I Heart Miles

Miles had a couple firsts these past few weeks...yeah, I know it's been a while. Sue me.

The first "first" - a half-night without us - was not so romantic for the parents as it sounds. I had a fantastic bout of food poisoning, no thanks to Nana's week-old lasagna leftovers. Thank goodness Grammy's dog heard her phone ringing at 2am and she was able to come over to watch Miles while we went to the ER. I ended up staying in the hospital for a day and a half, thanks to a super-fast heart rate that just wouldn't slow down. I'm all recovered now though - back to normal life, normal food, and a few pounds thinner.

I had never been away from Miles that long before, and I was so happy to see him when we picked him up from day care the day I got out. Within two minutes, I noticed the most exciting first - his first tooth!! No pictures yet...this is one sneaky tooth. Daddy didn't even see if for a few days because, whenever you try to pull down his lip to see it, the little bugger sticks his tongue out. Here's just a cute non-tooth picture of Miles and his dad playing some tunes instead:



Of course, it was also Miles' first Valentine's Day. He got all kinds of cards and a new toy, considering we don't want to rot the one tooth he has with candy yet! We went with Nana and Papa to watch Daddy's pep band in Morristown that afternoon, and Miles thought it was pretty cool watching Daddy wave his arms around like a crazy person. He was very good for the grandparents that evening when we got out for dinner in an actual restaurant with no kids in it.



Yep, the above was a cute picture, but it took several shots to get there. Miles tends to not take the best pictures - I think he's way cuter in person that even his best snapshots. In this one, you can kind of see his annoyance...like, "C'mon already. What is with you people and that FN camera?"



This one, however, was a one-shot deal. Miles is such a big boy and can stand by himself, as long as the coffee table and Keno are there to help him up.

This White Stuff

There's nothin' like the Winter Wonderland of Central Indiana. As much as we loathed the idea of getting out in the snow, Mother Nature made it a bit easier on us on Sunday, with high temps in the 40s. Because we had a foot of snow last week, that meant there was plenty still left on the ground for frolicking after the temporary thaw. We figured this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce Miles to the snow - still relatively warm outside but lots of good white stuff on the ground. At first, Miles thought it was kind of funny when I loaded on the first layer...
Then came the next layer, with Miles beginning to suspect something was afoot.


The weird white stuff was tolerable initially...


Then Miles started to get antsy...



And the attempt at a snow angel was just too much for the little guy to handle:


So, maybe Miles is destined to live down south some place, since he's not a big fan of the snow. We'll stop torturing him with the outdoors at least until spring. In the meantime, we can still provide parental torture by dressing him up in cutesy outfits:

P.S. Happy Birthday, Papa!

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me

I'm concerned we have a bit of an egomaniac on our hands. Miles loves staring at his own picture!



In fact, I showed him the above picture when I was uploading it, and he giggled and stared even more! As he was staring at the picture of himself staring at the picture, I asked him, "Do you see Baby Miles?" He then proceeded to look up at the original picture hanging on the wall and go gaga over it for a while.

In other news, Miles experienced his first historic event - President Obama's inauguration day. He missed the swearing-in ceremony but made it home in time from day care to catch the parade:



He's also been practicing him drumming - loves pounding on the table nowadays. Yesterday, he entertained himself for a full 15 minutes by just pounding on the Sham-Wow box. Yes, I said Sham-Wow. I think Nana is probably in Port Clinton right now, wearing her Snuggie and cleaning with her Sham-Wow after using her Smooth Away.

Here's a sample of his fantastic percussion abilities. Please excuse my rendition of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida...embarrassing, but we have to expose Miles to the classics early on!

Finally, here's a cute pic of Miles tolerating tummy time. He's still not a huge fun, but he's getting much better about reaching for toys to the side of him. I'm not convinced he won't skip the crawling stage just yet, but there's hope.

Giggles

We had a fun time with Aunt KK, Uncle Davy, and Kolb Baby this weekend in Lexington! Chillin' out was the theme of the weekend, and it was marvelous! What's better than ribs, beer on tap, and football on a Sunday afternoon? I let Miles cheer for the Steelers yesterday since they were playing the Ravens whom I hate, hate, hate. Oh yeah, and the lord and lady of the household could have tossed us out into the cold Kentucky snow if we knocked their team.

The camera was in the car most of the time, so we unfortunately only got one picture. Because we were in Kentucky, we thought it was important for Miles to blend in with the locals and wear no shoes:



To make up for the lack of pictures, here's a dark but fun video from tonight:

Time Flies When You're Sicky Sick

Sorry it's been a while since we last posted. It's starting to become a theme around here, but we've all been sick. Miles just loves bringing home germs from day care! I'm actually home sick from work now, so I've finally updating this in between naps.

The good news is that at least Miles is on the mend, if you don't count his random rashes from food allergies. Big surprise - my kid is allergic to random crap. So far, it seems to be crap that grows in the ground - carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. I'm not worried though - Miles' Uncle Craig seemed to have survived on cereal alone for the first 25 years of his life, so I'm thinking Miles can do the same.

I took Miles to the doctor for his second dose of flu shot on Tuesday - he was such a brave boy and only whimpered for a few seconds! Guess when you're used to getting 4 shots at a time, one little prick is nothin'. The big news is that Miles is 20 pounds, 4 ounces now! He gained two pounds in a month! Apparently his unvaried diet isn't stopping him on his way to porkerhood.

So, here's a quick recap of what we've been doing for past few weeks when we weren't sick:

The Colts lost in the playoffs. Miles cried and cried and cried. Oops, I meant Daddy cried and cried and cried.



We celebrated the New Year with grand flourish. We had a family dinner at Applebee's, then Jason and I spent New Year's Eve playing one crazy game of Scrabble after Miles went to bed. New Year's Day itself was spent at Big Lots and Wal-Mart. Somebody reign us in - we can only live this party lifestyle for so long before someone gets hurt!



Miles attended his first Butler basketball game. He could not stop staring - it was a bit faster-paced than Aunt Ashley's 11-year old girls' basketball game. The bulldog mascot scared him a little - not really a big fan. He'll learn!



Miles practiced his standing. Look at what a big boy he is!


So that's the excitement that is our life. We can't wait to make a road trip this weekend to see the Kolb family in Lexington!

The First Noel

I did the math. Yes, I had to count on my fingers, and, yes, it took three hands. Jason and I celebrated our our 13th Christmas together this year. In our long and storied past, our Christmas traditions always involved traveling...making the "tri-state tour" to Ohio, Kentucky, and back home again. Some years we even made the "quad-state tour" to Chicago for Jason's annual music director convention. Our traditions used to involve driving through blizzards. Playing Car-Packing Tetris to make sure our clothes and gifts made it to all of their respective destinations. Listening to the same episode of Car Talk three times. Eating Christmas day lunches at Waffle Houses and gas stations. But this year was different - we didn't leave the house for three days. Oh yeah, and a certain little baby boy changed everything.

We started new traditions. Christmas Eve church was the 5:00 Kids' Service this year instead of Midnight Mass. Miles got all gussied up for the occasion - the tie only lasted for an hour, so the only picture we got was on my phone.



We each opened one gift that night. Miles was just as excited about eating the wrapping paper as he was about eating the Harry Belafonte CD we got him. Then, we put out cookies and milk for Santa.

We woke up before dark on Christmas morning. Jason thinks Miles was just hungry, but I'm pretty sure Miles knew Santa had come. We sat him in front of the tree, and he surveyed his booty (like that flashback?).



We opened up gifts together. Miles particularly enjoyed the taste of Santa's wrapping paper selection. Penguins in Santa hats are a particularly delectible choice of fowl for Christmas day.



Finally, we opened stockings. Miles enjoyed the books, socks, and binkies but wasn't a big fan of the sunglasses.



Later that day, Grandpa and Grandma came to visit and brought with them a mountain of gifts. Good thing Miles didn't know any better, because they totally showed up Santa!



They also provided Miles' very own Santa suit, complete with black boots. Miles already had the rosy cheeks and bowl-full-of-jelly belly to add to the ensemble. The only thing missing was a tiny white beard...nah, that would have just been an extra step towards creepy, right?



Miles had his third Christmas on Friday when Grandpa, Granny, and Aunt Ashley came to visit. He loved his new activity table and immediately gravitated towards the piano part of it. Think we have a budding prodigy on our hands?



All in all, it was a great holiday season. Can't wait to ring in 2009 with our boy!

Oh, and this isn't Christmas related, but it's a cute video. Daddy thinks Miles is saying his first word...basketball. Enjoy!

Kahlwoodsonolbchard Family Christmas (and Santa)

Miles celebrated the first of many Christmas gatherings on Saturday with my family - Nana, Papa, Great Uncle Dean, Uncle Craig, Uncle Vince & Jen, and Aunt KK & Uncle Davy.

It's been a long time since we've had little kids around at Christmas, so Miles was the entertainment for all:



After the mountain of presents we gathered, Miles is going to think that Santa gypped him on Christmas morning!



He was super-happy that he had some overnight guests and was even happy to share his bedroom with Uncle Craigy. Poor Uncle Bub...being the youngest of the family, he still gets stuck with the air mattress, but at least this time he graduated to a room with a door! Miles really had fun snuggling with Nana and Uncle Craig the next morning:



Today, we went to go see Santa at the mall. Being the son of cheapskates, Miles was originally going to visit with Santa at my work...the free option. However, Miles was sick that evening, so we broke down and shelled out the dollars for the mall Santa. Luckily, there was no line, literally. We showed up at about 10:30 and Santa was just chilling out with the photographer. Apparently, people on the East Side (Yo!) don't get up until noon. Santa must not be a morning person either, because we wasn't particularly chatty. I don't know if he's used to scaring little babies or what, poor guy. Miles did start to freak out a bit at the beginning, but I think it was less about being afraid of Santa and more about the sales lady, the photographer, and Mrs. Claus all yelling at him at once. Once again, the Hokey Pokey did the trick, and we were able to get Miles to flash that grin.



The final Miles moment, this time on the vintage rocking chair fixed up by Great Uncle Dean: