Lately

 

I could probably find a cute way to organize these photos into a few different posts, but honestly I don't have the time or energy for that right now, so here's a little photo-dump/stream of consciousness post.

Miles had his 4 month appointment today.

 

Oh, you wanted his stats? In that case, here they are: weight - 15 lb, 14 oz (52%), height - 26 3/4" (95%). He was only in the 70% for head circumference. He took his shots like a champ and is currently sleeping them off.

 

Brooke is really into Miles' transportation book. I think we're going to submit her for a "Baby Hoarders" reality show. Her bed is ridiculous. We have to take toys or books out of it daily. I vaguely recall that I also always had a ton of junk in my bed. She's definitely my daughter.

She and Miles continue to adore each other (we'll see how that changes when he can get into her things...). While the two of them were sharing a room on vacation, he started crying one night. I got up to go calm him and as I approached the door, I heard her say, "It's okay, Baby Miles. Your big sissy's here." He stopped crying and I started. Melt my heart.

She continues to push her limits daily, but she's still such a good girl. She loves the park by our house (ours is the second one in the background, next to the one with reddish roof). As we were pulling up to our house from vacation, she asked if she could go to the playground. I said that first we were going to unload. She said, "Where's unload?" Get it? It took me a minute to understand what she was asking.

 

Guess who's getting his first tooth? His front, right, lower one is starting to pop out. So far it isn't really affecting him except that he gnaws on anything he can get in his mouth.

 

Courtesy of Big Sis.

It's getting easier to make him laugh.

Hanging out with Dad. He's working hard to instill the love of football into both kids. I think he's given up on me. Speaking of, football at WWS started this week. Say a prayer for me.

 

Sorry Matt looks possessed in this pic. Isn't it a cute shot of the kids, though?

Playing around before nap time. There's usually at least an hour overlap in their afternoon naps. Some days I'm more ready and thankful for that time than others, but I must say, life is good and we're very blessed.

2nd Annual Family Vacation

We had such a good time in South Haven, MI, last year that we decided to return this year. We rented a cottage in a different location this time - it was farther from downtown but had a cute patio and porch. I think the increased distance was a pretty even trade with having some outdoor space.

We hit the beach every morning. We walked there our first afternoon, but due to the nightmare that was walking a double stroller (and two kids) down a flight of about 50 stairs, we opted to make the 2 minute drive the rest of the time.

Brooke LOVED the beach.

There were two days with little wind and calm water and two days with waves.

She was much more comfortable/independent the days with the calm water but had a lot of fun jumping into the waves when it was windier.

We were impressed with how independent she was playing in the sand, too. She had fun making "recipes" using sand and water. We also spent most of our last morning looking for seashells along the shore.

 

She also had fun floating or being spun in the inflatable turtle that I bought for her. She named him "Boot" (No idea where she got that name. Maybe she saw a boot nearby when I asked her to name it? It reminds me of Steve Carrell's line from Anchor Man, "I love...lamp.").

 

And this guy....

 He's normally so chill that I was expecting him to be a total beach baby and play or sleep all morning. That worked two mornings. The other two, I ended up holding him for a majority of the time.

I should have gotten a shot of our makeshift set-up. We weren't classy enough to buy/borrow one of those beach tents or umbrellas, so we used the shade of our $7 camping chairs with a towel hung over it. I did think to bring Brooke's toy tent to use. It says it assembles easily in minutes...if you have any engineering skills whatsoever. Matt and I tried for at least 30 minutes (probably more like an hour) to set it up to no avail. Maybe we wouldn't do as well on "The Amazing Race" as I'd once thought.

 He also enjoyed snacking on Sophie.

 

 And his thumb.

 

 We tried to get a few posed shots.

After the beach, we would head home for the kids to nap. The cottage was only two bedrooms, so the kids shared a bedroom at night. We were nervous about this, but they did remarkably well. For naps, we put Brooke in our room since their schedules aren't quite in sync.

 

We got Brooke this floor puzzle on our second night and she did it at least three times a day. She loved it so much that we were able to take it away as a consequence, and consequences are hard to come by on vacation.

The cottage was pretty tiny, but owned by an interior designer and very well decorated. Not incredibly kid-friendly, though (notice all the vases, porcelain figurines, the WHITE sofa, chairs, etc). Thankfully we don't really have to worry about baby-proofing with Brooke. I have the feeling we're going to be in for a rude awakening when this little guy gets moving.

After naps, we'd head out and either walk along the pier, to the park, or to some of the shops downtown. We cooked out one night and ate out the rest. After the kids went down, Matt and I would enjoy a cocktail or two and usually watched the Olympics.

I think my friend Kelly (Ripa? You may have heard of her.) said it best, "When you go away with the kids, it's more a trip than it is a vacation." Still a good time, but not quite as relaxing and carefree.

 We got some photo ops along the harbor.

 

 The weather was incredible. Low to mid-80's and sunny every day. There were storms one night, but they didn't wake either of the kids.

Hey Mom, why don't you try to look into the sun and smile?

We went back to Kids' Corner, the awesome playground from last year.

Of course Brooke wanted to swing - in the baby swings. 80% of the time, but we were able to convince her to do a little exploring.

The playground overlooked the beach.

 

Brooke being silly with Matt on the patio.

This is the only pic of all four of us from the week. Oops.

We really love South Haven. More importantly, we really love getting away with just our little family. Can't wait till next year!

Fun in the Sun

During our (almost) week home between St. Louis and Southhaven, we took full advantage of having fun at home, which included a trip to the pool.

 I've given up on putting him in his rash guard. It's really cute, but he's not really in the water enough for the bathing suit to make sense, and the long sleeves just seem cruel in the hot weather. We went for a nautical themed onesie instead and I think he liked it.

 

She's looking more and more like a little girl, so I love how this pic captures her chubby thighs.

 

 

We also took a trip to the DuPage County Fair with our friends Christy and Kali. Brooke and Kali were born a week apart. They've "known" each other since they were about 6 weeks old and Christy and I went to a Mommy and Me class at the church we were attending. They're going to the same preschool this fall and will eventually be in the same elementary school. We have a ton of fun with them, thanks especially to Christy coming up with all kinds of creative things for us to do.

 

I don't think Brooke's met a carnival ride she didn't like, and the little activity booths were a big hit.

The clown creeped her out - can't say I blame her - but the excitement of the trumpet distracted her enough to get this shot.

There was also a butterfly tent that was really cool. We found out that that whole story about maiming a butterfly if you touch it's wings is an old wives' tale. You learn something new every day.

Summer's winding down and we're trying to make the most of it! An update on our family vacation is in the works, but I have a ton of pics to edit and go through, so it may be a couple of days.

Four Months

 

Our little man will be four months next week, and since we'll be on vacation when that happens, I'll give a quick update of what he's doing at 3 months and 27 days. (Just watch, now he'll start talking tomorrow just to spite me...)

He's not going for his four month check-up for another couple of weeks, but I think it's safe to say he's a bit of a chunk. He's mostly in 3-6 month clothes, but he's not swimming in the 6 month stuff. I like to get as much wear as possible out of the stuff, so I squeeze him into it as long as possible. Speaking of getting wear out of things, he owes his cousin Luke a few sets of PJ's that he's ruined by pooping out of his diaper at night. Contrary to his appearance in this picture, he's pretty good at tummy time. I think I took this after he rolled over.

Speaking of, he started rolling onto his stomach the day he turned 3 months. He prefers to sleep that way, or at least on his side. He hasn't gone tummy to back yet. He's still a thumb sucker. He's not spitting up as badly, but he's drooling like crazy. He's also bringing everything to his mouth. Maybe we'll see teeth soon? He's gotten really good at reaching for and grasping things.

  

He's eating 5 times a day. Sometimes he'll go 2 hours between feedings, sometimes 4. It's largely dependent on how and when he sleeps. He's consistently taking at least one solid (30 minutes or more) nap in the morning and afternoon (afternoon is usually closer to 2 hours). Traveling - and having an older sister with a social life - has impeded his schedule. He's still doing well at night, falling asleep around 7 and sleeping until 7 or so.

He's really a pretty content little guy. He's generally happy as long as he's clean, fed, and is able to see someone's face. He still loves his sister and is starting to "flirt" with strangers when we're out and about. We've gotten more laughter out of him, but I haven't been able to get it on film yet. This is the closest I got. He was BELLY laughing before I got out the camera!

He's such a special little guy and we're blessed and thankful that he's ours.