He sleeps...

This week I decided to focus on the different faces of Miles as he sleeps. He likes cat naps more than long stretches of sleep, and he picks them up throughout the day. Often his bottom lip folds inwards and/or he has his mouth wide open. I tell him that if he is not careful that flies will get in :-). He does not seem to care and he continues to sleep and sleep and sleep.



Every morning Miles sits with us in his bouncy chair as we prepare and eat breakfast. This morning I grabbed the camera to capture yet another picture of him sleeping. His little hands are raised up like he is cheering... perhaps he just won an Olympic medal for napping!

Then the snap of my camera shutter woke him from his slumber...

At first he was not too impressed that something so trivial would take him away from the important work of snoozing!

Then he seemed to settle into the idea that his crazy mom was just at it again taking pictures!

First he looked at me quizzically,

and then he gave me the long awaited SMILE for the camera!!!!!

It must have worn him out because later that night he crashed, and fell asleep on my chest. This time it was a deep sleep, and as you can see the bottom lip was in full fold mode!

On top of the world!

Wednesday, February 17th was a wonderful day for Miles. You might even say he was on top of the world! We had sort of an impromptu Bradley reunion when Cassie, Monica, and Sarah met me at Baby Beloved for the weekly Mother-to-Mother group I have come to love. It is truly amazing to listen to other mothers successes and challenges regarding breastfeeding. I am reminded that I need to take a moment to recognize that although this is one of the most challenging things I have ever done, it is also one of the most rewarding. When I weighed Miles he topped the scale at 12lbs 13oz - pretty good for eight weeks old, so we must be doing something right! Afterward the "girls" brought their girls over and we had some lunch. While we ate delicious pizza from Nantucket Bakery we watched our babies play on the beautiful blanket that Yia Yia Linda made for Miles. It really was not that long ago that we were all pregnant and waiting for our babies to be born. It was so surreal to look around the room at these new little people that have brightened our lives and changed our world.

From left to right, Sofia, Josie, Miles, and Chloe hang out. As usual Miles seemed to be playing shy surrounded by all the ladies! In fact he sort of slept through his private photo session with Sofia. Watch how in the next four frames she moves around and he does not budge!



Finally he opened his eyes, and though he did not stare into hers, we think they were flirting just a little!


This weekend we have the official Bradley reunion planned and we will all get to meet Elouise (born February 2)! SO Miles was the ONLY boy - lucky little man! Can't wait to watch him grow up surrounded by these precious girls.

Winter Walk

I can hardly believe that it has been 8 weeks since Miles was born. Things are starting to feel settled around here... as much as they can with an infant in the house. I dare say we are approaching a rhythm (not a schedule) but something more like the ebb and flow of tides. While not as reliable as a tide chart there are many things in our lives now that are predictable. We like to eat when we awaken, we get kind of cranky in the evenings, and messy diapers are guaranteed (but the blowout is always a surprise)! The rest is becoming extremely familiar as we get used to our new reality filled with the likes of lots of laundry (the downfall of cloth diapering), morning smiling sessions, and lots and lots of time for breastfeeding. So last Friday we decided to end our hibernation and head outdoors because we were getting a little bit of cabin fever! We took a little "winter walk" around the neighborhood and enjoyed the diluted southerly sunshine breaking through the clouds.

Miles looked a bit apprehensive as we dressed him in his lumberjack jacket (a hand me down from Leo!) and I had to snap a photo. I love the way his bottom lip just folds up - it is even more pronounced when he is really pouting.

Then we tucked him into the wrap that our dear friend Christine {who is also a talented jeweler - check out her work on Etsy} gave us, and we were off! Michael posed for this picture in front of the plot where we have our community garden every summer.

Back at the house with our lungs full of fresh air Michael took this picture of me with Miles in our "veggie hats." (Miles was none too happy to be pulled from his warm little caccoon.)

There is a lady who sells a huge variety of veg hats at the local farmer's market {her work can also be seen on Etsy}. I have fallen in love with her hats and my sweet son will probably be sporting a ridiculous amount of edible delights on his little head, whether he likes it or not, for many years to come. In this picture Miles is wearing the radish hat... and a bit of a frown, and I have on my eggplant hat.

I bought my eggplant hat to wear in October at my brothers wedding, along with my purple bridesmaid's dress, because at seven months pregnant I thought I looked a bit like an eggplant! Here I am with my sister-in-law's mother, Janet, in her beautiful purple hat at the wedding. I will let you decide, but I know that I even felt like an eggplant (if that is possible)!


We are already getting excited about spring around here and we cannot wait to be planting some real veggies in the garden.

Miles Smiles

In the last few weeks Miles has begun to smile! Not just the kind of smiles that are brought on by gas or the occasional fleeting turned up corners of the mouth. These smiles are accompanied by sincere cooing, almost giggling, and full on eye contact. Really, it is the stuff that melts your heart and makes you wonder what you ever thought was important before he showed up to light up your life! (At least that is how Michael and I feel.) I have yet to capture this phenomenon on video, and these pictures really do not do it justice but they will have to suffice. Michael loves to play with him and make him laugh (as seen above), and I have tried to wave a toy about to capture a smile. I will keep trying to capture the complete eye contact smile on film. Until then I will enjoy the "hunt" for the evasive smile. Each day he surprises me with his sweetness when we suddenly communicate our shared delight with a huge ear to ear grin. No one told me a smile that wide would make me burst into tears and fall in love over and over again!

Pictures

Here are some pictures of Miles that have been piling up from the last few weeks!
Last night (2/5) Miles got to meet his Uncle Matt who is visiting from Portland, OR. It was absolutely awesome to see my brother holding my baby! Miles fits right in to our crazy family and it feels like he has always been here.

Uncle David and Uncle Matt surround their little nephew with laughter and love!

Miles spends a lot of time with Papa burping him... thanks Yia Yia for all the handmade burp cloths you sewed for him, they are getting tons of use!



Miles poses for the camera on his beautiful "Little Turtle" blanket crafted by our talented friend Anne Palmer!
Miles loves to be carried in his sling. We have a few of them and we love to use them often because they keep him close and warm. While he feels safe and sound we can get some stuff done!
Last week Papa fed Miles his first bottle.

Miles loved snuggling up with his Auntie "I" for the first time!

I took this shot when he was just about two weeks old. He has this great cowlick on the back of his head, and you can really see the size in contrast to his Theo Dan's hand. His head has already grown so much - and the cowlick is just as pronounced!

Tiny Hands

Occasionally when he is sleeping Miles likes to clasp his little hands together and hold them tight. It must be comforting, especially when the world is so big and you are still so small, to find another hand so close to hold. When we watch him doing this we joke that he is our little monk saying his prayers. One day when I was watching him do this I was reminded of the prayer I used to say when I was a little girl. I had a plaque that hung on my bedroom wall that was actually called "A Prayer for a Little Girl." The moment I remembered it the words spilled back into my mind and I found myself saying it again...

Then I realized that if there was a Prayer for a Little Girl there must also be one for this little boy that I love. After some looking, like with most things, I was able to "google" the answer. I am sad to say that I am not sure where my plaque is, but obviously the message remained. Here is it's likeness, and the corresponding "boy prayer."


I will let you analyze the differences and what they say for the gender bias they may or may not represent :-)

I must say however that situations like this one have taught me one of the most interesting lessons I have yet to learn about parenting. It is simply that the moment that you have a child you begin to remember your own childhood again. Sometimes the littlest thing will trigger a memory or make me wonder how my parents felt when they were taking care of me. I guess that is part of the magic of it all, the sort of seeing your own life again through the lens of someone else's eyes. I wonder what things Miles will remember... maybe the pictures on the wall of his childhood bedroom from his aunts and uncles, the way his papa sings to him, the smell of home, or all the weeds his mother made him pull in the garden! I guess that is also part of the beauty of parenting. It has this amazing essence filled with the nostalgia of looking forwards and backwards at the same time.

So, a week after we took the feet pictures we managed to settle in to another photo shoot of "tiny hands." Here are some of my favorites of his five week old hands, and also some "family portraits" of our hands together.

As you can see he was not very fond of the process... hopefully he will enjoy the pictures when he is looking back on them one day!