Come On Summer!

Boy, oh boy, are we D-O-N-E done with Winter and illness and bleh. Unfortunately, I don't think the viruses are done with us. Poor Milo has been battling a temp, throwing up, weird spots, and diarrhea -- one different symptom each day since Sunday. The good news (?!) in all of this is that he's acting completely normal in between weird sickness spells. And we got good naps out of him this past weekend. Who knows?

The Boy is trying to be more verbal here lately. Several times he's brought over a bag of goldfish or graham crackers and said "cach-ker", which we will take to be the genious child's version of "cracker". Same with "cukh-kee" (cookie), "shuh" (shoe), and "buh-un" (button). Espeically since he's either holding or pointing to these objects at the time he speaks them. :) "Mom-mom", "Diddy", "bye-bye-bye" (hmmm, didn't know he was a fan of *NSYNC), and "uh-oh" are also still in play. He's getting there.

We've been going to the playground almost every day, and Milo loves the slides. Not the short, safe slides. No, he only wants the tall, big boy slides. By himself. We've done such a good job of teaching him to turn around and climb down the stairs backwards, he gets to the top of the slide, turns around, and slides down feet-first on his tummy. Silly boy.

Oh, and he's walking full time now. We've been laughing because he's even walking with his arms down at his sides instead of up in the air. Won't be long until he's at a full run and we can't catch him!

We're hoping to update and post photos very soon. Hang with us!

WARNING - Under Construction

Sorry for this transition, but we really do think Chandler Fun Time will be bigger and better soon!

We'll Just Call Him Milopher Columbus...

So, Milo had several discoveries this weekend. Like how he can lift the lid to the toilet. And, he can reach the doorknob and open the door to the office from the inside. Oh! And, how he can eat out of the trashcan now. Awesome. Totally awesome.

Any bets on how long it takes him to figure out he can lift the lid, throw something into the toilet, and then flush? I'm guessing within the week...

Here we go...

OK, people, we obviously don't have enough time in the day to keep up with the old format of Chandler Fun Time. So, we're delving into the world of the blog. A world with which we know just enough to be extremely dangerous. However, we have visions of bigger, better, and more timely posts and photos.

Hang with us during this transition -- we think it'll be worth it!

December 19, 2006

OK, I know, I know. I'm TERRIBLE. I have been trying to update this darn site for months now and it seems like every time I tried, something disastrous would happen and I would lose everything. You know, like the power going off due to the huge ice storm, and then our computer imploding. However, I believe we're back up and running. So, here we are and Milo is now 1 year old. It's crazy! He has 2 little teeth on the bottom and that's it. But that doesn't seem to deter him from eating. Our latest challenge is that he wants to eat like big people -- with a fork and knife, whole pieces of food instead of little bites. Ah well, at least he likes to eat. Great big handfuls and then wash it down with milk while he's still got a mouthful. Speaking of eating a lot, the Boy weighs 22 lbs, 4 oz now. He's not quite walking, but I think he's close. He cruises a lot, and will even let go of everything and drink from his sippy or hold a toy with both hands until he realizes that he's not holding on to anything, and then he sits down or grabs back on. God bless him, he's still sleeping 11-1/2 to 12 hours every night. It's made a world of difference for all of us. And, I am happy (OK, happy is an understatement) to say that I have retired the pump. Woo-hoo! Luckily, Milo's been SO good during the whole weaning process, it's made it a lot easier for both of us. We're only nursing right before bed, and I hope to cut that right after Christmas. We'll see.

We've had the end of our first holidays now -- Halloween and Thanksgiving were the last of them. Milo was a rock star for Halloween (see the pics) and loved the stuffing and sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. He's not a huge meat fan, but we're working on that. The first birthday party was also a success. It was a music theme, and we had it at Aaron's store, the Music Center of Kirkwood. All the kids had fun, although Milo wasn't TOO sure about all these kids running around everywhere when he couldn't. And, he also wasn't so sure about the cake -- he didn't want to get his hands in it. But then I fed it to him with a fork and got him his own spoon, and it was all over. Literally. All over him, the chair, everything. Until his spoon got too dirty and he wanted a clean one. (Hmmmmm. Whose son is this again?)

So, on to Christmas. We had our Christmas with Gramme and Grandpa (that would be Frank and Jeanie) this weekend. They didn't spoil him TOO terribly -- except for that Elmo TMX doll. Although for Milo, this Tickle Me Elmo is more a Make Me Cry Elmo right now. He's not too happy when Elmo moves toward him -- it kind of freaks him out. But, he'll grow to love him, I'm sure. (And, just as quickly, we'll probably grow to hate Elmo.) We're going to have our Christmas tomorrow night, and then on to Arkansas for the weekend.

Since it has been a year, I thought I'd write a little respective about the things I've learned in the last 365 days. Probably the most important is don't sweat the small stuff. You know, kids are going to get colds or bumps or bruises and there's not a thing you can do to stop it. And, it's not necessarily your fault when they're sick or hurt. The best you can do -- for them and for you -- is just to be there and to comfort. But it is OK if you cry right along with them. ;-) Also, everything is just a phase -- the bad and (unfortunately) the good. When they won't eat their carrots or drink their milk or lay still when you're trying to change their poopy diaper, they will in a week or 2. And, when they are sleeping all night or sitting down in the bath to play instead of running all around, they won't in a week or 2. It's all give and take. Finally, you have to stop and really enjoy the little moments -- the smiles, the looks of wonder, even the fits -- because that's what makes up our lives. If you wait for the big ones, you'll miss a lot.

OK, enough sap. And, yes, I'm sure I learned more than that in one year, but that's the big stuff. There are a TON of new pictures up. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

http://img138.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img138/1306/1174330734o79.smil

September 17, 2006

Whew, time flies! Baby Boy is 9 months old! And, we must say, this past month has been much, much better. Still no teeth, but the reflux is back under control. We actually took him to Christine Dunsworth (Nix), a chiropractor who is also Aaron's best friend's wife and also known as Aunt Chicky. I know it may sound strange, but after two adjustments, Milo has gone from spitting up literally 30-40 times per day to maybe 3 or 4. It has to do with the vegas nerve and being out of alignment (which he was), which is normally caused by difficult labors or c-sections. And, being as Milo was so packed in there, he had to be vacuumed out of my c-section, no big surprise that he was out of whack. Even better, the sleep training worked! Milo is consistently sleeping 12 hours every night with no fussing. It's amazing! Eating is good, and we've even started finger foods. Cheerios are a big hit, and he also likes peas, green beans, pears, and cheese. We'll experiment with pasta and some other fruit this week. Milo has now said Dada. 3 times to be exact. And, he loves to babble. He's got crawling and pulling up down pat, and he even took 3 steps while holding on to the couch today. So, it's not going to be long before he's all over the place. Oy. We started swim class again -- Kipper this time, a step up from Shrimp although not really different -- and I am happy to report that Milo didn't just lay there like a lump this time. He actually splashed AND kicked. Yeah! Eight month portraits are posted, as are a ton of other, fun pictures. Enjoy!