look how long he is...

Vegas, Baby

I just got home from Vegas last night. Miles and I went three nights without each other. It was hard! I missed him and Frank so much. They picked me up from the airport and I rode in the back with Dude; he was fine, smiling and happy. When we got home I took him out of the car seat and he went nuts. He screamed for a good two hours. We think he was confused or realized it was different, that "mom was back." And it just messed him up. He finally got to sleep and slept for about six hours, which is normal. And he nursed like we hadn't skipped a beat. Very happy about that.

So tonight I was carrying Miles around in the Baby Bjorn and he passed out while I was making dinner. I thought it was funny, you may not think it's as funny as we did! Here are some pictures.

Mean mommy and daddy making fun of Miles!

Sleeping Baby

So Miles is pretty good about sleeping now. He goes down for anywhere from six to eight hours at about 8:30 p.m. now. He was going down at 7 p.m. and we've been pushing it back a little bit at a time so Frank and I can take advantage of the sleep. More times than not, Miles sleeps six hours then eats and sleeps about three more. I'm good with that. But those glorious nights when he goes down at 9 p.m. and sleeps for eight hours....those are amazing!

So I'm trying to get an idea of when he typically eats and sleeps so we can work on keeping his routine as routine as possible. And I think I'm going to start some cereal at four months...can you believe that's only a little over two weeks away!? CRAZY!

Milestones: Miles is in size three diapers (when there's a kid standing up on the cover of the diapers and your child hasn't fully mastered his head, you know you have one large baby on your hands!). We haven't weighed him in over two weeks when he was at 19.5 so I'll do that tonight. He's in 6 - 9 month clothes for the most part. Aside from his size, Miles started rolling onto his side and pulling toys to his mouth over the last couple days. Such a big boy! He'll follow Frank around the room with his eyes, smiles at him from across the room when he hears him, and he's spending more and more time playing in his crib and playing "alone."

We're working on sleeping without the swaddle, just takes a little longer for him to get to sleep, but he's also working on getting himself to go to sleep, so that's cool. There are several times when he'll wake up and soothe himself back to sleep by the time I get upstairs to him.

Can't wait for the plane ride on the 23rd! This should be interesting.

Gotta get back to work...more later.

Miles' First Thanksgiving

Miles' first Thanksgiving was fun. We cooked all day and Miles did great. Then we sat down to eat and he got CRANKY! I think he was fed up with the party. We had another couple over and Jo was there and the TV had been on all day. He was just done with it! But that was actually the first night he really slept through the night...yes my friends, we've started the sleeping trend finally in mine and Frank's favor!

Brazzi looks ready to snack.

This is Erika, wife to Kevin (who Frank was in Afghanistan with) and teacher to Brazzi. Miles likes her too!

More Pictures

I'm telling you this is Miles' first real tear. Frank says it's not, but it's the first I remember. You can't really see it but it's running down the side of his face. He is a sleep fighter!!

Miles staring at Poe the ugly dragon...

This picture was taken about a half hour after the last one. Tip: if Miles hasn't pooped in a couple days and his farts start to smell like his poo...put him in a cute outfit and plan to leave the house. Today, I thought it was contained, but when I went to push his onsie up under him to change his diaper, the back of my hand was covered in dijon mustard colored poo! It was up his back, on his side, on his shoulder...he got a bath and pimped his Seahawks outfit for the rest of the day. Didn't help, the Hawks lost!

Hee hee....

November 22

Friday night, Miles slept for...get this...NINE straight hours! I didn't even wake up. Frank couldn't sleep because he's been sick and he woke me up after about seven hours and asked me if he should check on him. He wasn't sure if I'd been up with him or not and he just missed it. He went up (yes, he's sleeping in his crib!) and Miles was perfectly fine. Sleeping "like a baby!"

I actually think I got too much sleep that night, I felt hung over the next day.

So, we hung out at home and played most of the day...

"I'm trying Mom, I'm trying!"

Miles loves to stare at Tom the dragonfly...


He'd rather stare at his dad though!



They're SO sweet...melts my heart!

Next milestone: last night, after six hours, Miles woke up to eat. I put him back down without the swaddle. He did fine. I think he may be too old for the swaddle, so I'm trying to not use it now. He seems to be a pretty easy baby, so this shouldn't be a problem...knock on wood!

Play time with Miles

Thank you Marecle family for the cool play gym! Miles LOVES to play with his new friends; Doug the parrot, Jamaal the monkey, and Caroline the giraffe...we name his toys after his family members so he can learn their names.

It's great for tummy time too. The toy you can see on the right of the picture on the floor is Tom the dragonfly. Tom talks with a lisp.

He's such a sweetie!

This is the swing Poppy gave Miles. We call it the Poppy swing and Miles just stares and stares at Bino the bumble bee. We have yet to name this dragonfly (he hasn't shown it any attention yet), but the Ugly Doll is Poe the Ugly Dragon...thanks Patricia! He's already gummed the horns and stuck one up his nose!

I woke up for the third time this morning and swore Miles had put on another pound, at least. I'll see if he'll sit still long enough to weigh him on our scale.

We are LOVING being parents. It's so much fun to watch Miles grow and change. It amazes us every day. He's this close to having total head control. He's doing so well with it and controls it really well, I think he just gets tired of holding it up sometimes...it is pretty big!

Pictures!

This is what I came home to yesterday...he's so cute!

Mommy loves Miles
Dad and Miles watching college football...


Miles' first election! Who was Frank voting for?!

Tummy time is FUN TIME! Thanks Auntie Annie, for the cool tummy time mat.

Miles will start sleeping upstairs in his crib tonight, as he's outgrown the cradle at the foot of our bed. I'll let y'all know how that goes! Should be interesting...

Two month check up

I'll get some new pictures up very soon, but I have to leave Miles' stats from our doctor's visit this week.
We went on Tuesday after we voted of course! Miles weighed 15 lbs. 8 oz. and was 24 1/4" long. Dr. Plonsky said Miles is in the 95th percentile but isn't concerned about him being so big. I was worried he was "fat," that I may be overfeeding him. Doc said he doesn't worry about weight until after the first year. He said Miles' feet are big and we all know what that means...I'll have to buy new socks soon!
Miles did well with the shots. We were contemplating spreading out the vaccines and not doing some at all, but did some research and talked to Miles' doctor a bit and feel comfortable about going ahead with them. I was worried he'd have a reaction to them, but he did extremely well. Not even a fever. I, on the other hand, had a VERY tough time afterwards. I was worried all night that he felt bad or was going to get sick. He's a tough little guy.
So, that's about it for the update. I'll throw some more pictures up here in the next couple days. I'm too lazy to get the cord for the camera right now!

Halloween

Miles was a sock monkey for Halloween! He really hated his costume, so we only put it on him twice. Once to answer the door for our neighbors who were trick-or-treating...

And once to go to the office to trick-or-treat...here's Miles and Ashley, his babysitting buddy!

Here is Miles with Duke and Hannah Artman...Hannah and Miles are arranged to be married in about 20 years!

This was pumpkin carving day with dad and mom...the Baby Bjorn is SO helpful Mandy...THANK YOU!!!

Eight Weeks...

Miles isn't going to like that I put his naked bum on this website, but I think it's the cutest little butt in the world!

Here's Me-Ma and Miles at their first meeting in the airport. I like to call her Crazy O Grandma, but who's tracking?

October 19 - Seven Weeks Old

To catch up real quick. At our three week visit to the doc, Miles weighed 11 lbs. 12 oz. and was 23 1/4" long. We went again at five weeks (total freak out on my part) and he was 12 lbs. 15 oz. They didn't measure him on that trip, but his 3-6 month clothes are getting tight. We go back on November 3rd. I'll update you then.

I CANNOT believe how different Miles looks and acts! He changes every day...it's amazing to watch!
My boys!! Miles is smiling a lot now. It's so cool to see him react when Frank comes in the room. He knows his dad's voice and grins at him!
Here's a BIG laugh!
After seven weeks we've mastered taking a picture of this beautiful act without including my nipple! I love feeding my baby boy...
Frank was swaying Miles (thanks Rach for the tips on quieting a screaming kid!) and he was peering at me...too cute!

We feel so incredibly blessed to have this little guy. I can't imagine my life without him now that he's here. And while he still gets up every two hours to eat, I'm absolutely exhausted and I'm going back to work in two weeks, I wouldn't change it for the world!

It's been a while

It's been over a month...oopie! I knew I'd do that. Get too busy and not update the blog. This motherhood thing is a lot of stinkin' work!

So, my dad came out in late September...here's Miles and Poppy at our house...they first met at the airport. Aren't they cute?!
We went to Portland for the beautiful wedding of Amy and Geno and Frank's dad met us there. Here are Miles and Poppity (or GrandDude) during their first visit!
Here's the whole clan (minus the couple of the year and parents) after the wedding...
A little tummy time for my big boy...he's so cool!