Miles Eating Rice Cereal

Since we switched from breast milk to formula at four months, we decided to wait to give him rice cereal until after Thanksgiving. Then the craziness of the holidays started so we just tried it last week for the first time. We know he's not lacking in the size department so we figured it wasn't a rush.

He actually opened his mouth like he knew what to do...

...but this is how the rest of the process went. Now that we are a week into it, he's doing a little better and actually seems to enjoy meal time. We are just going to keep it at rice cereal once a day until we get back from our New Years trip. Then the we will work in fruits and veggies. My goal is to make them this time around.

Miles - Five Months

Miles is growing fast. Here are a few things he can do/milestones:

• Rolls over both ways
• Has two teeth
• Loves to play with all sorts of toys and they usually end up in his mouth
• Smiles and laughs constantly. Everyone always says, "is he this happy all the time?" Yes, he is.
• Can almost sit up on his own
• Loves playing in the exersaucer
• Just started eating rice cereal for the first time (pictures to come soon)
• Babbles all the time
• Plays with his feet all the time and loves to put them in his mouth
• Sleeps about 11 hours at night and take three naps during the day

Santa #3

Every year our church has Breakfast with Santa. This year was especially fun because Miller really enjoyed all the fun crafts and activities.

Miller with Frosty. He said, "that's not the real Frosty, because he's furry."

Miller telling Santa that he wants real golf clubs in a red bag.

Wow - they are both looking at the camera and smiling.

The Holy Family

For the last three years, our church has recreated Old Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth. It's a really cool experience. The whole church is transformed and everyone participating is in character. Visitors walk through and see everything from store merchants, a wedding feast, people stomping grapes to make wine, a funeral processional, the inn and the stable with live animals and of course Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. That is where we came in. We were asked to be the Holy family for two hours on Sunday night. Of course we couldn't pass it up.

Miles made a great baby Jesus. He slept for about 45 minutes and only fussed for about 15 minutes. Baby Jesus cried, right? I think he was just a little overwhelmed with all the people that followed the star to come and see him.

Noni and JoJo brought Miller up to see Old Bethlehem and us. Noni told him to go see baby Jesus and he said, "that's not baby Jesus, that's Miles."

What a special memory to share with Miles when he gets older.

Christmas Party with Santa

Some good friends of ours, the Holtons, had a Christmas party in early December. It was crazy with all the kids running around but so much fun. Santa even stopped by to visit...so exciting!

I just love this little boy! We were walking into the party and Jud snapped this.

He was super excited.

Both boys with Santa. Too bad neither one of them were looking at the camera.

Six out of the eight girls that are in my Tuesday night Bible Study were there. We all have kids under four. It's amazing to see the difference in this group from when I joined 3.5 years ago when no one had kids. What a great group...I love these girls and their families!

BABIES! The three babies in the group - Miles, Abigail Hilgers and Louis Macey. I can't wait to see what they will all look like in a year from now.

Miller's Preschool Fall Picture

Thanksmas

We were in Lincoln for six days and had so much fun just being together with the fam. We celebrated Thanksmas (the Martin way of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas together no matter what time of year). Unfortunately, we didn't take a ton of pictures on our camera - here's what we got.

Cousins (Max, Bekah, Miles and Miller) wearing the Mickey Mouse hats that Grandpa and GraMary brought back to the kids from Disney World.

"Grand" picture.

Since we didn't leave until Tuesday, we decided to go to the Lincoln Children's Museum one day. If you are ever in Lincoln, Nebraska, it's a great place to take kiddos. Miller had so much fun!

Driving a Semi-truck with Grandpa.

Is the chair big or is Miller little?

Miller, GraMary, Miles and I riding a safari bus.

Grandpa painting Miller's face.

Flying an airplane.

Miller as an astronaut.

Husker football player.

Police motorcycle.

Miles had fun at the museum too! While we were there, I noticed his first tooth had broken through. Another one broke through about a week later.

Thanksgiving Trip

It was Thanksgiving in Lincoln this year and we flew Southwest Airlines to Kansas City and then flew home from Omaha. We had a quick fun visit in KC with Ricky and Shae before we drove to Lincoln.

We spent a few hours at Union Station to see the dinosaur and train exhibits. The dinosaurs were huge and some of them moved and roared. Miller was a little scared of them and was forced to turn his back to this T-Rex to take a picture. So far, he's only had one dinosaur nightmare.

He loved looking at all the trains and mini villages.

Clowning around at Ricky and Shae's. He's about at silly as his new monkey hat.

Ricky and Shae with Miles in his KU outfit they gave Miller when he was born.

Tis the Season

Miller's school has an event right before Thanksgiving every year. The teachers put it on for the kids to kick off the Christmas season. They have all sorts of crafts, activities and of course Santa. Miller was a little hesitant, but got over it quickly. He wants real golf clubs so he can go play golf with Daddy.

Miles - Four Months

Well, today Miles is five months old and I'm just now posting his four month pictures. Better late than never. Here are his four month stats: 28 inches long (over 100% or off the charts) and 17 pounds 5 ounces (91%). He's a big boy and still bigger than Miller at the same age.

He's just as happy as his big brother was. His smiles make my heart melt and his laughter is contagious.

Lil Sluggers Baseball

Miller started going to Lil Sluggers once a week. It's kind of like a baseball class. It teaches the kids about baseball so when they actually join a team, they know what they are doing. Miller loves it!

Here he is ready to start his first class. It's at our Lifetime Fitness in one of the gyms. The only problem is the class is at 4pm so most of the time I have to wake Miller up to get there on time. Needless to say, it takes him a little while to warm up.

Running the bases.

Getting ready to bat. Jud has since moved him over to bat left handed. He says this is the time to teach him and his coach agrees. He doesn't hit quite as well as a lefty, but he's got time to learn, right? Switch-hitting here we come!

Miles' Baptism

Miles was baptized at our church on November 7. I was such a great weekend with friends and family!

During the service, standing at the alter just before the actual baptism.

We love our sweet Miles!

The family with Chuck, our minister. He married us, baptized Miller, married Evan and Blake and now baptized Miles.

Our best friends Ricky and Shae are Miles' Godparents. We know they will be a great Christian example for Miles to look up to.

Of course GraMary and Grandpa Max came in town for the special day.

The Argue clan. Noni and JoJo were super nice to host the brunch at their house after the service - Thanks!

What an angel!

Miles in the family boy baptism outfit. Jud, Miller, Max (our nephew) and now Miles have all worn it. What you can't tell from the picture is that it barely fit our big boy. It stayed snapped for the service, but we had to unsnap it soon after for fear that it would cut off his circulation.

After the brunch, Miller went outside and practiced his baseball skills with both grandfathers. I hope he remembers moments like these.

Another cute picture of the special boy.

The day before the baptism, we all watched the TCU game together. Here are Ricky and Shae with the boys cheering on the Frogs.

Evan and Blake watching the game with Miles.

Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun trick-or-treating this year. Miller was all about getting the candy and he went to every house on our street (two blocks). Our neighborhood gets super crazy (we had about 500 trick-or-treaters before 8pm) so all the neighborhood kids are done before dark. Noni, JoJo, Evan and Blake came over to witness the craziness. We all sat in our front yard in lawn chairs, had beverages and handed out candy.

The boys in costume. Miller was the chicken when he was a baby and I wanted to use the costume again. I wanted them to be something together and this is what I came up with. I found the sign on Chick-fil-a's website and I laminated it and added the rope. The day before Halloween I had the idea that Jud should of been a drive thru person. It was too late to make that happen.

Jud was a cell phone.

Evan was just ugly. I can't describe it any other way. She gave Miller his own set of fake teeth and he loves them - thanks Ev!