Miles' first smile!

I know I need to update with Christmas pictures and pictures from when John's parents were here visiting, but the big news today is that Miles smiled for the first time!! I'm pretty bummed that I wans't here for it (darn grocery shopping!), but it's cool for John that he got to see the first smile.

Christmas pictures

Here are some of the pictures from Gaga's photo shoot today.

Will not being very cooperative:

Grandparent papparazzi

My mom came over today to take pictures of Will and Miles for her Christmas card. She got several pictures (as did I), but she kept on snapping even when Will was all done with the endeavor. :)

MOMS Club Christmas party

We had our MOMS Club family Christmas party yesterday morning. Will had fun running around with his friends, and there was even a visit from Santa!! Santa brought Will a treasury of Curious George stories.

My friend Laura reading the kids "Twas The Night Before Christmas"


Will getting his book from Santa


Will telling Santa what he wants for Christmas (roller skates...seriously)

First zoo trip

On Friday we went to the zoo with our friends Jen and Connor. It was Miles' first trip to the zoo. We ended up getting there late because Will had to go to the doctor first, so we didn't see that much, but it was still fun.

Connor, Will, and Miles checking out the orangutans (Will's favorite part of the zoo)


Miles and the giraffes

Geaux Tigers Cake

For awhile Will was really struggling with staying in his bed. We'd find him in the hallway in the middle of the night or at the top of the stairs sleeping when we'd come up to bed. In the mornings he'd go downstairs and get a maraca or drum or tambourine and start playing it to wake us up. Nice, huh? So we started a rewards chart for him--if he stayed in bed all night and when he woke up in the morning, he got to put a sticker on his chart. Then when the chart was full, he got a cake. He finished his chart last week and got his cake. He told me he wanted a "Geaux Tigers cake" because Daddy is such an LSU fan. I had to put candles in it for him and sing Happy Birthday when it was frosted and done. The things we do for our kids, huh? :)

Holiday Lights Parade

Over Thanksgiving weekend we went to the Holiday Lights Parade in Tempe. It was fun--we met up with some friends of ours and had a great viewing spot. Will got to sit right on the curb and watch everything. My friend Cindy had brought hot cocoa for all the kids, so Will just sat there mesmerized with the parade holding his cup of cocoa. :)

Will and his friends (I guess you can't really see him...he's behind the girl in the Santa hat)


What a ham!

More of Doo

I knew we had more pictures with my brother when he was here for Thanksgiving!

Doo reading Will a story


Will and Doo taking a nap together

Miles' first bath

We gave Miles his first bath at home a few days ago. Since his umbilical cord still hasn't fallen off, it was just a little sponge bath. He did great--didn't cry at all! The only time this kid cries is when he's hungry and I'm not fast enough to feed him.

Thanksgiving

Hahaha...man, I don't update for a few weeks and then I go crazy waiting to eat dinner one night!

Thanksgiving was the first time several members of our family got to meet Miles. We had a great dinner at my aunt and uncle's house.

My dad meeting Miles


Grandma Betty, a close family friend


GG, my grandma


Teresa, my aunt (she had actually met him in the hospital but I don't think I posted one of those pics)


Granny, my other grandma

A visit from Doo

At some point, Will started calling my brother Doo instead of Uncle Ryan. Actually he never called him Uncle Ryan, it's always been Doo. We think it's a variation of Dude, but we have no idea how he came up with it.

Doo came to visit for Thanksgiving this year, and it was so fun to have him here. Will loved having Doo stay at our house, although I think Ryan was pretty exhausted from playing with/chasing after a two year old for four days. :)

Here's Ryan meeting his new nephew. Well, he met him awhile before this, this was his first time holding him:


Hmmm...I thought there were some pictures of Doo and Will together. Either I imagined taking them or they're still on the camera.

At home

Here are some pictures of our first days at home with Miles:

Our newest addition

I guess he isn't so new anymore since he's almost two weeks old, plus I think anyone that reads our blog knows he's here and has seen pictures or met him in person. :) But, I feel the need to commemorate it.

Miles John Knightly was born on November 19th at 9:36 PM weighing 10 pounds and measuring 21.5" long. There was some discrepancy on both his weight and height. The kilogram measurement of his weight converted to 10lbs 2ozs but when they switched the scale to pounds, it showed up as 10lbs 0.06oz. The first is probably more accurate. His length in the hospital was 19.3" but at his newborn doctor's visit he was 21.5". The nurse there said it's very common for the hospital to get the length wrong because they do everything so fast, so I'm going with the more accurate doctor's office measurement.

For those wondering, YES I DID GO NATURAL! Although, it was really more by necessity than choice because he came really fast. We left our house around 7:15 and got to the hospital around 7:45. I don't know what time it was they got me up to L&D, maybe around 9:00? My water broke shortly after we got up there, and by then I was too dilated to get an epidural or any sort of drugs. Thankfully he came super fast--I pushed through three contractions for a total of four minutes. It worked out well because I felt great afterwards and was up and moving around a lot sooner than when I had an epidural with Will.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our new baby boy from when he was first born:

Halloween

We had a great time on Halloween this year. It's so fun as Will gets older that he starts to really get into the holidays. He was talking about his costume for weeks if not months before Halloween, and he was so excited to go trick-or-treating for the first time.

To start the day, we went to Gaga's house, changed into his costume, and then went to the retirement community where GG and Granny (my two grandmas) live so he could trick-or-treat at their apartments. He didn't really get the trick-or-treat part and just walked right into each of their apartments. :) He was excited about the goodies he got. We stayed and had lunch with them, then headed home for naptime before the evening festivities.

Getting ready at Gaga's


First stop...GG's


Treats from GG and Auntie Teresa


Riding on GG's cart to Granny's apartment


I guess I didn't get any pictures of Will and Granny. :(

For Halloween night, our friends Mike and Laura invited a bunch of people over for a potluck dinner and then the kids all went trick-or-treating together. It was so much fun, and Will had a great time going out with his friends.

Connor, Josh, Will, and Tyson eating dinner


Tyson/Frankenstein, Josh/Spiderman, Connor/Lion, Nathaniel/Cowboy and Will/Pirate


Practicing at Laura's before hitting the neighborhood


First house!

Carving Pumpkins

When Will and I went to Tolmachoff Farms earlier in October we each got to bring home a pumpkin. A few nights before Halloween we got out all the stuff to carve them. This was the first time Will had carved pumpkins (and I think the first time I had since college), and I figured he'd love it. Not so much. He didn't dislike it but he wasn't really in to it either. We ended up only actually carving one since it wasn't really holding his interest.

Ready to start!


What is all this stuff?!


Helping Daddy


The final product