A Day in the Life - 6 Months

As we're rounding the half year mark with this little booger, Becky made a good suggestion to document a normal day. These normalcies soon won't be ones that fill our days, and it's a good way to remember the small things. So, get ready for a photo filled, video filled and cuteness filled blog!

** Side Note - some of these photos are from a couple days ago. But they were too cute not to share.

We are currently sleep training (blog about Ferber soon to come) so our mornings are a little off. But, usually Miles wakes up around 8am. We let him talk and play in his crib before going to get him. What's one of the best things ever? The HUGE smile you get from your baby as you peer over the crib in the morning. :)

Stephen saying good morning  :)

After he's up and changed, we typically bring Miles into the bedroom to snuggle. He likes to look at our fan and play with our faces. 

Sorry for the fuzzy - it was dark!

At this point, Stephen heads to work and me and Miles get up for the day. He plays for a bit before his morning bottle. 

I love how he holds my thumb and fingers when I hold the bottle for him

After his chugging (because he's hungry after sleeping all night! - lets hope this sticks to the normal thing after sleep training is over), we go digest. The digestion station = him propped on a pillow under his playground to allow the food to settle. If I sit him up or lay him on his belly, he just spits up. A little time is all he needs!

The rest of the morning is play time!

Where he started when I put him down.

10 Min later.... ha!

Lucy saying hello!

Hanging out while I fold laundry. Only soft place in the laundry room? Lucy's bed. He seemed to enjoy it

At between 10-10:30, he goes down for a nap. 

He's found and can now touch his fish mobile

If the nap goes well, he sleeps between 1.5-2 hours. As for me, this time is usually spent frantically trying to respond to emails and trying to button up anything I was working on that morning. Hence no photos of this period of time. lol. Chirp, chirp, chirp. Talk, talk, talk, SQUEAL! Once awake, we have our lunch bottle.

Big boy holding his own bottle

We have a little more playtime, possibly a little photoshoot to entice Stephen to come home early and play too. 

Most times he can't come home. So we settle for a little facetime.

Miles chatting with dad!

About an hour after his bottle, we eat solids. Right now, we are only doing one meal a day on solids, but he seems to loooove them.

haha!! We just changed flavors...

Don't worry - he liked it.

At about 2-2:30, he goes down for his afternoon nap. It takes him a little longer to settle down for these naps, so the duration is a little iffy these days. He could sleep for 2 hours, or he might not sleep a wink. Again, hoping the sleep training will help here. Que the "Amy gets to work sequence." After his nap, he has his evening bottle. 

After his bottle, I try my hardest to get him out and about. This usually means a walk or a visit to the neighbors. It helps if he's whining due to a short nap, or just seems restless due to being in the same place all day. I think in the future, we'll have to make a bigger effort to actually go somewhere during the day. 

Eating some puffs and graham crackers at Aunt Becky's house

Daddy's HOME!

Playtime with Dad

Between 7-7:15 is when we start our bedtime routine:  Nighttime bottle, bath, put on pjs, book and bed.

Night Night Sweet Boy

Flickles

No it's not a typo - Flickles. Flick + Miles like those celebrity couple names? They'll be famous one day I'm sure of it!

Wait, who is Flick?

THIS my friends is Flick. The cutie of all cuties born just 6 weeks after Miles. Born Felicity Haven - her parents call her Flick for short.

Why, you ask, am I bringing another cute baby to this blog? I'll tell you why. Well.... actually Bri will tell you:

#Repost via Bri Hines (Facebook) - Because it was too good not to:

"My original major was in the college of architecture. The very first collegiate lecture I attended was for a class on building materials. I was tested on different types of nails and screws and I had to memorize the ingredients and their ratios for making concrete. Wonder why that one isn't advertised in the OU promotional materials.

I knew not a soul out of the hundreds (dozens?) of Phillips head scholars, so I chose a seat next to a blonde stranger named Amy. I feigned interest in the nonconductive uses of Bakelite, but Amy wasn't having any of it. She asked if I wanted to play hangman and proceeded to reveal the anatomical name of an AC/DC song. She kept an ongoing tally for an entire semester of the professor's use of "um."

A few years (and a change in my major) later, we found ourselves living in the same apartment complex. Our roommates had moved away for the summer so we were each living alone in 3-bedroom apartments. We had both just gotten out of long-term relationships and what could have been a sad and lonely summer was easily the most hilarious and fun of my life. We were living the exact same lives so we decided to live them together. Since then, Amy and I have always found ourselves in the exact same place in life at the exact same time.

We were engaged within weeks of each other and married the same fall. When I found out I was expecting and told her I had big news, she responded "are you pregnant because I am, too!" Miles and Flick were born less than 2 months apart. We have walked through this together (fortunately for me, she's always a few steps ahead) and I know she'll continue to be the mom friend with whom I can be 100% shamelessly candid. She makes me laugh so hard my stomach hurts and I can't think of a single time we have disagreed on anything. She is possibly the person on earth most similar to me (who else puts ice in their wine?) and I will forever be grateful that our friendship has lasted through changes of majors, changes of cities, and changes of hormones.

Today Flick and Miles met and it was everything I knew it would be.

Beyond thankful for the absurdity of our connection. Apparently there was a reason to study u-bolts after all."

I'm not a true believer of soul mates. But if I was, I really think she's mine. Not to discount my amazing husband or super close-knit sister, but she's the other half I never thought I'd meet. So alike in every way. From our obsession with sno-cones to truly believing we are children at heart, our love for wine, playgrounds, spatulas, campus sculptures and more, I'd say this one is a keeper.

From then:

To now:

On to the babies!

Miles: Hi
Flick: Hi

Miles:  I like your face
Flick: ...

Miles: AND your pants! Look at those round things!
Flick: ....

Miles:  Why is she crying?
Flick:  Mom! Who is this?!

Miles:  I'm Miles
Flick:  Yea, I guess you are alright.

Flick:  You do have awesome hair!
Miles:  MOM! She likes my hair!!

Miles:  Friends?
Flick:  Friends!

Melt my heart. So adorable.

I guess the dialog was a bit too much for both of them.

That thumb! :)

The kids actually did awesome at the restaurant and we were super lucky because when we got there, NOONE was there. Literally. (I guess I didn't need that reservation....) So if the kids screamed, it didn't matter. Made things easier for sure. I was a little nervous because the last outing we had was Salt Lick where Miles proceeded to scream the entire time. I guess he's grown up a bit and is ready for more fun dates!

Thanks to Bri, Cole and Flick for an awesome time! Lets do it again soon  :)

Jewel Sparkles

Last but not least (and super patient!), ERIN!

When we were deciding what to do with Erin, Becky mentioned this teddy bear my mom has at her house named Giggles. Erin is infatuated with this little bear. It's a cute bear with undies and if you press it's hand, it giggles. So, whats better than a little animal of her own! So, on to Build a Bear we went.

Erin knew she was getting a stuffed animal but didn't quite understand the whole process. We started off our mall adventure with a little treat - smoothies for me and Erin, Chinese food for Stephen (he was starving haha). While Stephen was finishing his food, Erin and I went walking around the main area of the mall.

Side note - I hate the mall. I was hoping that maybe it had lost it's luster and not many people would be there. No such luck. Still an inordinate amount of people who seem to just hang out there. Like it's their weekend go-to for things to do. So weird.

While we were walking around, we found some fun stuff.

This was a blow-up lounger that folds up to be the size of a reusable bag. Pretty neat

These were hilarious - bouncy reindeer things. Lol 

After that, we headed to build a bear. As we were explaining to Erin what she was going to do, she saw all the stuffed animals in the windows. Eyes = Huge

If any of you have been around Erin lately, you've likely noticed that she's been adamant in wanting "the same thing as Lia." Becky and I were curious to see how she'd handle making decisions on her own. After some perusing, she first decided on a pink polka-dot bear. But then quickly changed her mind when she saw this super soft white kitty with purple and pink polka-dots. Mind Set. Kitty it is.

We move to the next station where we get to pick sounds for the stuffed animal. This was probably the hardest station because there were SO many options. Stephen and I kind of had to go through and give her some choices. We wouldn't want some creepy noise coming out of the cat. We found sound-boxes for these little girl personalities, which worked perfect. The one she picked, a little girl named Jewel Sparkles, who is a princess I might add. And Jewel Sparkles, the princess cat, was born.

I should have gotten a video of this next station because it was super cute. But, unfortunately I didn't. This is the station where you get to stuff your stuffed animal, but before you close her up, you complete a "heart ceremony." Erin grabbed this little heart and the lady did her bit:

"Touch the heart to your ears so your animal will be a good listener, just like you.
Touch the heart to your head so your animal will be just as smart as you.
Touch the heart to your belly so your animal will be a great eater, just like you.
Touch the heart to your heart so your animal will know just how loved she is.
Now kiss your heart and put it in so your animal will always know her best friend is always there for her."

I may have missed a few steps, but that sums it up. Erin was grinning the whole time. She gave the heart and huge kiss and stuffed it in.

Once Jewel Sparkles was all stuffed, we moved onto the bath station. This is where you bathe your animal (pretend) and brush all the loose stuffing material off her fur.

Last, clothes. The BEST part - accessorizing!! I think this is where we went a little crazy. But hey, whatever.

Deciding on the attire

Looking for shoes, and roller skates because duh - so cool

The sales lady saw our sucker-ness from a mile away. Sold us on a harness so you can roll the stuffed animal around with you.

Erin also thought it was cool because she could wear the cat as a purse.

And here she is! Jewel Sparkles complete with a sparkly skirt, sparkly shirt with vest, rainbow shoes, sparkly roller skates and not shown here, a cute purple bow. Pretty cute I have to say

After Jewel Sparkles was complete, we stopped by the cookie stand, mainly because I wanted a cookie. lol

With Jewel Sparkles safely in her house, Erin picks the pinkest cookie with the MOST icing. Of course

Despite by disgust for the mall, this was a really fun trip. Seeing Erin make all these decisions and be so proud of herself once done was really cute to see.

I followed up with Becky a couple days later and asked how miss Jewel Sparkles was doing. She said she's been sleeping with Erin every night. But ALL of her clothes have been taken off because:

"you can't feel her soft fur with the clothes" - Erin

We should have known. haha