my tunnel

Myles got a tunnel for Christmas. He loves playing with it and usually at the end of the day I end up putting it back up (it ties in 3 different spots) and put it in a basket. Every day since Christmas day he'll go up to that basket and get his tunnel out for us to open it for him.

Christmas 2010

Myles had a great time on Christmas morning. Of course he's still too young to completely understand what's going on but he still enjoyed tearing the paper and getting new presents. Instead of having him tear into all of them at once we took our time and let him open one and play with it then another one etc. It was quite enjoyable that way too.

Myles' favorite toy was a pretend blender. He got a play kitchen for Christmas from his grandma and papaw Roland and I happened to see this blender in Walgreen's one day and it's his most favorite toy!

We are so blessed to celebrate Jesus' birth and excited to see Myles grow more and more

it's been a while...

I can't believe it's been this long since I've done anything on the blog. The Holiday's really have made it hard to get anything

done on the computer....and it's even harder to get lots of pictures taken of Myles. Over the past few weeks we've all been pretty good. Busy of course, but healthy and happy and ready for Christmas.

Myles is saying so many new words now and it's just so neat to see how he understands what we ask or say. He sometimes has his little fits (which I guess will happen more and more as he gets closer to 2) but overall he's still our wonderfully good boy!

Roland Christmas Card, 2010

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December 3 - 6

So...I haven't been keeping up with the blog as good, it's been hard because we've been busy - of course. This past weekend we left work on Friday and drove to Winston-Salem where we let Myles go home with Grandma and we went to eat with some friends (Luke's close friend from high school and college and his wife). The next morning I did some Christmas shopping, then Luke went to shop a little after that. Myles had fun playing with grandma and papaw. He also got to see his aunt Ashley and uncle Orlando, who he loves to be around!

Sunday after church we got our Christmas tree and tonight (Monday) we put the decorations on it. Myles was scared of the Christmas lights at first (who knows why) but after he saw daddy put them around his head he laughed and started to do the same. We had fun.

*one of the pictures is of Myles and his grandma eating. He was using his spoon like a big boy, to eat his sweet potato. The other picture is of Myles when he first decided it was ok to touch the lights (or "biiigh" as he says it).

GO!

Today was a cold day in Charlotte, probably the coldest day since we moved here.....but not as cold as Boone! Tonight I made some healthy turkey chili, with pureed carrots, and red and yellow peppers. Myles liked it for the most part. After that he and dada watched basketball. Luke would say "go" and put his fist up in the air. Myles would put his hand out in the air and said "dooooo" since he can't say his g's. You can see him in the middle of hollering "dooo" in this picture.

yup

busy day - Luke stayed home sick today...other than that we're all good. :)

thankful for clean water

Tonight when Myles as eating I asked him if he wanted to take a bath. He got very excited and kept saying 'ba' (bath) over and over. I took him upstairs and couldn't get his clothes off fast enough, he was trying to climb in the tub before the water was even on.

He was so excited and started splashing. At first I thought about asking him not to splash but then I realized something. We are so blessed just to have clean water and extra water because so many children in the world don't only NOT get to take a bath, they are dieing because they don't have clean water to drink. Not only that, right now in Haiti more than 1000 people have died from Cholera, which people get from water. I am so thankful and since so many children don't have water, Myles can splash and enjoy it all he wants!

Also, tonight for the first time when I got Myles' attention I said "myles say cheese" and he looked right at me and went "eeeee"

ELMO!!!!!!

it's official....every child that ever meets Elmo is instantly in love. I will never understand exactly why Elmo is the coolest red monster ever to be invented, but thumbs up to Sesame Street! We didn't even know Myles had been introduced to Elmo until we were at church on Thanksgiving and I was playing with Myles in the church nursery. He and one of his friends both walked up to the TV and pointed to it and started saying "Elmo, Elmo". I looked around and there was a VHS of Elmo. Yesterday when Myles woke up from his afternoon nap I heard him talking and I went in there to find him pointing to his sheets and saying "Elmo". I had never even paid attention but his sheet did have Elmo on them, along with some other Sesame Street characters. Tonight Luke decided to show Myles a Youtube video of Elmo and Santa Clause. Myles got SO excited and said Elmo over and over. I have to say though....he was actually saying "EEEEMO" because he can't say his "l's" yet - it was so cute!

lots of busy days - Nov 25-28th

Thursday we we got up early and Luke ran a half marathon. Then we went to church to help serve some food. After that we drove to Burnsville for Thanksgiving with my family. Last year we had Thanksgiving with Luke's family, this year it's mine. Myles and David had fun playing and didn't eat very much. The next day we went down to my Nanny's house to visit, then drove to my moms house in Weaverville. We spent the night there and on Saturday Jeremy, Donna and David came over to eat a big breakfast and play. I didn't feel all that great Thursday-Saturday but I wrote it off as allergies. Saturday before lunch time we drove from my moms house all the way back to Huntersville and it was then that I realized how far away from my family I was. I woke up this morning and felt horrible and have had a fever almost all day. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better.

the pictures speak for themselves

Myles threw up again last night - who knows what's wrong, but I sure am tired of cleaning that up in the middle of the night. He had a good day, we got off work early, and tomorrow is going to be a great (and busy) day!

oh - and Myles had pasta with red sauce for dinner.

Smiley Myles

I realized that a lot of my pictures of Myles are him with this pose and this face. At first I thought, 'that's kind of boring', but then I realized he's a very happy boy so he's allowed to have a wonderful happy face! Today was another normal day at work. Myles had a good day at daycare. I do have to mention that last night around midnight, Myles got sick and threw up in his bed. He kept whining and I could tell something wasn't right. I went in and rubbed his back and then he threw up! He was in his crib and he kept reaching for me so I picked him up to carry him to the bathroom. Then he started throwing up more so i put him back in the crib because I suddenly remembered my mom telling me a story about when I was a baby/toddler one time I started throwing up and my mom wanted to get me to the bathroom so she carried me down the hall and I threw up the whole way...then she had to clean the whole hallway. It's funny how you remember things like that at certain moments.

Anyway, Myles only threw up that one time and he fell back asleep after laying in the bed with daddy and getting his tummy rubbed. He woke up this morning acting normal and hopping around. I guess his supper just didn't settle well.

thank you

We've been teaching Myles to say 'thank you' when we give him something or when we ask him to, and he's so sweet and now he's getting so good at knowing when to say it and we don't even have to ask him to. Tonight I was getting ready to take a picture of Myles pushing around his little car when he started to make the 'car noise' with his mouth...note the funny looking picture with his tongue sticking out. Oh - and he still plays with Tad...his long time friend sitting beside him in this picture. They've been best buds since Myles was a couple months old!

helping dadda

Today was another very busy Sunday. We left church at 4pm and needless to say, my knees and feet are aching. We had a great time and then came home and Myles and Luke watched the Redskins game. Luke has been running for a while and had a slight injury a while back so he puts ice on his knee pretty often. Myles likes to help him and pretend to put the knee brace on his leg too.

playing in the snow...yes, you heard me right!

Today was a pretty good Saturday. Myles was fussy a lot of the day because of his silly teeth coming in. He was the happiest when I gave him a bath after lunch, when we went around the neighborhood for a walk, and when we went to Birkdale Village where they were blowing fake snow and had 3 singing bears.

I've seen Myles interact with his peers when I pick him up from daycare each day and I guess because they're always with each other they are all comfortable with each other. Tonight when we were at Birkdale where the snow was, there was a fenced in area with kids running around all over the place. Sometimes Myles is shy around adults he doesn't know at church and other places so I thought he may be the same there...but I feel like I really saw his real personality for the first time tonight. He ran and played with other kids, danced and was so extremely happy. A lady I worked with had a little girl there and she was a little more shy.

Another thing that Myles did today that was funny was that he somehow started loving football on tv. Luke watches it some of course, and taught Myles a while back to say football, so I don't know what made today different but he would bring Luke the remote control and say "ba ball" which is football.

mommy's shoes

Today we dropped the Element off to get the brakes fixed so we had to all pack in the truck. We looked so funny but we survived and I think Myles had a lot of fun. He bumped his head in daycare today and I think he's going to leave a bruise, but he'll be ok, he's a tough boy.

myles likes to try on my shoes - in this picture he had mine on

Wednesday & Thursday...is it Friday yet??

On Wednesday it was the busiest day I've had since starting at the BGEA. They were having Board meetings and I had to also help some guests with some additional meetings they were having. At one point of the day I was standing about 4 feet away from Rev. Billy Graham. I was talking to my boss and there were several people in the room so I didn't feel like it was the correct time to go up and meet him, but it was pretty cool just being that close to him. Myles has been fussy this week when we've dropped him off at daycare. I'm not sure why, but it may be just because of all the changes this week with daddy being with us etc. I'm just excited for the weekend and a little rest.

*this picture is one from last week, and yes I know it's just one picture - but it's the BEST ever. Sometimes Myles will get in these moods where he will cheer for himself after he does something. I think in this pic he was putting the plastic letters in the mail box and we were just laughing at how excited he was. Look at those eyes, haha! He was saying "yay"

Monday and Tuesday of a really busy week

On Monday Myles and I did our normal routine...by ourselves...for the last time! Tuesday Luke started his new job at the BGEA. It was great to have him riding with us and then just knowing we were together not only at work, but in the same building and on the same floor! Some people would cringe just thinking about working with their spouse, but it makes me really happy! Myles is saying a few more new words. We're teaching him animal sounds and things like eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. One of his all time favorite words the past couple days has been "pawpaw". I don't know why, but he says it almost every time he sees us. He also likes to say pumpkin, or "mcmin" as he says it. Here's a picture of him reading his favorite book right now from his nana and popi Cruz about a dog that goes to the pumpkin patch.

ball ball

Today we went to church and got home around 4. We played for a while and ate at our favorite place, Noodle Tasia. Then we got home and Luke was watching football, aka "ball ball". Myles did lots of funny stuff today. This morning I put his new outfit on from Grandma and Grandad Sink. He also had his dress shoes on and was so cute. I took a picture at church and he kept moving so I couldn't get a good one. When we were playing at home Myles got one of the sticky note pads. He would take the individual pieces off and sticking them to me and Luke. He is so funny and doing such grown up things now. After that he would stand up on Luke's leg and jump off. I got a good close up picture of this

Grandma and Papaw

Today around lunch time Luke's parents got here. Myles was napping and when he woke up we went to eat at 5 guys. After that we went to the Concord Mills mall. Myles was a good boy all day. When we got back Myles played for a while. Grandma put some lotion on him because his skin is very dry. All he wanted to do was help, he'd rub it on his tummy, then get some lotion and go put it on everyone else in the room. He was such a sweet boy all day long and we had a wonderful time.

booooooo

boooo means 'balloon' and today was Luke's last day at Samaritan's Purse and some people brought him some balloons. Myles likes balloons but I have never seen this excited, EVER. When Luke got home and walked in the door with the 3 balloons Myles yelled "booooooo" and got really happy. We played with him and had a good evening.

don't help me with my cup

Tonight after I got Myles we went to the super Target to get a few groceries. He was a good boy and I wanted to treat him to Chic-fil-a. Of course, I can NEVER cut his food up as fast as he eats it. He can drink very good out of a straw but I still hold the cup and the straw so the doesn't spill it or jam the straw down his throat. I wanted to get a picture of him being such a big boy and I got my phone to take a picture and the second that I turned to get the phone he had grabbed his cup of water and started helping himself. I said "oh, let me help you Myles" and as he was drinking he quickly said "no". He wanted to prove to me that he could do it himself.

putting my socks on

Myles had a great day at daycare. Every day he acts more and more like a big kid. He says more and understands more that I say every day. He tries almost every day to put his socks on and he gets closer and closer every day. Today he was able to get the socks on his big toe.

our smart football player

This morning I put this jacket on Myles before we left for daycare. I said "come here to the kitchen Myles, I want to take a picture of you." He walked over from the living room to the kitchen and got to the refrigerator and turned around to me and just stood there with this little smirk on his face. He's never done that before, it was such a big boy thing to do. He had a good day at daycare and tonight when we were eating we worked on the whole "where is your nose, mouth, eyes and ears" - he did really good.

*i actually forgot that I took a picture of myles on Sunday (The one of him eating).It looks like he was eating a french fry but it really was a pear. Myles tends to like things that are cut in neat shapes, so I try to get creative. I make all kinds of stuff.

is everyone this busy?

I promise I'm not going to keep doing these '2 day' blogs much more..things have just been crazy busy lately. On Sunday we got home from church around 3 and then we left at 4:30 to go to Boone to a church service. Myles stayed here in Charlotte with Anna who babysat him. We love when Anna keeps Myles, she's the best babysitter ever and she's even taken babysitter classes! We got home late so today was just tiring for us - especially Luke. He was saying to me this evening that in the past 24 hours he's driven about 10 hours...that's CRAZY. He's such a good husband and dad, I'm so proud of him and it's his last week at Samaritan's Purse.

*the pictures are from October, just some random ones.

November 5 & 6th

On Friday it was a pretty normal day - much cooler in Charlotte. We came home and I went to see a movie with a couple of friends. Then on Saturday we played and hung out as a family all day. Myles has a small cold and I think I got it so I'm tired and not feeling great so that's why this is so short. Myles was cute all day and is saying a lot of new things. In this picture he was dancing!

I'm mad...don't take a picture

Today was a dreary rainy day. Myles had a check up with his new doctor. It was a pretty good appointment and Myles was a good boy - then there were the shots - 3 to be exact. Myles only screamed for a little bit. At his check up he was 30 lbs and i can't remember how tall. He was at the normal average for his height and a little above normal for his weight. The dr. wasn't too concerned because he'll probably run it off. After the dr appointment we just came on home and spent the rest of the evening together. I made some tacos and we played for a long time. Myles is also still getting all 4 of his eye teeth in right now and he still wasn't feeling right from the shots so he could cry over anything...and he did! He was upset in this picture, but it was cute. Hopefully he'll feel better in the morning.

tired of being tired

Today I left work a little early to take the Element to the local Honda dealership to get the oil changed. They had a really nice waiting room which included a separate glassed in kids room with a little table and tv with videos and a couple puzzles. I pushed Myles around in the stroller for a little bit but then we went inside to the kids room. A lot happened in that hour we waited. We played with a puzzle, I taught Myles how to drink from a water fountain (without touching his mouth to it), he saw a dog that someone had with them in the waiting room (was scared at first but then pet it and squeezed it's tail), then he ran into the glass wall (forgetting it was there) and got a little bump on his forehead - but he's fine. After we finally left there we HAD to go to the grocery store because we didn't have anything...and going to the grocery store with a 1 and 1/2 year old will make ANYONE tired. As soon as we got home I fed Myles and got him in the bed, so I didn't get a picture taken but I'll try to add 2 tomorrow.

mmm, black beans

Today I kind of had a small scare. When I pulled up to work Myles' daycare teacher called me. She said one of the other teachers (that watches Myles before she gets there) had given him a peanut butter cookie (he's allergic to nuts)! She said he hadn't had any reactions yet but it scared me because you just never know. She kept a close eye on him and by lunch time I texted her and she said he had no reaction at all and that he was doing great.

Later in the evening Myles and I had supper at Salsarita's and he had blackbeans and rice...this picture is AFTER I wiped his face. He looked like he was trying to grow a beard.

throw back

Tonight Luke and I went on a date. Myles' friend Anna came over to play with him for a while, then she put him to bed. We went to a place on Lake Norman, it was a beautiful restaurant. We also got some Gelato afterwards. Myles had a good day at daycare today and I always miss him so much on Mondays after having the whole weekend with him.

*today is a throwback photo because I wasn't able to take one. Myles was sharing some of his snack with mommy, he loves to share.

Halloween 2010

Today was pretty much an ordinary day except Myles did a lot of really cool and funny things. As he did these things throughout the day I kept thinking "i've gotta put this on the blog later"...but now I can't remember. He's slowly been saying a lot more lately, but it seems like today was one of those days he said everything we said. Today he said football "bo ball", pumkin "bum bem", and much more. Today we went to church and came back home and played. We dressed Myles up in his dinosaur costume (thanks to grandma and papaw Roland) and walked around outside for a few minutes. I made a cake and some "mummy's" which were hotdogs with croissant dough wrapped around them. Before Myles went to bed he got all hyper and started running back and fourth between the 2 couches, it was really funny.

Myles now has one of his eye teeth...it came through his gums yesterday...just 3 more teeth to go..then at some point we'll start counting the one's he loses.