6 months and a lot has changed....

Wow....

I can not believe that I have not posted anything in the past 6 months.  So much has been going on and I just never could find the time to sit down and update my blog.  Well, I'm going to update you on everything that we have been doing the past few months so get comfy....

Homemade baby food making didn't last long at all.  I think when I began that process, Ethan was pretty much over pureed foods.  We tried it for about 3 weeks and he just wasn't having it.  I gave up on pureeing his food and just started giving him regular food.  Once that happened, he became the pickest eater.  He wouldn't have anything to do with veggies and still won't to this day.  I've tried everything from hiding them in his food to even putting them right in front of him.  Nothing worked....  Now I am giving him the V8 fusion juice and considering making him smoothies with hidden veggies.  Other then that, he only eats a handful of foods which includes, blueberry waffles, french toast, bananas, apples, watermelon, grapes, nuggets, quesadillas, and turkey franks.  I've tried giving him other foods to eat but he just throws everything else on the floor.

His birthday didn't go as well as I had hoped.  Not only was Josh out of town for a school and unable to come home for the weekend but poor lil man ended up running a fever on his birthday.  We still had his birthday party on his birthday because we had people come from out of town.  The party was only 2 hours and I'm glad I didn't go any longer.  He was super cranky and understandably so.  He did get to skype with his daddy while he opened his presents and tore into his smash cake.  So, it ended up turning out ok.  It would have been a lot better if Josh had been there but that's the army for you.

Cloth diapering is our next big update.  I had brought the idea of cloth diapering back in Oct. and Josh was totally against it so I dropped it.  While Josh was away for school, he actually started considering it because his buddy that he was in school with told him that his family does it and it was well worth it.  After that, I spent a couple weeks researching it and right around Ethan's birthday, we started buying diapers for our "stash."  We didn't start using them on Ethan until the middle of May because I wanted to make sure I had enough to completely over.  I can honestly say that I am cloth diaper obsessed.  I never knew how many people actually cloth diaper nowadays and and different they are from "back in the day."  I defiantly wouldn't go back to disposeable diapers now.

*drying in the natural sunlight...

*freshly cleaned and ready to put away for the next day...

Of course, there is another reason we finally decided to make the switch.  In October, we will have two kids in diapers at the same time.  That's right everyone, we are expecting our 2nd bundle of joy in mid October.  We found out about 2 weeks after Josh left for school in February that we were pregnant. 

I am currently 5 1/2 months along with our baby girl!!!!  Yes, that's right, we are having a lil girl.  I was so excited when we found out that she was a girl.  However, I must say that this pregnancy is nothing like Ethan's.  The morning sickness was about the same but I have had no energy the entire pregnancy.  So, it has been a bit rough especially having to take care an extemely energetic toddler.  But I wouldn't change it for the world.

So, that is what we have been up to the past few months.  I'm hoping to get back into blogging and keep everyone updated but we will see.

Until next time....

Adventures in baby food making begins....

Well, let me start off by saying that I hope everyone had a great new year's and that your new year has gotten off to a good start!  The start of our new year comes with big decisions (finances being the biggest) and many adventures to look forward to.  With all of our holiday shopping and travelling over, we can now start to "buckle down" on our finances.  I know this is going to be very difficult at first but I'm hoping that with the small changes comes the big rewards.  Hopefully sooner rather then later, but we all know how that goes. 

Speaking of traveling, we just got back today from visiting my mom and a couple of my very best friends, whom I haven't seen in FOREVER.  We only went for a couple days because once you have a baby your schedule revolves around them.  And it turns out that anytime we take Ethan to an unfamiliar place, his sleep habits change drastically and mommy and daddy end up paying for it.  I have circles under my eyes that make me look like the walking dead.  HAHA!!!  All in all, our trip went really well and I was SO happy to get to see everyone.

While we were away, a package arrived carrying the infamous "BABY BULLET"!!!!  If you have no idea what I am talking about, I will fill you in.  I know everyone has probably seen the infomercials about the magic bullet, the mini blender.  Well, the recently came out with one that is directed towards babies.  Supposedly helping in the process of baby food making.  With new year bringing new changes, one being our finances, I wanted to try my hand at making my own baby food instead of buying the jarred food that sits on the store shelf for however long.  I will admit that up until now, Ethan has been eating the jarred food only because the thought of making baby food just seemed too complicated and time-consuming.  But I have also heard that it can save you a lot of money in the long run.  So, I jumped on the band-wagon and purchased the "BABY BULLET".  I researched like 5 different gadgets that helped with making baby food and there were a couple other that practically did the whole process for you but cost way too much for our wallet at this time.  So, I decided to go with the mini blender and just suck it up and steam the veggies myself. 

Today was the first time using the blender and, I must say, I am quite proud of myself.  It turns out that once you get the hang of making baby food, it is actually not that bad.  Ethan had avocados for the first time today and he seemed to like it.  I'm sure mixing them with bananas is what sold him on it but I like to think he enjoyed the avocado regardless.  I also made butternut squash mixed with bananas and by itself with a little cinnamon sprinkled in.  So far it has gone pretty well and I'm excited to continue to do it.  I know that I'm not going to be able to use the mini blender that long, seeing as Ethan is almost 10 months old but I'm happy that I went ahead and bought it and tried my hand at making his food rather then buying it jarred from a store. 

I will keep you posted on how our adventures in baby food making go and of course everything else.  Again, Happy New Year!!!!

Until next time... 

Goodbye 2011....Happy New Year....Welcome 2012

I can't believe how quickly 2011 flew by.  It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming our sweet baby boy, Ethan, into the world.  And now we are celebrating the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.  In just 2 1/2 short months we will be celebrating Ethan's first birthday.  *Tear*  They don't lie when they say that time flies by when you have a baby and to enjoy every minute of it.

I can honestly say that 2011 was probably the best year of my life.  I started the year as Mrs. Miles and then we celebrated the birth of our first child.  We have hit a few bumps in the road along the way but nothing that we couldn't get through.  I have enjoyed every minute to this year, watching my son grow and all the milestones that he hit.  My husband and I celebrated our 1st year anniversary and I couldn't be happier.  There are a lot of memories that go along with 2011 and I can't wait to see what 2012 bring our way.

So, goodbye 2011 and hello 2012. 

I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year!!!!

*The day he was born

*Auburn Fan

*1st Halloween

*1st Thanksgiving

*1st Christmas

*1st Anniversary

Until next year....

A Glimpse of what Christmas was like this year....

Christmas with the Miles'

Christmas Eve: We decided to let Ethan open up two of his presents.  (sorry I sound like a 12 year old, I'm really 25!!!!  LOL)

He seemed to really like the Scout dog.  He ended up sleeping with it and every night since.

Christmas Day: He opened the rest of his presents from us.  (Gotta love the pillow pet theme song...).  He got a small t-ball set and a lil laptop that teaches him to count and abc's, as well.  After the opening of the Christmas presents we ate Christmas brunch with our neighbors and then preceded to make our first home cooked Christmas dinner.  We had a great time that day. 

A couple days after, we headed down to Josh's parents house and spent some time with his family.  Ethan got to see his 3 cousins and play with them.  It was so cute to see him and Westley together.  Westley is 5 months older then Ethan and walking.  But that didn't slow Ethan down.  He tried his best to keep up with Westley and the 2 girls.  It was the cutest thing.  

*Ethan trying to see what Westley got for Christmas.

We are headed up to my mom's house in a few days and I'm so excited to get to see my mom and some of my friends.  My mom hasn't seen Ethan since May and I truly think she is more excited to see him then her own daughter.  I guess that's the way it goes when you have kids. 

Well, I guess this is the last blog posting of 2011.  I will post another one once we are back from my mom's that will update you on the new year.  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year.

Until next year...  :) 

The holidays!!! (Where has the time gone...)

It's been a while since I've done the last blog post and I feel like such a slacker.  But, the past 2 months have just been a bit chaotic for me to even think about sitting down and blogging.  My husband was gone the entire month on November and that proved to be the biggest test for me as a mommy married to a soldier.  I think I ended up having 2 mini meltdowns last month.  I think it was just where I'm not used to taking care of Ethan all by myself since he has become completely mobile.  I turned my head for two seconds and he had managed to make it from the livingroom to bathroom.  He's like houdini....  On top of that, I'm just not the type of mom who can have someone else watch my child for an hour or so, no matter how tired and frustrated I am.  I want to be with him at all times and I know that that isn't the best thing but I just can't seem to pry myself away from him.  People keep telling me that I need "my time" but I'm finding it very difficult to take the time away from him.  Maybe I'll get the hang of it in the near future.

I really didn't get a lot of my school work done in the month of November.  When I would sit down and try to work on it after Ethan went to bed, I was too exhausted to even think about homework.  There were a couple times that I tried to sit down and read a chapter and reread the same line like 5 times.  I pretty much gave up on homework until after Josh got back.

He managed to get back just in time for our 1st wedding anniversary.  The day he got back, Ethan and me kept him out of the house all day.  We took Ethan to the mall to see Santa for the first time.  He did so well, better then I expected.  He sat on Santa's lap and smiled his cute lil smile and didn't even shed one tear.  I think he evened managed to have a conversation with Santa while mommy and daddy were selecting which picture they wanted.

The next day, Josh and I left Ethan with Rah Rah and Grandpa Chuck to spend our anniversary together.  I thought we had everything planned out really well until we started the day.  The biggest mistake we made was going downtown clarksville for dinner and getting stuck in the middle of a parade.  And when I say "stuck", I mean an hour and a half, missing the movie showing we bought tickets to earlier that day and having to buy new tickets for the hour later showing.  The only thing we could do was laugh about it.  Obviously we have no luck when it comes to our wedding day or anniversary dates.  Let's see what next year brings....lol

Speaking of Christmas time, I got the tree up in the midst of all the chaos of November.  Looking back, I have no idea how the tree even got put together so nicely.  With Ethan crying in the background and me fighting to the lights off the tree to get the branches apart and then back on the tree afterwards!  I can't believe the tree isn't in the front yard right now....HAHA!  A few days after we got the tree up, I wanted to try and take a Christmas photo of Ethan in front of it.  It ended up turning out so cute.  We decided to use it as our Christmas cards this year. 

That's about everything that I can think of to update everyone on the past two months.  Sorry about the lack of photos in this blog, I'm typing it on our laptop and I don't have any photos on here.  I will try and put some up in the next two weeks. 

Until next time.....

It's noodle time....

Ethan had his first experience with mac and cheese the other day.  He ate a lil bit of it but he also had a few gerber snacks before the mac and cheese was finished.  So, I'm not sure if he didn't like it or he just wasn't that hungry.  He played in it for a lil' while.  I did manage to snap a photo of him digging in to the cheesy goodness. 

There are so many things that I want to do this month but I can't because my husband is currently deployed.  One thing that I'm really excited for is taking Ethan to see Santa and getting a photo.  But, I have to wait until next month because I don't want Josh to miss out on his first Santa visit.  Also, the new Twilight movie is coming next week but I'm under strict orders that I can't go see it unless it is with the hubs.  Starting next week, I get hear about how good the movie was over and over again but I have to wait to see it.  Stop deployments come at the worst times!!!!  Oh well, I am kind of busy taking care of Ethan, while working on my school work and trying to come up with something special to do for Josh and my 1st anniversary.  Busy, busy, busy....

*He conquered the baby gate...

Until next time...I will be sitting here missing my husband!!!

Busssssy BEEEEE....

Let start off by saying sorry for being gone so long.  The past 3 weeks ( I think is how long it's been since my last post) have been a lil hectic, to say the least.  Unfortunately this post is probably going to be shorter then normal only because I'm still playing catch-up on my school work and Ethan is due to wake up form his nap at any time now.  I'll just kind of recap what has gone on the past couple weeks and include some photos.


We ended up taking Ethan trick or treating two different nights. The first night we took him around our neighborhood, which turned out to be a slight bust because no one got the memo that they would have tons of neighborhood "characters" knocking on their door for candy. That night ended being quite cold and I worried that Ethan was going to get sick but he hung in there like a trooper. Unfortunately, he fell asleep about 15 mins before we got home and mom had to carry his little sleepy life-less body most of the way.

*Forgot to mention he was dressed up as "Aubie" the tiger!!!!

The second night we took him (Halloween night), we tagged along with our friends, Eddie and Amanda, and went to a neighborhood down the street where they actually got the memo.  I think we ended up trick or treating for about an hour but we managed to get good stash of candy.  Yet again, he passed out before we made it back to the car. 

This past week has been the most difficult because the two of us (Ethan and myself) managed to get sick.  I believe it is from the first night of trick or treating and just how the weather changes so drastically around here.  Ethan was just stuffy but the night after I started noticing it turned out to be one the longest nights because he just couldn't sleep at all.  We ended up staying up practically all night and early the next morning.  So, later that evening I finally went and bought a humidifer for his room and it worked like a charm.  He fell asleep that night at 6 p.m. and slept until 8 the next morning.  However, once he was in bed I started to notice that I was getting sick.  And the next couple of days were the worst.  It is not easy taking care of a 7 1/2 month old, that will not sit still for more then 2 secs, when you're sick.  He did manage to keep himself entertained...

*"Mom, I want to help with the laundry..."

I have just started feeling better the past couple days.  So, now I'm super busy trying to clean up the house, which has fallen to the way-side the past week, take care of "fully mobile" Ethan, and try to catch up on my school work.  Not fun!!!!  I haven't touched my school work in almost 2 weeks.  Ugh.....

Well, wish me luck....

                    *He has officially started pulling himself up on everything to a standing position...

*And he has found where all his toys are kept and managed to pull every single one out, so I have toys ALL OVER my livingroom floor....

Until next time....and I promise I am going to try and get one up in the next week!!!!