Belated 6 months update

Miles had his 6 month appointment on June 3rd... here's the stats...

Height: 29" (97%)
Weight: 20 lb 15 oz (90-95%)
Head Circ: 17 1/4" (50%)

So, that meant we had to officially move Miles to his big-boy car seat (height limit on the infant seat is 29"). No more infant seat for him! We're getting used to having to take him out of and put him back into the seat at every stop. Right now it seems a bit tedious, but I am sure it will get better with time.

We have also introduced Miles to carrots, oatmeal, prunes, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. He really loves the prunes, carrots and sweet potatoes. I think Miles would eat so much of them that he would turn orange, if we let him.

Gerritt is off for the summer and has been getting to spend a lot of time with Miles. It's well timed because Miles is in his happy-as-a-lark stage. He is very smiley, laugh-y and loves whatever you have him do. Play on the floor? Okay. Practice standing? Okay. Tummy time? Okay.

Miles is learning new skills every day. He now rolls all directions, sits well on his own, babbles ma-ma-ma-ma and an occassional am-ma (which Gramma thinks is "Gramma"), and tries to grab everything in sight.

Enjoy these pictures from around 6-months of age...

For you, Jae. Cutest onesie in the world!

Sitting on my own.

Smiley baby!

Watch out for that tickly hand...

Giggling!!

Starting on Solid Foods

Miles recently turned 6 months old (on May 29th)! Wow, half a year! He is 21 1/2 lbs according to the bathroom scale which means he will be graduating to a bigger car seat really soon. I am currently lamenting the soon-to-be loss of freedom. The infant car seat made it so easy to carry him in and out of stores, restaurants, etc. without having to wake him up, put on a jacket, shade his eyes from the sun... The big-boy car seat will not be so easy. Sigh...

6 months of age means that we are also starting Miles on "solid" foods. We took some videos, of course!

First, we tried rice cereal. Miles wasn't sure at first, but now LOVES his rice cereal. He's eating it like a pro. His first few bites were a bit tentative...



A week later, we tried peas for the first time. We are taking the philosophy of veggies before fruits. We'll see how it works. Miles definitely didn't take to eating his peas as quickly as eating his rice cereal. Uncle Jason, Aunt Jill, Gramma Sue and Papa Dean were all there to witness the first bites of peas...



And the final video of this post shows just how ingenious little ones can be. Miles was sitting on Papa Dean's lap after dinner one night and started vocalizing as normal... "ahhhhhhhh". But then Papa would bounce his leg and the noise would change... "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah". Miles thought this was great fun and kept doing it, over and over and over...

Miles Videos!

Miles is grow-grow-growing! He had an infected ingrown toenail a few weeks back (right around 5 months old) and at the Dr. office he weighed 19 lb 13 oz, which is about 1 1/2 lbs heavier than at 4 months! Oh, and his ingrown toenail is all better now. He now sits up all by himself (we're just there to catch him when he inevitably throws himself backwards), giggles when he thinks something is funny, rolls from front to back consistently and talks up a storm. In fact, he ended up hoarse for a few days because of all the happy-screamy- noises he makes. Here are some videos of his current shenanigans...

Miles rolling over...



Giggly Miles...



The start of Miles' pianist career...

Many faces of Miles

I was taking pictures today (April 17th) and got a few different expressions I'd like to share. Enjoy!

Week 19 (April 11)

Look... I am blogging in the current week! Whoo hoo... I am caught up!

This week is more of the same... Miles is still working on rolling over... enamored with his feet... talking up a storm. He loves to sit up on his own (still with us close to catch him when he topples) and to go from reclined to sitting all on his own. In fact, he insists on doing it himself. If I sit him up from reclined, he reclines back again just so he can sit up on his own.

Breaking news.... Miles "officially" and purposely rolled over today (the 17th) from his tummy to his back! Gramma Sue, G and I all got is witness the moment. He did it once and was too fussy to try it again. We'll see if he remembers how to roll over once he is in a better mood.

Week 18 (April 4th)

This weekend we visited Grandma and Grandpa Van Otterloo in Iowa. While we were there, Miles started what I like to call his "vocal" phase. He has been squeaking and cooing for a while now, but now he is starting to "talk" in sentences and squeal, sometimes just to hear himself. It's cute, until he decides to squeal at the top of his lungs in the middle of the night (okay... its cute then too, but it just interrupts our sleep a little too much!).

Grandma VO's special touch...

Crashed on Grandma again!

Smiley Miles!


Here's Miles talk talk talking...

Week 17 (March 28th)

Miles was officially 4 months old on March 29th! He had his 4 months Dr. appointment on April 1st where he was deemed "perfect" once again. His stats were as follows:

Height: 27 1/2 in. (97th percentile)
Weight: 18 lb 4 oz (95th percentile)
Head circ: 17 in (75th percentile)

He is still trying to learn to roll over (from back to front and front to back) and it is starting to keep him up at night. He was sleeping through the night (only getting up once) but now has reverted to waking and eating every 3 hours. Guess that is life.

Sorry, no pictures this week!

Mile's Baby Class

AKA - The CUTEST pictures you've ever seen.

Here are pictures of the babies from Mile's first baby class, taken March 10th (Miles is 14 weeks old). I won't label names, to protect the other babies' identities.

Beware... these are cute pictures... I mean it... you'd better be ready for some oo-ing and aa-ing....

Miles says, "Who are these people and why are they touching me?"

Week 16 (March 21)

Miles must be keeping us busier because there is getting to be more and more time in between "photo sessions". This weekend we had a nice visit with GreatGrandpa George (G.G. George) and GreatGrandma Shirley. They hadn't seen Miles since December, so they definitely though he had grown!


We also got a 4 generation picture... Miles, Maren, Maren's mom (Sue) and Sue's dad (GG George).


Miles is also getting really good at tummy-time. He can hold both his chest and legs off the ground at the same time. Those are some strong core muscles! Wish I could still do that!

Week 14 (Mar 7)

Miles continues to work on his sitting skills this week. He likes to sit in the corner of the couch, all by himself...


He is also starting to consistently put all his toys in his mouth. Here starts the oral fixation with his toy keys...

Week 13 (Feb 28)

Miles is officially 3 months old this week! He is really starting to like chewing on his hands. He prefers his first two fingers on his right hand or his thumb on his left hand. He is also trying to sit up on his own. You can pull him up from laying into sitting with very little work... he holds his own head up and uses his legs as counter-balance. Very cute. He also laughed for the first time this week. Gramma Sue is just so funny!

Do I look 3 months old?

Eating those two fingers that I like!

Practicing sitting with Mommy.

Later the same day... sitting makes Miles tired. Or... do you see the Daddy/son resemblance?

Week 12 (Feb 21)

We put Miles on a bathroom scale this week and found him to be 15.5 lbs. He just keeps growing and growing!

Plopped again... on Papa Dean's lap.

Sitting on Gramma Sue's lap.

I'll eat that finger, Daddy!

Week 11 (Feb 14th)

Sorry about the lack of updates. It's hard to even know where to start...

This weekend we had another great visit to Milford to see Grandma and Grandpa Van Otterloo, Aunt Ali, and cousin Jordaen. They all thought he was just the cutest ever (and rightly so).

Here's some pics from the week...

Pensive...

Laughing...

Pensive again...

Plopped!

Mr. Blue Eyes

Week 10 (Feb 7)

We started playing the "Ready" game this week. I had Miles laying along my legs (which were angled, my feet on a footstool) and he kept trying to sit up. I would take his hands to help pull him up to a sitting position, saying "ready?" each time. He started reacting to the word and sitting up whenever I said it. Now we joke that we have to be careful with the word ready, sometimes using the word "prepared" or spelling r-e-a-d-y instead, otherwise Miles tries sitting up!

Week 10 pictures...

Sitting in our new highchair!

Sleeping on Gramma Sue

Tummy time with Daddy.

In our "going home" outfit from Aunt Ali.

As a reminder... here he was when he went home in it!! What a big boy!!

Week 9 (Jan 31)

This week has been exciting so far. First, Miles and Maren started attending Early Childhood Family Education classes on Wednesdays. M&G joke that it is so Miles can learn how to be a baby, but really we sang, played with toys, watched the other babies (Miles was especially interested in the other babies) and the mommies talked about baby issues. We both had a very good time. There were 6 other babies there - a 10-week-old, 3 3-month-olds, a 5-month-old, and a 6-month-old - and Miles was the youngest but was (unofficially) bigger than all but the 6-monther. He appeared to be about tied in size with the 5-monther. He is definitely a big boy!

The other exciting news is that we have had three accidental roll-overs during tummy time. Earlier today, I put him down and he leaned his head over sideways, which rolled his upper body over. So I helped him push his legs over. Then, this afternoon, I again put him on his tummy and he leaned his head to the side. This time, there was enough momentum to bring him all the way to his back. He was really excited (mainly because he merely tolerates tummy time and would much prefer being on his side or back) so I tried putting him on his tummy another two times with the same result. However, on the fourth time, he got stuck and then got really frustrated and mad, so tummy time was over. I call them "accidental" roll overs because I have to place him with his arms under his chest for the whole thing to work, like this...

Once he can bring his own arms under his chest and roll over, it will be an official one, if that makes sense. I was hoping to catch some pictures of the roll overs, but they happened so fast I couldn't get the camera to my face in time. Some other time!

Other exciting news is that Miles seems to be tracking faces and objects better this week. I'm still not convinced that his eyesight is good, but he is at least adapting.

Today's series of pictures is Miles looking at his fuzzy block mobile... enjoy!!

8 Weeks, continued

Just a few more pictures from week 8...

Henry snuggling with the baby.

Sitting up so tall!