Christmas 2007 - Part I

Well the Miles family started celebrating Christmas on the 22nd this year. We packed up (I wish we had a picture of our explorer... it would have made you laugh! We were packed to the gills (as my dad would say) and even had the roof top carrier full of stuff) Saturday morning and hit the road with 1,000,000 of our closest friends. The traffic was ridiculous!!! Our normal 3.5 hour trip to Warner Robins took almost 5 hours!

We arrived in Warner Robins and Chandler immediately started asking, "can we open presents now??" After a quick sandwich, some fellowship, and a whiffle ball game Gran decided that Chandler had suffered enough and it was time to open presents!

Riley and Cousin Colten getting reacquainted after a little over a month.

Chandler's "Disney Princess" Christmas... there was much more than what you see here.



The music box was from Amanda. Chandler LOVES music boxes and always asks to play with Amanda's any time we are visiting... Great gift Amanda!!!

We gave Gran 5x7 photos of the girls that I had made the week before. They turned out GREAT!


Riley "opening" her presents. Notice she's not using her right arm. Anyone who knows much about Riley knows that she grabs EVERYTHING. Not so on Christmas....
She was extremely fussy ALL DAY! We fed her, changed her, put her down for a nap. Nothing helped. Finally about 9:00 that night Brandon said that he was pretty sure something was wrong with her arm. We would hold a toy near her right hand and she would reach across with her left hand to grab it. At 9:30 Gran told us about an Emergency Walk-In clinic that a man from their church owns. It was open until 10:00 so we bundled up Riley and hit the road.

She was diagnosed with "nursemaid's elbow". Basically at some point in the day someone must have pulled on her right arm and the elbow popped out of the socket... that would explain all of the fussiness and crying.

The doctor stretched our her arm, dug his thumb into the bend of her arm, and then bent it up quickly... we all heard the pop and the doctor said that was exactly what he was hoping to hear. Two minutes later Riley was happy as could be waving Brandon's keys all over the office with her right arm. It was AMAZING!

Cousin Colten

Sunday afternoon: Riley and Colten playing together with Riley's "pop-up" toy.

Sunday afternoon, taking it easy

On Sunday, Gran took Chandler to the park. They had a great time climbing, swinging and sliding. Even the cool weather cooperated!

Monday evening we loaded everything into the car (why does it always seem like you leave with more than you arrived with!?!?). Chandler was excited to get in the car and watch a movie... Thanks to Gran and Chief the girls each have their own DVD screen. That means Riley can actually watch the movie without having to strain to see what's playing in Chandler's lap!
Riley giggled and laughed all the way to Stockbridge, GA... the next stop on our Christmas Vacation!

A new month, a new update

9 months! I can't believe it has been 9 months.....
Part of me thinks, "Wow! Riley is already 9 months old!" the other part thinks, "Wow! Has she really only been a member of our family for 9 months?"

She had her 9 month check up yesterday. You may remember how the last doctor's visit went... ear infections and Chandler's surprise flu shot. NOT FUN! Yesterday wasn't as bad.
Riley is now 17lbs. 9oz. and 28" long. That makes her 30th percentile for weight and 70th for height.
Chandler was concerned about the potential for shots (not for herself... surprisingly, but for Riley). Riley did have her 3rd Hepatitis B shot and had to get a finger stick to check her hemoglobin levels. I HATE the finger stick. I remember when Chandler had that done. It is a terrible visit, 2nd only to the "4 shot" visit. They have to squeeze the blood out of that tiny little finger... enough blood to fill a little tube. It seems to take FOREVER!

This month has been FULL! If you have been keeping up with our blog you already know how busy we've been, but I'm sure there are some of you who haven't so here's the recap:
Cousin Colten's 1st birthday party, Thanksgiving with Gran and Chief (Brandon's parents), Brandon's 28th birthday (and the stomach flu!), Thanksgiving with Grammy and Squire (My parents), and the launch of my new business; Bows by the Miles - Custom Hair Bow Design.

We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to spend a few days with family before the end of 2007!

The 9 Month Photos!!

Same bear, same chair

The sideways mouth. She loves to make this face! We've got a picture like this from almost every month!

The sister shot.

Last Sunday we went to watch the kid's Christmas musical at the church. Chandler and I sat on the very front row... I've always made her sit in the back and she asked to sit up front this year. Before it all started I tried to get a few pictures. There was just too much going on!

Riley LOVED the poinsettias

Chandler's attempt at a "sweet smile"

Riley distracted by some thing more interesting than mom

Riley's tired face

Of course Chandler managed a great smile for her picture with JoJo! Maybe he can be in our next family photo? We get better results when he's around.

It doesn't get any more girly than this!

Yesterday I took Chandler to Wal-mart to pick out some tulle for a tutu I promised to make for her. She picked out pink and purple. We walked around around a little and, in true Chandler fashion, she changed her mind to pink and blue. The only blue they had was kind of a funky color so I convinced her to stay with pink and purple. The conversation went something like this.

"Mom, I don't want purple anymore. I want blue."

"Ok. Let's go back and look at blue. Chan, I don't think this blue would look very good with pink. Let's keep the purple."

"But mom! Riley can have purple. I'll have blue."

"So you would rather have a tutu that doesn't look very good and let Riley have the pretty tutu? That's very nice of you... Ok. You can have blue."

Chandler smiles an approving smile.

A minute later...
"Mom? I changed my mind. Riley can have blue. I'll take purple."

HA! That's what I thought! We didn't get any blue.

I worked on it last night and first thing this morning she wanted to try it on... Here are the results of my hard work! She didn't even waste time to take off her pjs.

These are all poses she learned in her ballet class this fall

1st position

High 5th

Arabesque

As I was writing this entry she came in to show me her new outfit....

Note the Princess crown and dress shoes that are too small. She does have shorts on. You just can't see them. :)

Decorating for Christmas

For the past 2 days we have been decorating. I love to decorate for the different holidays and seasons of the year!

Here's Chandler with our Nativity. This is the Nativity that my sister and I used to help my parents set-up each year. It is EXTREMELY old. The bottom of the pieces say, "Made in West Germany". Lots of the pieces are chipped, but I love it. It holds so many memories. I didn't bore Chandler with them this year, but one day she will appreciate it.

Trying to explain that we must be VERY careful with the pieces. Her response, "Where's baby Jesus?" I told her about the angel (the one she is holding in the picture) I remember very vividly that my sister LOVED that angel. It was her favorite piece in the set. She always put it in the back of the stable watching over baby Jesus. Just for Erin, I suggested that we put her in the same spot.

Making final adjustments

The finished product. Actually I moved it to the top of the entertainment center... the pieces were just too tempting for little hands!!

Cookies: Arranged Chandler style!

After a little help from mom

Riley enjoying the cookie box

I gave her a mini-marshmallow. She didn't like the texture. She kept trying to drop it, but it would stick to her fingers! It never made it to her mouth... that's a first!

Cookies anyone?

Riley's 1st Christmas cookie. We had to finally remove the cookies from the room. She would have eaten them all!

The star!

The finished tree

Ahhh... looks yummy!

It is!

Have you tried this?! It tastes yummy, it's fragile and it's Hungarian!

Finally got one off the tree. Not so fragile or foreign!

The girls!

Riley's 1st Christmas Tree!

5 things I love about Christmas

Have you seen that Bi-Lo commercial? The one with the little boy who says, "I love Christmas because of the pie. Especially pies that start with the letter P. Like pumpkin and pecan." Ok, maybe you don't have Bi-Lo grocery store where you live.... anyway...

I feel like that little boy. Not so much about pies that start with the letter "p", but about Christmas.

Last night we put up out tree. While Brandon was outside (in 32 degree weather) putting the lights on, Chandler and I were baking cookies (such a mom and daughter thing to do!). While we were baking (and I use that term very loosely since they were the kind that are already cut and placed out.... all you do is put them on a pan!) I asked, "What are your 5 favorite things about Christmas?" Here are her responses... in no particular order:
1. Putting the lights on the tree (actually she has never done this and Brandon was freezing to death at that moment just so we could have lights on our tree)
2. Putting the star on the tree... followed by, "Mom? Why do we have to have a star. I TOLD YOU I like angels on trees! (so... putting the star on the tree is probably not actually a Christmas favorite)
3. Decorating the tree... she only put 2 ornaments on the tree then said, "Mom. I'll give them to you and you put them on the tree.
4. Making cookies. That's the truth. She did enjoy that!
5. Having hot chocolate. That's another one she enjoyed.

So, here was my list of favorites (again in no particular order):
1. Time with family
2. Christmas parties!
3. Hot chocolate
4. Decorating my house (the tree is included in that)
5. Christmas food!!!

After watching Brandon and my girls eat cookies and sip hot chocolate (no hot chocolate for Riley... maybe a sip next year!) I decided to revise my list...
1. Time with my family... doing NOTHING! We don't have to have big plans or something exciting to do, I just like being with them. Sure I like to take them to fun places and watch their little eyes light up when they discover something new, but I love the moments here at home even more...
Today I gave Riley a bath. Chandler heard us in there and decided she wanted to take a bath with Riley. She got in the tub and I had the BEST time watching them together. Once Riley was shriveled up like a prune, I wrapped her in a towel and we sat on the counter and watched Chandler "play". She would make her baby doll "dive" head first off of the faucet and Riley would laugh so hard that she would actually shake! Those are the moments I love! Watching my girls delight in each other.
2. The smell of the Christmas tree. It reminds me of my childhood and all the wonderful Christmas memories that my sister, mom and dad shared. It also makes me excited for all of the wonderful Christmas memories that we will make as a family.
It also reminds me to appreciate and be thankful for the "little things"... Today we had our Mother's Group Christmas Tea. Two of the ladies were talking about an episode of "Little House on the Prairie". I never watched it much growing up so I had never seen this episode, but apparently Michael Landon's character trudged through the blizzard to get Christmas gifts for his family. A tin cup, a pencil, a bag of sweet potatoes (at least that's what they remembered the gifts being). We thought about it a moment and it reminded us that we should appreciate the gifts in life that we often overlook or take for granted. We would probably laugh or roll our eyes at a gift of sweet potatoes, but that was a treasure to that family in a devastating blizzard.
I am thankful that my children are healthy. I am thankful that we have a roof over our heads and a a place to sleep at night. I am thankful for a husband that works so very hard so that I can stay home with our children. I am thankful that I have the senses of smell, sight, taste, hearing and touch. I am thankful for a God that loves me so very much that he would allow his own son to die for my sins. That is an act of love so far beyond the reaches of my comprehension!
3. My church. I am constantly reminded of what a wonderful church we attend. Most often I am reminded through Chandler. She LOVES to go to church. Not because they let her play with Play-doh and color with markers (2 things that I don't let her do very often)... sure she likes those things, but I truly believe that she enjoys church because she has WONDERFUL teachers who have really invested time in her and in their preparation to teach our children.
Chandler has really begun to take in the Bible stories. She can tell you all about the birth of Christ, His death, and baby Moses in the basket. She doesn't always get the story 100% right... like the time she told us about Naaman the Leper. I asked her, "who told Naaman to bathe in the river?" She responded very matter of fact, "Ms. Anna told him!" Ms. Anna is Chandler's most favorite teacher... she is a treasure among pre-school teachers and apparently has great powers! :)
4. Making cookies. I have to agree with Chandler on this one, but probably not for the same reason! Making cookies with her gives us time to talk. Time to share with each other. Our days get so busy with meetings, trips to Wal-mart, laundry, making bottles, changing diapers and even church events that sometimes I loose Chandler in the shuffle. I don't physically loose her, but often I loose who Chandler really is.
I put so much responsibility on her to "help mommy with Riley" or to do it herself because "I'm busy right now" that I forget that she's just a little girl who is only 4 years old and she needs me just as much as Riley does, just in a different way. Last night making cookies and listening to her Christmas favorites reminded me that I need to slow down. I need to help her learn how to put on her own socks instead of rushing to do it myself because we are in a hurry. I need to take the time to read her favorite book "one more time" because one day she will not want me to read to her. I need to really bake cookies (from scratch) with her so she can learn how to do it and one day teach her own daughter.
5. Christmas Parties! Ok, this one is just fun! I love Christmas parties! I love the excitement of getting dressed, bundling up and loading everyone into the car. I love the coziness of a house full of people all talking about Christmas plans and the gifts they still have to buy. I love the feeling I get when I open my mail box to find an invitation to a Christmas party.
I love Christmas party FOOD! My all time favorite: Cream Puffs! 2nd Favorite: Mini Éclairs. This year I discovered something wonderful and I can't wait to try it out... the perfect marriage of the cream puff and mini éclair.... THE CHOCOLATE COVERED CREAM PUFF!!!! I told Brandon I had a hard time passing the cream puffs and mini éclairs. When I saw the chocolate covered cream puffs I actually stopped and gazed longingly at them!

So now I challenge you to sit down and really think about your 5 Favorite things about Christmas. Your answers may surprise you. Feel free to post your list as a comment. I would love to know what kind of list you came up with!
I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

My new business

It's finally here! Bows by the Miles - Custom Hair Bow Design.

Check it out: www.BowsbytheMiles.blogspot.com

I had my first venue this past Saturday. The Mom's Group at our church hosted a "Holiday Market" with lots of local vendors. I had a table set-up. I was unsure of how I would do, but I was very pleased with the outcome. I took lots of orders so I'll be busy for the next several days!

If you or anyone you know would be interested in placing an order please check out or pass along the website address.

You can also contact me personally at BowsbytheMiles@bellsouth.net

Bows by the Miles

Custom Hair Bow Design

Jennifer Miles

www.BowsbytheMiles.blogspot.com

BowsbytheMiles@bellsouth.net

Thanksgiving 2007

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been pretty busy here! I've spent the last week preparing for my first "hair bow showing". More to come about that later...

So here it is... The Thanksgiving 2007 Family Photo!

The girls didn't want to cooperate for either picture, but at least made an attempt to smile (well, Chandler did anyway). Cousin Kristi planned crafts for all the kids so Chandler was more interested in that than a photo.

My Mom and Dad

Ok, my cousin Bobby wasn't with us this year. He is in the AirForce and currently stationed in Germany. We missed him so much and it was really weird not seeing him!! Each year Erin takes a picture with Bobby and his brother, Brett (pictured above). This picture is supposed to represent Bobby's absence and the sadness we felt as a result... I guess Erin has her arm around him "in spirit". :)

Riley enjoyed her 1st Thanksgiving. You can tell she really enjoyed the food... she's a messy eater!

Thanksgiving Tradition

In the Smoot family we have a Thanksgiving tradition. We take a family picture each year.
It used to be a lot easier to get a picture, but since Chandler's arrival it has proven to be slightly more difficult. Why? Because she's Chandler. :) No, it's usually because we have to drag her away from playing with her cousins to pose for 1 (or 20) shots. That's not fun for a kid!

We've been doing this for as long as I remember... here are some shots from Thanksgivings past:

2002: Pregnant with Chandler
left to right: Friend Ryan, My Sister (Aunt Erin), My Dad (Squire), My Mom (Grammy), Me and Brandon

2003: Chandler's 1st Thanksgiving

2004

2005: This picture always makes me laugh. It was the most frustrating year ever, but I can laugh now. Chandler and I weren't feeling all that great and I think we waited later than we normally do (the sun was SO BRIGHT!!). Honestly, this was the best picture of the 3 of us... that's just SAD! I think Chandler even got spanked in the middle of all this because she flat out refused to listen to what anyone was saying!

2006: Pregnant with Riley...Miles Family shot. Much better this year! I didn't care for the location much. At the time it seemed great, but (as you will see in the next photo) once we saw the pictures we realized how bad the shadows were.

2006: Pregnant with Riley...Whole Family. See the nice big leaf shadow on Brandon's head?

Now, these photos as I mentioned go back MANY years... Unfortunately, I don't have a scanner (I hope to get one soon) so I can't share the horror that is Thanksgiving photos during the middle school and high school years!

Be on the lookout for Thanksgiving 2007!

Birthday Blues! **Not for the faint of heart or queasy stomach!

A few days ago we "celebrated" Brandon's 28th birthday. I know, you are probably thinking, "This girl posted 3 entries about her nephew's birthday and is 2 days late even mentioning her husband's birthday!!"

Here's the reason for my delay...

Sunday, November 18th was going to be a BUSY day at the Miles house. It was not only a Sunday (which is busy enough), but also Brandon's birthday AND I was scheduled to help hostess a baby shower that afternoon as well.

Well... 12:00 Saturday night/Sunday morning I woke up and had THAT feeling. You know the feeling... the one that's border line sick... the one that makes you think, "oh no... I can't get sick, not today!" Yep, that's the one.

I said a quick prayer, "God it's Brandon's birthday and you know how much I have to do today... PLEASE oh please don't let me be sick!!!"

1:00 am... SICK! VERY SICK! I crawled (that's pretty much a literal "crawled") back into bed only to hear Chandler coughing. Brandon (who had previously been "helping" me in the bathroom... my hair is too short to need anyone to hold it back for me!) jumped up and ran to check on her. The next thing I hear is, "Hurry Chandler! Run to the bathroom!!" Yep, she was sick too! Unfortunately we were too late... It was EVERYWHERE! Brandon and I had to strip the sheets off of the guest bed and spot clean the carpet... She has been sleeping in the guest room for about 2 months now because, "[her] bed is not comfy." I got her all cleaned up and put her in my bed.
It was then that I realized that when she went to bed she had PJ pants on... when I found her in the bathroom she didn't have PJ pants on. I asked her where her pants were and she replied, "I took them off because they had frow-up on them." I felt HORRIBLE. Apparently, when Brandon went in to the guest room she was on the floor at the bottom of the bed... best we can figure, she was attempting to get to the bathroom before she got sick and didn't make it so she was trying to clean it up all by herself! POOR BABY!

Brandon decided to leave us sick folk in our room and he went and slept in Chandler's bed in the girls' room. It hadn't been slept in for a while. :)

3:00 am... Same thing all over again! I got sick, crawled back in bed and awoke 10 minutes later to Chandler coughing and throwing up in MY bed! UGH!!! Brandon didn't wake up this time... I cleaned Chandler, got another set of fresh PJs, put the guest bed sheets in the dryer and put my sheets in the washer.... NOW WHERE DO WE SLEEP?!?! We were all out of beds so we went to the sofas. Chandler on the sofa, me on the love seat... makes sense right? since she's so much taller than me? :)
I was a little smarter this time. I put sheets and a towel under her and a beach towel on top of her, just in case.

Neither one of us was keen on the idea of sleeping only to be awaken in a similar fashion so we poped in a Veggie Tales movie (Josh and the Big Wall). I dozed in and out of sleep for the next little while.

5:00 am... Almost the same story... I got sick, Chandler got sick, Brandon woke up and came to check on us. We were able to avoid changing the sheets (thanks to the towel!). Since Brandon was up we wished him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and gave him his gift. We bought him The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Chandler wanted him to watch it with her, but I convinced her to let him go back to bed for a while... it was his birthday after all! We put her back on the sofa with a clean towel. Since she was so sick, Brandon gave her permission to watch it without him. I don't think Chandler or I made it past the first 20 minutes.

Sometime between 5:30 am and 8:00 am Chandler got sick 2 more times... dirty towels were really starting to pile up!

8:00 am... Brandon starts getting sick. Have I mentioned that it was his birthday? We are obviously NOT going to make it to church much less the baby shower. I made the calls that I needed to make: the choir line to tell them not to expect me in the choir and Melanie to tell her that I'm not going to make it to the shower.

8:30 am... We all crashed in the living room.

By this point the only positive thing we've got going for us is that Riley is still sleeping!

She woke up sometime later (I have NO idea when) and was quite pleasant and not as clingy has she has been. Thankfully that meant we didn't have to touch her very much. She spent most of the day in her excer-saucer watching Baby Einstein movies while we laid anywhere that we possibly could... remember all the beds are dirty!

About noon I ran to Walmart to pick up Pedialyte for Chandler. That's the best to avoid dehydration in kids... it's not to bad for grownups either.

Chandler and I avoided what Chandler calls, "the frow-ups" for the rest of the day... Brandon, not so much.

He decided that it would be better to go to Chattanooga, pick up his laptop and work from home on Monday than to get the whole office sick right before Thanksgiving.
About 4:00 he felt a little better so he started getting ready to go... we ate some applesauce (the first solid thing we had had all day) and he got dressed. It was at this moment that Riley decided to get sick!
We took her to the tub and stripped her naked. It wasn't even worth washing the clothes she was wearing... I threw them away! We bathed her and Brandon headed off to Chattanooga.
While he was gone Riley got sick again. Chandler was a real trooper, she helped me get Riley washed, dried and changed without complaining once! She actually even came in the bathroom and said, "what can I do to help, Mom?" I looked at her stunned and then remembered poor Riley and knew I couldn't stop to ponder this transformation long... I had to take advantage of it!

This has been extremely long, but it doesn't even begin to do justice to how incredible LONG the day was!! We kept saying, "Is it still Sunday?"

Riley got sick one more time before bed. I managed to save the clothes that time.

We all slept ok... no middle of the night bathroom dashes.

Monday, Brandon stayed home. I felt better, Chandler felt better, Brandon felt a little better, Riley got sick 3 more times.... That made 6 baths in less than 24 hours!!!

I'm praying that next year for Brandon's birthday we are all sick-free and we can really let him enjoy his day!
Notice that I may not have spared any written details, but I didn't include pictures... you can thank me for that later! :)