Miles at 7 Months

Little Big Boy will be seven months old tomorrow. Again, I feel like I've been updating pretty regularly, but here's a quick summary. His "fangs" (not sure what the technical term for them is, but it's the two teeth on the sides of his front two teeth) have popped out. He will chew on anything and everything. He's still quite a drooler, but not as bad as he was before those teeth popped out. I tried to get a shot of his teeth but he was making it tough trying to grab the camera.

He's enjoying solid foods much more now. He eats 2-3 solid meals a day and nurses 4-5 times per day.

Yep, still Matt's mini-me.

He's scooting around on his belly, but no crawling yet. (Probably somewhat due to my giving in and picking him up when he cries when he's on the floor playing.) He's easily rolling both ways. He's sitting up, but needs some padding around just in case. He sleeps from around 7 to 7 each day. He's still taking a 30-60 minute nap in the morning and a 90 minute - 2+ hour nap in the afternoon. Mama's not complaining.

He's getting more and more social. It's so fun to watch him flirt. He's really started babbling and is fun to make laugh (although, what baby isn't?). He's such a sweet, happy, easygoing little guy. We love you, Miles!

Three Years Old?!?

Have I mentioned that Brooke's birthday was last weekend? It's sounds so cliche, but I really can't believe she's been in our lives for three years already. I feel as though I've been giving pretty steady progress about what she's been up to lately, but I'll give a quick recap here.

She can be a pretty silly girl, especially now that she's using her imagination more. She loves eating out - and who am I to argue? She likes to know what our plans are ahead of time and refers to later in the day as "today-tomorrow" (i.e. I'll be putting her down for her nap and she'll ask, "What are we doing today-tomorrow?" meaning, "after I get up"). Speaking of naps, she's still napping for a couple of hours in the afternoon. She goes to bed around 8:30 but sometimes doesn't fall asleep until 10 or so. She wakes up around 8 or 8:30 in the morning. She's potty trained when she's awake, but usually saves her pooping for nap/bed time. Someday I'll have the energy to send her to bed in underpants. Overall, she's still very compliant, but I do think that we're seeing her "Terrible Twos" a year late. She's definitely testing limits more often. She's still super-sweet to Miles and overall is very kind and compassionate.

Here she is with Grandpa at birthday dinner at Medinah.

And at Sonny Acres with Aunt Jamie.

Today was her birthday celebration at preschool. She was SUPER excited to play with this Melissa and Doug cake. I know I'm sarcastic a lot, but seriously, she was talking about it all the way home.

Before eating her birthday treat at school (don't judge - you're supposed to bring store bought treats).

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl. We love you SO much!

Birthday Fiesta

 

After "The Most Important Nap of Her Life" (Matt's pep talk to Brooke before her nap on Saturday. It worked - she slept over 2 hours.), Matt's family came over for a birthday dinner for her.

Brooke and Miles got to spend some time with Grandma Audie.

And we all got to meet Jack's baby, Peter. He and Miles will be golfing buddies in the future, I'm sure.

Brooke got to hang out with Uncle Dave and Uncle Mike and Aunt Jane. (And Grandpa, Uncle Bruce and Aunt Karen, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them.)

The menu was Mexican  - Brooke's favorite - along with cake and sherbet ice cream. It was her first time having sherbet and it was a big hit.

Playing with some of her presents. The girl is set for beauty time. She got dress-up clothes, "make-up", and a vanity, among many other great gifts.

Matt rose to the occasion and was able to put the vanity together.

I'll say it again - we're very blessed to have so many people who love our sweet girl so much.

 

A "Royal" Party

We had Brooke's birthday party with her friends this past Saturday morning. Seven of her friends were able to come: Haley, Emily F., Emily W., and Shawn from church, Tye and Grace, and of course Lexi. Several of the neighborhood girls also made an appearance. There's nothing specific that Brooke's into/obsessed with these days so we went with a "royal" theme (let's be honest - it would've been "princess", but we didn't want to emasculate the boys in attendance - Matt's wishes). It was really fun to see Brooke and her friends enjoying themselves. This is the first party that was truly all about her.

When the kids arrived, they got to make their own crowns. In the future, I will not have glitter glue available as it takes forever to dry.

There was also a paper crown station with dot markers when they were finished making their actual crowns.

And Legos to make a "castle" after that. (I harkened back to my preschool OT days to stretch with matching some of the activities with the theme. I also borrowed/tweaked several ideas that I've seen on other blogs or gotten from friends.)

Once everyone had arrived and made their crown, they picked an instrument for a "royal" parade. Marching bands are one of Brooke's favorite things and she has plenty of toy instruments to share.

We marched downstairs for a rousing game of "Princess, Princess (/Prince), Frog."

Then moved right into "Pin the Princess (/Diego) in the Castle." Diego stickers were actually more popular than the Princess stickers. Who knew?

Then we went back upstairs to decorate cookies. This was an all-hands-on-deck activity. Thanks to all the adults who were there! (And thanks for the idea, Amy!)

Next, the kids went outside for a game of "Hit the Bubbles with Your Wand".

Matt learned quickly that bubble blowing should be done from up high. I think he took a wand or two to the face.

Next was lunch time.

Singing to the Birthday Girl.

Present time!

...and finally some peace and quiet.

It was so much fun to see my girl having fun with her friends and having them celebrate her! And this guy thought it was fun to watch, too. Thanks for the pictures, Krissi and Debbie!