Christmas Morning

It looks like the boys were on Santa's Nice List.  Mom and Dad must have been on the
nice list too because the kids slept in until 7:00AM which is unheard of in our house.

It took Owen and Joe no more than 15 minutes to tear through all of their gifts.

They seemed to be very happy with their Christmas haul.

Especially the shooting dinosaur they asked Santa for.

While the boys played with their new toys I got us all packed up to head to WI for

Christmas #4 at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Christmas Eve

 One of the sweetest things I'll remember about this Christmas is something Owen said to
me as I was getting excited and counting down the days.  I told him there were only 5 more
days and then Santa would come and we'd get to open presents.  He looked at me very
excitedly and told me, "And we'll get to see all of our family and get lots of hugs.  Christmas
is about family."  How sweet is that? It sums up Owen's personality perfectly.  He is a rough,
tough, energetic little boy, but he is one of the sweetest, most sensitive little kids I know.  I'm
sure he was super excited about the presents, but he was also genuinely excited to be able
to spend time with all of our family.  Even Joe kept telling us how excited he was to go to
"Uncle Kay's" house (Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kay's).  Near the end of the month we'd look at
his advent calendar, figure out how many days were left, and he'd say, "and then we go to
Uncle Kay's house."  No mention of presents or Santa, just Uncle Kay's house.  I'd like to
think that Ryan's and my love for family is rubbing off on them. 

We love to be able to spend time with all of our family during Christmas, so we're typically
jumping from one celebration to the next.  We started right away Christmas morning by
having Tim, Val and the kids over for breakfast.  Then later that night we all met up again at
"Uncle Kay's" to celebrate Christmas with the Slawin side of the family.  As always, since
Tim and Ryan are the only ones with kids, there is no shortage of gifts for them.
All of the aunts and uncles love to bring gifts for the little ones.

And Ryan and I were the proud recipients of a bottle of Poo-Pourri.

I brought it as our white elephant gift thinking it was so funny.  Little did I know that half of
Ryan's cousins not only knew about it, but use it.  After all of the gift stealing and swapping,
we were the lucky ones to take it home.  Thus began my love for Poo-Pourri.  The stuff is amazing!  You spray a few sprays into the toilet before you go and it traps the smell under
the water.  You can honestly walk in the bathroom right after someone and have no clue
they just went.  Amazing!!  This will now be ever present in our house. 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Happy Half Birthday Miles

My sweet, smiley Miles is 6 months old!

Growth Stats

Weight - 16 lbs (20th Percentile)

Height - 26.2 in (29th Percentile)

This little guy makes me so happy.  His smile is contagious and since he is smiling 90% of
the time he's awake, it's hard not to be happy when you're around him.  When he's not
smiling, he's practicing new skills like rolling over and sitting up.  He can roll from front to
back with ease and has started attempting rolling onto his belly.  He doesn't love being on
his tummy though, so it doesn't give him much incentive to want to practice rolling
that direction. 😉

He can sit well with support and loves that he is able to look around in this new position. He
also loves sitting and playing with toys in his lap.  He's chewing on everything these days,
so his toys typically go right in his mouth.  If it's not a toy, it's his fingers or fist.  I have a
feeling we are going to see some teeth popping through soon. 

I'm hoping the teeth don't mess with his sleeping too much because he just started getting
into a good rhythm.  We've had a few days where I put him down around 7:00PM and he'll
sleep right through until morning.  Those nights are AMAZING!  It has me hopeful that it
might start to become a regular occurrence, especially with the introduction of solid food this
next month.  More often than not however, he'll still wake up in the middle of the night to
eat.  He eats quick and goes right back to bed so I can't complain too much.

He takes two long naps in the morning and afternoon, and an occasional late afternoon
nap if needed.  It all depends on when he wakes up from his second nap.  Normally he's
awake for 2 hours at a time and then starts getting sleepy again.  It's easy to spot because
he'll get a little cranky, which is unlike him, and start rubbing his eyes.
Tell tale signs that he wants to take a rest.

Favorite Toys - Hippo lovey, wooden airplane teether, anything that squeaks,
rattles or jingles

Speaking of favorites, there are a few favorite games that are sure to make him smile.  He
loves to be tickled and have raspberries blown on his tummy, neck and sides.  He thinks it is
hilarious when the boys play peek-a-boo with him or back up then jump toward him.  He
also laughs out loud if I dance like crazy in front of him waving my arms and jumping up and
down.  I guess I would laugh out loud at that sight too if I were him.  He also likes being
thrown in the air and tipped backwards like we're dancing and I'm dipping him.
Let's be honest...there's not a lot that won't make him smile.   

I love this little guy so much and am looking forward to all the other fun moments to come.