Just what the doctor ordered...

I had a couple of people kindly tell me I may be suffering from seasonal affective disorder last week - i.e. Sarah, you're crabby! And I was! Every little thing was getting under my skin. After a long week of work and endless cold weather this weekend was just what the doctor ordered. My cure started Thursday night with a book club girls night out. "Me" time is so nice once in awhile! Friday morning Miles, Corey, Rachel and I road tripped to Mankato to visit the boys' honorary great auntie, Sharon. Corey and Miles were thrilled to be in the car together... The morning and early afternoon were spent at the River Hills Mall where we took advantage of every kid friendly activity. The day started out with romping around the play area. We then moved on to the Barnes and Noble kids section where Sharon read the babies Dr. Seuss and they played with the trains.

The outing ended with Miles' first fun lunch in a mall food court and then a ride on the carousel. As first time riders Miles and Corey loved it. They held on tight as we went round and round and Rachel and I joked that we didn't know if they were scared or enjoying themselves. However, the minute the ride stopped Corey and Miles almost simultaneously said "more." They loved it. One ride was enough for these mamas and we knew we would soon have very tired babies on our hands.

Guess who fell asleep as soon as our car hit the highway home...

Thank you Sharon for a great day! The boys were perfectly behaved one-year olds and we had a great time.

Mike headed to his home brew club Friday night and Miles and I spent some more quality time together. He loves imitating all of our bathroom routines. When we're getting ready for work in the morning he'll pretend to clean his ears, floss his teeth (with about 6 feet of dental floss) and put lotion and make-up on - just like mommy. Friday night he grabbed my headband and was so proud to be wearing it.

He even asked for me to take his picture as he posed, very seriously, in his nursery.

Saturday our family cleaned, did laundry and ran to Costco. As Miles gets older he has more and more moments where he can entertain himself. Saturday morning all he needed was his trusty bucket and a good book.

Saturday night Rachel was kind enough to babysit and Mike and I had date night! We went to dinner and ran errands. Thanks Rach! Sunday, with my mood much improved, I felt like cooking so I made my Valentine one of his favorite desserts, chocolate pecan pie, and homemade chicken noodle soup. With so much food we couldn't eat alone so Rach, Graham and Corey came over for dinner. The weather this weekend was so beautiful (only a true Minnesotan would call 30-40 degrees and sunny "beautiful") that both Saturday and Sunday we played outside twice each day and took walks. Fresh air made us all feel so good! It wouldn't be a winter with kids without building a snow cave. The dads got their shovels out and Miles and Corey snuggled in.

With such a wonderful family and friends, the most beautiful and special son and a sweet little baby on the way how could I stay grumpy? Here's to hoping my cure lasts all week long...

Everest?

Hugging the baby.

Making Valentine's.

"Sit on your bottom. Feet belong on the floor." We must have uttered these sentences 100 times today. An overturned bowl - Miles will step on it. The end table - Miles will climb it. Any item in our house that is taller than one inch Miles has scaled. Trying to clean the house and do laundry today my back would be turned for a second and he would have the laundry basket overturned and be standing on its' precarious side. When he knows I'm looking he'll smile extra big and as soon as I say "feet belong on the floor" he scrambles off only to get right back on top a minute later. As soon as we take the basket away frustrated Miles comes out - screams, cries and big crocodile tears. Setting boundaries is hard on all of us!

One of many moment when Miles spoke right to my heart today was when we were making valentine's for his class at school. Miles colored the paper and I cut out the hearts. I gave him a heart to play with and he immediately put it to his chest and said "boom-boom, boom-boom." He's so smart and sweet.

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!