Our Trip

We recently went to the northeast to see Chris graduate. Milo was originally going to go with us but we ended up deciding that is was better to let him stay here with his aunt, uncle and cousins rather than dragging him all over the east coast and never knowing when he'd get to nap or eat. Once we got there and saw how our days went it was VERY apparent that it was a good decision. He would have been so miserable. Due to unforeseen illness on my part Chris and I had to cut our vacation short but what we did get to do was enjoyable and I have made a full recovery!

Here are some pics for our vacation:

My in-laws and I met Chris in Vermont for the graduation becuase he left a week early for his residency week. On the way there we stop in St. Louis and got to see the Gateway Arch. You can see me teeny tiny down at the bottom.

There was a church in front of the Arch as we walked up to it that had been there way before it was ever constructed.

You can go up in the thing and the shuttle that takes you up there is sooooo tiny. It was NOT fun to ride up or back down in.

It was massively high to look up at.

I thought this was a cool picture. As we were crossing the street on the way back I looked up and saw the refection of the arch in one of the buildings across the street.

Finally! He did it!!!!!!!!

What better way to celebrate than touring the Ben and Jerry's factory. (all my idea of course)

I thought the cow trash cans were cute! :P

Chris and Me

My mother and father in-law

I've got the golden ticket!

On our way to our next destination we saw this pretty place. We don't have anything resembling mountains to lakes here so we were mightily impressed!

Our B&B that we stayed at in Maine

Isn't it cute!?!

Lenny: The worlds only Life size Chocolate Moose.
You're jealous you didn't see it aren't you?

Yes, there were larger chocolate bears too! But you had to refrain from touching them.

This little guy did not want to be photographed. I engaged in a rather undignified chase in the drizzling rain around the beach trying to get his picture.

Chris on the rocks

Looking down the Maine coast

That's the light house at Cape Elizabeth in the background. We were sad that it was so rainy the whole time we were there but it was still nice to get to see a real light house and we still manged to have a good time!

Chris wanted a silly pic so I obliged him.

Chris wandered down the rocks a ways and I wasn't feeling well so I sat down and rested and looked down and noticed a spider web that had collected some rain drops from all the drizzle in the air. I thought it was pretty and deserved to be photographed.

Chris came across a tide pool close to the end of the rocks and found a star fish out there. WE decided that needed a closer inspection so Chris needed to go starfishing.

He left his shoes in a place that we thought would be okay but, be unfimliare with the incoming tide, we were woafully wrong. Those shoes got SOAKED.

Wadding out into the sea

"Here starfishy fishy fishy..."
We could not stop laughing Chris kept getting hit by in coming waves and those darn starfish are harder to catch than you would think. They're faster little swimmers than we thought. WE had in our mind that kind of docil, lay there creators, but no, they'll get up and move when some giant human is trying to get a hold of them.

After getting throughly soaked Chris did finally manage to get him.

So pretty!

He gave us what I can what I can only assume is the starfish version of a very rude gesture.

After we got a good look we release him.

We went to Boston after we left Maine and got to see my cousin Sam which was so much fun and the highlight of my trip but I was feeling to bad by that point that my never pulled out my camera again. I am feeling MUCH better now and I am glad we went and got to see and do all that we did.

Little Toot!

We went to eat lunch with daddy today and met some friends of ours while we were there. As soon as they sat down with us Milo, of course, started having a melt down. While he was throwing a fit I was doing what I could to calm him but at the same time trying to get on with eating my lunch so Chris could get back to work. I unwrapped my brownie and Milo immediately got interested in my food. Even though he hasn't eaten any of his own food I went ahead and gave him a bite of my brownie just to attain some peace. The little toot just giggles, shoves the brownie in his mouth and says "I won!" ...hmmmm... some days it feels like the terrible twos have struck early.

"I love you!"

I forgot to put it down on the blog the day it happened but I got my first real "I love you" from Milo on Thursday July 2nd! Be still my beating heart! ♥ Chris had brought Milo in to wake me up for the day. I was super tired that morning so it took me a while to wake up and get out of bed. I asked Chris to take Milo in the kitchen and get his breakfast started and I would be in there shortly but Milo wasn't having it. He wanted MAMA! He just wouldn't leave the room and kept coming over to the side of the bed and whining and tugging on me. I could see he wasn't going to go with daddy so I groggily got up and Milo got super excited and said those three magic words. "I love you!" That made my whole morning! Heck, that made my whole freaking year!

Field Pics

I took Milo out to a field next to our house the other day to get some pics of him. Unfortunately it had just rained and almost as soon as we stepped out there we got swarmed by mosquitoes. YUCK! My poor little man now has little red mosquito bites all over his legs. He's been a trooper though and hasn't complained at all. Needless to say it ended out little session quickly but we did get a few pic before we got carried away.

"Wake up daddy."

Milo has recently gotten into "waking up daddy". Chris will pretend to be sleeping and Milo will go tap him (i.e. whack him) and call his name and then he'll "wake up"! Milo loves it! Milo has also learned how to pretend snore from this game as well. :)

Pillow Toss

Milo made a new game out of tossing one of our throw pillows behind him. We would count to three and he would squeal and toss it over his shoulder. What fun! He got to where he would count for himself and then toss it. I guess he couldn't wait for us. He's been counting to three for while now but this is the first time I got it on video!

Cookie Monster

Part of the fortune cookie still life got left on the table and Milo found it!

"Ooooh look, A COOKIE!!!"

Sweet success!

The victor and his spoils

First Fortune Cookie

At the end of dinner we usually bribe Milo into taking one more bite of his dinner with the promise of a cookie. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't but tonight it did and it also happened to be the night Milo got his first fortune cookie. He wasn't wild about the cookie but I thought fortune inside was rather appropriated since Milo loves to jabber at us and help us out! It made me laugh at any rate!

I'll be taking a blogging break but never fear, I'll be back soon with more of Milo's adventures! :)

So Helpful

Milo is always ready to lend a helping hand. He has a few chores that he has been assigned such as throwing away the napkin we use to wipe his face and hands after he eats, taking his bib to the laundry and pouring a cup of food into the dog's bowl. He loves to do his chores but more than that he loves the praise we give him every time he does his chores. He likes to join in and clap for himself when we tell him what a good job he is doing, it's soooo cute! He likes it so much there is really not much he won't try to help out with. The only thing he has show any real resistance to doing is putting his toys away and I think that is because he doesn't want to stop playing with them long enough to do it. It just hasn't computed yet that there is a time to stop playing with the toys and put them in the toy box. He figures if you are going to stop playing with a toy you need to leave it where it falls so you can pick the fun back up where it left off. If you put it in the toy box you'll never see it again!

I was vacuuming tonight though and, being the helpful little toddler that he is, Milo decided he needed to vacuum too. I heard him whining and I looked over to see him struggling to drag his little vacuum over the gate so he could vacuum in the room I was vacuuming in. After he managed to get it in the room he had a grand time vacuuming right along side mama!

Up Coming Plane Trip

We are about to take Milo first plane trip to go see Chris graduate. I'm excited about our vacation but I am also very nervous becuase this will not only be the first vacation we have taken with Milo but it will be his first plane trip as well. Since he is under two he is going to be traveling as a lap child so we won't have a seat to strap him into. I'm worried that he'll won't want to stay put and will try to bounce all over the plane, I mean after all he is a toddler, they're not exactly known for staying still. I am worried that I won't be able to keep him entertained. I am worried that because we have to get up so early he'll be tired and cranky but won't be able to sleep. I am worried that his normal toddler chatter will annoy everyone. He's not really a screamer but he can definitely get on a chattering role. I'm worried that becuase I'm already nervous I'll be short with him for just acting like a toddler and not sitting in my lap like a perfect little angle that will just make things worse. Basically I'm very nervous, having never flown with a toddler before. If anyone who has flown with their older baby has any advise, please, lay it on me!

The Road to Readiness

I have some friends who are or were, before they started staying home with their kids, kindergarten or pre-school teachers and they have been talking about all the skills that kids need now BEFORE they get to kindergarten. Listening to them talk has made me realize that kindergarten is not even remotely like it was when I was there. Some schools don't even have recess any more. There is so much I didn't even realize that Milo would have to know BEFORE he even got to kindergarten or he would be behind before he even set foot in the door.
With this in mind I recently went to a big homeschooling book fair with a couple of friends of mine to check it out and see if there might be a few things that I could use to get Milo ready for kindergarten over the next few years. While I was there I got lots of ideas and I came across the A Beka Books stand. This is the curriculum that my younger brother Ben and I learned to read with and Ben was reading by three so I figured it can't be too bad! Not that I expect Milo to be able to read at three, Ben was exceptional in that way and in many others, but they had some stuff for two years olds that looked neat so I thought I would get them and give them a try starting in the fall when Milo turns two.

Milo's books came yesterday! They're so cute, I am so excited!

Some Photo Stuff I've Been up To

I have gotten to take a lot of pictures for other people recently! Here are a few from those shoots:

JT and baby Z






Cake smash pics for little KB's fist birthday! This made me so sad that I never made the time to do this with Milo. I think I'll do it for his second birthday even though it's not traditional :)









Little E and baby J




The P family. This dog was the most well trained dog ever! I wanted to take her home with me!







And little B and A rockin' their Easter duds.

No More Papers, No More Books!

As of 6:29 and 51 seconds last night Chris is finally all done with his masters degree!!!! THANK GOD!!! It's been the longest 18 months ever and I am so glad it's over. He started it right after Milo turned two months old so we really don't know life as a family without that ten ton gorilla on our backs. I can't wait to get reacquainted, just the three of us with out the masters in tow! It really has been just me and Milo for the longest time doing our own thing while Chris sat on the couch and worked after he came home from working all day. Now he can come and play with us!

I can't say how proud I am of my husband and all the work he has put in for our family. He started college when he was 17 years old and finally finished at 27 but he never quit and gave up. During that 10 years he always worked a full time job, he got married, bought a house, dealt with the death of my brother, dealt with the death of his cousin, best friend and best man at our wedding, dealt with his mother's illness, of course we had Milo and done a lot of other stuff that I can't think of right now. Life basically marched on in that 10 years as life has a tendency to do. It's been stressful and down right hard at times but he's never lost his sweet and caring manner and he has never lost his love for his family or his commitment to providing a better future for his son. And above all he never gave up. He may have slowed down at times but he never quit. His dedication overwhelms and inspires me. He's a person I strive to be like and if I wasn't lucky enough to be married to him I would want to be able to call him a friend.

Squeak Squeak

Around the time Milo first started to walk I was told by an internet friend of mine about Wee Squeaks. They are little shoes for toddlers with squeakers in the bottom. They might drive some people crazy but I thought they were really funny. Milo got a red pair for Christmas and they have been my favorite pair of shoes he has ever had. Even though he’s been able to walk since he turned one, he really just now getting into them. He loves to stomp as hard as he can and run as fast as his little legs can go when he wears them so he can hear the squeak. Unfortunately he’s also pretty much grown out of them. He has such a big foot and we got them a little big hoping they would last a while but his foot grows so fast he barely even wears out shoes! If his feet and his progress on the height charts are any indication Milo is going to be tall just like his daddy.

Him playing in his shoes was too cute not to get on video one last time before I had to retire his red squeaker shoes to the outgrown shoes box for the next kid. He has so much fun with them I might have get him a bigger pair of squeakers for his birthday.