Cute things he says

I'm not so good at keeping Miles' baby book updated, but I've done a pretty good job at documenting his little life on our blog. I haven't written a post specifically about Miles and what he is up to lately though so I figured it was time.

He is saying some of the cutest things these days! One day he came running into the kitchen where I was and was very excited but sort of had a scared look on his face as well. He told me that he had found a "jump-hopper" in my room and asked that I follow him. I followed him into my room only to find a decapitated cricket on the floor. I think his curiosity led to him playing with it a bit until the little cricket lost its life.

When Dave got his "new-to-him" car, Miles was very interested in checking it out. Grandma was the one who brought the car over to us so she took Miles out to explore the Buick. He got in the car and decided quickly that it was gross (it is an old car with different smells, etc.). He then combined gross and Buick (or so we think) and started calling it "Dad's Guey Car!" He continues to call it the guey car. Too cute!

On Disney Junior they have a new show called "Sofia The First." It is about a princess named Sofia. Miles LOVES this new show and LOVES "Princess Fofields!" It took me a while to figure out what he was trying to say.

Miles is still a very active little boy. By the end of the day I'm completely exhausted from trying to keep up with him. I wish I had even half of the energy he has! He loves to sing and often sings along with tunes on his favorite shows. He loves all things boys, but also loves a few girly things like Tinkerbell and Princess Sofia. For a while after Christmas he thought he needed Tinkerbell wings. He loves to be outside. I'm so thankful for the swing set grandma got him for his birthday last fall. The weather has been so nice here lately that we've been able to enjoy some time playing in the backyard. He continues to love watching TV. He has been a huge fan of the TV his entire life. It is probably unhealthy for him to watch as much TV as he does, but it gives me a break and an opportunity to get things done. He still takes naps and sleeps for about two hours every afternoon. He is very sensitive to a lack of sleep and his naps are still very vital for his happiness each day.

A few of his more challenging behaviors include his orneriness towards our dog, Buddy. We have to tell him over and over again that he should be nice to Buddy. He also is going through a phase where he'll just walk by and hit myself or Dave. We are working on being nice to Mom and Dad as well! Staying in bed overnight has been a challenge as well, but we implemented a few ideas that were given to me over Facebook and we have made some huge progress!

We are so thankful for this little guy and all that he teaches us daily. He is an amazing boy and we are so lucky to have him in our family! I'm so excited to see how his life unfolds.

My work situation

For those of you who don't know yet, I quit my full-time job back in December. I was only there for three months, but it was the roughest three months! I wasn't happy with the work situation, but I so desperately wanted it to work because Miles seemed to really be thriving at WSU's daycare facility and we needed the money. I hated to change Miles' routine again. After thinking and talking things through with Dave and after an "incident" that happened right before I left for Christmas break, I decided to quit over Christmas break and not return. It has been about 3 1/2 weeks since my last day and boy have those 3 1/2 weeks been nice! 

Miles and I are enjoying spending more time together although I think he does miss his friends and teachers at WSU occasionally. Mom isn't quite as exciting as a room full of three-year-olds!

We do still need for me to work though so I contacted my old boss who I used to do medical transcription for. He didn't have any immediate openings, but asked me to contact him again towards the end of January. I got an email this morning saying they just had a position open up and would love for me to come back. They need me to start training immediately (I'll be working on a different account than I did last time) so in the next couple of days they will get my computer all set up again and I'll be back in business!

Hopefully Miles won't object too much to mommy working from home again!

The rest of Christmas

Dave and I really struggled with deciding on what to get Miles for Christmas this year. In fact, we took back a couple of things we had bought before Christmas but couldn't settle on. He is a very loved little boy and has a million and one toys. He was in need of some clothes, but family helped us out in that department with their gifts to him. We ended up at Wal-Mart Christmas Eve Day and just bought stuff out of desperation and ended up taking some of it back too! Ha!

For Christmas Eve we spent the evening with Dave's brother, Zach, and his family. Their little girl, Lily, is about six months younger than Miles. They both really like each other and play well together. It was fun celebrating with them! Tammy and I both had the same idea and gave Christmas PJs as the Christmas Eve gift. I think that is a tradition for a lot of families!

 

Miles & his PJs

Lily loved the pockets on her new PJs!

Dave reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Miles in his PJs

We tried to put the kids in the same bed together that night. They both fell asleep instantly because they were both exhausted but that didn't last the whole night. Miles woke up and turned the light on in Lily's room so Lily ended up moving in to Zach & Tammy's room to finish out the night. Miles did not get much sleep the rest of the night. He was up and down all night. Christmas morning came and the adults were all a little grumpy because we were all so tired!

Christmas morning - Lily's cute curls didn't survive the rough night

He was so anxious to open presents

Looking in his stocking

We couldn't find him a big Buzz like he wanted so we got the next best thing! Ha!

He didn't really play with this much so we took it back and he picked out a "Tractor Tippin'" toy from the movie Cars instead

At his daycare's Christmas program he asked Santa for a trash truck and Santa delivered

Lily got a BIG doll house

Zach was the only adult who wanted his picture taken!

Playing together - notice Miles has his trash truck IN the doll house

He LOVES trash trucks

After presents were opened Miles and Lily didn't play together as well as they had been. They both became possessive of their new toys which is to be expected I guess. Their lack of sleep started to kick in as well.

Later Christmas morning we drove up to Dayton, Idaho to see Dave's dad. It was good to see him and Miles enjoyed showing Grandpa his new toys. We then went back to Zach and Tammy's house and cooked ourselves a nice little Christmas dinner. It was yummy! Zach, Tammy, and Lily had gone over to Tammy's parent's house so we had their house all to ourselves. Miles seemed to relax a little and we all vegged in front of the TV for a while. It was a nice day.

That evening Lily and Miles entertained us and boy were they a hoot. I was laughing so hard I was crying! Those two are so cute together!

Watch out boys! Lily has some moves!

The best part of this video is at the 12 second mark

Our original plan was to leave the day after Christmas to head home, but a snow storm rolled in and changed our plans a bit. Dave needed to get back for basketball practice but because of the storm he was able to get his practices covered. We decided to stay a few extra days spending time with family while we waited for the road conditions to improve. We were even able to spend a night with Dan, Tonya, and their kids in their new empty house after they got back from their trip to see Tonya's family for Christmas. It was nice to get a little more time with them.

With mom's help, Miles took this photo of Aidan & Tonya

Our trip home wasn't as easy as we had hoped, but we made it home safely. We did have to get a hotel in Colby, Kansas because we got a late start heading out and then were slowed down by bad roads in Wyoming. Miles travels so well and is pretty content to just watch movies. It makes trips like that so much less stressful!

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation and were so glad we got to see some friends and family! Thank you to everyone for making our trip fantastic. We love and miss you all!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

Due to Dave and I both coming from split families, we get to celebrate big holidays like Christmas several different times. Miles really seemed to enjoy celebrating Christmas a few different times. We aren't even done celebrating Christmas yet either. Oh boy!

Miles really got in to opening presents this year. He understood that the faster the wrapping paper came off, the faster he would get to see what was inside. He'd open a present, admire it for a bit, and then move on to the next one. He was always ready for more! We had to work with him some this year on being thankful for what he got. We also tried to teach him about the true meaning of Christmas and that it is Jesus' birthday, but I'm not entirely sure that sunk in this year. Maybe next year?

We took down the Christmas tree today and Miles kept asking why we were taking it down. After answering him several times with "Christmas is over" he finally came up to us and said, "Christmas is over." He didn't sound too happy by that though. Dave jokingly said that the next holiday we will celebrate is Dave's birthday. Now Miles is all excited and ready for Dave's birthday. Ha! I had to point out that Valentine's Day is actually the next big holiday. Can't let Dave forget that one!

Christmas at Great Grandpa & Grandma's

He is in constant motion always

He got new trucks and also a cute outfit!

We decided to spend Christmas in Utah this year. I was really missing Utah and wanted to go visit. While out there we were able to check on our townhouse and also have an enjoyable evening with our old neighbors. In addition to that we got to spend some time with some of Dave's family. It was a very nice trip. We were delayed in coming home by a couple of days though due to snowstorms, but it was nice to be able to spend more time out there.

Miles wanted a picture by the horses

We went out to eat at Tucanos with our old neighbors. We had a wonderful evening spending time with them!

Baby Ian on the carousel

They enjoyed riding the carousel at the Provo Beach Resort

Dave's brother, Dan, who has been living in Alaska for the last 11 years moved to Logan, UT over the Christmas holiday. Dan and his family arrived in Logan the Sunday evening before Christmas. They only had a little bit of time Monday morning before they were on the road again for St. George to surprise her family for Christmas. We took full advantage of them being close and all showed up Monday morning to spend some time with them. Good thing they bought a big house and none of their furniture had been delivered yet because the six children and eight adults that were there had a great morning playing/roughhousing in their house.

The two littlest having fun with their dads and uncles

Miles had a blast

December Fun

We had a lot of fun during the month of December! It flew by entirely too fast though! Here are pictures from some of the fun things we did.

Grandma watched Miles for us one day and together they made a gingerbread house. I'm not sure that Miles was very helpful, but I know he had fun. He was very proud of his gingerbread house all month long!

Even though my mom's eyes are closed in this picture, I just LOVE Miles' expression so I had to post it anyway!

On Friday, December 14th Miles was in a Christmas program at his daycare. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from him. I thought maybe he would refuse to stand up on the stage with his class because he'd rather be with his family, but he stayed up on the stage. He basically stood there rubbing his lips (his comfort thing) the entire time. He is such a funny little guy!

They used the babies as stage decorations!

Miles' age group

The entire daycare

Still rubbing his lips

And still rubbing his lips (even during a picture with Aunt Cathy)

He moved on to picking his nose!

Waiting for Santa to give him a high five!

Waiving to mom

At first Miles was very hesitant to sit on Santa's lap. I pointed out to Miles that Santa was giving out presents but that he'd have to at least go up there and give Santa a high five or shake his hand in order to get the present. Miles reluctantly agreed to do that and got in line. He watched and observed all of his friends sit on Santa's lap and get a book afterwards. When it was his turn he walked right up to Santa, gave him a hug, crawled up on his lap, gave Santa a high five, and then waived to mom. He showed NO signs of fear whatsoever! Sometimes he really amazes me!

Later that same day we went to Keaghan's first piano recital. She started taking piano lessons in the fall and seems to be enjoying them. She looked like she had no fear for her first recital. The entire performance only lasted a few seconds though!

 

She looked so cute!

We also got to see Keaghan perform in her school's Christmas program, but I was so busy with Miles that I didn't take any pictures.

This year we didn't do a lot of our normal traditions like make sugar cookies, drive around to look at the lights, etc. I feel like I don't have nearly enough time these days with trying to manage a full-time job and spend enough time with my family. Life has been hectic, but I think we still managed to have a nice enjoyable December!

My poor neglected blog...

I really can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner! You sure wouldn't know that Christmas is so close based on my blog...it is still stuck at Halloween! Working full-time is really putting a cramp on my free time! I'll try to get it updated this week so that when we get back from our trip to Utah next week I'll be ready to post all about it.

Miles' last day at his preschool (11/1/12). He really misses Mrs. Marci & Mrs. Norma.

We went to my Aunt Cathy's for Thanksgiving. She lives in a suburb of Kansas City (Olathe) which is about three hours away from us. We had a very nice visit and enjoyed spending time with family. I love to just sit around, chat, and eat good food! My aunt and uncle are in the process of building a house in Missouri. It was fun to see their house in progress and see the pretty lake they are building on. I didn't take any pictures though. Miles enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake. I'm excited for him to have childhood memories of hanging out at the lake at Cathy & George's!

While in the area we had to go see the new KC temple

Such a beautiful building!

It was SO cold and SO windy!

Grandma, Cathy, & George walking around the temple grounds

Miles took a shot at being a photographer!

Just relaxing

He loves his grandma!

Not too long after Thanksgiving we had a sick boy on our hands. For awhile I just assumed it was a cold, but his cough sounded so deep and was keeping him awake at night. We ended up taking him in to Immediate Care one night and spent the entire evening there. The doctor gave him a breathing treatment and then had an x-ray of his chest done. He didn't have pneumonia, but he did have bronchitis. He sent him home on an antibiotic and breathing treatments.

He was a sick little man. He never falls asleep on the couch!

First breathing treatment

 At his followup appointment a week later, he had an ear infection. His bronchitis was much better though. He was sent home with another antibiotic and more breathing treatments. He just finished his 10 day course and hopefully we are out of the woods.