Getting Ready for Christmas

Miles has been fascinated by Santa for quite some time now. First, it started with this Christmas tin full of dried mint from my mother in law. She gave it to us awhile ago and whenever I open the pantry, Miles always points to Santa on the tin and asks "Who's that??" And from then on, I always answered Santa. Now that the Christmas season is here, we see Santa everywhere and Miles points him out alll the time. =) He absolutely loves Santa. I gave him a Santa hat and he loves to put it on and say "Santa's hat" heh So adorable.

Last weekend, we got in the Christmas spirit by getting our Christmas tree. We went to a cut your own tree farm, so that was a neat experience. Tim did great cutting a tree for the first time. They also had reindeer at the farm. (I'll post pictures of that later) Miles was actually more interested in their Nativity Scene than the reindeer. We set up the tree days later.. we wanted it to dry a little in the garage since it has been sprinkling lately. Saturday night, we drove out to Massachusetts for this Bright Night thing. It's supposed to be an area you drive through and see all of the Christmas lights. Not going to lie, it was a let down. The wait to drive in was ridiculously long but since we were already out there, we might as well wait it out. For the wait and the fact that you still needed to pay to drive through it, Tim and I were both disappointed in the actual decoration. The decorations were pretty minimal and very dated. Nonetheless, Miles enjoyed it so that was good. 

We stopped at the gift shop to visit Santa. Like I've said, Miles loves Santa. Talks about him all the time. Points out anything related to Santa, even Christmas music (which is pretty interesting). Once we get to the gift shop, he sees Santa stuff and he says Santa! like usual. But once he actually saw Santa.. his eyes just got big and he was speechless and motionless. heh He was so star struck by Santa. At first, he just stood in front of Santa - not saying a word. He eventually kept saying Elmo to him once he sat on his lap. It was all too cute. Santa gave him a little coloring book which he held soo nicely once we were out of "Santa's house". The moment we left the gift shop, Miles instantly talked about Santa again! haha I want to remember that moment forever. We didn't feel like buying a picture this time.

 I took this shot of Miles this morning and just wanted to share it. He was being so cutesy. Silly goose. He makes my day!

Thanksgiving in Illinois

A little delayed on my Thanksgiving post.. but here it is!

We flew to Illinois to spend Thanksgiving with the Khoury side. All of the Khoury kids got to play with each other, which Miles absolutely loved. He had a lot of fun with everyone. We all got to hang out and have dinner at Kareem & Dina's place, went bowling with everyone (which was interesting with a 1 year old), and had many more meals together. Miles loved hugging and kissing his cousins. It was all very cute.

 

My friend Daisy also visited us while we were staying at Joseph & Katie's house, so it was really nice to see her again. This is my second friend that has visited us while we have been at their house! hehe Thanks for the hospitality, Katie & Joseph.

We also drove down to Lincoln and Bloomington, IL one day to visit some friends and family. We visited Tim's former coworkers for lunch and drove to Bloomington to have a family photo shoot (done by a great photographer, Jamie at Ember Mae Photography). It was a little weird driving around Bloomington, feels like so long ago but it also still felt like home. We also got to visit my 2 brothers. They were in town for work, so it was great timing!

It was a nice trip and Miles did so well through all of our traveling, like usual. Thank goodness! =) He was so curious at the airport and looked for Inay & Tatay when we saw airplanes, so sweet to see. We actually flew to and from Boston ... so once we left Illinois, we spent some time in Boston. We had a great dinner and dessert. We definitely want to go back to Boston and check it out more!

I'm very thankful to the Lord for my family and friends - for their kindness, their good health, their safety, and their happiness.

  

Counting & Singing Again

Here is a video of Miles counting and singing before heading to bed a couple of nights ago. We finally got to record him count in Arabic. Miles loves to sing and count every day. It cracks me up when we're just hanging out - he'll be counting & singing to himself while I do my own thing, working or cleaning up. Fun times. =) He is a very sweet & entertaining kid. Our little baby is growing up!

Time with Inay & Tatay and Drumming in NJ

My parents left out for California yesterday. We have had a great time with them here. Time went by so fast. Miles had so much fun with them. We all agreed that in the 2 week time span, Miles grew up and learned so much.

During the 2 weeks, Miles slept in our room and each morning, after hanging out or sleeping in our bed, he would get up and go to the other room to wake up my parents. They loved the daily wake up call =) Miles would go in there calling out "Tatay!" =) It was adorable. He loved counting and singing many songs to them. He loved getting everyone to dance together. (And I mean everyone, no one could voluntarily pass on the opportunity to dance, Miles enforced it. haha) He has been singing the ABCs (of course), Itsy Bitsy Spider, and now Mary Had a Little Lamb. So cute to watch him walk around the house, just singing. =) He loves to count in the 3 languages he knows and his numbers are getting clearer.

Miles loved to hug and kiss Inay & Tatay. He loved to be around them. If most of us were in one room, he would go to the one person alone in a different room and take their hand to join everybody else. It was so fun to hang out with Miles with everyone. He loves his family. I'm excited to have another family get-together again. Miles' 2nd birthday? =) Now that Inay & Tatay have left, Tim & I can definitely tell Miles misses Inay & Tatay. He asked for Tatay when we got home. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and pointed up and asked "Tatay?". This morning, Miles was excited to go downstairs and asked for Tatay again. He figured since he didn't see them in his room like usual that they were probably already downstairs. =) It was so sad and sweet at the same time.

I'm so thankful that my family got to visit us here in Connecticut. I'm so grateful that the weather was good for us and for all of my family traveling. It really all worked out so nicely. I'm really grateful that my family in New Jersey did not get affected by the hurricane. It's so sad to see the news and hear of people still out of power and without water. I'm so thankful to the Lord that my family is safe and healthy.

 Also, enjoy this little video I took of Miles drumming at my cousin's house in New Jersey. He did really well! I'm very tempted to look for a mini drum set for him =)

Happy Halloween!

Our little Miles had a great Halloween this year! It was such a surreal sight to see Miles walking around with his pumpkin and actually getting candy with his older cousins. Time flies so quickly! Last year, he was our little hotdog. This year, he was our delicious burger!

We did a double duty of trick or treating this year. In the late afternoon, we went to a nearby outdoor mall that had a trick or treating event. There were soo many kids there even at the end. We were pretty late getting there, so it was pretty quick. Miles loved the speaker outside of Brookstone. He danced there for a little while. We couldn't get him to keep moving to other stores! He loves music so much.The kids had a lot of fun. I'm so glad my family came to visit..and Miles had his cousins Lily and Ian to play with during Halloween. After the mall, we went home to relax a bit.. and headed back out to a neighborhood. That was pretty cute. Lily & Ian pretended to not be scared of some Halloween decorations. haha "They're just decorations, Ian" - Lily Miles did great through it all. He had a great time. 

Halloween is also my dad's birthday. We celebrated his birthday today instead - with a special lunch made by me, and a delicious steak dinner made by Tim. We sang happy birthday complete with a birthday brownie tonight too. It has been a fun few days.

 

So cute & yummy!

  

Super Miles!

Miles got his second haircut yesterday. He did so well..the lady cutting his hair loved him. Miles sat in the little car seat so perfectly. He watched Elmo for a little bit and he was also interested in the hair cutting stuff. It was a lot of fun to watch him enjoy the whole experience!

Seems like time is going by so quickly. Halloween is right around the corner and hopefully the weather allows us to actually go trick or treating. (The forecast doesn't look promising though) I can't wait to take pictures of Miles in his costume.

Miles is becoming more and more toddler these days! He is so curious in everything. He copies so many things I do now. It's fun to ask him to say stuff and he would actually try =) I love watching him do something I actually asked him to do. Today, when he finished eating a banana, I asked him to throw away the peel in the garbage and he did it! It was so cute! This is such a fun age! He's actually pretty helpful with laundry too. When I'm sitting around folding clothes in the bedroom, he likes to take one or two pieces, walk over to the dresser, open it, and place the clothes inside the drawer. So helpful!

Happy Miles

Pumpkin Patch Time

We were really excited to go to a pumpkin patch with Miles this year. We got him a little pumpkin jack-o-lantern bucket last week and he's been a big fan of it so we knew he'd get a kick of seeing lots of pumpkins. We went to a farm really close to our place. It turned out to be such a great farm. Miles got to run around, chitchat with the sheep and the alpacas, and play in their different play sets. Miles even went through this long winding tunnel all by himself. He LOVED it and clapped for himself when he got out. haha 

We also went on a hayride around the property which turned out to be so big! We had a great time. The weather was just perfect. It's been raining one day and the sunny the next during the week, so we figured we needed to take advantage of the sunny days as much as we can! 

It was really nice to just relax at home this weekend. We did some major cleaning/organizing in the house. Since we have moved in, we have used our first level (which is pretty much just the foyer area), as storage for boxes, baby bath tubs, swing, etc etc. We took apart the baby swing, baby rocker that were just sitting there and got them all to fit in one box! It felt great to put everything in boxes and tucked away. We're getting ready for family visiting us at the end of the month! (We're excited!) =)

Miles' Update - 18 Months Old!

Our baby is a year and a half old today! I can't believe how fast time is going. With Miles being more expressive, independent, and active, his newborn days seem so far away now. It's remarkable how much development a baby goes through in such a short period of time. Miles has definitely bloomed on the social side. Or maybe he's always been pretty social. hehe He loves to play with kids and adults. He definitely responds to you in his own babble (which I'm understanding more and more) when you ask him questions. He loves to sing and dance. He expresses when he wants things and when he doesn't ("No!") He is generally very happy (Tim & I are very happy for that). Miles is great eating with his spoon and fork and loves to eat if he likes the food. But if he doesn't want a specific food, he definitely expresses that too. Miles loves to copy what I do like vacuum, wipe the table or wipe the milk he spills on the floor =P. He copies what I say or sing, which is pretty funny. It's so fun to watch him grow & learn! I love how he gets/looks when he's proud of himself for doing something. It's too cute!

Miles is very interested in everything! He loves to look out the window to see many different things like birds, cars driving by, balloons, the trees, and Papa coming home from work. It's so cute to see him play with his toys and read his books. Such a little human! =) It's just so amazing to me. I love his hugs & kisses and I think many people do since he's pretty friendly with everyone. I love how Miles sings the Alphabet song (clearer and clearer!) and counts 1 to 10 in different languages. He just amazes and makes us so proud.

We had his 18 month check up today and he did very well. He wasn't a fan of the doctor looking in his ear though. He was very friendly with the staff - blew kisses to the nurse and waved hello multiple times! I let him play a bit longer in their waiting area after his checkup because he loved the train set so much. He ended up dancing with a little girl there too. haha 

The doctor said he's doing really well.. her only comment was he's a little skinny. Hah! It made me laugh a little. I never really thought Miles was skinny. 

Anyway.. here are his 18 month stats:

Weight 24 lbs 5 oz (10th percentile)

Height 31 in (20th percentile)

Head Circumference 18.5 (25th percentile)

Counting in English & Tagalog!

During lunch, Miles and I counted in English and Tagalog.. Mama needs to learn how to count in Arabic so we can do that together too! hehe Maybe we'll record that one later with Papa!
 

September Recap & A Wedding!

In the month of September alone, we traveled to 6 states! We flew or drove to Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, South Carolina, and Michigan! It has been such a whirlwind. Every trip was fun in its own right. I can't believe we did that much traveling! Miles was amazing through it all.

Recently, we went to Michigan for one of my best friend's wedding. We flew out last Wednesday. Tim's parents picked us up from the airport and we got to spend a couple of days with them. Miles had so much fun with them. He even got to play with his cousins Gabe and Grace on Friday morning before we headed out for Ann Arbor. It was cute to see them play in their grandparents' house. He was pretty surprised to see kids that morning.

After Cass City, we headed down to Ann Arbor to start the wedding celebration! Friday was the wedding rehearsal & dinner. It's always so much fun to hang out with my friends. They loved seeing Miles and Miles definitely loved hanging out with them. We were all so excited for our friends Carla & David to get married. The wedding was on Saturday at St. Mary Catholic Church. The last time I went to mass at that church was with Carla during college. =) It feels like so long ago! The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. Miles was dancing all night long! There were many kids at the reception, so Miles had a lot of fun with them. But then again, he could dance and have fun all by himself too! haha (I love my baby!) 

We stayed at The League (the wedding reception was held there) and my friends stayed there too. It was nice to be on the same floor and just hang out without having to worry about driving and meeting up, etc etc. It felt like we were in a dorm! =) We walked around Ann Arbor in the evenings. So fun.

On Sunday, our flight was late evening. It gave us plenty of time to hang around campus. It was neat to go to North Campus again and show Miles the School of Music. We even got to watch a symphony orchestra practice! Miles loved hearing all sorts of instruments as we walked down the hallway of the practice rooms. Tim's brother Kareem and his family, and Tim's cousin Jameel met us up in Ann Arbor. My brother Herman also drove to meet us up. It was a mini party outside of our car for a little bit since Miles fell asleep in the car! It was really nice to see family even if it was a very short visit. Miles woke up and played with his cousins Mena and Sophia for a little bit too!