Overnight Chunk-cess

Last Saturday. 3:19PM. A momentous occasion...the exact time Miles turned 6 weeks old. I kept hearing that magic number - 6 weeks. "They" said things would be so much better by the time he turned six weeks old. So I waited for him to magically sleep through the night and spend all day long a smiley, contented little bundle of joy.

Instead, Miles decided to go through a growth spurt. He was a like a drunken college kid at frat party - chugging away bottle after bottle. We actually went through every single bottle that we owned. I even busted out the ones I had pushed to the back of the cupboard: the ones that this paranoid first-time mom could neither confirm nor deny had the evil chemical BPA. So, no, nothing magical happened at 3:19 on Saturday, but when we woke up on Sunday, it seemed like Miles had gained about 5 pounds.



So, pudge on a baby is cute, right? Sure, Miles is even cuter now, but he's also going bald! He still has hair on the sides and back, so he either looks like an old man or is growing a mullet...or should I say a skullet? The cute pudge and the new hairdo cause me to refer to him as Baby Winston Churchill sometimes. With the baby acne and cradle cap, he's a sure-fire winner to add to a baby dating site, no? Here could be his profile picture..."loves crawls on the beach, candlelit bottle feedings, and hanging out with his best friend Giraffe."




The good news is that, although he is still a bit grumpy sometimes, the smiles and periods of alertness are coming more often now. I discovered a magic invention called a Mei Tai carrier which is kinda like a cross between a sling and a Baby Bjorn. Most of the time, Mr. Cranky Pants will disappear when I put him in it. Either he loves checking out the world or he'll fall asleep in it. Even though it gives me a sore back sometimes, I can actually get some housework done!



And here is the picture that makes all of this hard parenting work worthwhile...

Smiley Grumpertons

On the Fourth of July, I got a voice mail from my mom saying that she and my sister and crew were waiting in line for the Ocean Motion at Cedar Point. I must admit that, even though the Ocean Motion scarred me for life, I felt a twinge of jealousy wishing I could partake in some coaster action at America's Roller Coast. Well, Miles has helped to give us new parents some different ups and downs since we missed out on the pee-your-pants delight of the Millennium Force for yet another year.

Click...click...click...the first "up" is that Miles is actually beginning to sleep at night! I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I think that whole not-wanting-to-sleep-in-his-bed thing was a phase. We started to get 3, 4, and 5 hour chunks of sleep last week. Last night was the pinnacle - almost 7 hours!



Now comes the drop...Miles has been super grumpy lately. He must take after my side of the family because he does NOT like waking up at all. There's definitely no Peer Gynt playing or little birdies tweeting in the background when this sleeping prince awakens! Maybe some death metal and buzz saws would be better theme music for his waking scenes.

Now the good news again - we have seen real, actual smiles!! I started seeing hints of them this weekend, but Jason didn't believe me. Then, during the three minutes of calm amidst a crying bender on Monday, Jason and I both saw some smiles! Of course, being camera shy as he is, this is the best picture I could muster...blurry and on the camera phone...but awake and smiling!



We had some more outings this weekend - church, Wally World, and a baby party/cookout for Alicia & Suellen and Krysten & Adam. Although I hadn't seen many of the people there in awhile, we didn't need to do much catching up at the party. Most of the people there read this blog and have blogs of their own (hi guys!) so it kind of abridged many of the conversations. It was a good thing because Miles decided to go all grumpus on us about an hour in, which convinced us to leave pretty early. I consider all that screaming a public service to the parents-to-be as a sign of things to come!

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. Not only did the batteries die on our camera, but Jason started summer rehearsals this week, which leaves me alone with Miles most of the day. The batteries are replaced now, and I'm slowly getting the hang of going one-on-one with the boy, so I promise next week will be better! Here's one more blurry half-smile for the road...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Another week has flown by and Miles is now a month old!! After his one-month check-up, we now know that Miles gained two pounds and two inches - he's 9 pounds 3 ounces (50th percentile) and 22 1/2 inches long (75th percentile).

Miles celebrated his first Fourth of July by wearing this shirt from Jen. We were super-ambitious and caught three different fireworks displays - on TV! We thought about driving someplace to watch the Indy fireworks from the car, but the shows in Boston, D.C., and New York might have just been slightly more interesting. After all, we would have missed mediocre performances from several former American Idol contestants and over-the-hill has-beens if we had chosen to go to the Indy fireworks!



We also attempted to put on a pair of new pants we bought for Miles. Guess he has a bit of growing still to do - either that, or he's aspiring to be Steve Urkel or Ed Grimley. Can't you hear him saying, "Did I do that?!?"



On Saturday, we took Miles to his first church service. Unfortunately, we didn't think about the fact that our church's Saturday evening service is really quiet with not many kids. Luckily, Miles' 2-month-old friend Jack was also there, which meant Miles wasn't the only one making funny baby noises. Jason spent a lot of time quieting Miles in the narthex, but Miles did manage to make it through the entire sermon! Here's a pic of him in his (again, too big) church clothes, worn out from the excitement of old ladies oohing and ah-ing over him.



Miles celebrated his one-month birthday on Monday by going to the Indianapolis Indians baseball game. He was a very good boy! Contrary to my worst first-time mom fears, a foul ball did not come and land right in his car seat. ;-) Miles was awake most of the time and only fell asleep towards the very end...admit it - don't we all want to take a nap after about a few innings of baseball anyway? We were convinced we would not be able to stay long, but we managed to stay until the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately, we left too soon. We missed when the Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Columbus Clippers 3-2.

Pullin' An All-Nighter

Yep, we finally had a night where at least one of us was up all night long. Remember when I was complaining in previous posts about Miles waking up every hour to eat? Those were the good old days. Mr. Miles now has decided that he only wants to sleep if someone is holding him. Considering we're not one of those hippy couples that puts our kid to sleep in bed with us, that leaves limited options. So, Jason went to bed last night while I stayed up with Miles until about midnight. Then, except for a few feedings, Jason was up with Miles from midnight until 5AM. I then pulled the 5AM to 9AM shift before Nana D woke up and let both of us finally sleep. It's gonna be a long couple of weeks, especially now that Nana has gone back home again. :-(


In other news, we had more visits from Nana, Papa, Aunt Kari, and Uncle Davy. Miles had a big day out on Saturday and was a good boy in Kohl's and Target with the exception of one major poop explosion. You should have seen me, Nana, and Aunt KK triple-teaming the poopster in the back of my car! We even went out to eat for the first time. He was generally pretty good, but it definitely helps to choose a loud restaurant where his screams aren't quite as noticeable.



Miles had a few more firsts this week. He got his first bottle on Sunday in preparation for his alone time with Nana on Monday. Our seventh wedding anniversary was Monday, June 30th. Both of us actually totally forgot about it until my mom volunteered to come stay to babysit that day if we wanted to go out. Our first outing without Miles was actually a romantic sojourn to the dentist's office, and WOW was it just as bad as it sounds. We spent an hour in the waiting room before seeing this new guy. I use the word "new" lightly...we calculated he really is 77 years old or so. The dentist actually had bad breath - not exactly the best role model. The day did improve though - we had a delicious meal on the rooftop at Dunaway's with a nice view of downtown Indy and the weather was great.


The notorious umbilical cord stump finally fell off this week too, so Miles had his first "real" bath in the baby bath tub. He screamed just as loud as he did for the sponge baths, so we'll probably be experimenting with the best way to do this more.


I'm realizing that "Booty" was a whole lot more clever in his posts than I am. I guess sense of humor is the first thing to go when you're getting no sleep. Here's one more pic, minus the snarky comment for now. I'm still on the elusive hunt for a smile, but this half-smirk will have to do for now.

Miles Goes Out on the Town

Miles is so smart already that he can already tell you how old he is...2 weeks old! We're actually at the end of his second week - tomorrow he will be three weeks old and is changing so quickly every day.


The trend continues - everybody wants to see Miles! We've had lots of visitors to prove it. Miles' Great-Grandma Bernie and Great-Grandpa Jeff traveled all the way from Myrtle Beach last weekend to spend some time with him. Miles attended his first cookout at his Great Uncle Sheldon and Great Aunt Kim's house and was generally pretty good. Uncle Shelly has white carpet throughout his entire house, so we were a bit concerned Miles would leave a special permanent "surprise" for them to remember him by. Thankfully he kept his messes to a minimum!


Aunt Ashley also came from Kentucky to stay for a few days. She initially helped to change Miles' diapers but got a bit put off once he peed all over the place. She thought it was pretty funny (yet gross) when he managed to spray himself in the face a couple of times. She also helped give him a bath and giggled again when Miles peed on the bathroom mirror. Here she is with him in a drier locale, helping him with his tummy time.


Jason and I also took Miles out twice on a couple of his first shopping trips - once to Babies R Us and again to Meijer. We definitely looked like struggling new parents in the BRU parking lot trying to put the carrier into the stroller for the first time. We finally figured it out and didn't hear a peep from Miles the entire time. He didn't even complain when I was pushing the stroller around for a good 10 minutes with the parking brake on. D'oh!

Finally, here are just couple more pictures. I've taken about a thousand already, trying to get Miles while "smiling". Even though they're just accidental or gas smiles or whatever, it's too cute when they appear for a split second. They've alluded the camera thus far, but I'm sure the real ones will be appearing soon.

An Eye-Opening Week

Another week has almost gone by, and Miles is now opening his eyes more. Sadly, we parents have also had our eyes open a lot...in the middle of the night! Miles' first night home was easy - a three hour stretch of sleep and a couple of two hours. Since then, we count those two-hour periods as blessings. He must be going through a growth spurt because sometimes he wants to eat every hour!

Here's Miles...saying Hello.



We had some visitors this weekend who got to meet Miles for the first time - Grandpa and Granny Kahl and Aunt Ashley.




Miles had his first trip to the park on Monday. No - his feet aren't really this big, but I thought it was a funny shot since everyone keeps commenting on his large appendages (get your mind out of the gutter).


This week was also my 30th birthday. No wild parties - I even had to hold off on my birthday Guinness wish because of the marvelous drugs I'm taking. The big excitement was getting out with my mama to get a pedicure. We were only gone from Miles for less than 2 hours, but it sure seemed a lot longer than that! Jason made me breakfast in bed and a nice cake. He also made sure Miles was wearing this onesie (although a bit too big) for the occasion. Miles wore it for approximately 2 hours before puking on it.

Miles' First Firsts

Greetings from the new mom! That last post was actually written by the new dad - sorry to burst the bubble for those of you that thought that I could actually have my wits about me after birth to post pictures of Miles.

Without further ado, highlights from Miles' first week:

The last few minutes in the hospital - Miles hates getting into his car seat, but he turns into a completely mellow dude once he's strapped in.



Finally home! Miles didn't make a peep the entire car ride home...even when we were stuck in evening rush hour traffic!


The first time Miles met his dog Keno after Grandma Misty brought him back from his doggie vacation at her house. Keno has been so good with Miles - he acts very concerned whenever Miles cries and is very gentle. Nana has also been soaking up all the Miles time she can get. Miles can sleep for hours at a time if Nana is holding him. Makes me wonder if we should return the swing, bouncer, and all the other fancy calming contraptions and just keep Nana here 24/7 for that job.


Miles also got his first bath yesterday, which he didn't like too much. What he did like was hanging out in his new bath robe, Hugh Hefner style.



And finally, a family picture...Daddy, Baby, Doggie.