On the Outside

Who's this cool, preppy looking baby standing up like a big boy?

I'm outta here! No more playing in the nursery for me!

Making the long hallway trek to Ruby.

All boy - playing with his new truck.

An innovative means to carry toys while crawling.

Reading a book in my easy chair - thanks Grandma Nickolay!

Grandma Nickolay also bought me cool Nike sandals.
Unfortunately my feet are a little too fat to fit into them!

It's official - Miles has now lived as long on the outside as he did on the inside - the inside of mommy that is! Wow - what a big boy and what major changes can happen in a quick 9 months. Our big baby is eating more and more table foods - Mike and I grilled turkey burgers this week and Miles had a little side of cooked ground turkey with cheddar cheese - his first dinner with us in which he ate the same foods that we did. He's also moved on from many jarred organic baby foods to the real things - bananas, pears, cheese, cottage cheese, peas, beans, sweet potatoes and more. Welcome to the world of real food little one! I also have to take a moment to brag about my big brained boy (yes, his head is in the 75%) - he accurately and consistently (we have witnesses) does the sign for "all gone/done" when he's full and wants no more food. He's so smart!

Other highlights this week:

• book club (aka mom's night out)
• a note home from Miles' school this week read "Miles had another great day. He was very smiley. We love him so much!" (They really do.)
  
• garage sale-ing (new clothes and toys for Miles purchased)
• we've started our home office makeover (I should post before and after pictures when it is done)
• spending quality time with my parents and sharing a lovely meal tonight (Miles sat at the head of the table and munched on peas.)

Have a lovely week everyone!

All About Baby

Computing just like daddy! Grandpa Gray will be so proud.

Getting tickled by daddy while mama captures the sweet smiles on the camera.

Oh pure joy!

(Smile is an anagram for Miles after all.)

Getting ready for breakfast! He looks so big in his chair all of a sudden!

Enjoying the sunshine and the green yard with mama.

Helping with the laundry.
(Bonus - the laundry basket acts like a tiny play pen for a very busy baby!)

Here's the socks mom!

So sweet!

All of me is clean except for my face.

Monday
Miles' love of cell phones continues. He was playing with Mike's phone when all of a sudden Mike heard a voice on the line. Miles succeeded in unlocking the phone (by pressing 2 specific buttons) and dialing 4-1-1 directory assistance. "Hello, can you tell me the number for the milk factory?"

Tuesday
When I called daycare for a report of how Miles was doing they told me he didn't want to go down for his morning nap. Apparently there were 3 babies in the sleeping room all talking to one another. Miles' teacher said that they finally pulled Miles out of there because he was sitting up, jabbering away. I guess Miles was the baby party instigator.

Wednesday
We visited the doctor for Miles' 9 month appointment today. He is a very healthy baby. The doctor told us that he is right on track developmentally and is a very engaging and social boy. His stats (he peed on the scale when his measurements were taken):

• Height: 27 1/2 inches (25%)
• Weight: 19 lbs. 1 oz. (55%)
• Head: 46 1/2 cm (75%)

He's a sweet boy with a big brain!

Thursday
His teachers reported that now that Miles is crawling he's their little shadow. Wherever they go, little Miles is right behind them. I guess he likes older women!

Friday
That morning we had ECFE. The first 30 minutes is spent with the moms and babies just playing and chatting. The next 20 minutes we do circle time - sing songs, play with a parachute, etc. The last 40 minutes the moms leave the babies and go to a conference room to discuss a different topic each week (this week's topic was feeding). There were 10 babies in class this day and 4 teachers to watch all of them while we mom's have our "adult time." There is a phone in the classroom so that the teachers can call one of us if someone needs their diaper changed or has been crying for more than 5 minutes. Well, about 10 minutes into the separation time the phone rings. Lisa, our parent educator, answers and when she hangs up she tells us that this has never happened before. The teachers with the babies want all of the moms back in the room because all of the babies are having a huge meltdown. I was the first mom back on the scene and I quickly scanned the room for the little dark haired guy (he's easy to pick out in a crowd of babies). Each teacher was holding two crying infants a piece - every baby was crying except for one.... Miles was sitting in his carseat, in the middle of all of this chaos, happily playing! A couple of babies started the crying and I guess it was contagious - they all started - except for Miles. The teachers all told Miles he gets a gold star for the day for being such a good baby. It was a comical morning.

Saturday
Miles loves books and we read to him often. He is now very adept at turning the pages and flipping the flaps in the peek-a-boo board books. I'm amazed at what he can do!

Sunday
This morning our family was lounging in bed and Ruby was bringing Mike her toy to throw. He would throw it and Ruby would retrieve it and Miles thought this was the most hysterical thing - he was giggling so hard and squealing in delight.

Freedom!

First day using a sippy cup - not too shabby!

I'm so happy I can stand up!

Don't we all wish we were this happy upon waking in the morning?

Miles and Corey. This is Miles' very serious face.
He didn't want to share the cell phone.

Hanging out with dad, Lauren and Emily.

Freedom!
Today Miles Bennett is 9 months old! He gets bigger and busier by the day. He now has the know how to confidently pull himself up in his crib and on the furniture to stand. He also loves to crawl all over the house. He's no longer satisfied staying on a blanket in the nursery. He loves to hit the open road of the hallway - especially to follow Ruby around. I can't say enough how sweet and smiley of a boy he is. This morning he woke up about 5:50 am and played happily on his own in his crib until we picked him up at 6:30. Much of the time he spent proudly standing up singing to us "ya-ya-ya." He is now a very accomplished peek-a-boo player and loves cell phones to no end. I guess he's a high-tech guy like his dad. This week I found myself thinking multiple times a day how lucky and happy I am to be Miles' mommy.

Freedom for Mommy and Daddy too!
Miles' Nickolay grandparents are back from Texas and they are oh so happy to see their little grandsons again. Miles is thrilled to be getting all of their attention too. This weekend they were generous enough to babysit Miles on Friday and Saturday nights - what a luxury! On Friday evening Mike headed to beer club in Waconia and I went to a kid's consignment sale and dinner with my friend, Jill (Nova' mommy). We didn't hit the jackpot at this particular sale but each found a few treasures for the kiddos. Miles now has 10 more books, a wooden 3-piece puzzle which he loves and a few other new toys to play with. I had a great time and actually stayed out until 11! This might be a new record since Miles was born.

Saturday night Mike and I went on only our second "date" since July 11, 2009. We saw "The Blindside" at the Hopkins dollar theater (loved it) and went for dinner at P.F. Chang's. As we were talking over dinner, just the two of us, we commented that we used to have nights like this one all the time for years before Miles was born. It was fun to go out as a couple again (not as a mommy and daddy) and we would love to do this at least once a month now.

Tonight the Carlson Family, Rachel, Graham and Corey and my parents came over for dinner. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend. Let the good times continue!!

Happy 1st Easter Miles!

Wow - look at this basket full of goodies!

I like Easter!

Busy playing with second cousins Jenna and Sam.

Great Uncle Lumpy sure knows how to make me giggle!

Swinging with Great Aunt Jodie and cousin Meagan.

Thanks Great Aunt Carol for the Easter basket!

Lunch fun with honorary Auntie Sharon Huse.

First time in a restaurant highchair - not too shabby!

Road Trip
Friday morning Rachel, Corey, Miles and I road tripped to Mankato to visit our wonderful family friend Sharon Huse. We lunched at Panera, she gave the babies adorable puppets and lots of snuggles and we mall walked. Sharon has known me since birth and has always been there during my most important life moments - and now she continues to be like family by being involved in Miles' life. We are so lucky to know her! It was a great girls + babies day out.

Easter
We started off the morning going to church and Miles was the BEST behaved baby in the cry room. For lunch we headed to Tony and Lisa's house to get together with the Nickolay side of the family. We celebrated with 22 family members and Miles got to eat at the big table thanks to a booster seat left over from Tony and Lisa's children. My Godmother Carol generously gave Miles an adorable Easter bunny and musical toy which he happily banged on his tray all through lunch.

Next we headed to the Giesen side of the family and had dinner at Lumpy and Jodie's house with lots more uncles, aunts and cousins. The day was so beautiful that everyone sat outside in their big front yard and enjoyed the sunshine. Jodie even gave Miles his first push in a big swing on their swing set.

At both houses today we enjoyed lots of chit-chat, laughter and food. Miles was busy all day as the receiver of a lot of hugs and attention. We're lucky to have such a large loving family close by and miss those family members not here today. Happy Easter everyone!

Crawling, Standing, Walking, Running!?!

Is it time to practice sitting and pulling up or nap time?

Tofu - yum!

Miles and his cute girlfriend, Nova.

So sweet!

One of the hazards of being close in age to your cousin and having a lot of hair for a baby!

The requisite "cousins" picture. Aren't they getting big?

Reading a book after a bath.

Tonight I'm thinking "where do I start?" It's been a busy week. Here's a quick rundown:

Monday - Before Miles, I was a devoted yogi - going to classes a couple times of week. Since he's been born it has been hard to muster the energy to go but I turned a corner this week and am going to make yoga classes a new part of my weekly routine. For some reason I opted to reintroduce myself to yoga by going to a Monday night yoga sculpt class - which is basically yoga on steroids - using weights with the room heated to 110 degrees. On top of that I was only a few minutes early for the 7:30 pm class (after Miles went to bed) and I had to lay my mat down between a group of Swarm Dance Team members. So here I am with my post-baby, pale body amongst young, tan, in-shape, perky dancers in skimpy yoga outfits. Let's just say it was great motivation for me and I'll be back this week for another beating.

Tuesday - Ahhhh - my lovely husband gave me a spa evening for my birthday. What better way to recuperate from a grueling yoga class than a lovely massage and facial! I told Mike he could do this for me every birthday.

Wednesday - My bookclub got together to discuss "Beautiful Boy" - a good read and a fun time chatting with girlfriends!

Friday - Rach and I headed to Babies R' Us for some quality sister/baby time and shopping. Miles got a new sleep sack (size large) and some more baby food combos like butternut squash with apples - yum! That evening our family visited the Deiterings - Jill, Shawn and 15 month old Nova. They made a lovely dinner for us and we had a great time talking and watching the little ones roam all over and play.

Saturday - Our family enjoyed a delicious sushi lunch with Rachel, Graham and Corey at our favorite sushi spot - Little Sushi on the Prairie and then the boys stayed home to play and nap while Rachel and I got fitted for our bridesmaid dresses for Matt & Janelle's wedding. The fitting went well and the dresses are beautiful. The countdown is on until their September 11th wedding - we can't wait!

Sunday - Today was a nice family day - we cleaned, did laundry, grocery shopped, played, went for a walk and did yard work. Miles went down at his usual 6:00 pm bedtime and Mike and I enjoyed a quiet dinner of grilled chicken, salad and sweet potatoes. We had a wonderfully busy week and are ready for more adventures (Miles' first Easter) this coming week.

New with the little man
Miles is now a very proficient crawler and is not satisfied with staying on the quilts we lay down for him. He wants to constantly be on the go! We thought crawling this past month was a huge step and now he is excelerating his gross motor skill development by pulling himself up to a kneeling position and even standing! Mike and I could hardly believe our eyes - we seriously think he'll be running soon. He also tried tofu for the first time this week. Daycare reported that he didn't like it but I got him to eat some this weekend and he wanted more. He continues to practice eating finger foods - organic rice krispies and the tofu - but most of it just gets pushed around his highchair tray or ends up in his hair, stuck to his face or in his bib. It's good practice though! We made another homemade babyfood this week - sweet potatoes - and now have a nice store of it in the freezer (along with the broccoli that he refuses to eat) to pull out when we need it. Miles has also been jabbering up a storm lately. We even heard what sounded like "maaaaaaa!"

Miles' 8 month photos are in. If you'd like to see them go to www.legacystudiosmn.com and click on "ordering" at the bottom. Type in your email and the password is miles. The pictures are super cute!

Ferberization
So over the last month we've applied the Ferber method to Miles with great success. Basically, the Ferber method recommends that you always put your baby to bed drowsy but awake and to let them cry so that they learn to sooth themselves to sleep. Miles normally goes to bed at night without a problem - it has always been the night wakings that have gotten us up several times each night to either feed or comfort him. We've used this method and although we've had to torture ourselves with listening to him cry for 30+ minutes a few nights he barely cries anymore at night and has actually started sleeping through the night! I only got up to feed him at night once this whole week - and that was after he had been sleeping soundly for 9 hours. He now is consistently sleeping from about 6:00 pm to 6:00 am. Although it has been hard to hear him cry those few nights that he just didn't want to go down (especially because he's not a crying baby) we are firm in our belief that we're teaching him a good life skill - to be able to sleep well at night - and are so happy that we are now also getting good night sleeps. We're a happy, busy family now.

Ta-Da!

Upside down baby!

He crawls right for the outlets.
(We have since covered all of them.)

So cute & innocent.

Are you sure about this horseride Godmother?

Riding the horse is fun!

Yee-ha!

So sweet next to the pony.

Hoppy Easter Everyone!

Cousins Corey and Miles - our little bunnies.

"Hey buddy, you've got something on your head!"

He Crawls!
Miles did his first off the belly crawl this week. He's such a fast and proficient army crawler that he moves forward off of his belly a few steps and then resorts to the speedy army crawl to get where he wants to go. Where he wants to go is right to the places we don't want him to go - aka - electrical outlets, wall corners, doors - you get the picture.

Besides the excitement of crawling we had a lovely weekend. Friday morning Miles and I headed to our ECFE class. Miles was up earlier then normal that morning so he fell asleep in the car on the way to school. He continued to sleep in his car seat (never wake a sleeping baby!) through most of class so I did circle time - singing songs, bouncing balls on a parachute, etc. without a baby. It was a good opportunity though to observe the other little ones. When the teacher spoke or showed them different animals they all very astutely paid attention. I usually am so wrapped up in Miles that I've never noticed how well they observe the world around them. Friday night the Sugrues (friends from ECFE) had a lovely fish fry party. The food was delicious and pretty much everyone there had children under 2 so we felt right at home and had a great time. Thanks Sugrue Family!

Saturday morning we trekked to Andover to get Miles' 8 month pictures taken. He was such a trooper - smiling through much of the shoot. That afternoon and evening we hung out with Rachel, Graham and Corey. Whenever we get the babies together hilarious antics always seem to ensue - this time with the bunny ears. The boys could not have looked cuter and we adults all giggled a lot.

This week I knew I was deep into parenthood when:

• Miles woke up crying so I picked him up from his crib and rocked him. Unsure what woke him up I beckoned to Mike through the baby monitor to come to the nursery. When he came I used hand motions and pointed and whispered "smell his butt." Which Mike did...
• Crusted boogers on crib sheets, clothes and crib rails no longer phase me.
  
• The best gift anyone could give me would be a full nights sleep without interruption.
• Toys were literally strewn over the floors of every room in our house - including the bathrooms.
• Miles fell into the kid stereotype of hating broccoli. (I actually bought organic broccoli, steamed and pureed it and froze it in single serving cubes. He took one bite, gagged and threw up on his highchair tray.)
  

Joyful Moment of the Week
Miles woke up from a nap on Friday and instead of being a wild man and wanting to play he wanted to snuggle. He put his little arms around my neck, burrowed his head into me and hung on tight. He's a great hugger!

Happy Spring everyone!

Spring Forward

This new tub is kind of fun!

Lounging in the bath.

Cruising in a shopping cart like a big boy for the first time!

Thanks Grandma Gray for making me an awesome Mickey cart cover!
(My mom only got a few weird looks taking pictures of me in Target.)

Miles isn't too sure about Great Aunts Sue and Carol...

Partying with Great Grandpa, Great-Great Aunt Lucille, Great Uncle Don and the Great-Nickolay Aunts.

Colonel Sanders? No - just enjoying yogurt!

Is it Spring yet?
It sure feels like it! Today we threw off our jackets and the winter blues and actually enjoyed a lovely walk outside. Yes, the yards are muddy, the streets sandy and everything is still brown but you really appreciate a stroll when it's 60 degrees and sunny after a long, dark winter. Welcome to your first Spring Miles!

Spring Means Babies!
Friday Miles and I enjoyed another fun playdate with his baby pals Piper and Nicholas and I enjoyed chatting with their moms. On Saturday we went to a baby shower for my cousin and his wife, Brian and Brittany, who were in town from Bozeman, MT. They are having a little boy in June and we enjoyed seeing them and celebrating the new little Nickolay on the way. Miles hadn't seen these Nickolay relatives since Christmas and his fear of "strangers" is really starting to kick in. This is a normal part of a baby's development and I appreciate that Miles has a healthy attachment to Mike and I. Poor Great Aunts Sue and Carol though - they were so excited to see him but he was terrified of them at first. He quickly warmed up though and had a great time playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Don's hat. Congratulations Brian and Brittany!

Springing Forward
Miles spent the week perfecting his army crawl. On Saturday, Mike turned his back on Miles briefly while they were playing on the floor in his nursery and when he turned around Miles was almost out of the door! We also caught on camera him completely sitting up from a crawl position. You can also see from the pictures above we retired the now too tiny infant tub and graduated to a fun, inflatable one. The months are going by so fast now. Miles is 8 months old already! As I think wistfully of Miles' quickly disappearing babyhood every moment with the growing Miles is wonderful and fun. One of my favorites today was watching Miles bop to music on the iPod.