Our New Baby Girl

We have a new addition to our family. Juliet (Elaine or Lainey - we are still undecided) was born at 9:00 am on May 14 and we got to bring her home the next night. She weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. All our love goes out ot the birth mom and dad who gave us such a precious gift. Miles has been the best big brother. He always wants to look at her, hold her, show her things and he wants her as far away as possible when she's having her diaper changed. Its also really important to him that she not touch his yellow blanket - not sure what that's about. Maybe that will all improve when she gets her own new pink blanket from Grandma Low. Thanks for all of your love and prayers. We've definitely needed and have felt everyone's love and support. More pictures to follow.

Miles was having a rough day today. I don't think he was feeling particularly well and everything was sending him over the edge. We picked up Coy for lunch and speaking to me to he said, "I don't like anybody in the whole world. I don't like you, I don't like Dad and I DON'T like Jesus." This declaration came in response to us not having a copy of Chicago's '85 classic "Along Comes a Woman" with us on the drive up to Peter's. Ahhh, parenting!

No luck at Frog Creek

Miles , Carolyn and I decided we would try catching frogs at a creek just up the road from the ranch.  Miles had a great time driving the ATV, trying to catch frogs with a milk crate (my idea) and sloshing through the mud. 

p.s. no frogs were harmed during the creation of this blog.      

Happy Birthday Aunt Niki!!

My sister Niki's 40th birthday was a couple of days ago and as I thought what I ought to get her, a big cold serving of revenge came to mind. Those thoughts passed...

Here's a little photo tribute to a great aunt, sister and friend!!! Happy birthday Nik!!  

Three Forest Pirates and the Susie

We had a great time at Glen Lake with Gary, Wendie, Josh, Jessica, Sam and Susie earlier this summer. It was a terrific getaway and the first time that Sam and Miles had a chance to hang out.  This is a little tribute and thanks for letting me hang with you guys!

This is also the summer that we first got to know the hilarity known as Susie. You have to be a talented comic to live off of the same joke for two weeks. Awesome Susie, just awesome. ..we walk in your creative shadow!!

Huge shout out to G-Dawg and the rest of the Lows for the hospitality!

Forest Pirate Reunion TBA

 

More photos from last year . . .

We spent Thanksgiving last fall at the ranch with Dave & Niki.  Coy and Miles had a lot of fun on the ATV.  

On the way home Miles figured out that putting two soothers in his mouth at once was hilarious.  He couldn't stop laughing.

Miles and Grandpa on his 84th birthday.  Miles was very happy to help Grandpa blow out his candles.

We spent tons of time in the backyard last fall and clearing leaves with dad was a definite highlight. 

Two posts in one week . . .

Since its been almost a year and a half since our most recent posts, I wanted to post some of favourite pics from that time.  I hope you enjoy.  This is one of my favourite pictures from Miles' 2nd b-day.  Its tough to tell whether he's excited about the next glove or not.  By the way John . . . just a little extra proof that the glove really is Miles'.

When we gave Miles his digger and dump truck with the construction hat, his first reaction related entirely to the hat.  When his saw the construction hat, he squealed in delight, took the CUBS hat on his head and tossed it away like it was on fire and then put the construction hat on.  I laughed so hard I was crying.  It was a while before we could get him to take it off.

Those great blue eyes.  This was taken on a cool fall day after an hour or so of "shoot hooping." 

Coy has the best ideas for FHE.  This was one of our very first object lessons.  Coy told the story of Nephi's courage in building the boat and then he and Miles made a duct-tape boat.  Of course we then had to try it out in the bathtub.

The Family Reunion

I'm pretty sure I've forgotten how to post it's been so long. Here are few picks from the reunion. Amanda and gang, thanks for putting together an amazing reunion. It was fantastic!

Major catchup blog

Well, its about time we got back on the blog. I'm so sorry for all of the disappointment I've caused out there. Its been a crazy few months, culminating with our adoption papers being approved in late January. The social worker was kind enough to call after we'd been approved by the adoption board to say, "It was a real nail biter, but you've been approved." Keep your eyes open for lovely, pregnant unwed moms that might consider adoption. Mostly kidding about that, but I saw Juno on the weekend and had to choke back pathetic sobbing at the end. Coy started a new job raising money on Athabasca University's senior advancement team at the beginning of October. Its keeping him really busy and happy, and also away a few days a week. I wonder if there's a correlation . . . hmmm. He's away until Wednesday night of this week so I've made all sorts of plans to ensure that I don't go crazy. Coy and Miles play or read non-stop in the morning before Coy goes to work and then again when he's home at night so his absence is keenly felt. We're loving life and trying to keep up with Miles who is very active and has very clear ideas about what he wants. Enjoy the pictures. Miles and I went outside to play this afternoon. Since we didn't have a specific place to be and because Miles was playing happily inside, I wanted to see how long it would take him to willing agree to put on his snowsuit and boots. I started at 3:00 pm and we got out of the house at 4:35 pm. His last ditch attempt at getting outside without the snowsuit and boots was to grab his yellow blanket (ala Grandma Low) and my hand, walk me to the back door and try to wrap the yellow blanket around himself while pointing outside. He had the desire and eventually gave into the boots and snowsuit. We had a great time pulling him around in a little sled. He also has a little red shovel and takes his shovelling job quite seriously, although with no mittens and "paws" for hands, its not easy. The picture above is of Miles' first attempt at a snow angel. He was pleased to learn he could lie down in the snow.

Miles' first time toboganning was with his friend Simon Allison. We went on the "mini" version of turtle hill just off 45th street. Miles' loved it and now we just have to go buy a tobogan of our own.

Miles with just a few of his friends. Miles loves his stuffed animals and he has this new thing where in the middle of the day he begs to get in his crib with his stuffed animals and be tucked in for bed - ironically he doesn't get to take any stuffed animals to bed and he won't let us tuck him in. We will come back into his room to find him sharing his soother with one of his bears or trying to cover them with the blanket. Its really very sweet.

OOOoooopppps! I was so unhappy with Miles' first haircut that I decided to give it a shot myself. We have clippers that I use for Coy's hair and I thought - no problem, I'll just use the longest guard and away I'll go. Miles was very cooperative with the haircut. He thought it was funny and laughed the whole time. But because Miles' hair is so fine, it basically slipped right past the guard to the actual clippers themselves. So instead of nice cut, he received his first buzz, courtesy of dear old mom. It took us about a week to get used to it. Everytime I'd look at Miles I'd think, "where is my nice little boy and who's this army dude in my kitchen?"

For those of you who know Rong Jia, she stopped by for a visit just after Christmas. She looks great. Her English has improved a lot and she's really enjoying UofA. She wasn't here long, but Miles really liked her.

Okay, no, I didn't plan the red shirts. We spent Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Low's and we didn't get a single picture of them with Miles. Sorry about that Mom & Dad. I'm not sure how that happened. Miles and his dad on Christmas day. Miles and his mom on Christmas day.

Miles at this point is more into demolition than construction. I have no idea how Coy was able to get Miles to stand back long enough to build this pyramid. I can't get past 4 blocks high.

Great short story. We invited the missionaries over for dinner (doesn't happen very often). Elder Alexander (above) turned out to the grandson of the man who introduced Coy's parents to the church. He was also Coy's dad's boss. Elder Alexander also found out when he talked to his parents at Christmas that his parents met for the first time when his mom was running some errands with Coy's dad. Small world.

One of Miles' favourite pastimes - the great yellow ghostie.

We're not proud of this. I was grabbing stuff out of the fridge and turned around for a second. Mr. McGhee decided to climb on in.

Miles helped me make some chocolate twix squares. I think he enjoyed it.

Halloween, 1st hair cut and ridiculous climbing skills

We had a fun time on Halloween with Miles. In case you can't tell, he was a kangaroo. We visited a few friends and then came home to hand out candy. Miles tried to follow each group of kids out the front door and down the steps and was NOT happy with either of us when we insisted on bringing him back into the house. Miles got his first haircut on Tuesday of this week. This is the before picture, taken about two weeks ago. The after shot . . . looking rather suave and sophisticated. He looks like such a little boy now, but also a little less trailer trash so in the end, the haircut was probably a good idea. Miles was extremely unhappy about getting his hair cut. The women at "Beaners" are a rough looking bunch of hard living women and they're coming at him with a sharp shiny object. Who can blame him. Okay, Miles can now climb up on the toilet seat all by himself. He did this for the first time on Halloween and after climbing up on it for the second time proceeded to fall and slice his lip on the corner of the counter - ouch. We're hoping that is doesn't scar. Currently he looks like he's permenantly got a piece of strawberry jam dripping from his bottom lip.

Miles is walking everywhere now. He's so curious about everything. On Friday, he figured out how to climb onto the kitchen chairs by himself. I saw him trying and thought - he's going to get this figured out and then are we in trouble. It took him about four tries to get onto the chair and then the kitchen table was a piece of cake. In case you're wondering what he's holding, its an advil bottle, which happened to be open when he initially climbed onto the table. Now that's bad parenting! But in my defense, until that moment the table top was safe - completely out of reach.