Happy New Year!!!

Headaches

I've had so many people ask how my headaches are that I talked about here and here. Thank you for asking & for caring. Here's an update...

After 3 doctors' visits, 5 physical therapy appointments, 1 dentist appointment, and countless other attempts, including Tylenol, Aleve, Motrin, muscle relaxers, Hydro codone, warm baths, a heating pad, ice packs, 3 massages, acupuncture, tens unit therapy, deep heat ultrasound, the stuff you roll on your forehead, and prayer, I think the headaches are finally manageable. They aren't gone, but I can deal with them. Before trying the above remedies, they were getting to the point where I couldn't function. I was taking 1-2 Hydro codone a day just to get through. I think I was almost getting depressed about it. And, I'm sure Darrin could have screamed listening to me say "My head hurts" everyday.


So what worked? On the way to my first physical therapy appointment, I prayed that God would please take away my headaches. I'm not sure why we always wait until a situation is unbearable to turn to God, but so often we do. I prayed that therapy would be the answer, or that God would point me to the answer. During that first appointment, the physical therapist asked if I grind my teeth at night. I don't, but I do clench them during the day, and therefore probably at night. Many times when I would say my head hurt, I would actually be rubbing my jaws. Darrin even asked me one day why I was doing that if my head was hurting. The physical therapist recommended seeing a dentist about a mouth guard to wear at night. I made an appointment for the next day. Over the last few weeks, I have found that a combination of the stretches I learned at physical therapy and the mouth guard has helped. I have only been having 1-2 headaches a week, and they will usually go away with Motrin.


The first couple of days the headaches were gone, I was cooking/baking one night, which is something I love to do, but hadn't felt like it lately. I was enjoying it so much when it dawned on me just how bad I had felt for so long. I am so thankful to God that my headaches are better.

3 Months Pictures

Here's the link to Miles' 3 month pictures. We had them made a Tammy Morgan Photography in Martin. I'm loving the ones with the hat and scarf. Thanks Aunt Donna!

Rookies

I am a compulsive planner, always have been. And, I don't like when my plans are changed. Having been married to Darrin for 8 years now, he's managed to lighten me up a bit.....thank goodness. I am able to go with the flow a little easier, although it's always better for me when there is a plan.

Sunday night I text Miles' teacher to ask if he could come to daycare with an eye infection. We're still learning the rules about sickness, fever, etc. She never responded, so we decided to keep him home and call the doctor on Monday. Monday afternoon she responded. I told her that we decided to keep him home anyway. She responded with "You do know the daycare is closed all week, right?" To which I responded "Nope".

Not sure how a compulsive planner missed that one. I guess Darrin has had more of an impact than I thought. Rookies.

Growth Spurt

How quickly things change. Just last week I was worried b/c Miles wasn't eating. For several days, he lost interest in food and his bottles. As Dr. Bates predicted, it must have been a phase.

Last night, Miles woke up in the middle of the night crying. He does this every now and then. However, since he started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks, we've never had to go get him. We let him cry for 5 minutes and then it was clear he was not going to go back to sleep. I got him up and changed his diaper and gave him some Tylenol thinking maybe his eye was bothering him. I laid him back down and within minutes he started crying again. I got him up, rocked him, gave him teething tablets, gas drops, teething ring, Darrin walked around with him….still crying. Finally we thought that maybe he was hungry. He ate a 5oz bottle in 5 minutes and went back to sleep. I thought he might sleep later than usual after eating in the middle of the night. Nope. He woke up at 7am and ate a big bowl of cereal with baby food and an 8oz bottle!

First Christmas With Miles

Our first Christmas with Miles was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve with Darrin's parents, and then Christmas day with my family. Miles developed a little bit of an eye infection over the weekend. He wasn't completely himself, but didn't seem to feel too bad. He's home with Darrin all week while daycare is closed, so I'm sure he'll get plenty of TLC.



Uncle Dave decided he was past the fragile newborn stage enough to hold him....


Here's a good laugh. And, the best part is....he asked for this. After realizing it takes an army of people to get Miles strapped in, we decided to return it the next day. I was getting nervous he might want to shop for a minivan next (no offense to you minivan drivers...I'm just not there yet).

Miles helping Marmee (my mom picked the name from Little Women) open her present...

My cousins' kids....Spencer, Hunter, Lauren, and Cody (clockwise- starting with the cutie with glasses).

Ava got a new (little) tent for Christmas. She is pretend sleeping....

She was devastated when she realized all of the presents had been opened....

Granny & Pa with Olivia, Miles and Ava....

Hanging with the little man....


Christmas is over???? What????

4 Months

Miles saw Dr. Bates for his 4 month appointment this morning. Everything was fine....and on track. He weighed 16.3 lbs (76th percentile) and is still 26" long (75th percentile). I don't know what his head measured, but he was in the 75th percentile. SO IT'S NOT BIG. I'm really not touchy about his head being big but I do get lots of comments about it.....and as it turns out, it's not big after all. The fact that everything is in the 70 something percentile alludes that he is very proportional.

He's been spitting up a lot and his appetite has decreased lately, but Dr. Bates thinks it's just a phase. No sign of congession or ear problems. As you can see from the following pic, his appetite hasn't decreased too much :)

Random Pics

Merry Christmas from Miles...

Too tired to eat....he's been falling asleep in his highchair almost every night....

Miles had a play date with Hunt Clark on Saturday. You can't tell in this pic but Hunt had his arm around Miles. It was adorable. Right after this picture, Miles spit up carrots all over Shara Lynn's new carpet. I was scrambling to clean it up and laid Miles down...not so gently....under the tree. I scratched his face with a Christmas tree branch in the process. Bad mommy.

Learning to love his taggie blanket....

For All You AOIIs Out There....

Crazy Dream

How's this for crazy... I dreamed that we had a little girl. She was born with a fro like Ava.



We named her Power. I must have been out of it when she was born b/c when I realized we named her Power, I insisted that we change it to Blair. We also forgot to tell our friends & family that we had a baby. So, we sent out a text to everyone. At the end of the dream we pulled up to a hotel and Greg Gunter was our valet attendant. I'm not sure where that fits in the dream....

So True...

Before & After...

Learning to Sit Up...

Party Like It's 1985

We had a party this time last year to celebrate the end of the volleyball season. Last year's theme was a Poker Party (picture on the right side of the page). It was a lot of fun, so we wanted to do another themed party. We decided on 80s. The night was full of hideous fashion, and lots of laughs.

We played a game all night where you couldn't use certain words or call people by their real name. Instead, your name for the evening was the name of your first pet and your mother's maiden name. I was Shaggy Groelke. Darrin was Stinker Jackson! If someone called you by your name, you got their bracelet. The person with the most bracelets at the top of each hour won a prize. Other names were Happy Sheehan, Redford Redmond, Lassie Scott, Dexter Carter.....I can't remember all of them. Funny stuff.

Side view so you can get the full effect of both hair styles...

Trevor and Kristi, the 80s workout instructor....

Best accessory of the night went to Stacy for her LA Gear fannie pack....

Kevin's shorts were way too short...

For some reason, there was a lot of spontaneous dancing....

Miles spent the night with Granny & Pa (Darrin's parents), along with his cousins, Ava & Olivia. This was his first night away from me. I handled it much better than I thought I would. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. Darrin was ready to get him first thing the next morning, but we had a full day of Christmas shopping first. We enjoyed our day together and then picked him up around 5pm. We were very ready to see him.

Finally Full

We've been trying to prolong feeding Miles baby food or cereal until he is four months old. Everyone I talk to, including Dr. Bates, says 4 months is the magic age. Well, Miles is a growing boy and finally yesterday, there was no denying him anymore. Formula just wasn't satisfying him. I wanted to feed him cereal with a spoon b/c they won't put it in his bottle at daycare. We tried and he wouldn't eat it. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that he didn't like it or just couldn't master the spoon. So, we tried squash baby food.

We figured out that he just wasn't ready for a spoon. So, we put some cereal in his bedtime bottle. He went to bed at 9pm....we had to wake him up at 7:30! I guess he was finally full.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We enjoyed the day with Darrin's family at his cousin, Jessica's house. It felt so good to celebrate our first holiday with Miles. We are unbelievably thankful for him.

Olivia...getting so big....

Uncle D doesn't look too excited about the mess that Ava is making...

Darrin's cousin Heather cuddling with Miles....

Uncle Roger (Great Uncle to Miles)...

Completely worn out from all the excitement. You would think he ate turkey!

Where's the Flood?

As I dressed Miles this morning, I promised him that he would never have to wear this outfit again. First of all, I had to cram it over his head. After I finally got that far I thought it would be more traumatic to take it off and start over. And second, the pants look like capris. I've found that Carter's one piece outfits are too short. Gymboree seems to work better. The sad thing is, this is only the second time he's worn this outfit. He's growing way too fast...

Check Up

Darrin took Miles to his 3 month appt today. He weighs 15.2 lbs (73 percentile) and is 26" long (92 percentile). Darrin said that he only cried for a second when he got his shots. So far, he doesn't seem to have any side effects from the shots. He's still sleeping great.....about 9 hours every night.
Fun time with Dad...

Why you shouldn't hold a naked baby while wearing expensive shoes....

I Love Santa

We took Miles to have his picture taken with Santa today. As you can see, he was less than impressed. Maybe he's already heard me say that all he's getting this year in a Leapfrog table. I think Santa, who also happens to take classes at UTM, was equally impressed with Miles. Not sure he's had much experience with babies. He was local, he was free, and he was perfect for a 3 month old.

Message Tees

Lock Up Your Daughters...

Handsome, Just Like Dad....