Actopus to Zelephant

Miles is getting a room makeover, when I have time! The walls will be painted a yellowy-Orangey color and some wall art will be made with scrap booking materials from the K&Company line called Actopus to Zelephant. It is my inspiration.

Sorry the pictures are small, but you get the idea. I love all the little animals and the colors. My mother-in-law is making some bedding in these colors inspired by the Kasey bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I think she is also going to make a little crib bedding (skirt mainly) because we'll keep the crib and twin bed in there for a future baby #2. I wanted to keep (rather make)the room gender neutral in case, ya know, I ever have a girl, which I won't, but ya never know...

Miles also likes the inspiration. He frequently looks through the book of papers I have and makes all the animal noises that go along with the pictures...when he knows the noise and the kind of animal. I haven't even figured our a few of them...such as U, X, and N.

Sidenote: Funny story. We went to Petco today to get some food for our guinea pig. We like to let Miles look at the other animals, so we went to see the fish and the reptiles. We passed by the from aquarium to find the lone frog in there floating on his back in his pond... Woops!

I'm excited for his new room, but I'm redecorating our room first, after I finish painting the trim and closet doors, which I may finish tonight. I then hope to get the main wall color up next week (and maybe the wall color in Miles room...anyone want to babysit? We may have to hit up Grandma M!).

Praying for Stellan

I added a new button to the left of my screen: "Praying for Stellan". I have been following MckMama's blog since this past spring (and am slightly addicted to it). Their family is currently in a crisis as their youngest son is critically ill. He has suffered from SVT (supraventricular tachycardia, or really fast heart rate) since he was inutero. Doctors thought he wouldn't survive to be born alive, yet he beat the odds.

His SVT reared its ugly head again when he was about 4 months old, and he spent several weeks at Boston Children's Hospital. He had a surgical procedure while in Boston to try and cure the SVT, but they were unable to do so without completely damaging his heart's ability to beat without an external pacemaker. Since his return home, he has had a few other shorter hospital stays, many medication changes, blood and heart function tests.

This past weekend, he went back to the hospital and has been in SVT since Friday night (with a few small small breaks). His body is starting to give out (when the heart beats that fast, it is very inefficient, and over time, will go into failure...which is where Stellan is heading). They are airlifting him to Boston Children's Hospital this afternoon and both of his parents are going with, leaving their three other small children (4 and under) at home with family and friends.

If you have a moment, check out her Jennifer's (aka MckMama) blog at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ and say a small prayer for Stellan and his family!

Big Changes for a Big Boy

So, Miles has had some big changes recently. Here is a preview:


Can you see something odd in this picture?

No?

Well, if you happen to know his room pretty well, you'd notice that the rocking chair is in the wrong corner, the bookshelf is moved, the rug is missing, and there is something dark and brown to the left of the picture.


.....


Here's a better look....



He has a new piece of furniture!



It is an official Big Boy Bed!!!
That he happens to be sleeping in Right now!


He is pretty excited about this new addition to his room, though he didn't nap in it all that well today (yesterday by now!).






He went right to bed in it last night and is soundly sleeping.

You see, after I found him, two days in a row, trying to climb out and getting a knee stuck between the slats on his crib (which gave him horrible matching bruises on both sides of both knees), I figured it was time...time to be done with the crib. Yikes! That really means my baby is no longer a baby. I thought I had some more time and wasn't completely ready for the change myself, but it seems that Miles was ready.

So I followed his lead.

Friday night, I took the side off the crib. He fell out of bed around 11pm (and it took him quite a while to finally fall asleep in it in the first place). He didn't mind falling out, and it didn't even wake him right away. A little while after I heard the thud I heard him whining in his room. I walked in to find him still half asleep, trying to shove his blanket back in bed and then climbing back in himself. No other mishaps! I did, however, wake up to him staring me down this morning at 8am. Still not quite sure how he got out of his room...

So, Saturday, I went up to my parents (who have graciously given us a set of bunk-beds all my siblings and I used growing up) and retrieved a bed (with their help) and moved it into Miles room. Some rearranging was necessary, but it fits well. Miles digs it! I will eventually paint it white to match his other furniture and completely redecorate his room. In fact, Grandma M is making him some fun new twin sized bedding for his new room!

My favorite part is that I can climb into bed with him to snuggle in the middle of the night...which I'm going to go do right now (seeing as how it is 0215 as I type this). Goodnight!

Random Play

Here is some random play and catch-up time! I've been behind. Since I haven't taken many photos since the fourth of July, now is a good time to catch-up.

Home improvements:

We (read I) have been working on some home improvements. Painting is the main home improvement at this time, though I did add some decor to the walls.


Our newly olive green kitchen.



And olive green dining room. Note new wall decor to the right. I have hit my head on the candle shelf several times since hanging this!



Full view. Family picture wall in the hallway. I returned the big clock as it was too big for the space and it didn't work.


Close up of the dining room wall decor. Please excuse all the clutter and mess in these photos!

Closer up pics of the family wall and hallway.

Next will be Miles' room and the master bedroom.

Here are some pictures of random days at the park.

He says "weeeee" every time he goes down a slide.


Playing with some photo editing...

Peek-a-boo!

Driving the "boat"

Digging in the sand...a favorite activity!

Driving again :)

Now onto Father's Day 2009. At The Lake Cabin

Grandpa O and Miles Reading

Three generations

Miles likes to play in/on the kayaks.

And to explore them.

Ben and Tom fishing. They are the blue spec towards the left of center on the shoreline.

Ben and Miles (not happy about posing!).



Now for a random more recent photo:

Miles driving a Barbi car. We were at Mommy and Me at a cafe with a sandbox (and a bunch of toys). It was great! Good food, a latte, and Miles was fully entertained the whole time, until another kid threw dirt on his head...But we moved on. Miles brought the car over to me and proceeded to climb in as best he could and said "vroom-vroom!. I snapped a pic and then promptly told him to get out of the car because he was far too big and would break it!

That is it for catching-up, whew! Next post is 4th of July, then some big changes in the house!

Fourth of July

We had a great 4th of July this year, up at my in-law's lake cabin. It was my brother-in-law's first "real" fourth as it was the first time he was able to do fireworks himself. I worked the night before, so after work, I went to the gym then we headed up to the lake to meet Ben's family and Miles.

When we arrived I took a short nap and then joined in the festivities. I got a few pictures of Miles in his lifejacket, but none of him in the water. Later in the evening, he enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and watching them splash, saying "kerplunck" each time! Such a boy :)

After dinner and bedtime for Miles, we got the fireworks set up and ready for launch. Ben had a good time fishing that evening with his dad, before the fireworks. When darkness fell, Danny and his friend began the light show. I played around with different settings on my camera to try to get the best shots.

The cabin was very festive.

This photo is my "antiqued" version of the photo directly above it. I thought it was pretty cool that you could see the lake through the flag.

Miles helping Grandma M in the kitchen...or playing in the sink, one of the two!

Miles riding Ozzy, or as he lovingly refers to as "Oggie-Dog".

Sporting his life jacket after a dip in the lake. It was hot (not hte water...nice and cool). Miles got hit by a wake and went down...he wasn't too happy about it. There is a reason why they put a loop on the back of the neck on children's life jackets!

Ben and Tom fishing. It was dusk, so they had their light on.

On with the show!
The Loot and Uncle Danny:

Some fireworks!

The boys put on quite the show. Everyone on the dock appreciated it.

Ben and a Roman Candle.

The remains...

Didn't realize I look so wide in this photo...yikes!

Enjoying the evening. This is me after having been up for approximately 31hours...I was surprised I lasted that long!

This is where "Oggie-Dog" hid during the fireworks. Poor thing was scared to death...panting like crazy. He is in the shower if you can't tell!

It was a great Fourth this year!

Down by the water

Well, Adobe decided to quit working on me and shut down, and Blogger decided to not let me sign in and re-check my Internet settings (all of which were set correctly, anyhow). That took up some of my time. Ugh! I guess I'll just post some un-edited pictures of down by the water at the lake as I need to go shower and get ready for work.



View from the dock.


Miles and Grandma Sara.



Miles playing on the kayaks.


Sharing some rocks.

Mommy and Miles on the dock.


I'd love to do some editing to these photos. I enjoy editing photos, for the most part. Except when Photoshop decides to shut down and I haven't saved my pictures yet. Frustrating! I've started playing around with photos to get different effects. Increasing the color saturation, blurring backgrounds, changing contrast and shadows, sun-bleaching, darkening corners for a "vintage" feel, etc. Photoshop can do a lot of things!

MckMama over at My Charming Kids is also a photographer and rarely writes a post without photos (of her children, usually) in it. I love her photography and the things she does with editing. Though she has a fancy camera and I do not, I've found that I can get some of the same effects through editing that you can get with different settings on a fancy camera. I've also started playing around with different settings on my camera to see what it can and cannot do.

Perhaps I'll write a post soon with the things I've discovered in Photoshop. Soon, you know, when I have time...which is almost never :) I have many things on my list of things to do soon, like paint our bedroom, paint the rest of the trim going down to the basement, decorate our bedroom, refinish the headboard, edit some photos and order prints for our picture wall, clean our house top to bottom so we can get our carpets cleaned, etc, etc, etc... So much to do, so little time!

Lingo

Miles is talking. Quite a bit now. He was a bit of a late talker, but not by much. And boy, once he started talking, the words just keep flying out! I think by a year, babies are "supposed" to say one or two words besides "mama" and "dada"...well, he didn't even reliably say those. By 18months they're supposed to say six words besides "mama" and "dada". Still, he didn't even say those, but he did say "dog" and occasionally "ball".

At a Mommy and Me play date, around 18months, I saw a little girl using some sign language. I decided since he wasn't much of a talker yet, we'd start to sign. Boy they learn quick at 18months! In no time at all, Miles was signing please, more, milk, help, all done and eat. We have recently added thank you and I'm sorry to his signing.

Around 20months, Miles started spitting out words by the dozen, or so it seemed. He started naming animals in his books (though some of them still go by their sound, such as moo and wa-wa, otherwise known as quack-quack).

His newest words include names. My in-law's dog, for instance, Miles calls "Oggie-dog, Oooooogggggie!" The dog's name is Ozzie. He has coined his own universal term for Grandma and Grandpa (one word for all four), and that is Gup-ay (which also sounds a lot like cup with a "y" on the end, but I"m pretty sure he is trying to make a G sound). His newest word, added today (well, yesterday now) is Uncle, which Miles proudly pronounces unka.

Here is a list of the other animal sounds and words Miles loves to say on a daily basis:
Goat
Pig
Milk
Sheep (which has recently just become Baaaa)
Horse
Dog
Cockadoodledoo (or rooster)
Wa-wa (duck)
Toast
Cup
Apple
Cheese
Deedle-Deedle Dee (Diego)
Seal (which he pronounces as dog)
Ball
Mama and Mommy (or usually a combo: Mommy-ma)
Dada and Daddy (also usually as a combo: Daddy-da)
Aaaaahhhhh (while looking up) (Elephant)
Pop-Pops (pasta)
Peas
Bock-Bock (chicken, both the animal and the food...though I'm uncertain if he knows that they are the same thing...kind of disturbing thought! How do you explain that to a child?)
Eggy

And I'm sure many more that I just can't think of at 3am! He also says a lot of things that we don't yet understand. The cutest part of him talking is his inflection. He states everything as though it is a question or like it is the first time he's seen it in a loooong time (ie. Dada?!?!). I often find myself saying, "yes sweetie, that is (fill in the blank)".

Our baby boy is a baby no longer. He is definitely all little boy!

The Lake Cabin

Wasn't that a movie??? Hmmm.... My In-law's got a cabin up at "the lake" late last summer. We have recently made it up to their cabin a few times. These pics were from our first time up, though NOT Miles' first time there!

This is on the way down to the water. I apparently haven't edited pictures from down on the shore, so that will be another post. Sorry!


Miles has grown to love rocks, picking them up, holding them, putting them in his mouth, and also throwing them.

He loves rocks!

Lake Rules Relax...relax...relax...

Playing Peek-a-Boo on the window seat with the curtains.

Still playing on the window seat!

Wearing Grandpa's hat.

Braving the stairs for the first time. I guess it is less scary when Mom is around as he hadn't previously tried to climb these very not baby-proof stairs!

His own little table where he loves to eat his "pop-pops". (A Gerber Graduates meal of pasta...hence the pop-pops.....and peas).

His own little chair in the living room.