Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the three of us! We look forward to spending time with Katie's family this Christmas in Wisconsin and send love to Jason's family all over the U.S. this year. All the best for a happy 2011!

Snow Days

I case you haven't heard, Minneapolis (in fact most of the Midwest) got ridiculous amounts of snow last weekend. We got around 17" at our house on Saturday. This storm pretty much shut down the city: airports, busses, and lots of events were shut down on Saturday and Sunday. Schools did not reopen until Wednesday. I am relieved that the city is coming back to life. Traffic and temperatures have been horrible all week. I wanted to give you a peek of what our family did in the snow storm. Miles and I got up early to make daddy some pancakes and after breakfast Jason headed out for snowblowing round 1 and to help many of the neighbors who needed it. I've always loved this city, but this week I'm not so sure!

18 Months

Miles recently turned 18 months old and we are constantly amazed by how fast he grows and changes! He is at the stage where his motor skills are very developed and the language skills are just starting. Miles is very physical: running, jumping, galloping, marching, and climbing. If you turn away from him while playing the basement, he will climb to the 2nd step and jump off onto the floor. Miles' fine motor skills are also impressive. We started with a velcro obsession, then zippers, and now laces. He is interested in everything mechanical and studies to learn how things work. Thankfully, he is able to focus on things for quite a long time. On the language side, Miles understands everything we say. His own words are coming slowly including doggie, daddy, yeah, no, all done, right there, and just starting to say mama. Jason and I find it humbling as we realize that he mimics everything we do - all of the good stuff (like putting his napkin on his lap at dinner) and all of the bad stuff (like shooing the dog away from the dinner table.) Things continue to get easier as Miles gets more independent. We say "time to go upstairs to bed" and he says "yeah" and heads up the stairs. Same with putting his boots & coat on, going to the dinner table, etc. Such fun adventures watching him learn about the world! More to come as Miles learns about the holidays!!

Baaa Boo Boo, Waddy!

Here's a little peek into our living room after work one day. Miles found this book particularly funny, especially when the baby speaks to the dog in the story. He's starting to repeat words after us, and in this one it's "Boo Boo!"

Trick or Treat!

This Halloween was Miles first experience carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating - so fun to watch him learn! Grammy was here on Halloween afternoon when we carved pumpkins and although she hates carving pumpkins, she helped Miles to scoop out the seeds and Jason did the rest. Miles wasn't so sure he liked getting his hands dirty! We all headed out trick-or-treating around dusk and visited our friends in the neighborhood. Miles got a ride in the wagon. He got the hang of holding his bucket tightly and walking up to each front door, but he wanted all of the candy, not just a few pieces. When we got home and kids came to our door, he screamed and stomped his feet because we were giving away our candy. He wasn't in charge of answering the door for long! I'm sure next year will be a whole new adventure!

North Shore Getaway!

Good Lord, October has been busy at our house! As you can see from the string of blog posts, we've had lots of visitors, a week without day care, Jason switching jobs, and Katie's busy season at work all in October. We needed a break. We took advantage of Grammy's extra free time for Wisconsin's teacher's conference weekend. She came to play with Miles and we headed to Two Harbors to chill out. We stayed in the Northern Rail Traincar Suites - a very cool experience sleeping inside of a railcar! We also had one of the best meals of our lives at Nokomis Restaurant on North Shore Drive between Two Harbors and Duluth. This was the 3rd time we'd tried to eat there and were finally successful. We highly recommend the rail cars, the restaurant, and a kid-free getaway!

Stupid Storm

One of the things we love about living in an old neighborhood is the cover of old beautiful trees. Well, we lost one of our silver maples last week during a nasty storm with high winds. Thanks to great neighbors who called to tell us (we weren't home) and who cleared the road. We are bummed about the tree, but considering where it was, we are very lucky it didn't hit any houses, cars, or people! I guess we'll try to replenish the neighborhood with new trees very very slowly. :(

Weekend with Cousin Nolan!

We really don't get to see enough of our nephews, so any chance to snuggle them is a blessing these days! Nicholas, Sara, and Nolan (almost 6 months!) came to visit us for the weekend. We spent our time chasing the boys and watching them play together. We're excited for these guys to grow up together. 180 miles isn't that far away! Lots more photos in the Picasa link to the right.

Girls Weekend in Winnipeg

That's right. My super fancy girlfriends don't go to Mexico or Las Vegas for girls' weekend. We go to Winnipeg! The stars aligned for us to visit with our friend, Alana, her hubby, and new adorable son, Callum, while they were visiting family in Winnipeg for the weekend. A 7-hour road trip without screaming kids was nothing for us experienced mommies considering that Alana and her fam drive 15 hours from Calgary with a new baby in the car. We jammed in all things Canadian: shopping at the Roots outlet, poutine within an hour of arriving, pierogis, The Forks, and Tim Horton's. Thanks, ladies!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa Selby!

We were very lucky to have Grandma Jan & Grandpa Jim visit us for whole week last week to help care for Miles while our day care provider was on a well-deserved vacation! It was fun to watch Grandma & Grandpa get to know Miles all over again since he's changed so much in the last few months. They had lots of fun with daily visits to the park, building blocks, and learning how to shine shoes! A few shared moments are captured below. More are posted on our Picasa link to the right. Thanks again, Jim & Jan!

Minnesota Homecoming 2010

Last Friday the three of dressed in our best Gopher/pirate gear for the U of M Homecoming parade. We were part of the Carlson School Undergraduate Program pirate bus and give special props to the McGowan family who loaned all of their mad pirate gear from last year's Halloween party to my office. (The McGowans always have everything we need!) Anyway, it was a beautiful evening and Miles' first time in a parade. The downsides were that the St. Paul Winter Carnival Vulcans were behind us with obnoxious sirens the whole time and that I didn't get to see the marching band, which is the reason I go to these things! A couple pics of our family are below. More pics of the event are on the Carlson UG Flickr page.

Fall evenings!

We've been spending as much time as possible outside in the evenings to take advantage of the weather and give Miles space to run. On this night I had a few nice videos of him throwing or kicking the ball, but this one is more realistic: throwing himself over the ball, giggling every time, and then getting totally distracted by a leaf in the yard. Enjoy!

He's got things to do!

We always joke that Miles marches around our house with so many things to do and then I realized that I had these two photos back to back. I'm sure that he mimics us as we move around the house and especially the kitchen. I hope he ends up with Jason's motivation in the end! Notice that in both photos he's got one thing in each hand: vacuuming and watering flowers or mowing and painting. So stinkin' cute!!

Pizza Farm

On Tuesday evening we trekked 80 miles southeast to A to Z Produce in Bakery, a small organic farm near Stockholm, Wisconsin. We were invited by the McGowan family to join them on the Pizza Farm. This place has a huge wood-fired stove, where they cook and serve take out pizzas on Tuesday nights only, all with fresh ingredients from the farm. They make more than 300 pizzas per night in the heart of summer. The night we were there, they served about 140. People come from FAR and wide, bring their own chairs, drinks, tables, etc. to sit in the field and eat fresh pizza. The evening was beautiful and Miles and Harrison enjoyed meeting some goat friends. We highly recommend this unusual experience and the drive down the Mississippi River! More pics to the right.

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma Liz!

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma Liz's 90th birthday with a party for her in Oshkosh. Her 5 grandchildren hosted this gathering with about 60 guests and a TV in the corner to make sure no one missed the Packers game. The guest of honor was the first to make sure we didn't miss the Packers game. As we were leaving, I hugged Grandma and told her I loved her. She said "90 years is a long time to be around" and I marvel at all of the changes she has seen. Some of the guests brought beautiful photos of Grandma from 40 years ago. It makes me excited to think about the possibilities in our next 50 years and the life that we're creating for our kids. Here's a look at Grandma Liz's family below and a sweet shot of Sara & Nolan. Happy Birthday, Grandma!

State Fair 2010!

What a beautiful day for a visit to the State Fair! Grammy and Poppy came to town for less than 24 hours to join us for our 2nd annual visit to the fair. We hope that cousin Nolan and his parents can join us next year! This year we tried morning church at the fair (super time saver,) the butterfly house, the poultry building, along with our old favorites: the photo booth, pig barn, fish pond, and fried food everywhere!

Ready... JUMP!

Once in a while he gets both feet off the ground!

Visit to Phoenix

We just returned from a scorching trip to Phoenix to visit our new Nephew Colton and his proud parents, Jen & Dave. We spent 3 nights with them and it was fun to get to know little Colton at only 4 weeks old! We spent a beautiful day at the lake at Tanto National Forest playing on the wave runner and swimming in the lake with Miles. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We also toured Queen Creek Olive Mill and learned about the production of olive oil. But really, our time there was to spend with Jen, Dave, and Colton hanging out and talking about our boys. A few pics are below and more are posted on the Picasaweb link to the right. We had more difficult flights with Miles to and from Phoenix than we did to and from Europe. Take a look at the video below to see how Miles occupied his time on the plane. He was quiet, so I opted to film instead of "parent!"

Bubbles

Who doesn't love pics of babies with bubbles on their faces? Mommy loves bubble baths, so now Miles gets bubbles in his bath. This is what his face looks like after eating them!

Boyce Familly Vacation

The Boyce family started a new tradition this year with a vacation at a lake cabin on Lac Courte Oreilles Lake near Hayward, WI. We rented 2 neighboring cabins for our 3 families, made good use of the "Grandpa (pontoon) boat," fished, swam in the lake, and ate way too much! It had all the elements of a great summer vacation. We had fun sharing Miles with my family and getting to know our 3-month old nephew, Nolan, a bit better. Miles was great with Nolan, always sharing his toys and even gave him some hugs when we parted ways. We hope to do this all again next year, maybe for a few more nights. More photos are posted on Picasaweb in the links to the right. Enjoy!

Miles' Cabinet

Anyone need help organizing your kitchen? Miles is on it! He has claimed this cabinet in our kitchen. As we work busily in the kitchen, so does he - putting everything he can reach in this cabinet and closing the door after each item. He's getting better about shoving his arm in there, ducking his head, and then closing the door without losing the contents. Currently, it holds all Roxy's treats, paper plates, all the alphabet magnets from the fridge, bottle and sippy cup parts, sandbox toys, and the water bottles & tupperware that were in there to start. Dang, he's cute!

Miles' 1 Year Photos!

Curious

We are continuously amazed at how curious Miles is with all things mechanical. He is able to focus for long periods of time trying to put any 2 things together: clasps of his car set, high chair straps, the dog collar ends, nuk and snap-on cover, or any two things that he finds handy. He investigates the door knob watching both sides turn in his hands. While sitting at the piano, he is much more interested with how the music ledge hinges work than making loud sounds with the keys! When we were in Austria, my cousin's husband coined the term "engineer finger" because Miles thoroughly investigates anything new with his right index finger, poking and prodding. We're having so much fun watching his little mind grow and explore each day. I think he will constantly challenge us to keep his mind engaged!

Minnesota Children's Museum!

Today we took a break and headed to St. Paul for lunch at Cosetta's and our first visit to the Minnesota Children's Museum. Miles loved the Children's Museum and so did we! It was a great place to run around, learn, and explore, all within the comforts of AC since it's 90+ degrees outside today! Miles and Jason both went straight from the car to napping. More pics on the Picasa links to the right. You can be sure we'll be back there soon. We can't wait for our cousins to get bigger and visit us so that we can take them too!!

Traveling with a 1-year-old

We are back in the groove at home after returning from Austria on Sunday. The #1 question that people ask us is "how was Miles traveling, on the plane, switching schedules," etc. Overall, Miles (and we) did very well. I have to credit the very wise advice of so many friends, a theme in all of our parenting! We took a car seat on the plane and Miles never got out of it. (He didn't know he could.) He knows how to sleep and stay in a car seat and that worked to our advantage. We used the playgrounds in the airports to burn some energy and the family bathrooms to secure all of our stuff and take care of everyone's needs. Jason boarded each plane first to hook up the car seat and stow our gear. Miles and mommy boarded the plane last to take advantage of an extra 30-45 min of running laps around the gate area (and winning over other passengers in case he got crabby later!) We took lots and lots of food for Miles, old toys, and new toys that he'd never seen before. We also took his beloved blankie that Aunt Sara made for him so that when he got tired, he'd snuggle up with it!

In Austria, we toted lots of food and baby gear every day. Miles slept a lot in the car seat and the stroller thanks to my cousins who pushed him around a lot. We kept him to the same sleep schedule that we tried to keep, so he adjusted to the new schedule better than we did! To be honest, my Austrian family and their friends made it easy because everyone wanted to be with Miles and care for him. So, although it may have sounded crazy, we had a very successful cross-Atlantic trip with our one-year-old. The real bonus was watching him learn and grow every day!

Austria Days 10-13

Day 10: Happy Birthday, Guilia! Today was a fun and lazy day at home. Tanya and Andreas spent the day preparing for Guilia's birthday party: grocery shopping, cleaning the house, and preparing food. We spent the day relaxing, offering to help them incessantly, going for walks, and Jason made his mother's caramel rolls as our contribution to the party by Ingrid's request. (Their other American cuisine request is hash browns, so we'll need to find time for that!) In the evening, friends and family came over to celebrate with Guilia. Andreas spent hours in front of the grill making each guest huge bowls of pasta with grilled seafood by request. We met Tanja's father, Helmut, and Jason met Ingrid's mother, Oma, for the first time. Oma is in failing health and for that reason our Austrian family does not plan to visit the states in the next year. As the night went on, Guilia and her friends turned in and the adults partied on. It was great to be here to celebrate with Guilia!

Day 11: Another fun and lazy day running errands and cleaning up from the birthday party. In the evening, the girls went out for dinner and I opted to stay home for some alone time. Jason jumped into good old fashioned boys' night complete with beer, pizza, and PlayStation on the projection screen in the basement.

Day 12: On Friday we asked Tanja to take the three of us downtown to explore a bit more before we leave town. She dropped us off in the town square and we boarded a tiny yellow train for a 30-minute tour of Linz. Miles was pretty squirmy but happy to have a little girl behind us to wave to and entertain. We bumped into Robert on the street (Karin's brother who accompanied us to Pöstlingberg last Friday.) We were excited to feel like we knew people in town. I thought of my students on study abroad and how great they must feel as they acclimate to a new city and build new relationships! We then stopped for a late lunch in Linz's largest beer garden. We ordered our last wiener schnitzel of the trip. I'm still recovering from that day's diet: bread, wiener schnitzel (deep fried pork cutlets,) french fries, ice cream, bratwurst, and wine. Seriously, that was everything I consumed on Friday. Bleh.

As the afternoon ended, we walked to the south market downtown (same place we go for breakfast on Saturday mornings) to meet everyone for WineFest. All I can say is that craziness ensued: we were there for more than 8 hours; 2 hours of which I had no idea where Jason was until I learned that Willy took him on a guided "tour of Austrian wines" complete with a map. I toured with the ladies with a brief break to take Miles home to bed (thanks Guilia for watching him.) Jason spotted the biggest mustache known to mankind. Karin promptly named him "the Kaiser of Texas" and asked to take his photo. Karin, we need that photo from you! At the end of the night, we had to say goodbye to the first set of friends after hours of false starts trying to leave for home. Major thanks to Andreas, the sober cab many times over!

Day 13: Saturday started pretty slowly as everyone is recovering from WineFest. I got up with Miles, stopped at the bakery, and then went for a morning walk past the strawberry fields to keep the house quiet until everyone woke up. We all headed back to the market for breakfast around 11:00. Ingrid works at a little beer stand at the market 3 days a week, so it's nice to have a home base to meet at the market. We had quite a scare when we lost Miles for a minute at the market and found him wandering at the next stand - a good and scary lesson for us. There we said goodbye to more friends, Ingrid, and Nadine. Then we headed home for an afternoon nap. This afternoon we have been packing. Jason made hashbrowns by request and they were fantastic! Tonight Jason and I are taking advantage of help with Miles to go to dinner alone. Tanja made reservations at an Italian restaurant that they enjoy. We're excited to recap and spend time alone together, but sad to be at the end of our journey. Rolf will be here early tomorrow to fetch us for Munich!

Austria Days 7-9

Sunday - Vienna. Willy and Hermi took us with our friend Karin. We did a driving tour of the main sights around the center of town, and stopped for lunch at a large beer garden (some claim it's the largest in Austria), Schweizerhaus in the Prater amusement park. We had stelze (roasted pork knuckle) and real budweiser (from Czech Republic). We had a very good lunch. We took a quick ride in the ferris wheel with great view of the city, and purchased the obligatory tourist tchotchkes in the shops there. After the park, we visited Steffansdom and downtown Vienna. Finally, we ended the day at Schönbrunn castle touring the interior and the sprawling grounds surrounding.

Once we left Vienna, we drove to the Wachau wine country to meet Tanja, Andreas, Rolf, Ingrid, and Miles. We stayed in an Austrian bed and breakfast in Langenlois - a recently-updated home that was over 400 years old! Dinner was in a cool little gasthaus that was decorated in hundreds of clocks.

Monday we visited the Loisium winery and it had the most interesting wine tour I've ever been on. It started with a fountain light show worthy of Las Vegas -- Katie says it was like something from Willy Wonka. It was informative, but took a lot of liberties with what was relevant to making wine.
After the winery, we visited Dürnstein - the one-time prision of Richard Lionheart. It was a quaint little tourist town that seemed stopped in time (surely not on accident). We enjoyed apricot schnapps, visiting the little shops and old buildings, a beautiful church, and a great cafe for lunch (goulash!). Finally, we visited the Basilica of Maria Taferl. We took a quick tour of the church (almost everything was gilded and the organ was beautiful!) and had a brief chat with the priest in little bits of english. Afterward, we took in the great views of the surrounding valley and stopped for a little espresso and sweets. A great end to a good day touring. We took the scenic route along the Danube back to Linz for the night.

Tuesday we took a day trip with Rolf, Ingrid, Tanja, Andreas, Miles, Katie and me to Gmunden. We visited the Gmunder Ceramic factory (very famous Austrian ceramic company) and purchased a few souvenirs. We then drove through town to see the sights (the Schloss Ort castle in the lake was very memorable).

Once we left Gmunden, we drove to Wolfgangsee to tour the town and get a late lunch. Beautiful views of the nearby lake and some shopping ended the afternoon and we headed back to Linz taking the scenic route along Attersee - a large and beautiful lake nestled in the mountains.

We had dinner at Ralf and Popsy's house, friends from the farmer's market (they had a large beautiful new home). The new home is in the hills overlooking Linz, and as the sun went down, the views were quite good. Rolf is a collector of things - most notably, instruments (over 100 guitars in his home studio!). They were great hosts and we had dinner in their basement bar (complete with dj stand, brass rail, pool table, juke box, and booth tables). A fun evening with new friends!

As with the rest of the trip, Miles has been a great sport about having an inconsistent schedule (sleeping and eating), and has been a lot of fun to have along. It's been fun watching Kate's family here interact with him too. I get the impression they're really enjoying him.

Austria Days 5-6

Day 4: We had quite a full day all over Linz today. Rolf picked us up after breakfast, dropped us off downtown to give us some time to explore and he took Miles away to his house to give us some baby-free time. Jason and I had lunch, visited the Dom, took photos of the city, and just got to know the downtown. We were then joined by Karin, her brother Robert, wife Mariana and 2-year-old daughter, Helena at Pöstlingberg atop the city of Linz. We visited the church where Tanja & Andreas were married and rode the dragon train through the fairy tale land. Miles liked the sound of his voice as he babbled through the church! The highlight of our day was at the home of Rolf & Ingrid's friends, Willy & Hermi, whom we have met before both in the states and in Austria. Hermi invited Jason to learn the fine art of strudel and you can see the story unfold better in our photos (link to the right.) Hermi doesn't have the greatest English skills, but she was sure to convey to Jason that the dough is right when "it feels like a woman's breast." Ha! An unexpected bonus was watching the celebration of the summer solstice outside on the streets, where people danced in traditional dress, lit a "fire Hans" (see the photos,) and did some other things we probably didn't understand.

Day 5: We have requested a day of rest! Miles is getting sick with coughing and a runny nose. He doesn't sleep much when were on the run, so today we kept it simple. We went to the farmer's market, where Ingrid works a few days a week, and bought vegetables, breads, juice, and beers of course. The rest of the day we napped, went for walks, folded our laundry, and got ready for the next 2 days away. We're looking forward to sweet dumplings tonight before bed!

Our family has done a great job of helping us manage Miles in this new environment. Oftentimes, they will say "now we are going to ... and Guilia or Nadine will watch Miles." So far, Miles has done OK with these arrangements, but I have to get used to being flexible with his sleep schedule. We will be away from him all day tomorrow when we visit Vienna. I really appreciate the help, but am afraid of the consequences if he gets sick here. Thank goodness my husband keeps me grounded in these situations!

Austria Days 0-4

We are in Austria! My apologies for the lack of photos on this post, but we are still figuring that out here! We are here visiting Katie's family here: Uncle Rolf, Aunt Ingid, cousin Nadine, and staying with cousin Tanja, husband Andreas, and their kids Kevin (17) & Guilia (14). We also know many of their friends from visits to the states and Katie's last trip here in 2005.

Days 0-1: We flew to Munich via Philadelphia and had relatively uneventful flights with Miles. Both flights were slightly delayed due to weather and he slept about half of each flight. Thank you to Christiane who loaned us her smaller car seat - it was perfect on the plane to keep Miles contained. Oh, and we sat next to the US Olympic rowing team on the plane, so it was fun to learn about their world. Our first day here was spent trying to stay awake until a reasonable bed time to help with jet lag. Miles stayed on our same sleep schedule with the addition of an afternoon nap. He has done extrememly well with the adjustment!

Day 2: We slept until almost noon on our first day here and it helped us to get in the groove. Tanja & Andreas have done an exceptional job of preparing for a little person here. They borrowed a pack n' play, a high chair, toys, and built a little wall on the patio so that Miles cannot wander into the pool. We really relaxed all day, enjoyed a huge Austrian dinner with our whole family, and then visited downtown Linz in the evening to introduce Jason to the city a bit. We feel totally at home here!

Day 3: Tanja & Andreas are slowly ramping up our schedule as we adjust to the time change here. Today we shopped for Miles' snacks, relaxed more, visited the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, a modern/future art center on the Danube, and went to dinner at my uncle's house. The highlight of our evening was Uncle Rolf teaching Miles to toast his drink (sippy cup) and Jason enjoying a whole bottle of whiskey with Rolf & Andreas. It's fun for me to have Jason and Miles get to know this part of my family and vice versa.

Day 4: We just returned from our first real tourist day in Salzburg. We had a great day in Salzburg with a break in the rain and dinner in Mondsee - our first wiener schnitzel! Miles even ate it! We toured first on foot and then by the hop on - hop off bus. I had seen Salzburg 5 years ago, but only the Sound of Music tour because I was traveling with my grandmother. Today I saw the rest of the city and really enjoyed sharing it with Jason. Tonight we came home, put Miles to bed, and are now enjoying beer and wine on the patio with neighbors.

In the last couple days, Miles has started to sign "more" when he wants more food. We've been working on this for months, and it's fun to see him make the connection. Of course the Austrians claim they are teaching him to speak German. Another fun side note is that we're staying in Guilia's room plastered with posters of Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and the casts of High School Musical and the Twilight movies. Jason is getting quite a pop culture lesson from the lens of a 14-year-old girl! More updates to come! Love from Austria!

Weekend in Wisconsin

Last weekend we spent a very full and fun weekend with Kate's family in Wisconsin. We hopped on Poppy's new pontoon boat the night we arrived, got to know little cousin Nolan a little better, road tripped to Oshkosh for Aunt Paulette and Uncle Jim's 40th Anniversary Party, and visited both great grandmas! For more pics, see the Picasa link to the right.

First Haircut

We'd like to give a shout out to Barber Dan for making Miles' first hair cut a pretty easy event. Take a look at the before and after pictures below. We lost the curls, but now it's not as easy to hide a bunch of food in the nest on his head!

Here are the red curls the night before Miles first haircut.

The main event

Check me out - new hair!

Watch me Walk!

Tonight Miles designated 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. as walking practice. We were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and he kept walking back and forth from the dining room smiling like crazy. After a while, I think the falling down became the fun part. Notice how he announces his arrival into the kitchen! (I promise I'll put together some more walking videos when I get some more time!)

One Year Old!

Miles turned one year old last Thursday and I can't believe a year has already passed. We have learned so many things about him and are very excited for the next stages of development. So far, we know that Miles is tremendously observant. He notices every move and sound in the room from people, pets, doors, etc. right away. We know that he is very verbal babbling constantly and we wonder if he'll talk this much with real words! (We also joke that he will take after his Uncle Nicholas!) Miles has a very quick temper and reacts instantly when things don't go his way. Our day care provider has mentioned that he's pretty feisty with other kids when they take away toys or upset him. We'll work on managing those emotions!

Physically Miles is moving right along learning how to walk (see next post). He is in the 70% for height, weight, and head size. We are excited for the language development to kick in this next year.

Although there have been some stressful weeks in the past year, we have enjoyed our little red-headed socialite to pieces and have enjoyed watching each other become parents and fall in love with him! We've also enjoyed sharing Miles with our families and watching our parents become grandparents more than we ever anticipated. I'm sure things will get even more interesting as we move on. We can't wait to get to know Miles even more!

Snoring with Poppy

We'll let you in on our afternoon entertainment today. Miles is very big on mimicking everything right now. My dad was napping on the couch, snoring, and Miles started to make low growling sounds back at him in rhythm. By the time we started this video, my dad was fake snoring and laughing in between. What a fun weekend with all the grandparents!

Welcome Nolan Nicholas!

We are very excited to welcome our new nephew, Nolan Nicholas, to our family! He was born on Monday, May 3rd at 6:04 a.m. to Katie's brother and his wife, Nicholas and Sara. He was born at 8 lb. 2 oz., 19 inches long, and has a lot of dark hair! I'm bummed that we haven't met him yet, but a sick little boy in our house prevented us from traveling last weekend. We are excited to have boy cousins on both sides of our family, (we are expecting another boy in Phoenix in August!) Watch out babies, Miles has so many things to teach you!! Congrats to our siblings & their families!

This is a much better video with the walker

The walker toy that is, not the boy - yet!

He shall covet thy neighbor's toys!

Last night we went to Caitlin's 2nd birthday party and Miles had a blast playing with a room full of new toys and watching the older kids. Here are two of his favorite things: the slide and the walker. Alyson offered that we could bring the walker home for him to cruise around with! Thanks, Alyson! Watch out, Brookside neighborhood!

11 Months Already?!

Yes, that's right folks. Miles turned 11 months old on Tuesday and he's marching through all the development stages at quite a rapid pace! This month it seems like he has done more new things than ever, but every month feels like that! Miles has started to climb the stairs, eat with a spoon, brush his hair, play ball with us, and wave bye-bye. None of these things are consistent of course, but it's fun to see them repeated. He is very interested in putting anything inside of anything else. This week we found 3 toys inside the crock pot with the cover on! He is getting increasingly squirly and not interested in being held. He is impossible to wrangle during the long church services at the Basilica, so he enrolled in the nursery last week! We also started swimming lessons last week and he excels in splashing and drinking the pool. :)

Unfortunately, we went through a long streak of stomach flu in our house over the Easter holiday that attacked Kate's parents, Jason and Miles. It held on for Miles for more than a week and we are still trying to get his sleep schedule back in order because of it. Not fun.

In the next month, we are very excited to meet Miles' first cousin as we are awaiting the birth of Kate's brother's first child in Wisconsin Rapids!

Baby at Brasa

We took Kate's grandmother and family visiting from Austria to eat at Brasa tonight in St. Paul. (Great meal by the way!) They seated us at a huge table with a lazy susan in the middle and Miles was entertained by the ride for a while. Notice how happy he is with the selection of hot sauces!

10 Months Old

Miles turned 10 months old last weekend and I'm a week late with this post. (Can you tell things have been hectic?!) Miles is getting more and more physical as he gets bigger, very interested in climbing on and over everything: the wine cart, the dog, the kitchen chairs, and the only step at day care. He weighs 23.5 lb. and is a lot to carry around! Miles is starting to solve the puzzles in his toys, putting things inside of each other, rolling the ball back and forth, and generally learning by watching what we do. He's also more vocal than ever babbling and answering back with "eh" when you ask him a question. Miles is starting to "walk" along the furniture, but is hesitant to take any steps unsupported yet. We have moved out of even more baby gear, the most significant being the bucket car seat, as we have passed it on to our new niece or nephew expected in 6 weeks! Crazy to think he'll be the big cousin soon!

Miles' New Exercise Plan

...and this game went on and on and on the other night.

Doorstop Fun

9 Months Old!

Good Lord, time is flying! Miles turned 9 months old this weekend and he's growing and learning like crazy. The official stats this morning were 30" long (90%) and 21.4 lbs (60%). He has four teeth showing, (two top, two bottom,) and the doctor said that the next two on the top are soon to come. Miles now pulls himself up to stand on anything he can and is amazingly in control of most movements up and down with few crashes to the floor. He is eating almost everything we eat in small bites or through the blender. It's fun to see him understand us more and more. When we say "No, Thank You" he actually hesitates and turns to look at us before charging ahead toward impending danger! Miles and Roxy are also deepening their bond as they legitimately play together with toys now, handing things back and forth. We did get a funny report recently at day care (or baby work as we call it) that Miles was "biting" the other baby. I think it's his version of kissing, but we'll have to ask the other baby for his opinion on that one - ha!