Tuesday

Yesterday Miles and I made the trip to Boone to do my well overdue 6 week checkup (miles is now 11 weeks)! It was such a memorable day as I got to see my midwife and doula. It was so great going into her office and not having a big ol' belly, but instead having a precious baby boy! It brought back a lot of memories! I love my midwife, she makes me want to be a midwife. She is so real and always asks me questions about life and how things are going. I don't know, she's just special and I love her because I've never had that kind of experience in the medical world. Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on. Today we have mommy and me yoga, which I love! It's such a fun outlet and all the babies in the class are around Miles's age, what fun. Stay tuned for pics of me, Miles and Carrington (my midwife)!
love,
shelley

p.s. I'm healthy, Miles is healthy, cheers to having more babies!

Happy Thursday

Happy Thursday Everyone,
love, miles

healthy baby

Well, Miles had his 2 month doctors apt. today! He is a healthy 12 pounds and his length came in at 23 1/2 inches! He is in the 75th percentile for height and weight! The doctor said he was super healthy and for me to just let him eat whenever he wanted! Crazy. It's always a relief to hear that your child is healthy and growing. I am delaying Mile's vaccines so we didn't have any of those today. So, I thought I would post another video of our morning conversation. He is quite the talker, and a great listener as well! I love him so!

back at it

Well, last night was my first night back at Starbucks. I didn't think I was going to have to go back, but the benefits situation is to good to pass up, at least for now. For the next couple of months I'm only going to be working one or two nights a week, this way Corey can watch Miles. Anyways, leaving Miles last night was hard. It was the first time that I had ever left him alone with Corey. It's not that I don't trust Corey, it's just that I am usually too tired to go out by myself on the weeknights, and on the weekends we are always together! Needless to say Miles did great for Corey. He took a bottle, after fusing quite a bit and then settled down to sleep around 7:30. It was not a good night of sleep for me, because I didn't get to sleep until 12 by the time I fed Miles and got him back to sleep. Then he woke again at 4, hungary, which is not normal. He usually sleeps in till 6. Oh well, I guess he just wanted time with his Momma! Here is a video that Corey took last night. (Oprah in the background)!

afternoon pics

Here are some pics of Miles during our playtime this afternoon. As you can see he loves to play!





And now, I'm done, ready for a nap!


sucking his thumb...

me and miles

Wanted to post these pics of Miles and I. I sure do hope he keeps those precious blue eyes!

our snow day

On Thursday morning we woke up to a beautiful snow. Look at our sweet little house covered in snow. What fun.

The business of being born

I just got back from viewing the above film, The business of being born. What an interesting documentary about birth in our country. Being such an advocate for natural birth, this film resonated deep within me! Giving birth to Miles was the most empowering thing that I have ever done and I encourage everyone out there to investigate your options when it comes to birth. This film really opens your eyes to the way birth is done in the U.S. and it's quite scary. Anyways, just wanted to give a plug for this film. If you are considering having a natural birth or want more info you should go see this movie. It's well worth the time!

TO Learn MORE visit: http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Meetings

It's seems like I've been sitting through a lot of meetings lately. Sometimes it's just really hard to focus. A couple of days ago there were some napkins floating around so my head went to work on one. This is just a fun snapshot of my brain activity during a meeting.

we love our friends Justin and Nicole!

This weekend we ventured out to Durham to visit some of our best friends, Justin and Nicole. This was our first true road trip since Miles was born. Durham is about a 4 hour drive from Asheville so we were a little hesitant with Miles. On the way there he did fabulous sleeping the whole trip. We had so much fun on Saturday getting to hang out and hit up some of our favorite spots! I was super excited because we got to go to Trader Joes, the place I miss most about Tahoe. We stocked up on all of our favorite things! Anyways, on Saturday night we decided we'd get all dolled up and try to go out for a nice dinner at South Point Mall. We planned on going to Maggiano's one of Justin and Nicole's favorite spots. Anyways, Miles was doing great, falling asleep on the way to dinner in his car seat of course. When we got to the mall he was asleep, but we decided to take him out of his car seat and put him in his stroller, big mistake! He immediately woke up and started looking around. He was already overtired from the day, because he had been up and moving most of the day. Anyways, we started strolling because I really wanted to go to The Gap. Once we were in the mall he started getting really fussy and couldn't calm down. Corey and Justin had already gone to Maggiano's to get a table so we were going to do a little shopping and then meet them for dinner. Well, things just kept getting worse and Mile's was getting more and more over stimulated. We decided to go to the restaurant and maybe he would fall asleep on the way? Ahh no, he was out of control. I was standing outside the restaurant trying to calm him down. It wasn't working. Corey was trying to save the table while Justin ran to the car to get Mile's car seat. Maybe rocking him in the car seat would do the trick. No, this didn't work either. I found a couch where I attempted to feed him, but this still didn't work. All this to say we ended up having to get our dinner to go. What a stressful night. So much for our nice night out. On the way home of course Mile's fell asleep, so Nicole and I did get to get a treat at Starbucks. It was crazy, and I don't handle these kind of situations very calmly. We got home and Miles immediately woke up, so it was on to trying to soothe him and get him to fall asleep. Miles we love you buddy but this was one stressful night. Definitely some good birth control for Justin and Nicole! I ended up falling asleep around 9 after getting Miles to sleep. All in all it was a wonderful weekend and always a blessing to get to hang out with Justin and Nicole. We love our friends. Thanks for being so patient with us J&N. You guys are the best.

some more pics

here are some more pics of Mile's photo shoot with curious george, funny!

Tuesday

Here is Miles with some of his new favorite toys. These black and white art cards are amazing. He loves looking at them. Thanks Sam for sending them our way! As you can see Miles has found his hands and it's so nice because now at night he sucks his thumb! This way he is able to sleep a lot longer. Miles is growing up, and is so much fun.

Rattle

Last night I discovered that Miles could hold and kind-of play with his rattle that he got for Christmas. The rattle isn't really a toy, but who can resist, it's so cute! I thought he was big stuff because he could hold it and lift if up towards his mouth, who knows if he even knows what he is doing but it sure was cute! Here are some pics...





thanks aunt shaney for my new christmas rattle!

Pics of Miles

I thought I would post some pics of Miles from this week. Today we played outside for a little bit because it is so pretty here. We both did a little sun bathing. The other pics are from on top his changing table, one of his favorite spots. If you catch him in the right mood he will play with you for hours!

Thankful

Today I am feeling grateful for all the friends that God has blessed me with. Today I had the chance to talk to an old friend, Carrie Brady. She is from Memphis and I first met her when I was a summer intern at Christ United Methodist in the summer of 2001. It has been 7 years and we still keep in touch! She just had her 3rd child and she and MIles are only a week apart. It was really neat talking to her and catching up. Anyways, today I have just been overwhelmed and grateful for all my friends, all over this country. Every time you move you kind of re-access things and look at where you've been. The one thing that is constant is of course God, but other than that it's friends. I have been blessed with such amazing relationships where ever I am. Now that we are in Asheville (and we don't have any friends as of yet) I just think about all the different friends that I have in all the different places I've lived. It's pretty amazing. God is faithful. I must admit, I am a little lonely and I'm awaiting friends here in Asheville, but I know that they will come. God has always provided and I know they are out there somewhere. But to all you friends of mine, I love you and thank you for being apart of my life!

Music and paper

Just a few things that have been inspiring lately. besides the new family of course.





Albums
LCD Soundsystem - Strawberry Jam
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The National - Boxer
Animal Collective -
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Ratatat - Classic
Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
The Sea and Cake - Everybody
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Vince Guaraldi - Charlie Brown Christmas
Robbie Seay Band - Give Yourself Away
Justice - +
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
Slow Blow - Noi Albinoi

Songs
Dark Matter - Andrew Bird
Everyone You Know Is Gone - Lazlo Hollyfeld
Free Stress Test - Professor Murder
Everybody Knows - Ryan Adams
Werid Fishes/Arpeggi - Radiohead
Fake Empire - The National
Good Morning - Kanye West
Banshee Beat - Animal Collective
Justice - Genesis

Monday

Today has been such a great day. I wouldn't have expected it to be this good, because I was up a lot last night with Miles. We decided this weekend to put the port-a-crib away and start putting Miles in his crib. This is really hard for me because I just don't feel as close to him. Of course Corey thinks I'm over protective! Anyways, last night he did good starting his sleep at 6:30. He slept from 6:30-11:30 which was great, however this was his one long stretch and I didn't go to bed until 9:30, so I got 2 hours of sleep before he was up again. He woke at 11:30 to eat and then he quickly went back to sleep at 12. He then woke again at 2 and 4. It was a little hard, but I'm really wanting him to be in his crib, so I'm going to stick with it. Anyways, as you can see I had a rough night but today has been wonderful. Miles has been great. We started the day with some play time and a bath. Then we took a walk to the local market in our neighborhood, Greenlife. It is my favorite place in town. I love going there to get treats and coffee. After going to Greenlife we continued to walk for another hour. We walked to the local park where I let Lucy play fetch. Lucy was very excited to get out of the house. All this to say we've had a very fun and productive day. It's beautiful here today, the high was 67 which is perfect strolling weather. I have on shorts and a t-shirt which is fun! It feels like spring. Anyways, that's all for now. I hear Miles crying in his room, he must need his pacifier!

Christmas bath

I couldn't resist posting these bath pictures from Christmas. This is in the sink at my Aunt Shaney's house. So cute! Miles loves his bath time.

Living Well

Thought this was a good nugget for starting the new year.

What do Bible stories tell us about living this human life well, living it totally? Primarily and mostly they tell us that it means dealing with God. It means dealing with a lot of other things as well: danger and parents and enemies and friends and lovers and children and wives and pride and humiliation and... sickness and death and sexuality... and fear and peace- to say nothing of diapers... and breakfast and traffic jams and clogged drainpipes and bounced checks. But always, at the forefront and in the background of circumstances, events, and people, it's God.

This was the reading in my new daily reading book I got for Christmas. It's called God's Message For Each Day, by Eugene Peterson. Good stuff.

Thursday

Miles and I had a pretty good day today. He was pretty happy for most of the day. I was able to take some really fun photos of him this morning. They show a lot of his different faces. Here are a few...

Our day

This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. We are having very cold weather, which is fun for a change. I took Miles out in the snow for his picture, however as you can see he doesn't like the cold! Luckily we have a warm house to come back inside to! The pictures of the forest are taken from our back porch.

Miles and his mobile

Miles is starting to play in his crib by himself. He can play for about 10 minutes by himself before he is ready for something else! As you can see he loves looking up at his mobile.