This and That

Hello everyone, remember me? Long time no blog. Here's a little update about out little man and the things he likes to do these days....

Loves being a cutie pie

Likes being snug and dry in his bubble when it's raining watching mommy get soaked

Making a big mess while eating

Being silly when the camera comes out

Making a mess out of mom's cabinets

Playing with his new favorite toy, the box

Loves free play at Gymboree

 Playing in dog cages

 

 Loving on his new big, blue, bear (thanks Auntie Veronica)

 

Making a mess of the bathroom while mom is trying to get ready

 

 Sleeping silly

Loves hanging out with dad and getting piggy back rides 

 

Really likes that he has the type of friends he can hang out with in his underwear

  

LOVES being a daredevil!

That's pretty much Miles in a nutshell these days. Keeping us VERY busy and on our toes, that's for sure.

There's a Monster Lurking in my Cabinet

We have designated one cabinet that Miles is allowed to play in in our kitchen. Nick said that we probably should have chosen a smaller cabinet :) What do you think?

Fall Fun

We had a lot of fun this fall going to pumpkin patches with friends, going to costume parties, and handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. It was so great to take Miles to the pumpkin patch that I grew up going to and starting our own family traditions. And because he's too little to state his opinion on what he wanted to be for Halloween, I got to pick :) Here are some pictures from all the fun we had.

Miles the Moose

Holly cow this pumpkin is huge!

Wait, why are there so many of these things?

Please hold my hand Teagan, I've never been on a hayride

 

Our friends the Smith's had a really fun Halloween party

Buddy Charlie as a little lion

Cheese Ball

The steps we go through to get a picture....

Step 1: Blurry, excited, oh my gosh I get to sit in the big chair by myself, mess

 

Step 2: Check out the craftsmanship of the chair and ignore mommy

"Oh that is a nice chair!"

 

 

 

Step 3: Give into mommy's over enthusiastic squeals for my attention but do NOT smile

Step 4: Ok, give into her obnoxious prompts and smile, but only a super cheesy smile.

Step 5: Back to playing it cool

 

Step 6: Back to cheesy face

 

Ok fine, I'll give in and give her a good one but only with different props. That mom is so demanding.

9 Months

Almost a month ago Miles turned 9 months. Although I am not posting this until he is almost 10 months old, I did at least take these pictures closer to when he actually turned 9 months.

At nine months Miles is:

Weight: 19 lbs., 12 oz., 30th percentile
Height: 29", 90th percentile
Head Circumference: 18", 60th percentile

Is extremely mobile. He's crawling everywhere, going up AND down stairs, and I do think walking is not too far behind. He can pull himself up and cruise from object to object and can even hover for a few seconds when you let go. Before when you put him down he would gladly go onto his butt and then start crawling, but now he would prefer it if you stood him on his feet and walked with him.

Everything is fair game.... if it's out in the open, in a cabinet or drawer that is not baby proofed, he will get to it and proceed to pull everything out and scatter it around the room. This usually is "allowed" to happen when mommy is desperately trying to do something like get ready in the morning, cook, or clean something. I just look around and try to accept that hurricane Miles has just attacked. Cleaning up these days consists of just tidying up after him and not actually cleaning. This is why my house looks the way it does. Sorry for whoever comes over.

He is mimicking us a lot lately with sounds and expressions which has been hilarious. Daddy really knows how to bring the silly out of him, especially at the dinner table.

When we say "what sound does a doggy make?" he will respond with some kind of noise that we are deeming a bark. You may not think so, but we'll take it :)

Miles interacts with other children pretty well. He had his first kiss a couple weeks ago when he plunged right in for a wet one with a little lady he just met. He knows what he wants, what can I say :) He will also "talk" to other kids. They will send shriek messages back and forth to each other which is so piercing to mommy's ears, but glad they can figure out what each other is saying.

He has developed a little bit of a mullet (pictured above) which kind of drives me nuts, but I can't bring myself to cut it so I just sit there and play with it while he is nursing embracing the mullet.

Time is flying and I try desperately to store all these moments into my head as much as I can. Can't believe how big he is getting.

Adventures in Indy

You may remember this picture from last summer:

Well here are most of us now...

A few months ago Miles and I headed down to Indy to visit some really good friends from Purdue and their kiddos. Miss Julie and Macy came for a visit all the way from Rochester, and we hadn't seen Cari, Rigg, and Ryder in awhile, so we had to make a quick one day visit to see everyone. In my mind I thought no problem! We got this! Up until this point I could time so that during Miles's nap time, I could throw him in the car and he would sleep for at least 1.5 hours, which is a big chunk of the 3 hour drive to Indy. He would usually then proceed to wake up and happily coo and play with some of his toys. Was even hoping we wouldn't even have to stop because I had timed it so well that he wouldn't need to eat until we got there. WELL NOT THIS TIME!!!!

Here are some numbers for you from that little trip:

3: The number of hours it should take us to get from Chicago to Indy
5: How many hours it actually took us to get to Indy
3+: How long Miles screamed his little head off, hours that is
489: The number of times I called Nick panicking (as if there was anything he could do from home)
3: Stops we needed to take to regain sanity
10: How many minutes I sat in Park on the skyway at one time
74: Mommy break down moments
3: How many times I almost turned around and went home
30: Total minutes Miles slept
5: Phone calls from sweet friends in Indy checking on my sanity (they "witnessed" the screaming child in the back seat)
3: Number of friends that greeted me with open arms once we reached our destination
1: Very sleepy (but happy????) boy once out of the car and one very tired mommy

It was an adventure that I do not wish to repeat anytime soon but once we got there it was SO great to visit with friends and meet Miss Macy for the first time. The only sad part was that our good friend Michele was not able to join us this visit, but we all get to rendezvous again next week (sans Miles) where she will be able to come.

After sharing some mommy stories, Julie and I came to the conclusion that we have the same type of child. They had and have the same dispositions, struggled and succeeded with similar things, and made their mommy's feel the same frustrations and joys. So nice to hear we weren't alone! It's almost as if they could feel how similar they are because it seemed as though there was some competition between the two with toys, location in a room, mobility, you name it. It was pretty funny.

Cari's son Rigg is 2 and it was so fun to see him interact with us and the other babies, watch him dance and sing, and just be silly. Loved seeing how big the youngest of the group, Ryder, is compared to his "older" friends. Cari even has a dog named Bo that we swear is Maddie's long lost brother, or "brother from another mother" as Cari would say.

As always, the visit was too short, but I am so glad we went despite the trip down.


P.S.- Sorry for the blurry shots, it's hard capturing active babies!

5 years!

I can't believe it, but we have been married for five years today. Where has the time gone? 

This year has been a big one for us. We made this.....

...and survived it so far :) It's fun being a family now and all the new great (and exhausting) things that come along with it.

Happy anniversary Nick!