Abby & Milo

Milo and the Sun!

2010-11-18T09:16:00.003-06:00

I've been practicing a new photography technique. This was my first attempt at sun flares. I think they turned out rather well!

I love this one! My beautiful boy!

This was the only one that I got where he was looking at the camera and smiling. I love it when that happens because its so rare!

When it was time to go in he didn't want to and kept falling on the ground to be tickled.

Asher's Newborn pics

2010-11-05T20:14:00.006-05:00

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Playing Pretend

2010-09-14T09:26:00.004-05:00

I found a bunch of hats and stuff that relate to different professions in the dollar bin at Target a few weeks ago. I got pretty much every one they had and brought them home to Milo who has been obsessed with them ever since. He LOVES to run around pretending to be whatever hat he is wearing at the moment. The funny thing is he pretty much knows, with out having to be told, which hat goes with which profession and how to act and what to say when wearing that hat. I have no idea how he knows that.

Milo in his police hat. He also has a little badge, whistle and night stick that go with it. We've had to put limits on the use of the night stick!

There will definitely be more pics to come!

Bubble Fun

2010-09-03T14:27:00.001-05:00

I got Milo a bubble machine which was like $2 on clearance. It's life span wasn't very long (glad I didn't pay full price!) but Milo had a blast while it lived.

Playdough

2010-08-31T10:27:00.005-05:00

I finally got brave enough to get Milo some playdough. His teacher said he was not wanting to color in class to I should work with him at home and try to get him to color. He does color at home but not that much it's just not something he's really interested in. So we made the trek to Hobby Lobby and got some washable markers and a tray to color on. While on the color isle I saw some playdough and thought that might get him interested in crafts more than markers. So far he really likes it! I'm a little leery though. I can foresee regretting this decision when the playdough is ground into my carpet. Even if I regret it it was a pretty good photo op. :)

1st Day of PDO

2010-08-23T11:40:00.004-05:00

Milo went to his first day of PDO today!!! He was very excited to go to school. Dropping him off went great, neither of us cried. He looked so adorable carrying his back pack and lunch box in! The only blip in the morning was that I was running late so we arrived a few minutes late. But I got pics anyway! He looked so adorable carrying in his back pack and lunch box!

So happy to be headed to school!

Trying to wave bye to Mama and Daddy. We walked him in anyway :)

Marching in the front door.

He was stopped for a photo op!

His cubby

He wasted no time getting to the business of playing!

Imaginary Friends

2010-08-20T19:38:00.002-05:00

They say that 2 1/2 to 3 is the time when imaginary friends start showing up. I'm not sure if Milo does actually have an imaginary friend but I do know that he will carry on a 2 sided conversation with himself. He'll ask himself a question and then answer it (often times in an exasperated voice!). The other day he was playing in the sand box in the backyard and I had the window open so I could keep an ear on him. I noticed he was carrying on a 2 sided conversation with himself as he was dumping sand in little piles around the porch. I poked my head out the window and asked him what he was doing and he said very matter-of-factual and without missing a beat "feeding the monsters." LOL! How cute is that!?!

School Daze!

2010-08-03T09:50:00.004-05:00

Milo will be starting PDO this year. I'm a half excited about it and half sad. He'll only be going two days a week but I still wonder sometimes if we should have waited another year. Because of where his birthday falls he'll be going into the 2 year old class even though he'll be 3 shortly after school starts. I'm perfectly ok with that, being more physically and emotionally developed will give him an advantage st least in the younger grades.

We got his backpack and lunch box in the other day! It's so cute I can't even stand it! Milo is very into monsters recently so when I found this one I knew it was the backpack for him, plus the lunch box came free with it so that didn't hurt either!

Backpack and water bottle

Lunch box

Super Milo

2010-07-22T16:42:00.002-05:00

Another change of late is Super Milo! We got Milo a super hero cape and he loves to run around being "super". For some reason he likes to put a pair of red sock on his hands and say those are his super socks and well as putting on his cape. He is too funny!

Super Milo running around the backyard being super!

New Room

2010-07-22T16:30:00.003-05:00

Milo has done so much growing and changing since I posted last. In that time we successfully moved him to his new room with his new bed (pics to follow soon!). That transition wasn't all together smooth but wasn't all that bad either. He took to it much better that I thought he would. I asked him today if he missed his crib and he indefatigably said "Yes!". He still views the nursery as his room even though he hasn't slept in there in a few weeks. When he said he wanted to get back in his crib today I told him that was were his baby brother was going to sleep. He got a bit upset and said that baby can sleep in his big boy bed and he would take the crib. I'm hoping that once we repaint and rearrange the nursery he will feel less like it's still his room.

Since moving to his big boy bed he has started to sleep less. His naps are shorter and he is waking MUCH earlier in the morning than he did in the crib. I think it's because he is fascinated by the freedom he now has. If he's awake then he can get up and play but while he was in his crib if he woke at the crack of dawn then he didn't have anything to do and just laid back down and went to sleep again. This has been quite an unwelcome change for me! I'm not used to having to get up so early with him. I really hope this is a phase that doesn't last very long!

It's a boy

2010-04-28T09:29:00.004-05:00

We found out Monday at 16 weeks that we are having our 2nd little boy. I am happy for Milo that he will have a brother to play with but as far as how I feel... well I'm sad. I won't lie I wanted a girl, I've always wanted a girl. It's not that I don't love Milo, I do and I would never trade him but I have always wanted a girl. This will be our last baby and I am sad I will never know what it is like to have a daughter. I'll never get to dress up a little girl in bows and tutu's and dresses, or paint anything pink, plan a wedding or see my little girl trying on wedding gowns, or be involved in my girl's pregnancies (cause lets face it Daughter-in-laws usually don't want their mother-in-laws anywhere near them when they are pregnant). I'm sad I'll miss out on all of that. Mostly I think I'm sad that I'll never have a child who loves the things that I love. As Chris put it, when he thought of playing with a little girl he thought of tea parties, dress up and dolls and the thought of loosing that wasn't bad because he doesn't love those things. But I do, so the thought of never having a child that loves those things too makes me sad. Basically it's just the lose of a dream.

BUT I am happy for my son. He'll have a brother to play with, someone who can share his same interests and loves and who, hopefully, he will share a life long bond with. We wanted to have the 2nd child because I lost my brother whom I was very close to. When he died I lost more than just a brother, I lost a record of my childhood, someone who knew all the inside family jokes and understood where I was coming from on things simply because he was raised in the same household. It's been 6 1/2 years since he died and I grieve him still. So because I know what it's like to have a sibling you are close to and loosing him showed me just how important that connection with another person can be I wanted that for my son. I know it may not happen but even the possibility it could was worth having another child. So I am happy for Milo and I think that being two boys makes the potential for the close sibling bond I want for him even more possible.

Houston, We Have Movement!

2010-04-08T15:44:00.002-05:00

For about the past week or so I have definitely been feeling the baby move! The are tiny, irregular, little flutters and the occasional tiny tiny thump. They are not so major that I feel them often yet but we will get there! This is my favorite part of being pregnant!

The things they say, Part: I don't even know

2010-04-08T15:38:00.001-05:00

Momma: "Milo, are you a boy?"

Milo: "I not boy."

Momma: "Are you sure your not a boy?"

Milo: "No, I not boy...I Milo!"

11 Weeks In

2010-03-23T13:53:00.003-05:00

I thought the morning sickness thing was finally going away permanently but unfortunately it made a return visit this week. Sucky! That ok there's only 1 1/2 more weeks in the 1st trimester and then hopefully I'll be moving past it for good.

I met with my OB's nurse at 10 weeks and I was informed that I would not be allowed to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). My OB doesn't allow anyone to do one. I am a little sad but I knew that it was a long shot for me anyway. My fervent hope with this one is to go as long as I did with Milo (almost 41 weeks). I was told my high risk OB would be the one to decided how long I go. I will have to discuss it with him at my first appt.

I finally got Baby Bean's 1st picture uploaded after some technical difficulties. I was 8 weeks when they did this sono. Milo's 8 week sono pic was better. I could actually see little arms and legs and eye sockets but this one just looks like a blur.

Earth: A Mystery to Ponder

2010-03-12T12:08:00.002-06:00

Milo is really curious about space right now. I took him to see the astronaut space suit at the local science museum and he was completely enthralled. He talked about it for weeks. Since then we found a book about space that we had hidden in a drawer and he has started asking questions about it all the time. The other day we were in the car and he asked me "where earth?"

I thought about it for a second and said "Earth is under your feet."

He then picked up his foot and looked under his shoe and said "where it go?"

Chris and I laughed a lot about that one!!!

Better!

2010-03-12T12:01:00.003-06:00

I am finally starting to feel enough to work out again! I hopped on the treadmill this morning. I am determined to work out as long as I can through out this pregnancy. I am sure that will help a lot with some of the discomforts that go along with being pregnant. I have two more weeks of my first trimester. My morning sickness with Milo lasted until about 14 or 15 weeks and started a week later then with this pregnancy. It seems to be tapering off thought and I am soooooo happy. I hate being nauseated all day!

Pregancy so far

2010-03-08T15:42:00.000-06:00

Found out 1-24-10. I was about 3 weeks along. Both Chris and I were very calm about the news. With Milo I was in total shock for a few days but with this one I haven't felt that way at all. My anxiety about this baby is really more about how it will effect Milo and how I will deal with two especially being sleep deprived. I think the decision to have a 2nd is harder than the decision to have the first because you actually know what you are getting into this time around.

week 4 - told a lot of my friends here and Chris' parents. We got a shirt for Milo that says "Big Brother Milo" and I put it on him and let most people find out that way.

Week 5 - haven't had a lot of cravings or food aversions and I haven't gotten sick yet. YAY! I just hope that lasts! We told my parents on 2-5-10. Milo wore his shirt and he is very proud of it. I am not sure he really understands why people are so interested in the shirt but he is loving the attention :)

Chris taught Milo to talk to the baby (i.e. my belly) he will lift up my shirt and says "Hi baby, Hi baby, I love you baby" then he will pull down mt shirt and say "close it." LOL! I have not idea where he comes up with this stuff.

Scratch that I started having morning sickness in my 5th week. It totally sucks having morning sickness with a toddler to take care of. :(

Weeks 6-9 Morning sickness comes and goes. It sucks more this time around since I have a toddler.

Lately when we ask Milo where the baby is he will point to his belly and say it's in there. He will even lift up his own shirt and say hi to the baby. My friends little girl also did this and after she started showing then her daughter started saying the baby was in my friends tummy again. Maybe that will be the way it is.

"Snow all Gone!"

2010-03-08T14:13:00.000-06:00

It's snowed an unusual amount this winter for where we live. Typically we only get one snow and it doesn't stick around long. But this year it has snowed several times and stuck around for a while on a couple of occasions. Milo has been fascinated by the snow. Now that it seems to be warming up and all of the snow has melted off he keeps going outside looking around and saying "snow all gone" very matter-of-factly. He will repeat that phrase over and over as if trying to convince himself that the snow truly is all gone! Every once and a while it will just come out of the blue we will be doing something that has nothing to do with snow and he will just blurt it out. I guess he just needs to remind himself.

Milo playing in the last big snow

Gymnastics!

2010-03-08T13:34:00.003-06:00

Milo has been doing Gymnastics this spring and loving it! He gets so excited on thurs. when it's time to go to "nastics". I'm not sure if it will be something we stick with for a while but for now he is loving it.

Milo is the one in light blue pants. I shot this video with my phone so I couldn't zoom in

Daddy helping Milo do a flip over the bar.

Sick Pukey Boy

2010-02-22T15:10:00.001-06:00

Milo spent the night with his grandparents on Friday night and they called us on Sat. morning to come get him becuase he was throwing up :(. Chris took him to the Dr. and they put him on a broad spectrum antibiotic. I think he has a virus though becuase after being on it for 48 hours he puked in his crib. He slept until 10:45 today! that is unheard of even though he does sleep later than most other toddlers I know. I pray he gets over this soon and neither Chris or I get it.

Blogging, School, Favorite Phrase and Big Boy Bed

2010-02-21T19:40:00.006-06:00

I started this year thinking "I am going to do way better blogging Milo's days this year becuase this blog is the only real record I have of his infancy and toddlerhood!" but nearly two months in and I am failing on that score. He does so much stuff I want to record I just forget it by the time I can get to the computer. My brain seems to be on permanent vacation these days.

Somethings that have been going on are that we decided to put Milo in PDO next fall. He and I went to visit the school this week and I loved it! When we walked in there were backpacks lines up in the hall and it was lunch time so the class room smell like mayonnaise and chips. It made me miss my school days. If Milo loves school half as much as I did he is going to have a blast!

Milo's cognitive development is going through the roof these days. It's so neat to see him making connections he has never made before. He can count to 10 and recognizes the letters B O X and L. Why he latched on to those and not others, I don't know. His imagination is really amazing too. We were at a friends house about a week ago and he was playing with two play sauce pan lids. He turned to me and said "I see a monster!" I said "You see a monster?" He put the sauce pan lids up to his eyes like goggles and said "Yes! I see a monster in the backyard!"

His favorite phrase these days is "What you doin'?" He will ask it over and over and over again even though we just told him what we are doing. I know the repetition is how he learns but it gets wearying.

We are also contemplating moving him out of his crib into a big boy bed but I am having a hard time with that decision. Milo LOVES his crib and he has never tried to climb out. I value a good sleep for him and I have heard so many stories about toddlers who slept really well in their cribs but didn't after they were moved to big kid beds. Because of that it's been really hard to pull the trigger on moving him. He is just so happy where he is at.

Funny Stuff He Says

2010-02-11T14:01:00.002-06:00

Milo is hilarious. Most of the time he is inadvertently funny but now that he is getting older he tries to be funny. When he is trying he will crack himself up and say "I funny!" He loves to laugh when everybody else laughs too whether he gets why we are laughing or not.

He loves holding coins. The other day he found a 50 cent piece and goes "oooh, I got BIG MONEY!!!"

Yesterday we were driving to Nanny and Papa's house and he saw a Mustang in the lane beside us, he turned to me and said "Mama, I want a race car!" So I said "ok baby, you can have one when you're 30" to which he replied "Thanks!"

On yet another day we were driving and he saw an 18 wheeler for a local groceries chain go by that had giant pictures of crackers on the side and he says "Look Mama, cookie truck!" to which I said "Yes baby, I see that." As the truck drove away he says "Follow cookie truck Mama!"

There are lots more I just can't remember them right now. I really need to start writing the down when they happen.

Winter

2010-02-07T14:36:00.003-06:00

This winter has been CRAZY!!! it's snowed several times and usually we only get one heavy snow per winter. Every time it snows Milo likes to go find his "snow hat" and wear it around the house until he gets too hot.

He wasn't wanting me to take his picture so he would put toys up in front of his face.

I caught him unaware though!

There's nothing better than a paci a blanket a toy and a snow hat.

So Embarrsing (But Kind of Funny)

2009-12-23T14:41:00.003-06:00

Milo likes to run. If we don't hold him or stick him in a cart at a store he is going to take off. Because of this we have really been working on holding hands when he crosses the street or in a parking lot. While we were leaving the store from finishing the last of my Christmas shopping today Milo decided he DID NOT want to hold hands. I, of course, couldn't let him go so I was clutching onto his hand and dragging him thorough the parking lot while he was trying to get away and screaming "Help! Help!" I wanted a hole in the ground to open up and swallow me! All I was thinking was "Yes, stranger staring at us, he really is mine, he's just two and doesn't want to mind!"

Croup and Pink Eye! Yucky!

2009-12-22T14:21:00.003-06:00

We had to make a 3am ER visit on Sunday. Milo had been loosing his voice all day but in the middle of the night he started coughing so hard he was choking and it sounded like he was having lots of difficulty breathing. We were for 3 1/2 hours and before that Milo would wake up crying needing to be rocked. Nobody got much sleep that night. I have been sleeping in his room for the past two nights to keep an eye on him and he woke up several time last night coughing and crying. I am soooo tired! It's like having a newborn again. I took him in into the doctor today for a recheck and she his lungs are clear but he also has PINK EYE as well as croup! My poor baby :( When it rains it pours. Hopefully he get better before Christmas.

Compliment

2009-12-20T09:23:00.002-06:00

I was showing Milo pictures and videos of himself on the blog and when we got to the pics of him in his Halloween outfit I said something like "there's Milo in his cowboy outfit!" And he got very excited and said "Nice boots Milo!" LOL!

Duck

2009-12-18T14:02:00.003-06:00

When I gave Milo a bath this morning and he grabbed his big duck that he takes baths with and said. "Hi duck! What are you doing here?". It was so cute I got the video camera and recorded him playing with Duck. We have had a big problem with Milo throwing toys recently so that is why he had to apologize to Duck in the video. I couldn't help but laugh after he tells Duck he loves him and then throws him again. Even when he is getting in trouble he still so darn funny.

Snow Hat

2009-12-17T16:45:00.003-06:00

Milo's imagination has really taken off since he turned 2. He just keeps surprising me with the things he says and does. Yesterday he put on his snow hat and mittens and wanted to go outside to see the snow even thought it was bright and sunny with absolutely no snow. When he got out there he run around saying "It's snowing!!" then he stopped and looked around and said "Snow all gone"! Where he comes up with these things, I do not know, but it's awfully cute. I love watching his little mind work. It's amazing!!!

Milo is his snow hat

Peek-a-boo...

...I see you!

Christmas Lights!

2009-12-14T09:27:00.003-06:00

I am so glad we put up the Christmas tree! Milo love to look at the light and he asks that they be turned on as soon as he gets up in the morning. It's a very satisfying reaction. :)

Christmas Tree

2009-12-08T08:49:00.003-06:00

We were not going to go through all of the hassle of getting down the tree and putting it up this year but we were in a restaurant the other night and they had a tree up and Milo LOVED it. He kept playing with all of the ornaments. So we decided it would make him really happy to go ahead and set up the tree. He loves it! He got to pick out two little ornaments for this year and he choose soccer balls. One is glass so it is up in the tree where he can't get to it but the other is down low where he can play with it.

The Things They Say

2009-12-08T08:23:00.003-06:00

Now that Milo is a toddler I am sure there will be many posts about the funny stuff Milo says in the years to come. Toddlers just say funny, cute, sometimes embarrassing stuff!

We have been reading Milo a little toddler version of the Christmas story before he goes to bed each night for the last few nights and then I have been reading him a book called Mama Loves Me. I guess the two books got all melded in his toddler brain because after he would point to baby Jesus he would point to Mary and say "Mama Jesus!"

It's Snowing!

2009-12-01T09:44:00.004-06:00

We woke up to the first snow of winter this morning. Sure it's melting off an hour after it started but it was fun while it lasted! Milo got up in the window to look out at the snow and he was very concerned about the fact that it was falling on the car and the mailbox and then he decided that he really needed his snow hat! Luckily I got it all on tape.

Little Song Bird

2009-11-30T09:07:00.003-06:00

Milo loves to sing! He loves to sing the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star though he never gets all the words yet it's still incredibly cute to listen to. He also has started to make up his own songs. Yesterday in the car on the way home from all of our Thanksgiving travels he had his truck in his lap and started singing something like "Happy truck, da dada da!" I soooooo wish I had had a video camera!!!!! When we got to His Nanny and Papa's to pick up Bailey he got up on the piano bench and played us a song and was very deliberate about moving up and down the key board. When I told he it was a very pretty song he said "no". LOL!

"Wash Your Hands?"

2009-11-19T14:51:00.003-06:00

One of Milo's favorite things to do these days is wash his hands. I know it's just an excuse to play in the water but it's fine by me since it's cold and flu season. He asks constantly to "Wash your hands?" by which he means can he wash his hands.

Such joy in the simple task of hand washing! When do you grown out of that?

I left a pen on the couch and he got a hold of it and drew all over his face while my back was turned. When I see him doing stuff like that and I scold him by saying "Oh, Milo!" He'll just hang his head and repeat "Oh, Milo!". It's hard not to laugh.

A New Friend

2009-11-16T08:28:00.004-06:00

Milo has a new friend. Giraffe has been getting the preferred spot in the crib and then getting drug around the house for a few months now. I swear he gives Giraffe more kisses and hugs than I get. I will miss the stuffed animal and footed pajama days when they are gone. He seems so little when I think about how much he has to grow and so big when I think about how much he has already has grown and how fast it has happened.

Flower

2009-11-15T15:03:00.001-06:00

There are a bunch of dandelion weeds in our front yard and on the way in the house yesterday Milo pick one and gave me a flower! Be still my beating mother's heart! How sweet is that? This may be the most beautiful flower I have ever received.

Family Pics

2009-11-07T14:49:00.008-06:00

A sweet friend of mine and a talented photographer and I recently swapped taking pics of each others families. We both realized that it was really hard to get pics of your own toddler, for some reason they just won't look at mom taking their pic any more and of course you can't get pics of your own family so we decided a trade was in order! She did a great job and I am so thrilled to have pics of the three of us. We haven't had one taken since Milo was 10 days old so it was time.

Our family
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I love this one even though you can't see our heads... or maybe because you can't see our heads! :) I just thought it was really cool!
(2.)

This one looks like a watercolor to me. I just love it and I love his expression, it's so Milo.
(3.)

Since I turned 30 this year we took a few of just me this is one of my favorites.
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We went to a little local ice cream shop after we got done down town. Milo had a blast there.
(5.)

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LOL! I love his expression in this one. Priceless!
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Soooooo Pretty!!!
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Love this expression, this really captures the stage he is in.
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Sleepy Head

2009-11-06T14:12:00.005-06:00

It's been forever since I have been able to get a pic of Milo sleeping. Mainly it's becuase I have been unwilling to risk waking him. We put up black out curtains in his room and while it's made it easier for him to sleep it's impossible not to use the flash in his room now so I can no longer take a picture of my sweet sleeping baby with out waking him up. but the other day he needed to get up anyway and it had been a long time so I thought "why the heck not, he is awfully cute when he sleeps!" it did indeed wake him up and he was not a happy camper.

ahwww! isn't he cute!?!

He has gotten so tall that not only does he not really fit into the shot of a 50 mm lens any more but he's getting to the point where he doesn't really fit in the crib well any more. He likes to bunch up in the corner of the crib and he fast running out of room.

Halloween

2009-10-31T23:12:00.003-05:00

Milo was a cowboy for Halloween this year. He choose his own costume. He was going to be a dragon because a friend of mine had very cute costume the her son wore last year when he was two and she was going to let me borrow it but Milo refused point blank to wear it. Before I had Milo I didn't even know a two year old could do that! I tried twice to put it on him, the first time was in the middle of Word World (his favorite show) so I thought maybe that was the reason he flipped out. But the 2nd time he nearly ripped the head off trying to pull it off of himself. I tried to calm him down but he would not be calmed so I backed off and thought I'll let him work it out. That was when he started to try and climb the front of the changer so I would take it off of him. That was the point I decided, as cute as the costume was and as grateful as I was that my friend would lend it to Milo, he was not going to be a dragon for Halloween.

That same day we were at the same friends house playing and her son also has a play cowboys hat that Milo loves to play with so it planted the idea in my head that if the dragon thing did work out that Milo could be a cowboy because that "costume" is really clothes so it wouldn't feel any different to him and he wouldn't freak out. Plus he LOVES cowboy stuff. So we had overalls, we got him a western shirt and boots and borrowed a toddler sized cowboy hat from another sweet friend and VOILA instant cowboy!

Here's a little trip down memory lane. Milo was a penguin last year right after he turned 1! He had just learned to walk and he looked so cute waddling around in the big puffy belly and the penguin tail flapping behind him!

And he was a puppy dog for his very first Halloween right after he was born! it was so hard find a costume for him it ended up being huge on him and it was so snuggly warm he fell asleep in it as soon as we put it on him!

Milo sings the ABC's

2009-10-31T22:27:00.002-05:00

I have really been working with Milo on his letters for months now. Up until now he's not really shown much interest but lately he has really gotten into the ABC song and pointing out letters. He likes to point out the letters on my shirts and guess what they are. Sometimes he gets it right but most of he mixes them up. But that's ok after all he did just turn two! I've really been work on M-I-L-O with his bath tub letters. He's a lot of fun with that! He loves the letter O, it's his favorite letter and the one he can identify the most easily. He loves to point it out whenever he sees it. There are some block letters high on a shelf in his room that spell Love and he saw them the other day, pointed to them and said "O!" He also likes to point to the Milo letters on his wall and repeat what I always tell him when we see his name "M-I-L-O, Milo!" But he can't really say M or I so they come but in toddler gibberish. One day I'll get it on video, it's so cute!

Milo's favorite song recently is the ABC song. He loves to go around singing it to himself and then be praised for doing such a great job. :) He doesn't sing it quite right yet though and if we start to sing it to him he'll tell us to stop in no uncertain terms. He wants to do it all by himself. This is a video of Milo starting to sing the ABC's until he figured out that I was taping him and then he wanted no more to do with it. He is becoming shy these days.

Milo love

2009-10-09T09:39:00.003-05:00

Milo can be very loving when he wants to be and it never fails to melt my heart when he is. As he gets more and more independent I usually have to wait for him to come to me to cuddle now. He is always on the move in his busy two year boy way so when he wants to stop and get a hug I always have time for that! I was checking my email on Chris' lap top last night and Milo was greatly annoyed that my lap wasn't available for him to just drop by and get into when ever he felt like it. At one point he came over and I tried to just give him a side hug, he wasn't having it, he kept pushing at the laptop saying "lap, lap!" When I closed it and put it away for the night he actually cheered! If we ever had a 2nd kid I just don't think he could handle it.
This morning after I got him up and we were walking into the kitchen to get breakfast when he just turn around and leaned into me and wanted a hug. As he was leaning in he looked up at me with those big round eyes and said "I lub you Mama." I melted and said "I love you too baby!" As a girl you have never heard I love you from a boy until your son says it to you.

Share and Share Alike

2009-09-28T11:26:00.003-05:00

Milo has recently gotten into a phase of sometimes sharing the things he loves with those he loves (which I love). He will offer me his paci and yesterday he was playing with his giant Pooh Bear and sat him in his chair and offered the bear his juice! How sweet is that!?!?! He then proceeded to tackle the bear and wrestle it to the ground but, hey, you take the sweetness where you can get it. :)

TWO YEARS OLD!!!!

2009-09-25T11:29:00.002-05:00

My baby is two today!

Happy birthday to you Milo my love! Two years ago today you came into our life and it was a miracle, a hurricane, and a revelation. Our world simply shifted until you were at it's core. I love you with my whole being with nothing left over and nothing left wanting. You are everything I never knew that I wanted and I am a blessed woman because God placed you in my life. I could go my whole life looking and never find anything as amazing as the beautiful baby boy who came into my life two years ago today.

No Peeing in the Potty

2009-09-21T09:36:00.002-05:00

Since the big peeing in the potty post Milo has yet to do it again. He has figured out that he will get a treat for just sitting on the potty though and has started working he system to get a Skittle. He will run around the house, pulling up his shirt and grabbing his diaper, saying "tee tee potty! tee tee potty!" so I will strip him down and plop him on the potty and he will immediately pop up all smiling and say "treat!" So will say something like "no you need to sit down and tee tee in the potty." And when it's clear that he isn't going to do it let him get up and give him a Skittle for and least sitting down that long, get him dressed and let him go play again. I don't think Skittles are even that much of an incentive anymore because he'll just carry his Skittle around with him and not eat it until I tell he has to or I'll take it away. *sigh* That is the only time he ever gets candy like that when he is at home. I have no idea what would be more of a treat than that!

2 year pic!

2009-09-19T16:19:00.000-05:00

I took Milo to the park to get some two year pic the other day! He did so great and we had a blast. Usually I can't get him to look at me at all anymore when I am trying to take his picture but he was so cooperative I couldn't believe my luck!

"I Helper!"

2009-09-18T14:40:00.000-05:00

Milo loves to help and recently he has developed a love of telling you that he's helping. One of his new favorite phrases is "I helper!" Anytime he does something praise worthy I will saying something like "Thank you Milo! You are Mommy's big helper!" and he'll get a big grin on his face and say "I helper!"

For a long time now one of his chores has been to take his bib to the laundry when we are done eating so he loves to throw things in the laundry baskets becuase he has always gotten tons of praise for it. The other day he was "helping" me out with the laundry by moving the dirty towels from one basket to another and then back again. I called Chris in to get it on video.

Little Parrot

2009-09-17T09:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I was had Milo on the changer getting him dressed and he was flopping around like a fish kicking everything off the top rail and in exasperation I go "Milo stop!" and he looks at he and in a whinny, sing songy voice parrots "Milo stop." I just looked at him and laughed. I was completely stunned. I didn't think kids started to do that until they were much older. He parroted everything I said like that for a little while, while I was getting him dressed. I would say "silly boy!" and he would sing back "silly boy" :) I would say "get your shirt on!" and he would sing back "get shirt on." I would say "lets go play" and he would sing say "OK!"

Kindermusic!

2009-09-16T14:04:00.003-05:00

Milo had his first music lesson on Monday! It was not quite what I expected. I thought he would get to play instruments more but mainly we sat in a circle and sang. He did get to bang some sticks together for one song and he loved that but that was it. Basically it was a very inactive kind of a lesson and Milo is a very active boy. We did get up and have a couple of participatory type songs but He had a hard time with the fact that he mainly had to stay in my lap for 45 minuets. He has never in his nearly 2 years been in a structured environment so it threw him for a loop. It's not that he hasn't had rules he has had to follow, he most definitely has, but being in a class room is different. It will be good for him though and I am sure he will get better. But for his first class he was the only toddler who, the whole time, kept trying to run across the room and when I would have to drag him back and tell him he had to sit in momma's lap would throw himself on the floor and scream "NO WAY!" *sigh*. I can't wait until he is old enough to be in a class that will help burn off some of this energy!

I didn't get to take any pics I was too busy chasing my child down!

He Peed on the Potty! (kind of)

2009-08-17T20:12:00.002-05:00

We got a little potty for Milo about a month ago and have just been letting him sit on it and telling him to "teetee on the potty" when he does but not really expecting him to and giving him tiny treats for doing that but haven't really been pushing real potty training because we don't feel that he is truly ready for it yet. So far he had yet to actually pee in the potty. But tonight when I striped him down for his bath I put him on the potty while I ran his bath and the next thing I know I looked up and there is a puddle on the floor in front of the potty! I had taken the little boy pee guard off the potty because the lid didn't close with it on there and now I know why they put it on there in the first place. He sprayed down the front of the potty and on to the floor and missed the bowl entirely! LOL! Ah, the joys of having a little boy :) I missed the whole thing too because I wasn't excepting him to actually go. I was turned around getting his bath going so I missed the first time my first child ever went on the potty (or the floor in this case). He still got major props for it though and TWO potty treats (Skittles)!

"More Golf!"

2009-08-16T11:10:00.002-05:00

Milo LOVES golf! We got him a cheap little plastic golf set a while back and it was the best $5 we have ever spent. He spends hours everyday batting the little golf ball around the house with the club of his choosing. He also loves to watch golf. I don't understand it, it's a major snooze fest for me, but if it makes him happy it's ok by me. He really doesn't sit down and watch it but he likes to have it playing in the back ground while he plays his own game of golf on the living room floor. Chris will record the golf tournaments on the DVR and as soon as they start the music and flash up the standings of the players Milo immediately stops what he's doing and starts bouncing around saying "More golf! More golf!". So Chris will fast forward through the commercials to "more golf". I swear Milo will never know what a commercial even is! We either watch PBS which doesn't really have commercials or we record what we want to watch and watch it at a time that is convenient for us and skip all the commercials. I've noticed that if I do happen to watch live TV now that I get highly frustrated with how slowly the show goes by even though I spent most of my life without the luxury of DVR. It's makes me wonder if we're raising an impatient generation.

Strep. Yucky!

2009-08-16T10:39:00.003-05:00

Milo came down with Strep Throat on Friday. I knew he was getting sick the day before but he hadn't run fever yet so when I tried to get him in with the doctor they said they wouldn't see him until he either ran fever or until Tylenol didn't do anything for the fussiness. That was frustrating, but when he woke up the next morning with a fever they got him in quickly so I was a little mollified. I know they can't see every kid who is fussy but I know when my kid is getting sick! He rarely gets sick so it's frustrating when he is getting sick but hasn't started running fever yet so I can't get him in with the doctor so I waiting and he's suffering and there is nothing I can do about it.
He's been on antibiotics for two days now and he's back to his playful, energetic, toddler self! No toy in the house is safe. :)

Kindermusic

2009-08-10T21:16:00.002-05:00

Milo will be taking his first official music lessons this fall!!! I am so excited! We will be going to kindermusic with a friend of ours on Monday nights. I'm not quite sure what kinds of things he is going to learn but he LOVES music and loves to bang on stuff so how bad could it be right? A room full of toddlers and musical instruments... bring on the aspirin! LOL! Just joking :)

Swim Lessons

2009-08-09T11:31:00.004-05:00

Milo has been taking swimming lesson for the passed two weeks and alternately loving and hating every minute of it. For the first week we would get in the water and he would be splash around happy for about the first 5 or 10 minutes and then he would cry the whole rest of the time. Daddy came to visit us at the end of the week and he did MUCH better that day. I think he just needed something to focus on outside the pool. The 2nd week went better than the first. He started having more fun especially after I discover he really likes the boat toy more than any other toys they had.

The diving board though he HATES! The first time he went off it I took him up there, we walked out the the end and I was just going to hand him to the instructor. But I swung him out and let go of him higher than I meant to and he plunged to the water like a torpedo. It freaked me out and I screamed "oh my God!" but he was fine and all the other kids before him had just been tossed off the board by their parents so wasn't anything new. The second time we went off the board a few days later Milo knew what was coming and wouldn't walk all the way to the end of the board. I had to nudge him out to the end with my knee. The third time we stared to go up the steps he was clinging to me crying saying "No, No, Down." We didn't do it that time. I just couldn't bring myself to make him. The next day however was the last day of swimming lessons and I figured he needed to try it one more time so I carried him right to the end, pried his little fingers from my swim suit, unhooked his little feet from around my waist sat him down facing me not out at the water and, again meant to just hand him down to the instructor, however a crying squirming toddler is not an easy thing to maneuver so he slipping and plunged right in. *sigh* It will be a while before we ever go of the driving board again.

We got to play the last day of swim lessons so daddy came and took some pics!

Ah, the diving board...

I had to make up with Milo for pitching him off the diving board so we played in the fountain a little again before we left. He forgave me :)

Raising a Boy

2009-08-04T13:05:00.003-05:00

I'll be honest, when I had my 20 week sonogram and found out that Milo was a boy I cried. I had desperately wanted a girl and was more than a little worried when I found out that then child I would be raising was going to be a boy. I was going to miss buying bows and tutus and dress and, lets face it, boys clothes and boring and ugly. But most of all I was worried that I never be able to understand my child, never able be able to relate to him or play with him on any kind of level that means anything to him. I'm a girly girl. I don't understand the appeal of things like trucks, cars, mud, bugs or sports. I like sparkles, makeup, pink, and dress up. I understand these things intuitively and understand WHY someone would like them.

Milo is a boy's boy. He loves all the traditional boy things that I don't understand. He is major cars and trucks right now and he and his daddy sit in the floor and play with his trucks all the time and they have a blast together doing it. I have to admit that I'm a little jealous so I decided to have my own bonding session with him playing trucks in to floor and it was a disaster. Apparently I don't do it right and it just kept frustrating him. He just kept screaming "NO!" at me over and over again whenever I would do something wrong. I just wanted to cry. I took this as a confirmation of all the fears that made me cry for days after that 20 week sonogram. That I wouldn't have what it took to raise a boy because I would never understand him. That bonding with him would be unnatural and hard because I don't love the things he loves.

Now don't get me wrong, just because it may be hard to bond with my son over the things he is into doesn't mean that it's hard to love him. I am 100%, hands down, all in, crazy in love with my son! I just have to find more creative ways to enter his life that are meaningful to HIM, not necessarily meaningful to me. I think that's important especially as he gets older. In that mean time I am going to have to try and get better at playing trucks!

Our Trip

2009-07-07T08:43:00.010-05:00

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!

2009-07-06T21:14:00.003-05:00

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!"

2009-07-05T20:07:00.006-05:00

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

2009-07-01T22:23:00.004-05:00

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."

2009-06-24T16:33:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-23T15:40:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-22T21:27:00.004-05:00

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

2009-06-20T20:36:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-09T17:14:00.002-05:00

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

So Helpful

2009-06-06T20:32:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-28T09:00:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-21T09:01:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-18T08:18:00.011-05:00

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!

2009-05-17T10:36:00.008-05:00

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

2009-05-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-15T13:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-14T14:59:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-13T09:04:00.003-05:00

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

Blueberry: A ball you can eat!

2009-04-23T14:25:00.000-05:00

Milo is a ball nut. He's obsessed with all spherical objects. He points to all ball he sees whether it be pictures of them in books, magazines or newspapers or out and about in restaurants, stores or pretty much any where really. If there is something round around Milo will find it, point it out and try to get at it. It doesn't even have to be a real ball it just has to be kind of round.

This morning he had a bowl of fruit as part of his breakfast much like he does every morning and I put in is cut up strawberries, raspberries, and grapes and a handful of whole blueberries. He was moderately thrilled with his breakfast until he came across one of the blueberries. Then he face lite up and he started picking threw the rest of the fruit for the blueberries. I started laughing at him because I knew what he was doing but when he held one up and said "ball!!!" with the biggest grin on his face I nearly fell off my seat. I love my little boy!

18 month pics (round 2)

2009-04-23T14:20:00.004-05:00

Now that Milo is nearly 19 months I figured it was a good time to go ahead and post the rest of his 18 month pics. (sheepish grin)

These I took on a whim at a local park after one of his naps.

Practice Egg Hunt

2009-04-08T09:19:00.004-05:00

Since Milo is old enough to hunt eggs for Easter this year but hasn't done it before I thought that it would be fun for him to practice "hunting" (picking up) eggs we "hid" (laid in plain sight) on the living room floor.

He is in a phase of liking to put objects in other objects so picking up Easter eggs and putting them in a baskets is a ton of fun!

What's even better is trying to put those eggs into each other!

He is also loving hats right now and what makes a better hat than one's Easter basket.

He carried his basket around and picked up the eggs I dropped around,

which was fun for a little while,

until his short, 18 month old, attention span ran out.

Then it was time to do other things like play with his light saber,

Or point at things outside the window!

18 Month Pics (round 1)

2009-04-07T22:30:00.003-05:00

I did two sessions with Milo for his 18 month photos here are a from what I took at my grandparents farm.

Just in Case You Were Wondering...

2009-04-03T15:21:00.004-05:00

... a sippy cup of Gatorade lost under the seat of the car for weeks and weeks will not mold and can be clean and reused. The same scenario with a sippy cup of milk on the other hand does not turn out so well. It's best to just throw the cup away and never speak of it again, trust me.

Waiting for Daddy

2009-03-12T22:56:00.002-05:00

Milo has taken to climbing anything and everything recently and his favorite thing to climb up on is his window seat. He loves to climb up there around the time Chris is supposed to come home and look out the window waiting for daddy to pull into the drive way. It's so sweet how much he loves his daddy!

Too True

2009-03-12T22:00:00.004-05:00

The Toddler’s Creed

If it is on, I must turn it off.
If it is off, I must turn it on.
If it is folded, I must unfold it.
If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.
If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.
If it has leaves, they must be picked.
If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.
If it is closed, it must be opened.
If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
If it is a marker, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.
If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.
If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.
If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
If it is paper, it must be torn.
If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
If the volume is low, it must go high.
If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.
If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.
If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.
If it is a phone, I must talk to it.
If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.
If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
If it is not food, it must be tasted.
If it is food, it must not be tasted.
If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.
If it is a carseat, it must be protested with an arched back.
If it is Mommy (or Daddy), it must be hugged.
I am toddler!

This is so true of Milo, especially the food part!

If

2009-03-04T16:39:00.003-06:00

My sister-in-law, Nikki, posted a very sweet post on her blog inspired by her five boys and she,in turn, inspired me to post this. A while back I came across the poem If by Rudyard Kipling and it said everything that I wanted to say to Milo but couldn't quite think how. I've wanted to frame it and hang it in his room but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Chris thought it might be a little old for him but I thought that was okay it would be something for him to grow into!

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

More Crazy Nap Hair!

2009-03-04T14:31:00.000-06:00

Milo was Bitten by a Donkey... Yes, a Donkey.

2009-03-03T11:12:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday I took Milo for a walk and went by the little farm near our house that we always go by to see the little donkeys that live there. I had put goldfish crackers in cup holder in Milo's little push car he rides in so he could have a snack. He had been munching on the goldfish but I didn't know that he had one in his hand still when he got to the donkey's fence.

We pulled up next to the fence and the donkeys come over and we start petting them and I fed them some goldfish. Before I realized what was happening Milo was offering the goldfish I didn't know he had in his hand to one of the donkeys and the donkey took it and bit Milo's finger in the process. Milo starts screaming and I pinched the donkeys jaws to make him let go and there is blood everywhere. I carried Milo back to the house two streets away and called the doctor who says since it's still bleeding and starting to swell I needed to take him to the ER.

Chris and I loaded our screaming son up and headed off for the ER and when we get there they ask me what's wrong. I say "my son was bitten by a donkey".

"Are you joking?" the nurse says.

"No, I'm not joking" I say thinking, seriously, my son is screaming a clinging to me and you ask me if I am joking?

To make a long story short the donkey striped some skin off but, thankfully didn't break the finger. They soaked his hand in Bedodine (sp?), wrapped it up and gave him an antibiotic prescription.

Now that I have some distance from it and Milo's not seriously hurt and is no longer bleeding and screaming I can see that it is a little funny that my son was bitten by a donkey of all things. At the ER he was their first ever donkey bite victim!

We had to cut off the arm of one of his pj's to accommodate the big ol' puff ball they put on his hand in the ER. He had to wear it for 24 hours but he torn it off while he was supposed to be taking his morning nap Friday morning. I wrapped it up in an ace bandage after that.

He played happily most of the morning despite being one handed.

I took him on a "drive" by of the donkey paddock to help him start to get over any fear he might have. We pulled up next to it (but not too close) and he was wary but did fine until the donkey came up to the fence and then he started to whine and try to climb up in my lap. We backed off to the other side of the road after that and watched them for a little while. He even smiled a little at that distance! I think if we just keep going back (with out goldfish mind you) and taking slow my little trooper will conquer his fear!

The culprit. Looks menacing doesn't he?

Room of the Month

2009-03-03T10:55:00.002-06:00

A long while back I posted Milo's room on HGTV's rate my space and was approached by another lady to put in on her site. I agreed and this month Milo's room is being featured as room of the month on designdazzle.com! I thought that was pretty cool! You can check it out by following the banner on the side of the blog.

16 Month Photo

2009-03-03T10:38:00.003-06:00

I know it's a bit late but to post but this it was I end up doing for Milo's 16 month/Valentines Day portrait! I thought it was a bit different from the the usual stuff that I did with him.

It took two different session and several melt downs to get these shots. At first he didn't want any thing to do with that sucker. After trying and trying I finally gave up, packed up my stuff, stripped him down to his diaper and a decided to eat the sucker myself and that is when he decided that he would give it a try (of course,becuase anything mama has has to be something he needs). Once he tried it he liked it like I knew he would. After all he does have my sweet tooth. Fortunately there were two sucker in the pack that I bought and a couple of day s later we tried it again and it went MUCH smoother. In fact I could get him to let the darn thing go when the shoot was over! His room was a sticky mess but I think the picture was worth it!

Favorite Blanket

2009-02-25T14:53:00.004-06:00

I think Milo has finally decided that he has a favorite blanket. He has always been a blanket baby but I kept changing out the blankets he slept with so that he wouldn't get attached to one inparticular so it wouldn't be a big deal if we went some where and forgot that blanket. It took 16 months but despite my best efforts he seems to have formed an attachment to one of his blankets. I first noticed his growing love when I went to put it in the wash and he threw a fit. He didn't care about the other two blankets that went in the wash, just that one. Since then when I get him out of the crib in the morning he grabs the blanket and carries it around all day. He even insisted that we take it with us when we were leaving the house.

I am really kind of flabbergasted by this. Other than a preference for Tux (his stuffed penguin) over his other stuffed animals he has never really shown much attachment to things. He has certainly never carried Tux around like he does this blanket nor insisted that he ride in the car with us. I thought that if he was going to have formed a bond like this with a blanket or stuffed animal or something he would have done it by now.

Super Milo using his blanket as a cape

"oh Blanket I love you!"

Milo and the Doughnut

2009-02-25T14:46:00.004-06:00

We took Milo to Krisp Kreme for Valentines day and he got to feed himself his first doughnut. He LOVED it!

Kitchen Redo Accomplished!

2009-02-12T13:58:00.003-06:00

About 5 months ago I posted about repainting my kitchen and I am FINALLY done!!!! It took forever but I think it's worth it. The kitchen feels so much larger and bright.

Dinning area before

Dinning area after

The frame I painted on the wall for this picture

Other dinning wall
Kitchen area before

Kitchen area after

Fridge area before

Fridge area after

Tears and Snot

2009-02-12T13:04:00.003-06:00

Though Milo is much more agile now than he used to be he is still very much in the "clumsy toddler" stage. He gets bumps and bruises so often that I can't even keep track sometimes. today for instance he hurt himself 4 times before 11:00am. He was crawling under the desk and tried to stand up and bumped his head, then he was trying to climb on his big beach ball and fell and bonked his head on the coffee table and twice he was opening and closing a drawer and closed his fingers in it. Each time he started wailing and dripping snot and crawled up in my lap to snuggle down until he felt better and each time he covered me in tears and snot! I swear I change my clothes more in a day than I change his and he is the one still eating with his fingers and having occasional diaper explosion. Being able to give him the comfort he needs is all worth it but, man, I get tired to so much laundry.

Milo having a toddler melt down.
He screams and get really snotty and teary and then calms down, forgives me for not letting him have whatever he wanted or making him do whatever it was he didn't want to do (i.e. eat something or get buckled into his car seat) and and climbs up in my lap to snuggle.

The Multi Functional Crayon

2009-02-03T21:41:00.004-06:00

Milo discovered a new use for crayons at dinner the other night. He decided it would be fun to stab his french fry with it. He wouldn't eat the fry but it sure did make good target practice. I was impressed that he kept getting it in the same place. Surely this suggests that my child is a genius. :)

Chris shot this video of Milo lancing the poor fry with is phone.

Picutre tag

2009-01-29T14:26:00.002-06:00

I got tagged by Nikki (and I just now saw it, sorry Nikki)

These are the rules

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder, and post it on your blog.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

and here it is...

This is a drawing of my niece Aubrey I did when she was 2 years old. Weird what that kind of search does!

I am tagging Melissa, Vanessa, Wendy, and Shannah (when she feels better)

Sickness Update

2009-01-29T10:39:00.003-06:00

Bailey is apparently better. After another accident on the carpet in the night we locked him up in the kitchen so that if he had another accident it would at least be on the tile. He was NOT happy about that but after a little while of barking at us trying to change our mind he accepted his fate and curled up on the blanket we left for him. I found out yesterday that my In-laws new puppy, that they brought to visit Bailey over the weekend, has Parvo so I think that he may have gotten a mild case from her. Since he has had his shots and is an adult dog then it didn't effect him as much as it would a puppy.

Milo was fine yesterday but started having diarrhea today. Ugh! here we go again. I truly hope that this is not a repeat of the "virus that never ends" like he had a couple of weeks ago! The thing that make all of this worse is that, other than RSV when he was 3 months old, he has never been sick. I was beginning to think that my child had a super immune system. So much for that!

Hi-5

2009-01-29T10:11:00.005-06:00

Milo has a new favorite show, Hi-5 and he will watch it as long as we will let him. It basically a show with 5 singing and dancing adults teaching kids various skills through skits and songs. He just stands there FASCINATED through out the entire show. It's the only thing that we have ever been able to find that he loves that much. He'll clap with the music and even tries to dance with them sometimes. It's soooo cute to watch! The down side is that they've apparently stopped making new shows in the US so we have to watch the same ones over and over and OVER! I walk around with Hi-5 songs in my head all day long!

This sight is very often seen in out house especially in the afternoons when I need a break from toddler play

F-A-S-C-I-N-A-T-E-D
Singing along with the music

Uhg! What a Day!

2009-01-26T17:02:00.004-06:00

My day started at 4:30 this morning at my parents house with Milo screaming. I go into check on him and he has puked all over the bed. So I get him up, strip him down and give him a bath. Then I have to stripe the bed and take everything in it to the washer. There is not another crib sheet for the crib in my parents house that they have had since I was a baby and put up for the grandbabies so I have to improvise with a flat sheet for a queen bad wrapped around the crib mattress. I finally get Milo back in bed and as I pull up on the side to close it all the slat come out and the whole side falls apart! My mother is up at this point so I leave Milo with her while I run out to the car to get the port-a-crib that we brought with us to use while we were at my grandmothers house and get it set up and finally get Milo back down.

Milo and I get up a few hours later and get packed and take off for home. He's still not feeling well and sleeps the whole way home which, I must admit, was nice. He has taken to recently taken to whining in the car on any trip longer than going to the grocery store.

I get home and take a few things in before I unload Milo and what greets me in the hall way? DOG DIARRHEA! Baily had apparently gotten sick and pooped all over hall way and the kitchen tile. I put Bailey out and get Milo and put him in his crib because I cant' let him run around with I clean up or he would get into the mess. He is NOT happy about this and screams the entire 45 minutes it takes me to clean up. I got to take out the trash and apparently I didn't close the back gate well because Bailey gets out and takes off for a romp around the neighborhood. I can't go look for him because it's freezing and beginning to snow and Milo doesn't feel well so Chris says he'll come home and go looking for him. While waiting for Chris to get home I open the front door and call for Bailey. After a few minutes he come charging around the corner, tail wagging and covered in mud!

All the while Milo has not had a wet diaper all day and has taken no more than a few sips of Gatorade. I put in a call to the Dr. and they call back saying to try and get him to drink something (duh!) and if he still hasn't had a wet diaper by tomorrow morning we would need to take him to the ER so they can give him IV fluids!

What a day!

Therapy Update

2009-01-23T09:25:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I post a therapy update. Milo has been doing really well in therapy. He has really taken off in speech. He says so many words I haven't been able to count them all and he does several signs now the cutest of which is please. He rubs his hand across his chest and if he really wants what ever he is saying please for he rubs both hands on his chest! I think that we will be able to drop speech soon!

Feeding is going better than it started out but it's much more hit and miss then speech. He had gained 2 pounds in three months but then he got sick and lost it so we are working in getting him back up to where he was. We are also working on trying to get him to eat more of what we are eating rather than fixing something different for him just to be giving something I know he will eat. That is incredibly hit or miss. It what we are having has a strong smell (like tuna fish salad) he refuses to even open his mouth but if what we are eating is close to something he already like (like eggplant parmigiana, close to spaghetti which he likes) then it's easier to make the transition. All in all though he is eating more volume, a bigger variety, gaining weight and not tantruming as much at meal times!

This is a video of Milo saying and signing please. I would pause the video he was watching and ask him if he wants more. He was so absorbed that the sign didn't quite make it to his chest he just rubbed his hips!

2009-01-23T09:21:00.002-06:00

This is not Milo related but I thought this joke was funny:

I took my dad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes (he is 92).

We decided to grab a bite at the food court . I noticed my dad was watching a
teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors:
green, red, orange, and blue. My dad kept staring at him. The teenager would
look and find him staring every time.

When the teenager had had enough, he sarcastically asked, 'What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?'

Knowing my dad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on his response, knowing he would have a good one, and in classic style he did not bat an eye in his response.

'Got drunk once, and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son.'

All in a Days Play

2009-01-19T11:13:00.000-06:00

If playing is a toddlers work then Milo is a workaholic.

My sweet, beautiful baby boy

I love his chubby cheeks, poofy red lips, gorgeous grey-blue eyes, and perpetually untidy blond hair

"ooooh!!! BALL!!!!"

Practicing with a big cup

"grrrr... I'll just bite it instead."

Juice and snack break
Playing can make a boy parched.

He would come and get the goldfish out of my hand and place them on the floor. Since it was a freshly vacuumed carpet I figured, what the heck.

I guess when he got enough in the pile he decided it was time to chow down,

which was all cool until he stepped in them. Snack time on the floor end quickly so I didn't have to clean grind in goldfish out of my rug.

"I'm going with Momma!"

2009-01-17T22:03:00.003-06:00

Milo is in an I-want-Momma phase which is totally normal for his age. I was leaving this evening to go get us food and I barely made it to the door before he saw me about to leave and started freaking out and running over to get me before I could escape. I, of course, picked him up because I just can't make myself walk out the door when he is in clear distress over my leaving. From my arms he waved goodbye to Chris and pointed to the door. He was not going to take "you're not going with me" for an answer. He did NOT want to be left behind!

I love that I am his favorite person right now. I know it might not always be the case, especially when he gets to be a too-cool-for-mom teenager, so I am soaking it up while I can!

Poop Everywhere

2009-01-14T16:28:00.002-06:00

The tummy bug has hit us hard for the last two weeks. It all started with Milo puking and having major diarrhea on January 1st and hasn't really let up until now. It was so strange, he would get better for a day and then vomit and start having diarrhea all over again the next day. We have been keeping him hydrated the best we can and keeping him on the BRAT diet but it didn't seem to be helping. I called the Dr. several times during all of this and they said it was just the stomach flu that has been going around and if he didn't stop after 10 days they wanted me to bring in a dirty diaper so they could test and make sure it's nothing else. By day 12 he still had explosive diapers and so I took a diaper in. They said I should hear something by the next day but they didn't call so I called them today. Apparently I accidentally brought in the wrong diaper. I brought a wet diaper rather than a dirty one. Oops! They were supposed to call me and tell me that I made a mistake but there was a miscommunication and I never got called. They said I could bring in another diaper but Milo is doing better now so I will just wait to see if this really is the end of it. I have thought so many times over the last 14 days that he was getting over it just to have him start all over again so we will see if this lasts. I certainly hope that it does, I am tired of washing so much laundry. He has gone threw at least 3 outfits a day lately and I've had to wash his bedding several times. He has been a trooper though if it weren't for he poop soaking threw his clothes and the vomit on the carpet you would never know he was sick!

He Loves His Bath!

2009-01-03T21:12:00.003-06:00

I was cleaning the bathroom the other morning and Milo was playing at my feet. He went over to the tub and started patting the side. When I didn't pay attention to him he climbed over the side and got in to play with his toys! He's never done that before, I didn't even know he could! It was cute but also a little scary, if he can get in then he can turn the water on and that could definitely be a hazard if I wasn't in the bathroom with him to supervise. Ever since then I have doubled my efforts to keep the bathroom door closed so he can't get in there by himself.

Ofcourse I had to snap pics!

I figured if he was wanting in the bath that much might as well let him splash around. That kids does love his bath!