WE SAW SANTA!!!

This is Miles' first Christmas and we couldn't let it pass without seeing Santa for the very first time. He was a good baby for Santa. We were a little worried because he was getting fussy while we were waiting in line. But he ended up loving Santa. Merry Christmas everyone. 

Miles with Santa! I know him!

The story behind the Christmas Card

I love sending out Christmas cards. There is something about stuffing the envelopes and sticking on the stamps that really gets me into the Christmas spirit. In the past we have had photos of Aaron and I and our dogs, Hayduke and Rissa (who has passed on), and most recently Willow, our spunky Brittney puppy. Well this year we skipped the photo with the dogs and went with the newest addition to our family...baby Miles. As I mailed the last of our Christmas cards to our family and friends, I realized that some explanation about the photo may have been needed that I didn't include in the letter.

Our Billboard right by the Dairy Queen

You see, we are somewhat of celebrities in our little town. Miles was the last baby born at the old hospital in Jamestown. I'll post the birth story at a later date, because it was quite an experience. They moved us over to the new hospital the following day and we were the first family in the new birth center. So because of this momentous event the hospital's marketing team wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to publicize the new Family Birth Center. They took tons of pictures. It was a good thing that I had some makeup with me and a fun custom hospital gown I got on Etsy. Reporters from the Jamestown Sun came by to interview us and the hospital took a video of the interview. We were on the front page of the newspaper with a feature article along with another Mom who had the first baby in the new hospital. Aaron did get recognized by a stranger in Hugo's after the article ran.

Anyway...a couple of weeks after we got home Aaron and I got an email from the Marketing Manager at the hospital saying that they were going to use our photo in some advertisements including newspaper ads and on a billboard! I had to blush and smile widely. I've never been on a billboard before, how many people have? So once it went up we knew we had to get our picture taken in front of it. The picture was taken in August, so we are in shorts and short sleeves. See...it does get warm in North Dakota.

The billboard was right by the Dairy Queen in town and everyone who went through the drive-through saw our (well Aaron's mostly) smiling faces. The billboard was up for about a month. We got lots of messages and comments from our friends. It was pretty fun for me, I must say. I'm not sure Aaron enjoyed the celebrity as much as I did.

Thanks to our friend Lori for being the photographer for our photo shoot.

All fun things must come to an end. Our billboard was removed to make room for an ad for the Hairball show that came to town. It was fun while it lasted and we knew that we needed to share the photo with all our family and friends on our Christmas card. We hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and enjoy the card.

Missing Miles

This week (Dec. 19-21) I am on a business trip to the DU headquarters in Memphis. Although I love visiting Memphis, I am missing Miles terribly. This is the first time I have been away from him so long...3days. When I left ND I felt like I was forgetting something. Miles comes with me/us pretty much everywhere we go these days. I do have a bunch of pictures with me that I keep looking at...I just can't help it. They are of Miles at various age stages and looking at them is helping me with my milk letdown. I am pumping while I'm away to make sure I protect my breast milk supply.

He looks so sweet here.

Go Gators!

Go Bulldogs!?!?

The wingspan

This is his "milk drunk" face, we just finished nursing.

The favorite puppy dog hat

Aaron is on Dad duty this week. He has Miles all to himself for 3 days. He is doing great so far. I am anxious to hear how the nights go. Miles has been waking up at 1am and 4am lately and I am the one who gets up with him to nurse and then get him back to sleep.

Sleeping like a baby...what exactly does that mean?

Well, as parents Aaron and I are learning that you really can't rely on anything staying the same with a baby. Last week we had a good string of days where Miles was sleeping through the night from 9:30pm to about 6:00-7:00 am. Last Saturday he even let us sleep in until 8:00! Well that streak was broken on Sunday (Dec. 11) with him waking up at his typical 3:00am for a feeding. Monday night was more of the same and Tuesday night he was fussy going to sleep and was hard to put down. Finally he went to sleep at 10:30pm, but then woke up at 1:00am, then again at 3:00am.

Sleeping baby, Miles about a month old here

Thankfully our friend Stacey and her little girl C. let us borrow their swing. It is a Graco, it has 6 speeds, plays music AND has white noise sounds. It ROCKS!! Our original swing (Fisher Price) that I got at a yard sale for $10 quit working, well...it still works, Miles just got too big for it. I think the most that this swing supports is 12 pounds. Stacey told me that the Graco swing will support up to 25 pounds, so we are set for another couple of months.

Miles with his foot in his mouth...:)

Well, these days he is doing something really funny. He has discovered his feet and wants to put them in his mouth any chance he gets. It is quite funny, but a little frustrating when I try and change his diaper. But really...how can I get frustrated with this little guy when he makes me giggle so much.

Angry Bird Party

Two weekends ago Miles attended his first birthday party for his buddy Mur-Man who turned two. The party was everything Angry Birds! For those of you who don't know what Angry Birds are...well it is a game that Mur-Man is obsessed with. He plays it all the time on his Dad's iPad. Just Google it and you'll figure it out. Our WOM-MOMs did it again and threw a wonderful party. My friend Lori made an Angry Bird shirt for Mur-Man and I didn't want Miles to be left out of the fun. I made an Angry Bird onsie for him too. Check out the photos from the party with all the fun food and decorations on the WOM-MOM blog.

Miles the white Angry Bird

Just keeps growing

4 months and almost 14 pounds

Miles has hit the 4 month mark and he is continually showing us new things he can do. He has moved up to the #2 size diapers and we have adjusted the snaps up one notch on his cloth diapers. One behavior that is a big deal for babies is rolling over from his tummy to his back. Miles has started doing that. Tummy time is paying off. He is also holding his head up high when he is on his tummy. He seems to like it a little more than when he was younger.

Another milestone is sitting up on his own. He isn't quite able to do that yet without our support, but we are expecting it any day now. Miles can grab on to our fingers and pull himself up to a sitting and standing position. Big stuff for our little guy, we love watching him grow. He had the hick-ups when I filmed this, so he wasn't in the best mood. He HATES the hick-ups.

Thanksgiving

Well the holidays have started and baby Miles had his first Thanksgiving. We were so happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Kross come up to North Dakota to celebrate with us. Grandpa Kross hadn't met Miles yet, so we were extra ecstatic to have him hear with us.

Grandma and Grandpa in the snow, as little of it as there was.
This was just before Dad started throwing snowballs at Mom

The Grandparents got here on Saturday before Thanksgiving and we had a whole week to spend with them. They got a nice little shock...I mean introduction to North Dakota November when they landed because it was in the teens. Growing up in New Jersey I would think my parents would be able to remember what cold was like. Not so much, but they were troopers and it warmed up later in the week. We went out to Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge and saw the new visitors center. We also had a fun treat when we got to the refuge we saw a bald eagle feeding on a dead deer.

Miles is just waking up here, Grandma looks wide awake though

We also went out to a friend's property to do some shooting. Grandpa wanted to practice with a gun and scope of his. Aaron took Willow for a walk about to hunt. Well, Grandpa and I shot for a bit, then he got too cold. Granted it was a pretty cold and windy morning, and the wind in ND can be brutal. Grandma stayed in the truck with Miles and kept warm.

Grandpa Kross and Miles reading the paper

So Thanksgiving came and we all had our responsibilities. Aaron was in charge of the turkey, I covered the green beans, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie (I was also supposed to cover the cranberry sauce but Aaron ended up making that too). Grandma had the stuffing, creamed onions, and gravy while Grandpa made his famous butter and cream laden mashed potatoes.

No Dad! That's the baby not the turkey! Don't carve him!

Whew! That was a close one, good thing Mom was here to keep Dad from serving me up for dinner.

The kitchen was a well oiled machine. The turkey went in the oven first. As the day went on everything came together. When one dish was finished someone picked up washing the dishes. Then of course Miles demanded to be fed and we had to hold off eating for about half an hour.

Everyone at the Thanksgiving table, baby in the sling

Grandpa and Miles waiting for the mashed potatoes

Pass the gravy Grandma

On Friday after Thanksgiving was the Jamestown Holiday Dazzle Parade. Aaron and I have made it somewhat of a tradition to go to the parade and sit with our friends Karla and Scott. Well, I thought it would be fun to take the whole family to sit out in the cold for an hour and watch the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start, Grandma in the bomber hat I let her borrow.

Grandpa originally planned on going to the Grill (a local restaurant just down the street from where we were) to sit by the fire and stay warm. But he decided to join the family out in the cold and we are glad he did. This week was all about family and if we were going to be cold, at least we were going to be cold together.

The whole family in the cold.

Well, Grandma and Grandpa got to see the full range of Miles' moods. We had smiles and crying and up in the middle of the night and the rare sleep through the night night.We were sad to see them leave and we love them and can't wait to see them again. I really enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday with "my beautiful family".