Bella is Hilarious

No words requried. Filmed in November.

8 Months and the story about your name

You just surpassed your 8th month of life and you seem pretty happy with things. You constantly have a big smile on your face which is intoxicating. I never thought about how Miles and Smile resemble each other, almost the same word in a sense. This reminds me that I haven't yet shared with you how we selected your name. I was in high school when I heard the name for the first time. My then art teacher (actually she was a substitute teacher) had a son named Miles. Throughout the years the name has stuck with me. Not to be too corny, but the name just made me smile. I knew I wanted a little Miles some day. We weren't sure about a girl's name so once we knew you were a boy, the choice for me was clear. Luckily your dad liked the name too. Everyone thinks we called you after Miles Davis. With your dad being a Jazz album collector and owner of every Miles Davis recording, the association makes sense, but it's not why we called you Miles. Thinking of Jazz musicians, I also really like the names Mingus and Ella. I don't think your dad would let me use those names though, people might think we are obsessed. Anyways, that's that.

In the last couple of weeks you have been working hard on your bottom two teeth. One of them is almost all the way out and the other one is following closely. Thankfully, it hasn't been bothering you too much.

Your fine motor skills have advanced drastically. You take your hands/fingers deliberatly to touch/grasp something. You hold on to your toys and investigate them closely. You also figured out how to clap and love to do it.

Our new favorite thing is to take baths together. It's hard to imagine how we all three fit into the tub, but we do and it's a blast. Floating in warm water with soft baby, skin to skin. It's wonderful.

You continue to creep around the room and sometimes you position yourself to crawl (but you don't quiet know how to yet). You can pretty much go and get whatever you want, if we let you. A good way to get you to move around is to place a bottle of milk within close proximity. You will do whatever it takes to go and get it. It's fun to watch you do that. You are very serious about your bottle. You know exactly what it is and if you only see it, you want it immediately like you haven't eaten anything all day.

It's Christmas time, but honestly it doesn't really feel like it. We didn't put up a tree this year since we will be out of town over the holiday. Since Thanksgiving we have been really busy and it didn't seem worth it to get a tree. I took some eucalyptus branches from the yard and hang some ornaments on it. At least you get to enjoy a beautiful tree with colorful lights at day care every day.

Up & Down

You absolutely love the "Johnny Jump Up." When we first put you in it a couple of weeks ago you didn't really know what to do. Now, you can't get enough of jumping up and down and turning around. This little video is unfortunately sideways again. One day we'll get a better camera. Turn up the volume for some Christmas cheer.

Pump & Dump

I had to dump out about 60 oz of breastmilk the other day. It's like throwing away hard earned cash. Hard. And no, it's not because I had a night out and too much to drink. The fridge in my hotel room must have not been working properly while I was at that conference last week. When I got back home I noticed that all of the milk had a funny, well disgusting, smell. Breastmilk isn't supposed to smell like anything. I am glad that I noticed it though before making you eat expired milk.

Speaking of breastmilk, I think we are approaching the end of breastfeeding. It's not over yet, but we are getting close. While at the conference, I got increasingly lazy about pumping when I should have. It doesn't take long for the supply to slip away, and it's hard to get it back. I haven't mentioned yet that your first tooth made it's appearance a couple of weeks back. And yes, you have bitten down, hard. It's only happened once so far. Ouch!!! I couldn't help but cry out. You looked at me confused followed by a big smile. I wasn't smiling and have been anxious about that happening again. You are also very distracted now when breastfeeding, constantly looking away at what else is happening...wait was that bella that just walked by (you turn head and look)? or oh, wait, is that papa going up the stairs?
Since last week, I am making half the milk during the day than what I used to. I don't think it will come back. I was actually hoping that we would find the right time to stop together, which I feel like we are. I didn't have a plan to how long I would breastfeed. The plan was to wait and see.

I am thankful that we have come this far without real complications or infections. Sure it was painful the first 10 days, but that was to be expected. High five, son!

Away again

Thank you Cate for making me the fabulous new masthead (blog header)!

I am currently on the 27th floor of the Marriott Hotel in Baltimore. I have been here since Tuesday and will get to go back home on Saturday. Long time to be away from you and Frank :(

Fortunately, this is a very exciting gathering of my peers, people that work to promote and support arts education around the country. It's a very interesting and inspiring group. It's the type of conference that gets me all excited about what I do. It reminds me of the big picture and the impact we have. It's easy to forget the importance and impact of our work as sometimes it seems like I am just shuffling papers and answering emails all day. It's easy to get lost in the daily routine just going through the motions, day after day. It's nice to get a chance to refuel and re-energize.



It's even more important for me right now to know that I am doing something worthwhile. It helps me to justify being so far away from you, not just now but every day.

It will be interesting to see what you will end up doing one day. I know I am thinking far, far, ahead, but I can't help but wonder. Most importantly, I hope that it will be something you are passionate about, no matter how challenging it might be.

Shortly I am off to a reception at an amazing museum here called the Visionary Art Museum, one of my favorite places.

Baby on board

We have been looking forward to showing you the ocean ever since you were born. We love the ocean - it's were we met, where we got married. We didn't take you there before Thanksgiving, as it is a long 6 hour drive to Charleston. The days leading up to the trip, I was quiet nervous. What if you wouldn't sleep and fussed the whole time? How would we all fit into our car with Bella (LARGE DOG) in the back (which meant the stroller stayed at home)? Would you be able to sleep in the travel bed? What if the whole thing would turn into one big stress fest, hurrying from one house to the next with an unhappy baby?

The weekend before the long awaited trip, symptoms of the cold arrived. Papa and I were suffering from a soar throat, congestion, etc. In addition to my already long list of worries about this trip, I was stressing out and started to think that maybe we better stay home. Since we were getting sick, I was convinced that you would end up with a cold as well (you never did).

Even though it seemed impossible, we proceeded to leave Tuesday night around 6pm. I felt absolutely miserable but was willing to do whatever it took to get there. Long story short, we had a rough start to what was a wonderful trip. You and Bella slept the whole way there and the drive didn't even seem all that long (non-drowsy cold medicine worked pretty well too). We arrived around 12:30am Wednesday. After we got you out of the car seat and changed your diaper you were wide awake and smiling. We were all very happy to be there and very tired.

We woke up to glorious weather on our first day. Temperatures were in the low 70's and we automatically felt much better. You enjoyed hanging out on the waterfront park and you seemed to like your first glimpses of Charleston. That evening you were surrounded by lots of family at the annual Thanksgiving oyster roast. You fell asleep at your normal bedtime in my arms. You didn't mind sleeping in other arms either. Here with Sidney, your second cousin:

Thursday we all went to the beach. It wasn't as warm as the previous day and more overcast, but the air from the ocean still felt great and Bella got more exercise than she gets all year long. Hopefully that made the trip for he worth it as well.

After two very relaxing hours on your aunt Angie's dock, we went over to your great uncle's house for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. There, you met some more family and enjoyed hanging out with everyone. You had quiet a large meal of pears yourself.

Friday we spent most of the day with grandma Margaret. You even took a nap on her very high bed :)

Here we are at the coolest wine bar in Charleston enjoying very good wine and food until 9:45pm. You fell asleep at your normal time in my arms while I was enjoying some more wine and nice live music.

I am extremely impressed how well you adjust to all different kinds of places and situations. None of it seems to face you and when you are tired you will sleep no matter where you happen to be. Reminds me of myself. I can drink a cup of coffee and go to sleep pretty much anywhere.

The next day we drove another 3 hours to Patrick's house for another awesome Thanksgiving dinner. Yup, you slept again the whole time even though we drove in the middle of the day. This year the food seemed especially good. With the turkey, which was fried, we had Persian style rice with pomegranate seeds, cranberry chutney with ginger, buttery carrots, and onions cooked in balsamic vinegar. The combination of flavors were perfect. Desert was Deidei's tiramisu. You were sitting in a high chair at the head of the table next to your cousins Louise and Violette. It was precious to see you sitting there with everyone, like you have always been with us. Moments like these are still incredible to me. Here you are enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with your family when last year this time I barely looked pregnant. Giving and living life is exciting.

Sunday we spent the day lounging around and eating some more. We left to drive back home close to your bedtime. You slept the whole way again. You didn't even wake up during the hour long traffic jam.

None of my worries about the trip were an issue. I am extremely relieved to know that we can easily do this trip again. Can't wait until we will be there again in a couple of weeks for Christmas for some more family love and fresh ocean air.

I am sure not every trip will be as smooth as this one, but I am thankful that our first trip was such a great experience.

Breaking news

I just finished a hat for Miles that actually fits (at least for a couple of weeks!). The first one I made was way too small and will be gifted. I am quiet happy with all its charm of imperfections :)

I am hoping to make a little sweater for him next. It is extremely satisfying to make clothes for him. Knitting is something I learned way back in 6th grade but haven't really done it since. I still have and wear the socks I made when I was 12. Luckily, it didn't take long to pick up the basics of knitting again. The great thing about making baby clothes is that they don't take too long to make. Time is not plentiful these days.

My favorite clothes Miles wears are the ones (hats, cardigans, sweaters, socks) people have made, most of which are hand me downs from my sibling's kids. I am hoping that the clothes I make for Miles will eventually be worn by the next baby in the extended family. Maybe they will even last until Miles has kids.