The Jones Family

The Sloth

2012-02-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

Miles must work very hard during the day at school. It must be tough spending your day eating, sleeping, playing, potty training, and learning a little bit in between.

When he gets home from school, he likes to be a total sloth. He wants a big plate of food on his blue plastic train tray, his Pottery Barn chair, and his t.v.

He usually watches Toy Story 3, Wonder Pets, Thomas, Fireman Sam, or Barney.

The other night, I was beyond exhausted. I had been up since 3:30 am due to pregnancy insomnia. I worked, went to the grocery store, cooked, gave Miles a bath, and was about to cry because I was falling asleep sitting up and it was only 7:00. Miles was not in the mood to go to bed early that night... He wanted to watch t.v.

So, my genious motherly instincts thought that it would be a great idea to let him take the Ipad to bed. He had his bath, was in his pajamas, and was snuggled up with his cat, blanket, milk, and Wonder Pets on the IPad.

"Mommy is going to sleep, Miles. When Wonder Pets is over, you go to sleep."

"Ok! No crying! Be a good boy! Stay in bed. Go to sleep!" (He loves to list our rules.)

So, I went to bed thinking that he would watch one 23 minute episode and go to sleep. However, when Steven checked on him at 11:00, he was beginning episode number nine.

Yeah, I didn't know that he knew how to change it to the next episode on the Netflix App.

Needless to say, he was very grumpy the next day.

So, the next day, I took his rotten-mood and him to Polks to pick out some paint for the baby's room. In the parking lot, he picked a green clover and showed me his "flower".

"Did you pick a flower for Mommy?" I asked.

"No! It's mine!"

Then, as I was strapping him into his carseat, he was throwing a fit about something. I said, "Miles, you are not being nice! You need to be nice to Mommy. No yelling. Tell Mommy you are sorry."

He rolled his eyes, and said very slowly and obviously annoyed, "Stop talking to me!"

"Miles! That is not nice! You don't talk to Mommy that way!"

"Shhhh.... Stop.... Talking...."

I swear I just had a glimpse of the teenager in him. If he is like this at almost three, what will he be like at ten? Sixteen?

And, for the record, Miles is usually the sweetest child full of hugs and kisses. He says please, thank you, and yes ma'am....and he love, love, loves his mama... Just not after staying up all night watching Wonder Pets.

Almost Three

2012-01-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes he calls me Kristy. When I correct him and tell him to call me Mama, he looks at me as if I'm an idiot and tells me, "But your name IS Kristy, Kristy."

Lately he's been calling me "Ma." As if he is too old now to say "Mama" or "Mommy".

He would live on pancakes if I let him...pancakes, or French fries. He'll ask to go to McDonalds everyday, so I lie and say that they are closed. He'll argue, "They not closed! They open!"

On Sunday, he reminds me that it is Sunday, and that we need to go to church. He likes to sit with us at "big church" now, and when he goes to the nursery, he reminds us that he is just going so he can "bring toys to the babies." He thinks he is much too old for the church nursery.

He is 75% potty trained... and by that I mean he is 100% trained at school... because having an accident in front of your friends would be so embarrassing... but he's only 50% trained at home... because who cares what "Ma" thinks when you stand on the ottoman and pee all over it...

Sometimes, when I ask him if he needs to go to the potty, he says, "No. I'm too tired."

He knows he is having a sister. He thinks she is a "boy sister" and will argue this one with me.

He is obsessed with going to the doctor. Every time he gets a bump or scratch, he says he needs to "go to the doctor and get a big shot."

Obviously he doesn't remember his two-year-old shots.

He points to my belly, and reminds me that "there is a baby in there." He wants to know if the baby gets wet when I take a shower.

He has two cats he is obsessed with - Grits and Abby. His Pop named the cat Grits, and he named the other one Abby. I think he may have a crush on Abby from school.

Grits has to go everywhere with him. He often says, "I'm the cat's daddy." He will put Grits to bed and feed him breakfast by giving him plastic lettuce in a plastic cup out of his play kitchen.

He watches Toy Story 3 every day. He loves the part when the toys are about to go into the fire. He will tell me all about it with great animation. He'll say, "The kids! They were so scared! They go in the fire! The good kids saved them! They went home. They didn't go in the fire!"

He is already talking about his birthday party. He calls it his "bub-bay party." He tells me who he wants to invite... and who he doesn't want to invite.

He sleeps in a big bed now that he refers to as his "choo-choo bed." He has to read books before he goes to sleep. His favorite is Clifford: Picking Apples and Pumpkins. He wants to read this every night. He is obsessed with the fact that the tractor is broken.

He'll ask me comprehension questions about the story to see if I was paying attention. He'll say, "What happened to tractor when they turned the key, Ma?"

He is almost three... I can't believe my baby is almost three.

Money

2011-12-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

Miles talks... a lot... He never stops talking. I remind Steven on an almost daily basis how he was so worried that Miles would never talk. Now we sometimes wish he would be quiet for just a few seconds a day, although he makes us laugh all day long.

He talks in really long sentences now, and basically knows every word imaginable, although his articulation is not good at all. I'm hoping this clears itself up, but I'm thinking that speech may be in our future.

For example, he cannot say the word "blanket"... he cannot even come close to saying it. So, he says "money" instead.

Miles, Listen to Mommy... say "blanket".

Money.

No, Miles, Listen... Blaaaaanket!

Mooooooooney!

Later, I was playing around with him...

Miles, are you smart?

Yes.

Are you handsome?

Yes.

Are you funny?

Yes.

Are you rich?

Yes.

You are rich? Mommy's not rich! Can you give Mommy some money?

Now, Miles knew exactly what I was talking about... See, if I say "money", he knows I'm talking about "money"... If I say "blanket", he knows I'm talking about a "blanket"... but he calls them both "money"...

But just to be funny, because I'm telling you, my kid really is hilarious, when I asked him to give me some money because he was rich and I wasn't, guess what he brought me?

His blanket.

And, if that doesn't get confusing enough, he also calls a "bunny", "money"...

Miles, say "bunny"

Money.

No, Miles, say "bunny"!

Money.

Listen to Mommy. "Buuuuuuny"

Moooooooooney.

No Miles, Listen. "Buh- ney"

So, my 2 1/2 year old, looks at me, clearly annoyed, and says...

Rabbit.

Baby Girl's Update

2011-12-19T06:47:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we went to see the specialist to have a high-tech ultrasound done to get a better look at Baby Girl and to see if there really was a blood clot, or other kind of mass behind my placenta. I had continued to bleed and on Friday morning I began to pass a lot of small blood clots. Of course, I was freaking out and thinking the worst. After about an hour long ultrasound followed by two additional ultrasounds, the results were all good and very relieving. Basically, they no longer saw the blood clot... the doctor thinks that I passed it and that is why I was bleeding so much and passing the little clots. I do have a marginal placenta previa, which means that my placenta is partially lying on top of my cervix, but he thinks that this could get better as my uterus grows.

Baby Girl looked perfect. They examined every organ - we saw every chamber of her heart, both hemispheres of her brain, her bladder, kidneys, spine, stomach, etc., etc.... They did not find one thing wrong with her. The doctor told me because I was bleeding during my second trimester, that I am not completely out of the woods. I am at an increased risk of going into early labor, my water breaking early, and there is a slight increase of still birth. So, the baby is going to be closely monitored throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. I will have to have ultrasounds at least once a month so they can check on her and more frequent doctor appointments than normal.

Take a look at Baby Girl from our most recent photo shoot:

I just know that she is going to be beautiful. This looks almost identical to one of Miles's ultrasounds. I am certain that she is going to look just like her big brother, although Steven tells me that all babies look alike in their ultrasounds.

The doctor said that I should remain on bed rest for a while because of the bleeding. I go see my OB on Thursday, so I'll see if he changes that... I'm hoping he lets me go to the beach for Christmas like we had planned (if I promise to go there and sit!)

Last night was my parents last night here with us. I did convince everyone that I was able to get out of the house to go eat. The doctor said that it was okay to go sit at the table to eat dinner, so I figured if I sat at a table in a restaurant, ate, and went straight home it would be okay. I was going stir crazy and had to get out of the house!

We ate at a hibachi restaurant. It was Miles's first time and the fire scared him, although he was fascinated by it.

At the end of dinner, I opened my fortune cookie and it said "You will be surrounded by true friends."

This has been so true this week. I am completely overwhelmed by every one's kindness. I have had friends cook my supper, call me, text me, send me Facebook messages, offer to watch Miles, offer to do my Christmas shopping, offer to address my Christmas cards... I have been put on prayer lists at churches, and my friends at work did a prayer circle for Baby Girl and me... It is so overwhelming and I am so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

My parents also helped me so much this weekend... My dad entertained Miles while my mom cooked and cleaned...

And Steven is just the most amazing husband ever. He does so much for Miles and me... even after running 20 miles before I wake up. Seriously. He's a freak of nature (in a good way!)

I am truly, truly blessed to have such great family and friends, an awesome 2 1/2 year old boy, and a baby girl on the way, who is gonna be just fine!

Greetings... From Bed Rest

2011-12-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

We could use some prayers right now. I went home on Monday with some bad stomach and back pains. I thought I was getting the stomach flu, but I started feeling better after a long nap... Just a little sore and crampy. This morning I woke up with bleeding. I went to the doctor today for an ultrasound and it showed some sort of mass between my uterus and the placenta. The doctor said that it is most likely a blood clot. Tomorrow morning we are going to the Prenatal Diagnostic Center of Mississippi for a high tech ultrasound to get a better look at the mass. I have been put on strict bed rest until the doctor tells me otherwise. I will go back to see my OB next Thursday and he will decide then whether or not to keep me in bed or not.

Of course, my main concern is my baby. I will lie here and not lift a finger if it gives a better chance of her being okay. However, this is also tough right now because I have a 2 1/2 year old who is very excited about Christmas. Christmas cards have not been sent out, Christmas presents have not been bought, and it looks like our trip to the beach next week is cancelled.

Please say a prayer for my sweet girl. I hope to have good news and answered prayers tomorrow morning.

You Better Watch Out...

2011-12-13T15:32:00.000-08:00

It's a.....

2011-12-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

I am still totally in shock, but we are tickled PINK! Look at our beautiful baby GIRL!!! Now I can admit that I did secretly hope for a girl... only because I already have a boy. We are so blessed!

Thanksgiving Break

2011-12-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving break Steven and I decided to do a family vacation to St. Louis. I had heard that it was a great place to vacation with your young children, and it is. I love this city and there is so much to do there that we didn't even have time to do it all!

We went to the St. Louis Zoo, which by the way is free! We did pay to ride the train (couldn't get away without that one with my train-obsessed child!) It was a lot of fun. Miles's favorite animals were the elephant and the lion.

We also went to the St. Louis arch. It wasn't my favorite thing to do there, but it is something you have to do when you are in St. Louis. Miles loved it. He kept saying, "There's the arch! Cool!"

This is actually a picture of Miles and me sitting on the steps under the arch.

This is what you ride to the top of the arch in.

A little blurry, but Miles was looking out the window of the arch at the Cardinal's Stadium

Our favorite thing, by far, was City Museum. This is honestly the coolest place I have ever been to. Words cannot even describe it and the pictures just won't do it justice. I am not exaggerating... put it on your bucket list. You have to go there!

Here are just a few pictures.... There was a room that had skateboard ramps for the kids to slide down...

There was a miniature train for kids under 48 inches... The driver is a little person. If you ride the train and are over 48 inches, you will bump your head, so I sent Miles on the train by himself. Of course, he loved it.

There are slides everywhere. All three of us went down this slide...

Miles and Steven went down this slide about twenty times each...

There was also a 10 foot slide that Steven went down. I skipped that one because I'm too ~~lazy~~ pregnant to climb 10 flights of stairs to go down a slide.

There as a huge tree house... Steven and Miles are in the window of this tree house. You can see them if you look closely...

I didn't even post pictures of the rest... I just can't even describe this place. It is 10 stories of caves, tree houses, slides, an aquarium, a haunted room, etc., etc., etc. It was designed by artists so there was just amazing art everywhere... There are so many nooks and crannies, secret passages to the other side.... and I didn't even tell you about the outside! It was raining, so we didn't get to go to the roof where there is a Ferris wheel, a school bus, an airplane... I could go on and on... I promise you that I'm not building this place up. You have to go.

It was a long drive, but so worth it! Thank goodness for the Ipad!

We also went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, which made four 8 hour trips in one week. We had a great time, but I didn't get any pictures.

We had a very happy Thanksgiving... I have so much to be thankful for - my family, friends, wonderful husband, and especially this little guy:

I'm also thankful for my other little turkey too! The big question is, are we having a boy or a girl? I have absolutely no idea, but we will find out on Tuesday! Stay tuned to find out if Miles is having a brother or a sister!

LSU/ Alabama game

2011-11-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

Steven and I went to Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago to tailgate for the LSU/Alabama game. We were invited by our friends Mitchell and Kerry to tailgate with the Kenny Stabler foundation. I have never seen Tuscaloosa so crazy... It was more crowded than Bourban Street on Mardis Gras! But we had a blast... even though we lost in overtime!

Good news is, it looks like there may be a re-match in the National Championship!

Roll Tide!

Kerry, Mitchell, me, and Steven in front of Denny Chimes

This is Steven and me with Kenny Stabler... see the Superbowl ring on Steven's shoulder?

October 2011

2011-11-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

In October...

We went to the pumpkin patch with Amber, Andy, and Carson...

My parents came in town and we went to the fair...

We carved pumpkins.... Well, I carved one and Miles drew all over one with a sharpie... then he drew all over some other Halloween decorations with a sharpie too...

Miles was a cow for Halloween.

We went to trunk or treat at our church...

and went trick-or-treating with Carson and Addison and their families...

Steven dressed up like Mike "The Situation" from Jersey Shore...

He told Miles to "touch his abs" and when Miles did, Miles said, "Daddy needs a doctor!"

I can't believe how fast October flew by! I did manage to get the annual picture of Miles in Halloween pajamas with his "ugly pumpkin" that his Mimi gave him. It is crazy how big my baby is getting!

2009

2010

2011

Guess What?

2011-10-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to introduce you to....

Baby Jones #2!

It is so amazing how you can fall so in love with something the size of a poppy seed.

This was my ultrasound at 6 weeks. This tiny, tiny, little being inside of me with a big, strong, heart that I watched beat steadily at 96 beats per minute.

It is so amazing.

Now, I am 11 weeks, so my tiny poppy seed is more like the size of a lemon.

I tried to explain to Miles that he was going to be a big brother.

"Miles! There is a baby in Mama's belly!"

To which he replied, "Mama! There is a fire truck in my belly!"

Our due date is May 1st!

Pictures from the weekend

2011-09-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

We try to get to Birmingham at least once a year to watch an Alabama game with some of our college friends.

Steven and three of his fraternity brothers all had boys within a year apart. It is a lot of fun to watch the boys play... a lot of fun and exhausting!

Here are some pictures from this weekend for the Alabama vs. Arkansas game.

Mark and Miles playing in the pool

Santa Claus may need to bring this kid a tractor. And, I know! I know! The blue Crocs have to go... but he's so obsessed with them. If I put on another pair of shoes, he cries and says, "I want my blue Crocs!"

Wresting with Uncle Jameel

Porter, Miles, Chase, Mark

The Daddies

This picture made me laugh until I cried. I love how my husband thinks outside the box. Always.

Roll Tide!

English to Miles and Some Randomness

2011-09-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

English: Almonds
Miles: Mommy's Cookies

English: Bud Light
Miles: Daddy's Juice

English: Waitress at a Mexican Restaurant
Miles: Chip's Mommy

English: Hairdresser
Miles: Haircut's Mommy

English: Sanitizer (for combs at the barber shop)
Miles: Haircut Juice

Other famous sayings Miles has been saying lately:

"It's right there!" (when I ask him where anything is)

"No, the other hand" (when he wants to put something in my hand)

"I wanna give the clock a hug" (In which case I have to go get the clock off of our table and let him hug it)

"I want a new game" (This means he wants to play an old game on my Ipad. He always calls them NEW games because the first time I ever got him a game I asked him, "Do you want a new game?")

"This is MY house!" (He thinks this is hilarious to run around and scream.)

"Watch this!" (then he will drive a ride-on car into one of my walls)

"I need my bunny rabbit to fall down" (This is a game he has invented. He only does it with Green Bunny. Green Bunny sits on his lap and he says "Ready! Set! Go! Fall Down!" and then falls off of our ottoman over and over. When he sees Green Bunny, this reminds him of this game and he'll say, "Lets go fall down."
"Where'd mama go?" (This means "Where are you going?" but it is hard for me to remember that, so I always say, "I'm right here!" which can frustrate him.)

"I wanna treat!" (This can mean candy, toys, anything he likes. Tonight, as I was leaving to go to dinner with some friends, Miles was crying and saying, "Where'd Mama go?" So, I told him that if he was a good boy, I would bring him home a treat. He thought about this for a second, and then said, "Bye, Mama!" in a suddenly happy mood. When I got home, I tiptoed by his bedroom door. Miles was wide awake and said, "I wanna treat! I wanna treat!"

So, that's why he was playing with his new Thomas the Train toy set at 9:00.

And just a few more pictures, while I'm here anyway... Blogs these days are few and far between...

Miles driving the tractor at the Mississippi Children's Museum

Miles and Carson

I just love this picture. This was actually taken on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. We went to the Jackson Airport to wait for Steven who was flying home that day. I bought Miles a little airplane in the airport gift shop. When we saw Steven, he had bought Miles the same exact airplane. We saw a soldier who had a son a little older than Miles and we gave the other airplane to the soldier's son.

The Jackson Zoo

2011-09-11T04:40:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to write about today... Just some cute pictures from the zoo yesterday. It was a pretty day, so Sara, Amber, and I took the kids. Miles's favorite part was definitely the train ride. Next time we may skip the whole animal thing!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went to my parents' house in Georgia for Labor Day.

Miles loves going to see his Mimi and Papa!

It was the kick-off to football season. Miles loves to scream "Roll Tide!" no mattter what team is playing on t.v.!

Miles and Aunt Kelley

Miles and Papa

Miles and Daddy

Miles reading with Uncle Chris and Rozzi

On Sunday, Miles told my mom, "I want cupcakes. I want a party."

So guess what Miles got? A cupcake party.

He was so excited and said, "Cupcake party! Cupcake party! Cupcake party!" over and over again.

Miles and Mimi

Miles is still obsessed with carwashes... or "car-baths" as he calls them. Give him an Alabama shaker and a toy truck and he can entertain himself forever by pushing the truck through the car-bath!

I love his imagination!

We had a great time this weekend! I'm so glad fall is finally here. We drove home today and arrived to cooler weather!

28 Things about Miles at 28 Months

2011-08-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

1. I think Miles is ready for football season. He says, "Roll Tide! Roll!" all of the time now. I'm so proud of my boy. ;)

2. Some of Miles's other favorite sayings are "Ready to go?" "Mommy! Watch this!" and "You okay?"

3. Miles likes to throw things in the air and say that they are "fireworks".

4. We took Miles to his first circus. He loved it! His favorite part was the elephants.

( I love the 1977 setting on Instagram!)

Miles is very serious about his elephant riding!

5. Miles loves to give hugs and kisses. He always hugs his teacher and the other kids in his class and then says "Bye bye Friends!" when he leaves.

6. Before Miles goes to bed every night, he has to give hugs and kisses too... He hugs and kisses the clock, the chairs, the doors, the wall, baby pictures of himself, all of his toys, etc., etc., etc... It is one of his many ways that he likes to prolong the bedtime routine.

7. Miles will do anything to stay up a little later at night. He will tell me that he wants to "watch Mama's shows" on t.v. (as opposed to Barney) and he will tell me I need to cut his toenails (which he normally hates!)

8. He loves to go to church. He has started going to the 2 year-old Sunday school class. He didn't even cry on the first day... that may have had something to do with the fact that they had doughnuts...

9. Last week, I took Miles to "Last Splash of Summer" at our church so that he could swim and play with his friends.

10. He still loves to play with Addison... Maybe they will get married one day. If they do, I will have so many pictures for their wedding slide show.

11. He loves his dog, Colby!

12. Miles thinks Colby is a good friend and makes a great seat.

13. He loves to play with my Ipad. Whenever he sees it, he'll say, "I get new game?" The Ipad taught him all of his shapes including hexagon and pentagon... My parents didn't have to spend $500 for something to teach me my shapes, but whatever.

14. He loves to go to Mexican restaurants. He'll say, "I want to go eat chips." He also loves to slide down under the booth, escape, run through the restaurant, cry for a gumball, and then try to put the gumballs back in the candy dispenser. We don't go out to eat very much anymore.

(Miles and John Riley North)

15. He loves to wear his daddy's shoes.

16. Miles is very ~~stubborn~~ independent. When we go to Walmart, he wants to push the shopping cart, not ride in it. If I try to help him, he says, "No! My do it! My do it!" So I let him... but only because he gets tired by the time we get to the Walmart greeter and then he'll sit in the cart for the rest of the time without complaint.

17. He still loves firetrucks... and choo-choos... and airplanes... and buses... and cars... and trucks... and tractors... and boats...

18. He still watches Barney... Every. Single. Freaking. Day.

19. He sings "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" all of the time. He sings, "Row!Row!Row!Row!Boat! Down the steem! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Deem!"

20. He FINALLY is starting to learn his colors. I thought he never would. So far, he knows red, black, and yellow. I have this book to thank:

Best book ever! Go buy it for your son today... I mean, if he's obsessed with trains and insists that everything is "yellow".

21. He loves to help me. (See picture below.)

22. He is still obsessed with his blue Crocs. (See picture above.)

23. Miles uses words like "crazy", "silly", and "scary".

24. His favorite game is "Mama goes potty." When I go to the bathroom, Miles closes the door and turns off the light to scare me. Then he'll say, "Mama scary!"

25. He will no longer sleep in the dark. He sleeps with the lights on and the door open. Too much playing in the dark made him scared of it!

26. He doesn't like to talk on the phone to my parents. Instead, he runs to the front door and starts whining that he wants to go to their house. However, he will talk to their cat on the phone... who is actually my mom saying, "Meow! Meow!" When my mom tries to talk to him in her normal voice, he'll say, "Where'd the cat go?"

27. He talks about Santa Clause all of the time. In the bathtub, he will put the bubbles on his chin and say, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Christmas can't get here fast enough. I think it's going to be fun this year!

28. He is getting so big! Doing a 28 month update reminded me of how I used to always take pictures of him on the changing table until he was 12 months old... So, I tried to do it again... Just for old times' sake!

Elmo

2011-07-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Miles and I went to visit my parents for a few days right before the family reunion. I hardly took any pictures, except for this one:

That is my mom with Miles and Elmo, who was at the mall.

So, now Miles loves Elmo - but still nowhere near as much as Barney. He will ask to watch Barney 9/10 times and Elmo 1/10 times. He does talk about Elmo, though.

The other day, we went to see my friend Carson, and her new baby, Henry.

Me: Miles, we are going to see a baby!

Miles: A baby Elmo?

Me: No, it's not a baby Elmo. It's a real baby!

Miles: Baby drink milk?

Me: Yes, babies drink milk.

Miles: Baby cry?

Me: Yes, the baby cries.

Miles: Baby have mama?

Me: Yes, the baby has a mama.

Miles: Baby go night-night?

Me: Yes, the baby goes night-night.

Miles: A baby Elmo?

Me: No, Miles, it is a real baby.

Miles: Ok! I'll wear my new Crocs.

By the way, his new Crocs are bright blue and a size too big. Miles is obsessed with them. He has decided to sleep in them from now on.

2011 Jones Family Reunion

2011-07-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, we traveled to Lake Lanier in Georgia for a family reunion with Steven's dad's side of the family. We all shared a big lake house and had a great time hanging out with the entire Jones family!

Whenever the Jones family gets together, one of our very favorite things to do is listen to Uncle Tim entertain us.

Steven played with Uncle Tim one night, and we all hung out on the deck and listened to them play.

I hope Miles gets Steven's music gene, since I don't have one at all. Here he is jammin' with Uncle Tim.

One night, we all took the Marta into Atlanta and ate dinner at the Varsity.

Miles got to experience his very first real "choo-choo" and was so excited!

Aunt Joan, Pop, and Uncle Eddie with Miles at the Marta station

Me and Miles outside the Varsity in Atlanta

Pop, Mabry, Steven, and Miles

Have you ever heard of "planking"? I first heard about it from one of my favorite blogs that I stalk. Well, I thought the idea was hilarious. Of course, my father-in-law had to "do a plank" outside of the Varsity.

Have you ever been to the Varsity? I can't believe it was my first time! It is quite the experience.

Aunt Joan and Uncle Eddie

Mabry

Hope

On another day, Steven and I took Miles to Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water park. I cannot believe that this place is so close to where my parents live and I have never been there before! It is really nice and they have a perfect area for toddlers. Miles had a blast!

Pop and Barrie Katherine met us there. They went on every single water ride in the park. I think Pop was getting a little tired, because he offered to watch Miles for us so that we could go on some rides with Barrie Katherine. I haven't been on a real water slide since middle school. It was really fun, but I quit after one! :)

Later, Steven and the kids did some fishing off of the dock at our lake house. I will fish, but I don't like to bait the hooks or take the fish off, so I decided to let them do that and I just took pictures.

Miles really, really loves his cousins. He has so much fun playing with them.

One day, I heard screaming coming from the bedroom. I thought somebody had gotten hurt and ran into the room... nobody was hurt, it was just Mabry and Miles rockin' out on the bed!

Every time Mabry would get an ice cream from the freezer, Miles would go up to him and say, "I wanna bite."

Sweet Barrie Katherine - This girl is precious. She is so helpful with Miles and Hope... I wish she would come live with me! ;)

Of course, we had to get a picture of Miles and Hope in the bathtub. Shouldn't everyone have an embarrassing naked picture with their cousin to show on the wedding rehearsal dinner slide show?

I think Miles drove Mabry a little crazy... Gave him a taste of what it is like to have a little brother! Mabry was very sweet, but I know he's looking forward to Miles being a little older!

I swear, Hope is the cutest baby ever... and she smiles for the camera! I love how the two youngest cousins were just hanging out and playing cards!

Miles's new thing is he asks everyone if they are okay. It is the sweetest thing. In this picture, he was looking at Hope saying, "You okay, Hope? Hope? You okay?"

This picture is so funny to me... All week, I was trying to take pictures of Miles, and he would scream, "Stop, Mama!" and run away. I think he thought that if he would just sit still for one picture, I would leave him alone. So, acting VERY ANNOYED with me, he sat still and stared at the camera, but refused to smile... I think I just had a glimpse of Teenager Miles!

Miles's new favorite toys are coat hangers... He calls them "sailboats".

By far, my favorite night from that week was the night that we all played charades. I can't tell you when the last time I laughed that hard was... I'm talking tears streaming down my face, belly aching, can't catch my breath laughing.

Never a dull moment with the Joneses!

We had the best time! Pop, Grammy, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Joan, Uncle Tim, Aunt Jo, Shella, Morgan, Michelle, Barrie Katherine, Mabry, and Hope - Thanks for a fun week! We can't wait until next year!

Choosing a Shirt and Seeing Choo Clause

2011-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

This morning, Miles chose the shirt he wanted to wear for school.

I didn't think that a two-year-old boy would be picky about what he wore to school, but mine decided that he would begin today.

I had picked out some blue and white plaid sear-sucker shorts, and a t-shirt with a matching truck applique.

Miles wanted to wear a shirt with dogs on it.

He only has one shirt with dogs on it. It has a grey background and there are big bleach stains on the back of it... and it was dirty because he wore it last week.

So, Miles cried that he couldn't wear a shirt with dogs on it and then ran around the house in nothing but a diaper screaming.

I pulled shirts out of his drawer in search of some kind of compromise so that I could get him to school by 8:30... If he's not there by 8:30, then I have to feed him breakfast, and a whole other battle will begin.

"Miles, you want to wear a shirt with a shark?"

"Dogs! Dogs Shirt!"

"How about a truck?"

"DOGS!"

"Thomas the Train? You want a choo-choo shirt?"

"DOGS! DOGS!"

"Here's one with boats..."

Miles immediately stopped screaming, smiled a great big smile, and galloped up to me.

"Boats!" he said cheerfully, and he bowed his head for me to finally put a shirt on him.

I then noticed stains on his shirt, but that was not a battle I was going to choose to fight.

So, Miles went to school today in a stained shirt with boats on it and his hair sticking up on both sides because not only did he not want to wear an appliqued truck shirt, he also did not want me to brush his hair.

As we were walking out the door, I checked the summer fun calendar and noticed that today they would be painting on easels... what a perfect day to wear a stained shirt with boats on it!

This weekend, our friends, Todd and Jessica came into town with their little boy, Murphy. It was one of those weekends where there was nothing to do, and with heat indexes at around 107, it was just too hot to do anything!

So, we watched the kids play indoors.

After a while, we had to get out of the house and find something to do, so we headed to the Renaissance for Christmas in July and to play in the fountains.

Miles was very excited about seeing Santa Clause. He calls him "Choo Clause"... I'm not sure why. Maybe because he knows that if he is good, Santa is going to bring him a train table and some new choo-choos?

So, all day long, Miles was saying, "Choo-Clause! Ho, ho, ho!"

However, when he finally saw Santa, he wanted nothing to do with him! He refused to sit on his lap, so these are the best pictures I could get:

He warmed up just a little when Santa gave him a pack of silly bands, which he calls his "beads".

We have five months to convince him to sit on Santa's lap!

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend...

Tomorrow, we are headed to Georgia to visit my parents and then a Jones Family Reunion!

Cowboy Day at School

2011-07-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

Mamas, Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys!

Fourth of July

2011-07-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July, Miles was watching Barney - as usual. Don't you just love his hair? I call this look "Fireworks".

We spent the day with the Dimons cooking out at our house and then went to see the fireworks at Liberty Park in Madison.

Miles was soooo excited about the fireworks!

He sat with his daddy and would scream, "Fireworks! Boom! Boom!"

Then, all of a sudden he wanted to sit with me. He curled up in my arms and was fast asleep before the finale.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Fourth!

New Things with Miles

2011-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Traveling north on Interstate 55, I signal right to get off at exit 108, the Madison exit.

Miles immediately starts screaming, "Lawnmowers! Lawnmowers!"

He knows that I will turn right on Main Street and he will soon see a Lowes, which indeed has lawnmowers in front of the store.

If we turn on Rice Road, he'll say, "Pop and Gigi at home?" He knows they live in a neighborhood off of Rice Road.

If I take Old Canton, even if I am three miles away from the Madison airport, he'll start screaming, "Airplanes! Airplanes!"

And, sure enough as soon as we get to the airplanes, he'll start screaming, "Fire truck! Fire truck!" because he knows the firestation is after the airport.

Miles has an unbelievable good sense of direction... an almost Rainman-like sense of direction.

He does not take after his mother, who lived inside the perimeter of Atlanta for one year and cried every time she went to the grocery store because she would always end up on the wrong bypass going the wrong way.

And he certainly does not take after his Aunt Kelly who drove from Georgia to South Carolina when she meant to go to Alabama... but that's a different story.

Miles's latest obsession is "car baths".
One time I drove my car through the car wash at the BP station. Miles got a little nervous about it, so I told him that we were giving the car a bath.

That's all it took. He has mentioned "car baths" every day since. When we drive past a gas station, he will look to see if it has a car wash, or not. If it does, he will excitedly scream, "Car bath! Car bath! Car bath!"

However, when I don't turn into the gas station to get a car wash, he will whine, "I want car bath! I want car bath!"

When did my baby get so big? When did he start saying things like, "Mommy, you okay? You okay, Mommy?" after I grunt from picking up his heavy 30 pound body.

When did he start ordering food at restaurants? When the waiter came to take our order one day, he said, "I want french fries and apple juice."

Last week, he went to Vacation Bible School at the church where he goes to daycare. I'm not sure exactly what they learned about, but according to Miles they learned that "God goes night-night."

We have also started our second swimming class. This time, they are swimming under the water by themselves for a few feet.

The other day, before I left him with his teacher at the pool, Miles said, "Mama, watch! Mama watch!"

He wanted to make sure I was watching him go under the water, jump in, and go down the water slide.

He's so proud of what he's learning.

So am I.

Beach Trip

2011-06-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last week, we went on a beach trip with our good friends, Jameel and Melissa, and their little boy, Porter, to Windmark Beach in Port St. Joe, Florida.

Miles loves the beach!

He loved to play in the water and jump into the waves. He also loved looking for shells and playing with his toys in the sand.

There were kayaks on the beach and Miles was obsessed with the "boats".

He loved to go out on rides in the kayak and was happy just climbing in and out of them on the sand. On the last night we were there, he gave each kayak a hug and said, "Bye bye, boat."

We took him out on a kayaking trip and kayaked on crystal-clear water where we saw starfish and stingrays.

The couple who own the place had chickens, a horse, and a donkey.

We went to an oyster bar at the resort. I had baked oysters and Steven ate them raw. Miles ate french fries and had his first "bar" experience.

We also had dinner at a marina where the boys could watch the boats while we ate.

Miles really loved playing with Porter!

Their daddies are best friends, so hopefully they will be too!

We had a great time, but realized that beach vacations are a lot of work for the parents!

It was all worth it to see this little guy so happy.

It was a fun, fun trip with my good friends and sweet little family!

I already miss the beach and am thinking about where we should go next time!

VBS

2011-06-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

When the vacation bible school directors at my church asked me what I wanted to do this year, I said, "I think I'm going to do a two-year-old class."

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

See, Miles LOVES church. But, his "church" is the nursery. He loves to go to the nursery, sit at the plastic little tikes picnic table, and eat pretzels. He loves to sit on Mrs. Carrie's lap and rock, and he loves to push the plastic tractor.

He talks about church all the time. He can point to the road we turn on to get to church and will scream, "church!" He will tell me, "I like church." And, if I dress him in anything nicer than his hand-me-down play clothes, he will ask, "Go to church?"

But, like I said, to Miles, church is the nursery.

When he turned two, I thought that he should go to the two-year-old Sunday school class. When I brought him to the room, he cried, and cried, and screamed and cried. He pointed to the nursery and sobbed, "Go to church!"

So, since technically he shouldn't go to the two-year-old room until Promotion Sunday in August, I let him go to the nursery.

As my Dad would say, "Miles - 2,042. Mama - 0."

Tears immediately stopped and he ran to Mrs. Carrie with open arms keeping his eyes on the big plastic container of pretzels.

So, when the vacation bible school directors asked me how I was going to volunteer this year, a two-year-old VBS class seemed like a great idea.

Normally, you have to be four to go to VBS, but if you volunteer, you can send your three-year-old.

"I think I'll do a two-year-old class for the children of the volunteers. Instead of them going to the nursery, I'll bring them downstairs to eat supper with the rest of the kids. We'll stay for the opening whole group activity, and then go upstairs to play in the two-year-old Sunday school classroom. Then, I'll take them downstairs to listen to the music."

Perfect, right? Miles could stay with me and get used to the new Sunday school classroom and realize that his "church" was more than eating pretzels with Mrs. Carrie.

What could go wrong?

Day 1 - Miles did not want to go to church. Just flat out did not want to go. Bless his little heart, I know he was tired and cranky and just wanted to watch Barney: Lets go to the Fire House four times in a row, but dag-gum-it, he was going to go to VBS and have a good time.

So, on Day 1 of VBS, Miles cried for the first hour and a half. He screamed and cried, boo-hooed, and clung to me like a little baby chimpanzee...

Until he discovered the hot dog stand. He thought standing behind the cardboard cutout was so much fun. So, at the end of the night when every. single. other. child. was sitting down on the floor and listening to Chef Basil explain today's recipe for God, my child would cackle like a wild hyena and run through the room to the hot dog stand.

Day 2 - Miles discovers Chef Basil's stuffed dog puppet. Miles likes dogs - a lot. So, the stuffed dog wearing a chef's hat and sitting inside a pot on the stage was just too much for him to handle.

"Dog! Dog! Dog!" he would cry and run up to the stage.

"Miles! Come here!" I would hiss, all to no avail. Miles would already be on the stage, holding onto Chef Basil's apron, and staring dreamily up at her puppet.

Then, Miles would jump down the steps of the stage yelling, "Dump! Dump! Dump!" with every bounce. He would run up to me and give me a hug.

"Miles. Stay here. Look at Zachary. Zachary's being a good boy. He's sitting with his mama. You need to stay with your mama."

"Bye-bye!" he would shriek at the top of his lungs and take off in a sprint towards Chef Basil. One time, I grabbed the back of his shirt, and he kept running in place as if he were on a treadmill. Another time, I picked him up and tried carrying him to the back of the room, but his cries were so distracting, that I ended up just letting him run back on the stage.

Miles- 2,043. Mama - 0.

Day - 3 Miles became so obsessed with the "dog", that I let him hold him on his lap while he ate his supper. Unfortunately, they were serving watermelon that night, and the stuffed dog's chef hat became soaked with the red watermelon juice/drool dripping from Miles's mouth.

So I put the dog back.

Miles did not like that.

At all.

I finally lugged his thirty-pound body up the stairs in search of anything that resembled Chef Basil's sidekick and found an old teddy bear.

That did the trick, until we went back downstairs and Miles caught a glimpse of the dog.

"Dog! Dog! Dog!" he screamed as he frantically made his way up the stage to Chef Basil's kitchen.

Miles - 2,044. Mama - 0.

Day 4 - We didn't go to VBS.

I just didn't go.

I couldn't do it one more night.

I called the VBS directors and asked them to find someone else to watch the other two-year-olds.

Miles and I went home. He sat on his green Pottery Barn chair, thrilled to chill out in front of his favorite Barney episode.

I sat down on the couch in defeat.

Miles - 2,045. Mama - 0.

2011-06-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

When I walked into Miles's room this morning, he was standing at his window, behind the blinds. You would have thought that the circus was in our driveway if you saw how excited he was.

"Garbage Truck! Garbage Truck! Garbage Truck!"

And so, garbage trucks were the topic of that morning's conversation.

"Where'd the garbage truck go? Home? Garbage truck go home? To the garbage truck house? Garbage truck go to the garbage truck house?"

Deep thoughts from my two-year-old.

His "deep thoughts" do not get much deeper than trucks, choo-choos, and things going "night-night".

This morning, I would have really liked for him to go to school. I'm going to the beach in just a few days and have a million things to do... Tan, pedicure, shopping... all in the hopes that it makes me look 30 pounds lighter in my swimsuit.

However, it was really hard for me to sell school to him this morning after I looked at his Summer Fun Calendar and saw that today's summer fun was watching movies in pajamas and eating cheetos.

So, I let him stay home to watch Barney Goes to the Fire Station, or "Barney Fire Truck", as he calls it. I think he has watched this same episode of Barney 56 times this week and I'm not exaggerating.

Really, I think Miles is exhausted, which is why I did not force him to go to school today. He has had a busy, busy week and I think a day of lounging on his Toy Story couch in his diaper watching the same episode of Barney over and over again may be just what he needs.

My parents came into town this week. Miles was so excited to see them. So excited that he didn't nap all week.

I think his favorite time from when they came was sitting on our back porch swing with my dad. They sat on that swing and watched the rain for over an hour. Every time they would hear thunder, they would both say, "Boom!" and laugh.

After my parents left, we went to Steven's parents' house for dinner and watermelon. Can you tell this family loves watermelon?

It is hot!

2011-06-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

It is hot in Mississippi right now.

I'm talking heat indexes over 100 degrees, and it is only the first week of summer.

The heat just comes in and zaps all of my energy away. All of my goals of being productive are melted in the heat and all that is left of me is one big sloth of a person who can barely do anything but lay on the couch in the air conditioning to watch Jersey Shore episodes streaming on Netflix.

I'm pathetic.

I'm running out of things to do with Miles in this heat. Thank goodness today was Water Day at his school and I could send him there guilt-free because I know he'll have fun.

I've been trying to entertain him at home. On Friday, we went to the park for a play date with my friends from church. It was so hot and I think Miles probably ate 42 popsicles before we left.

We invited Sara and Addy to come along. I guess the kids were hot, because they could spot a sprinkler a mile away.

Our friends Jason and Randi came over with their little girl, Leah. Miles and Leah swam in his kiddy pool outside. Miles loved to cannonball into the pool with poor Leah sitting next to him.

He has been in the pool a lot. I've actually been in the pool with him. It is just too hot to sit outside and not be in the pool.

Swim lessons are going great! Miles has gone under the water and down the water slide. I signed him up for another two-week session this summer and he is moving up to the next level.

But, there is only so much we can do outside in this heat. Yesterday, after we went to Sunday school, church, and had an (indoor) church picnic, I just couldn't bare to go outside. So we kept Miles in all day.

We played in his room... Well, I cleaned out his drawers and he jumped on his bed. Then, when he wanted me to sit down next to him and play with his "choo-choos", he said, "Mommy, have a seat."

Oh, yeah. I'm no longer Mama. I'm now Mommy. He's so grown up.

Then, we played with his play-dough in the living room and watched Barney.

Then we watched another episode of Barney.

Then we watched ANOTHER episode of Barney.

Miles knows his Barney movies and will ask for specific ones... "Barney Choo-Choo!"

"Barney Fire Truck!

"Barney Beach!"

By the end of the day, I said to him, "Miles, Mommy is going to end up in the insane asylum. Mommy cannot take one more episode of Barney. The doctors are going to have to put Mommy in a rubber room and lock her away because Barney is driving Mommy crazy."

So Miles agreed and said, "Bye-bye Barney. Barney, go night-night." Then he told me that he wanted to watch "dog and cat", which means he wants to watch Milo and Otis.... so much less annoying than Barney!

We didn't even get half-way through Milo and Otis when Miles asked for his milk. That means he wants to go to bed. So, I went to the kitchen to fix him a cup of warm milk. When I went back into the living room, he wasn't there.

He had gone into his room, turned out the light, and crawled into his bed.

I guess the heat wears him out too...

So, I assumed my position on the couch to see what kind of drama would develop between Snookie and The Situation...

Today, I will not watch Jersey Shore. I am going to be productive today!

On my to-do list?

Gym. Tan. Laundry.

1477

2011-06-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

1477.

1477! That is the number of pictures that were on my Iphone.

I have never taken the pictures off of my Iphone and transferred them onto my computer...

Until today.

So, while I cannot possibly show you 1477 pictures, I am about to show you an obnoxiously large amount of pictures.

So, stop reading now if you don't want to see what has been on my Iphone over the last year and a half!

Alabama game... We were in Atlanta... I don't even remember who we were playing, but I know we won and it was fun! Roll Tide!

Isn't my husband so sweet? I guess this was one of our Geek-Out nights playing Scrabble.

His eyes weren't even brown yet!

My Michael Jackson scarecrow in my classroom! Halloween 2010

Love them!

Ha! No, he did not really wear this!

Cute little elephant butt

I love how Addison used to curl up in the swing like she was a turtle.

Miles and Addison at Chick-Fil-A... It was so much easier going out to eat back then!

Watching football was so much easier too...

He fell asleep like this at the fair

My Bama Baby!

The weekend we both turned 30... 30 seems so young now that I'm almost 32!

Oh, I used to love those little dinosaur socks!

Showing Mrs. Pam Miles's giraffe costume

Our first "real" Christmas tree!

Bless his heart. I hope those days are over.

These are the HIDEOUS paintings Steven and I did for each other one night at Easily Amused! They were supposed to be Picasso-like portraits for each other and they were awful! But, it was fun and those gems are hidden away somewhere in our attic.

Steven and I went away for the weekend without Miles... First and only time so far! We went to New Orleans to see Eric Clapton.

Miles used to carry that hairbrush everywhere!

Last summer... They are so much bigger now!

Okay, I actually had 28 more photos I was planning on posting but it is taking FOREVER and I believe that is enough. I also have hundreds of videos I just transferred... including the one from yesterday when Miles had his first swim lesson. By the way, he did GREAT! I'll see if I can figure out how to post those later!

Summer, Day 1

2011-05-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

You know what is better than getting to stay home with your child all day? Getting to stay home without your child all day.

I know, I sound like an awful parent. I'm sure there is some super-mom out there reading my blog shaking her head at how horrible of a mother I am while she bounces her baby in a cloth diaper on her knee, looks lovingly at her five other children dressed perfectly and playing quietly in her immaculate house with tonight's supper already cooking...

A) I don't care what fictional lady thinks. I need a break.
B) Who am I kidding? Nobody reads my blog except for my own mom.

So Miles was shipped off to school today and I am sitting here in a quiet house, sipping coffee, blogging, and thinking of my "to-do" list for the day.

It is 8:55 and I am already worn out. Apparently, Miles is going through another one of his "what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-our-child" phases.

This morning, I went in to wake him up with a cheerful, "Good Morning!"

Miles responded with a grunt and hand gesture that clearly said, "Get out of my room!"

Oh, and he was not sleeping in his toddler bed, like he should have been. He was sleeping on his little Toy Story 3 fold-out couch in the corner of his room.

When did my two-year-old start acting like a teenager?

He sleepily let me change his diaper, but then decided that he did not want to wear clothes today. He screamed bloody murder as I tried to put his shirt on. When I finally got it on, he jumped up and ran through the house screaming, "No pants! No pants!" as I chased him carrying the shorts I wanted him to wear today.

When I caught him, it took another few minutes to actually get his shorts on him. I always have said that you could wrestle an alligator if you could get Miles dressed.

He was not crying. He was whining and saying, "Miles crying! Miles crying!"

So, that is pretty much how our morning went. Which is one of the major reasons that little guy is at school today.

So, I've already been to the gym and now I'm thinking of all of the things I need to do today...

-Finish cleaning the house
-Buy fabric to finish the gossip bench that I am refinishing
-Clean and paint the patio set
-Pick up Miles from school and take him to swim lessons

Am I crazy to be sooo nervous about taking him to swim lessons? I'm not sure the teachers will truly understand what they are getting themselves into...

Okay. My cup of coffee is finished. I better get going. I'll post about swim lessons later.

Swinging into Summer... one last time.

2011-05-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I took Miles to the last Swinging into Summer in Madison. We had a lot of fun, but I must say, I'm kind of glad it is over. I don't know how many more times I can ride that "choo-choo".

After school that day, I kept telling Miles that we would get to see a goat... I wanted him to be excited about something other than the choo-choo, just incase we weren't able to get on.

It worked. As soon as we got there, Miles whined, "Goat! Goooooat! Goooooat!" Until I took him to the petting zoo...

But, Miles wasn't too crazy about the goats and decided that he would rather spend his time with the bunnies... or "monies", as he calls them.

Miles also played in the sand. Actually, he played in the sand for so long, that I have become very excited about our beach trip... Maybe, just maybe, he will play long enough for Steven and I to actually relax.... Wishful thinking, but my fingers are crossed!

So, we went with Carson and Amber, and as you can see, Miles and Carson were wearing matching outfits. At one point, I looked at Amber and said, "Do you realize that our kids are wearing matching outfits, and we are both taking a million pictures of them? People are probably making fun of us right now."

I had a lot of questions about their outfits, so here is the story... I saw these board shorts by Willy Dilly and thought they were soooo stinking cute... and they were on sale for $5.00! So, I got some for Miles, and then realized that Carson should have a pair too... and then I realized that they wouldn't have anything to wear with them, so I bought a third pair and appliqued some white t-shirts I already had to match their shorts. Two outfits for $15.00! Not bad!

Speaking of Carson, that boy is probably the funniest child I have ever met... and he can DANCE! I am telling you, I have never seen a two-year-old get down like him... and I mean get down, literally.... booty shaking all the way to the floor. You have to see it in person, to truly understand, but this picture can give you an idea of what I am talking about...

I mean, he can really attract the ladies... like this little girl who admired his moves so much, she came up and started dancing with him...

Miles, on the other hand, still twirls in circles like a ballerina when he dances.

Backpacks for Breakfast

2011-05-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday mornings, Miles goes to the freezer because he wants backpacks.

And, by backpacks, I mean pancakes.

After he eats four of the pancakes, I realize that he has only eaten three pancakes.

Because I find one in the back of his dump truck.

He runs into the kitchen and will say, "More? More backpacks?"

So I make him more pancakes.

I'm so glad that they only take 35 seconds to microwave because he asks for more backpacks several times.

So I continue to make him more pancakes.

When he is eating his pancakes, he'll say, "What's that? What's that?" and point to his plate.

"That's a pancake, Miles."

"No! What's that? What's that?"

"Uh... it's a backpack?" I say, confused.

"No! Its a air bone!"

"Oh, yeah! That IS an airplane! You are right!"

I almost forgot the game we played the night before, where I had to tell him that every piece of food on his plate was either a car, truck, train, boat, or airplane just to get him to eat his supper.

Don't ask me why my child will eat something if he thinks it is some kind of transportation....

Or why he calls his pancakes "backpacks".

Here is a picture of him eating a "lellow" popsicle.

And by "lellow" I mean purple.

If you argue with him that it is purple, not yellow, he will tell you that it is "black".

Thank you to my friend, Cat, for my new blog design! Inanapstime.blogspot.com

The Year We'll Leave Early

2011-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

Miles has been two now for a little over a month, and I am beginning to witness the terrible twos first hand. He is still cute and sweet and gives plenty of kisses, hugs, and fist pumps, but lately his favorite words are "Mine!" and "No!"

I remind him daily that techinically nothing is his, because he doesn't have a job, but he'll just tell me, "No! Mine!"

Of course he has a million other words too... Seriously... probably close to a million. The kid never shuts up. Ever. Unless he's sleeping.

The things he likes to talk about most are things going "night-night", and "trucks". A five-minute car ride to school in the morning sounds something like this:

"Where'd Mama go? Home. Mama go home. Where'd dada go? In the truck! Dada in the truck! Where'd Pop go? Night-night. Gigi go night-night... Carson! Caaaah-son! Mama, go to Carson's house. Okay? Okay? Carson's house. Okay?... Tractor! Tractor! Mama, see? Tractor! Tractor on the beach...Choo-choo! Choo-choo crying! Sad. Choo-choo sad. He crying!... Truck! Truck! Vrooom! Vroom! Beep, beep!... Where'd the truck go? Home. Truck went night-night."

He still loooooves trucks. I mean, like an OCD obsession with trucks. He also likes cars, boats, trains, and airplanes, but not as much as he likes trucks.

He knows his cars and it just amazes me everyday. Steven's mom drives a black lexus and he will see a white lexus and say, "Gigi's car!" He knows the difference between a Ford F-150 (Pop's truck) and any other truck and he can spot a Trailblazer (Mama's car) a mile away as opposed to any other SUV that looks similar to it.

Since Miles has been two, he went to his first crawfish boil. The guy who was cooking the crawfish took one out and let it walk next to Miles. It flopped over onto its side, and Miles said that it went "night-night".

Miles did find a way to entertain himself that night by lining up all of the bottle caps and pushing them while saying, "Choo-choo!"

We knew it was time to leave when Miles wouldn't stop standing in the bucket that held the ice and drinks.

We also went to Swinging into Summer with "Caaah-son" and Amber. There was a trackless train there and Miles got so excited when he saw it. I took him on the train and the second we got off, he would say, "More? More Choo-choo?"
We had a lot of fun sitting outside watching the boys hoola-hoop to some local band covering Journey, until they got in a huge fight over some Fruit Loops and we had to leave.

We took Miles to Pepsi Pops, an annual event where the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra plays outside on the reservoir. Miles was way too obsessed with the boats, so we had to leave early from there too. He didn't just want to see the boats. He wanted to get into the boats.

So, because he was so obsessed with the boats at Pepsi Pops, I figured he would LOVE the Dragon Boat Regatta... Steven, his dad, brother, and sister-in-law were all racing on one of the boats.

I was right... He loved watching the boats in the water, but he got even more excited when he saw a pick-up truck in the parking lot.

We've been going to the pool. I was very excited about the pool opening. I thought that it would be something really fun for us to do together. After yesterday, I don't know if we will be back. Miles is fearless. Yesterday, he did not give it even a second's thought when he ran and did a flying cannonball into the pool. Luckily, Steven and I were sitting on the edge of the pool and he jumped into the shallow end where there is only a foot of water. He landed smack down on his bottom, then laughed jumped up, and wanted to do it again. Steven and I tried everything to get him to play in the water and not jump from the side, but he wanted to "dump" and made a huge scene. So, we left. Steven carried our kicking and screaming terrible two year old, and I grabbed all of our things and we made a mad dash out of there.

Swim lessons start May 31st. Fingers crossed.

We went back to Swinging into Summer this past Thursday. I was so looking forward to this event! It's so much fun and I see so many of my friends there. All I wanted to do was sit back in an adirondack chair, drink a sweet tea, talk to my friends, and listen to the music. All Miles wanted to do was ride the choo-choo. Over and over again. I managed to let him ride it three times, and that wasn't easy. You basically have to push another mother and child out of the way to let your child on the train. There is no line. There is no order. I'ts a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to getting your kid on the train on Thursday nights.

After our third time on the train, I was holding Miles on my hip. Miles was whining, "More choo-choo! More choo-choo!" and doing the sign for "more" and then pulling down on an imaginary train whistle. Apparently, his diaper must have been pushed to the side because I felt something warm and wet travel down the side of my shirt. Then, I saw it run down the inside of Miles's leg.

As politely as I could, I told the woman who was speaking to me, "I'm sorry. I have to leave. My son just peed on me."

Then, we left early from there too.

The Terrible Twos: The Year We'll Leave Early

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our Easter egg hunt at church!

Miles Turns 2!

2011-04-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

On April 13, Miles turned two! We had his party at Pump It Up this year and the theme was monkeys.

Miles, Jack, and Kate browsed through some magazines and patiently waited for the party to start in the waiting room.

Miles was soooo excited about jumping.

He probably went down this huge slide all by himself twenty times.

And, of course, whatever Miles does, Carson has to do... and vice versa! :)

Cousin Mabry

All of the kids were having so much fun so I actually got to hang out with some friends! (Sara and me)

Miles was thrilled to see Kayleigh... He has such a crush on that pretty little girl!

Grandma and Grandpa came all the way from Georgia to go to the party...

... and Pop and Grammy were there too!

Mama and Dada were really trying to get a picture with the birthday boy, but he just wanted to play with the balloon...

Here is the set-up. Pretty simple, huh? Cake, bananas, and capri suns!

We sang to Miles and as we did, he ate the little icing balls off of the cake.

I can't believe my little baby is two years old!

Here are the details on the party, incase you are wondering!

Invitations were done by my friend, Emily, at 29:11 Creations

http://www.2911creations.blogspot.com/

The cake was by a lady named Shelley Griffin. She is AMAZING! Let me know if you live in the Jackson area and need her phone number!

I ordered the shirt on Etsy.com

http://www.bloomingbabiesboutique.com/

The plates and napkins are from http://www.birthdayexpress.com/

Birthdays and New Pictures

2011-04-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, Miles and his cousin Hope had their pictures taken with a bunny.

We gave this one to Steven's mom in a frame for her birthday:

Friday night, we celebrated her birthday at our house.

Miles loves playing with his cousins!

Saturday, we took Miles to Emily Kay's birthday party. It was at the Ag Museum in Jackson.

Miles had SO MUCH FUN!

I kept telling him that he would get to see a horse and he was so excited about it all day.

It almost brought tears to my eyes to see my little boy so happy when he was riding on that pony!

The funny thing is, he wasn't afraid to get on the real horse, but he was too afraid to get on the horse on the merry-go-round... So, he had to sit on my lap!

He also got to see some barnyard animals and ride a train... This place was right up his alley!

Can't you just tell that he had fun from this picture?

This week was also my dad's birthday. We didn't get to see him for his birthday, but he'll be here on Friday.

Wedesday is Miles's birthday. Can't believe my little baby is going to be 2!

Parents & Kids Photo Contest

2011-04-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

This picture of Miles and Kayleigh Mae is in the Spring Fling photo contest for Parents & Kids magazines. Please vote for us! Go to http://www.parents-kids.com/, click on contests, featured contests, and vote for "Would you like some popcorn?"

I'm not sure what we would win... it would just be fun to win! :)

Superman has an off day

2011-04-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

There is nothing cuter than a little boy in Superman pajamas.

There is nothing funnier than Miles's hair in the mornings...

Steven calls this "Superman has an off-day."

Anyway, Miles has started nodding his head.

That doesn't sound like a very big deal, but with Miles, head nodding means manipulation into getting his way.

For example, I will say, "Miles, go get in your bed."

And, Miles will say, "Go night-night on my mat." While he says this, he will lie on his Toy Story couch, look at me square in the eye with a very serious look, and nod his head... as if he is sending a subliminal message that this is a good idea.

Or, after we have just come in the house after being gone all day, Miles will say, "Go bye-bye in Mama's car." This used to be a question, but now it seems to be a command as he tries to hypnotize me with his big brown eyes and serious head nod.

He always wants to go somewhere.
He usually wants to see Carson, his little friend who lives across the street. He will whine, "Carson! Carson!"

At the same time, Carson is across the street in his own house saying, "Where My? Where My?" (That's what he calls Miles)

Carson came over to play one day, and it was so hard chasing after two two-year-olds that I just stuck them in the bathtub so they would be contained.

They thought this was hilarious! Miles actually sat down in the bathtub - which he never does.

Even with all of their fighting, they really are best buds...

SIDS awareness walk

2011-03-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Today, my friend Krysten and I did a walk for SIDS to raise money and awareness.

SIDS was honestly my worst fear for Miles's first year of life. I am so blessed to have this healthy little boy and treasure every day with him. I cannot imagine what these families went through.

Krysten and I brought Miles and Kaleigh Mae with us. They played games, jumped in a space jump, ate popcorn, and then fussed most of the time during our 3 mile walk.

In loving memory to all of the precious angels who went to sleep and never woke up.

End SIDS Now!

sids.org

Milesnese

2011-03-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Miles from the other morning... We were actually ready 20 minutes ahead of schedule and I was killing some time.

That morning, Miles was wearing camouflaged cargo shorts and a football shirt....

and his pearls.

And yes. I let him wear them.

He is only almost two.

He loves his "beads"!

His language has exploded since getting rid of the paci. Here are some of the things he's been saying...

"No, we don't do that!" (To a friend in his class who was doing something wrong)

"Go bye bye see Carson!" (After blowing a kiss to our dog, waving to me, and heading to the front door)

"I'll get it!" (After I dropped something)

"I got it!" (After he picked it up)

"Gonna get you!" (As he chases me through the house)

In Miles's world, everything is yellow... or "lellow." He will argue with you about this. He will go up to something that is red, slowly brush it with his finger, and say, "Lellow.... Lellow". Apparently, he is mimicking how I've been trying to teach him his colors.

Also, all Sesame Street characters are "Elmo". He doesn't know any of their names so he calls Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, etc. "Elmo."

And of course, he talks about trucks. Constantly. Big trucks. Fire trucks. Pop's truck. Trucks go vroom vroom! Coo-coo's dada's truck.

He kind of reminds me of Bubba Gump talking about his shrimp. He is OBSESSED with trucks. I really did consider taking him to a used car lot as entertainment... then decided against it.

He talks about every, single truck he sees. Then, when he gets home, he plays with his trucks.

He is talking so much, and his words are sounding so much clearer...

However, sometimes he does revert back to his "Milesnese", a language that only his mama understands and I'll have to translate for people.

For example:
Miles: "Bappa More" (while doing the sign for more)
Literal Translation: "Apple More"
What he means: "I want another orange."

Oh yeah, all fruits except for bananas are apples in Milesnese.

Spring Break

2011-03-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

This week, Miles and I traveled to my parents' house in Georgia for the week. I was off for spring break, but Steven had to work. Yes, I traveled 460 miles with my 23 month old by myself! Just call me Super Mom.

And, if that wasn't hard enough, I also decided that this would be the perfect time for Miles to give up the pacifier. I figured that the drive would be 8 hours of hell anyway, how much worse could it get?

Why did we decide that Miles must give up his pacifier asap?

We came across this picture on the internet:

That picture of Suri Cruise helped us decide right then and there that our child would be giving up his beloved paci before he turned two!

And he did. Cold Turkey! Yes, he has asked for it every day, but he's been handling it well. I did not bring one with me to Georgia and while we were gone, Steven threw them all away. He has not had a paci in over a week!

The trip was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be thanks to our DVD player and a lot of snacks and juice boxes! It was all worth it because we had a great week with my family.

We went to the Georgia Aquarium -

Miles was petting the sting rays with his Aunt Kelley. He would have stayed there all day if we had let him.

Miles with his Aunt Kelley

Miles with his Grandma

We went to the park to play on St. Patrick's Day -

Miles and Me

Miles swinging with his Aunt Kelley

When Miles wears his sunglasses, he says, "I'm cool!"

We went to another park that had a nature walk and animals -

Miles with his Aunt Kelley and Grandpa

Miles was looking at a deer, which he called a "horse". There were also turkeys with the deer, which Miles called "tweet tweets".

Miles with his Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kelley

Miles and my dad are best buds. They played non-stop.

We went to Chuck E Cheese -

Miles playing Skee Ball for the first time

Miles playing Mario Karts - he couldn't touch the pedals, but it was fun to turn the wheel!

Miles in a truck - his latest obsession. He talkes about trucks All. Day. Long.

Yesterday, on the way home, he would say "Truck! Big Truck! Vroom! Vroom!" everytime we drove by a truck... and there are A LOT of trucks on the interstate. Then, everytime I would pass a truck, he would say, "Where'd it go?"

He's very cute and funny... but this tends to get old after 8.5 hours in the car with him!

Well, we are back at home. What a fun trip. Tomorrow it is back to school, work, and reality!

I can't believe spring break is over already!

How An Almost-Two-Year-Old Eats Breakfast

2011-03-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

"Miles, do you want an Eggo?"

"I'm hungry!"

Only he pronounces it HONE-GREE in a deep growl.

So, I make him the usual: one Eggo waffle that breaks into four mini waffles. I realize that is not a very balanced meal, so I add four grapes and a cup of milk. When I open the refrigerator to get out the milk, Miles spots the bag of individually wrapped Colby-Jack cheese squares.

"Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" Miles jumps up and down and is so excited, you would have thought Thomas the Train was sitting in our refrigerator. So I add the cheese to the paper plate and bring his breakfast into the living room so that he can sit at his plastic Little Tykes table and watch t.v. while he eats.

"What do you want to watch, Baby?"

I really don't need to ask this question. I know what the answer will be.

"Choo Choo!"

Miles is almost as excited about watching a Thomas video as he was about seeing cheese in the refrigerator. He jumps up and pretends to pull down on a train whistle.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch- Choo! Choo!"

He does the choo-choo shuffle around the living room.

"Ok. Sit down and eat-eat and I'll put on your choo choo."

I really don't like saying "eat-eat". I think his teacher started this and it caught on. Miles knows the difference between a triangle and a circle. He knows the difference between a motorcycle and a tricycle. He knows any old convertible as opposed to a convertible Mini Cooper, which he refers to as "Pop's Car". But the kid doesn't know what I'm talking about if I say "eat." I have to say "eat-eat."

When will this change? Will he be sixteen and ask a pretty girl if she wants to go see a movie and get something to eat-eat?

So, Miles sits down in his little plastic chair to eat-eat his waffles, grapes, and cheese.

He pats each piece of food two times and tells every separate thing on his plate, "Night-night."

I guess the mini Eggos are too sleepy to be eaten and they need a nap.

"Night-night. Night-night, " he says to every grape on his plate.

"Night-night," he tells all four pieces of cheese.

"Miles! You need to eat-eat."

He runs up to me with one soggy mini waffle and wants me to eat it. So I pretend to, but that's not good enough and he starts to cry.

"Mama! Eat-Eat!"

"Mama doesn't want to eat-eat. You eat -eat."

So he throws the waffle on the floor, where Colby eagerly waits. Colby then is thrown the other three mini waffles, all four grapes, and all of the cheese.

Miles puts his paper plate on the floor and stands on it. He then does the choo-choo shuffle on top of the paper plate.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch Choo Choo!"

"Mama. I'm HONE-GREE," he growls and then runs off to ride his tricycle through the kitchen.

Mississippi Natural Science Museum

2011-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

Today, I took Miles to the Mississippi Natural Science Museum.

We went with Sara and Addison...

... and Amber and Carson.

Carson is our new friend. He lives across the street, isthe same age as Miles, and is sooo cute....

Miles, Addy, and Carson had so much fun exploring the museum together...

They got to climb on leaves in the butterfly exhibit...

And play on top of a frog...

Don't you love the shoes? We could be an ad for New Balance.

Miles and his new BFF... Seriously, these two play so well together.

The kids saw all kinds of fish, reptiles, and other Mississippi wildlife...

No, the bears are not real...

But this two-headed snake is!

The kids stopped for a rest, drank some juice, and played poker...

Okay, they were looking at Science flashcards that were left on a little table, but to me it looked like they were playing poker.

What a cute little spider...

So, anyone who knows me know that I HATE frogs. I mean really, really, HATE, HATE, HATE frogs. I have locked myself in my bedroom when a frog got in the house before. I have not been able to get out of the car because there was a frog in my driveway before. I have cried hysterically because one was hiding under a bathroom towel before. I HATE frogs.

So, this picture is pretty funny to me...

And no, I don't hate "fake frogs"... just the real ones...

Anyway, I have a new fear. Something soooo much scarier than a frog. It is called an alligator snapper turtle.

This is the scariest thing I thnk I have ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is the size of my black lab. I will never, ever, ever, go swimming in the reservoir now that I know that this thing is a Mississippi native.

Go to the Mississippi Natural Science Museum, y'all! It is a great way to get your toddler's energy out on a rainy day!

Boots

2011-02-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Miles does not like to keep his shoes on his feet.

The navy blue velcro New Balances that I thought were so cute...

The shoes I had to drive all the way across town to buy...

The shoes that cost $40...

The shoes that I had to quickly throw on the counter so that I could tend to my child who was on the floor throwing an all-out tantrum because I would not let him throw all of the little girls' hairbows across the store...

No, Miles doesn't like those shoes and he won't keep them on his feet.

He is very picky about his shoes.

His absolute favorite shoes are his crocs. Nine out of ten times when I tell him to go get his shoes, he will come running up to me seconds later with one little tan croc in his hand.

"No, baby. You can't wear your crocs you have to wear your tennis shoes!"

"CROC!" he'll cry and then lie on the floor sobbing. "CROC!"

The reason he always comes running with one croc is because we lost the other one a long, long, time ago. I've looked everywhere for it.

However, Miles would rather hobble around in one size 4 croc than wear two size 7 navy blue New Balances.

He has to wear tennis shoes to school. He is not allowed to wear crocs or sandals because they play outside a lot. However, Miles would rather wear no shoes than his New Balances, so he just takes them off at school and runs around in his socks...

Which, by the way, he calls his "cocks".... Not to be confused with his "crocs".

His teachers are trying to teach him to keep his shoes on his feet. Their method of doing this is putting fluffy purple booties over his New Balances.

I'm not sure if this makes it harder to get to his shoes so he can't take them off, or it is meant to humilate the child until he learns his lesson...

Or is it meant to humiliate his mama until I go buy him some tennis shoes with shoe laces that I double-knot so he can't take them off?

Well, it does keep him from taking his shoes off, his mama is humiliated, but Miles seems to like his fluffy purple booties.

Today, when I picked him up from school he ran up to me and very excitedly pointed at his feet with one sticky finger and said, "Mama! Boots! Boots!"

My poor child.

My poor, poor child.

One of my friends saw him today when she went to pick up her little girl and left me a message on Facebook about it.

------------------------------------------------

Saw Miles on the playground today! Loved the furry boots he was styling in!!! :)

Me: It's so embarrassing! They make him wear those because he won't keep his shoes on!

Oh my goodness I cannot stop laughing!!! So daycare makes him wear them? Are they his? I was digging his individuality... Haha!

------------------------------------------
My poor child.

My poor, poor, purple-fluffy-bootie-wearing-child.

22 1/2 Months Old

2011-02-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

2011-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Miles loves to write and draw.

Ahem. Scribble.

We have had to hide all of our pens and paper. Every time he goes into our office, he throws a fit because he can't reach our pens.

And, he can't reach our pens because I put them on the top shelf... you know, so he can't reach them.

This hasn't been going too well since our office is actually an office / playroom.

The kid has his own personal Toys R Us and he throws a fit for my pens.

So, the other day, I took him to Target to buy him a Magna-Doodle.

While in Target, Miles decided that he did not want to sit in the shopping cart.

Fine. I was not in the mood for a tantrum in the middle of Target so I let him walk next to me.

He did great!

Until we got to the toy section.

This is where he began to throw fits for the exact same toys that he has in our office/playroom. The same exact toys that he never even sees because he is too busy throwing a tantrum for a pen.

I don't exactly remember how I lured him away from the toys, but all I know is that I was able to push my cart through Target with him happily doing the choo-choo shuffle behind me.

The choo-choo shuffle is something his dad taught him. When he watches Thomas the Train, Steven tells him to walk like a choo-choo and Miles will shuffle his feet really fast and say, "Choo-Choo!"

So, Miles was doing the choo choo shuffle behind me as I walked through Target.

I didn't even have to look back at him because I could here is little shuffle-shuffle-shuffle and then "Choo! Choo!"

When we got to the cash register, I handed the lady the Magna Doodle and then turned to see why my little choo-choo-er was so happy.

He had found two prizes at Target.

Two things that he could not live without.

1) a rubber ball filled with glitter and The Little Mermaid inside it

2) a teddy bear in a Justin Beiber sweatshirt

So, I did what any mother would do for her toddler son...

I hid the Justin Beiber sweatshirt wearing teddy bear behind the gum when he wasn't looking and I bought him the Little Mermaid ball.

Speaking of balls...

Tonight, Miles and I were in bed watching t.v.

Miles now knows how to use a remote control and he will fight me for it. So, I said, "Miles do you want to see a ball?"

"Ball?" He asked.

He handed me the remote.

I searched the t.v. for the Alabama - Auburn basketball game.

"See, Miles! Basketball!"

He got a really upset look on his face, grabbed the remote and said, "NO! Football!"

Some of Miles's Favorite Things

2011-02-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

Miles's new favorite t.v. show is Thomas the Train. In fact, that is the only show he ever wants to watch. He calls it "Choo-choo". He will go to the t.v. and act like he is pulling down a train whistle and say, "Choo-choo! Choo-choo!" He does this as soon as he wakes up until right before he goes to bed. All day long, he wants his choo-choo.

In the mornings, I tell him that he can't watch his choo-choo because he has to go to school. Miles always wants to go to school... except for the Monday after the Friday that he was thrown up on.

That Friday happened to be his Valentine's Day party at school. I made sure that Miles looked extra cute that day. I gave him a shower that morning so that his hair wouldn't be all crazy. He wore his new Valentines Day shirt and his best jeans. I made sure that he wore white socks...Steven doesn't seem to think there is a problem with him wearing black dress socks with tennis shoes, so now I have to make sure that his socks are laid out by his clothes. When I picked Miles up from school that day, I scanned the room in search of my immaculately dressed toddler, only to be greeted by a little hobo who ran up to me and threw his little sticky hands around my legs. He was wearing grey sweatpants that were about two inches too short and an orange fleece sweatshirt, unzipped to his chest with no shirt underneath.

"What happened to his clothes?" I asked.
"He got thrown up on."

The girl who was in his room that day, was not his regular teacher and sometimes subs in the afternoons when his teacher has to leave early. She wasn't there when it happened, so there was no point asking her a bunch of questions.

So, I asked Miles when we got in the car.

"Miles, who threw up on you?"
"Coo Coo!"
"Coo Coo threw up on you?"
"Coo Coo sick!"

It was later confirmed that Cooper was, in fact, the one who threw up on him. I didn't care who it was, I just wanted to know if Miles really answered my question or if he was just saying "Coo Coo" because it is the easiest name to say.

That Monday morning, Miles woke up asking for his choo-choo.
"No, Miles. We have to go to school."
"No!"
"You don't want to go to school?"
"No! Coo Coo sick!"

Reeves is actually Miles's best friend in his class. Only, Reeves's name is the hardest to say, so when I ask Miles who he plays with, he always says "Coo Coo and Dack" (Cooper and Jack). This week, however, he has started talking about Olivia a lot. He calls her "La-la-va-va".

Today, when I picked Miles up, he was playing with "Coo Coo and La-la-va-va". I asked his teacher how his day was. I love the random facts that she always gives me.

"How was Miles's day today?"
"He loves carrots."
"Oh, I know. He's always loved vegetables."
"He's the only child in both classes who ate all of his carrots."

So, I took that as Miles had a good day. Before we left, Cooper ran up to Miles to give him a hug goodbye. The two boys hugged like they wouldn't see each other for a long, long time. Then, Olivia had to run up to Miles for her hug. On the way out, we had to stop at the fish aquarium to say goodbye to the frog and the turtle. Miles always has to see them in the mornings too.

After a long day of work for me, and school for him, we came home to dinner in the living room in front of the "choo-choo". Miles would hand me random things and say, "Day go." (There you go.) I thought that I might be able to slip away to do some things around the house, but Miles threw a fit every time I stepped out of the room.

"Choo Choo with Mama!"
"Ok, baby. I'll watch the choo choo with you."

Then, he would tell me to sit. So I'd sit, and he'd say, "I wanna sit," and crawl up on my lap to watch the choo-choo.

After watching The Best of Thomas two times in a row, Miles and I curled up on the couch to read his new favorite book.

No, it's not a book about trains. His new favorite book is our church directory. This book has taken the place of his 100 words book.

When Miles and I read his 100 words book, Miles will point to each picture and say, "Whats that?" and I'll say the name of the picture.

"Whats that?"
"Apple"
"Whats that?"
"Ball"
"Whats that?"
"Car"

And so on, and so forth for 97 more words.

Now, with his new favorite book being our church directory, he likes for me to tell him everyone's name.

"Who's that?"
"Bob Abner."
"Who's that?"
"Henry Angle."
"Who's that?"
"Charlotte Anderson."

And so on, and so forth for 200 or so more church members.

Snow Day!

2011-02-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today, school was cancelled due to a "winter storm".

And by winter storm, I do mean half of an inch of snow.

Yes, I will have to make this day up... but it was worth it. Miles and I had a lot of fun today.

Don't you just love his snow outfit? Can you tell we don't get a lot of snow in Mississippi? Those rain boots are hand-me-downs from John Riley and they are two sizes too big. I had to stuff tissues in the toes just so he could walk.

Thank goodness Miles was not too crazy about the snow and wanted to go back inside. His mama hates cold weather! But, I was a good sport and went out in the front yard for a few pictures... then right back inside and made Steven start the fireplace before he left for work.

Miles and I met Sara and Addy and the Mississippi Children's Museum so that the kids could get their energy out some place indoors. This place is full of awesome, educational things for kids.

Miles's favorite part, by far, is the old Nissan that the kids are allowed to climb in and out of. He would sit in that car saying, "Beep, Beep!" all day long if I let him. Every time I went to grab him to go see something else, he would jump over to the passenger seat and act like he was asleep.

I mean, what goes through his little head? What does he think I am going to do? Leave him there because he is sleeping and then he can beep the horn once I'm out of sight?

Crazy kid.

I finally lured him away from the car by saying, "Look, Miles! Balls!" Miles ran to the tub of green and yellow balls, grabbed a green one, and booked it back to the car.

So, I had to carry him away, kicking and screaming... with the green ball. He took the green ball everywhere...

Last night, Steven and I were watching a documentary on TLC about the world's strongest toddler who could lift himself up with his arms.

Today, Miles started doing this...

Yeah, he's trying to climb INTO the river of foam boats.

I was very excited to find this little play-attic. It is closed off and allowed me to sit for a minute while Miles climbed over, under, and through the obstacle coarse.

Later, Miles and Addy drove the truck at the toddler sized farmer's market...

And then they chose some fresh fruits and vegetables. Miles kept trying to eat the plastic, red tomatoes. When I told him he couldn't eat them, he figured that they must be balls and threw them all across the museum.

After the museum, a trip to the Chick-Fil-A drive through, and a much-needed nap, Krysten, Kaleigh Mae, Miles, and I went to see our friend Rachel who is going to have her baby, Max on Tuesday.

Miles just LOVES Kaleigh. I mean really, really has a crush on her.

Miles gives Kaleigh a hug...

Then goes in for the kiss...

I think she was playing a little hard to get.

What a fun snow day. I'm so glad that we survived that blizzard! Next week it is going to be 67 degrees.

Gotta love Mississippi.

A Typical Morning

2011-02-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

I hear Miles crying and it wakes me up from the light sleep I have grown accustomed to ever since I became a mother nearly two years ago. I try to open my eyes, but I can't because they are so dry - something that "just happens to women my age", as my eye doctor told me a few months ago, shortly before my 31st birthday. It takes several minutes for my eyes to focus on the clock next to my bed. 5:15 - Only fifteen minutes until my alarm goes off the first time and only forty-five minutes until I really, really have to get out of bed.

Miles continues to cry, and I can hear him rattling the door in his bedroom down the hall. He is now tall enough to reach it, but thankfully he hasn't figured out how to turn it and open it just yet. I clumsily stagger out of my bed and have only a moment to make the first decision of the day: go to the bathroom first, or get Miles first? I choose to go to the bathroom first, because I'm just not in the mood to pee with a toddler sitting on my lap.

After probably the only thirty seconds to myself for the day, I walk through my bedroom and straight into my vanity dresser. I didn't want to turn on the lights to allow my husband a few more moments of sleep, and now will probably have a nice bruise on my leg as a token of my love for him.

Miles is still rattling the door and his cries are getting louder. I can hear him down the hall and see the baby monitor next to Steven blaring at a full-throttle bright red.

I hate red lights on baby monitors. Green lights on baby monitors are my best friends.

I go to Miles's room and tap lightly on the door so he will know that I'm there. I don't want to knock him over when I open it. He sees me and immediately stops crying and stretches his arms up for me to hold him.

I lift him up and realize how big my baby is... almost thirty pounds now. His long legs wrap all the way around my waist - the same legs that I used to move away from my ribs by pressing on my stomach.

Its time to make the second decision of the day - turn the lights on, change his diaper, and get this day started, or embrace every second of his unusually snuggly mood.

I choose to snuggle and carry him back into my room and bump into the same vanity table, probably bruising the opposite leg.

"Where's Paci?"

I know that means I have to go back into his room, but any request that is not a grunt is granted until I get used to his sweet little voice making complete sentences.

We turn around and go into his room. I still do not turn on the lights, because I know that lights are the official start to a day and I'm not ready to give in just yet.

I get on my knees and reach my hand under his toddler bed, sweeping the floor for his pacifier. I pull out a sippy cup, an unopened package of Christmas napkins, one of my suede boots, a mitten, and a ripped-up piece of a paper towel. Looks like my kid may be a hoarder.

I finally find the pacifier and hand it to him.

"Paci!"

We stumble through the dark, this time avoiding the vanity table and get into bed.

He immediately snuggles up to me and it is only a matter of seconds until I hear his deep, steady breathing.

I glance over at my clock. 5:29. My alarm clock will go off in only one minute. I change it to 6:00, which will still give me enough time to take a shower if I only dry the front of my hair and pull it back into a bun.

What seems like only an instant later, my alarm clock goes off. I slap at it, unable to open my eyes once again and fall back asleep. This process must repeat several times, because when I finally get a look at the clock I realize it is 6:20.

Crap. No shower today.

I roll out of bed carefully, so that I don't wake up Miles. His body rolls to the very edge of the bed. I try to lift him and push him over to Steven, but somehow his thirty pounds has become sixty and he won't budge.

"Steven," I whisper.

No response.

"Steven," I whisper a little louder.

"Hmmmm."

"I'm afraid Miles is going to fall off of the bed. I need to get ready for work."

"Mmmm hmmm."

I creep to the bathroom, open the door, turn on the light, and like a little ground hog peeping out from his hole, Miles sits straight up in our bed and says, "What's that?" in an unusually long southern drawl.

"That's Dada, Baby."

"Mama."

"Stay with Dada, Baby. Mama's gotta get ready for work."

"Mama!" He cries, his anxiety levels rising. He shimmies off of our bed that is probably too high for most toddlers to shimmy off of and runs to me to be held.

I pick him up, and proceed to get ready with only my right hand while my left hand holds him steady on my left hip.

Steven gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen to fix him a cup of warm milk and Singulair.

I plug in my flat iron to smooth out my frizzy hair... but only the front part. There isn't time for flat ironing the back of my hair this morning.

I put Miles down on the ground in front of me and he cries to be picked up.

"Be a big boy, Miles. Mama has to get ready."

He continues to cry until I pick him up and place him back on my hip as I try to wash my face with one hand.

"What's that?"
"That's a wash cloth, Baby."

Steven comes in with his milk and tries to pry him off of my hip. His legs have a death grip around my waist.

"Mama!" he cries as Steven pulls him off of me and heads to his bedroom.

"Are his clothes laid out?" Steven asks above the screams.

"They are in the dryer," I reply, proud of myself for remembering to take the clothes out of the washing machine the night before.

I close the door and pull on some clothes for work - clothes that I've hand way too long, worn way too many times, and are getting a little snug in the waist.

I add extra concealer to the dark circles under my eyes and put a little extra blush on... trying to camoflauge the fact that I sleep like a vampire.

I add my lipstick - a pointless habit since it will only end up on my travel coffee mug and I will never think to re-apply it.

I choose some (fake) diamond studs to put in my ears. I've begun to realize that my love affair with giant earrings will have to come to an end if I don't want them ripped out of my ears.

I slide on one suede boot and hobble around my room looking for the other before remembering that it is right next to the unopened package of Christmas napkins under Miles's bed.

Of course! Where else would it be?

As I take a last glance around my room in search of whatever I am probably forgetting, I hear Steven and Miles on the baby monitor.

Miles has stopped crying and Steven is singing him an old Jerry Garcia song he learned the lyrics to when he found out he would be the father of a boy.

My heart grows two sizes.

"Mama!" Miles cries when I go into his room for my missing boot.

"Hey Scooter Bug!"

He looks up at Steven and says, "Mama got boots, Dada."

My heart just grew one more size. I love that sweet little voice.

I go into the kitchen and see that Steven has my Alabama to-go cup all ready for me. Its filled with coffee just the way I like it - a little coffee and a lot of sugar - free hazelnut flavored creamer.

He hands me my keys, and hands me my son who has already had his hair and teeth brushed and his jacket zipped up. He kisses me goodbye and tells me to have a good day as he heads to the shower to get ready for work.

My heart grows again. I love that man.

I buckle Miles into his car seat, climb into the drivers seat, buckle my own seat belt, and change the CD track to number four so that Miles can hear the sounds of dogs barking on his Kindermusik CD.

"Woof, woof!" Miles barks in his sweet little voice.

I glance at my clock as I back out of the garage, headed towards daycare and work.

It is 7:08 and time to start my day.

How do you start your day?

Toddler Bed!

2011-02-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

My friend, Rachel, has a dad who is a retired pediatrician. Rachel told me that her dad said that the way to get a toddler to sleep in a toddler bed is to put him in his room and let him cry until he goes to bed.

Well, I really didn't think it would work.

One night last week, I was lying with Miles in the guest bed and he was bouncing off the walls. He would not have anything to do with going to sleep and it was 9:00.

I burst into tears and realized that something had to change... I could not function if I had to get up at 5:30 am, work all day, and then come home and take care of a toddler who doesn't go to sleep until 10:00.

So, I went into his room, made sure everything was baby-proof, stuck him in the room, and closed the door.

Miles stood by the door and cried and cried. Steven and I went to the other side of the house to wait out the storm... which I was just sure would last through the night.

Me: Do you think he is going to have long-term permanent damage from crying it out? What if he becomes a serial killer?

Steven: He'll be fine.

Me: I can't do this! Do you think we should just go get him and let him sleep with us?

Steven: Kristy, its been five minutes.

Me: This is going to take all night! He's going to get sick! We shouldn't let him cry too long... what is our limit?

Steven: Kristy look at the baby monitor.

... and when I looked, Miles was sound asleep IN HIS TODDLER BED! And he only cried for about ten minutes.

The next night, he cried for 40 minutes, and then he finally gave up standing at the door, gathered up all of his random objects that he likes to sleep with, and climbed into bed.

(We were watching him on the baby monitor!)

The next day, he cried for 2 minutes and 45 seconds at nap time.

That night, he cried for 1 minute.

Today, he told me "night-night" and climbed into bed.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halle-lu-jah!

Here is a picture of Miles in his toddler bed. He lets me take his picture now, but then says, "I wanna see", and looks at the digital images on the camera...

Speaking of things the child says, I wish I could carry a tape recorder around with me all day... He completely floors me every time a sentence comes out of his mouth! He babbles jibber-jabber all day, and then all of a sudden will talk to me. I am just utterly amazed every time he does it.

Today after I picked him up from the church nursery:

Me: Miles, what were you eating in there?

Miles: Crackers.

Me: You were eating crackers?

Miles: They gave me cookies.

Me: Did you play with Caroline and Zachary?

Miles: Zachary.

Yesterday, Miles pointed to a little, round white fan and said, "Fan is cold! Fan is a circle!"

I had absolutely no idea he knew what a circle was. I forget that he goes to school 8 hours a day and they are teaching him things that I don't.

One day, Steven was driving my car and Miles said, "Dada in Mama's car."

Yesterday at Walmart, Miles asked me where Dada was and I told him he was at home with Coco. Later, Miles said, "Dada and Coco at home. Mama go bye-bye."

Today, I was putting on his clothes to go play outside and he told me he wanted to "Go school! Play with Jack!" I had to explain that on the days we go to church we don't go to school and he seemed okay with that answer.

Miles loves sunchips. I buy vanilla wafers for him and sunchips for me.

"Miles, you want a cookie?"
"No. Want chips."

So, I end up eating all of the vanilla wafers and he eats all of my chips.

He has learned to tell Colby, "Coco! Vacuum!" when he drops food on the floor for Colby to eat.

I have so many more things to tell you about Miles, but I'll just show you some more pictures...

These are pictures of Miles wearing my dad's clothes from when he was a little boy. My great-grandfather was a colonel in the army and gave this little army outfit to my dad when he was little. My dad gave it to Miles.

2011-02-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

I have gotten over the fact that Miles doesn't sit in the bath tub. I am now okay with it. Really. I am.

I have decided that Miles doesn't need to take a bath anymore.

In our house, we don't have the nice bedtime routine of dinner, bath, books, bed.

Our routine is "wear Miles out and he will eventually pass out from pure exhaustion."

No bath. He takes showers in the morning with either Steven or me.

I have decided that Miles has to take showers in the morning, because this is what he looks like when he wakes up:

There is nothing I can do to calm down that hair. A wet brush, hair dryer, gel, moose, spray, or any combination of them will not calm that hair down.

He has to have a shower in the morning. That's fine with me. It makes things easier. I hated giving him baths anyway.

In other news...

Miles has learned to jump. Yes, really jump with both feet off of the ground.

He has been practicing like crazy. Everywhere we go, he practices jumping. He says, "jump!" every time he jumps and he jumps All. Day. Long.

Miss Robin, his Kindermusik teacher, celebrated the fact that Miles could now jump with both feet off of the ground last Monday night. She announced it to the whole class and everyone got to jump to the beat of the song to celebrate his new learned skill.

Everyone was so proud of him, and seemed to forget the fact that he drooled all over the drums and sticks.
Kindermusik has been so much fun. We have been going on Monday nights with Sara and Addy.

Miss Robin has a "sound box". (Otherwise known as an I-pod.) The sound box plays the sound of dogs barking. The first time that Miles and Addison heard the barking sounds, they stared out the window looking for the dogs for the remainder of class.

They were the only two kids in the class who really thought that there were dogs on the other side of the window.
One week we went to Kindermusik, and Miles ran to Miss Robin's sound box and said, "dog! dog!"

Well, that night, Miss Robin didn't play the barking sounds on her sound box and Miles was NOT a happy camper.
Anyway, I have the Kindermusik CD in my car, so I have been playing the barking sounds for Miles every day. He loves to hear the little dog bark followed by the big dog bark when we ride to school in the morning.

Then, out of the blue this past Monday night, Miss Robin asked the class, "Does anyone know what the little dog says?"

She hadn't played the barking sound in a few weeks, and none of the toddlers knew the answer...

Except for Miles, who replied, "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!"

And then he kept on woofing.
I'm so proud of him for answering a question right in class!

So, not only can my genius of a son jump, he also knows what a dog says.

I always wonder if Miles will be smart.

The other day his teacher told me he was smart.

"Really!?!?! How do you know?" I squealed. I was so excited and wanted to know every detail of all of the genius things he does at school while I am at work.

His teacher answered, "Well, Miles won't say anything all day long. The other kids talk all day, but they just say one word at a time. Today, I told Miles that I was going to get his mat for nap time, and he told me, 'I'll get my own mat.'"

2011-01-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

Today, Steven changed Miles's crib into a toddler bed. Miles was super-excited about it. We thought this was a good sign, until he climbed up on his bed and screamed, "Jump! Jump!" and started bouncing away.

I'm sure he is going to love his new trampoline.

So, he continues to sleep in the guest room.

Night-Night, Green Bunny. Night-Night, Big Dog.

These are his two best friends. Green Bunny and Big Dog. Green Bunny is his attachment at school. Big Dog is his attachment at home. Green Bunny spends the weekends with us so that he can take a "bath". Miles loves to give his toys baths now. Everytime I start the washing machine he screams "Bath!" and will throw some random object in there.

He's such a big helper.

Notice Big Dog's shirt. Yes, once apon a time ago, my big boy fit into that tiny shirt.

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If this child does not look like a future Alabama frat boy, I don't know who does. I can picture him now... Bud light in hand, all sweaty and dancing with some girl at the Friday night band party to "Dixieland Delight".

Oh, please stay young, sweet boy. Mama can't handle thinking about you in college. Mama knows what college is like.

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This weekend, we had beautiful weather. 72 degrees, bright and sunny! Steven and I took Miles out on a bike ride on the trails in Ridgeland and then we stopped for a picnic on the reservoir... very close to the spot where we got engaged over five years ago.

It was a beautiful day for a picnic. I brought two balls and a frisbee. Miles decided to play with the bike pump.

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Want a GREAT work-out? Here's what you need:

1. Miles

2. A hill

3. A large body of water at the bottom of the hill

The object of the game is to not let Miles fall into the large body of water at the bottom of the hill.

Here's what you do:

1. Chase him down the hill.

2. Carry him up the hill.

3. Chase him back down the hill.

4. Repeat.

This not only wore me out, but it wore Miles out as well and Steven and I got to sleep until 7:30 this morning!

Our Cute and Terrible Almost-Two-Year-Old

2011-01-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

My new year's resolution for 2011 was for my house to be more organized. I spent the entire week before Christmas cleaning the house. I cleaned every room from top to bottom. I cleaned out every single closet, cabinet, and drawer. I organized all of my sewing things into two neat plastic tubs and put them away... just for now... seems like I've not only been in a blogging rut, I've also been in a sewing rut...

I turned the office/sewing room into an office/play room and put a lot of Miles's toys in the attic.

Then, Christmas came and he got more toys.

After Christmas, he got pneumonia. I don't know what it is about having a sick baby, but my house hasn't been clean since.

When Miles had pneumonia, he suddenly stopped sleeping in his crib. We tried every sleep training method that Google could come up with and nothing worked. Finally, we decided to take turns sleeping in the guest room with him. After he fell off of the bed twice, I bought side boards for the bed. This has now become Miles's bed. He has moved himself into our queen-sized bed in our guest room and has been sleeping like a rock.

I have a four-bedroom house and one child. My child now has taken over three bedrooms. He has a nursery, a play room, and now he has decided to take over the guest room too... not to mention the fact that he likes to keep his ride-on toys in the master bathroom.

Miles entered a stage of hitting. It seems as though every time I look at him, his arm is raised ready to strike something or somebody. Again, sleepless nights Googling "toddler discipline" and "my 21 month old is hitting" just left me more confused about what to do. We tried everything and nothing was working.

My one saving grace was that Miles is always so sweet at school and at the church nursery. Steven and I became worried that he was going to have a behavior problem, so I talked to his teachers and found out that they never have a problem with him and he is the best behaved child in the class...

...until he had a bad day.

I guess having one bad day in six months shouldn't be anything to worry about, except for the fact that the other little boy who apparently lost the fight looked like he had been attacked by Freddy Krueger. Yes, Miles is not only a hitter, he's also a scratcher...

... or was a hitter and a scratcher... He has been so sweet lately and hasn't hit or scratched me, Steven, Colby, or anyone else that I know of in days. I guess that the bad stages go as quickly as they come...

... well, most bad stages. Miles doesn't sit in the bath tub. He refuses to sit and nothing you can do will make him sit down in the tub. He did sit in the tub one night. I was so excited, I took pictures of him sitting in the tub and e-mailed the pictures to his grandparents. He hasn't sat in the tub since. Everyone tells me that it is just a stage, but he has been doing this since he was about ten months old. I've just been putting him in the shower with me. It saves so much time and he loves it... but I want to stop this before he is old enough to remember showering with his mother.

Miles also does not sit in his highchair. He just decided one day that he was no longer going to sit in it and he hasn't sat in it since. He also decided that he won't sit in his booster seat. I know what you are thinking - Just make the child sit down! Ha! Easy for you to say. I invite you to come over and try it. Saying that he is a "strong-willed child" is an understatement.

Miles usually just sits in a regular chair at the kitchen table. It works out fine, only he will usually only sit for about three minutes or so. The rest of the time, he usually does laps through the house and we will feed him a spoon-full of something everytime he passes through the kitchen.

Miles's latest obsession is cars. He LOVES cars. He talks about cars all day long. Several weeks ago, his vocabulary was very limited. He usually said, "mama", "dada", "car", and that was about it.

I guess he hit a language explosion, because all of a sudden I started hearing a lot of new words. I wanted to remember them, so I started putting them down on the notepad on my I-phone every time I heard him say a new word. My list looks like this:

Baby (He rubs my belly and says "baby". His teacher is having a baby, and he thinks I am to... I'm not!)
Belly (I had to teach him this word so he'd stop telling people I had a baby in my belly! Now he points to his own belly and says "belly". He points to my belly and says, "baby". Oh, by the way, Steven is having a baby too.)
Mouth
Ear
Eye
Nose
Shoe
Sock
Dog
Cat
Juice
No
Pop
Cup
Grandpa
Night-Night
Eat
School
Shut (he said this when he was shutting the door)
Bath
Thank you
Apple
Go (he screams this when he is trying to run really fast)
Pencil
Clock
Turkey
Cookie
Cracker
Truck
CoCo (This is what he calls Colby)
Coo-Coo (This is what he calls a little boy in his class named Cooper)
Nina (This is what he calls his teacher, Christina)
Bus
Tree
Cheese
Banana
Elmo
Cow
Quack (This is what he calls a duck)
Paci (only he pronounces it "pappy")

So, I ended my list there because he began to say so many words that I couldn't even remember them all to add to the list. Then, he began to string a few words together. I believe the first was "What's that?" He says this all day, every day.

"What's that?"
"That's your elbow."
"What's that?"
"That's a laundry basket."
"What's that?"
"That's called a thingy-ma-jig."

Sometimes, I just have to make words up because he'll ask me what something is and I won't know what it's called.

Then, he started asking where things were or where people went.

After drinking the last sip of chocolate milk one day, he peered into the empty container and said, "Where'd it go?"

Then he would ask where everyone was.
"Where'd Pop go?"
"He went back to his house."
"Where'd Coco go?"
"He went in the backyard."

One day, he said, "Where's Dada?"
I wasn't sure where he was, so I just said, "He's not here."
To which Miles replied, "Where'd he go?"

Then, no matter where I told him somebody went, he wanted to know if they got there in their car.
"Where'd Dada go?"
"He's in the attic," I answered.
"He go in the car?"

Then, he began an obsession with "mama's car"... I think he must like my new car because he always talks about "mama's car".
"We go bye-bye in Mama's car?"

Lately, I've been completely shocked at some of the sentences he's been saying. Last night, we went to visit my friends Jason and Randi and their baby girl Leah. Leah wouldn't stop crying, so Miles handed Randi her pacifier and said, "Put this in."

This morning, I asked Miles if he wanted a Poptart. He looked at me and said, "I want breakfast."

So, that is what Miles has been up to... talking non-stop, sleeping in the guest room, and hitting. Sounds like the terrible twos have come a little early...

But, no matter how crazy our terrible-almost-two-year-old makes us, we can't help but look at him and say, "He's so cute!" about a million times a day.

I know you shouldn't tell people how cute your own child is, but seriously, "He's so cute!"

Plus, I've told you all of the bad stuff he does, so that allows me to say it, right?

Christmas with the Cousins

2011-01-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

We had one more Christmas celebration the other night - Christmas with Steven's side of the family. Miles was so excited to see his Grammy, Pop, Uncle Morgan, Aunt Michelle, and cousins Barrie Katherine, Mabry, and Hope when they came over.

I think he finally got the hang of opening presents... It finally clicked with him that if he rips open the paper, he'll get a toy.

All I wanted was a good picture of the four kids together. Three of the children would cooperate. One would not... Any guesses?

Who wants to pose for a picture when I have brand new toys to play with?

This is the best picture I had... It would be perfect if the pacifier wasn't in Miles's mouth... But, it took a pacifier, somebody bouncing a stuffed animal on my head, and a quick snap just to get one with him looking at the camera.

As for New Year's Eve, we missed a super-fun get-together at my friend Kim's house. There were tornadoes everywhere and I just didn't feel safe to make the drive on New Year's Eve in the bad weather. So, Steven and I watched the weather, a movie, the weather some more, and then went to bed. It was well after midnight when I realized that it was 2011!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas

2010-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

On Christmas...

Santa came!

Miles absolutely loved the tent he got from his Aunt Kelley and Uncle Chris...

And Daddy tried to help him with the bike he got from Grammy and Pop...

Although he got pretty frustrated with it... I've noticed this week that Miles has his Mama's amount of patience, which is not a good thing.

His cousin Hope came over to visit...

Miles loves babies. He would bring Hope blankets and bring me her diapers.

We had a wonderful Christmas! Here are just a few more pictures, since I haven't shown you enough...

Miles loved, loved, loved his grandparents visiting! I think he is really going to miss them. Steven got a web-cam for Christmas, so we are going to try to Skype with them now.

And, what did Santa bring me for Christmas?

Santa finally traded in the Ford Taurus for my very own Mommy-mobile.

Seriously, I never knew how much easier it would be to put Miles in the car seat, load the stroller, and put a week's worth of groceries in the car... If I'd had known how much easier this thing makes my life, I would have begged Santa for one 20 months ago!

Okay... I think I'm pretty caught up with the Christmas updates... time to go clean the house and take the tree down...

I can't believe its all over now!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

This year on Christmas Eve...

We played outside with Miles...

(Okay, Miles played and we took a million pictures of him playing... )

Miles and my dad... I love my dad's throw-back shirt. It reminds me of the Bucs shirts he used to wear when I was little and we lived in Florida.

I made a gingerbread man and decided to let Miles give another try at decorating it...

I think he started to get the hang of it, although he ended up eating most of the icing and gumdrops again.

We made sugar cookies for Santa...

and we went to the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church...

Christmas in Canton

2010-12-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

My parents came for Christmas this year. The second night they were here, we went to see the Christmas lights in Canton.

It was a whole different experience this year than it was last year when Miles was only 8 months old...

(Christmas in Canton, 2009)

This year, Miles was able to really enjoy looking at the lights, in the store windows, and go on some rides!

Isn't Christmas in Canton one of the best places to take pictures? Yeah, well Steven was not happy when he went to take a picture of Miles and realized that I had left the memory card for our camera at home... again...

Whoops...

So, all of our pictures this year were taken with my I-phone.

Miles on the car ride with his grandpa

Looking at the animated Christmas bears with Daddy

Riding the fire truck with Grandma and Grandpa

Waiting in line to go on a ride with Grandma

On the carousel with Grandma

I love the look of awe he has looking at the snowmen in the window... I can't imagine how much more he will understand next Christmas when he is almost 3!

Christmas Playdate

2010-12-28T07:05:00.000-08:00

Woah! Where did Christmas go? Where did 2010 go? I remember being a kid and Christmas would take forever to get here and now that I'm a "grown-up" I can barely get my tree up before it is time to take it down!

I had so many plans of things to do with Miles this Christmas season, and I feel like I didn't do so many of them! But, it was still a WONDERFUL Christmas... one of the best ones yet... and I am slowly and reluctantly learning that I can't do it all.

Many of our activities were canceled due to somebody at my house being sick... Miles had an ear infection and the crud, then Steven had tonsillitis, then Miles got the stomach bug which he gave to Steven, me, and his grammy. But, maybe it was a good thing that we all were sick before Christmas because there wasn't as much as a sniffle in the house by the time Christmas came around... thanks to a round of antibiotics for Miles and Steven and a complete cleaning frenzy by me.

Luckily, Miles was feeling well and germ-free in time to make it to our play group's Christmas party. (Well, our seasonal play group, since we can only play when I'm not working... you know, summer, Christmas break, etc.!) Anyway, my friend Molly had the sweetest little Christmas party for about ten kids at her house.

Molly must have super-powers because she was able to assemble ten gingerbread houses for the party and has three kids under the age of three...

Um... I have one child and can't unload the dishwasher if he is awake...

I tried to help Miles make his gingerbread house, but every time I would add a gumdrop, he would take it off and eat it...

Miles loved playing with Emily Kay's toys... I saw him put a baby in a highchair, feed it with a spoon, and then wrap it up with a blanket. He's going to make a great daddy one day!

Miles also loved to play tea-party... He's been doing this at home, only he doesn't have a tea set, so I've given him a bunch of plastic bowls, cups, and pitchers so he can pretend to pour, drink, and give drinks to his stuffed animals. Steven likes to say that he is not having a tea party. He is having a home-brew party and Miles and his stuffed animals are tasting each others' home-brewed beers. :)

(Ahem. I know for a fact that Steven loved to have tea-parties when he was a little boy!)

After we made gingerbread houses, and played, we stayed for lunch. I sat with my friends, and Miles sat with his...

When did he get old enough to sit at a separate table from me?

Here is what Miles ate:

There's super-mom for you again... PBJ reindeer sandwiches...

What did I bring? Chips and dip that I bought from the gas station...

Oh, and here is how Miles's gingerbread house came out:

I managed to get him to not eat three gum drops... well 2 1/2 gum drops... I guess you can't really count the one on the top that he slobbered on before adding it to the roof...

Santa

2010-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Last year, Miles peed on Santa's lap.

This year, we didn't have to worry about that. Miles never sat on Santa's lap!

Santa had to leave the room for Miles to calm down and then he snuck up behind him.

Nice

2010-12-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Miles has totally redeemed himself and will not be getting coal in his stocking this year.

First of all, he was an ANGEL at Walmart yesterday.

Second of all, we had this conversation in the car on the way to Walmart:

Miles: Mama.

Me: Do you love mama?

Miles: Mama!

Me: You love your mama?

Miles: Dadda

Me: You love mama and dadda?

Miles: mama dadda

Me: Do you love Co-Co?

Miles: mama dadda Co-Co.

Me: You love your mama, dadda, and Co-Co?

Miles: and Jesus.

No prompting for him to repeat that one. He just said it! I guess he is really trying to get off of the naughty list.

So, maybe he doesn't know what it means...

And I know that from this morning when I was trying to get him ready for church.

Miles was crying because he didn't want to me to put his church clothes on.

"Come on, Miles! We have to go to church!"

(Keeps crying)

"Miles, remember yesterday, you told Mommy that you love Jesus? Well, we have to go to church because we love Jesus!"

(Keeps crying)

"Jesus is going to have his birthday soon. And, guess what? We ALL get presents when it is Jesus' birthday! Isn't that nice of Jesus? So lets go to church because we love Jesus and we want to get ready for his birthday!"

(Keeps crying)

"Miles... do you want to go to church? We might see the cat."

He immediately stops crying and lets me put his church clothes on, so he can go to church... to see the church cat.

How to Make a Tacky Sweater

2010-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Steven and I were invited to a tacky Christmas sweater party.

I wanted to try to dress tacky, without spending a lot of money.

So, I sent a message to a lady who is a teacher at my school... sweet, hilarious, and a collection of the tackiest Christmas sweaters you've ever seen... only they are not for theme parties... she wears them...

Okay, so I didn't know that they were her actual sweaters when I sent the e-mail: "Can I borrow one of your fabulous tacky Christmas sweaters for a party Friday night?"

Her reply: "Sure! And I'm honored that you think my clothes are tacky."

Whoops!

Anyway, I found a gem of a sweater vest in her classroom the next day... it even still had some Christmas pins on it... You gotta love tacky Christmas bling.

That night, I went home and excitedly showed Steven the lovely tacky vest I would be wearing ...

Well, guess who ended up wearing it?

Yup. There was no talking him out of it...

So, I was back at square one. I went to the Goodwill, and did not see one Christmas sweater in the entire place... but I did walk out of there with Steven's fabulous red button-up for $3.75.

Then, I went to Walmart... Lots of Christmas sweaters, but they just weren't tacky enough...

So I decided to make my own. I was very pleased with the results, and let me just say, the picture does not do it justice...

I started with a red sweater from Walmart ($6.00, as opposed to the $18.00 Christmas sweaters they are selling).

Then, I drew a large Christmas tree on a piece of felt I had in my crafts closet, cut it out and did a zig-zag stitch to sew it on.

Next, (and this is the best part), I added battery-operated Christmas lights to the tree. You can find them at Walmart for about $5.00. Mine were little snowflakes that blinked blue and green. All I did to add them, was I took the snowflake off, poked each light through the sweater from the inside to the outside, and then screwed the snowflake back on. I popped in two AA batteries, and the result was just pure tackiness!

After the lights, I hot-glued some ornaments and garland that I already had.

If I had more time, I would have loved to have added even more tacky bling.

Steven asked me what I was going to do with the sweater. I told him that I was going to keep it forever.

Seriously, I think I'll keep it and just keep adding things to it every year...

and if we don't have a tacky sweater party to go to, I'll just wear it to work.

I am a teacher after all... I'd fit right in. ;)

Naughty

2010-11-30T04:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

So, what exactly gets you put on the naughty list? Lets just say, hypothetically speaking and all, that I throw a fit because I don't want my mom to take off my socks... is that being naughty?

Or, what if... okay, lets just say I another little boy who WASN'T me, cried for thirty minutes because my his mom would not pull me him around the culdesac in my his red wagon because it was raining and we were under a tornado watch... Does that count?

And... okay, I'm just coming up with this off the top of my head... what if it was time to go to school and I ran down the driveway, and when my mom told me to get in the car, I plopped myself down on the driveway and started screaming because I wanted to play in the street? Would that put me on the naughty list?

Santa, Mama keeps telling me that all I'm getting for Christmas is coal, but I think I've been pretty good.

Love,
Miles

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I was too busy eating to take any good pictures on Thanksgiving this year. I had every intention of getting some good family pictures of Miles with his Uncle Morgan, Aunt Michelle, Baby Cousin Hope, Gee-Gee, Grammy, and Pop... but, when I looked at my camera, the only picture I had was of Miles...

You know, 'cause y'all haven't seen any pictures of the kid lately.

Well, it was a fabulous Thanksgiving at Steven's parents' house... The food was amazing and I love getting to spend time with the Joneses!

I have so much to be thankful for...

My awesome family...

My wonderful friends...

My amazing husband...

and my silly little boy who I am so in love with...

even when he is B.A.D....

like he was today.

Seriously.

Miles Jones is on Santa's naughty list.

Have you ever tried to decorate for Christmas with a 19-month-old who throws the glass ornaments because he thinks they are balls, eats the wooden berries because he thinks they are grapes, and throws tantrum after tantrum because all he wants to do is go outside and stomp on the Christmas lights that are lying in the grass while his Dad is trying to put them on the bushes?

But, that's a different story and I'm too tired to blog about it.