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Thursday, June 25, 2009

While Mommy's away...

So you wonder what Cory does to occupy Bethany while I am out of the picture?

Wonder no longer...


Evidently coloring dinosaurs was the activity they chose this morning as I tried to get some more sleep after another restless night with Owen. That will teach me trying to catch some extra zzz's.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

Photoshoot with Abbie!

After anxiously awaiting Abbie's amazing photos...we have to wait no longer!

Abbie has delivered dozens of delectable doozies for our viewing pleasure. I am especially surprised that these photos look so amazing, since both of the little boogers where especially uncooperative!

Here is one to wet your appetite:


Go to this link to see the rest of pictures of our little beauties!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Did you know

In order to continue the education of the public, we figured we'd take this opportunity to teach our lovely readers stuff about the Milles Family. What? You don't care. Too bad. You're reading my blog....so you are subjected to my thoughts! :)


So let the education begin!


Did you know...
That during Tummy Time Owen loves to push is cute booty in the air. He can't stop pushing up on his feet. I think we are going to have an early mover. But what I've learned since Bethany is that you don't want them to move too soon...so hopefully he is just content with shaking his booty in the air & doesn't have a desire to really be mobile too soon!

Did you know....
That EA Sports Wii Active is a great way to get into shape. After having 2 babies in a 2 year span...I need all the help I can get. This is a fantastic game that really makes me sweat and sore at the end!

Did you know....
That it is more fun to take a nap when you are doing so with your Idol. Who is Owen's Idol, you wonder....Homer, of course. Like you should be surprised!

Did you know....
That Bethany loves to go to bed with a half a dozen books or so. She'll read herself to sleep and then when she wakes up, she'll occupy herself for a good half-hour. It is so much fun to listen to hear read and sing to herself in the mornings.

Did you know....
That bunnies don't treat all plants equally. When you want to have flowers on your front porch, you should buy more of the type on the right and not the petunias!

Did you know....
That the first person to get Owen to smile was Cory. It took him a good 4 or so extra days to really smile at his Mommy. I think he even smiled at Bethany before he smiled at the one person he keeps up in the middle of the night and that carried him for 9 months. At least he got wise and started being less discriminatory with whom he blesses with his smiles!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sensational Summer Snapshots!

Bethany is outside. All. The. Time! She loves it. Here are a few snapshops of her playing outside this past weekend.


Look at her. Isn't she stunning!

Sitting outside eating a popsicle. Nope....she can't eat those inside yet. She's way to slow at consuming those sticky little delectable treats!


Taking a break from playing in the water! We had so much fun. I think we had 90% of the kids on the street playing with us...plus a couple of kids we've never seen before (no joke...I had no idea where those kids came from!).
Here are some of the neighbors going through the "car wash" Grandpa M. made Bethany for her birthday.
Playing with Michael B. from Kirksville. It was a ton of fun to watch the two of them play. Plus, it was the first time Bethany had a friend on her new swingset!
They even were trying to find new uses for the swing. They became pretty inovative...until one of them would hit their heads on something (or each other!)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Checking Up

Owen had his first check-up at the dr. office this week. To show him how it's done, Bethany had a check-up too. What a devoted big sister!
Both kids did well. Here are there stats:
Owen--1month check-up:
Height: 21.25" --25th%tile
Weight: 9 lb 2 oz--25th%tile


Bethany--2 year check-up:
Height: 34.75" --75th%tile
Weight: 28lb 8oz --75th%tile

The are both meeting the milestones appropriately. It seems to me that Bethany is far above the expectations set for a 2 year-old. They are asking for 50 words and 2 to 3 word sentences. Cory and I estimate Bethany is far above 100 words...probably closer to 200 words. And I've heard sentences as complex as 6 words long coming from our lil' chatter box.

In other news...

Cory had meetings three days this week. That was my first time taking care of the two of them by myself. They aren't too terribly difficult. Bethany showed a couple fits of jealousy. When Owen needed to eat or needed to be picked up, she had a couple lil' fits. Bless Owen's heart though. He has the patience of a saint. He doesn't react to her crying & even once stopped crying when she started. It was as if he knew I could only handle one screaming kid at a time. Cory's done with meetings for now, so we can resume spoiling them both with undivided attention!


See he's totally needed around here:

Bethany also got to play in the water this week. Here are some of the adorable shots of her:
It all started with playing with her new water table.
She really enjoyed splashing around. However....


Here attention got diverted quickly to the hose.
She loves the hose..perhaps too much--as she sprays everything and everybody around

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Cooking for Owen!

Bethany found a new use for her kitchen...cooking for her lil' brother.

Here she is cooking a meal and feeding him.

What you can't hear is that while she is at her kitchen, she makes sound effects while she cooks. It is super cute to hear her go ch-ch-ch as she shakes the various foods into her bowl and stirs them up! :-)

I am glad she is such a good big sister! I am doubley glad that Owen is such a good sport with putting up with her and her antics!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Doing what kids do best...

.....Getting Older!



Both of the Milles kids made it to another milestone this weekend.



On Friday, Owen turned 1 month old! Here he is doing what he does best (during the day time hours, that is!):







On Sunday Bethany turned the big 0-2! She loved having a birthday. She's been singing happy birthday for the past month. Usually in the song, she'll include the name of one of her friends from the sitters. But this time, she was so excited to sing it to herself! She loved having cake and presents, of course!





Here she is digging into the first stash of presents for the day. Bethany checking out her homemade Elmo cake. It came out pretty good...and she loved it...which is all that counts!
Overall, her birthday was a huge success! She had a great time. She got to see lots family members, got lots of cake and got lots of presents. If you ever had the burning desire to know the answer to the question, "Just how many presents does a 2 year-old get for her birthday." The answer is: an insane amount of presents! It is amazing that 2 years and 1 day ago, we had no kids and, thus, no toys. But since that remarkable day we now have 2 kids and to go with them 3 rooms and a garage full of toys! It is a bit much to think about and makes me feel like we are a materialistic family...although we strive as hard as possible NOT to be materialistic. I guess an agglomeration of toys comes with the territory, although I do see a donation to a local charity when they out grow the toys in the near future!








Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Problem Solved!

Our Problem:
Bethany loves her little brother so much. She really wants him to get up and play with her sooo badly. BUT he can't. So she improvises. But it makes leaving them alone for a quick potty trip or being distracted with a dinner on the oven a bit challenging and scary situation for me. How am I expected to get other things done when my lil' Owen might be "being loved" a little too much?!?! Well, I think we've figured things out. But first...here are some of the things she's come up with to make him a bit more interactive.
As he is snoozing away, Bethany starts adorning him with random toys. She also managed to successfully unswaddle him and almost successfully pulled the blanket completely away from him. The poor guy.

Yes...I did place him in his bouncy seat nice and straight. That didn't last long!
She decided it was his birthday and placed the strawberry on top of his head. What is the significance of this...I am not sure. But he does look rather cute!

Other than using her brother as a Christmas Tree...Bethany also likes to play Peek-a-Boo with him. This is a rather scary game to me...as it is my desire to make sure he lives to see another day.
Our Solution:
SO, instead of letting her have her way with lil' Owen, we've been trying to find her other constructive things to do with her time. Yesterday she got to water her trees. She loves having this responsibility, although I think she waters herself more than the plants!



Also, in order to provide her hours and hours of countless fun, Cory put together her swing set. Mind you, it is our intentions that this swing set last the 2 of them a LONG time. So, she'll still need to grow into it a bit. But so far she is LOVING it!



Cory put it together 95% by himself. He got a little him from the neighbor kid who was helping out by force from his mother as a punishment. It is rather a creative punishment for a teenager. But Cory and the neighbor kid seemed to hit it off well and Cory appreciate little help the kid had to offer. Of course, when it came to carrying the various large pieces...we had to summon help. While I am married to a marvelous man...he isn't Superman and did need a few extra muscles to carry the large contraption!



Here he is figuring out the last few steps!
Hmm...What's this for?
Finally, the last piece!

Bethany gets a sneak peak of her swing set!

Doesn't take long for her to fall in love with it!

She's even attempted the rock wall.
Which I really don't anticipate her to fully get it until next summer.
Look at me! Ready to go down!
We had to pry her away from it last night while the storm was closing in on O'Fallon. She wasn't a happy camper to go inside. But that is a good thing. Perhaps she'll use this as a jungle gym and not her poor unassuming lil' brother!