Happy Mother's Day to me!

I waited patiently for a whole week and my Mother's Day present finally arrived!  My very own, brand-new Vatanai Chartres 4.5 m woven wrap!! 

I found my first wrap on Craigslist in January and got hooked on wrapping, but that one was a more inexpensive wrap and made of gauze so it really dug into my shoulders.  I had been wanting a higher quality wrap for a long time, but was having a hard time justifying spending the money on it.  When Bill said I could trade in my Mother's Day massage and pedicure for a wrap instead, I jumped online and ordered before he changed his mind!  :-)

Now that I've got this one, I've already decided that I want another, shorter woven to do some other types of carries that don't require as much fabric.  Bill just rolls his eyes, mutters about me being crazy under his breath, and says I'd better sell the gauze one before I even think about buying another.  Alright by me!

It is just SO handy to be able to throw Miles up on my back and get things done, especially when he's being a bit of a cling-on like recently.  He's happy because he's up high enough where he can see over my shoulder and I'm happy because he's not fussing at me and he's on my back and out of my way, as opposed to being in a front carrier where I have to work around him.  Of course, you can also do front carries and hip carries with a wrap, too.  I LOVE it!  :)

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Abbie and Josie were very kind and hosted us for a playdate today.  Miles and Josie are only 3 days apart and they are just so cute together!  Plus, it is awesome to have a grown-up mommy friend to talk to during the day!  :-)  Abbie set the kiddos up with some colored yogurt painting and they had a blast!  They also definitely had a bath when they were done!

*Josie was totally loving eating the yogurt as much as painting with it!* 

*Miles wasn't entirely sure about it.*

*Um, my feet are a little messy, Momma.*



After the yogurt fun, they were so funny because Miles kept rolling onto his back and then rolling back to his tummy and every time he would pop his head back up, Josie would just crack up!

Miles and Josie Cuteness!

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Miles had some broccoli for supper tonight and he thoroughly enjoyed it.  Can you tell?  :-)

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On the docket this weekend?  Finishing unpacking once and for all.  Bill is about to have a nervous breakdown because everything is not put away yet.  He did a lot of work in the garage last night and this morning so now we can fit a car in there!  He also got up early this morning and cleaned and vacuumed both cars, then when he got home today he cleaned and swept the laundry/storage room in the basement.  He is on a mission and I think it is in my best interest to go along on the mission, too...  So if you need me this weekend, I will be sorting through the small mountain of boxes that we have yet to unpack.  Wish me luck!

8 Months

Miles, you are 2/3 of a year old today!!  Another 31 days have flown by and they have been busy - for you and for us.  Let's see...what have you been busy with? 

~ You can sit up on your own now, though you do still tip over sometimes when you reach too far for a toy or other interesting object. 

~  You seem to be getting disgusted with rolling to your desired destination, but haven't quite figured out how else to get there.  Quite frankly, Daddy and I are in no big hurry for you to figure out crawling because we still have quite a lot of babyproofing to do at the new house!

~  You have three new teeth!  Three of the four middle ones on the bottom.  The bottom left tooth came in first, and the two to the right of it came in at the same time.  You were a little cranky and clingy, but again, I'm not sure if it was because of teeth or because of all the commotion from the move or both.  You look like such a big guy now when you laugh or smile (or scream!) at us with your three little white teeth peeking out!

~ You have started taking some pretty fantastic naps during the day!  Usually about a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon, if we're home. 

~ You LOVE to be outside!  You're not picky about what you do when you are out there.  You're happy to be swimming, walking/strolling, swinging, going to campfires, or just chilling out on the deck w/ mom and dad.

~ You started eating solid food this month, too.  You mostly just gnaw on things and wave them around and splat them on your tray, but you really like to taste new foods and join in mealtimes with us.  So far you like broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, apples, applesauce, bananas, oatmeal, cream of wheat, raspberries, and watermelon.  Actually, you LOVE watermelon!

~ Even though you are a very open-minded eater, you still love to nurse.  Sometimes I think you would just hang out there all day if I'd let you.  If you're with Daddy and I walk in the room and it's been a little while since you've nursed, you've started to do a funny little "eh eh eh" fussing while stretching out to get to me.

*Being 8 months old takes a lot out of a guy!*

We love you, BubbaBoy!  Happy 8 months!



Wow! Long time, no post!

Ok, so it only been about a week and a half, but it has been a busy week and a half! 

We finished up moving over Memorial Day weekend, thanks to my parents and Dan! 

*High quality parenting here, folks.  Miles in his carseat, in the stroller, playing with a cat toy so that we can finish packing.*

We're still living in a little bit of chaos, but hopefully once Bill is done with school tomorrow we will be able to get a few more things done.

No after pictures yet because my camera battery died and the charger is lost somewhere in the carnage of the move.  This is pretty unfortunate because it is really darn hard to find a little 2" flattish, black square in random boxes full of stuff.  So, until we completely finish unpacking and unearth the charger, the pictures will just have to wait.

Since summer has arrived in full force we did manage to dig out Miles' new (totally the best $2 garage sale find EVER!) giraffe pool and let him have some swimming fun.  He really likes to lay on his belly in the water, but doesn't quite grasp the concept that he can't just lay his head down when he gets tired.  He's not so fond of the faceful of water that he gets when he does that...

Miles also started trying some more solid foods once we got moved to the new house.  We're not really doing the traditional purees route, but instead are mostly following an approach called Baby-Led Weaning.  Basically, following baby's cues and letting them feed themselves a variety of 'real' foods right from the start.  So far, Miles really loves cucumbers, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, apples, applesauce, bananas, and pears.  The bananas are a little tricky for him - they basically end up squished between his fingers, so I do help him by spooning some of them in.  He also likes to share bites of my oatmeal and cream of wheat, but he wasn't so sure about Greek yogurt.

 * "So, I've got a little oatmeal on my face.  So what?"*

Let's see.  What else?  Oh yes, Miles has officially graduated to his new, big kid carseat!  He only had about an inch left before he outgrew his bucket seat and he was just getting to darn heavy in that thing!

13 days old

7.5 months old

Man, why do I do things like that to myself?!  I seriously just sat and stared at those pictures for about 2 solid minutes trying to figure out when the heck my little, cute, squishy baby grew into this not-so-little, but still totally cute big guy who fills up that whole seat!

*Looking like a big guy in his new seat!*

I don't know if it's all the commotion of the move, or the heat, or if he's getting more teeth, or what, but Miles has been completely ornery the past few days.  Lucky for him, he intersperses the cranktasticness with moments of exceptional cuteness:

*Yes, our baby falls asleep clutching a hard, plastic water bottle, not a soft, snuggly stuffed animal like a normal child.*

*Modeling his totally adorable "designer" diaper.*

*Miles takes after his father and does the freaky sleeping with his eyes open thing.  Creeps me out.*

*Swinging at the park!*

Well, that's all for now, I think.  We get our first installment of our CSA (community supported agriculture) share tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what's in it!