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Things have been a bit (ok, a lot) crazy at our house lately. And all of it is due to one tiny little guy named Miles. Here’s a time line of events:

• Last Tuesday, Miles’ first tooth erupted. I thought, wow, that wasn’t bad because he’d been a little fussy for a few days leading up to it, but not as bad as I’d expected.
• Wednesday, the cold that he’s been fighting for the past two weeks seemed to be getting worse, so I made him a doctor’s appointment for Friday.
• Then Thursday another tooth popped through.
• Friday, he was diagnosed with an ear infection and put on antibiotics.
• Saturday, he had a fever of 101.7°, so I dosed him up with Tylenol, which didn’t do anything. He started getting crabby.
• Sunday he again had a fever, so I tried Motrin, which didn’t do anything to bring his fever down. At bedtime, he was an angry little guy.
• Monday, I called the doctor who gave us a dosing schedule for a combination of Tylenol and Motrin to try to bring down the fever. Miles was a MAJOR crankypants all day long and one EXTREMELY angry guy at bedtime.
• Tuesday, his fever was finally gone but he decided that sleeping was not something was interested in doing and he was up a good portion of the night.
• Today, I’m exhausted and hoping (and hoping and hoping) that he sleeps tonight so I can get some sleep!

Bedtime Monday night was the worst. He screamed for over an hour and nothing we did would soothe him. Eventually, we just put him in his crib and let him cry until he fell asleep. I hated it. I can’t stand hearing him so upset and angry. Last night I put him in our bed and rubbed his back until he fell asleep, though of course, I ended up falling asleep, too.

I have no idea what’s going on with him. I thought that this would end once his teeth were out! Oh, and he’s also on a nursing strike, apparently.

In other news, I again used my new-found (admittedly minor) craft skills to decorate some frames for Miles’ kitty and owl wall hangings. I didn’t do a whole lot (painted the frames and stapled on ribbon to hang them), but I think it helped dress them up a bit. Don’t they look nice?

Oh, one thing I thought was funny was that his doctor was surprised by how much weight he’s gained in the last three weeks. He was 18 lb., 2 oz. on April 9, and was up to 18 lb., 12 oz. on April 30. He’s definitely getting bigger and almost growing out some of his 9 month clothes already!

I forgot to mention in his 7 month post that he’s also doing really good with sitting up. I usually put him in my Boppy, just for added support when we’re playing, because when he gets excited he likes to throw himself backwards.

And I have no idea if this is teething-related or if he’s just responding to the fact that I’m constantly kissing him, but he’s started “kissing” me. He doesn’t do it with Greg, just me, so I think it really is kissing. He’ll just mash his mouth against my lips or my cheek, but he does it so hard that I have to pull back a bit so I can kiss him back. I think it’s cute.

Hopefully he’ll be back to our happy, cheerful baby soon!

I also wanted to post this picture, because I just love it so much. He looks so adorable here!

Miles showing his bottom teeth & sweet Lions jacket from Uncle Steve

The website is now fixed! As a result of hackers, the commenting and other parts of the site were messed up. Everthing is now up and running!

In the previous post, I mentioned how I painted some letters for Miles’ room, here’s a picture:

Don’t they look nice? I was surprised by how well they turned out, given that usually when I attempt some sort of crafty/painty type thing, it looks awful. I’ve been showing them off to people who come over (not like that’s a lot, we don’t get many visitors), just because I’m so surprised and pleased by how well they turned out! And they didn’t take long at all. I used painter’s tape to make the lines straight and then used tips for my paint bottles (kind of like icing tips) to make the dots. I think even Greg was surprised by how cool they look!

Here are some close-ups:

I also bought these two letterpress art pictures to hang on Miles’ wall:

It seems like all of the stuff for little boys has dogs on it, but Miles has cats, so I wanted to get him something cat-related, and this matches his room perfectly. The owl one is just because I love owls, and his crib bedding does have yellow in it, so it kinda matches. Aren’t they super cute?

It’s so hard to believe how big our little guy is getting! Miles has definitely gone through a growth spurt in the last month, though as you can see, he’s still on the smallish side, except for his head:

- Length: 27.25″ (25-50th percentile)
- Weight: 19 lb. (25-50th percentile)
- Head: 18″ (75-90th percentile)

And, of course, these are all approximate. If you look back at his 6 month stats, you’ll see he was 18.5 lb, but at his well-baby appointment at 6.5 months, he was only 18 lb., 2 oz. His shots went well. He only cried while they were going on and whimpered for a few seconds after, and then was totally fine. No fever or anything in the days following, which was great. I was so relieved.

In the last month, it seems like he’s changed a lot. I was looking at video of him taken a month ago and he seems like he’s so much different now. He’s much more coordinated, jumping and grabbing and rolling and playing.

In his crib at night, I put him down on his back, but then he rolls right onto his side initially and then rolls onto his tummy. Of course, since he starts out in the middle of the crib, once he rolls he’s pushed up against the bars. It doesn’t look very comfortable, but the few times I’ve moved him, he scoots himself back right away, so apparently that’s what he likes. He’ll spin himself around, too, so when you go get him in the morning, he’s usually in a completely different place than he started out.

In the past month, eating has definitely gotten better. He likes acorn squash, yam, wheat and oatmeal cereal, and applesauce. Of course, he still makes faces like they’re disgusting, but he keeps eating! He tries to grab the spoon now so he can chew on it, too.

He certainly acts like he’s teething – chewing, biting, constant drooling – but nothing seems to be happening so far, though I’m sure it won’t be long.

He’s always loved books, but in the last month, he’s become so much more aware of everything around him that when you try to settle him down to read, he’d much rather be looking out the window or jumping or pulling your hair.

Miles has always liked to lay on the floor and kick but now he’s really only content to do that if you’re right there, talking to him or tickling him. He’s much more demanding of attention lately. If he’s in his exersaucer next to the table while we eat, he’ll whine until we move him or until he’s distracted by something else.

Oh, and watch out, Henry and Josie, because Miles has most definitely noticed the cats and has pulled tails and whiskers when they’ve gotten close enough to him. Thankfully, they don’t seem to mind. When he does get a tail, they’ll just sit and wait for him to let go before moving on. Miles grabbed onto Josie the other day and ended up with a fistful of fur, but it didn’t seem like she even really noticed. One time, though, he grabbed her and gave her a big pinch and she didn’t seem to like that. We were right there and made him let go right away.

Another time, I was holding Miles and we were looking out the window at the bird feeder. We were standing right next to the cats’ chair, and Henry was watching the birds, too. All of a sudden, Henry noticed a fly at the top of the window and he jumped up to swat it, lost his balance and fell backwards onto the chair. Miles bust out with these big belly laughs for close to a minute. Then every time Henry would move, Miles would start to giggle, apparently thinking that Henry was going to do something else really funny. It was just so cute.

Greg has been home with Miles three days a week for a month now, and Miles has been loving it. He’s always loved playing with Daddy, but it just seems like they have much more of a bond now. If he’s in a playful mood, Miles will always look for Greg and smile or laugh to try to get Greg to play with him. I had to smile when last weekend Greg was telling me tips for putting Miles down for a nap.

We’re enjoying every moment of life with Miles, and it just seems to be going by so quickly! I’m so far behind on his baby book and I’ve got pictures stacked up but not in his album. And this blog has gotten behind, too! I finally got around to painting these wooden letters that spell out his name, I’ll have to post some pictures.

Below is his picture with Percy, and we’ll post some more pictures of him later. Greg finally got his flash back today so we’ll get some new pictures!

Miles and Percy at 7 months

It’s hard to believe we’re already in to the month of April! With our snow-less March, literally, it has been a weird spring. The last snow pile finally melted today after another beautiful day with temperatures near 70°! If you’ve read our blog for a while you’ll notice we usually still have snow on the ground and we typically get hit with a big snow storm in the beginning of April. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen in 2010. [Note from Leah- Or will it? Are we just tempting Mother Nature? We did get snow in May last year, so there's still time...]

We had a good Easter with Leah’s family down in Nahma. We didn’t do a whole lot besides relax, sleep and eat. We also watched MSU lose on Saturday night which was too bad but they really didn’t deserve to win with the way they played. Miles also seemed to enjoy all the attention during the weekend as well as a few new books and a bunch of stuffed bunnies.

Miles continues to grow and make us laugh on a daily basis. He’s discovered that he can roll from his back to stomach and then roll back on to his back and nod his head up and down. We’ve been taking him outdoors more and he likes going for walks in his wagon and stroller. This Friday he has another round of shots so hopefully it goes well.

Out for a walk in our crazy spring weather

Testing out the bunny ears while eating some dinner

Easter eggs created by Leah & Dayna on Saturday

Miles trying on Grandpa Russ' hat

Miles says Happy Easter!

Sleepy bunny

Miles on Easter morning

Checking out the books he got from the Easter Bunny

Easter family pic