our little monkey

we went to the doctor on monday for miles' two-month appointment. he had to get four shots and one oral vaccination. let me tell you...it is NOT a fun job to have to hold your child down while they are shrieking in pain. I managed to hold back the tears, but it was not easy! according to the doctor, we are doing a great job because the little monkey is growing like a weed! here are his current stats:

name: miles edward kroening
birthdate: may 22, 2008
weight: 13 lbs 9 oz
height: 25 in
head circumference: 42 cm

baptism

miles was baptized on sunday (july 28th) at bethel lutheran church. it was great to have pastor wahl perform the baptism as he also married us! beth and seth did great as his sponsers and managed to keep him relatively calm throughout the service. miles was a good boy and only squawked when the water was put on his head. my mom (a.k.a. grandma) bought his little outfit, which kyle promptly deemed "girly". however, I reminded him that he wore a dress for his baptism...so this was a step up! the bracelet you see on miles' wrist was also a gift from my parents. it comes with an extender and has one blue bead on the end...thereby making it the perfect gift to give to his bride one day!! after the ceremony we went to my mom & dad's for a yummy lunch and time with family.

godparents seth and beth

the whole becker clan!

grandpa randy & uncle clayt

miles and his grandpa

the baby of the day

ready to pig out

we demolished that cake

two months old!!

miles turned two months old on the 22nd. here are his new pictures...enjoy!!

and now...a little "behind the scenes" footage...

are we done yet?

ok...I'm not a happy camper!

so sleepy...miles LOVES his 'blankie' and pacifier!

thanks for helping to get me to smile uncle marc!

take me out to the ballgame

it was inevitable. miles was bound to attend his first ballgame before the end of the summer. in all honesty, this was much later in his little life than I had thought. kyle's softball games have all been either really late or rained out. that brings us to wednesday night. gametime 6:15pm + temperature upper 70s + no humidity + very little bugs = happy spectators!! the game ended up running late and the jimmy johns guys lost to a winless team. yes we were impressed. he-he. luckily we had miles to entertain us and he was a great sportsfan!! he only required one little nap in the middle of the game. I don't blame him though...it was a LONG game that went into extra innings. for more info, feel free to visit the jimmy johns team website. here are some pictures from the game.

miles checking out the field

mommy and miles

taking notes on how to swing a bat from daddy (that's kyle in the background)

will this game EVER end??

I love my (smelly) daddy :)

miles and ethan

ethan: "hey miles, I'm ethan. our mommies and daddies say we're going to be best buddies!"
miles: "cool, but can you get your hand off my head?"

ethan: "sure thing, is this ok?"

miles: "dude, that is NOT ok! I'm so embarrassed!"

ethan: "sorry man, I'm new at this 'buddies' thing. it'll never happen again...I promise!"

miles: "it's ok, we can still be best buds. thanks for letting me come hang out at your house."
ethan: "anytime pal!"

life - as explained by miles

poplar 2008

this was the first summer in six years that we wouldn't be venturing to the maio family cabin (er, I mean "cottage") in wautoma, wi. unfortuately we couldn't get schedules to jive and the harms' (scott, anna, and ethan) were gracious enough to open their house to us all. getting together with the harms', bansemars, and maios is definitely one of the major highlights of our summer. this year was especially fun because we spent it with the two babies - ethan and miles. their soon-to-be best girl friend came along too, but she is still cookin' away in her momma's belly.

ethan, baby m, and miles

we left rochester on thursday night around 6:30pm. miles was in his pjs, the car was loaded up, and the puppies were safe and sound at my parent's house (thanks mom and dad!). we drove until we needed some fuel (a.k.a. FOOD) - so we stopped in north branch for subway, ice cream, and a milk meal for mr. miles.
once we got back on the road we drove through foggy duluth and over the bridge into wisconsin...arriving at chateau harms around 11pm. friday was spent exploring beautiful amnicon falls state park. scott and kyle strapped the babies on their back/front and off we went. anna had to work and the others weren't arriving until friday night - so it was just me and the boys! the weather and the park were absolutely gorgeous. how fun it will be to return next year when ethan and miles are older and can splash in the waterfalls!!

amnicon falls state park

scott & ethan and kyle & miles

ethan harms...check out those lady killer eyes!

on our way home from the park

the maios (sarah, matt, and baby m) and the bansemars (shawn and melissa) arrived friday evening. we cooked out and sat around the campfire. it was a good thing that we got out and enjoyed the weather while we could, because we woke up saturday morning to a chilly rain. the ladies decided to drive into duluth and visit the lakewalk and canal park in spite of the unfortunate weather. we had a lovely lunch and even did a bit of shopping.

lake superior...BRR!

the boys (a.k.a. men) played their fair share of wii and indulged in some greasy burgers at the anchor bar in superior, wi. after spending saturday night playing games and chowing down on yummy treats, we woke up sunday morning, packed our bags, and headed for home. miles slept the entire way back and we made it to rochester in 3 1/2 hours! we have discovered that miles is a great lil' traveler...another reason we claim to have the world's greatest baby! thank you so much to scott and anna for allowing us to invade your home in the north woods. we'll be back soon!

completely entertained by the wii...sad.sleeping in on saturday morning...ahh vacation!!

miles and his daddy

everyone is constantly asking us...who does he look like? admittedly he does seem to have my eyes and nose, but the rest of him is all daddy. exhibit A = the feet.

here are some precious father/son moments caught on film.

where does the time go?

just the other day it dawned on me that my "newborn" was quickly changing into an "infant" and we should begin to attempt to establish a routine. basically miles wakes up around 6am (give or take half an hour). he eats, stays awake for an hour and crashes for two hours. he eats every 3 hours throughout the day. we are working on establishing a bedtime routine. yes, I realize he's fairly young for this, but I figure it's never too early to begin the quest toward a full night's sleep. so we are doing a bath, massage, food, book, and bed. all in all it takes about one hour for all of that fun. he's been eating around 8:30 or 9pm and then sleeping until 2:30 or 3am! as much as I am looking forward to sleeping through the night, I secretly love the middle of the night feedings. it is priceless to be standing over the changing table and seeing that big toothless grin! I am also oh so lucky in the fact that he wakes, eats, poops, eats, and is back to sleep in less than 30 minutes.

miles clearly has begun to complain when he's bored. he enjoys his swing, tummy time toy bar, mobile, and is now LOVING his new bouncy seat. he can activate the lights and sounds by kicking his feet! whoever came up with that is nothing short of a genius. I would like to personally congratulate him or her on finding a way for baby to assist in housecleaning, personal grooming (a.k.a. showers!), and all other things necessary for mommy to get done during the day...thank you kick and play bouncy seat genius!!

in other news...I am in denial that it is already the 15th of july. I can't believe how fast the summer is going. I actually had to go to work on monday morning...gasp! I know...it's a tragedy. working in the summer is clearly not for me, but I had to attend a team meeting for a few hours. luckily, miles was able to go to his grandma's for the morning.

here are some shots of the little man after his bath last night...along with a few random photos!

we call this the "O face" - there are baby pictures of me doing the exact same thing!

goofin' around with the camera

what's that you say...

...I'm a chatterbox? I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, but mommy calls me that all the time! I love to talk to all of my toys and tell them how much fun I'm having with them. my puppies are a little loud, but I don't mind. I really wish they would let me pet them...they always move away from me when I bat my hand at them. maybe someday we can all play together. here's a movie mommy took of me this morning. we were talking about our plans for the day. hopefully I can blog again sometime soon! love, miles

we love summer

miles is fully enjoying his first summer home with mommy. I truly feel blessed to be able to spend this time with him and have especially enjoyed watching him grow and change. as you can see by the pictures, he is smiling a lot and working on strengthening those neck muscles with tummy time. I recently found a neat toy bar that collapses down so he can see the lights and toys when he's on his tummy. his feet have been going non-stop with all of the kicking he does and he's grown especially fond of his fists. we are working on establishing something resembling a routine. not easy given the number of trips we are taking. in the very least, I'd like to get bedtime under control and see if we can't get him to sleep through the night soon! stay tuned for updates! here are some pictures from our walk with daddy the other day too...enjoy!