Pink Eye Patrol

I constantly have to remind myself of the benefits of Miles being in a day care center. He's gaining social skills flirting with his girlfriends Olivia and Lilly, his companions in the youngest baby room. There's always someone else at the center to step up and take over if he drives his teacher crazy with crankiness or if she gets sick. But what if he gets sick?! And what if one of those little harlots Olivia or Lilly pass along a mystery illness to him? Well, we got a trial run in that last week - Mr. Miles caught the dreaded pink eye.

Luckily, the stars were aligned to make the pink eye monster as easy to deal with as possible. I first noticed the redness the night before we already had a scheduled well-baby appointment at the doctor, so we were able to quickly nip it in the bud with prescription eye drops. You can imagine how much Miles relishes the fun of one of us holding down all four limbs while the other pries his eyelids open and squirts stuff in it. Were we fortunate though to have two extra sets of hands to help us with this task, because Nana and Papa were in town. It's a good thing we had them lined up to baby sit ahead of time, since Miles wouldn't have been allowed to go back to day care for two days.

Other than the pink eye, the doctor said Miles was a healthy boy, developing right on schedule! He's up to 16 pounds 4 ounces (75th percentile) and is still a lanky dude in the 95th percentile at 26 1/2 inches long. We thought we were smart buying the car seat that went up to 30 pounds, but he may hit the 30 inch limit on it way before that!

The seasoned road warrior team of Miles, my mom, and myself made yet another car trip across the tundra known as I-70 to Ohio. Miles was such a good boy - we only stopped twice on the way there, and I made it all the way to within 45 minutes of home on the way back. Thank goodness we discovered that he loves his rattle and Day-O - it works just about every time he cries!

We made the trip to go to my good friend Becky's baby shower - she's cooking Miles' buddy, little Will! Here's a picture of us with Heidi and her daughter Janelle.



I guess I now have to stop calling Janelle Miles' girlfriend, since he'll have to compete with Will over her. Miles doesn't know that yet though - he still tried to put the moves on her. They held hands for a little while, and Miles even tested out kissing her hand - except he ended up just sticking her whole hand in his mouth. Here are the lovebirds, obsessed with watching Becky open her presents.



The final pic was going to be a Miles and Aunt Ashley moment, but I forgot to transfer that image...next time!!

Roll Over, Beethoven

Big week for Miles! Although we have not seen a repeat performance, Miles rolled over on Tuesday from his front to his back. We got the whole spectacle on the video camera...too bad it's been 4 months and we haven't figured out how to transfer video from the camcorder to the computer yet. I promise - by the time Miles hits age 5, I'll take the time to figure out that new fangled contraption and post the video.

That same day, he also had his first giggle. I was helping Miles do sit-ups, which apparently he found quite hilarious. Maybe it's because he knows that in the 5 minutes he was doing sit-ups, that probably surpassed the number of sit-ups I have done in my lifetime. Rock-hard abs don't quite run in the family. We took this video on our digital camera after about the 20th rep, so he's not quite as into it, but you get the idea.

That night, we woke up to a blood-curdling scream. I rushed in to find that he had rolled over for the first time from his back to his front and couldn't figure out how to get to his back again. What a productive 24 hours!

Last Saturday was Miles' first marching band contest, and he liked watching Dad's band, as you can see here:



We also went to District contest today - Miles brought them good luck, because the Pride of Morristown came in first place and swept every category!

Miles also got to watch lots of football - he loves it! Because the Colts were on a bye week last Sunday, he got to cheer on the good ol' Browns. It's not too often you get to see a Browns win, so Miles was pumped:



And here's a picture I just took...he probably won't make it for the Ohio State game, but he seems really interested in how Kentucky is doing right now. I guess Granny Dona must have been whispering in his ear last time she was here!

No Drama

You know, I'm happy to admit that it's been a somewhat uneventful couple of weeks. No drama...just the Kahls finally getting a chance to do normal family stuff. Jason took last weekend off from marching band - a first in his nine seasons of teaching band - and it was the best weekend. We just hung out - went to the farmer's market, did chores, and we parents even enjoyed an evening away while Grandma babysat.

Miles' latest accomplishments have been 1) the discovery of his feet and 2) making raspberries/buzzing/zerberts...whatever you might call them. Daddy says he's destined to become a trumpet player now by how well he's been buzzing. Miles attends his first marching band competition later today, so he's well on his way to being Daddy's band mascot.

We didn't quite get the best zerbert, but you can see Miles, his feet, and a taste of the conversations he likes to have with us:

Miles is also getting much better at tummy time, although it's still not his favorite.



No rolling completely over yet, but he's woken us up many-a-time in the middle of the night by rolling on his side. This caused the SIDS alarm to sound because he would roll off the pad. Plus, he would get his legs and/or arms stuck in between the slats of the crib. Thank goodness Babies R Us had the "breathable" bumpers in stock and quickly delivered them...we were starting to feel like horrible parents, maiming our child for life if we had no bumpers, but exposing him to SIDS if we did have bumpers. Hooray for mesh!

This week's Miles moment is a Miles/Keno moment:

Screaming MiMi

Somebody call Mr. Belding, because Screech Powers is back in town! Miles' newest "trick" is making this high-pitched squeal when he's happy. It's pretty cute, but my ear drums might explode here any day now. Here's the blog's first video of him doing it, being egged on by Aunt Kari and Uncle Craig.

The biggest event of the past week (or two) was yet another road trip for yet another funeral. I know...I'm starting to sound like a broken record. I guess it comes in threes, so hopefully this is end of road trips for unhappy reasons for a while. My Great Grandma Woodling (Miles' Great-Great Grandma) passed away at the age of 102. I sure hope that I got some of her genes! Although it was a solemn occasion, it was still really great for Miles to meet some of his extended peeps and spend some more time with the Woodlings. Here are Grandpa and Grandma Woodling with their grandchildren (my bro Craig, cousin Lisa, sister Kari, cousin Scott) and their great-grandkids (Cale, Miles, and Emma).



The road trip to Ohio's Great White North with Miles was slightly better than the previous ones had been. We stayed in hotels in the bustling metropoli of Troy, OH and Findlay to break of the trip a bit. Here's Miles hanging out with Aunt KK at the Hampton Inn - apparently, Miles enjoys the Hilton chains a bit better than Holiday Inns. Maybe it's the free cookies.


We figured out that shaking a rattle and singing Harry Belafonte songs does wonders for calming Crabby Miles in the car. We also discovered that Miles does not like Johnny Cash. So, please, don't even think about humming Ring of Fire around him unless you want a cranky baby on your hands.

Miles was also a good boy for Nana and Papa last week. We took another trip to the zoo. He slept most of the way through it but managed to catch a glimpse of the tigers before doing so:



We also took Miles to a free music class. He was a bit small for it, but he really liked watching the other kids. Here we are, playing with sticks. I really hope this doesn't mean he'll be a drummer...I'd like to salvage the aforementioned ear drums I still have left after the screeching phase ends.



As usual, your final Miles Moment:

Takin' Care of Business

So it came. It's here. And it's still coming. Torturing me. The reason why I've been a slacker at posting. Going back to work.

My two weeks of working from home are coming to a close, and next Monday is the dreaded first day back to my dank, dark, dinky cubicle. I'd compare myself to Milton from Office Space, except Miles will be the constant occupier of my workday thoughts instead of a red stapler. I never thought that I could manage to create a metaphor juxtaposing my first born child with a Swingline...guess I'm just that gifted of a writer. ;-)

So here's what has kept me sane - Miles' Nana, and some Papa C too [insert a tear here]. My mom came to watch Miles during the day so I wouldn't have to send him to day care just yet but so I wouldn't be distracted while I was trying to catch up. It was the perfect situation - I could sneak away for brief moments to give him smooches but still be productive.

It turned out to be an even better thing to have Nana around, because Miles' Great-Grandma Bernie sadly passed away. That meant Jason had to go to South Carolina for the funeral, which would have left me alone with Miles for 5 days. Again - Nana to the rescue!! We packed up the car and headed back up to the lake for Labor Day weekend. Typical for any car seat time, the Miles doth protest too much, methinks. We arrived in Port Clinton after midnight, stopping three times to calm Miles' screams at historic landmarks such as the Warm Glow Candle Outlet, the Neil Armstrong museum in Wapakoneta, and the Lima Bob Evans. That was a cakewalk compared to the ride home - counting the overnight at the Bensons's, we made eight (yes, eight) stops. We must have been insane for even considering traveling to South Carolina with this kid.

Anyway, we did manage to have a lovely time, as you can see from these pictures. Here's Papa C and his sidekick at the marina near Damon's in Sandusky:



And catching some rays with Nana at "the whale", watching Uncle Craiggy take Bud Dog for a swim in the lake.



Now, the hard part - Miles first day at "school". Even though he's not going to day care full time until September 15, he had his orientation day yesterday. Here's Miles, ready for his first day:



Wow was that hard. It got easier though as the day went on, and I'm sure that it'll be slightly better still when I drop him off for his first full week again on the 15th. Nana will be around next week again to watch Miles so I don't have the double whammy of being in the office AND leaving him with strangers at day care. We're so lucky that she decided to trade in her rowdy bunch of fourth graders for us!!

Now, your final "Miles Moment":

Hand-some Devil

As most babies do, Miles chewed on his hand from the time he was born, which is one of the newborn's ways to signal hunger. Miles did it involuntarily, not even realizing that he had hands. Daddy's answer to Miles' cries had always been, "Feed him!" I could usually postpone things by responding, "He's not hungry. Look! He's not even chewing his hands yet!"

Well, my little excuse has backfired recently. Miles discovered his hands do indeed exist, and he's now obsessed with watching them, gumming them, and rubbing them together. I have hundreds of dollars of baby toys and gadgets in my house, and all this kid wants is his hands. He must be his father's son...this frugal boy can appreciate that the best things in life are free I guess.

I caught him in a special moment with his new friends The Hands. I thought he kind of looked like some sort of villain from a super hero movie, plotting to take over the world. I could hear the echoes of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons..."Egggggg-cellent."



In other events this week, Miles stayed in his first hotel room. Unfortunately, we had to go to Marion for Mrs. Krouskop's funeral on Friday. Since Miles hates his car seat, we opted to leave around his bed time in the hopes that he'd sleep all the way there...and it worked! The problem happened when we got to the room and he wouldn't sleep in the middle of the night. This could have been because Miles has gotten used to sleeping in his crib and was wasn't too thrilled about the downgrade to his Pack N Play. Or, it could have been that he already has discerning tastes in travel accommodations, and the Holiday Inn in Springfield just didn't live up to his standards. I'm thinking it's the latter.

Jason and I had our first date night out in two months last night - went to the Colts' first game at the new Lucas Oil stadium. I think Miles was a little mad that he didn't get to go with us. He was grumpy for Nana a lot of the night, but she said that he stopped crying as soon as she turned the game on TV. A good little Colts fan already! Here he is, wishing his mean parents would take him to the game with him.

Lazy Boy

Miles has lived a pretty exciting life thus far. Baseball, zoos, lake trips, visitors...so he deserved a week off. It's draining being so cute and entertaining all of the time, ya know?

So, last week it was mama time with Miles while daddy went back to school. We watched the Olympics (sound: off; closed captioning: on), played with toys (the newest: a rattle), and begrudgingly worked on tummy time (minutes not spent screaming: zero). The most exciting parts of the day were when we went to get the mail and the occasional quick outing. Miles really enjoyed watching trash TV in the waiting room at the oil change place, since he doesn't get to watch it at home. I swear I heard him chanting "Jerry, Jerry" during one of his latest monologues.

Speaking of monologues, Miles is becoming quite the Chatty Cathy...or would it be Chatty Charlie for a boy? He's cooing and smiling and just plain making lots of noises lately, which is so much fun!



Miles got to chat a lot this weekend with both his daddy and Grandma Misty, since I was sick with some nasty bug. Daddy took Friday off from school to stay with him, since I was finding it difficult to hold Miles with one hand and puke into a trash can with the other. Sorry - hope you guys weren't eating just now. I'm not exactly known for my delicate delivery. At least I'm not including a photo of that! ;-) Anyhoo, all three of us spent all day Friday in our pajamas, and even Keno was especially lethargic. Usually he jumps up when we go to take a picture - in this one, he could barely be bothered to stick his paw in the frame. Looks like Miles is starting to get annoyed at his dog stealing his thunder too.



I was still under the weather on Saturday when Daddy had rehearsal all day, so Grandma Misty was nice enough to spend her day watching Miles to help me get some more rest. She's been visiting in the evenings during Miles' "Witching Hour", so I was glad that she got to see him in the morning when he was doing something besides screaming or sleeping.

By Sunday, things were back to normal and everyone was all smiles:



Now, it's already another week - the last one of my maternity leave. Ugh - I'm trying not to even think about it, so my poor mommy heart doesn't explode. Luckily, I'll be working from home the next two weeks, and Nana and Papa are coming back to watch Miles. Hopefully that'll make the transition a bit easier - more to come!