Slumber Party!

This weekend was all about me recovering and Miles playing. Mid-last week, after a week and a half of horrible congestion (aka no breathing, no sleeping) and a major headache I got on an antibiotic for a sinus infection and slowed my life way down. Through this miserable cold I kept up with work and our normal routine but by Wednesday was really run down. I took Thursday off and had a long weekend to rest and recuperate. I can happily say that I'm 100 times better then I was a week ago. This pregnancy has been going so well - I keep thinking I'm not really having any pregnancy symptoms but I am - I'm getting sick more often and am a lot more tired then I was with Miles. Maybe it's just that I'm the same amount of tired I was when I was pregnant with Miles but now I just have a lot less time to rest. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who is constantly encouraging me to take it easy!

Rachel and Corey moved in this weekend for a two-night slumber party. Thursday night when they arrived Miles ran around the house smiling and screaming in delight. He's so happy to spend time with his little best friend/cousin "Coco." The boys did a lot of playing and not much sharing of toys - but they'll learn.

I assume other parents say this about their own children too but Mike and I are constantly telling each other how lucky we are to have some a cute and wonderful kid. Miles makes us smile and laugh everyday. Quieter weekends like this one, where we're not chasing around constantly, really let us appreciate all of the little moments with him. Just today he surprised us with new words like bubbles and cracker. He also ate grapefruit and although sour wanted more (just like mommy!). We were laughing during bath time because we were asking him to repeat words back to us, like grapefruit, and he would really try but the words sounded nothing like the real thing. I'm sure the way he's growing it's only a matter of a few weeks before "grapefruit" rolls easily off his tongue. Today he also pointed to my belly when asked where the baby is and gave my belly lots of hugs. Enjoy our cutie in the videos below.

Mama's sick so please enjoy a few photos!

Driving a real city bus at the Children's Museum...

and stocking shelves with Cousin Corey...

And ringing up purchases...

Enjoying the view...

Taking a break with a snack.

Rocking in my pjs.

Playing pretend "night-night!"

Playing with the trainset at the library after the 4th haircut!

Operation No More Cabin Fever

This is what cabin fever looks like around our house these days... We're all going a little stir-crazy with too much snow and too cold of temperatures. Our cabin fever would be on the mend if we could only take the sled for a spin around the block. In lieu of sun and fresh air I've opted to increase our activity levels indoors. On Friday, Miles and I had a fun time at ECFE. Miles has so much fun in fact that he doesn't want to leave and we're usually the last ones out the door because I'm chasing him around the play area trying to put his hat and coat on.

We also take full advantage of our downstairs playroom and do lots of chasing.

Feeling adventurous we tried painting with pudding this week.

It was fun and delicious.

After lots of messy fun Miles got thrown into the tub.

What better way to wile away a hour than splish-splashing in the bath?

And just hanging out. On Saturday Miles and I took full advantage of our wonderful public library and played with their train set, puppets and read many new books while enjoying a change of scenery away from home.

We can't forget that cuddling is another great cure for the winter blues.

Too cold to enjoy an outdoor nature hike? Why not hike around the house while vacuuming! Miles loved being tall and hanging out on daddy's back. Today we also bought a treadmill from Craigs List. I've been feeling heavy and tired with my lack of exercise during this pregnancy so 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill a day should help. It felt good to pump my arms and legs and be active in a non-chasing-toddler-around-the-house sort of way tonight.

Early on in the week Miles' hip injury healed quickly and he was back to his old self - running around the house. Not even the winter sniffles (a cough and runny nose) could slow him down. With all of the coughing in mommy's face and what seems like every other minute nose wiping I do I woke up this morning with a cold myself. I guess it's par for the course during a nasty Minnesota winter.

Miles keeps us thoroughly entertained (or very busy chasing him everywhere) at all times. New words he's saying on a regular basis include: girl, car, cup, Coco (for Cousin Corey), football and snowplow. He also now blows on his food when he thinks it's too hot and rocks his "baby" to sleep. A new food this week for both mommy and Miles was pomegranate seeds - we both love them. Now that Miles is in the younger toddler room at school Mike and I can really see what the coming months have in store for us when we watch his little friends. On a daily basis when Mike drops Miles off and picks him up Miles' friends say "Hi Daddy, Hi My-ohs" or "bye My-ohs." It's very cute.

Lastly, Miles had his 18-month well baby check-up on Wednesday. He is a very healthy little guy and is developing normally. His stats are:

• Height: 32 1/2 inches (55%) (I'm not 100% sure of this measurement as their was a lot of wiggling going on.)
• Weight: 24 lbs. 7 1/2 oz. (35%)
• Head: 49 cm (85%)
  

We laugh, we cry

Sometimes being a parent to Miles means pure happiness and other times aching heartbreak. Our highlight this week was when Miles rediscovered vegetables. One night at dinner he actually ate over 1 cup of plain, cooked broccoli. Tonight, he gobbled up green beans. After what seems like months and months of his little mouth clamping shut every time something green went near it the vegetable stand-off is over.

Our low light happened this morning. Mike and Miles were playing downstairs when Miles fell off the bottom step. As a very active, little running toddler, bumps and bruises are the norm these days however after about 30 minutes we noticed Miles falling when trying to walk and realized he wasn't putting any weight on his right leg. Luckily our pediatrician's office had open clinic hours today so we were first in line at noon to have him examined. The doctor thinks he hurt his hip, which is common in toddlers, but that nothing was broken. We gave him ibuprofen this afternoon and he's been limping and crawling around the house. It seemed to get better as the day progressed but tonight he is having difficulty falling asleep. There is nothing worse then seeing your child hurt and in pain. It broke my heart to see Miles hobbling around the house. Through all of this though he still had giggles and lots of smiles (I wish I could muster a few more smiles through my stress). What will this next week bring?

A Freezing Fun Time in AZ

At the park with Grandma Gray.

Our little Wii bowling champ.


Ringing in the New Year.

Miles found a comfy spot in Apollo's dog bed.

New Year's fun with the Grays.

This past week in Arizona was fun, relaxing and freezing! Yes, we flew to the desert and the highs the last few days were only in the 40s. This didn't stop Miles from wanting to play outside - so winter coat and hats on we headed to the park a couple of times and played with a kickball outside. I guess it beats the 3 feet of snow we have on the grow here at home. Monday through Wednesday Miles spent some great quality time with G & G Gray - where he kept everyone busy riding his new scooter, playing in his tent, he learned to blow a handmade whistle and even had a play date arranged by Grandma Gray! Mike and I drove to Las Vegas for a mini babymoon where we did a lot of walking, won money playing craps, saw a Cirque du Soleil show ate good food and had a lot of r & r (aka sleeping in!). By Wednesday afternoon we were happy to get back to Mr. Miles though.

New Years Eve was spent with Mike's parents, aunt and uncle and his sister's family - Denise, Greg and Sarah. Miles only made it until about 6:30 pm. We joked that we were celebrating the Australian New Year this year. The rest of us ate more good food, played cards and watched old home videos and saw slides of Mike and his family as a child. It was like watching Sarah Palin's Alaska but in the 70s and 80s - camping in the motor home, snowmobiling, flying little planes, enjoying the great outdoors.

While in Arizona Miles vocabulary continued to grow. His new words are: hot (referring to all non-cold foods now), brr cold, when asked what a bunny says he replies "hop" with a cute little hand motion, nana (banana), up, down, go (this Miles and I both chanted as we raced from one end of Sky Harbor airport to the other. Miles and I were on the moving walkway while Mike pushed a huge cart with all of our luggage. I was saying "go, daddy go" and Miles was yelling "go, go" over and over again.), and num num (yummy). I swear Miles could win a baby of the universe contest for being the model child on the plane ride home. He snoozed a little but when not sleeping was saying "hi" to the passengers around him, snuggling on my lap and giggling in delight at the funny faces I was making at him. He is such a good traveler on this his 3rd round trip flight.

It's back to reality for all of us tomorrow which will be difficult after a 1 1/2 weeks off of fun and great family time. Yesterday we said a sad goodbye to Miles' Gray grandparents and tonight we said goodbye to his Nickolay grandparents who head south for the winter tomorrow morning. Luckily, everyone is planning to be here in May for little "Sarista's" arrival (so named by my mom). Happy New Year everyone!