Before I Forget...

Miles is 14 months old today, so I thought I'd give some quick updates. I feel like things are really starting to click for him, just in the last couple of weeks. He definitely has "Mama" down and has quickly learned how to use it to his advantage. Melt my heart. He also has approximations for several other words, including "mah" for more, "ees" for cheers, and "ba" for bonk (what we say when he falls or bumps himself - a game that he finds pretty funny). His main mode of communication continues to be grunting and pointing, though. I really need to get a video of it, but the song, "Ceiling Can't Hold Us" makes him dance almost every time.

 

Right now he really seems to be into buttons and switches. He also likes trucks, cars and planes. It's so funny to see the boy/girl differences. He likes to pretend to brush his hair, use a ponytail holder (an effect of getting ready with 2 girls every morning), and put on hats. When it comes to eating, he's a garbage disposal and not picky.

He's really enjoying "walking" while holding someone's hand. One of his favorite people to practice this with is Grandpa. He's pulling up all over the place and his standing balance is getting pretty good. (Brooke was almost 18 months when she walked, so for our kids this is advanced.) He's doing the standard crawl most of the time now. He LOVES stairs (though he hasn't quite mastered getting down them) and getting into cabinets and drawers, especially the ones that he isn't supposed to get into.

He's still taking a morning nap when we're home (about half the time) and naps for several hours in the afternoon. He usually sleeps about 12 hours (7:30-7:30) at night. He had another ear infection last week, poor guy, but is still very happy and content, especially if I'm holding him. He's getting more and more compliments on his tan complexion and his curls. I really could eat him up.

And while I'm giving an update, Brooke has also said and done some pretty cute things lately. She's gotten so observant and anytime I sound remotely upset, she'll ask what's wrong and what I'm talking about.

Jamie and I went for another run on Monday and she wanted to "run" with us again when we got back. We walked in the door and she greeted us at the door and yelled upstairs, "Daddy, Miles, we'll be back in a little while. We're going to run 20 miles!" If only 20 miles were that easy...

She's getting pretty independent at dressing, but still needs help putting her shirt on. I was reassuring her that this was okay and she said, "I'll probably do it when I'm 14 or something." Let's hope it's a little sooner than that, kiddo...

The other day, we were heading to meet Matt for lunch and she asked if I was going to have wine or water to drink. I laughed and she added, "Or coffee?" Then, when I asked her what she thought Matt would drink, she said, "Soda or beer." Yikes.

She's also pooping on the potty about half the time now (you know you care) - thanks in large part to not napping as much. Speaking of, she's also getting the hang of entertaining herself during "quiet time".

Matt also introduced her to Kiddie Cocktails and she's hooked. Maybe I should have titled this post "Drinking with the Alleys."

I'm probably a little biased, but I've got some pretty great kids (I say as they enter hour 2 of napping...).

Celebrate!

 

We had a lot of celebrating to do on our most recent visit to St. Louis. We arrived in town just in time for Tim's (29th - yikes!) birthday.

We had lunch at my Grandma's house with all the little kids (minus Lexi, who was at her last day of preschool). Not even sure if the Cards played that day, but this was a cute photo op...

 

The kids always love playing with Gigi's toys.

 

We celebrated with Tim for dinner before he went to the big futbol game at Busch Stadium and we went to Ted Drewes. Yum.

The next day was my cousin Paul's wedding. The children didn't go, so of course I took literally no pictures (it was beautiful and fun and I really regret that), but we did go to Grant's Farm with the kids between the wedding and reception.

 

The next day we had a little celebration for my Great Aunt Esther's 80th birthday. It was fun but incredibly chaotic to have everyone, especially all the little kids, over to Tim and Krissi's. She's been walking for awhile now, but Danielle had fun crawling after Miles.

 

The last time Ambie and I saw each other, these little ones were still in our bellies. 

 

We decided to see just how far we could stretch the kids and took them to the zoo on our last morning there. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of animals in a short time.

 

 

 
We've created a monster with this whole "dress the girls alike" thing. There is major drama if they aren't matching when they're together now.

The new baby elephant might be one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

This chimpanzee (I think?) kept approaching Miles after I took the picture and he burst into tears. It was pretty cute.

The carousel. Why do kids find those things so exciting?

 

It's always so fun for the kids to be together. 90% of the time they're like this:

Although the other 10%, they're like this (this photo was posed, but seriously, this look happens. A fair amount.):

 

We finished the visit with celebrating Erica and Baby Aubrey. We can't wait to meet her! (Again, this photo distortion is evidence of my lack of technological skills and /or desire to develop/improve them.)

The Recital

Brooke had her first ballet recital on Saturday. She's been going to ballet class once a week since January and has loved it. As I mentioned before, her cousins came up to see her big debut.

She really needs to stop growing up.

I was one of the "volunteer parents" who sat backstage with the kids. The twenty, three and four-year-old girls. In a 12x12 room. With just coloring sheets to keep them busy. I probably won't be doing that again.

Family pic after the show.

Brooke did a pretty good job, and of course looked adorable, which is all that really matters. I think her positioning between the two girls who really didn't know the dance made her look a little better. The videos that I took were shaky because I was literally laughing the whole time.The hilarious video that I wanted to post is too big to put on the blog. I'll ask around, or if anyone reading this knows how I can get it on here, let me know. This was the last few seconds they were on stage. The Grand Finale, if you will?

May

Our month so far has been busy and fun. Full of dates with Grandpa.

And Zach. Man, I hope they get married. We'd have the most fun family gatherings ever.

 

And birthday parties. They got to check out a fire engine at Tye's party.

They've also gotten better at *kind of* playing together. Or at least doing things side-by-side.

Here's Brooke modeling her Rapunzel wig that she earned for going poo-poo on the potty. (Yes, we're still working on that. The problem is that she usually goes when she's asleep. Cutting back on afternoon naps seems to be helping. Let's be honest, I'm trying to avoid her pooping her pants in college at this point.) I kind of like the wig, too, since neither of us will ever have hair that long.

Instead, this is what her hair looked like when I tried to put it in a "ballerina bun" for her dance recital. Matt compared it to Joakim Noah's hair. I'm not sure if this is more of a commentary on the hair or the hair stylist.

 

And while we're on the subject of hair, with the recent heat and humidity, Little Big Boy's hair has gotten quite curly, giving him some sweet wings behind his ears. I wonder if his hair will stay curly? I hope so.

Crazy Weekend

My mom, Krissi and the kids came up this past weekend for Brooke's ballet recital (more on that in a later post). Of course, we also managed to squeeze in church (the girls' Sunday School taught by yours truly), a trip to the Taste of Glen Ellyn, an Ikea visit (while Matt watched all four kids!), dinner out and lots of play time.

The girls actually rode a couple of rides alone at the Taste.

Poor Luke slept through the whole thing.

Either I'm getting old, or that was the fastest carousel I've ever been on. I was not a fan.

 

We're going to squeeze them all in the same tub for as long as we can. 

We've created monsters by putting the girls in matching outfits. Now they're really upset if they're together and their outfits DON'T match.

Look at those cuties. Thanks again for visiting, guys! See you soon!