Happy 1st Father's Day!

My two boys... Miles & daddy enjoyed their first father's day together. Daddy got to sleep in a little bit and we played out in the yard some too. Miles gave him a new camera!! We thought about some fancy digital SLR but decided we're just point and shooters anyway. So for a fraction of the price we got a digital camera that is WAY better than ours from 4 years ago. I guess it's amazing how far technology can go in a few years (sing it with me.. "I still love technology"), or maybe it's sad that what you buy now will be practically obsolete in a year or so.



Miles enjoys trying to copy what mommy does. It's his new game. I've been working on getting him to crow like the rooster using his barn and see n' say. He kind of does that. And he's starting to "oooo" after the cow. But the cutest are his expressions. We have a Baby Einstein book with animals making faces (smiling, peek-a-boo, sticking out tongue) and one face is cow puffing his cheeks full of air. That is Miles's favorite!!! Here he is puffing his cheeks, getting ready to blow, ppffffftttt......

SCANDAL!!!!

MAN DRIVES WITH BABY IN LAP

Okay okay, please don't call CFS on us. It's just up the driveway to the garage when daddy gets home from work. But after watching poor Britney last night, I guess we need to be careful. I hope that I'd make better wardrobe decisions, but we all know how klutzy I can be. The "almost dropped the baby" scenario flashes through my mind every time I step off a curb. And I don't have an entourage who might carry my drink for me. But I digress.... Miles LOVES driving the car. He practically leaps from my arms when he sees daddy anyway, but when he knows he's going to get to lap-drive - I really do almost drop the baby. Today he even saw me in the rear-view mirror. Maybe he'll do better than his mom on his driving test one day.

And he enjoys his toy cars too! These are out of a Wendy's kids meal from my pregnant meat craving days. He just sat on the floor scuffing them around. Busy busy. He kept going for about 15 minutes!! Check out the look of "I'm busy here" towards the end...



Yesterday Miles & I met YaYa at the library for the Birds on Wheels! presentation. The guy from the TN Valley Exotic Birds Club had several birds and lots of information about them. We made it through 2 birds. Miles really liked looking at the other kids and the second bird, a Congo African grey parrot, caught his attention with his fluttering feathers.

Miles is now signed up for the Hiss, Rumble & Roar summer reading program. He has to listen to 20 books to get the prizes. I think we hit 20 books a day if we can count 9 readings of Hand, Hand Fingers, Thumb and 12 of Go, Dog. Go! But we won't do that. I'm going to attempt the adult summer reading program, which requires 4 books. It does specify "age appropriate" material, so ix-nay on the Goodnight Gorilla and Hola! Jalapeno. Does anyone have suggestions?

the injured list

While giving Miles his afternoon bottle in the corner chair he was completely enthralled by the vase of branches behind us. So much that he barely finished half of the bottle and began to climb me to get up the chair. I gave him a boost so he could lean up the chair back. He wanted to keep going so I decided it was time to move to the floor.

 On to his little activity table... he loves pulling up on this thing and playing "Stir stir stir the soup..." (it's a table place setting, complete with napkin and S&P!). But today he slipped and banged his mouth on the edge. Oh my god, it was awful. He was screaming and I saw blood so I just dialed the pediatrician's immediately. He wouldn't let me look in his mouth or touch his lips so I got some ice in a towel and tried to wipe. They connected me with a nurse and Miles was finally calming down so I could tell the teeth were fine and the blood was gone. There was just a small red bump inside his lip, but the bleeding stopped. So huge drama averted, we went back to play.

BUT THEN.... he did it again BAM! right on the kisser. This time he was wailing from the surprise more than hurt. There was no blood but I decided I'd take the nurse up on her suggestion to let him suck on a popsicle. Yum!! So a few minutes later he was loving his first tastes of sugar and we were both covered in sticky orange syrup. But the camper was happy again. Oh, and I took the legs of that table. 

When did this happen?

 Maybe Kate & Evan inspired him, or maybe this is just what happens after you turn 9 months old. But all of a sudden we don't have a baby anymore!! I can't bring myself to call him a toddler yet, but I know that's what he's starting to be. He can pull himself up on just about anything, beds, dressers, lamps, toys; he can chase me around the house on all fours; he knows what he wants to play with and he's going to get it. As Wayne told me last night, I'm going to have my hands full!!
Like today... he's napping (well, maybe not, I just heard him) and I'm cleaning everything in preparation for our playdate. Miles and 3 older ladies!! It's our church playgroup and this is the first time they're coming to our house. The other three in our group have all turned one. Since we've been so busy the last month we've not seen them since he really started crawling. Wow, will he impress them today!! 

Another first

Miles enjoyed his first visit to the zoo with cousins Kate & Evan this weekend. I was really impressed with the Kids Cove area - lots of farm animals and a cool climbing area, although I highly recommend bringing your own lunch. Miles got face to beak with a big rooster, and checked out some pigs and baby goats. Evan & Kate soaked themselves milking the big plastic cow. But the best education they don't realize they got was from a couple of Aldabran Tortoises. Maybe on our next visit there will be a few more tortoises to see! :)


Earlier in the week, Wayne & Elizabeth's Aunt Simone & Uncle Jim stopped by on their way to a family reunion. Of course we all should have been attending the reunion as well, but decided it would be much more fun in a few years when they aren't so dependent on those naps to be happy!
Anyway, this was Simone & Jim's first time to meet their great neice and nephews. It was getting close to that naptime so there wasn't much playtime, but they got some quick squeezes in.

The cousins had a great time playing together. Miles loves to see them and can't wait to get into everything with them. I know how much fun I had with my cousin growing up and I can't wait to see what antics these three get into!!

happy birthday to daddy

Evan, Kate & Elizabeth came over for Wayne's birthday and to stay through the weekend. We're already having lots of fun! Lots of giggling and only a time out for Kate the daredevil who insists on climbing on top of unstable plastic toy tables. We had dinner at Calypso Cafe (a new fave) and only required 3 servers to help clean up our area. Thankfully we were the only people there for the early bird dinner. Pray for the rain to hold off so we're not stuck inside all week!!!

A bite of the Big Apple

We achieved a new record in Mommy-Miles separation this weekend. Up until now the longest span had been a workday. Wayne and I just spent THREE nights in the Big Apple! I'll go ahead and put this picture of Miles here since I know that's the real reason for your visit today, but please stay for tales from the city.

Wayne had best man duties for Robb Fish and his beautiful bride Yen Chang. The wedding festivities were at a great club right by Rockefeller Center. The club does have an alternative existence, although "alternative" isn't quite the right word for it. Wayne and I stayed at the club in a room across from the solarium, so we enjoyed this great view of St. Patrick's and Saks. The rehearsal dinner Friday was at Casa Bella in Little Italy. There was a street festival complete with St. Anthony statue draped in cash.

Other than wedding activities, we saw Jimmy Buffet on the Today Show and went to MoMA where we saw lots of Very Important Paintings. Wayne's Aunt Simone & Uncle Jim took us to dinner at The View - the rotating restaurant atop the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.






And we saw Spiderman 3 being filmed! We saw one take of a scene at 6th & 54th where there was chaos in the streets and "extras" running, looking up in the sky. The only famous person we recognized was James Cromwell, but Sam Rami is directing so he must have been there. And check out this photo... Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace are both in the film, but I don't think that guy to the right of Cromwell is either of them.

So we had a really fun weekend, missed the boy terribly but made it through. Maybe we'll brave another vacation in the not too distant future...

{PS a very big thank you to mimi & grandpa for babysitting all weekend!!}

Miles says...

Yaya and B came over for a visit. We were trying to get him to whistle.. apparently the two teeth make it very easy. But something else happened about 30 seconds in. Click here.

the teeth

This is the first photo I've taken where you can see his teeth! That redness around his mouth is from all the drool. I think tooth #3 will be here soon, but I can't tell if it will be an upper or a lower side.

escape!

There's no stopping him now! Not only are diaper changes more exciting, so are any times when we need him to stay in one spot. After his bath last night he was so much more interested in his toys than in getting ready to sleep. 

  

Changes in... longitude

Home again... we're slowly recovering from the 7 hour drive home. Miles did fairly well in the car, although I did have to jump in the backseat with him as we wound through the mountains. I'm sure he was just sad to be leaving the beach. The doggies even did well, crammed in the way-back with some of our stuff. We piled our comforter and pillows back there and covered them with a sheet. They had their own feather bed! They relaxed the whole way, and Chelsea yelled at any bikers or trailers of horses we passed. Wayne & I passed the time reading DaVinci Code. Well. I read it to him. We're about halfway through, so might finish before going to see it next week.

A car full of dogs, baby, and baby gear leaves little room for much else. So we traveled Griswold-style! Our friend Hugh joined us for a couple of nights so the boys could golf.
We spent the week playing scrabble & dominos, reading, napping and taking long walks on the beach. Did that sound like a personal ad? Ha! Our favorite "discovery" was Kudzu Bakery. They did make a fine apple crumb cake. But the best purchases were their frozen entrees. Basically a gourmet entree already prepared and frozen, all we had to do was bake. We enjoyed their Chicken Florentine and Crab stuffed Flounder. There was so much to choose from, I wished we'd gone earlier in the week!

So nice to recharge, but hate the return and playing catch-up. There are plenty of pictures. You can see more photos here.

Oh, Miles updates... he's crawling like a champ. He sees something and goes to get it - especially mommy. I used to be able to run something to the kitchen while he played in the den, but now I return and he's halfway to me. Serious child-proofing is in order. He's also babbling some great stuff now. Lots of mamamama and dadadadada. If we can be so bold, he has a few word already. Apollo is "Oh" and the ceiling fan is "Ah". Okay, I'm stretching a bit, but he does consistently make those sounds for those things. The most exciting is the complete gymnastic event that diaper changing has become. Let's just say it's a little harder to keep poop off of me now!!

MIA

So sorry for the long absence. We've just returned from our first FAMILY vacation! We spent a week at Pawley's Island.... mom, dad, Miles and Chelsea & Apollo. Here's a teaser, there will definitely be more soon. Must do laundry, eat and catch up on some Must See TV!!

Can't fight the moonlight

oooweeee, did we have a big weekend. It might take a while, but let me tell you about all the cool new things in Miles's world. We went to visit his cousins Evan & Kate Thursday since daddy had to be out of town for the weekend. I knew he was close to crawling, but when he saw the very mobile cousins, he was raring to go. He hasn't done an across the floor crawl yet, but he's made it a few feet in the normal crawl style. He's also very good at moving backwards and rolling to where he wants to be. So in combinations of roll, scootch and stretch he was a very big boy while playing with them.

We expanded his palate tremendously. He was not content to eat pureed peas while watching those two dine on quiche and pancakes. He didn't get the quiche, but he did enjoy pancakes, lima, green and white beans, carrots, goldfish, graham crackers, banana pieces. But the best "dining" experience happened when Kate fed Miles with her empty bowl & spoon. She stirred the bowl then held the spoon to his mouth and said "AH". And he opened wide! Then she said "Mmmmmm" and did it again! Elizabeth and I were laughing, we barely caught it on film.

Saturday we enjoyed watching Evan's soccer game. I asked Evan what position he played & Coach/Uncle Shay laughed. When the game started I understood. It was a squealing herd of kids chasing the ball. We heard the strategy from the pregame huddle loud and clear: THAT WAY! Mary Grace was the star, scoring about 6 goals. Of course that's not hard when the goalie, faced with said herd, decides he'd rather go talk with his mom.

So we're back home now, tired all around. Early to bed... one down, two to go.


P.S. We saw LeAnn Rimes! She was in her convertible (black mercedes?) leaving her house on Hillsboro Rd.

Raindrops keep fallin'...

I'm so glad we had a few showers today because I planted some seeds along the front yesterday. I picked these because the packet said "super-easy to grow" and "thrives in poor soil"... the perfect plant for me. I've got a few more packets of other flowers but haven't decided where to put those yet. It would help to get rid of the weeds first!! Miles napped through 2 showers but the 3rd came during his cranky late evening mode. It was the perfect distraction until bathtime.

Miles, daddy and I had lunch with Chrissy today. We went to one of our favorite places. Miles tries to grab everything off our plates, but with all the peanuts it will be a few months before he gets a taste. It was fun to catch up on all the craziness I'm missing.

Officially TEETH

Yes, the tooth is now plural as number 2 made its debut on Friday. So now both bottoms are barely peeking above the gums. It will be awhile before we can get any photographic proof, I'm afraid.

So we were back at the mall yesterday since it was rainy all day. I was just cruisin' along, admiring the mother's day ideas and dreaming of all the new stuff I'll need after I wean, when Miles yelled "AH!". Mommy had almost cruised right past the "duck" fountain! This kid knows what he likes. So we wheeled back around to sit and watch the fountains. A lady with some frozen yogurt sat on the wall near us. Miles started telling her that he was fully capable of eating from a spoon and that she should share whatever she had with him. Ha!



Ya Ya was in for the afternoon Wednesday and got to enjoy some Miles time outside. Raven reminded me how fun bubbles are so we let loose with the bubble gun. The first time I tried to use it with Miles he was sitting next to me and he did NOT like the noise. Then we tried it when daddy was holding him. He decided he definitely likes bubbles.





Happy birthday to Poppa! Monday is also Miles's 8 month birthday. He'll be celebrating with B-A-N-A-N-A-S in his jumper, although he does that every night. We really need to video this as he can now do a lutz in this thing. Click on the photo to enlarge and see the banana dripping down his chest. Messy and lovin'it!

THREE HOUR NAP!

Yes, you read that right. He took a three hour nap this morning. It almost threw off our lunch date with daddy. But it did give me time to do this layout for his baby book. Wish I'd started this earlier! I'm having to do the early months from memory. But never fear, there are plenty of photos to remind me what was happening then.

Thank goodness we got some new toys this weekend. The old ones just weren't as entertaining anymore. So we put those aside and will re-introduce them in a few weeks. But for now, it's oink-oink, baa, moo all day long! He has some favorite books so I followed the theme with the farm.


Okay, yes the farm is cool, but check out that curl on Miles's head!!

Finally, I do have some proof of his looming mobility. When we go get him after he's been sleeping, he's usually on his hands and knees. Today he was pushing up while playing. Won't be long now... oh no!!

what a pain in the....

Another string of gorgeous days here in the south. We're loving the park near our house and Miles enjoys chillin' out in the swing. Wednesday we had to walk by 3 times before the crowd left and we could get on. Too bad there's only one baby swing in this park.
While the days are sunny, the nights have been, well, less than ideal. But I'm not talking about the weather! No Miles has started his midnight antics again. Sometimes it's 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but he's up and at-em'. Last night he was up multiple times. Between that and Chelsea needing to go O-U-T in the middle of the night, we didn't get much sleep. Exhaustion and driving don't mix well, so we backed out of our Easter visit to Wayne's family. Very sad, because Miles really enjoys playing with his cousins. Hopefully we can still get over there soon.

We're thinking the drama is because....da.da.dum.... Miles cut his first tooth! It's his lower left and it's just barely peeking above the gum. We tried to take a picture, unsuccessfully as you can see here. Maybe when it comes in a little more!

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

tech savvy

Miles was sitting in my lap on the sofa when he glanced to the side table. His eyes got wide and he said "Oh!" then "Ah!" "Oh! Ah! Oh! Ah!"... it was as if he'd discovered his very own toy store... and he had. He's decided that his very favorite toys are the many remotes, phones, cameras, keys etc, that he notices on tables, desks and counters around the house. We tried giving him his own phone, but we quickly figured out why the age range says 18 months. The massive volume of teething drool has shorted the sound card so everything it says sounds like the Chipmunks! We also passed on a remote from an old stereo, but I still think he knows it isn't "real."

Since Miles thought the weekend meant you get up earlier, we brought him into bed for his morning feeding. When the TV came on (our alarm clock) we left it on low and Wayne put the remote on his pillow. Miles grabbed it and started playing with it. He flipped over to the VCR, changed the color contrast, muted it then turned up the volume. Then he hit #6-#0. Yes, he changed the channel to his favorie show, Higglytown Heroes. Okay, it's the only show he knows. It's what he watches from the exersaucer at 7:30 when we're getting dressed and Today starts getting too intense.

Unfortunately Wayne & I were cracking up too much to take a photo of that, but here's one from Friday when we went walking at Lakeshore.

Friday fun

They are warning of storms again this weekend. We were amazed that Miles slept right through the hailstorm Sunday evening, and even the thunder & lightning symphony at 3am. Hopefully it will be an overnight storm again so we can still go outside and avoid some seriously muddy dogs. Chelsea does love some oozing fresh mud!


With the on-again blah weather mid-week, we returned to the comfortable climate of the mall walk. We usually park by Parisian - their automatic doors are great with a stroller! They also have a glass elevator. So we start at one end and do the length of the mall, including side legs, twice. About halfway down we'll stop by the "pond" and Miles will watch the "ducks" in the water. Although I really think he's more interested in the fountains than the "quack-quack" noises mommy makes.


He's definitely a water baby. The bathtime antics with the sprayer have evolved from bitter-beer face to this little tongue tasting, to last night's full face in the spray. I held the sprayer out where he usually grabs at the water but he leaned forward, soaking himself up to his eyebrows, gulping in the water over and over again. Then he'd turn to me and giggle before going for it again. It's definitely true that presentation is everything, because he'll have nothing to do with the water I try to give him in a cup or bottle!



When we did have some nicer weather, I tried to take him outside to get an Easter picture. This one is nothing like what I ended up using, so I'll share (and I'll share the final product next weekend). He went for the hyacinths, stripped each flower from its stem and tried to stuff it in his mouth. We didn't stay there for very long!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay dry!

let the sun shine

Okay, so my post from Wednesday was a bit misleading. While I've not really bought anything for myself, I've finally been using those gift cards to stock up for spring for Miles. I found some cute things for the warming weather, but here's what I've got my eye on for summer!!

• I think this outfit is pretty cute, and so is this little tiger (you may think it's for the Auburn and Memphis fans in the family, but we know the color is the real draw)
• He's going to need these if we get to the beach this year, but that also means plenty of sunscreen (thanks Jen!)
• Of course he needs this shirt

Yay, spring has finally sprung! Now we get to spend lots more time outside, walking or just sitting on the porch. Miles liked watching daddy mow the yard through the front window. Then we moved to the back to enjoy the warm afternoon. We've been giving Miles frozen bananas to eat in this mesh teether. He loves them but they ooze everywhere, hence the naked baby. Today I tried green beans in it.... he didn't enjoy that as much.