13 months

Today Miles is 13 months old. I am totally feeling sick, runny nose, headache, sore throat so blogging skills are down to zero. So here are some cute pictures of Miles taken recently. He is a strong walker now and even runs a bit. He is a total giggler and ham. If we are paying attention to Bella he'll try to do something funny like put a toy in his mouth and wave his arms around in order to get attention.
The first picture is just the best one I could get after taking about 60 of Pace, Bella and Miles. I feel like I've been neglecting Pace, there's been no pictures of her on the blog or even a mention for months. She's getting old and even more antisocial but she does let Miles pet and kiss her, poor old thing.
Then there he is hiding in a cupboard in the kitchen. It's so comical to come around the island and there he is, in his foxhole, peering out.
The pictures in the snow are from Thanksgiving. We drove up to Mt. Charleston and there was fresh fallen snow and Miles got to experience his first snow. As you can see he does not instantly take to new things so no smiles. After about an hour he got a little curious and would touch it a bit.
Life these days is sweet and good and we have been having lots of laughs and happiness watching Miles continue to expand his horizons.

Miles

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Officially One

Well here we have it. One year old. The cliche about time passing quickly is true. And you're so wonderful right now, I wish I could freeze time and we could just stay this way forever. You walk like a Frankenstein revving his motorcycle engine - arms sticking straight out and hands twisting. You kiss the dog and cat as much as you kiss your mom and dad.
For your birthday I made you a train cake. We went to the park, you got a little train truck from your uncle Alfred that you love, a Radio Flyer bicycle from Ms. Norma that you demand to be pushed on all day even when it's cold and windy outside (thanks Norma!), Daddy and I got you a fishtank with 3 beta fish, Ga and Ga got you a Noah's Ark with a crapload of noisy animals which you love (except the cow, you are afraid of electronic cow noises - you have 2 electronic cows that scare you now).
You went trick or treating and were so cute. You'd stand there and quietly hold your bag and then I would ring the doorbell and the people would open the door looking at their eye level then have to look allllll the way down almost to the level of their knees and there you'd be, dressed like a dinosaur. Bella dressed like a pirate.
Before Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch and you had a nice time trying to eat hay and rolling little pumpkins and dried corn around.
Hmmm....what else...

Only that the first Black President was elected and you'll never even know what it's like to grow up in a world where maybe some things are not possible. And I'm proud to tell you that I donated, phonebanked and canvassed so that you'd have this world. Everything is possible for you my boy and you live in a promising and optimistic time right now.

Daddy and I love you immensely too, just so you know, in case we don't tell you about 5000 times a day.

2 more days

I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that in 2 measly days my precious little infant will be 1 year old. This is terrible. I don't know how it happened so fast and I'm not ready to stop counting his age in months. I'm calling him 11 months till tomorrow. And he's so sweet. Just a lovey dovey little human.
I'm toying with going back to work and it tears me up inside to think about handing him over to someone else for the majority of his waking hours. He is a total mamas boy and we do everything together. Here's some pics of him trying on his Halloween costume. We have been so blessed with this little infant and everyday is a treasure.

Vegas is unreal

We live in a fancy neighborhood where almost every house is either a rental or in foreclosure and the economy here is in dire straits. But here today we see this amazing blimp flying over our house with a movie theater size screen on the side advertising Land Rovers and other luxury brands. It's hard to be impressed by things anymore since you see everything here but this blimp is new and kind of awesome. My question is...who's buying Land Rovers right now? Everyone except Warren Buffet is holding on to their money like white holds on to rice.

11 months

Suddenly at 11 months you seem like a big boy. You are learning so quickly and want to talk to me all the time. And the crazy thing is I think I understand what you're talking about. Granted your interests are few and relate mostly to putting things in your mouth or to wanting a toy but still...I think there's been progress in the communications department.
Our trip home from Trinidad was 14 hours and I was panicked when I thought about it. However you showed what you're made of and were such a good baby and a total charmer. You slept for about 3 hours on each leg of the trip and played with your toys and sometimes other passengers the rest of the time. You even had a small playgroup with a couple other kids in the Miami airport.
Standing and dancing is no problem to you. Taking one or two steps is no problem either. But you still have a fear factor with just letting go and walking. I can see you are ready though. Your Dad and I think it's just a matter of letting Bella come home and when you want to chase her then you'll get the motivation.
And Bella comes home on Monday!
Foods you like: Chicken! Apple Juice! Peanut Butter! Sweet Potatos! Kiwis are OK, Oranges are hit and miss.
You are already a little director. The other night you were whinging, Dad and I were sitting on the couch and you kept going from one of us to the other. Then FINALLY! we figured out what you wanted and we sat really close together. The relief on your face was evident. And you sat on both our laps and stared up at us with satisfaction.
You are very affectionate. A total Huggy Bear. If you could spend your day hugging and giving kisses with occassional breaks for bottles and food I think you'd take it.
And we got your nursery back in order but with almost 5 months of sleeping in the bed with me in Trinidad we're a little concerned that the days of you sleeping in your crib are over. You'll hang out there for a few minutes if I'm in the room but that's it. And seeing that you've already climbed out of your playpen I'm not willing to let you cry it out by yourself in your crib and end up bouncing off the floor.

Baby Steps!

So with 11 months looming just around the corner, Miles has been picking up the pace on walking. I try to submerge my inner Michael Phelps but sometimes I help him practice and encourage him with " Come on baby! Daddy walked at 10 months, you can't let daddy beat you! You're #1, beat Daddy baby!"
Miles looks at me and laughs.
He has taken a couple steps however. Tiny baby steps and the whole time he's doing this "weh, weh, ung, ung" thing. Like "I don't like this, but I'm doing it, but I'm telling you this crap is scary and I don't know why you have me doing it but since you're so excited I'll try".
So he made a tiny baby step today a couple times and then fell into my arms. It was so cute. And another thing he did today was while he was going down for a nap. He was laying on his pillow and scooted over near me and put his arm around my neck and nuzzled my face with his and put his cheek next to mine and cuddled me. Butter! I melted like butter.