How is it 2014?

I thought this might be a good time to do a quick catch-up of where we're at. I have NO idea how it's 2014 already. I think I need to start doing one of those question sheets every year and that would be fun to look back on. Here's where I'll start for now:

Chris:
Job - Real Estate Photographer for Shoot2Sell
Car - Red 2009 John Cooper Works Mini Cooper
Hobby - 365 Project/Photography/Painting/Reading

Jill
Job - Senior Designer, Instructional in Sales Training for MetroPCS(a T-Mobile brand)
Car - Purple 2011 Hyundai Elantra
Hobby - Chasing toddlers/Making it to work on-time/Sharpart(Sharpie Art)/Reading

Miles:
Monday - Parker-Chase (a private preschool in Carrollton)
Tuesday - Parker-Chase
Wednesday - Nana & Grandad's
Thursday - Mimi & Daddy John's
Friday - Parker Chase (Nana usually picks him up around 3:30PM)

He's really grown up in the last couple of months. He corrects Chris and I now. Just yesterday I made a noise to him that he loved when he was a baby and he told me not to spit. I think he might be borderline OCD. His trucks have to be lined up against the wall in his room and all facing the same way. He likes doors shut and he LOVES washing his hands and brushing his teeth. He had double ear infections at the beginning of the year and handled it like a champ. He loves to play outside, playdoh, cars, Mickey Mouse and stickers. I'm pretty sure I say this in every blog post but this is my favorite age so far. He's such a blast. He's still not going to sleep on his own at night and only wants me to put him to bed right now(although I will say he's let Chris put him to bed twice this week after me being in there for 30 minutes and giving up). We're wusses and I just can't let him cry it out. Plus the times we've tried it's been hours and hours of crying only for him to fall asleep and then wake up an hour later after we've fallen asleep to start the whole exhausting process over again. Therefore, I put him to bed every night. I must say, he's pretty hysterical before going to sleep(don't worry, I don't laugh so he can see or hear I promise). The things this child thinks of to talk about.

The Amazing Miles is 2!!

Our precious little baby has turned into an incredible, clever, and sweet toddler!

Likes:
Bob the Builder
Mickey Mouse
Elmo
Thomas the Train
Red car(Dad's Mini)
Purple car(for the Elmo CD)
Cheerios
Mexican food
Bananas
Yogurt
Anything Grandparents!
Being outside (out front, out back, walks, or PARKS - any will do, he's not picky)
Bubble mower

Dislikes:
Naps
Anything sugary

Vocab:
This boy is a parrot. He repeats EVERYTHING! He knows so many words that I can't list them all here. His first cuss word was the "s" word, thanks to his Mom. Ooooooops! I will say that life is so, so, so much easier now that he can communicate his needs.... Hungeeee!

Now is such a fun, exploratory time. He's such a blast to be around and he's so funny and clever. What a joy, I have no idea how we all got so lucky to have this incredible little boy in our lives.

He had Croup for his 2nd birthday(the downfall of daycare) so we had to move his party out a week, sweet boy!

The Amazing Miles - 18 Months!

How in the world is my baby 1 1/2? Where did the time go? Chris and Miles were laying on the couch this weekend and Miles was 1/2 the length of Chris. Goodness, time really does fly...

Likes
Elmo
Water
Outside
All Things Grandparents
Reading, Reading, Reading
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Juice
Milk
Oven Toast
Veggies!
Bubbles
Climbing on EVERYTHING
Music
Hide-n-Seek

Dislikes
Sleep
Being told no
Anything Sugary

Vocab:
Daddy(DA-DEEE)
Mama or Ma(only when he really, really wants something)
Juice(this includes juice and milk)
Thank You
Welcome
Cheese
Toast
Jelly(only heard once but it still makes the list)
Cold(his first word)
Ah-choo (Mommy: Miles, what does a doggy say? BB: Ah-choo! Mommy: Well, maybe??) - That's good parenting right there, ha!
Wow
Woah

Miles is a super busy boy these days. He absolutely loves school(daycare) and his teachers are just wonderful. He had his first picture day a couple of weeks ago, we should see those pics soon(I'm so spoiled with Chris and his turnaround time, ha!). He can also growl! Cutest growl in the world! We went to his first swim lesson on Saturday and he was beside himself. I could barely hold him. He also has his first carnival on Friday at school and I can't wait!

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Miles has allergies so we are working through the different allergy medicines to find the right one for him. He loves to read and can point to an airplane, car, firetruck, wagon, and the majority of colors(colors when he feels like it) when prompted. He loves to color with his crayons and taking baths(not with crayons). Oh how this boy loves his baths and water :) He also gives the best hugs and kisses. The Easter bunny brought him a sit-n-spin and thus far it spins via Mommy, Daddy, or BB's foot. It's pretty funny.

It took awhile for him to speak actual words(he has whole conversations with us, we just don't know what he's saying) but in the last week it's like someone flipped a light switch on and all of a sudden here come all these words!

Since we were at the doctor's so much before they determined it was allergies, we get to wait a couple of weeks for his 18 month appointment. I'll update this entry with height and weight after we go.

Finally....updates!

The Amazing Miles is now 16 months old, my how time flies! He started daycare 3 days a week last Thursday. He cried and cried when I dropped him off for the first time. It was the first time in his BB life he's stayed with anyone other than family. It's possible I cried too(as well as the grandmas)... I called to check on him twice and he ate his lunch and took a nap! This week he still cries when we drop him off(well let's be honest here, Chris has been dropping him off because I'm a wuss) but his teacher says it only lasts for a little bit and then he's off playing. He's such a big boy now! He is super tired when he gets home from school, he went to sleep at 6:40PM and slept until 5:30AM on Wednesday! He had his first haircut back in January(shows how behind I am) and ever since then he no longer looks like a baby, he looks like a little boy! We also got rid of bottles about a month ago(he was only drinking one at night before bed anyways).

He's at such a fun age right now. He loves, loves, loves to read and he started saying "Daddy" consistently this week. He's so proud of himself when we say good job to him. He smiles this cheeky smile and giggles. He adores his grandparents and family, Elmo, Super Why and Airplanes. He knows where his belly button is and where his eyes are, the letter "Y", and he will honk his car horn upon request. He's eating solid foods at school and we're working through the stockpile of baby food at home. He eats bites of almost everything that I eat that's not spicy or fried. He even likes black-eyed peas(that's my boy!). He's not big on meats yet but he likes almost all veggies. He loves Chex, goldfish, and milk.

With each and every new day we love him more and more. We are so incredibly lucky and blessed to have the Amazing Miles in our lives! :)

The Amazing Miles - 1 Year Old!

# of teeth: 8, front 4, top and bottom
Weight: 25 pounds
Mode of transportation: walking!
Meals: (1) 6-8oz bottle at bed time, as much baby food as we can get in him (2-3 partial jars), cheerios, bananas, rice rusks

Likes:
Cheerios, cheerios, and more cheerios
ELMO!!!!!!!
Rice Rusks - Vegetable and Banana
Crackers - graham and cheese
Family
Water
Pots and pans
Going for walks
Books: I Love You Through and Through, Good Night Moon, Yes Yes, No No

Dislikes:
When you take something away he wants

BB seems to really have come into his own this month. He's at such a fun, happy age. He smiles and giggle and jokes, such a funny guy. We just adore hime. We had a huge birthday party at our house and friends and family from all around came to help celebrate little man. It was a fantastic day. BB had a birthday dinner with an Elmo cupcake with family, his birthday party at our house, and then a birthday party at Nana and Grandad's on Sunday for the Dickinson side of the family. Words just don't seem enough for how much joy Miles has brought each and every single person he comes into contact with. We are so, so blessed to have Miles as a son :)

The Amazing Miles - 11 Months Old

# of teeth: 4, front 2, top and bottom
Weight: 25 pounds
Mode of transportation: walker, couch cruising, crawling and standing!
Meals: (3) 6-8oz bottles and 3 jars of baby food each day

Likes:
Cheerios, cheerios, and more cheerios
ELMO!!!!!!!
Rice Rusks - Vegetable and Banana
Puffs - Sweet Potato, Banana, Blueberry, Peach
Most baby food - there really isn't a flavor he doesn't like now
Family
Red bucket
Stack cups
Water
Pots and pans
Wagon rides
Going for walks
Books: I Love You Through and Through

Dislikes:
Naps
When you take something away he wants

Mr. BB loves to make us laugh. If he does something funny and we laugh, he'll repeat whatever he was doing to get the same reaction. His Dad taught him how to give high five, it's the cutest thing ever! He'll stop whatever he's doing to give you a high five :) Turns out we have an orange BB this month, too much carotene...i.e. too many orange foods! His little nose, feet, hands, elbows and knees turned orange! No worries at all, he's totally fine, we just have to scale back on carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and all other orange foods :) he now drinks out of a straw sippy cup. we took our first trip to the Dallas Aquarium with Uncle John, Aunt Tahereh and Cousin Gabriel this month and everyone had a blast. Both boys were worn out afterwards. BB has a bit of a temper that's starting to appear when we take things away or if we leave the room without his permission. After two trips to aquariums, we finally got him his own aquarium with 3 neons and 2 tetras. They don't have names yet but BB loves to say good morning and good night to them every day :)

The Amazing Miles - 10 Months Old

# of teeth: 4, front 2, top and bottom
Mode of transportation: walker, couch cruising, crawling
Meals: (3) 6-8oz bottles and 3 jars of baby food each day

Likes:
Rice Rusks - Vegetable and Banana
Puffs - Sweet Potato, Banana, Blueberry, Peach
Cheerios
Most baby food - there really isn't a flavor he doesn't like now
Family
Red car
BB brush
Red bucket
Stack cups
Water
Pots and pans
Wagon rides
Going for walks
Books, books, and more books (we've read Goodnight Moon 1,732 times so far)

Dislikes:
Naps
When you take something away he wants

Mr. BB is now 10 months old! I can't believe how fast time flies. He's standing without holding on to things for a couple of seconds and he uses his walker with ease (sometimes on his knees). As you can see above, his likes far outweigh his dislikes now. He's just the sweetest, funniest little boy. He loves to make us laugh. He'll mimic us laughing and even scrunch up his face just to make us laugh. His little (but oh so big) personality shines through more and more each day. He gets up between 6-7am each day (usually closer to 6am), takes an hour to hour and a half nap (on good days) and goes to sleep at 8pm. When we went in for his 9 month appointment, his doctor made it very clear that if we didn't start getting him to sleep through the night now it would be very difficult once he was walking and able to get up out of his bed on his own. So, we had to go with the cry it out method. It was rough for the first week, but it played out exactly like she said. Nights 1&2 were awful, he cried almost the full hour. Nights 3&4 he cried 30-45 minutes, nights 5&6 15-30 minutes and after that, nothing. He still has a random night here and there when he doesn't want to go down but it's nothing like it used to be. A sleeping baby makes for a much happier household...on all accounts! He loves water and being outside and he continues to flirt with all waitresses within his line of sight :)

The Amazing Miles - 9 Months Old

Weight: 23.3 pounds - 75-90%
Height: 29 inches - 75-90%

Likes:
All things vegetables
Sweet potato puffs
BB brush
Playhouse at Gammy's
Play door at Nana's
Jeep walker at Nana's

Dislikes:
Sleep
When you take something away he wants(yikes!)

The BB is cruising around while holding onto things (the couch, baby gate, anything, really). He is so funny and will mimic what you do (Daddy's scrunched up face, Daddy John's fake cough). I will "chase" him around while he's crawling at breakneck speeds saying "I'm gonna get you!" and he giggles and giggles! He loves, loves, loves going to both grandparents houses. He gets so excited wiggling his little hands around each and every time we walk up. Uncle John and Cousin Gabriel come and play at Gammy's house every Tuesday and they have a blast! We've finally started going out to meals as a family, it's so much fun! We can't believe what a big boy he's becoming, what a joy this gorgeous little boy is! He's my sunshine :)

The Amazing Miles - 8 Months Old

Weight: 21 pounds

Likes:
Vegetables - butternut squash, pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes
Grandparents
Parents
Uncle John

Dislikes:
Fruit - apples, peaches, pears, bananas
BEDTIME

The BB is more and more fun each month. He's crawling everywhere and has TWO of the most gorgeous teeth we've ever seen! He still hates sleep, he goes to bed around 8:30pm-9pm, and usually wakes up once or twice each night for a bottle. He wakes up between 5am-6:30am. He takes two 30 minute naps and one 1.5-2 hour nap each day(on good days). He caught his first cold this month and was a bit fussy with a sore throat(as we all are!) but he made it through :) He's so smart and handsome, we just adore him!

The Amazing Miles - 7 Months Old

Likes:
Squash
Sweet
Potatoes
Carrots
Family
Cell Phone ("Hello Baby")
Red bucket
TV remote
Walks
Bubbles

Dislikes:
Bananas
Apples
Pears
Peaches
Peas
Strangers

The BB is SO much fun right now! On weekdays He usually wakes up between 5:45-7AM and goes to sleep between 8-8:45PM. We moved his crib to the lowest level earlier this week and we are baby proofing the house this weekend. He's still up on all 4's rocking and scootching(is this a word?) and we think he'll be crawling any day! He has one gorgeous tooth and we think another one is coming in with the amount if drool this boy produces :) he giggles and laughs and he's so wonderful! It seems like he has a sense of humor already, he makes this scrunched up face just to see if we will laugh(which we do every time!). He also fake coughs when he sees his Daddy John in the morning, it's hysterical! He loves, loves, loves going for walks and sitting on the patio blowing bubbles. Just in the last week he's been hesitant to say hi to strangers and he wants his Mom :)

The Amazing Miles - 6 Months Old

Height - 28 inches - 90-95%
Weight - 20.01 pounds - 90%

Likes
Dad & Mom
All family (Cousin Gabe, Gammy, Nana, Daddy John, Grandad, Josh, Tyler, Aunt Shelly, Uncle John, Aunt Tahereh)
Giggling
Rolling over both ways
Sitting up for 15 seconds
Sitting up on all fours and rocking back and forth (almost crawling)
Being outside (he seriously LOVES the wind)
Rice cereal

Dislikes
Being inside
Getting in his car seat
People he loves walking out of the room

BB is really coming in to his own personality wise. Every day we are more and more impressed with his humor. He mimics noises you make and most recently he goes back and forth with Chris. It's so adorable. Just the other day Chris was working in the yard and he went around the corner to get something and the BB got SO upset his Dad left! Sweetest/heartbreaking thing I've ever seen!
We are so in love with this little boy. So small (or big for his age) but so much joy :) He also waved at Gammy the other day when she was leaving after one of our walks! I was SO excited to see one of his milestones live and in person!
We get to start him on fruits and veggies in the next week. Get ready for some new BB videos!

The Amazing Miles - 5 Months Old

Loves
Cookie Monster doll
Rubber keys
Eating
Rice cereal(mixed with water, not formula)
Exersaucer

Dislikes
Going to sleep
Coming home from Gammy or Nana's :)

The BB is almost rolling over and he is trying so hard to sit up. He reaches for things and passes them between hands.

The Life of a Mom

I decided to start a list of "fun" things I've done since being pregnant and having the BB.

1) I am late most places now. Anyone who knew me pre-BB, this is(was, haha) a sin.
2) I found a bottle in the microwave after looking for it for 20 minutes and asking Chris 17 times.
3) For the first time in 32 years I didn't walk in and wish my Mom a Happy Birthday today. The BB, however, did... so we are all good :)
4) I've done more laundry in the last 14 months than I've done my whole life.
5) I lose my phone daily and my house key has been missing for weeks. When my garage door opener goes missing then I'm just going to ground myself to the backyard until I can keep ahold of items.
6) I leave doors unlocked! Hopefully no robbers from my neighborhood read this blog, I'm working on it! (we have an alarm system but still)
7) I've drafted blogs for BB's Month 5 and Month 6 and I just noticed yesterday all I have to do is hit "Publish". I still need to drop in a pic from FB but this has taken 2 months/2 weeks to do.

Most days I feel like I'm losing my mind...and I'd choose this "fun" living again and again in a heartbeat :)

The Amazing Miles - 4 Months Old

Height: 26 inches (75-90% percentile)
Weight: 16.12 pounds (75-90% percentile)

Loves:
His DAD - he is obsessed with his Daddy. Even if he's working on a bottle, he'll turn his head to watch his Daddy walk across the room. Cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.
All things grandparents - Gammy, Nana, Daddy John, Granddad
Eating
Looking at himself in mirrors
The sound of running water
Car rides
Staring at Baby Gabe when they hang out

Dislikes:
Going to sleep
Being interrupted while eating (aka Mom burping him)

Daily weekday schedule at 4 months:

5-7 AM Wake up the happiest baby in the world 
7-7:30 AM - Eat and get dressed. Naked baby is Mommy's favorite time of day. He's such a happy tea cup human.
7:30 AM - Head to Gammy and Daddy John's

Fun things at Gammy's:
Eating
napping
tummy time
exersaucer
playmat
play with Harley, Gammy, Daddy John
The occasional Uncle John sighting (he is a Dad now and all)
Miles loves his blue dog and owl toy at Gammy's
Going on walks

12:30 PM - Head to Nana's

Fun things at Nana's:
Eating
tummy time
napping
play chair with hanging animals to hit
plastic keys
eating more
napping more
play mat
walks around the pool
In the Heat of the Night :)

5-7 PM - Mom and Dad pickup the BB
Short nap, then eating, and a diaper change
Play a bit
8:00-9:15 PM Last call (final bottle of the night)
9:30 PM - Sleep land for the BB
1-3 AM - Bottle time and right back to sleep

Miles still sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed, I'm dreading the day we move him to his crib and I can't look over and drift off to sleep staring at that sweet little face and hearing him breathe. I know it's selfish, but I'll indulge a bit longer until Daddy puts his foot down :)

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

 Month 4



The Arrival of Baby Gabe!

Miles' brand new partner in crime has arrived! Gabriel Bounds Hedrick was born on 1/7/2011 at 3:25PM weighing 7.13 pounds and 18.9 inches long. He's absolutely gorgeous, Mommy and Daddy are doing fantastic! Stay tuned for way too many pics of these boys in the upcoming years :)

Christmas 2012

Miles had a wonderful first Christmas filled with tons of family! We ended up having four Chrismas celebrations and even though he didn't know it, Miles made out like a bandit :) Here are pics:

Our First Family Christmas Picture:

Christmas Eve at Nana and Granddad's

Breakfast at John, Tahereh, and Gabe's

Christmas Dinner at Gammy and Daddy John's

Christmas Dinner at our house