What's Miles doing now?

Well, Miles is pulling himself up on everything and crawling like a champ.

He loves this standing play toy and he is shaking his head like "no" but I don't think he knows exactly what it means yet. It kind of looks like he is dancing to the music too.

He has discovered how to climb the stairs. Aaron and I were watching a movie down stairs last week. I saw Miles crawl over to the stairs but didn't think much of it. Then I look over a few minutes later and he is gone. I ran to the stairs and he was 3 steps up!
Oh my goodness! Well, now the baby gate is up on the bottom steps so we don't have any accidents.

Fun times in the Sunshine State

Miles and I had a great time in Florida. The plane rides there and back went smoothly. Miles slept a good portion of the trip, and when he was up he was a happy baby. I think we have this travel thing down. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and Grandpa picked us up from the air port. Early the next day we traveled from Boynton Beach to Mico Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa Kross's retirement home and to meet Uncle Rich, Aunt Gina and cousins Arianna and Will. We also met Great Uncle Bob and Great Aunt Sue.

No Uncle Rich!!! The baby can't ride in the bed of the truck!!!

With the cousins on the bench by the lake. Grandma and Grandpa's house is the yellow one in the background

My beautiful family

With Grandma

No Grandma! Miles can't drive the camper!!

We got back to Boynton and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. We took Miles to Grandma's work to show all the ladies she works with the baby she has been talking about for 9 months. We also visited some of Mommy's friends. Vicki had a get together and we got the next generation of the gang together.

With Vicki

Kelly loves babies.

Dave and Beau. Miles and Beau had fun sharing passifiers.

 Then we went to see Nicole and Natalie and their next generation. We had so much fun with those crazy Stefano kids that Miles slept the whole night that night. James even shared his favorite toy with Miles. Thanks James for helping me get a good night's sleep.

Miles loved Mommy Coey

Savannah is a natural with babies.

Nanny singing songs to Miles

What a fun looking group

Miles got to meet Grandma and Grandpa's dog Maggie. He loved her. He played ball with her for hours.

We had a great time, but we really missed Daddy. Hopefully he can come with us next time we go to Florida. The next trip will be a road trip in July to go to Cousin Matt's wedding. We will get to meet cousin Carter then. We can't wait.

Florida trip preview

I'll post more about our trip to Florida when we get back home. But here is a preview. We visited Grandma and Grandpa's retirement home in Mico, Florida and met Uncle Rich and Aunt Gina and Miles' cousins Arianna and William.

On the bench by the lake with Cousins and Grandparents

We also met some of Mommy's friends.

Vicki

I've joined the Mommy club with Natalie and Nicole and their clan

See everyone back in North Dakota soon.

Easter and a Florida vacation

We are welcoming spring to North Dakota. We have started making preparations to our garden and Aaron has already needed to mow the yard. I know that doesn't sound that crazy, but this time last year we were still buried in snow. One of the most exciting things is our raspberry bushes have started to sprout. I can't wait to make raspberry jam and special treats for Miles this summer.

Well, our Grandmas all sent us "My first Easter" packages. Nanna Linda sent us a new outfit and a fuzzy toy. Grammie Julie sent us an Easter bib and some candy for me and Aaron. And Grandma Kross sent us some money that we used to buy a new Grover toy and an outfit. Miles (and Aaron and I) is so grateful for all these gifts and that he has such loving family to think of him at Easter time. This is a year of firsts for him and we are celebrating each one.

Up up and away!

On Friday Miles and I are leaving for Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kross. Miles is also going to get to meet his Uncle Rich and Aunt Gina and his cousins Ari and Will for the first time. We have Skyped with them but that doesn't make up for a real life meeting. Miles is also going to get to meet Great Uncle Bob and Great Aunt Sue for the first time too. We are excited! We are also going to visit with a bunch of my Florida friends. I can't wait to introduce Miles to everyone.

The trip to Florida means another plane ride. I have a feeling this time will be a little different than our first trip when we went to Texas. Miles is mobile now, he wants to crawl and he is pulling himself up on things, so it is probably going to be harder for him to sit still during the long plane ride. We also have the extra challenge of having to drive to Fargo (1.5 hours from Jamestown) for a flight that leaves at 7am. Ahhhhh!!! Why did I sign myself up for this? Well, if I learned anything from the first trip, it is if you expect the worst and you get a cooperative baby, then you are really relieved when it is all over. Can't wait to see everyone in Florida!

In case you're interested, here are our recent home improvements. 

Painting the living room

Our new floor and room color

The awesome railing

On the move!

Well, I think it is official. Miles is crawling. We are just in time too. We have our new floor installed in the living room and we finished repainting on Saturday. So we are ready for a mobile baby.

His first discovery...the dog water.

Another Growth Spurt

A month ago we had our "well baby checkup" and Miles got another round of vaccinations. Our Doctor was concerned that Miles was in the 1% for his weight. We have had concerns about this in previous visits, but really I'm still not too worried. We discussed this at my La Leche League meeting this week and the ladies agree that breast fed babies grow differently than those charts reflect. Our LLL leader said that breast fed babies grow in spurts rather than a steady curve and most of the weight guidelines are based on formula fed babies. And besides, my friend Stacey said, "some one has to be in the one percent." That's right! And I guess that is Miles.

Fun with Dad outside

Well, this week we went back to the Doctor to have him take another naked weight. And Miles has gained a pound and a half in a month! He now weighs 15lbs. 7oz.! So I think he was just saving up for this next growth spurt. We have also been chowing down on the solids. Our daycare provider is feeding him rice cereal and all the pureed veggies he can eat. We have also been feeding him lots of homemade purees at home. He can't seem to get enough. Broccoli, spinach, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, ground rice, apple+pear, all zapped with our stick blender. We have these cube containers that we freeze his food in single serving portions. Well, he has been eating 2 or 3 of these cubes a night. Seems like a lot for a little guy, but if that is what he needs, then we'll feed it to him. We are still nursing, and just as much it seems.

Baby on the prairie. This is on Grandpa Sam's property in Fessenden. Dad is way off in the background.

Now about the other end! I have realized talking to other moms that poop is a common subject and not really shunned when discussed while eating or drinking coffee. How life changes. Miles' BMs have changed. They are much stinkier and more solid, but they look exactly like the food that goes in him. It is weird! It seems like his system isn't digesting the food fully. But, I'm sure he is still getting all the nutrients he needs from my breast milk. And I've heard this saying "food before one is just for fun" and we are certainly having fun with our food.

Happy baby can fly!

Crawling soon?

Every day Miles gets closer and closer to being mobile, which is a little frightening because I have a feeling that once he gets going there will be no stopping him. He has held off until we got our new floor so now we have a railing for the stairs and I feel a lot better now that we can put up a baby gate.

He is getting up on all fours and rocking now. He almost has the bear crawl thing going too. He props himself up on his hands then pushes his bum up in the air with his feet. All his grunting and yelling shows he is putting in a lot of effort. It looks like he will figure it out any day now. He can get around, he scoots and gets from one end of the room to the other. But it isn't a legit crawl yet. He'll get there soon I'm sure.