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Last Tuesday night we headed down to Greg’s parents’ house for Christmas with his family. It was a lot of fun and I feel like I ate and ate and ate a lot of good food. Greg’s mom made cheesy potatoes because she knows how much I love them. I also ate way more dessert than I normally do, and it was wonderful. I love dessert.

It was Miles’ first Christmas, though he slept through most of the gift opening. I imagine we only have a few more Christmases until he’s waking us up in the middle of the night to see if it’s time to open presents yet. I remember waking up my parents, thinking it had to be time, only to find out that it was 11:30 at night.

Santa managed to find Miles, though, and he got some blocks, a baby photo album (that’s a photo album for him), and a GloWorm (I had one when I was little, so I told Santa to bring him one). He also got a lot of gifts from everyone else, including a couple of teddy bears, some cute outfits, and a cover for his car seat to help keep him warm. His Uncle Steve got him a Lions jersey with M. Kretovic on the back of it.

Greg and I got some wonderful presents, too. Greg is anxious to try out his ice fishing stuff, though I think he needs to wait a little bit longer before heading out on the lakes. I’ll be trying out some recipes from my new crock-pot cookbook. That will come in handy when I go back to work next week (I still can’t believe I go back next week already. Too sad.).

Miles, of course, entertained everyone. He was very good and liked meeting all of his uncles and his aunt. He was a little fussy during Christmas Eve mass because it was way past his bedtime and he was hot, so I had to take off his cute vest and just walk him in the back of the church until he fell asleep.

The weather was also pretty prominent on our vacation. Freezing rain on Christmas Eve caused a lot of local churches to cancel their services. We were supposed to head up to visit Greg’s grandma on Saturday, but the weather up her way wasn’t the greatest, so we ended up going bowling instead. When we headed back home yesterday, we ran into some pretty snowy weather. Between that and needing to stop to feed Miles, our trip back took 10 hours instead of the usual 7.

Miles also had a bit of a meltdown in the car just as we were almost home. He cried the last two hours of the trip, just tired of being in his car seat. I think we’ll be traveling at night with him in the future, because he was great on the way down. He fell asleep before the bridge and slept the entire way there.

Below are some pictures from the Kretovic Christmas. Thursday we’ll head down to my grandma’s house for New Year’s and Christmas with my family.

Because Miles doesn’t have a 3-month well baby appointment with his pediatrician, I figured out his weight by standing on the scale with Miles and then alone, and by measuring him with a tape measure. So these are all approximate.

- Weight – 14 lb. (50th percentile)
- Length – 23.5″ (10-25th percentile)
- Head – 16.5″ (50th percentile)

So unofficially, it looks like his weight and head have slowed down some, but he’s still on the short side.

In the last month, he’s become so much more active and alert. He reaches for things now and tries to grab them, especially the toys that dangle above him on his activity mat. He’s figured out how to turn on this music toy he has that just has a giant button that you push. And I’ve noticed him watching TV a few times, too. He was watching the Packer game this past weekend. (See, I knew he’d be a Packer fan!)

He loves music. He likes to listen to his music toys, and he likes to be sung to and whistled at. I’ve been trying to remember songs to sing to him. So far, he seems to like “You Are My Sunshine,” “Old MacDonald,” and “This Old Man.” “Old MacDonald” can go on forever when you starting adding in all sorts of weird creatures, including a pizza delivery man. (“With a ‘here’s your pizza’ here and a ‘here’s your pizza’ there…”)

He does not like being alone when he’s awake. He likes to be talked to and he’ll squawk if he’s lying there and you’re not paying attention to him. When I’m trying to get things done, I sometimes have to wear him around in his carrier so he’ll be calm. He also isn’t a fan of naps. Well, that’s not right, he loves to nap, but he doesn’t like napping alone. He’ll be deeply asleep but as soon as I lay him down, he wakes up. He loves to be cuddled while he naps, which I love, too, but it makes it hard to get anything done. He also hates tummy time. As soon as you put him on his tummy, he starts fussing and eventually cries. He won’t even try to push himself up, but I’m not sure if this is an indicator that he’ll be a late crawler or not.

He still isn’t too smiley and he’s only giggled a few times. He tends to let us know that he’s happy by kicking and waving his arms like crazy, which he does all the time.

Last weekend at church while I was holding him, he was determined to get Greg’s attention. Miles kept staring at Greg, grabbing his shoulder and jabbering until Greg would look and smile at him. Greg and Miles play together every evening after dinner and I think Miles really looks forward to it. He always wants to see Greg as soon as he gets home and watches him the whole evening.

I can’t believe I have to go back to work after New Year’s. I’m going to really, really miss him! It’s been so nice to be with him and see all of his development and growth. I can’t imagine how sad I’ll be if I miss being there for his first word or his first steps. Well, better not think about that now. I still have a week and a half left and I’d better appreciate it.

I took some pictures last week of him in his Christmas outfit, which are below, and also his latest picture with Percy the Penguin. Merry Christmas to everyone! We’ll post some pictures of his first Christmas after we get back from downstate.

This past weekend we headed to Nahma so everyone could see Miles. This will be the last time there until next spring as Leah’s parents winterized the house. (Next summer, Miles will definitely be having a blast on the beach.) We will be heading down there for News Year’s but we’ll be staying at her grandma’s house.

We’ll also be heading down to Greg’s parents’ house next week for Christmas and everyone on his side of the family will finally get to see Miles. Hopefully Santa will come find him for his first Christmas!

Winter has finally hit and left a pretty good mark. We’ve received over 2 feet of snow in the last week or so. It’s been pretty cold, too, which has gotten Greg excited for ice fishing.

As for Miles, he seems to be getting bigger every day, growing out of outfits on what seems like a daily basis. Lately, he’s been making a lot of new noises and likes to stick out his tongue like a little frog. He’s also reaching for objects and seems more focused on his surroundings.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Here’s some images from our Thanksgiving weekend in Nahma. Miles got to meet quite a few cousins and loved all the attention. We ate a lot of food, watched the Lions lose to the Packers, played cards and jammed on Guitar Hero. All in all, a great weekend!