Miles: 11 Months

Weight: 20 lbs.

Height: 28 in.

Well, looking at Miles now, you'd never know he struggled to gain weight for so many months. He's my biggest baby now, which is probably mostly due to being my only formula-fed kid. This also means he's been my best sleeper, which I definitely enjoy!

He's the most obedient baby I've ever seen. He immediately drops things when you say "No". If only his older two brothers could learn from him. ;)

We have lots of blurry pictures right now. He's not really into sitting still. He can say "Baba" and "Mama". When he sees a bottle or sees someone eating food, he screams like a maniac. He will also scream between every single bite if you're not feeding him fast enough.

He doesn't eat any purees anymore and almost always feeds himself. He recently had some curry red peppers and loved them! I figured they'd be too spicy for him, but Luke shared some of his and Miles was screaming for more all night. He also likes steak, soft vegetables, and crackers. He still won't eat anything cold.

He's started standing on his own for a few seconds this month and he is SO proud of himself when he does it. He still hasn't taken any steps or even moved at all when standing. He can lower himself down to the ground but will fall down if it gets a laugh out of his big brothers (which it always does). 

When I'm cooking, he pulls up on my leg and holds on while screaming for me to pick him up. I remember both of his older brothers doing the same thing before they could walk. It makes me really look forward to the time when they can walk and be a little bit more independent. He also fusses until you pick him up and then immediately wants to be put back down, only to repeat the cycle all over again. It's tough to not know what you really want in life. :)

Miles flew for the second time when we traveled to TX for Christmas. He needed a couple nights to adjust and then went back to sleeping all night. His top two teeth are still not all the way in, but they're through the gums at least.  

He's starting to become much more interactive with his older brothers. If they're on the ground, he loves to crawl over to them and pull up on their head or face. They both love to hold him and are always trying to carry him around the house. He's a great sport and doesn't seem to mind. One of his favorite things to do right now is go down our little slide in Peter's or Luke's laps. He wants to do it over and over again, and lucky for him, his brothers are happy to comply! 

Miles: 2 Months

Weight: 10 lbs. 12 oz. (23%)

Length: 23 in. (64%)

Head Circumference: 16 in. (94%)

We have seen a couple smiles from him, but so far he's much more serious than his two older brothers.

He really loves bathtime and is happy to lounge in a warm bath for a long time. 

We dedicated baby Miles at church this month and he got to wear his first 

bow-tie. He was very calm and well-behaved on the stage, which is more than I can say for his older brothers. 😬

One day he latched onto Peter's cheek and we all thought it was hilarious, especially Peter! He's got a pretty strong suck, as you can see when you look at Peter's eye. :) 

He sleeps in the pack-and-play bassinet at night and for most naps, but I do still enjoy holding him for naps when I can. I love this stage when they just fall asleep in your arms and you don't realize it until you look down and see them snoozing. If he falls asleep while Luke is napping and Peter is doing quiet time, I can hold him for the whole nap. Otherwise, I end up taking him to the bassinet because the older boys are trying to climb in my lap on top of him. 

Miles is our best sleeper by far. He already sleeps 5-6 hour stretches each night. Sometimes I have to replace his pacifier at the 3 hours mark, but he will go back to sleep with no further interventions. I took a baby sleep course from Taking Cara Baby before he was born and it has been so helpful. Peter and Luke were not good sleepers as babies and I've been so amazed at how well her techniques work. I recommend it to every new Mama I know. The baby stage is so much more manageable when you're getting some sleep at night!

He's quite strong and can lift his head pretty well already. He did have two colds this month and that's always tough when they're so tiny. Thankfully, he recovered quickly and didn't have any complications. The main issue was that it was hard for him to breathe laying down so he liked to be held upright when sleeping. 

I've been pretty insistent that all of my babies take a pacifier, as I don't want to be the only thing that pacifies them. Miles can't hold it in his mouth for too long yet, but he does like to suck on one. We were able to drop the nursing shield this month and he's still doing well nursing. He did drop in his weight percentile a little bit, which has his pediatrician concerned. He was in the 34% and is now in the 23%, so we'll go back in 1 month for a weight check after we return from our TX/NM trip next month. All of our boys have been small so I'm not too worried. 

Highlights of this month include:

*Returning to Moms Connection and Bible study and church

*Watching soccer games with friends

*Seeing the sun finally make an appearance

*More eye contact and awareness of other humans

Quotable #16

Peter:

"I hope Luke isn't bad today because then he'll get locked in a dingeon and eaten by a dragon and then I won't have anyone to play Paw Patrol with."

He's called Miles "Not Walkie Boy" for months and now that he can stand on his own for a few seconds he's become "Almost Walkie Boy." I think we all know what is coming next. :) 

He is so agreeable and easy to please when it comes to most decisions. Frequently, I'll ask him what he'd like for lunch and he'll say, "I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine with me." He says the same about movie choices or clothes to wear or plans for the day. 

We were at Costco eating pizza one day and I was picking off the onions and olives from my pizza and Peter was putting them on top of his slice of supreme pizza. As we were discussing how this was kind of opposite of most kids/parents, Peter saw a kid eating cheese pizza. 

"Oh no, Mommy! They forgot to put on the rest of his pizza. I bet he's sad. Or maybe it fell off on the floor. It looks like (giggle) naked pizza." 

Luke:

We would be driving around town and Luke would yell, "I see tinkle tinkle little stah! Do you see it Mommy?" I was always confused because it was daytime and there weren't any stars out. One day, while stopped at a red light, I finally figured out he was talking about the Carls Jr. logo. He will sometimes ask if we can "dive by tinkle tinkle 43 times pwease".

"My name is spelled P-E-T-R. Dat spells Yuke."

If he feels like I am telling him what to do, he says, "You tant cotrol me! God did not say Mommy cotrol Yukey, he said Yukey tan cotrol hisself and I tant do dat if you are trying to cotrol me."

"Luke, what did you dream about last night?" 

"Umm...Mighty Pups. King Yion. Meet Everest." 

(It's just a list of DVDs we own. Different movies each day, but always movies.)

"You losed and now you're going to jail. And you'll have a party all by yourself and no one else. And you have to eat food cuz that is jail."

"Tickory tock, da mouse wan up da clock. Da mouse wan 

down da clock. Da clock was mad."

"Know what's in my heart, Mommy? Super Yukey muscles! 

And broccoli cheese soup."

Miles: 10 months

Weight: 20 lbs. 1 oz.

Height: 28 in.

Teeth: almost 4

Clothing: 9-12 months

Diapers: Size 3

His top two teeth are just barely poking through the gums. It has been a loooong process for those to come in. Hopefully, now that they've broken through the skin, he'll be in less pain and be less fussy. He is back to putting himself to sleep at night and sleeping all night, so I am very grateful for that.

We celebrated Miles' first Thanksgiving at home with just the 5 of us. It was a really nice, relaxing day. Miles LOVED the turkey and was eating it by the fistful. He loves to feed himself and is doing really well with it. Meat is probably his favorite thing to eat, followed by puffs and Cheerios. He still doesn't really like anything that's cold. He doesn't drink from a sippy cup yet, but I also haven't really worked too hard to teach him that. At this point, I'll probably just wait until he stops drinking formula to work on it.

He says "Mama" but still doesn't say "Dada". When Kory tries to get him to say it, he says "Baba" every time. He learned how to wave this month and he loves to shake his head, especially if you say "No No Miles".

It's a good thing we put the baby locks back on because he's really interested in opening cabinets and drawers. He's smashed his poor little fingers SO many times in the past couple weeks, but I think he's figuring it out now. There's been several times I haven't been able to find him and he's crawled into a closet or behind the bathroom door. 

Miles stood up unassisted once but hasn't tried it again. He is pretty content to crawl and doesn't seem too anxious to walk, which I'm perfectly fine with! He's happy to play in his room by himself and will eventually come crawling to find the rest of us. I can definitely see him quickly becoming more toddler and less baby, which is hard to believe. Although, it feels like a LONG time ago that I was pregnant and had a newborn. Time is weird, especially when it comes to having kids.

Miles: 9 months

Weight: 17 lbs. 2 oz. (11%)

Height: 27.8 in. (27%)

Head: 18.3 in. (87%)

Teeth: 2

Clothing: 6-9 months

Diapers: Size 3

His top 2 teeth haven't come in yet but his gums are very swollen and he's quite fussy. He wants to be rocked to sleep for both naps and bedtime and he's waking up 2-3 times most nights. It's so hard to go back to being up with a baby in the night after you've gotten used to sleeping all night. Thankfully he isn't awake for very long and will go back to sleep pretty quickly.

Miles began pulling himself up this month and he LOVES to be standing. He isn't cruising along the furniture and doesn't seem very interested in walking yet, for which I am really grateful. After having two early walkers, I'm happy for this one to just take his sweet time.

He did start crawling everywhere in the past few weeks and he's so pleased with himself when he goes from room to room following his brothers. They aren't quite as excited because he's now destroying their LEGO creations faster than they can build them. :)

My mom and dad came to visit this month for Peter & Luke's birthdays. He started saying "Mama" during their time here and while it probably isn't a direct reference to me, it's sure fun to hear him say it. 

He's doing really well eating solids and prefers to feed himself rather than be spoon-fed. Scrambled eggs and Cheerios are his two current favorites. He doesn't really like anything cold, so he won't eat most fruits. 

He's still drinking about 5 bottles per day and eats solids at breakfast and dinner most days. He has always liked warm bottles but I'm trying to help him adjust to slightly cooler temperatures. He still likes to hold the bottles himself but doesn't quite have the strength to hold it unless he's laying all the way down. 

The reflux medication he's been using was recalled this month and insurance will not approve any other prescriptions for reflux. It's been really frustrating and we definitely don't want to go back to where we were before he started taking the medicine! We're hoping and praying that he'll be able to get a new prescription soon before he's back in pain from the reflux. He still coughs and chokes on his bottles and we can tell it's becoming uncomfortable for him again. 

It's fun seeing Miles reach new milestones, but now that he's on the move, it's time to baby-proof again and spend most of my day keeping him away from cords and plugs and other dangerous objects that he wants to put in his mouth. 

My days just got a lot more tiring. ;) 

Luke: 3 years

Height: 3 ft. 1 in. (28%)

Weight: 29 lbs. (16%)

What is your favorite animal? Zebra and lion and rhinoceros 
What is your favorite movie? Lion King
What is your favorite TV show? Paw Patrol
What is your favorite food? Broccoli and bananas
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with Peter
What is your favorite snack? Cheerios, apple, and bananas

What is your favorite drink? Orange Juice
What is your favorite color? Orange. And red and also blue and pink and green, those are my two favorite colors
What is your favorite song? ABC
Who is your best friend? Miles & Peter & Tzeitel
What is your favorite game? Baby Lion
What is your favorite toy? Paw Patrol like Zuma
What is your favorite book? A Paw Patrol book

What is your favorite meal that Mommy makes? Chicken and hamburgers
What is your favorite outfit? My orange dinosaur shirt and cozy gray pants
What do you want to be when you grow up? Firefighter
Where is your favorite place to go? At the movie theater and the park
What did you get for your birthday? A Paw Patrol soupcase
What did we do for your birthday? Umm...umm...we ate cake and payed (played). I always forget, silly me. 
What do you love about Peter? About his sharing
What do you love about Miles? He's so cutie
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Be how sweet how she is
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Tag and throw me on the bed

I know that every kid is different, but I still find myself amazed at just how different Peter and Luke are. Luke is sassy and hilarious and mischievous and sugary sweet. He loves anything Peter loves and sometimes it feels like we don't really know what Luke likes because he just copies Peter. Ages 2-3 are my very favorite in terms of personality and Luke is not short on personality. This will be a big year for him as Peter goes to school and he gets to be the big brother at home. They hardly spend any time at all apart so it will be a big transition, but I have a feeling Luke will learn to really love being the one in charge of playing. :) 

Miles: 8 Months

Weight: 15 lbs. 4 oz.

Length: 26" 

Teeth: 2 (bottom front)

Clothing: 6-9 months

Diapers: Size 2

Miles loves to sit in a highchair at the table and is really interested in table food but doesn't have the oral skills to eat it just yet. He loves purees and screams between every bite because he can't get it fast enough. It's super messy because he puts his hand in his mouth with every bite too. 

He prefers to drink his bottles while laying on the ground, holding it himself. When you hold him to give him a bottle, he spends a fair amount of time sitting up and rolling over and dropping the bottle. He has solids once or twice a day and drinks 4-5 bottles every day.

He can sit unassisted quite well and is rocking on all fours, but not crawling just yet. He will sit, rock on his hands and knees, and then push himself back up to sitting position. It's kind of a strange way to get around, but it works for him.  

His pterodactyl scream has only gotten louder and more shrill. It's painful, but he is so proud of himself and clearly loves to hear his own voice.

He takes a morning nap around 10:00 and an afternoon nap around 2:00 each day. He sleeps all night from 8:00-8:00 and is a very happy guy when he's awake.

He is already showing himself to be a climber. The good news is we're used to it, so it's not quite as shocking by the 3rd kid. He wants to be running around with the big boys and loves to be right in the middle of whatever they're playing. 

The most exciting thing to happen this month is that Miles is completely finished with his Early Intervention therapies! He has completely caught up developmentally and is doing great in all areas. We are so thrilled that the reflux medication made such a huge difference for him!

Last month, I was really hoping he would hit the 14 lb. mark at his check-up, and he weighed in at over 15 lbs! The last several months of this dude's life have been so stressful and difficult; we are incredibly grateful to (hopefully) be through with that phase of his life and can't wait to just enjoy this sweet guy.