Miles on the move!

Today Nana sent Cooper a new sweat suit and he really likes it. After putting it on by himself, he informed us that he "looks sharp!" He also commented on soft it is - he was very cuddly tonight!




As the entry title indicates, Miles is officially on the move. He's been crawling one stride at a time for about a week, but he's starting to really go!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with green food this year. It was really fun (and a little gross!) all at the same time!

For breakfast, Cooper had a doughnut with green sprinkles, Nate had pancakes with green butter, Miles had green Cheerios, and I had green oatmeal. YUMMY!

For lunch, we had green mac and cheese (this would be the gross part), limes, green grapes, green pepper, and broccoli. YUMMY!

Beware the Ides of March!

It was a big day in the Bethell house! Given the tradition of the infamous Ides of March, I had another birthday - the 28th time I've been around for the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Other historical happenings on this day include: 1776 - South Carolina being the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain, 1916 - President Wilson sends 12,000 troops to pursue Poncho Villa, 1985 - the first Internet domain name is registered and the birthdays of President Andrew Jackson and Mike Love.

We had a casual Sunday morning - the boys and I made Blueberry pancakes for breakfast and Carey made two coffee cakes for FBC's The Encounter. The afternoon was spent working in the yard, burning leaves and preparing the garden for spring planting. This year we'll have blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, yellow squash, and a few others. In the midst of the yard work, we took two fun breaks. The first is pretty well summed up in the following picture - Carey did not like the fact that I love to play with these guys...













The second break was much more fun. We decided, based on viewing a few pictures of Miles, that he was in desperate need of a hair cut. He had a number of 'clumps' of long hair reaching to his eyes and over his ears. Despite Carey's desire to follow tradition, we decided it was time Miles had a trim...at the ripe old age of 9.5 months. Here are a couple pics.
Before:












After:

Kung Fu Miles / Bedtime Stories

Kung Fu Miles








Lately, Cooper has been creative in finding ways to delay bed time. He starts telling lots of stories that don't end, and as you attempt to close the door while saying "Good night Cooper," he sucks you back in by saying "Daddy, wait, I need to tell you something." So last night, we were going through the good night routine:

Nate: Good night Tiger.
Cooper (thinking for a moment): Good night Lion! Daddy, I called you Lion (laugh, laugh)
Nate: Yes, you are silly. Good night!! (closing the door)
Cooper: What should I call mommy? I think I'm going to call her Sandwich! Good night Sandwich!
Nate: Yes, you can call her Sandwich...good night! (still closing the door - don't ask me where he came up with sandwich)
Cooper: I think I'm going to call Humphry (a little dog he sleeps with) M&M - Good night M&M! And Hank (another anamal he sleeps with)......
Door closed.

Later that night...delay tactic number seven for the night: Cooper has Thomas the Train sheets and pillow cases on his bed. After he had been in bed for a while, he started calling out for me to come in. I went in and Cooper said, pointing to the trains on his pillow - "Dad, can you turn on my heater? Percy is hot, but Thomas and James are so cold..."

Heater on, door closed.

Miles is 9 Months!

Miles is 9 Months! I can't believe this little Miracle Miles has been in our lives for 9 months! (Okay - he's been in our lives OUTSIDE of the womb for 9 months, but he was making an impression on me way before that...)

He had his 9 month checkup with Dr. Harris on Monday, and all is well. For you numbers people, he was 20 lbs, 12 oz (70th percentile) and 29.25 inches (75th percentile).

Here's a picture of the little guy pushing up. He isn't crawling yet, but he is really close! Any day now...

Heart Day Dance

Here are Nate and I, all dressed up for our Valentine's Day dance. It was SUPER fun!

Treatment Update

We haven't posted for a while - sorry for that! I had my training and first treatment last Sunday, February 15th. The training went well - Angie (the home nurse) was awesome! I have done two shots solo, and they have gone pretty well. The side effects have been minimal. I've had some temperature control issues, but I'm not entirely sure this is because of the medicine. It is honestly a little overwhelming to think about doing this every other day for the rest of my life, but I know the process will get easier. I know it will become part of my routine!

Eat This, MS

Sarita and I ran the Polar Bear 10K today. This was my first race since being diagnosed with MS, and it felt really good! The weather was absolutely beautful today! I didn't notice it at the time, but we look like we were color coordinated for Valentines' Day. Nice.

Miles and Trains

As most of you know, Cooper loves trains. He especially loves Thomas the Train and his 'friends'. That said, Miles has been getting an early introduction to being an engineer. He mostly just watches Cooper play while chewing on an engine, but he gets pretty excited when we get a track set up and the trains go around. He is growing up so fast!

A One-Horse Open Sleigh...

Early last week it snowed about six inches. I had sales meetings all week and wasn't able to enjoy it with the boys until it had melted a bit. But, when Saturday came, we made a make-shift sled for Cooper and had a great time.