Downhilll Stretch

We are on the downhill stretch. Tim's PhD proposal was accepted yesterday which means we are in full force to graduate by June 1st. It's an extremely lofty goal, but if anyone can do it-- it's Tim! Miles and I went to watch Daddy present his proposal yesterday in an open public panel and we couldn't have been prouder. We had to leave early because Miles was quite the distraction by waving at everyone and giggling at anything.

Onto another downhill stretch, Miles has hit a point in his sleeping that has been consistent for over a month now. Even with a myriad of teething he has remained to sleep a good 12-13 hours/night without waking. Up until about a month ago he was still waking up 1 time and needing one of us to help find his binky for him. Ohhhh....it's been glorious and it is just in time for this new baby to come and stir things up. :) In addition, against my will, he's decided that he only needs one nap a day. However, the nice thing about this nap is that it's anywhere from 3-4 hours long in the afternoon. GLORIOUS!

Other developments in this little cracker jack--

Saying the words: "DaDa (Daddy), "GaaGaa" (Gus Gus), "Daaaee" (Doggie), & "aah ohh".
Motioning: waving hello and goodbye, "so big" by putting hands up in the air, "peek-a-boo" by putting hands over eyes, "pat-a-cake" by clapping hands, and touching his hair when asked "where are your curls?".

Miles is also in a front-facing carseat now and enjoys looking out and giggling at everything in sight. He's not a very shy kid-- if given the opportunity and eye contact he will jabber your ear off. We hear it frequently, but one can never tire when people tell you your kid has an abundance of personality.

Birthday Bliss

Okay so this is the last of the birthday posts-- I promise! I just wanted to post some pictures of the decor and all of the hard work that went into this glorious event. :) I was finally able to use my cricut for something other than YW's and enrichment activities. I think the banner turned out darling.

the happy "birlhday" cake (crossing the "t" was an after thought)

With the invites stating "Look HOO's turning 1", the party was an owl theme.

The treat bags full of Miles' favorite bath toys, fruit snacks and balloon bungees for the older kids.

homemade party hats!

the after bath!

the cake sneakers

the baby girl eye candy

cousins playing

family and friends gathering

All in all, it was a great party and while we were singing "happy birthday" to Miles I got emotional thinking about how everyone was there with the sole purpose to celebrate his first year of life. Our little boy is definitely one loved kid and I look forward to future birthdays for my buddy.

Birthday Preview

Here is a little preview to Miles' birthday party. We (and when I say "we", I mean a girlfriend of mine and myself) had so much planning his party. I will post pictures soon of this grand event. As you can see, he thoroughly enjoyed his cake! He wasn't a fan of having gloppy hands and occasionally would let out a squeak of disapproval, but then he would get a taste of that glop and everything was just fine. I have video of this and I'll post it when I download pictures.

Birthday Boy!

One year ago today my little pumpkin was born. This last year has had it's ups and downs, as any first time parent would say, but overall we can not believe we waited so long to bring him into our family. It's so hard to put into words how you feel about your child. The one word that keeps coming to mind is "GRATEFUL". I'm grateful to be a mommy, I'm grateful to have such a wonderful little boy (and another one on the way), I'm grateful to know our little peanut will be with us forever and we will get to share in all of his life's adventures. Everything we do now is that much more exciting with Miles because he brings a new level of fun to it. It's fun to watch his eyes light up when he sees or learns something for the first time. It's fun to see him get excited about the doggies and crawl like mad man towards them (only to crawl all over them and pull out globs of their hair). I'm excited to see what the future holds for this special dude. What will he end up doing with his life? Here's to our best year ever with this guy and bajillion more to come! Happy Birthday Buddy!