Dear Miles

As my first born, you transformed my life in ways I never knew would exist. You made me a mom and suddenly things that I thought were important, weren't. And things like poop schedules, sleep, censoring TV, and eating your vegetables became very important. You can make me laugh, cry, and want to scream all within 10 minutes. You can make my heart stop and my stomach drop at your crazy antics. You can make my heart explode when you smile at me and wrap your arms around me in a giant hug. Seeing you grow each day is amazing. You seem to learn by leaps and bounds and I never know what you will come up with next. You are blessed with so many different talents and I'm eager to discover what you decide to pursue. Seeing you grow as a big brother is amazing. You are so proud to be a big brother and love your sister so much that it melts my heart. You are hilarious and make me laugh daily. I miss you when we're not together and never can get enough of you. I've just been thinking about you a lot lately and wanted to try to let you know just how much you mean to me, but I don't think I will ever be able to find the words. I love you Smiley-forever and ever with my whole heart, no matter what!

Love,
Mommy

Expanding Vocabulary

So my 3 year old son said his first cuss word today. I couldn't believe it! He was talking about his friends at school and that some of them say "cry baby". Then he said "J" (protecting the identity of his friend!) says "B****"! What?! Then he says that "J" also says "You can't shoot" (the basketball). I don't think I like this "J" kid very much! Miles said B again and I calmly told him that wasn't a nice word at all and we didn't say that. I tried not to make a big deal about it because it seems that sometimes when you make a big deal about something, it makes him want to do/say it even more. I hope he doesn't repeat this anymore! And I'll be talking with the teacher in the morning...

Too Busy!

When I posted a few weeks ago, there was something I had wanted to post about and then when it came time to write it, I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was! It's been driving me crazy! Well, it just hit me this morning when I was driving in to work. A few weeks ago, we were all getting ready to leave to go somewhere, I can't remember where now. I was busy making sure the kids were all ready and had everything they needed for the excursion. We were in a bit of a hurry, wherever it was we were going, and it wasn't until I was carrying Hailey out and putting her in the car and I realized I didn't have any shoes on. It was pretty funny! The life of a busy mother!

Getting Big!

Checking out Big Bird

Last week was back to normal, which was tough after having 2 short weeks in a row. However, Miles did fantastic at school last week and got his reward candy every day! We also started swim lessons last week at the neighborhood pool. We weren't overly impressed the first night, but it did get better. He has 8 sessions, Monday-Thursday two weeks in a row. It was a bit busy, but it was good to have them back to back like that. He's really enjoying them and is learning the basics. He also starts swimming at school this week, so he's going to have a lot of swimming going on! They have a large wading/baby pool at school that I guess is about knee deep (an adult knee!). He's so excited, I just hope the weather is good so they can use it.

Practice practice practice

Kisses from daddy

Hailey was eating her giraffe (a fav!) and her toes at the same time!

This weekend went by very quickly, much too quickly. Hailey had her 4 month check up Friday morning at 10:30, so I didn't go in to work until after that, which was nice. I also took her in to work with me for the rest of the day, which was fun! My excuse was that she was going to have sots and might not want to be at daycare. I really thought she'd be fine, but as it turns out, she was not herself. She checked out good! She's 14 pounds 2 ounces and in the 70th percentile for weight. She's 26 inches long and is in the 95th percentile for height! She's putting all that nursing to good use! She's a bit leaner than Miles was at this age. He was 24 inches long and 15 pounds. I was also glad we had this appointment set up because she's had another cold for the last 2 weeks and I wasn't liking it. It turns out she had an ear infection in both ears! She's so good, we didn't even know something was bothering her! So, now she's on an antibiotic and also had a breathing treatment in the office to just break up the crud in her chest. It worked. We are back at our old pediatrician, and boy are we glad! We started her on cereal that night and it went fairly well! Miles of course wanted to feed her and of course I wouldn't let him! So his job is to wipe her face. And boy he's good at it! He wouldn't let anything be on her face and wiped her after every bite! We're figuring it out as we go, but so far, she's doing well.


Saturday was nice, Weight Watchers, hair cut, a walk looking at the neighborhood yard sales, a trip to Costco, and hanging out with the kids. Miles has been attached to my hip all weekend and went all these places with me! We did have another plumbing issue though, which wasn't fun, but it seems to be working now, so hopefully this won't be a recurring thing! Today was fun-we had my work picnic. We invite all our former and current clients annually to get together. It's really nice because a lot of families use this as an annual visit with their birthfamilies. It was wonderful to see everyone and so nice to have been a part of their journey. We have over 100 people RSVP and I'd say about 25 people at least didn't show, but a few did that we weren't expecting. At any rate, I had a nice time socializing and Miles and Ahmad hit the playground a few times and played a lot of baseball! Hailey was her usual smiley self and was a social butterfly.

Last weekend we put up Hailey's swing-she loved it and swung for a long time!

Miles got up from bed a bit ago and when I looked he was peaking around the corner from his room. I went back with him and did another bug-bug and we just cuddled. At first I was trying to put him back down with the bug-bug because it was late enough, but then I caved and snuggled. I can't too often resist snuggling with him when he wants it. After a bit, he started talking about the sore in his mouth from where he bit his cheek like 4 times today. Then he paused and said "Mommy, Hailey was in your tummy for a long long long time." "Yes, she was." "Then she came out." "Yes, that's right." Silence. "Are you glad Hailey came out?" "Yes" "Me too". I love that I never know what is going to come out of his mouth!
I'm looking forward to another great week!

Overheard

I was nursing Hailey in the living room and Ahmad was helping Miles get his jammies on after a bath and I heard this: "I love you SOOO much daddy!" "I love you too!". Made me smile.

Blessed

We are truly blessed.

Catching Up

Where to start....! It's been a busy few weeks and I've been meaning to write, but just never got to it. Last week was a pretty good week. I actually made it all week without missing the kids TOO much while at work (a first!) and I think I was just so excited I had a 4 day weekend coming up, I didn't mind. Miles had his last gymnastics class and showcased everything he had learned the previous 8 weeks or so. It was fun to see him show off!


I took Friday off, which was actually our 5 year anniversary, to play hooky with the family and met up with our old neighbors, Katie and two of her kids, Evelyn and Robyn as well as the Klein family for a fun, but hot, afternoon at the zoo. Ahmad had been waiting all year for the Cheetahs to arrive and they didn't disappoint. They were hanging out in the shade, but it was still fun to see them.


Then on Saturday, we went to the Indy 500 parade downtown. It was really fun! We managed to get a spot in the shade, but unfortunately were a bit back from the street. Miles still enjoyed what he could see and could be as loud as he wanted and it didn't matter. Good times!


Then that evening once we were back and settled, we took the kids over to Amber and Jeff's and actually went out by ourselves! For the second time in 3.5 years! We went to a very nice dinner, walked around Metropolis (an outside mall) and got some ice cream. It felt like ages to us, but Amber and Jeff were shocked to see us back so soon and hadn't even had dinner yet!

Sunday we had our first swim of the season! While walking all year, we would often walk to the neighborhood pool to see what was going on and see if it was ready for us to swim yet. Miles was so excited that it was finally open! He did great and progress from strangling me to swimming by himself with a ring around him in one day! He tried jumping in, but didn't get too much into it. That was his favorite thing last year, so we'll have to see this year. Hailey got in on the action as well, but Ahmad just watched. We'll get him in one of these days! Hailey went under, but didn't seem to thrilled about it. However, she did seem to like just hanging out in the water. We took another dip on Monday and are excited to get Miles in his swim lessons next week.


After all that fun with the kids, it was really tough to get back to work this week. Miles also had a few rough days the beginning of the week, but ended wonderfully! We decided to make a second behavior chart for him that consisted of a few new things. He gets a sticker for Good Listening, Being Good at School, Letting Hailey Eat (he loves to mess with her while she's nursing!), Putting his Dishes in the Sink (decided it was time for a few chores!), and Brushing his Teeth at Night (he really only did it in the morning). So far, so good. He's gotten quite a few this week!

Watering the plants with Mommy

We even had a surprise visit from the Azars! They came into town Thursday and stopped over for dinner. It was great to see them and let the boys hang out and play a bit. Hopefully we'll see them again soon!

Miles also went to the dentist this week and did a fantastic job! He'd been before and had the hygienist check him out, but that was about it. He did a full cleaning this time and was so good! I couldn't believe it! He carried the bouncy ball he got afterwards to and from school every day this week and showed it to his teacher each day. It was pretty cute. On a side note, I've noticed that Miles also has a flip-flop tan and I think that's so cute too! It's funny, he likes to help burp Hailey and wants to pat her back. I think he just likes that he has permission to hit on her! Ahmad pats her back hard, like he did with Miles, while I pat her much softer. When I tell Miles to be gentle, he says, no, like Daddy does! Lol!

Playing tennis with Daddy

Hailey turned 4 months old last week and I can't believe it! She's getting so big and is about ready to start on some cereal. We go to the doctor next week and then I think we'll start. She stalks our food and just really wants to get into it! She's also trying to sit up and does mini sit-ups when she's laying down trying to get those abs of steel! She's mouthing everything and must be pre-teething. She's a slobber mess! She's so into everything and watches all that we do. She cracks up at Miles and always has a smile on her face.