Life As We Know It: December happenings

We've had a nice enjoyable month. It is really hard to believe that it is already Christmas. It definitely came fast this year! All fall I was preoccupied with getting Oliver here that I didn't have much time to think about life after Oliver's arrival. I, in fact, was out shopping last night (Christmas Eve) getting stocking stuffers and presents for Oliver and Dave. The stores were pretty picked over, but hopefully my boys enjoyed all their gifts!

Before my mom left to head back to Kansas earlier in the month we took her to our church's Christmas party on Saturday, December 7th so she could see Miles with Santa. Last year Miles was really scared of Santa, but did eventually get over his fear and go sit on his lap. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect this year. Miles initially didn't want to go see Santa but that didn't last long. He went right up to him and got on his lap. When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Miles said, "A BIG Frank!" Santa thought he said a train. So, Santa proceeded to ask Miles questions about trains and whether or not he had been a good little boy this year. Miles had a confused look on his face, but he played along and answered Santa's questions. SO cute! Frank, for those of you wondering, is the name of the combine on the movie Cars. Miles and I were both coming down with a cold at that point so we didn't make it through the entire party. We got to see Santa and have a good ham dinner, but then had to leave before the program began.

The rest of the month we've just been getting ready for Christmas and enjoying our time together as a family. We've had some rough spots with both of the boys, but I think we are slowly figuring those things out as well.

Miles got that cold which led to a cough that is actually still hanging on. When he lays down at night he gets to coughing so hard that he gags. This has led to him making VERY frequent visits to our room. Now that we have two kiddos to wake us up (and on different schedules) we aren't getting much sleep. We did take him to the doctor and the doctor said it was just a virus so we have to just wait it out. Miles is finally starting to feel better though and has been better at staying in his bed all night. We also are toying with the idea of taking his nap away. On Sundays we are at church during his nap time so he doesn't get one. He is pretty cranky and crazy without a nap, but bedtime is MUCH less of a struggle. He falls asleep quickly and stays asleep all night. He does get up pretty early in the morning, but that is to be expected I guess.

Oliver has been spitting up what we would consider an excessive amount. When he was first born he spit up a lot and the nurses and doctors told us that was normal considering he was a C-section baby. The spit-up got somewhat better when we switched him over to a more gentle formula, but in the last week or so it has gotten worse. Yesterday we decided to try to do our feeding routine a little bit different (letting him eat the entire bottle before burping instead of burping after each ounce that he ate) and it seems to be working. He's had significantly less spit-up with each feeding! The doctor said we only need to worry about it if it is projectile (shoots across the room), has a color to it, or if he isn't gaining weight and none of those are concerns right now. He did have his 1-month checkup on December 18th and is growing and doing well.

Here are some random pictures from the month.