baby legs

so I've seen BABY LEGS on lots of websites and think they are so CUTE! true to my bargain hunting ways...I decided to make a pair before investing in a "real" pair. well...they turned out so great that I think I'll be making a few more pair and save some money. besides being adorable, they are quite functional for a little guy learning to cruise around. they keep him warm without the bulk of his jeans or other such mini-man pants :) kyle was skeptical...but who could resist this??

doing his best jazzercise moves...

gerber and tide conspiracy

I am convinced that gerber and tide got together to invent a product that will make both companies a hefty profit...behold...the biter biscuit!

loving it!

not so sure about the messy fingers...

this tasty treat must be closely supervised!

aw man...mommy took it away...

...ALL CLEAN!

pincer grasp

miles has quickly learned that the most effective way to ensure all things tiny land in your mouth is to master the pincer grasp. according to early childhood experts "the pincer grasp marks a momentous developmental milestone, showing that a baby's brain, muscles, and nervous system are becoming highly synchronized and capable of increasingly sophisticated coordination." not too shabby, huh?

exhibit A
exhibit B

very proud of himself!

eight months old

miles is already eight months old...that's 2/3 of a year...yikes! he is enjoying food (especially bananas, gerber puffs, sweet potatoes, and anything in the mesh feeder) and the sippy cup (more for chewing than drinking), hearing the words "no-no" more and more, loving his signing time dvds, a-l-m-o-s-t crawling, and trying to get in on some fun with the doggies. he's also mastered waving, "so big!", and the words da-da, ba-ba, and ya-ya. he LOVES to read books and chew on everything. I'm thinking he's about 20 pounds now and has also graduated to a big ol' car seat. he's still wearing 6-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers...he's just super tall and we have some issues with length of pants. next month we'll visit the doctor (no shots...yippee!), so we'll have some official stats then. for now...here are the latest monthly pics!

look everyone! I'm EIGHT months old!

papa's rocking chair

miles' "oooh" face

I'm HUNGRY!

cheese!

waving bye-bye

almost clapping...but not quite!

SO BIG!

what a silly monkey

are we done yet??

the double-chin look

and we're done!

prayers

EDIT: sweet taylor nicole received her angel wings today (saturday, january 24th, 2009) at 1:45pm. she will surely be missed.

With Hope by Steven Curtis Chapman

This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
(There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

I'm asking you all to say a prayer today for some of our good friends - taylor & debbie and their family. taylor is a beautiful little girl whom we have had the pleasure of meeting at the North American Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome. her story is here:
http://www.shakenbabycoalition.org/board.htm scroll down to "Debbie Dycus"
taylor's health is critical right now. she has had massive internal bleeding and had a cardiac arrest two days ago. she is currently on a ventilator and things are looking very grave. please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. this has been such a difficult journey for them and we hope that if it is time for taylor to take her wings and fly, that she does so peacefully. although she will be greatly missed, there are many SBS angels who will meet her in heaven.

like father, like son

the matching outfits were a complete coincidence...I couldn't resist a quick picture!

teething

miles surprised us all when he popped out his two bottom chompers at only four months old. now four months later, he has FINALLY cut another tooth! oddly it is the one right next to his bottom left tooth...weird. lucky for us he's also on the brink of cutting at least two top teeth, if not all four. his poor gums are swollen and for the first time ever, he's actually complaining a bit. for those of you with fussy babies...you can begin your eye rolling now: he woke up a little early at 7:45am (I know I know, but this kid rarely rouses until at least 8:30am) and spent the next couple of hours agitated and fussing. I tried to give him breakfast, but he wouldn't have any of it. so he rolled around on the floor chewing on his blankie and pacifier, sat on my lap and chewed the strings on my sweatshirt, and finally went down for a nap around 10am. now...don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining...he's more than entitled to his fair share of fussiness...I just feel so bad for him, because his mouth looks so sore! here are some cute shots of him the other day chewing on everything he can reach. (note: just ignore all of the storage containers in the background...we were hanging out in our tiny basement "office")

the tag is usually his first choice

pacifier is good for chomping on...backwards, upside down, no problem!

his favorite toy...the hammer!

thoroughly entertained

brian & blair

my "baby" brother, brian, is getting married in december to blair. we are so excited to have her join our big crazy family...she fits right in!! they had their engagement pictures taken a few weeks ago and they are adorable...check 'em out!

midwestlifeshots.blogspot.com

so...

...it's cold. I know this is hardly news to anyone living in the midwest right now, but I had to make that clear before I share with you why I am LOVING this weather! rochester public schools has canceled classes again tomorrow :) for those of you counting...that means we have had THREE snow and/or cold days in the past month. oddly enough, all three have been on the days I work! now I do feel a bit bad for my fabulous job-share partner, kate. she so deserves a few extra days at home with her girls. but because I have no control over these decisions...I will be grateful for the unexpected time home with my monkey! and seriously...how could I not be excited to see this face?

vintage gap

it's true. I used to be a gap-girl. it was ages ago, but the days of working at the gap left me with some pretty classic (and now vintage) items. exhibit A...the red fleece sweatshirt. admit it...you all had one at one time or another. it may not have been red, but you had one. trust me, I know, because I rang up a gazillion of them during my time at the gap. I'm not quite sure why I've insisted on hanging on to mine for all of these years, but ironically miles has a matching one! it came from a box of baby boy clothes that my mom has been keeping in her basement. while it may not fit into stacy and clinton's definition of fashionable anymore, it is darn comfy and cozy. especially during the arctic deep freeze we are in. it is -24 degrees with -50 degree wind chill here today. and kyle walked to work. brr.

g'mornin!

besides the fact that he doesn't wake up until around 8:30 or 9am, miles is definitely a "morning guy" - that is in the sense that he is happy as a clam when he wakes up! this was this morning. notice his look of concern when tinker and tessie were playing tug of war with a toy! his latest new "look" is the head cocked to the side complete with cheesy two-toothed grin. LOVE IT! occasionally he'll pair it with his "so big" fists in the air trick he has learned. he has a very endearing personality and there is definitely not a day that goes by that we don't stop and wonder what we did to get such a sweet little boy.

puffs

miles sure is learning a LOT these days. we are continually amazed at how fast he is growing and changing. it seems like just yesterday that we were swaddling him and giggling about how loud he was when he filled his diaper. now he's figuring out the world and examining everything. he's a very contemplative little baby and loves to hold things in his hands and turn them around to inspect them. he's recently begun to eat 'puffs' - gerber's expensive, but oh-so-yummy (and convenient), version of cheerios. he's also eating breakfast - some kind of fruit and rice cereal. just a few days ago he tried milk in a sippy cup for dinner. it's a messy undertaking, but he seems to be a fan!