Nine Months

Milo turned nine months this past week. He's quite a remarkable little guy properly crawling on his hands and knees, squealing up a storm, chasing Murphy and now pulling up to standing! He pulled up for Daddy this morning, and he showed me what he could do this afternoon. He is pictured here at the Getty Villa where we took Grandma Penny on one of her last days here. He really loved that patterned stone floor.

Goodbye Grandma

We miss you Grandma Penny.

First Haircut

Grandma Penny helped give Milo is first haircut this week. I was frustrated by his "rooster hair", so we gave it a snip. He's cute as ever.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mom, Milo and I had a very happy Thanksgiving; I hope you and your families did too!
Wednesday evening and Thursday morning we were busy in the kitchen making these fabulous desserts with Milo underfoot. We were so impressed with ourselves (good food doesn't usually come out of our kitchens when we're in there) so we documented. We made Paula Dean's pumpkin pie, Cousin Tracy's cranberry salad and Emeril's apple and cherry crumble pie.
We ate dinner with some fellow Hoosiers. Lesli and I went to high school together, and now lives with her husband Ivan not far from us. Her mom, dad and sister flew in as well. Here is sister Kristen cutting the bird.
Just look at Milo in his adorable new outfit from Grandma (and you too Grandpa!) enjoying the patio on a cool California fall day.

My Boys

We had a great weekend around here. Friday night, mom and I watched a movie and called it an early night, but Saturday was a big day. We dropped Milo off at Jenny's where he spent the day playing with Maddie and Sophie while Mom and I ate lunch at a delicious Tuscan place. Then we saw Wicked, which was a thrilling experience. I forget how much I love the theatre, but I always tear up when the lights go down. Sunday brought Lyman home. It was a disaster at first. In my rush to get out of the house on time, I didn't check his flight status. He was grounded 45 mins from home due to fog. It took me a while to get everyone in the welcoming committee dropped off before I could head over to get him and drive us home again. Once he was here, we had a lovely time together. Short, but sweet.

Daddy!

Our Milo is going to be nine months next week. Impossible. It seemed overnight we went from having a little blob of an infant to this moving and adventuring boy. Here he is ready for his outing with Mom, Dad and Grandma.
Milo loves to feed himself the few bottles he drinks a day. This week, he threw down his bedtime bottle; he was probably stuffed from the three stage 3 foods he eats for dinner!
He's all ready for bed in his warm, winter fuzzy jim jams.Good night!

A Mother's Kiss

On Monday, Mom, Milo and I visited some good friends, J and L (they don't use their names on their blog, so I won't on mine), who have a new, tiny, perfect little boy. It was a treat for us to hold someone so small now that our boy is growing so quickly. Once again, L captured a sweet moment in my life. I am grateful.

All good things come to an end...

Santa came early to our home with Sam and Lyna. They thoroughly spoiled Milo, Lyman and me. Here's Milo holding his first official Christmas gift.
Of course, he needed to give it a taste first! Good enough to open, ignore and keep on eating the paper.
After dropping Sam and Lyna off at the airport, Mom, Milo and I stopped by the pier on the way home to look at the ocean. Milo was having a great time watching Grandma chase pigeons. I always have a wonderful time when his smile is flashing.

Family!

My mom arrived this Tuesday evening, and we have been having a great time chasing Milo together. Friday evening, Milo's Uncle Sam and Aunt Lyna arrived as well. We spent Friday night at home having dinner and playing Rummicube. Saturday we spent most of the day at the Zoo where we are pictured here. Lyna was moving around very well for someone so close to the end of her pregnancy; she had lots of energy for Milo.
Mom bought this giraffe visor for Milo. Which picture is cuter? I couldn't decide.
Lyna and Sam were such helpful house guests. Here's Lyna feeding Milo, but she also changed diapers and Sam walked Murphy. One of the biggest challenges we faced was fixing Milo's crib to lower the mattress so he wouldn't tumble out. Yes, he's pulling up on the side! Sam and Mom spent the most amount of time crawling around on the floor tightening bolts; I spent most of my time cursing at the crib!

What's in a name?

I love Milo's name. When I was pregnant, it wasn't my first choice, so I wasn't thrilled about it. I liked it, and it was the best compromise we came up with, but I was worried it was too cutsie or, opposite on the spectrum, too old mannish. The truth is, he's terribly cute, and his name matches. One day, he'll be an old man, and that will match too. In between, he'll have a nice, strong name. The other day, I was out shopping with him. We saw two women in the aisles. An older woman in a wheel chair and her daughter. They cooed at Milo and remarked at his adorableness. When walked on by, I said something to Milo saying his name. The daughter said to her mother, "Mother did you hear that? His name is Milo." The mother replied, "How wonderful."
Yes, I agree.

What a Week

Our Milo didn't get much better with the first round of antibiotics. He was back in the doctor's office on Friday afternoon after some worrying ear mangling on Thursday night. The infection is better than it was the first time, but now it is in both ears. So, more antibiotics were prescribed as well as a nose spray for his yellow and green boggies and an inhaler just in case his congestion makes it hard for him to breathe. Like before, he doesn't seem to feel ill, and has been such a happy camper everywhere. I'm really looking forward to my mom's visit. I'm Super Mom right now, and it's OK, but everything will be easier when she gets here. Don't worry mom, you won't be Cinderella or anything, I just want to walk the dog without towing Milo every time. I did buy a dog walking stroller this week of the $13 variety that can be open and waiting on the washer/dryer in the garage rather than pulling out our larger one. Milo and I test drove several $100 wheels, but, in the end, the cheep one won out for this task.

I introduced Milo to puffs this week (they are a little more soluable than Cheerios). I don't know how many he actually ate, but he's having more fun in his highchair now.