, in case you were counting.

We celebrated by "dressing up" (I put that in quotes, because the Dunlaps don't really ever get fancy) and taking Delaney to Casey's Cupcakes, located at the Mission Inn. She was hyper before we had given her any sugar, so we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. We ordered her the raspberry cupcake, and then let her eat it. Basically, she played with the frosting, had fun feeding mommy and daddy, and then climbed around on all of the chairs like the crazy monkey child that she is.

The fine establishment that we visited...

The choices, i.e., which cupcake will make the least amount of mess?

Opening the box; so much anticipation!

Who's more excited here?

Feeding Mommy...

and feeding Daddy.

I couldn't love this kid more if I tried!

Happy 18 month birthday, little bug. Your Daddy and I are so proud of the human being that you are, and will continue to grow to become.

Portillo's

My dad is in town on business, so of course we hit up Portillo's Hot Dogs. My dad really likes hot dogs, as in he really, really likes hot dogs. Nana and Papa joined us as well, so Delaney was in heaven entertaining some of her very favorite people. In true Delaney fashion, she did a lot of socializing and very little eating. Unless you count ketchup. She did eat a goodly amount of ketchup.

Why waste time eating when you can perform for an audience?

See what I mean about the ketchup? How many calories exist in ketchup?

Action shot of Nana Dunlap and Grandpa Lee

Daddy and the Bug

Pretty much my favorite Father-in-law ever :)