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.

A Comfy Place to Park It

We have wanted to get Milo his own little chair for a while now. He has been sitting in his car or on a little patio chair that we had in the living room but we wanted something more comfortable for him and something that he could grow with for a few years. After months of searching for the perfect chair we finally found one and Milo ADORES his chair. He definitely knows it’s HIS chair too. Chris was teasing him and sat down in his chair and he got the biggest hurt puppy dog look on his face and started to put up a major protest to get daddy out of his chair! I tried it again the next day and he came and tackled me. I turned it into a game though and tipped over in the chair with him and that started a whole new thing because he LOVES to wrestle with mama and daddy.

Yup, it has his name on it, I couldn't resist!

He likes to drive over the arms of the chair and then roll out onto the floor.

After he got over the shock the first time he jumped into it and tipped it over it became a fun game. I would say I am either going to have to keep it up against something or keep it out in the open so, at least, he won't hit anything when he does that but it has a handle on the back so he can drag it around. I'm not sure what to do about that.

The Way to a Man's Heart

I guess it's true what they say, the way to a man's heart really IS through his stomach. Or at least it is for my little man. We had picked up lunch at Chick-fil-a for a special treat as a daddy while he was working on the last part of his masters degree and were taking it home to him when Milo started to get whinny. In part to stop the whingeing and in part to keep him awake becuase he likes to fall asleep in the car I started handing him french fries. After a few fries that he thoroughly enjoys he says "Momma?"

"Yes baby?" I said looking in the little mirror we have to see him in the back seat.

He puts his hand up to his mouth and blows me a kiss! That's Milo for "I love you"! It just absolutely melted my heart! He doesn't say the words yet but we've taught him to blow kisses when we tell him we love him so it's how we tells us he love us back. It looks similar to how he says "thank you" (which he also won't say but will sign) and the only way you can tell the difference is if he smacks his lips. :)

No Walls or Doors are Safe

Milo disappeared for a bit while I was making breakfast yesterday morning and this is what I came into the bathroom to find:



And what did I do, I got the camera and documented it ofcourse! If he had been able to figure out how to click open that pen my walls and doors would never have been the same.

Golfer in Training

We got Milo a little set of plastic golf clubs recently and he LOVES them. He's had them for like two weeks now and he plays with them all day everyday. They were pretty inexpensive and they have been one he most favorite toys EVER! I love it when that happens!!!! Them came with 3 little clubs, a little plastic caddy, two "holes" with flags and three little golf balls and he can not get enough of "playing golf" (which actually means whacking things with the clubs throwing the balls, and wheeling around his caddy). He does try to hit the ball for a while when we practice with him though but it always reverts back to just randomly playing with the stuff. He will also try to “tee off” using the “hole”. He’ll put the ball down in the hole and then try to hit it out of there with is club. I don’t even know how he figured out how to do that! I didn’t show him that and I don’t think Chris did either.

Milo playing golf and daddy teaching him how