Delaney, the 2.5 year old

A few weekends ago, Delaney officially became 2 and 1/2 years old. Because we (Delaney and I, that is) love sweets, and because we started the tradition last year, our family celebrated Delaney's half birthday at Casey's Cupcakes by the Mission Inn. The half-birthday girl gravitated toward the same cupcake as last year, the very pink Razzmatazz Raspberry. Which just goes to show you that, if you ever go to battle against 2.5 year old girl and her love affair with the color pink, you will lose. No matter how hard you try.

Case in point: the pink dress.

This dress is cute, I agree. However, it's the only dress that she ever wants to wear. Delaney refers to it as "my pretty pink dress." Ick. She has such a lovely assortment of beautiful dresses, but once her eye catches sight of this one, it's all over. She insists on wearing it. Again, at least it's cute, right? I really should be counting my blessings.

Delaney and her entourage

Enjoying her cupcake

Anyway, being 2.5 years old and being Delaney Marie is a pretty sweet gig. This girl is energy, silliness, compassion, and friendliness, all rolled together into a pretty adorable little bug. There are so many moments that I think, "I just wish I could freeze this stage in Delaney's life." And then there are the emotional break-downs, tears, and time-outs that I really could do without. But overall, 2.5 years of age has been really great.

Look how long her hair has grown!

I asked Steve to put in his two cents about Delaney and he said, "She loves to make people laugh, she is so, so silly. And she's the most beautiful little girl ever." Yeah, he's a proud papa.

We love you, Laney-Cat. You bring us joy and make us proud every single day.

Mike & Arlene's Wedding

Approximately two months ago, Steve's favorite brother Mike married the lovely Arlene Vazquez. And the entire Dos Dunlaps x 2 gang got to be a part of their very special day.

Delaney was all set to be the flower girl. She had practiced being a flower girl at her Uncle Jeff''s wedding, and I was really hoping things would go smoothly this time around. Nana made her a "very special dress" and I swear I've never seen a more smoochable flower girl. However, Delaney is two, and two year-olds are very unpredictable, am I right? Well, long story short, Delaney did a fabulous job walking down the aisle, but proceeded to cry throughout the duration of the ceremony. I was mortified, my blood-pressure was through the roof, and I was feeling just a tad bit disappointed about the whole ordeal. The bride and groom, on the other hand, chalked Delaney's tears up to normal two year-old behavior and promised me that Delaney did not ruin their big day. Mike and Arlene, I love you. Once the reception got going and people began to dance, Delaney's mood drastically changed. She was an animal on the dance floor. She owned it. All was forgiven and we could not pull her off the floor.

Mr. Jude served as the ring bearer, which can be a bit tricky when you're just 5 months old. He sat in a wagon pulled by Arlene's nephew and look so dapper in his bow-tie and suspenders. Things went a bit south for Jude when the very solid, wooden wagon picked up a surprising amount of speed going down the aisle. We didn't really piece together the fact that the aisle was sloped until I saw my newborn bouncing towards me, looking as though he would fly out of his Bumbo seat at any given moment. I'm not sure if I'm being over dramatic about this retelling or not--he really did look like he was going to fall out and injure himself. Thankfully, somebody reached out and slowed the wagon down, and Jude just continued to happily gnaw on his bow tie.


Side-bar story: The bow tie that Jude sported is a hand-me-down from the groom himself, Mr. Mike Dunlap. Mike wore this bow-tie in his uncle's wedding, and then Jude wore it for his uncle's wedding. Did that story make you cry a little bit? So, so sweet.

All of the kid-drama aside, it was a gorgeous day, a gorgeous ceremony, with a completely gorgeous bride. And Mikey looked pretty good himself. And happy. Boy oh boy did he look happy. We couldn't be happier with Mike's choice in Arlene, and I'm confident that she's happy to be a part of our crazy family.

The other day when I borrowed their wedding CDs to copy a few pictures for myself, I mistakenly erased one of the discs. Yes, you read that correctly, I erased some of their wedding photos. Arlene, I'm so happy to finally have you as a sister. By the way, I think I ruined the physical evidence of your very happy day. Welcome to the family. Suffice it to say, once that happened, I stopped what I was doing and didn't snag any pictures of the ceremony or portraits of the bride and groom. Maybe someday I'll be trusted again with technology and try to post a few more pictures. Or maybe not.

Dos Dunlaps, x2

All photos courtesy of Alders Photography

7 months

Seven months, baby!

Jude is a great little guy. He has found his voice and loves to squeal. It's sort of deafening. Man, we can't take that kid anywhere without getting a few looks. But he's so happy and cute, what's not to love about that?

Mr. Jude isn't crawling and doesn't have any teeth yet, but I swear it's going to happen any day now. And yes, I've been saying that for about 4 weeks...but seriously, it's going to happen SOON.

This month marked my return to work, and I think we've all adjusted relatively well. He has been napping very well these past few weeks (knock on wood), but not sleeping so great at night. Some nights he only wakes up once to nurse, and I get so excited thinking that he's ready to start sleeping through the night. And then we have nights like last night, when he wakes up every few hours or so. It's a good thing he's so handsome.

Jude eats whatever we put in front of him, and he now weighs more than Delaney did at her first birthday. We think that he's monstrous in size, but really he's only in the 30th percentile in weight. Apparently there are some very fat babies out there throwing the curve. Jude's height is still above average at the 75th percentile mark. Again, not what we're expecting, but we'll take it.

We love this guy, and Delaney is a big fan of her Brother Boy. Life is good.

This picture sort of freaks me out--Jude looks a bit maniacal.

Stats:
Weight: 17 lbs. 6 oz (30th percentile)
Height: 27 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

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