Snow Day

As you may have heard, Chicago got hit by a pretty bad snow storm last week. The night of the storm we were getting all settled in to hunker down for the next few days in the house. We had plenty of food, some logs for the fireplace, and some games to play and movies to watch. Then all of a sudden that picture perfect "snow day" feeling came crashing down.

I was making dinner right before Nick was due home, the baby was sleeping, and even though the winds sounded as though it was going to knock down the house, we were safe and warm. I go to get some pasta out of our cabinet and an almost whole box of opened linguine noodles come crashing to the floor scattering all over the kitchen, the baby wakes up and starts screaming (this kid doesn't wake up gradually, it's all or nothing), THE POWER GOES OUT, my phone starts ringing, and there is a loud knocking at the door and all I can see is a shadowy figure pressed right up against the door through the blinds.

DISASTER! Apparently there was a huge circuit on the street that just exploded, lighting up the whole ski like a lightning storm, blowing out the power to all the townhouses around us. At this very moment Nick was walking to the house trying to get in through the garage because he didn't have a key, but not having any power he had to come to the front door and knock loud enough for me to hear in case I was all the way upstairs. Our friends Matt and Katie who live down the street in a condo saw that our power went out and were calling to see if we were alright and if we wanted to come to their house. We decided to wait and see if the power would come back on, and about 15 minutes later it did. We thought, oh thank goodness, we don't have to go out in this weather. Then about 15 minutes after that the power goes out again. This keeps happening about every 15 minutes and the whole time we are debating if we should go to either Matt and Katie's or to my parents house for the night just in case the power goes off for good and we have no heat. No heat + baby= bad news so we decide after it goes out for the third time that we better head over to my parents condo (about a mile away) and stay there for the night. Although we were so grateful for the offer from Matt and Katie, we didn't feel like it was fair to subject them to a crying baby in the middle of the night, but my parents, no problem :)

Man, packing in a rush with a baby is rough! There is so much junk to take it's ridiculous. So we packed half in the light and half by candlelight and as soon as the power went back on we had to be ready to leave because we needed to be able to open the garage door to get our car out. We were able to do so and brave the streets. It was a slow ride but luckily a short one. On the way there we literally saw a man walking into the wind and he was leaning so far forward, he was pretty much at a 45 degree angle. I've only seen that in movies! We camped at my parents house for the night and watched the storm hit our city from the 48th floor. After talking to some neighbors the next day we found out that the power did go out for most of the night and the house got down to 40 degrees. So glad we left. We also received about 22" of snow.

The next day Nick felt like he had to go into work since we live so close and not many people would be able to get in that day, but there were no cabs or buses on the street so he had to walk to work. What a trooper. Miles and I stayed at my parents house the whole day and here are some pictures from that day.    

Yeah, there's a lake under that ice and snow

I love the snow!

Navy Pier in the distance

Buckingham Fountain

Museums

So eerie seeing the parking lots, streets, and sidewalks so empty

Huge dump trucks being loaded up with snow from LSD

Napping with Papa

Mound of snow outside our house

Going for a Walk

Today the munchkin and I took Maddie for a walk. We got all bundled up and braved the cold weather together. I had him the baby bjorn and I just couldn't resist what I saw when I looked down. Thought you guys might enjoy my view too.

And just because he looked so cute in his first collared shirt, here's a picture from this weekend after we went out to celebrate Nonno's birthday. Thanks for the cute outfit Auntie Shauna!

Doctor's appointment and other going ons

We had a "good" appointment last week at the doctor's. I say "good" with quotes because Miles is healthy, gaining weight, and progressing nicely, he was just in a rotten mood while the nice doctor was trying to check him out and talk to us. I told her this was pretty typical for him during the day and she looks at me and says "wow, you are holding up pretty well then!". All I could say was thanks. She asked me to call her in a few weeks to let her know how we were holding up. I think she just wants to check on my sanity to make sure I'm not going to hurt our baby :)

Here are his stats from the appointment:
Weight: 10 lb, 5 oz, 60th percentile (two pound gain, thank you very much)
Height: 23 1/8", 90th percentile
Head Circumference: 15", 40th percentile


I also had my postpartum appointment this week and everything seems to be great, so no more visits for awhile to the doctor for me. I think I am going to start to have withdrawals!

Miles is really starting to smile these days which is fun, but he seems to smile mostly with anyone other than his mom. I get a few here and there, but not much. That's cool, snub the person who carried you for nine months, gave birth to you, feeds you, and takes care of you most of the day. WHATEVER! :) The grandparents, dad, and aunts seem to get the most smiles out of him.

My little guy also has a hard time getting down for his naps. He likes to be snugly but he breaks out of all swaddles so we have resulted to putting him in his car seat for naps. As you will see, he frequently is pictured in his car seat. A habit I hope to break soon, but for now, it works (as Cari would say).

He also had a big weekend because he attended his first kids birthday party. Ok, so maybe he slept most of the time and maybe it was mostly for mom to socialize with some adults, but hey, he was there! Our little friend Miss K turned four and they were nice enough to include us in on the party. Nick had his company's holiday party on Saturday so Auntie Andrea babysat Miles solo for the first time. Thank you auntie! Mom and Dad had a nice time out. First few pics are from her night with him. Great Aunt Monica came for a visit too which was so fun. Ready for the real kicker... this all happened on the same day! That's right, he was a rock star that day. Maybe that's why the next day he was not on his best behavior when we went to watch the football game with some friends. Hmmm... note to self... baby's can get overstimulated :)

That's about all for now. Here are some pics of our guy!

Showing off that neck strength

Auntie Andrea is so fun!

 

This is how Mommy and Maddie feel these days

Fist smile compliments of Papa Mark

Won't someone play with ME?

Mimi time

Papa Mark

Rosie being very protective. Almost jumped in with him.

Grandma made him these adorable shoes... his first pair!

First time at sushi with Mom and Mimi

Napping in the car seat... again

Smiling real big for Grandma

 

One Month!

Guess who's one month old? We did it, we survived one month together!!!! Don't get me wrong, we both have our freak out sessions and crying fits, but at least mommy's crying fits have decreased dramatically :) We can already see small differences in his behavior which has been so fun to watch.

Miles at one month:


He has always had a strong neck, but it's getting even stronger these days. He constantly has his neck craned back checking out everything that's happening on the ceiling and behind him. This makes it a little difficult for mommy to hold him one handed.

Not only is his neck very strong, but he is showing amazing strength with his legs and arms as well. He will "stand" for minutes at a time and I am constantly telling him to bend so we can just sit for a few minutes.

He is much happier at bath time which is wonderful. Dare I say he now seems to enjoy the water, hooray!

Probably the most fun thing he has started doing is smiling. They are few and far between still, but we've gotten some good ones out of him, especially from the grandparents.

He has been very consistent at this so that is why I don't feel like I am going to jinx it by writing it here... he lets me sleep for four hour stretches at night! Glorious!

And for the first time today we have successfully "cried" ourselves to sleep at nap time. I never dreamed this would be just as hard on me as it was on him :)

We have our one month doctor's appointment this Friday so I will have some stats then. Can't wait to see how much he's gained and to see how he's doing. Pray for us when the shots come out. I'm almost positive I will leave with a headache.


Last week was an exciting one because we got to welcome a new friend into the world. Mr. Ryder Andrew Chastain was born on January 14th. Everyone's doing well and I can't wait to hear how Cari handles two little ones. I'm sure she will be a pro and will do it with such style and grace. Go Mama Cari! Check out all his cutness here.

And now I leave you some pictures of out little man. Enjoy!

Everyone needs one of these booty shots, right?

Peek-a-boo

Thanks for the kiss sister Maddie

Everyone has a bad day now and then

A Special Visitor

Over Christmas my good friend from college, Lesley, came to town for the holidays. She is now living in LA with her husband completing her PHD at UCLA. Our visits with her are always too short, but we really try to get as much Lesley time as we can when she is here. The fun part about the timing of her visit was that she was able to meet Miles which was so special. We were able to get together a couple times, once at our friend Courtney's house (which was mine and Miles's first outing together alone) and another time for our favorite thing to go out for, SUSHI!

Miles with Auntie Lesley

Snuggling with Auntie Blythe

Miles's future buddy is cooking in that belly

Auntie Bri

Practicing our funny faces

Just ignore how incredibly short I look in this picture

Mommy's (not so) secret weapon

So I know I am not the first person to realize the beauty of the baby sling/wrap/carrier, but I am just now really starting to embrace it, and most importantly, so is Miles. We tried the baby bjorn a few weeks ago and he was pretty ify about it but in the past couple days he has taken naps in it, has explored the world while I do laundry, eat, and clean. FREEDOM!!!!! Thank you baby bjorn (and to my aunt who saved hers for me to use), we love you!

Miles's Future Girlfriends

Last week Miles met his potential future girlfriends (he likes the older ladies). He got to meet Miss O and Miss K, two of the lovely girls I use to watch. We have the added bonus of having these ladies as neighbors so I'm sure we will have many more fun times with them in the future (I know Miles is really looking forward to it).