Miles Alexander, 10 Months!!

Ten amazing, and very sleepless months have already gone by since Miles has joined our family! He is FINALLY sleeping through the night, napping, AND putting himself to sleep! I cannot explain how good it feels to finally have my hands free when he's asleep. He's cruising everywhere, and just started taking steps! I'm not ready for my little man to walk yet. He is a fantastic eater, and such a happy little man. He loves to play ball, peek-a-boo, do "so big", and babble like a mad man. Mama is his most used word, and I don't mind that one bit! ;) Miles, you're a joy to have in our family, and our lives would be so empty without you! Now of course, here's some pictures of my wild man!

Watching the dogs play

He looks a little dazed and confused here, lol!
My sweet little man!

Enjoying his first ice cream cone

Clearly, he loved it!

Happy 10 months Miles! We love you with all our hearts!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Eli!!

My sweet little boy is growing up so fast!! Today we made a ton of cupcakes to celebrate Eli turning 2 1/2! This kid loves any excuse to sing, "Happy Birthday," and blow out some candles! As you can see by the chocolate surrounding his face, he helped me make all the goodies, as well as being my number one taste tester!

Waiting for us to sing...

Liking candles, one of his favorite things, lol!
This was him blowing out the candles for the second time...

and we had to sing a third time as well!

He was sweet and shared with his brother,

and Miles was happy about that!!

Slow down Eli...Mama's not ready to have a 3 year old!! Love you little man!! XOXO!!

Welcome Baby Grace!!

Grace Anna Lynn Johnson came into the world at 10:26 pm, weighing 8lbs 1oz, and 19 3/4 inches! I can't believe my little brother is a daddy now!! Here's the newest member of our family:

Spitting image of her daddy

Aunt Chrissy came in from PA to meet her
Devon and Matt

Since Grace came the day of her baby shower, I brought her mommy some gifts. I spent ALL DAY making chocolate and getting all her gifts together...but clearly Grace didn't want to miss that celebration! Here is Loryn enjoying some yummy pink chocolate covered pretzels!!

Lots of goodies!

As I had mentioned, I spent all day making chocolates, and putting the finishing touches on the diaper cake I made. Notice the chocolate covered pretzels surrounding the base...YUM!

Close up! Grace's name, also made of chocolate!

All wrapped and ready to go!

Welcome to the world sweet baby Grace! It's nice to have some more PINK in our lives!!

The Children's Museum and more!

We had a fun yet busy weekend, so I broke it up a bit. First, on Friday night, Callista took me out to dinner for my birthday. Her Au Pair Anna was kind enough to join us, listen to us babble, and drive us around! It was a great way to kick off the weekend...chatting it up with one of my best friends and having a few drinks! Sadly, I have no pictures of this, since my camera did not leave my purse! I did bring it though, and that's an accomplishment in itself! So thanks again Callista and Anna! It was a great night, and I can't wait to have some more drinks for you during the real celebration next weekend!

Saturday was my birthday, and it was up to me to decide how I wanted to spend the weekend. I've been wanting to take the boys to the Children's Museum, so I decided no time like the present!

The slide in the "abracadabra" exhibit room

Weeeeeee!
Hot hands with daddy! It reminded me of the old school "hyper color" shirts!

Then Eli went grocery shopping, and was a good little customer and payed for them too!

Loading his cart back up after the money exchange!

Time to take them "home"

He decided he needed to cook after the grocery store!

Then off to the ATM to get some cash...

The cash came in handy at the repair shop and gas station!

Testing out the RTA bus

Miles and Nader reporting the weather

Eli and the "moo moo" cows

Driving Miles around in the truck!

Miles in the truck bed with a ton of farm animals!

Sadly, Eli didn't get to play in the "Splish, splash" exhibit due to some fun tantrums! Oh the joys of having an almost 2 year old, lol! We decided it was time to go and let the boys nap! Before long it was dinner time, and Tata took us all to Panini's for my birthday! We managed to at least get a photo of the boys and I, even though Eli wouldn't crack a smile!

We spent the rest of the evening over at Diane and Joe's house. It was great to sit outside, let the kids run around, and enjoy an adult beverage or two! Avery and Eli play so nice together, and next year Miles and Hayden will be running around with them as well! It's so nice watching our kids grow up together!

Whose bright idea was that?

Tata's birthday was nearing, so Diane and I decided it would be a great time to get all the kids together for a picture. We knew this would be one present she couldn't yell at us for getting! Just to give you an idea of what we were working with, here are the ages of the participants: Avery, 2.5; Eli, 22 months; Hayden 9.5 months; Miles 2 months. I think we officially made two girls at Portrait Innovations quit after our session! While yelling the ABC's, chasing at least one child at all times, trying to capture some smiles, and to keep Avery's pink crocs off...this is what we came up with:

Now this isn't what Tata got framed, but it was one of the many funny candid shots we did get. Diane and I were in hysterics going through these photos. As you can see, Eli can't take it anymore, Avery is giving the evil eye, Hayden is clearly confused, and Miles is ignoring us all because he thinks we're nuts!

Here is what we did get framed: They are all looking in different directions, but at least they all have a smile on their face...except Miles, as he was done with this photo shoot before it even began! Oh, and the pink crocs and pearls were not being taken away from Avery! She decided if she had to be the only girl in the photo, she was gonna live it up!

On a side note, I think we are banned from that studio, lol! While we were picking out our pictures, as I mentioned, Diane and I were in tears we were laughing so hard, Nader had to leave with Eli who was throwing a major tantrum, and Avery decided that she wanted her picture taken in all the other setups. (This being after she hid from the camera most of our shoot) I'm sure we were entertainment for many that day! Even through the craziness, we still had fun, and we'll look back at this time and laugh for many, MANY years to come!

He's here!

At exactly 40 weeks pregnant, it was time for baby no name to be born. I was 4 1/2 cm, having contractions and the start of back labor. My doctor decided we should break my water and that should do the trick. I was very adamant about wanting to avoid pitocin at all costs, so this seemed like a doable solution.

Arriving at the hospital, 6/25 7am. Last belly shot, exactly 40wks

My water was broken at 8am. I was contracting about every 5 mins before my water was broken, but the contractions were pretty weak. Nader and I walked the halls for some time, trying to get things moving. It worked, and by noon, I was feeling them a lot more and back labor was really kicking in. I got checked and I was 6 or 7cm, (I can't recall exactly) and I was ready for the epidural. Was feeling much better after that, (except for the brief moment my blood pressure dropped to 60/30...it was a crazy feeling!) By 2:30pm I was feeling pressure. I was fully dilated, and we were just waiting for the doctor to arrive. Can you believe they made me wait to push? Talk about torture! At exactly 3pm, she arrived and I began to push. (At this same time, my epidural wore off!) I think the lack of the epi motivated me more to get him out, because at 3:08 pm, on June 25, 2009, our little angel was born! He weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 19 3/4inches. It took us quite some time to decide on his name...well, for me to decide on it as Nader actually left it all up to me! Luckily what I picked, Nader liked too!! Here is our perfect little man, Miles Alexander Salem! (On a side note, it's a good thing I did pick this name! The day Miles was born, Farrah Faucet AND Michael Jackson died. Quite a day in history. Anyway, a couple other names that were in consideration for me were Jackson, and Charlie! How ironic! The last thing I'd need is people thinking I named my kid because of Charlie's Angels or after the King of Pop, lol!

With his great-grandma

Tata

Grammy

Bonding with Daddy!

and ready to go home!!

After the months of stress and worry, it looks like Miles is perfectly healthy. His heart sounded great, and everything seemed to check out just fine! We have to go get his bilirubin levels checked again on Monday, but with the way this child has been nursing and pooping, I think we'll be just fine, lol!