Riley Nerd and Scouty Pouty

Welcome home Mama

2012-01-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

Miles at 21 months (some afternoon photos)

2012-01-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

Miles at 21 months

2012-01-24T07:05:00.001-08:00

Good luck today mama!

Day 2 in Dunedin continued

2012-01-23T21:26:00.001-08:00

This afternoon my host, Janice Murray, took me hiking at Sand Fly Beach, which is located on the Dunedin Peninsula. It earned its named because of the high winds that cause the sand to fly not because it is particularly buggy. There is also a colony of yellow-eyed penguins that live there but we did not spot any of those. This is the same hike Janice took Lynn Nadel and Mary Peterson on (2 faculty members in the Arizona Psychology Department) 6 years ago when they were here.

The hike was gorgeous, and yes hilly. This time, however, the hills involved walking up soft sand in bare feet. Also, the weather was perfect! Warm with no wind. Here are the pictures.

After the hike we drove to St. Kilda's beach. This is where the people go to swim and surf. Dunedin has many faces. It is a college town, an industrial harbor town, a hilly hiker's paradise, and yes a beach town all in one. The next two photos are of St. Kilda's beach.
This one is for Drew. This is the famous Neil McNaughton home. I want us to go there.

Day 2 in Dunedin

2012-01-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks Dunedin for looking out for me. As many of you know, I suck at crossing streets. I often do not look and several of you have probably pulled me back from a moving car. Well no need to worry about me in Dunedin, as every intersection near the university has this cute little reminder spray painted on the sidewalk.
I walked all over the Northeast Valley of Dunedin this morning to get to Baldwin Street, which is the world's steepest street. I should have looked at a topo map when picking my route, however, because I think I walked up the world's 2nd and 3rd steepest streets to get there. Here is a picture of the Northest Valley from Clyde Street.
A cool old house on Lovelock Avenue.
One of many entrances to the Botanical Gardens. There are fabulous running trails in here. I ran through last night, and it was quite hilly.
A view of the peninsula and Dunedin from the North Cemetery.
The start of Baldwin street. I am sorry Dad, but I could not run it. My legs were tired from the hilly 4km it took me to walk there, and I still have a hike this afternoon.
Usually hills do not come out in photos. But I think you can get the point.

After Baldwin Street, I went back to the Botanical Gardens to get some pictures. These are free to walk through and amazing.
The rose garden.

The greenhouse.
Another entrance to the gardens. I am told that these public gardens are very common in New Zealand.

Picture exchange with Sara

2012-01-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Dunedin

2012-01-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

Currently it is a little after 8:30pm in Dunedin, but there is still so much light outside that it could be the middle of the day. In Tucson it is 12:30am yesterday and my internal clock is completely lost. Overall, I am excited and a little lonely. There is something about being so far from Drew and Miles, and everyone else I love for that matter, that adds to a feeling of isolation. Otherwise, Dunedin is beautiful. There are killer hills around every corner and I already took a run in the Botanical Garden that kicked my butt.

Anyway, here are some pics from today.

One of the quaint buildings that is located in the Psychology cluster.
Here are the labs named after Drew's and my 'Grand-Advisor' Graham Goddard.

The clock tower on central campus.
The Leith Channel. I ran along this today to get to the Botanical Gardens.
More of the channel.
This is the brand new psychology building. I love that it is named after William James.
Another view of the new building. This did not exist when Drew and I were here 4.5 years ago for our honeymoon.
The Kindergarten on campus. It has a pretty cool outdoor play space. What do you think Miles?

One last view of the Kindergarten, it is right across from the channel.
Yes there are ferns everywhere! So pretty.

at the park

2012-01-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Xmas pictures

2012-01-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

Miles at 20 months (Xmas eve)

2011-12-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

http://gickr.com/results3/anim_9866aeed-ed63-5514-192e-74fa8a8346c1.gif

A few December pics

2011-12-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Some recent photos (and Miles at 19 mo.)

2011-11-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

Below- Thanksgiving and Miles at 19 monoths

Uploaded by Drew :P

Movies

2011-11-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

uploaded by Drew :P

We are updating again

2011-11-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry we have been such negligent bloggers. After Miles was released from the hospital for the croup, we have been so behind that we just have not gotten around to it. But on the bright we are enjoying having my folks here and Thanksgiving with them, the Breslins, and Sonja was perfect!

Here are some pictures from Miles' and my trip to Sauharita to hang our with Jenne and Fiona. We ran and fed the ducks.

In there anything more precious than two toddlers holding hands? All available data say no!
Awwww. Fiona is good at looking our for Miles.

October pics and 18 mo.

2011-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Spider in my mailbox... can anyone identify it for me?

Miles today, at 18 mo. old (below)

nana, mama, dada

2011-10-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Operation: Peanut Butter Challenge = SUCCESS

2011-10-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hooray!!!! Miles can have peanut butter, as long as he does not get too much on his skin.

I am thinking of using the Epi-pens to help me push past the wall if I ever run another marathon.

Camera Photos

2011-10-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Allergist

2011-09-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

We finally took Miles to the allergist this morning. You may remember that back in May, Miles broke out in hives after getting peanut all over his face. We got a referral to see an allergist, but I have been putting it off because I thought that it would involve poking with needles and tears.

Good news on all fronts. Allergy testing no longer involves needles and there were no tears. We met with Dr. Min this morning (who was awesome) and Miles was tested for allergies to peanuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans, and pistachios plus a negative and positive control on his back. The other encouraging news is that no nut elicited a reaction that looked anything like the positive control. This means that Miles' reaction could have just been a skin response and that he does not produce the IgE antibody hypersensitivity response to peanuts.

After discussing the options with Dr. Min, we have decided to challenge Miles' system with peanuts again. Next Wednesday, with an epi-pen junior in hand and Dr. Min on call, Miles will get to eat a peanut butter sandwich. We will start small with just a little peanut butter placed inside his bottom lip. If nothing happens after 10 minutes, Miles will get to eat a little piece of sandwich, and so on. If nothing happens after the whole sandwich, then hooray! Our kid may be able to enjoy pad thai and peanut satay after all. Worst case scenario Miles will get an epi-pen shot to the thigh and we will head to Dr. Min's office, which is less than 10 minutes away. Fingers crossed please. My instincts are telling me that Miles is not going to react, and that he just has really sensitive skin like his mama.

Miles at 17 months

2011-09-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

A few movies

2011-09-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

I am hoping Sara will comment:
Drew has been doing a great job keeping up with this blog. Here are some new movies of Miles.

Last weekend we bought Miles a Larry Fitzgerald jersey. Cute, eh.

Miles continues to love to watch videos of himself.

He loves to water for us in the evenings. See we are getting a fence put in around our patio so we can all hang out in the front (dogs included) without having to worry about anyone running into the street.

Send us your pictures...

2011-09-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Yea Baby Einstein TV Show

2011-09-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

spider pics

2011-09-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Just For Fun

2011-09-08T21:14:00.001-07:00

Miles during Playtime

2011-09-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Before Miles was in full-time daycare, if I was really tired in the morning, we would go into his playroom and I would go back to sleep for a bit while he played. Now he protests...

Miles is imitating us a lot lately. In this video he shakes his head when I say no and shake mine. I guess I am going to have to start watching my sailor mouth. The last thing I want is a phone call from the Methodist daycare about Miles' expansive vocabulary.

Miles in the chair and a movie about rocks

2011-09-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

It was a roller chair.

I drove.

He sat and the back and navigated.

We hit more walls than expected.

I blame the navigator; he thought it was hilarious.

Fun was had by all.

There were some rocks too.

find happiness in the little things

2011-08-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Miles howls with Mommy

2011-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

...so he knows how to speak the language of the wolves who will raise him...

Miles 16 mo. old!

2011-08-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Boy with hat

2011-08-23T18:01:00.001-07:00

How Drew spent some of his birthday money

2011-08-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

When it is hot out and Miles needs some entertainment we take him to PetCo to look at the fish and the rodents. This is a great way to pass an hour or so, but I think the employees there are getting sick of us. On Sunday, we decided to give the poor folks at PetCo day off from cleaning Miles' smudgy little finger prints off the fish and rodents tanks, we had already been there on Saturday after all, and take Miles to the Children's Museum instead. I was pleasantly surprised by how great this place was for toddlers, and since we were there right at opening we had the place to ourselves for about an hour. Here are the pictures that Drew took.

For some reason Miles loved the Edison exhibit. He kept going back to this.

I tried to put on a puppet show for Miles, but he was more interested in the firetruck.
Miles driving me around in the firetruck.

Miles and his dad both love to watch the marbles fall. Gravity is indeed awesome.

Miles was kind of freaked out by the dinosaurs.
Although we did not make it to PetCo, Miles still got to check out some fish.
Operating the submarine.

Playing with light pens.
...and back to the submarine to drive it.
Checking out the train.
The dog washing station at the vet.
He looks like a serious little shopper, but really he is just pushing the cart into walls for fun.
Miles killing it at DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!!!

Playing with some images

2011-08-20T21:11:00.001-07:00

We had dinner with our neighbors tonight. Miles had been a GRUMP all day but was a fun kid at their house. Our neighbors are lovely and they have a sweet 'almost 2-yr old' and the world's best dog, Tanner. Miles enjoyed lounging on Tanner.
Miles and Atticus had fun playing basket ball with the garden toilet.

by the way, all of these pictures were taken on Drew's phone. I think he is having fun with his birthday gift.

Tunnel

2011-08-20T20:34:00.001-07:00

Photo from Drew's phone edited in Picasa before posting. This is Miles playing in a tunnel at the neighbors' house. He had a blast tonight.

Direct from Drew's phone

At the store

2011-08-20T13:50:00.001-07:00

Miles has a light rash... Otherwise he's ok

How we spent friday after work

2011-08-19T18:01:00.002-07:00

Walking before school

2011-08-19T08:25:00.001-07:00

I always wanted a 'little runner kid" and now I have one. Miles loves to walk and he is becoming quite the independent guy. Although it can be a bit annoying when he takes off and we are tyring to leave for school and work.

After daycare

2011-08-18T16:17:00.001-07:00

Miles walked to and from class today on his own

One. More phone upload

2011-08-18T14:33:00.001-07:00

Trying upload from phone

2011-08-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Quick uploads

2011-08-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone- I've been putting some quick uploads on an anonymous facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002788503312&sk=wall

Miles and the fridge

2011-08-12T17:26:00.001-07:00

Mama is back!

2011-08-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

After Miles screamed for 5 hours straight during the three flights we took from Tucson to Portland, which resulted in everyone on several Southwest flights giving us dirty looks, or offering unsolicited advice (the looks were preferable), Oregon was great. The flight from San Diego to San Jose was particularly eventful due to Miles managing to get 2 peanuts in his mouth. Thankfully, Drew was able to retrieve them. Unfortunately, then we came back to me needing to work between 12 and 16 hour days for 6 days straight. Therefore, Drew has pretty much been a single dad since last Friday. We did manage to survive and are no worse for the wear, but I did really miss my guys. Not only did Drew take over all parenting duties for 6 days, but he also managed to snap a few pictures, and provide photographic evidence that Miles was indeed given baths in my absence.

A rare view of two of Miles' top teeth.

Miles' favorite request is "UP", as our little guy loves to be held. I can almost hear him saying "up" in this picture.

Climbing up the coffee table.

Wearing Dad's hat.

Clean after a bath in a fish towel from Aunt Sandy.

Portland Pics and 15 mo.

2011-07-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Miles and the light

2011-07-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Miles likes music videos

2011-07-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

Snake and other pics on the camera

2011-07-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

Every night before going to bed, we let the girls out to go to the bathroom. Why they frolic in the back, I water our struggling sunshine blueberry plant and the sad strawberries. After this, Drew and I both sneak into Miles' room to kiss him goodnight, and then we are off to bed. Our routine was disrupted last night when Riley and I almost stepped on the diamondback rattlesnake that was sleeping JUST outside our glass door. I opened the door, and not noticing the snake motioned the dogs outside. Scout (the smarter of dogs) held back as Riley hopped directly over the snake! I did not notice our intruder until Riley turned back to check it out with her nose. I immediately knew that my only options for avoiding a trip to the vet ER were to either jump over the snake and grab Riley, or to call her back into the house, forcing her to cross over the snake again. I am petrified of rattlesnakes, so I chose option 2 and hoped for the best. Thanks to whatever deity had our backs, the snake was pretty out of it. In fact, I am certain that we must have woken it up because it was completely still though this interaction. Riley safely hopped over the snake and was able to make it back into our home unscathed. Once we were all securely in the house, with the snake outside, we decided to try and agitate it through the glass so the diamondback would not think that our patio was a quiet place to take refuge. By this time the snake was alert and pissed. By knocking on the glass and jumping around, Drew and I were able to rouse it enough to strike the glass twice! Drew took some great pictures, considering that he was shooting though a glass door all smudged up by dog spit and baby goo and it was dark.

On another note, Miles loves looking at pictures of himself and other kids on the computer.

Also, my family is going to find this hilarious, but a tomato has changed my life! I now love them. In particular the tomato displayed below was one the most amazing things I have ever eaten. It was a green and yellow beefsteak heirloom that we got from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share we get every week. It had a tart, citrus-y flavor and was simply delectable. Unfortunately, the farmer planted about a hundred different heirlooms and the folks at the CSA could not tell me what variety this one was. I need to figure it out so I can plant some of these guys in the yard. I promise a small reward and tomatoes to anyone who can help me identify this beauty.

Pop-Pop's visit and Miles at 14 mo.

2011-06-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

By the way, Happy Birthday Sandy!

Miles and Scout

2011-06-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Miles and Riley

2011-06-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Walking

2011-06-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry future Miles. You have no diaper on this video because you had very bad diaper rash and we were letting your little bum air out. I accidently fed you a healthy kashi cookie with a little bit of peanuts in it, which luckily did not cause any sort of reaction until it came out the back end...worst mom ever.

Some photos

2011-06-03T21:29:00.001-07:00

Sara is a Rising Star!

2011-05-26T19:07:00.001-07:00

Check out the article here: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_05_27/caredit.a1100047

Miles at 13 mo.

2011-05-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot to take this picture...snuck in before time ran out

Happy Belated Birthday to Grandma and Aunt Sarah

2011-05-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the birthdays of two of our favorite people in the World, we got Miles his first haircut. The lady cut it a little shorter than I wanted, but it does not stick up funny anymore. Here are are some pics of Miles in his new outfit from Grauntie Susan with his haircut. He looks like such a little boy now!
Now kickin' back with his bottle.

Today Jenne came over and after a run, a nap and second breakfast, we took Miles and Fiona to the pool. They had a blast, but it was very difficult getting a picture of both of them together. They were having too much fun to sit still. After some heroic efforts, Jenne finally got this shot with both of them.
Most of the attempted photos ended up like this one.
Miles is getting pretty brave around water, even though it was a bit chilly.
Miles decided that the pool was a great place for his shoes. Fiona kept trying to show him that his shoes should not go in the pool. They went back and forth over this at least 5 times before Fiona gave up and dropped one of Miles' shoes in the water. It was awesome.
Here Fiona is still trying to teach Miles proper shoe care. I love it!

If Your Kid Can't Take Peanut Butter and Jelly for Lunch, It's Because of My Kid

2011-05-15T21:03:00.001-07:00

Miles meets Awesome-O the robot!

Miles now has 4 teeth. His top two broke through the gums on Saturday, or at least that is when I noticed them. Jenne and I also tried to run a 10K, but Miles had the meltdown of all meltdowns in the jog stroller, so we had to stop at 5 miles and I carried Miles the final mile. Oh well, he still had a blast playing with Fiona when we were done.

Sunday was a little rough. Let me preface this by writing that Miles is perfect and sound asleep safely in his bed in great health. This afternoon, Miles did not want to eat the wheat pasta with cheese sauce that I made him, so I prepared him a peanut butter sandwich. He has eaten peanut butter at least 3-4 other times before today, so we thought it was fine. While he was chomping away at his sandwich, I noticed some red spots near his mouth, but it was hard to see because he had food smeared all over his face. I took him to the bathroom and washed his face only to reveal that he was breaking out in hives. I told Drew that we would have to go to the emergency room and we immediately packed up and started driving. Somewhere in here I also called and left a message for the pediatrician. While in the car (Drew was driving and I was in the back), Miles' hives got worse and his right eye started to swell shut. I also thought he was wheezing. Since he was getting worse, I was worried that he could stop breathing before we reached the hospital, which was about 25 minutes away. I decided to call 911. We pulled the car over (near Irvington and Pantano), and waited for them to arrive. In only a few minutes a firetruck, ambulance and 5 paramedics showed up and immediately starting checking out Miles. Miles by the way, thought all of this attention from guys that showed up in awesome trucks was great. He was actually smiling through most of this.

Anyway, Miles' airway was clear, his lungs sounded good, pulse ox was 96%, and his heart rate was normal. Luckily, there were no signs that he was having any respiratory distress. The wheezing was just my imagination getting away from me. The paramedics recommended that we give Miles some benadryl. After they left, the triage nurse from our pediatrician's office also called back and told us the dose to give Miles, and said that we would not need to go to the emergency room unless he got worse. One dose of benadryl and an hour later Miles was back to normal. Although the benadryl made him hyper and a bit loopy.

The paramedics were great. They did not make me feel at all like I had overreacted . One of them also had a young kid that had an allergic reaction to antibiotics and was very sympathetic. Another one had red hair. This made Drew happy, as he assumed that the red head would be very empathetic about bad skin reactions.

So now I guess trips to an allergist and more label reading are in our future. Poor Miles. I hope that we can try some gradual exposure therapy, as I do not want him to have a life deprived of Thai food and peanut satay.

Sara's Parents Visit!

2011-05-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

Key West

2011-05-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Birthday Pics: Do you think he likes cake!?

2011-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Miles on the morning of his 1st Birthday, kicking back in the outfit our boss brought him back from China as a gift right after he was born.

Opening a gift from our neighbors.

More gifts.

Reading a card from his pal Fiona.

More gifts.

Time for Cake!

Sara baked a carrot and beet cake with cream cheese frosting. This was Miles' first experience with sucrose.

No hesitation.

In one big bite!

Cake monster!

Wow! Where is the cake?

Getting every last morsel.

Time for bed, which coincided with a sugar crash.

Xylophone!

2011-04-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Pop-Pop!!

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Pop Pop!!!

...this was easier a year ago when he wasn't grabbing things yet....

So peaceful :)

1 Year of Miles!

2011-04-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

You stole my birthday, but I could not imagine a better little nugget to share it with! I love you so much. Here is the year of Miles in review.

Less than 1 hour old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old

1 year!!!

Miles opens presents 1 day early

2011-04-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

We let Miles open up presents from the Grandparents 1 day early

Thoughtful boy

2011-04-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

For Sara's mom-

My day with Miles

2011-04-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

1 year Cancer-versary and Miles is getting a tooth FINALLY

2011-04-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a bit rough, which is why the pictures of Miles have not been updated recently.

Last Thursday morning, I woke at 1:30am feeling like I was being stabbed in my right upper abdomen. I had actually been having a dull pain there for over week, which I thought was muscular. Long story short, 1 doctor's visit, 1 chest X-ray and an ultra-sound later and the pain is much better but we still have no idea what was going on with me. Even though the ultra-sound did not show any gall stones, I still think that it is my gall bladder. Oh well. All we got from all these tests is the identification of a small hemangioma on my liver, which is basically irrelevant and nothing more than a birth mark. 10% of people have them and never know until they get an ultrasound for some other reason. They typically only cause pain when very large (>10cm). Mine is less than a cubic cm.

In better news, April 12th was the 1 year anniversary of Drew's lymphoma diagnosis. He had a CT scan, which was painless. SO MUCH better than the PET scan last year in which Drew could not hold Miles for sleep next to me for 24 hours because of the radioactive glucose he had to ingest. Anyway, today we met with his oncologist and it was all good news. No signs of cancer and we don't have to go back for 6 months.

Finally, I am just neurotic enough to worry that Miles has some sort of congenital disorder that would cause him to never get teeth. Well my fears were put to rest when he bit my finger last night during his bath. Finally, I felt the start of a little tooth poking through the gums! Pics soon, I promise.

Aspen Trail Hike

2011-04-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

We hit a record high on Friday so it seemed like a good idea to head up to Mt. Lemmon with Pop-pop to do a little hiking. There was water! Here we are headed up the aspen trail. The aspens still do not have any leaves, so this trail will probably be a lot nicer in a few months. Miles is back there somewhere. A tree-chair, with some bare aspens in the background. A horned lizard that we spotted. Miles checking out the lizard? The Maurer men. Picnic lunch in Marshall Gulch after our hike. Pop-pop taught Miles to make car noises, and Miles really took to imitating us over this past weekend. We were all sad to drop Pop-pop off that the airport this morning.

Pop- Pop!

2011-04-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures to show that Pop-Pop made it here.

Uncle Jon = Awesome

2011-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Jon, thank you so much for the bottles of Dogfish Head Burton Baton that you sent from Maryland. I am so excited to drink those!

Don't worry we will not share any of the precious with Miles. He just wanted to help us thank his Uncle Jon.

Stupid Javelina!

2011-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

Jon pointed out to me that those of you who have not spent time in the Sonoran Desert probably have no idea what javelina are. I cannot believe that I actually used to pay money to go see these things at the Desert Museum.

These creatures are now the bane of my existence. I used to find them so cute. Occasionally, we would be running in the evening and spot a family of them in the desert around our neighborhood. Now they are taking over the neighborhood (perhaps taking it back is more accurate, since they were probably here first). Anyway, on Sunday and Tuesday night they knocked over our garbage and flung it all over the side of our house. GRRRR. Since the garbage cannot fit in the garage with both cars, I now have the lid fastened shut with old climbing gear, and the battle of wits begins. Who is smarter, the wild pig-like creature or me?

...Don't answer that please.

someone buy me this please!

2011-03-29T19:35:00.001-07:00

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2290978482.html (sold- doh!)

How about this?

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2288473193.html

Tanque Verde Ridge

2011-03-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was probably one of the last that we will have were the temp is was under 90, so we were glad that we took advantage and hiked 2 miles up Tanque Verde Ridge in Saguaro East.

Of course Miles fell asleep during the quick 10 minute drive to the park. Yes, he does have a bruise on his forehead. He fell and hit his head in the bathtub on my (Sara's) watch :( Hiking up the ridge with Miles on my back. He is heavy now. View of Rincon Peak. About 1.5 miles in. Saguaro catus with Tucson in the horizon. Drew and Miles in front of a cave. Trail to nowhere. More views. We also wanted to thank everyone for their comments lately. You all have been great and it makes us happy. We love and miss you!

Happy 11 mo. Miles

2011-03-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

Post 200: Thimble Peak and Miles' New Favorite Things

2011-03-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Miles LOVES the dogs. Here is a picture of him searching for them while they are outside going to the bathroom. Yes...I know, our glass door is filthy. I am not much of a housekeeper and neither is Drew.

Miles love to crawl under stuff now. I think that he is going to be a fort kid, which is awesome. My brother and I used to make massive forts in our basement and I cannot wait to build one with Miles. Here he is crawling under the dining room table.
While our heads were turned tonight, Miles managed to crawl up onto the dishwasher. How funny that he wanted to do this.

Drew got a great picture of Miles in the dishwasher.

In other news...In January, Drew signed us up for the Southern Arizona Hiking Club so we would each have someone to hike with while the other one was watching Miles. Ideally, we would all hike together but Miles is really only good for around 6 miles and sometimes (even though he is charming and "adorable") you just do not feel like carrying the extra 25+ pounds on a tough hike. Today Drew stayed home with Miles so I could hike up Thimble Peak with the club. Thimble Peak is at about 5,200ft and about half way up the Santa Catalina Mountains between Sabino Canyon and Mt. Lemmon. You can see it in this picture off in the distance between the two hillsides.

Here it is as we are getting closer. About this time, I was wondering if it is actually possible to get to the top of this thing without climbing gear.

The air quality was abysmal today so I did not take too many pictures of the views. But here is one of the Catalinas.

Getting closer to the Thimble...and I am getting more nervous.

Still not seeing an easy route to the top.

Now we are at the Thimble...this was not the way to the top.

Oh here it is. If you look closer you can see other hikers scrambling up a rock crevice.

The route is actually right in the middle of this shot, behind the tree. It was rough for someone like me that has a very luke warm relationship with heights, but I made it to the top.

Unfortunately, I do not have any photographic evidence from the top because I was too nervous to scramble with the camera. My name, however, is on the summit log and I suppose that if you want proof you can go up there and check it out.

The hike was amazing. I think I did over 13 miles in total.

Dear Family...Where are you?

2011-03-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Relatives of Miles,

This is our 199th post. If you would like us to reach 200 we kindly ask that you leave some comments. It hurts our feelings when we take the time to post updates and new pictures of Miles and you say nothing. Are you still reading?

Love,
Sara and Drew

Baby Mohawk

2011-03-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Miles Likes Dirt More Than Snow: Sunday on the Butterfly Trail

2011-03-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

The weekend started out with Drew and I being a bit sad about the prospect of no NFL next year. On Sunday, we headed out to U of A for the book fair and then to go hike the butterfly trail on Mt. Lemmon (at 8,500ft elevation). The book fair was a bit of a bust. It was pretty crowded and will probably be more fun for Miles next year. We also missed the friends that we were trying to meet up with. Mt. Lemmon, however, was awesome. While we were hiking it occurred to us that if there is no football next year it will be great. First, I root for the Carndinals and the Bengals. Yeah...I know that in itself is a little depressing. Second, my fantasy teams always suck and are huge source of disappointment. Finally, if there is no football next year every Sunday next Fall and Winter will be like today.

This is Miles and Drew at the start of our hike. It was around 60 degrees at 8,500 ft, which felt perfect in the sun.
Miles seemed to love the carrier today!
Thanks to another hiker on the trail, we actually got a rare picture of all three of us!
The goal was to hike 2 miles on the Butterfly trail and then take a small hiker trail to a 1957 airplane crash site that still contains the wreckage. Unfortunately, we only made it about a mile before the trail became covered with snow. If we were alone, Drew and I may have tried to brave it, but with Miles in the carrier we were both too worried about sliding. Therefore, we turned around and instead hiked 0.2 of a mile to the top of Mt. Bigelow. This picture shows the snow.
Here Drew and Miles are at the top of Mt. Bigelow, which is by no means a scenic peak. It has 3 radio towers at the top, but the views are nice. As you can see, Miles is in awe.
Hiking is always hard work for the little guy.

Miles is not sure that he wants to be woken up.
He became lucid quickly.
...then we introduced him to snow!

Happy to be out of the snow.
Miles wanting some of the water.
Miles happy to be out of the snow and back in the dirt.
We could not keep him on the changing pad for long.
It was a great weekend. Although Scout and Riley missed out on the hike, they got to run a lot at the park this weekend. They just do not like having their pictures taken.

Miles uses a Walker

2011-03-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Miles Likes Dirt: Hiking in the Santa Ritas

2011-03-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

The weather was perfect on Sunday so we decided to load Miles into the carrier and hike in the Santa Rita mountains. It had been well over a month since we have hiked with Miles, so he was not thrilled when he first put him in the kid pack. The expression he made before we started to hike is tragically precious. Note, the loan tear near the bottom of his right cheek.
A view of Devil's Throne. Can you believe that Drew hiked to the top of that when Miles and I were in Ventura. That makes me nervous, and I am glad that I did not know to worry at the time.
Razor's edge, which Drew has also been to the top of.
A pretty prickly pear cactus with Mt. Hopkins in the background.
Miles and I at the top of the hill. He was great the entire hike.
Miles and I with Mt. Hopkins in the background.
I changed Miles' diaper at the top and he discovered dirt.
Miles realized that he LOVES dirt, and nothing beats playing in the dirt on top of a peak.
He is smiling behind that binky.
The road to the top of Mt. Hopkins.
The ridge we hiked across.
Miles gathering rocks.
Miles holding a rock with elephant head in the distance.
More fun with dirt.
Miles pitched a small fit when we loaded him back in the carrier. He really wanted to spend more time with his fingers in the dirt.
The scenic view we had hiking back.
Drew and Miles.
It was a great way to spend Sunday. We hiked almost 4 miles with a 1200 foot elevation gain, and Drew carried Miles the entire way. Even more impressive is that Miles only cried twice - both of the times that we placed him in the carrier, and who can blame him for being upset about leaving all those rocks and fabuluous dirt on the peak.

Miles at 10 months

2011-02-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

My First 10k With Miles

2011-02-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

Since Miles was born, I have had a rocky relationship with running. Running and I started out so great. Before Miles turned 3 months, I was back up to over 5 miles. Then I got sick and had a very unfortunate reaction to antibiotics that took me back down to my pre-pregnancy weight but zapped any engergy I may have had to excercise. So running and I had to break up. But I am back on the wagon and slowly working back up to the point that I can start to think about marathon training so I can join my brother in the Santa Barabara marathon.

Today, thanks to Jenne, I took a large leap forward. We met to run around 12:30. It was WINDY. The run started out tough with a hill into the wind that managed to make the jog stroller feel like it was full of bricks rather than precious Miles. Luckily, we turned and got a nice tail wind that made me feel like I could run forever. That was around the point where Jenne asked if I could run a 10k. "Sure", I said. Even though I had not run over 4 miles since July. Miles got fussy around the 5k point, but then cooperated by falling asleep. That is when we had to turn around and finish the final 3 miles running against the wind. Thank God for Jenne's toughness and volunteering to trade off pushing the stroller for me (her little cutie was in child care, so we only had one stroller between the two of us). We managed to push through, although I swear the at some points I felt like we were moving backwards. The run culminated with both Jenne and I pushing the stroller together up the final hill (into the wind). We must have looked hilarious to those driving by. Particularly since we had running form but we were barely inching along. Once it was over, I felt great and now my goal is to get back to running double digit milage before April.

In addition to her heroic effort with the jog stroller, Jenne also maganed to spot a shoe that Miles lost on our outbound journey.

Agua Caliente "Hill" on Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

For the record I want to kick the jerk that decided to name this a "hill" rather than a mountain. That aside, this was a lovely way to spend Valentine's Day. Drew posted the pictures and I added the captions.

A view of the Santa Rita's and Elephant head (on the right).

The trail split before what I expected to be the last push to the top. The mileage was off so we actually had over 2 miles to go.
Me at the trail split.
A picture of the false summit. False summits hurt my feelings. There was actually around 700ft more elevation to climb before the true summit.
A picture of the other side of the false summit and a beautiful ridge that we hiked across. We named it respite ridge because it was the only part of the trail that was relatively flat.
On the actual final push to the top.
A picture of me in which my arms look oddly long.
A nice peak to the north with lots of green on the north face.
At the top with Mica Mountain in the back. Notice that there is still snow on Mica.
My handsome husband with the Catalinas in the back.
More views of the Catalinas.
The Southern view from the top of Agua Caliente. Hard to believe that this trailhead is only a 20 minute drive from our house.
Mica Mountian.
A nice view of the trail.
A glider we saw on our way down. He was circling is lift and climbing.
A view of Agua Caliente from ~3 miles out.
The stats.
The topo and our path.
When we were done we ate fried chicken and waffles! It was awesome and well-deserved.

Some movies

2011-02-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

Miles is starting to figure out finger food. He is pretty enthusiastic about the whole process of feeding himself even if only 1 out 10 atempts ends up with food being transferred from hand to mouth.

Miles loves it when I immitate the dogs. I guess the little guy already has a descent sense of humor.

We've been busy...

2011-02-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

...but here are a few photos of Miles

Miles at 9 months

2011-01-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that our little guy has now been around for 3/4 of a year. It seems that he has definately developed some preferences and he is learning to exercise his will. This typically involves a mini-tantrum when we put him in the carseat.

He loves straps and strings of all sorts. Putting him in pants with draw strings can easily capture his attention for several minutes. He also loves the dogs, or at least he loves to mawl them. Riley has mixed feelings about this, but Scout appears to adore Miles as much as he loves her. I do, however, think that Riley is coming around now that Miles is of the age that he is dropping food. Yesterday, to Riley's delight, he dropped an entire teething cracker. It never hit the floor. Miles also loves to be naked. When I get him ready for the bath, as soon as the diaper comes off he flaps his arms, bounces up and down, and squeals with delight. He does not have the same enthusiasm when the diaper goes back on.

Because I want to remember the foods he liked and dislikes at 9 months, here is the list.
Foods that Miles enjoys:
1) Carrot and parsnip puree
2) Sweet potatoes
3) Butternut squash
4) Apples
5) Pears
6) Yogurt with honey dew melon
7) Peach yogurt
8) Miles has a tolerance for zuccini

Foods he hates
1) Broccoli
2) Peas
3) Bananas
4) Turkey
5) Nectarine - this made me really sad
6) avacado :(

Miles also loves teeth. I guess that if you had none, they would seem mysterious and interesting. He really enjoys sticking his hand in my mouth and grabbing mine. Perhaps this means that he will grow up to be a denist, which would be a much better life choice than becoming an academic scientist. Anyway, I do find it odd that Miles still has no teeth of his own. I have read that the only thing that this has anything to do with is when Drew and I got our teeth. Unfortunately, we have no idea, but it must have been late. Also, I am only nursing Miles in the mornings and evenings now. A little over a month ago, we started supplementing his daytime feedings with formula. I still have pangs of guilt about this. Originally, I just wanted to make it to 6 months. When his 6 month birthday passed, I thought I would see if we could make it to 1 year. Long story short, my supply dropped again and then I just got so sick of needing to pump at work every 2-3 hours. Before Chirstmas, I hit the wall and we started formula. Miles took to it fine and he still enjoys nursing twice a day.

Only 3 more months until his 1st birthday...that's crazy

Happy 9 mo. Miles

2011-01-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

Bushmaster Peak

2011-01-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Miles

2011-01-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

Agua Caliente

2011-01-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

A hike into Agua Caliente.

At the start...

Century plant stalk.

Agua Caliente Hill... the target of another day.

Arizona canyon land!

Old saguaro skeleton

Rocks in the canyon

Lonely tree

Deeper into the canyon.

CRIKEY! A rare close up sighting of a Canyon Yeti!

Puma tracks? Nope- Coyote... whew

Back on the trail

There's Tucson

...and the data.

chopped broccoli - yum!

2011-01-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

Snow In the Desert (& Miles)

2011-01-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

xmas plus

2010-12-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Whew... uploaded a lot of photos... I'm hoping that Sara write the text

Happiness is Grandma's lap.

Ready for Christmas morning!
Awesome another bag full of that fun tissue paper. And yes, Miles is wearing green and red baby legs.
The crab book...at least Miles can read like an Oregonian.
Yup...that is a baby Public Enemy T-shirt from his grandparents! That's why my dad is Grand Master Pa or G-pa.
More tissue paper. BEST DAY EVER!

Does Scout want my shoe?
What's this?
The grandparents check out the Miles book.

Comfort is Grandma's lap.
Hiking Christmas day. You have to love Tucson.

Scout = most tolerant dog ever,

On Pop-pop's lap in Pitt pj's.
On another hike in Saguaro East.

Gruncle Doug breakin' the rules.

The gang behind Garwood dam.

1st present (Xmas Eve)

2010-12-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 8 mo. on Xmas Eve

2010-12-24T14:52:00.001-08:00

The Zoo (and more pictures)

2010-12-23T14:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas pictures

2010-12-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

The outfit is from his Aunt Sandy. Unfortunately, even though it is an 18 month size, we could not button the top button to get the bow tie in place.