It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It is times like these that I really enjoy living in North Dakota. And don't take that statement lightly. The winters here can be brutal and last forever! But this year we are getting lucky with temperatures in the 70s in March! We have started thinking about planting our garden and the grass is starting to turn green. Scientists are worried about the unseasonably warm temps and early bird migrations, but for me, well I'm loving this weather. And I think we deserve it.

St. Paddy's day! We really didn't need long sleeves this day it was so warm.

Since we moved to ND in 2007 we have had snow up to our knees every year and bitter cold temperatures from October to April and even into May. People kept telling me "Our winters usually aren't this harsh." Yah right! Well this year was one of those years that made me a believer.

Digging out the car at our old apartment. April 11, 2008

Frolicking in the April snow. I think I had a tank top on under my coat in hopes of warmer weather.

We got very little snow this year, and the snow we did get melted soon afterward because temps didn't stay below freezing for very long. A rarity I think. We were able to travel for Christmas this year and Aaron only used the snow blower once to clear the driveway. In fact, we weren't even here for one of the biggest snow storms, we were in Texas.

Running O' the Green, St. Paddy's day 2012 with the Derby Girls. It was a beautiful day and no snow to slip on when going down the big hill.

So we took some time this week to get out and enjoy the warmth of the spring sunshine. Our back yard is awesome for sitting outside and relaxing while the dogs run around and play. Well, Willow plays, Hayduke just kind of lays down or goes off in the corner to poop occasionally.

Love the sunshine!

Fish eye effect

Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of two dogs and a baby?

What's Willow looking at?

Well we hope that everyone else is having a great a spring as we are. Get outside!

What has Miles eaten?

For some reason we have been taking a lot of pictures of the foods we have been feeding Miles. I guess because it is fun to see him experience the new flavors and textures. And he gets pretty messy, which is kind of cute. On the menu, rice cereal, and purees of peas, green beans, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, and broccoli. A friend of ours also gave us one of those mesh feeder things that you can put whole food in and they can suck on it and get the taste of it. We have put tangerines and apples in that and let him experience those flavors. Aaron also gave him a taste of a lemon from his water when we were out to eat one night.

Rice, this was the very first time he ate solids.

He doesn't seem to like the citrus much, he does this little cringe and shakes his head. He really seems to love sweet potatoes and a big surprise was the spinach.

Spinach face! I loved the bright green color of this one.

Toasted English muffin. This is actually a good teething biscuit, they get really hard when you toast them.

Squash, it doesn't show up well in the photo, but trust me it was messy.

We are getting better at feeding him. The mess is a little more contained. But the dogs do get their share when they clean up the chair and tray when Miles is done. Willow is also enjoying getting the teething biscuits that fall on the floor. I love having our dogs around to clean up the food messes. Dogs and babies make a good pairing.

Teething!!!

Wow! This teething thing is hard work. How can one little tooth cause so much trouble? And how long will this go on? Well, Miles is cutting his first tooth. We first noticed it when we were on vacation in Texas. He got a fever and wouldn't sleep. It wasn't fun. He is still having symptoms and is drooling a lot. We have been giving him Advil and Tylenol on occasion to help. We also got these Hyland's teething tablets. They are a homeopathic medicine, I guess they work ok.

There is lots of drool involved in teething. The picture just doesn't capture it.

So we are doing our best to get through this next growing pain. We can feel the tooth when he chews on our fingers, it is like a little razor in there. Ouch! It reminds me of when Willow was a puppy and she would bite us with those sharp little puppy teeth. Teething looks like it is going to be a long bumpy road. I take solice in the thought that he won't remember the torture he is going through. I just hope the memory of the torture Mom and Dad went through fades too.

Smiles do happen during teething

Rolling, rolling, rolling....Rawhide!

Another big moment in baby life. The first week in February Miles started rolling from his back to his tummy. This is a tougher one than from tummy to back. Crawling will follow soon., he is now getting up on his hands and knees but just can't quite get moving yet. We have started baby proofing the house. But where did we put those dang outlet protectors?!

We are also getting new laminate flooring in the living room and hallway. This will be an upgrade from the shag carpet we currently have and will be easier to clean up dog and baby messes. With the new floor we are going to get a railing to go above the stairs. For those of you who have been to our house you know that we pretty much have a pit where the stairs are in the living room. Thus currently there is no way to put up a baby gate to keep the little one from tumbling down the stairs. A major no no in parenting! So the new floor goes in the first week in April and we are hoping that Miles holds off with the crawling until then.

Yay! Now I won't fall down the stairs!

Back from Texas

Sorry for the late update, but we've had a busy week. But, we made it back from our vacation to Texas! Miles was wonderful on the airplane. He settled in great on each flight and we nursed and took a nap. The only real challenge was our layover in Houston on the flight home. He got pretty fussy waiting to get on the plane. But otherwise he enjoyed the ride. I think the movement and the white noise from the engines was the perfect combination for a calm baby. And I think nursing him during take-off helped keep his ears equalized with the pressure change.

Must know where the emergency exits are.

"Infant in arms"

"The Big Tree" and Jen's big hair

Beautiful live oaks dominate the natural areas around Rockport. There is one coveted tree simply named "The Big Tree." We actually stumbled upon it as we were driving around exploring. It was fun to get out and see but the mosquitoes were awful. So we didn't linger long.

Take the picture quick Mom, the mosquitoes are draining our blood.

We also got the chance to go on a whooping crane boat tour. The boat took us to some key whooping crane spotting areas around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. We had to go to Walmart to get Miles an infant life vest because the boat tour didn't provide them. Safety first. I wore him most of the time in the Ergo baby and the engine noise and soft rocking boat motion provided good napping conditions. But he did wake up enough to see some cranes and breath in the salty air.

On the boat portion of our adventure

Whooping cranes!!!

On the birding boat tour with our buddy Dave the duck guy.

We also found some fun touristy stuff to do. There was this statue of Madona and child by the sea that we had to stop and take a photo of. We also did some shopping in downtown Rockport. There is a beach park where we walked along in the sand and dipped our toes in the salt water. The water is very shallow here, you can walk out into the water and it stays about knee deep 30 plus feet from shore. It is a great place to introduce a kid to the beach. Maybe if we come back next year Miles will be big enough to toddle out in the water with Mom.

Mom and Miles by the sea

Taking in the salty sea air

Walking on the beach

On our last day in Texas we drove to San Antonio to meet Sharon a friend of ours from Grad School. We met up at a "Get Outdoors" festival that was at one of the historic Missions in the city "Mission San Louis". We got to meet Sharon's little girl Ryia who is about 2 years old. It was fun watching her run around exploring all the activities they had there for the kids. There were kayaks they could sit in and a big canvas that they could paint. Miles was too little for everything, so he just fell asleep in the carrier. We ended up getting a suggestion for lunch from some locals. La Tuna. It was really good food, Aaron had fish tacos again (we ate a lot of these on our trip), and I had a steak sandwich with guacamole and salsa. Yummy.

So we covered planes, boats and automobiles on this vacation. Lots of firsts for Miles. Now we know that travel really isn't too bad with this little guy. We hope to do more of it. I think a trip to Florida is in our near future. And we have to get down to Denver soon to meet cousin Carter. We are for sure headed to Nebraska in July, Aaron's cousin Matt is getting married. Hope to see everyone soon.