Miles {2 months}

I was gearing up to start writing Miles’ 3 month post and realized I didn’t finish his 2 month one.  Oops.  So here’s the short list of that post:

• his first smile was on June 20.  Now he gives us smiles and full belly laughs all day long.  Never had a baby so smiley and I LOVE it!
• in size 2 diapers and 6 month clothing (around 13 pounds)
• awesome nurser
• takes 4-5 naps in various locations (swing, stroller, crib)
• sleeps in his crib 7:30-1ish and then up every couple hours.  But what?!  Did I finally get a sleeper.
• loves to be swaddled and only sleeps if all arms and legs are snug tight and on his back
• adores his paci
• loves his siblings
• doesn’t love or hate bath time. 
• hates tummy time

ahh, a sleeper :)

his first smile - I caught it on camera!

love his hair line

June 23 - first time on his playmat

smiley man

And some from our 2 month photo shoot:

Curtis Orchard

This week has been unseasonably cool and so one morning we decided to head over to Curtis Orchard for our first trip of the season!  This place is about 5 minutes from our house and just about perfect for an outing.  Free play spaces, kitties to hold, goats to feed, and yummy donuts to share.   There was only 1 or 2 other families there when we went, so we basically had free run of the place.  I also had some tokens left from last season, so the kids got to play in the mini-golf/park area.  Owen was also very excited that they had fixed the train that moves around the dining area. (for a quarter :)

Looking forward to many more trips as fall nears!  

VBS

This past week was Owen’s first time attending Vacation Bible  School at church!  He was pretty adamant that he didn’t want to go, but we basically told him he had to. :)  And then once he realized one of his best buddies, Asher, was going all was right with the world again.  Erica and I took turns carpooling the boys and they had a great time riding together.  The Kingdom Kids team did an amazing job decorating, praying, prepping, and running the great 4 evenings!

The theme was JUMP and there were jump ropes hanging everywhere and a huge trampoline on the stage.These two boys are quite the goofy pair when they’re together. Today the kids helped lead worship to show the songs they learned at VBS.  Definitely a fun week for Owen!  (Anne D, you’ll enjoy your guy in this one too)

Projects page!

Hello blog readers.  :)  I know many of your read this through a blog reader, so just wanted to let you know what I spent the last couple weeks doing.  I added a page called “projects” that you can find on the homepage:

It’s basically a menu of my most read blog posts and projects.  That way if you want to remember how to make my glass etched pans or read one of my birth stories, you don’t have to go digging for it. :)Enjoy!

flood!

Whew is all I have to say after last weekend.

The fun began on Friday afternoon.  I drove the kids to Bloomington to meet my parents at a McDonald’s.  We ate and played in the nice (seriously one of the nicer Mickey D’s I’ve been to) kid area.  We switched cars and then I drove home with just this guy:Saturday morning I was enjoying my coffee that hadn’t been warmed up several times, cuddling with Miles, and reading a book.  It was pouring outside and even when our phones went off with a flood alert, I wasn’t too worried.  Until William disappeared in the basement and then came up to say he needed help.  The sump pump was starting to not keep up with the amount of water that was coming in.  So we started shoveling buckets across the room into the shower.

We realized the storm drain where it pumps to was flooded by many feet of water, so the water we were pumping out had no where to go. I drove as fast as I could to Awesome Machines down the road and we rented a pump with a hose that we put out the window. By the time I got back, our storage area and William's tiled office were covered in water. But with the pump and towels I think we saved our new carpet. It's wet all the way around the edge of the room but we have fans going and rented a wet vac that we used several times.  With the dehumidifier as well, I think we’re all good now.  It was SO not how we wanted to spend kid-free time, but at the same time I'm glad they were out of the way.

We were also excited that it opened some doors with our neighbors.  Many lost a lot more than we did.  The couple across the street asked William to help move furniture and they let us borrow their dehumidifier until ours arrived.  They were super thankful and I hope that through the bad stuff we can chat more often!
We did get a pre-anniversary dinner out and also went out to breakfast the next morning.  Miles slept through both so it was super nice.  We drove back to Bloomington and met at Avanti’s (yum)!  Despite the basement craziness it was refreshing having a short break from the big kids.

I obviously didn’t take any pictures of the middle of the flooding, but here’s some aftermath pics:

the hose going out the window that saved it

ok, so you can't really even see the water, but it's there

doctor's visit and the pool

This week, we had a crazy early doctor appointment for Owen and Miles.  Seriously, why did I schedule that at 8?!  Owen was a total disaster and cried for everything, getting on the scale, getting measured, blood pressure, etc.  This then caused Ellie to cry and then Miles got in on it.  Fun times.  The only thing I remember is that Miles was 13 pounds even.  90-something percentile.  Big boy!  He has terrible goopy eyes but they don’t do anything about the clogged tear ducts until he’s a year.  Hopefully it won’t be that long.

Miles also has a umbilical granuloma.  It’s basically a piece of tissue that stays on your baby's bellybutton after the umbilical cord falls off. Rather than getting covered with skin as it heals, there is a red tissue on the bellybutton.  They use silver nitrate to essentially “burn” it away since it doesn’t have any nerve endings.  I didn’t really consider asking more questions before Dr. Melvin did it.  While it worked for the top of granuloma, the bottom will need more silver nitrate.  And because he was moving so much, the silver nitrate got on parts of his belly button and stomach.  He cried a lot more than normal that day/night so he was probably in pain.  Felt like an awful momma.  A little googling just suggested putting Vaseline everywhere before the silver nitrate is applied to protect it.  We'll do that before he gets the rest of it removed.After the doctor, we headed right to the pool.  Avery once again was a huge help holding Miles while we played!And a cute someone got a hold of my phone during snack break.  

Janessa’s b-day party

This morning, one of Owen’s friends had a birthday party.  I got a babysitter for Ellie and then decided I might as well leave Miles since he takes a bottle well.  So Miles had his first non-family babysitter and did awesome!  And I got to spend some special one-on-one time with Owen.

The party was at Michael’s craft store and Jennifer had come up a with a super neat art project for them.  She spent the time taping off each kiddo’s name on a canvas.  Then each kid painted and put handprints on it.  After it dried, we peeled off their names.  So cute!Then we enjoyed pizza and cupcakes.  Such a fun morning.  And can you tell that Jen is a professional photographer?  Thanks for all the great pictures of the day!  Happy 4th birthday Janessa!

t-ball

After the last few weeks of a less-than-stellar attitude from Owen at t-ball, tonight was a hit (pun intended).    His “team” was the first one up to bat and I was thrilled that he actually took the bat and hit it! He did a great job running around and touching all the bases. Miles was super excited to see his brother play t-ball. :)Then, after a longtime of fielding the balls, each kid got 5 hits with Ms. Lexi.  They’d never done this before so he was excited to do it.I packed a picnic for dinner so we ate and played on the little playground before heading home.  Everyone needed baths after the awful humidity of tonight!  Proud of him for trying tonight!