Utah Trip: Part 1

We are having a blast in Utah spending time with family and friends!  Miles is loving getting to know this side of his family and seems to be handling the trip fairly well.  We are a week and a half into the vacation and have a week to go, so I thought I would give an update and post some pictures.  We were happy to celebrate Kate and Ryan's wedding last week!  It was a beautiful thing to be in the Salt Lake City Temple with so many members of the family!  Here are some other adventures:

Playing at Bonneville Park on the grass!

Riding on Great-Grandpa's bike
(and chewing on the handlebars...)

Visiting Great-Great Grandpa and Grandma Bird in
Springville - happy to see them!

Photo booth picture from the reception
of a friend!  Miles didn't really
want to play dress up though -  ha ha!

Having fun at Hogle Zoo!
Checking out the animals;
Miles didn't seem all that interested though  :)

Not from Utah trip, but another swimming picture!
"Hey, hey, Miles the otter!"

Three Months and Counting!

We have passed the three month mark!  Miles has gone from blob baby to less-blobby baby in what has seemed like such a short time!  He can get up on his elbows when on his tummy, grab things and get them into his mouth, smile like a champion, and has even started laughing! He loves showing off his conversation skills while mommy is trying to talk, and he often surprises us when we get him up from naps by turning around in his crib or spinning in little circles or scootching across the floor, his blankets piled up where we left him.  He is also hitting that "I'm easily distracted" phase where he can't be inconvenienced by nursing, sleeping, or anything else keeping him from looking at the world.  A room he has never been in is the worst - he tries so hard to see every detail! Most recently, he is attempting to grab his toes and blow spit bubbles with his mouth.  The bubbles are coming along nicely - his favorite thing is to get a nice fountain going around his mouth and then promptly wipe it on your arm, hand, or shirt before you can get it with the burp rag!  He then smiles at you like he planned the whole thing!  He has managed to get his toes a few times but he gets so frustrated that he can't get them all the time yet.  And we have taken him swimming twice with continuing success - we will make a fish out of that boy yet!  Basically, we are really enjoying our little babe!  Every day is a new surprise, and just when we think he can't possibly get any cuter, he surprises us again. 

Andrew and I are doing really well, too.  Andrew is done teaching for now and has then next couple months off!!  We have some good solid leads on contracts for next year and will hopefully get one signed in the next week or so.  That would be a big load off our shoulders (Andrew's especially!).  We are looking forward to our Utah trip in June for Kate's wedding - we can't wait to spend some more time with you all!  Until then, we are enjoying the little things and growing together as a family.  The every day challenges get just a little easier and a little more manageable when handled together.

At the pool with daddy - good lookin' boys!

Miles hanging by the pool

Going to church...13 weeks old!  (Both onsie and pants are 12 month size...good bye little clothes...)

Love overalls!

One of many...many...many blowouts.  This one was while shopping...joy.

Getting ready to be wrapped up for a nap...now just need some clothes...

Miles in his high chair!  Yay for garage sales!

New (and most comfy-est) baby carrier!

Love grabbing and eating toys

Done a lot of sleeping the last couple months

Hanging out in the diaper

I know it's only a day later but Miles was hanging out in his diaper on the couch with Andrew and we grabbed the camera, with the following results!  So cute!  We are also including pictures of Miles after his nap.  We walked in to get him and he had somehow managed to scooch off and out from under his blankets and turn...  It was quite a surprise! Enjoy!

"Take my picture, mommy!"

Can you tell we like taking pictures of our little Miles?!  These are some I have taken randomly when he is looking all cute on blankets or whatnot - with an occasional teddy bear or hubby thrown in :)  I can't believe how fast he is growing!  I am really curious to know what his weight is now, cause he's huge!  These pictures have been taken in the past weeks so he is still little in some of them.  I will post a video soon... we are trying to catch one of him smiling (and maybe a laugh - he laughed a couple times yesterday!!)

He has hit the stage of unpredictability!  Some days he wants to sleep all day - and all night, yay! - but some days he wants to be awake for hours and hours...and hours and hours.  He decided he doesn't like pacifier, so we are working on getting him down for naps (since he used to conk out as soon as pacifier was in his mouth).  Basically he is driving me crazy as someone who likes predictability and schedules and consistency!  Mornings are best for me, with the whole day ahead.  Evenings and night-time are the hardest, simply because I am tired and over-thinking things.  He is getting better at sleeping at night, going down at 8 or 9 and sleeping til 7 or 8 (I get up with him twice usually) - but sometimes we are up all night it seems and he wants to be up for the day at 5...  Those are the days we just roll with it - ha ha...ask Andrew how well I "roll with it" :)  Anywho, he's adorable so it's all worth it!  Also (I know, you're thinking "enough already, on to the pictures!") I found a great article on parenting.com that was exactly what I needed to hear one day and I go back to it when I need a reminder.  I love stumbling on an article or a question-and-answer feed that gives me a little pick-me-up and motivates me to keep smiling (at least in public and occasionally around Andrew - ha ha!) This happens a lot with the scriptures, Ensign articles, and other Church publications as well.  And of course, one of the greatest blessings is prayer and being able to seek guidance and strength from my Heavenly Father.  He truly is the greatest source of light and peace, and I thank Him daily for my family!

Baby Miles!

So, this post is long overdue, but I am finally getting around to posting about our little baby Miles! He was the whole point of starting this blog and I've been keeping him all to myself for the last 6 1/2 weeks! But they have been really amazing weeks... tiring and long weeks, but also so sweet and beautiful! The first couple weeks were lazy and then we had a Utah trip and got back into the swing of life. He is a wonderful baby boy and I could never have dreamed he would have so much personality this early!

He loves to lick things (shirts, arms, blankets, fingers, etc...) and is always sticking his tongue out.  One of my favorite things is sticking carrots or apples or french fries in his mouth for him to lick...He has great reactions!
He loves snuggling up with blanket and pacifier for nap times, though he always spits pacifier out when he is getting serious about going to sleep
He loves that he can make noises now with his mouth and talks ALOT
He loves his swing anytime, but hates his carseat (one of the only times he will scream himself red in the face)
He loves yanking on me while nursing and making me really sore!  Otherwise he is a great nurser
He loves making cute and funny faces at me when I am up with him in the middle of the night - he is begging to play but I just tell him "heck no!"  Good thing they go from awake to sleepy so quickly!
He loves giving you his concerned face when you are doing everything you can to get him to smile
He loves putting his hand in front of his face when you get the camera
He loves loves loves bathtime, though it was an acquired love
He loves growing!  He is already huge and seems to always be in a growth spurt, eating every 1 1/2 - 2 hours and sleeping either a ton or not enough
He loves kicking his legs!  He will push himself across the bed and over Boppy if he wants to, and will climb up you like a rock climber while you hold him.  His legs are extremely strong
He loves music!  He likes listening to classical music during playtime, Jack Johnson on Saturday mornings while we make breakfast, PianoGuys when he is cranky, and Andrew or I singing Primary songs when he is sleepy.  Andrew especially sings to him a lot - it is really cute!
He loves his grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousin ALOT
He loves staring at clocks and fans
He loves watching everything
And I love that he is my baby and I get to keep him forever!

Here are a lot of pictures! Most of you don't need to see this many, but some of you have requested lots, so here they are! For some reason some of them are sideways and I spent forever trying to fix it...oh well!  And the formatting is kinda weird... 

It's a Boy!

The next day...

I sleep all day long! (Four days old)

Just brand new!

Tummy time!

Six days old

Warming up to bathtime - no screaming!

But still a little traumatizing...

Sitting up in the bobby, watching

Blessing day - wearing tuxedo Aunt Donna made,
sitting on blanket Grandpa Bird knitted

Blessing day

Blessing day

What?! There's more?!

Five generations!

Five generations with spouses

Visiting Grandma Shirley and Grandpa David

40 Weeks and counting?

Well, hopefully it isn't 40 weeks and counting, but for now little babycakes is sitting comfy!  Next time I get pregnant, I'm going to put an expiration date sticker on my stomach.  "Expires 02/14/2013"

Happy Valentine's Day though!  Andrew and I have really chill plans tonight, nothing too strenuous (or maybe we SHOULD go salsa dancing or something!?)  Well, anyways, we will probably do something fairly relaxing.  My mom and I went and saw "Warm Bodies" today!  Ha ha, go see it if you haven't!  But only when you are tired or loopy or with a big group of ridiculous friends...  I loved it because it was so cheesy and didn't take itself too seriously.  The kid's internal dialogue was great and the blatant "Romeo and Juliet" references were too perfect!  Some gross people-chomping in the beginning, but if you can breeze through that then you're golden.

Been doing lots of Vday crafts, keeping myself busy...  Thanks for all the love and support throughout the last months!  Hopefully my next post will involve a little munchkin :)

39.5 Weeks and counting!

Wow, I can't believe I am just a few days shy of my due date!  It felt like this day would never come and here it is!  It is crazy that we are on the threshold of the next stage of our lives!  It is a really good thing Andrew is here to share it with me because I don't think I could do it by myself.

My next Drs appointment is tomorrow and I'm hoping for some indication that I'm getting close!  My last two appointments found me just barely dilating - which was good but now I'm ready for some real action!  Andrew is hoping I will have the baby tomorrow (for purely historical reasons, if you're cool you will know why) but I'm kinda thinking I will be late.  Which would be good cause then we can have our Valentine's Day fondue date that we've been planning :)  Yum!

Andrew asked if we were going to go take some couples maternity pictures to commemorate our first baby and my humongousness.  Spell check says that isn't a word but I am the expert at humongousness at this point - it is definitely in my dictionary!  So, we went out and took some pictures at the Mesa Temple since the grass was nice and green right now.  I included some collages I made of the pictures rather than a bunch of singles.  My mom was our photographer and I fixed the pictures up a bit.  Andrew was amazing and didn't complain once about how long it took or how cold it was.  Since Utahans will be reading this I won't say how cold it actually was, but we definitely were missing our jackets!  It was fun to spend some time together and I'm glad to be posting pictures more creative than the typical side shot we've done until now :)

Andrew got his teaching license renewed and is officially official!  We were worried we would run into hiccups with that, but it went through without a hitch, thank goodness.  Planning continues to get easier, except the poor guy is trying to plan without knowing when he will need to get a substitute.  Ha ha, gotta keep him on his toes, right?  He will take a few days off to spend time with me and the baby when he comes.

Otherwise, not much is going on here!  Just relaxing and enjoying the last days of pregnancy - working on a quilt, reading, organizing, cleaning, etc.  But enjoy the pictures and I will post again probably in a couple days on my official due date! :)