Four Months!!

Say hello to my smiley little 4 month old!

Growth Stats

Weight - 13 lbs 10.5 oz (15th Percentile)

Height - 24.5 in (22nd Percentile)

People always tell me how big he is getting, so I was surprised to hear he's still on the
smaller side for his age.  What I hear even more from people is how I finally have a baby that
looks like me.  Part of me saw it, but part of me thought he looked a little like Owen.
 I assumed he would grow to look like Ryan and I'd have no mini-me.
Then I did a side by side comparison...

He definitely looks a lot different than the other two (at least based on their 4 month pics).
He has a darker complexion, similar to mine, and his face is more round than oval.  Throw in
the dark hair, and the West genes may actually have pulled through on this one.  It's funny
because Ryan and I have a red head, a blonde and now a brunette.  One of each!  Hair color
aside, I think we may in fact have three boys that look nothing alike!

He has his own look and his own sweet little personality to go with it.  When I think of Miles
right now the first thing that comes to mind is his big smile.  He's always smiling!  When I
walk up to him he gets so excited.  His arms and legs flail and he opens his mouth and gives
me a huge grin.  It's like he can hardly contain himself.  I'll take that greeting any day!  What's
even better is to hear one of his laughs.  His first laughs came by us tickling him or blowing
on his belly.  Then one day I walked into Owen playing peek-a-boo with him and he was
laughing out loud without any tickling needed.  Owen is always the one that gets the biggest
laughs out of him.  Miles finds him absolutely hilarious and it makes Owen's day.

 He continues to be the easiest and happiest baby.  I almost hate to say that for fear of
jinxing myself, but he's been great!!  He goes right along with whatever we are doing, falls
asleep wherever he's at when he's tired, eats wherever we're at when he's hungry, and is
generally happy as long as he has a toy (or brother) to keep him entertained.

He is also an amazing sleeper.  We have him fully transferred over to the crib.  He normally

takes a monster first nap in the carseat while I'm out running, or doing errands.  He'll stay

sleeping the entire time the boys are in school all while being taken in and out of the car, into

stores, pushed around in the stroller and in and out of a preschool full of screaming kids.

He'll finally wake up when we get home for lunch.  He eats, stays awake for a few hours to

play and is ready to nap again.  As soon as I know he's tired I lay him down in his crib and he

falls right asleep.  No rocking him to sleep.  No crying.  He just falls asleep.  It's amazing!

We never had to go through any crazy crying it out phase.  He might take one more short nap

in the early evening, then I feed him for the last time around 9:00PM and put him to bed.  And

guess what???  He's actually been sleeping through the night until around 4:30AM which has

been wonderful!  I feel so much more refreshed when I get an almost full night's sleep.

Although Miles is an amazing baby, I think in part things are easier because I've learned to
relax a little bit.  I haven't even picked up my "sleep book" to refresh my memory because I
know I won't be able to follow a strict schedule while keeping the other two occupied, and
frankly, I don't want to.  As long as Miles is happy and healthy, I'll go with the flow as long as
we can.  I know there will come a time when we need to get into a little more of a routine,
but for now I'm enjoying my mobile little baby.  Thanks for making this transition to
three kids so easy on me Miles.  I love you so much!!  

Tummy Time

Though he's not the biggest fan, we still manage to squeeze in a little tummy time here and

there.  He'll normally give it a minute of two before he really starts to get upset.  And if I can

convince the boys to sit in front of him and entertain him we might get a minute longer.

Don't worry Miles.  It won't be long before you're rolling all over the place

and tummy time won't seem so bad anymore.

Bumbo Smiles

This little guy is so smiley!!  I love it!!

Joe is THREE!!

I can hardly believe it.  Joe is three already!!

Growth Stats
Weight - 31.5 lbs (48th Percentile)
Height - 38 in. (64th Percentile)

These birthday blogs are fun because I get to think back and try to best describe the kids as
I see them now.  As I sit here and do that for Joe, all I can do is laugh to myself.  He is such
a handful, but he is the cutest stinkin handful ever.  So cute that it actually makes it hard to
ever really get mad at him.  From his crazy curly blonde hair, to the constant funny things
he says and does...he always has us smiling (even when we're trying to be mad).

What's funny is I never really thought Joe had a terrible two phase.  He had his moments,
but never anything that bad.  Turns out that what he lacked in his terrible twos, he is making
up for in his terrifying threes.  I wouldn't say he's naughty in the sense that he does mean
things to people, breaks things, etc...it's more of a listening issue.  He has selective hearing
and chooses when he wants to listen to directions.  For example, when I ask him to go
put his shoes on so we can leave for school in the morning, he instead chooses to start a
wrestling match with Owen on the kitchen floor.  When I ask him again to put his shoes on,
he then chooses to go read a book on the back bench.  This goes on and on until I finally
resort to threats of either leaving without him, no shows, no games (Kindle), or worse...no
treats!  I've decided that 3/4 of my gray hair is a product of us trying to get out the door to
school in the morning.  If it is any indication of how our mornings go, I can most likely count
the number of times we've been to school on time this year on two hands.

Another way Joe keeps us on our toes is his curiosity.  Joe has earned the nickname
"Fingers" from my mom and stepdad because he is into everything.  You can't leave him
alone for long or he will find something he's not supposed to get into.  He loves to check out
everything.  A perfect example is the other day I was in the living room with Owen and Miles
and Joe walked towards the kitchen.  I didn't think anything of it.  After a few minutes and
realizing he was being pretty quiet, I went to check it out.  I walked into the kitchen to find
Joe standing there with the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink open.  Around his feet
were piles of Clorox wipes, 409 and the bottle of Pledge Orange Oil.  He had sprayed the oil
all over the floor, refrigerator, inside the snack cupboard, and who even knows where else.
I looked at him and asked him what he was doing.  His response, with a cute little smile on
his face was, "Mommy, I clean your house."  I mean, how can you be mad at that??

But with the bad comes the good, and there is WAY more good than bad.  One of the great
things is he has developed a strong sense of independence.  Only 4 short months ago he
was clinging to me wherever I went.  It was rare that I could walk out of the room or leave
the house without him crying or getting upset.  He was my own little shadow.  But now he is
way more confident on his own.  I spent the day with him in his class for his birthday and I
was surprised with how the day went.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but he didn't care
at all that I was there.  He went about his day playing and doing the things he normally does
at school.  He played with the kids in his class, sat on the carpet for story time and followed
their classroom routines.  It reminded me that he's growing up and becoming his own little
person.  He is totally content keeping himself occupied.  Whether we're at home or at a
friend's house, I never really need to find things for him to do.  He keeps busy. 

Joe is such a smart little boy.  I think it helps having an older brother that he models himself
after, but it is really amazing.  He can count to 10, recite the ABC's, do 24-piece puzzles on
his own with ease, and he talks up a storm.  I could sit and listen to him talk all day.  

His mispronunciations of things always make me smile.  It's hebby (heavy), Oh tay (okay), I
tumming (coming), Pirate booties (booty), My told (I'm cold).  In fact, he frequently uses my
instead of I...My love you, My not (typically waving his hands frantically).  Just the funny
phrases he says makes me laugh.  After he does something wrong and we've made
amends, he'll say with a big smile, "Mommy, now I not mad at you anymore."  Wait, who's 
mad at who here?  And don't even think of getting angry with him or he'll quickly tell you,
"You being wude (rude) to me!"  And if I do need a break for a minute, not a chance.  He'll
ask me, "Mommy, why you not talking ta me?"  And if I try to hide I'll hear,
"Mommy, where is you?"  

Toddler talk is one of my favorite things.  The exaggerated hand gestures he uses to go
along with all his questions though are a close second.  He holds out his hand in front of him
like he's begging for change and moves it up and down very matter of factly. And if he's
really trying to get his point across both hands go palms up, to his sides, and again he
bounces them up and down.  It's hilarious.  Another fun thing to hear is him sing the songs
he's learned in school. He is in the Star room this year, so "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is
one of his favorites. "Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin" is a close second.

Here are a few of his other favorite things:

Favorite Foods - Mac 'n cheese, sprinkle pancakes, cheese curds, french fries
Favorite Snack - Goldfish, "too-ties" (Cookies), really anything sweet for that matter
Favorite Drink - Apple juice

Favorite Show - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Favorite Toys - Dinosaurs, puzzles, tractors 

Dislikes - milk, fruits, (with the exception of strawberries), veggies, ice cream (crazy, right?)
 

 Joe you definitely keep us on our toes, but we love you to pieces and wouldn't change you for anything.  Happy 3rd birthday buddy!!

T-Rex Party!!

Tonight we celebrated Joe's third birthday with a T-rex birthday party, per his request.

We invited our family over, catered food from Cafe De Luca (it was delicious!) and

I scoured Pinterest and made Joe the simplest, yet fun, dinosaur cake I could find.

 This is Joe telling us that he's three.  

What's funny is I'm pretty sure Owen did the exact same thing at this age.

 It was a great night!  It's always nice seeing family we don't get to see very often and Joe

had a lot of fun celebrating his big day!  Based on Miles and Ryan at the end of the night,

I'd say it was a pretty successful birthday party.  :)

Spider Attack

Help!!  Our house has been attacked by ghosts and giant spiders!!

Looks like Halloween will be here soon.