Miles turns TWO!!!

Sniff. Sniff. My baby boy is two. And according to my husband...he isn't a "baby" anymore. Sniff. But of course, he will always be my baby no matter how old he gets.

I love my little man more than anything else in this world. Each and everyday I am reminded how truly blessed I am. I have a perfectly healthy little boy who loves to laugh and give kisses. He is so full of life and love, it makes my heart overflow with joy. These last few months have been tough going back to work, but in all honesty, it hasn't change anything about our relationship. We are still closer than ever and still enjoy every minute with each other. He is learning and growing so fast. Time is flying by and as much as it makes my heart ache, I know that is the process of life. We are here to raise our young and give them the best possible chance in life. So on that note, I love you Miles and will always do my absolute best to encourage you in everything you want to do and I will always be here for you.

Ohhh, Miles LOVED Disney. It was fantastic!! Of course, he won't remember any of it, but we will and that in itself made it 100% worth it. His reaction to seeing the characters will forever be in my memories. We went to The Magic Kingdom and The Animal Kingdom and we by far enjoyed The Animal Kingdom the most. It was a ton of fun and we can't wait to go back!!

So here is what Miles is up to these days. (Photos Below as well)

Words: If we say it, he says it. His doctor seems to think his vocabulary is in the thousands. Who really knows. I don't keep track, I just know that we have to watch every single word that comes out of our mouths.

Sentences: He says mainly 2 and 3 word sentences. Exp: Mommy sit down. Where's croggy at? Mommy kiss it? (when he has a boo boo) Going school? Shoes off. Pants on.

Numbers: He counts to 15 by himself...and up to 10 in spanish.

Shapes: He knows all his shapes. His favorite is between trapezoid or pentagon (seriously, can't it just be circle?hahah)

Letters: He knows his entire ABC. He doesn't sing the song, but he recognizes every letter and says it wherever we are. When driving he spells every word he sees. Sometimes the letter are in order, other times they are not.

His stats at the doctor were as follows: Weight-30lbs. Height-35 1/4in. Both of which are the 75%. He passed his vision test again, as well as his finger prick test.

We don't go back for a check up till his 3rd birthday. Isn't that crazy? Just seems like forever, but as we all know, it isn't that far off.

Time is flying by!

I know there aren't a lot of people who read this, but the few that do have been on me lately to post something new. So here goes nothing. : )

Miles is growing up way too fast. End of story. Where did the time go? In a month and a half he will be TWO. Crazy!! These past few months have been really fun with him but also pretty stressful. He has officially been in school (daycare...school helps me cope with it better) for 2 months now. I can't believe it has been that long! He is really enjoying it, which warms my heart. I think my biggest fear was that that he was going to hate me for putting him somewhere, but I think it is quite the opposite. He seems to enjoy me more....sounds funny, I know.

I talk to him A LOT about what we will be doing each day and have started waking him up every morning (WHAT!?!? Yes, you read that right!) before I leave for work. The reason I am doing this is because it makes him happy. We stared going through a phase where he was waking up quite a bit at night and I honestly believe it was because he was afraid he wasn't going to get to see me in the morning. So now, every night before he goes to bed I "talk" with him about what will go on the next day. Ever since I started it, he has been sleeping like a champ and I believe he looks forward to it our chats each night. (I like to think so anyways.)

He has been sick quite a bit. This has been hard! Poor fella has had 2 ear infections, croup, an upper respiratory infection and possible hand/foot/mouth....all in 2 months. I hate it!! I know that it is either sick now or sick later, but I would still prefer sick later. At least then they can take cough meds, blow their nose and tell you what hurts. Oh well.

I keep telling myself that I am working because that is what needs to be done and my family is benefitting from it. I know this is true, but it still makes days away from him hard. I know that it is temporary and that one day (hopefully sooner rather than later!) I will get to be at home again with him and hopefully another one (NO PLANS).

This age has been SO much fun. Sure, he is a handful, but he is such a big ball of energetic fun and I love it. He loves to "hide" from me and have me "find" him. This usually involves some type of object covering his face and him thinking I can't see him. He loves to run all over the house naked and LOVES to watch himself pee...on the carpet. He is still a big goof ball and hope that that never changes!

Miles is parroting everything we say these day. His vocabulary has gone from 0-60 in a matter of weeks and it is pretty darn impressive. He says things like:

*Mountains

*Sunshine

*Shadows

*Outside

*Plate

*Santa

*Train

*Candy

Those are just a few of his newest words. He also knows his colors now and has started referring to things saying what color they are as well. For example, it isn't just an object now, it is a black car or red car or green grass or blue sky. He also knows all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and their names and proceeds to say all of them when they come on t.v.

This leads me to my next thing. For Miles' second birthday we are taking him to Disney! Instead of throwing a party, we have decided to put all that money into a trip. Now, you might think "he is way too young for that," and while I don't disagree, here is my reasoning for still going. For starters, he loves Mickey THIS year and may not next, so why not let him go when he is obsessed? Secondly, I am sure we will go another half dozen times over the next 5-10 years. And lastly, well, we want to. : )

That's about it. I'm sure I am leaving out something, but that will have to do for now. Here are a few recent pics!

He LOVES cars!!

Being a handsome boy!

Thanks to my friend Kelly for this great photo!

A quick update

Last week I started back to work. Yep. I finally went back after being a SAHM for 21 months. It's crazy to think that it has been that long already. While it has been very hard to leave Miles, it has also been pretty eye opening on a few different levels.

First of all, I never truly believed people when they said that going back to work makes your time with your kids that much more special. How could that be? I already love my child SO much (words don't do it justice) there is NO way I could love the time I spent with him that much more. Well, I do. Every single minute I have with him, I cherish it. It's pretty unbelievable. I think he feels the same way because as soon as I get home with him, he say "mickey...momma." Hahaha...He wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with me. So, we sit down and we snuggle for 30 minutes and watch TV. It is SO much fun. There is no more time for cooking (not that I ever really did) but Miles will not let me now if I wanted to. The whole 3 hours that we have together at the end of the day is spent, snuggling, laughing, hugging and playing. It is very rewarding.

Now, on the other hand, it is SO hard. I don't have the time to do the things that I used to. We had to go to the grocery store as a family tonight at 8:00pm because we had nothing to eat and I have had NO time to go. Yes, I could go after work, but Miles is STARVING then and that just will not work. It's just things like grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, etc that I am finding really hard to juggle. I know that eventually I will get the hang of it, but for the time being, it is kind of overwhelming.

Overall, things are going well. I am enjoying work and Miles is enjoying daycare. He has learned SOOO much in the month that he has been there. It makes me feel that much better about my decision to return to work.

So enough about me, here is what Miles is up to these days.

His vocabulary has taken off. Here are a few new words he says:

*Airplane*Blackberries*Teacup*Apple*ChooChoo*Puzzle*Mickey*TV*I see*Papa*Grandma*Blue*Green*Yellow*Red*Purple*Black*Poopoo*Peeps(his penis)*Tang (yes, the drink...he is obsessed)*Moon*Twinkle(when he sees a star)*Baby*Ashley (his teacher)*Ty*Kerri (He hears us say each others names....)

*He has started telling us when he goes "poopoo."

*He knows about 90% of his alphabet sounds and can point to about 90% of the letters when you ask him where the letter is. He doesn't know how to say the actual letter, though.

*He is still a super picky eater and still loves trains, trucks, and cars.

*His newest obsession is "Mickey".

The most wonderful time of the year..

Is Fall!!! I love fall...and pumpkins...and Halloween...and well, you get the idea. Maybe it is because my birthday is in October (this is what I have always told myself) but this time of year makes me feel alive and in love with nature. If it were up to me, I would live somewhere that felt like fall all year round...too bad that doesn't exist, at least not that I know of.

Anyways, today Miles, Ty, myself and my in-laws went to Burts Farm and let me just tell you...it was SO much fun!! Miles LOVED it. I wasn't sure if he would show much emotion towards it (meaning liking it or not) but he definitely takes after me when it comes to Burts...he adores it! He was climbing all over the pumpkins and giggling, once again...precious. We took a hay ride (of course!!) and Miles had a blast. Actually, we all had a blast. It was such fun to see him having such a good time. He is a little obsessed with tractors so I am sure that had something to do with his excitement. The entire time we were on the hay ride he was saying "brrmm brrmm!!" It was priceless.

I hope in 25+ years I will still be going to Burts and maybe then I will be going with Miles and his little family. : )

Looking for the perfect pumpkin.

CHEESE!!
Look over there...more pumpkins!
The end result...a tuckered out little boy!!

The many sides of Miles

These days I feel like I never know what Miles' mood is going to be. One minute he is happy then the next he mad. I love him very much, but I will tell you...I am looking forward to the day where he can tell me exactly how he feels. Now, I know then I will have to listen to him whine and gripe and I am sure talk back (hopefully not often!) but it has to be better than having NO clue as to what he is thinking.

Anyways, here are a few pictures to show you 'The many sides of Miles."

Believe it or not, this wasn't planned...I just happened to have my camera out and within a 5 minutes this all happened. SEE!! I told you!!

Relaxed Side

Silly Side

Happy Side

Back Side

Sad Side

Remembering 9/11

As I was driving down the road today, I started thinking a lot about 9/11. I think about it quite often, but since it is the 10 year anniversary, it is really making me very emotional. I remember that day like it was yesterday and I will never forget it. I remember laying in my bed watching the news that evening and crying my eyes out. I was 15 years old, a sophomore in high school and I was terrified.

As I was thinking about it today, it hit me that that event was the only big event that I have been alive for. Then it hit me that Miles has no clue what happened that day and that it is going to be my responsibility to teach him about it. As that thought crossed my mind, I got very upset and teary-eyed. I mean, what a big job that is. I know that raising a child is the toughest job that I will ever have, but to explain to a child about something that happened before he was ever born and to explain it to its fullest...that is tough stuff.

9/11 has been and will continue to shape his future. It will shape the way he will perceive certain cultures and ultimately, when 9/11 happened, it changed life as we know it...which is the only life he has ever known.

Hopefully when the time comes I can explain it to him the way it should be explained.

With all of that being said, I pray for the families that lost someone that day, I pray for all the soldiers who have lost their lives defending OUR country and I pray that we never ever forget what happened that day.

God Bless America.

The ONE picture I took....

TA DAAAA!!! Here it is! At least it is us all three of us.

This was around 11am the morning after Irene hit, so it was still a bit yucky out. After we left it was BEAUTIFUL outside.