the many activities of mr. miles

as many of you know, miles is quite the little talker these days. his new favorite phrase is "don't like it" - this apparently applies to anything he would rather not do at the moment. for example, if he asks for his blankie or teddy out of the crib and I hand it to him saying "yep! it's nap time!!" he says, "take it, don't like it" the other day at papa & nana's house he "don't like" daddy either, because he wanted to stay and play with brian instead. I guess this is just a taste of what is in our near future. he loves, loves, LOVES numbers and letters and has recently begun to sing the ABC song. I heard him do it this morning while he was waiting in his crib for us to come get him. it was so adorable! I tried to get him to do it at breakfast while I taped him. unfortunately, he tends to get a little stage fright, so I wasn't able to get him to finish the song. oh well...here is a video of some things miles is saying and doing these days. take note of how he refers to himself as "you" - as in "help you", "carry you", "hold you!"

waiting for baby...

although we talk about the baby often and miles knows there is a baby in mommy's tummy, I am pretty sure he is oblivious to what is actually about to take place. we have prepared him with books about new babies, had him participate in getting the baby's room ready, taken him to buy a present for baby, and even bought a doll stroller for him to push around. when we say prayers at night and go through everyone we can think of with a proper "God bless (fill in your name here)", miles ALWAYS says "blair" first (woot woot auntie blair) and then will bless the baby too. he likes me to lift up my shirt so he can kiss the baby.

I think it's so adorable and sweet, but we'll have to see if that remains once he or she is really here. you know, not leaving. crying and taking up time with mommy and daddy. time that was once all his. yikes. I'm praying that the transition will go smoothly and that he takes on his role as big brother with as few hiccups as possible. so as we all sit and wait for our family to go from three to four - here are a few new pictures of our "baby" miles:

some friends of ours are lending us this bassinet - miles thought he should give it a test run first. I think he might be a bit too big.

these boots were made for walkin'

miles LOVES his boots, need I say more?

the new year

2010 has been fairly uneventful...so far. as we wait as patiently as possible for this new little bundle to arrive, we have taken advantage of spending our last few weeks together as a family of three. not to mention the bitter cold weather that has forced us to hole up inside for days. it was 16 degrees below zero the other day...BEFORE windchill. brr! miles did manage to get daddy to take him outside on a slightly less chilly morning. he wanted to test out his new shovel from grandpa kroening.
miles has kept busy playing with all of his new toys. he is especially fond of the kitchen from nana and papa. a special shout out to uncle brian for loaning us some of his vintage fisher price food. miles likes to prepare some sort of food item and then declare "dad do it" or "mommy do it" - meaning EAT! I fully intend to post a video of him doing all of the sound effects too - "tshhhh" when the faucet is on, "glub glub" as he pours syrup :) check out the concentration...perhaps we have a little chef in the making?
I think kyle and I have been the most entertained and amazed by how much miles is learning and saying these days. he likes to point out letters on ANYTHING and can say/find all 26 of them. he especially likes to show you that M is a W if you turn it upside down. silly boy. he recently started to count and as of now can make it to erteen. what's that you ask? simple.

one, two, free, four, four, five, six, seven, eight, niiiine...TEN, 'leven, firteen, erteen, erteen.

that would be what I heard him saying on the monitor as he chattered his way off to la-la land. perhaps he was counting sheep? it's so fun to sit and listen to him at night or before naptime. we frequently need to go back into his room to remind him to close his eyes so he can rest his body! kyle and I were standing in the hallway taking the 37 week belly shot tonight after we laid the little monkey in bed. we thought we were being pretty quiet, but then heard "cheese! miles, cheese! daddy? cheese!!" apparently he heard the click of the camera. speaking of the 37 week belly shots:

just to update everyone: I am getting quite uncomfortable as this baby grows. he/she has taken up residence right under my ribs. sleeping is almost impossible for both me and kyle. I swear that no amount of pillows could make me comfy. poor kyle has no room left at all. the baby continues to be very active and likes to put on a show for us in the evenings. I officially went through the nesting that I've read so much about. on new year's day I was reorganizing drawers and cabinets, scrubbing down cupboards, and washing all of the baby equipment (carseat, bouncer, boppy, etc). this was all while miles and kyle were napping. that's right...I should've joined them given the fact that I barely slept 6 hours the night before. I just couldn't stop cleaning and preparing for baby! I'm hoping to go into labor before my due date (jan 26th). if so, I will attempt to avoid a repeat c-section. however, I have scheduled a c-section for january 26th at 7am if this wee one hasn't made his/her grand entrance! thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers for a safe delivery and healthy baby...we greatly appreciate all of your support! by the way...don't forget to vote in the gender poll.