trimming the tree

fa-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la! sorry...got carried away with the christmas caroling. I have been listening to nothing but christmas music for the last week and a half and will do so until well after new years. which, I might add, is kyle's LEAST favorite thing about the holiday season. anyway - the tree is up (finally) and mr. miles was able to put his first decorations on it. last christmas, my mom & dad gave us a sweet fluffy blue stocking for the baby (blue...who knew!?) and beth & seth gave "baby K" a cute snowman ornament. this year he's added to his collection and is already up to FIVE ornaments! I have oodles of them as it was tradition to receive a new ornament every year from both sets of grandparents. I feel fortunate to have wonderful memories of seeing my own decorations on the tree year after year. kyle and I are looking forward to making this a tradition for our family now too! miles is still in the "potted plant" stage (a.k.a. not yet on the move) - so the tree is safe from baby curiousity. he likes to look at the lights and feel the "needles" (I admit...we are fake tree folks). I should also point out that miles LOVES the christmas music too! [that's 2-1 if you're keeping score!!]

due to our lack of space, we bought a SLIM 7 ft tree and I spent 2 hrs making it "pre-lit"

early morning...so innocent

check out the ornament stash for the 6 month old!

helping mommy

inspecting with daddy

carrots

YUMMY! miles is experimenting with foods these days and decided carrots are delish. I am attempting to make most of the baby food, so I peeled, steamed, and pureed a big bag of carrots. I froze them in ice cube trays and voila! we have a zip-loc freezer bag full of carrot cubes. I'm sure I'll be fighting back the dinner guests :) the frozen carrot cubes also come in handy when using the mesh feeder. it's a little mesh bag on a handle that we can put whole food into and he can munch away. that was a BIG hit! on another note...rice cereal has not been going over so well, so we switched to oatmeal and miles is pretty pumped about that.

excuse me...what is THIS?
never mind...that was YUMMY...thank you!
how does this thing work?

a HA!

bragging rights

although this is my first go-round as a mommy, I'd like to think that given the numerous daycare and foster care children in my house while I grew up I've had an unusual amount of experience with little ones. therefore...I have to brag here for just a moment.

miles is a great little baby!

he sleeps like a champ - goes to bed around 8 pm and wakes at least 12 hours later, eats well - nurses 5 times a day, plays happily with a toy or two, and is extraordinarily content. he tolerates us changing his schedule and keeps right up with all of the crazy activity in our lives. we were out and about a lot this weekend. miles had no trouble going to bed at grandma and grandpa's house and then letting us wake him up to go home around 11pm or midnight. he smiled at everyone, fell back to sleep in the car, woke up when we got home, and then went right back to sleep. on saturday morning we finished clearing out my grandma's garage. miles rode around in the backpack for a while, sat in the van with nykki, and then fell back to sleep in the car seat. all while getting close to (or passing) meal time! what I have found most amazing is his patience and overall good-naturedness. there are many times when we are out running errands or out longer than expected and he should be "starving." he doesn't complain. he'll just sit quietly and fall back to sleep. both kyle and I know how incredibly blessed we are and we would feel this way no matter what...but we definitely feel like we "got a good one" :)
miles has decided that he likes to sleep on his tummy now...I tried to roll him back over...no go.

gobble gobble

miles spent his first thanksgiving surrounded by fun...food, family, and furry friends. we went out to grandpa randy's early on thanksgiving morning. kyle recently found a super8 projector on ebay, so we sat around and enjoyed some old home movies. at one point, miles was sitting next to the screen and a shot of kyle sitting on the floor at about the same age came up...I must say that the two of them looked eerily similar. I know that most people say he looks like me, but his mannerisms are very "kyle"! after eating a yummy meal at 11am, we went to grandpa and grandma becker's house for what I like to call thanksgiving meal: part deux - just what I (and my waistline) needed...a second ginormous meal in a matter of hours. did I also mention that meant twice the pumpkin pie? all in all I would say it was a fantastic day. we have so much to be thankful for.

waiting to get ready for turkey day...watching signing time in his robe

the kroening guys: clayt, kyle, randy, miles, and conrad

our little "theater" (that's kyle on the screen!)
sitting in my dad's old rocking chair

happy thanksgiving!!

grandma & grandpa becker

great-grandpa & great-grandma greseth

great-grandma becker

silly uncle marc

tired after all the turkey fun!