Saturday, January 30, 2010

3 bananas and more

This morning - around 5 am - Miles woke up screaming. This is NOT unusual, but given it's Saturday, I was willing to do anything to get a few more hours of sleep.

I took Miles out into the kitchen and grabbed a sippy of milk and a banana. He drank the milk and ate to entire banana (only cut into 3 large chunks) without even opening his eyes.

I changed his diaper and he went back to sleep for another 2 hours!!!! But again, he woke up screaming. I picked him up from his crib and he pointed me toward where he wanted to go.... You're right -he wanted ANOTHER banana!!!

This time Miles grabbed the banana from me whole. It's the weirdest thing to watch.... He holds it fairly normal, vertically and with 2 hands. The strange part is that once the one end enters his mouth, it never exits. It's almost this the banana is a juice box or something. I saw a little jaw action and some swallowing, but the banana never came out of his mouth. Oh and his eyes still remained closed the entire time. Weird!

So, I left his side breifly to get him some milk. He began to scream again. I assumed it was because he was having a tough morning. I walked back to him with the milk. He did not want the milk. I picked him up and he pointed me back into the kitchen for another banana. He'd been eating these things so fast. I was hoping that he wasn't going to get sick. I gave it to him anyway and timed him. He ate this one in less than 3 minutes!! and then pointed for another. I said no to that request!



This tiny man is growing up toooo fast! We had his 15 mo check up this past week. He weighed 22.5 lbs (25%)- but lost quite a bit of weight with his pneumonia. His height was recorded as 31 inches again (47%)-the same as his 12 mo appt. However, Miles was not cooperating and was pretty slanted for his measurement. I apologize for the inaccurate data, but it's all I've got.




Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Hoping to retun to a little bit of normal this week....

Update: Miles is breathing great, but the antibiotics he's on are doing some damage.....
He has his worst diaper rash to date, 5-6 loose BM's daily, eats little to nothing, and he vomits the contents of his stomach on occassion. Last night, about 1 am, Miles coated himself and every blanket, stuffed animal, and pillow with mac'n'cheese etc. I'll spare the remaining details for the weak stomached! Nate took Miles and I took care of the rest. Within 20 minutes, we had the bed switched over, Miles changed and asleep, and load #1 in the washer! We are a great team!!!

Today, we deprived Miles of dairy and things are looking up. I'm now working on clean up and prep to go back to work/daycare tomorrow. Tuesday is Miles' 15 mo check up, so I hope to get his meds changed-we cannot do 5 more days of this!!

Tonight's bathtime was a vocal one!! I missed each opportunity to record the quality babble notes!! So sorry...
Can I offer this sassy pose instead?



However, in a desperate attempt to redeem myself, I was able to capture this video!
Backgroud: Miles' best friend is the boy in the mirror that he talks to after each bath and diaper change. "Boy in mirror" must have done something wrong- Miles is dishing out quite an extensive lecture, complete with hand gestures!!

Enjoy!

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

Friday, January 22, 2010

Contagious continued

The day after our night in the ER, Miles and I found ourselves at home. In order to return to daycare, he needed to be on antibiotics for at least 24 hours.

He was doing A LOT better. I was on top of the breathing treatments all night long. He looked like he as feeling pretty good. He was drinking very well again, but still wasn't very interested in food. We took naps together, played with his new Christmas toys and watched the movie "Cars!". I love that movie!

Miles watched most of it-it's just really hard to hold his attention!



Yes- the sick little guy still uses his pacifier. I feel bad taking it away when he's sick.....

Dancing with the movie.....

We ended the day, as usual, with a super bubbly bath



Soooo tired! Good night!

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

Hope this blog isn't contagious

The illness on the family started with Miles. Over a few days, his low grade fever and runny nose progressed to a weak wheeze and a cough, which further progressed to a high fever and a huge struggle to breath.

We woke up Tuesday morning and got completely ready for work and daycare. We noticed then just how bad Miles' breathing was. He definitely wasn't acting like himself..

I changed my clothes again-I was now going to be spending the day at home. I made an appointment with his pediatrician for the afternoon. She confirmed my fear. Miles' breathing was THAT bad. He was using his stomach, rib, and neck muscles to get air. His oxygen saturation was really low as well. We nebulized Miles twice in the office, but the doctor didn't see much improvement.

She said that she needed us to go to the ER... I asked for other options, but she told me that she wouldn't be comfortable with any other option... To the ER we went :(
I called Nate to give him the bad news and then drive to the train station to pick Nate up since he was only a few stops away.

We checked into the ER and Miles had a 102.9 temp. We undressed him so the doctors and nurses could get his vitals. I actually think Miles enjoyed all of the attention for a while!




When the blood draws, x-rays, drug administration, and breathing treatments started, so did his attitude. He got whiny and crabby at the sight of anyone in scrubs. I don't really blame home though- the nurse drawing his blood admittedly struggled with the task. His arm has a bruise to prove it.




After most of the poking and priding was over, we were happy to finally get Miles to drink something.




Miles slept for about an hour once the drugs started to work...
The diagnosis: pneumonia
They really wanted us to spend the night to monitor Miles' breathing and to keep up with his nebulizer treatments. I assured them I owned a nebulizer due to Miles' bad breathing history. They let us go - we were all crabby and tired after 6 hours in the ER... But this was just the beginning. We needed to keep the little guy hydrated, try to get him to eat anything, and nebulized him every 3-4 hours all night long....
Get better, Miles buddy!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Transitions

We've now been back in New York for nearly 4 days since our Christmas vacation in Iowa.  I've just completed my 2nd day back to work, Miles, his 2nd day back in daycare, and Nate, his second day as a bachelor and graduate student working on his portfolio for graduation from home.  The transition has been slow, but seems to be going well.  

We are adjusting to the warmer weather of the upper east, the time difference, the new year, our new weight gain, and fitting into our tiny space again. We miss the home cooked food and the company of family and friends most. We are trying to get Miles back on his typical schedule. Luckily - this has proven to be our easiest transition so far. Next week, Miles and I will begin adapting to life without Nathan again. Classes resume next Tuesday for his final semester! May cannot come soon enough.

To add to this long list of adjustments, I heard that Miles will be transitioning to a new classroom at daycare over the next few weeks. Miles will officially be a toddler with 3 of his little buddies from the old infant classrooms. A large majority of his friends will stay behind and work hard at their walking skills, cot sleeping skills, and big boy/girl chair and table eating skills.

Though we are sad to leave his current teachers, we are excited to know that his toddler teacher is a stellar lady with fun ideas! She has a son the same age as Miles too! The new room will have exciting new toys for "higher functioning kids" and as weather warms up, he'll get outside play time! Miles is excited, he just doesn't know it yet :)

My final transistion: accepting that my baby isn't a baby anymore.


Miles first day of daycare - January 5th, 2009, 10 wks old

Monday, January 11, 2010

Road trip boredom

Miles was a little bored as we drove across Ohio.


However, now that we are back in NY, the sun is shining bright and the temps are high-well, high in comparison to those experienced in Iowa. Though we miss our family and friends, we are happy to be back home.




Location:Cleveland, OH

Monday, January 04, 2010

Miles went to THE furniture store

Miles wanted to visit Grandpa B at work in Platteville, WI.  We drove up on Saturday. Miles like seeing Grandpa again, but he really liked all of the running space and soft, fuzzy obstacles.  He climbed on chairs of all sizes and colors. He rolled around on mattresses and on huge sectional, leather couches. 

Here are his favorite items in the store::

Look, Mom!  They are just my size!!!!

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And the best one of all – The Cover had NO bearing on his choice!!

“Sorry, Dad! Sorry, Grandpa!! It’s just so comfy – AND it reclines AND has a cup holder!”

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Sadly, a even a Wisconsin furniture store can’t sell this ugly thing. The Bears ones were all sold out :(

Thank for the FUN furniture adventure!

Santa Came to Visit Miles in DBQ

We still haven’t figured out if Miles was naughty or nice this year…..  However he was to be classified apparently warranted a visit from Santa Claus. I’ll put my brand new lumps of coal on ‘naughty’ :)DSC03420

Come here, Little Miles!  Ho Ho Ho!

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Miles went to Santa – but wasn’t sure if he deserved a hug…..

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Miles just stared…. no noise at all – not even a grunt!

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Santa left the room and Miles was back to his usual self.  I’m sure he was a little bummed that Grandpa B had to miss the whole visit from that fuzzy, masked man.

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Until next year, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Morning 2009

Miles and I were up bright an early to celebrate Jesus’ Birthday!  We hurried down the stairs at 6am at Aunt Bethany’s and Uncle Nick’s house in Montour, Iowa.  We plugged the the beautiful tree!!

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Miles’ favorite part of the Christmas season has been plugging in the tree each day :)  Miles enjoyed a yogurt by the tree and then we woke up the rest of the family!!

Close up!

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Here’s our 2009 Christmas photo – our new tradition!

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For comparison – see the 2008 photo – lots of growing this past year!

Christmas 2008

Ahhh….. Miles loves Christmas (and MJ)!!

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Mid life crisis

When we first got her, Nathan named her the "Beamer.". Next to that old, ugly green Lumina-she was exactly that!! Since then, I spent many long miles with her gave her a more fitting title... The Pontiac grand princess! She's a finicky thing, but still easy on the eyes !
I had the honor of attending one of her most remarkable milestones to date- the commencement of her mid life crisis.
on Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Princess rolled 100,000 miles!!



After only a few new tires and her second heater fan replacment, Princess is cruising the streets on NY just as well as her local counterparts: the. Jags, Mercedes, BMW's, and Escalades! Thanks, Princess, for 3 fantastic years and 60,000+ miles together!!

- Posted using my iPhone- please excuse brevity

Location:Bank St,White Plains,United States

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Internet blues

Sorry for the long delay in posts.... We are experiencing internet
connectivity issues again. We hope to resume posting soon.
<3 the Klinge's

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Short Stories

Cow says Mom
When Sarah and Adam came to visit for Thanksgiving, they brought a little 4 page board book for Miles.  Miles likes the book a lot – not just because of the googly eyes, but because (I think) he enjoys listening to the animal sounds. Miles will actually seek out this book and bring it to me. I read it – on average- about 6 times each evening. We practice a lot. A cow says Moo, a duck says quack, and piggie says oink, and a sheep says baa. Occasionally, Miles will chime in. What does a cow say? Mmmm –mom!
Is he trying to tell me something?!  He also thinks he’s funny when randomly shouting Baa. This one comes out when we’re not even reading the book.  Such a goof :)

Pictures are better than words
Miles loves being naked. Don’t worry – this is G rated. We were removing layers of Miles’ clothing to get ready for his bath. He took off running when I wasn’t done. He ran around like this for 10-15 minutes.
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DSC03376He’s crazy! 

Head injury # – I lost count!!
We finally got Miles’ 1 year pictures taken last Saturday. The pictures were super late (13.5 months old) since Miles had been sporting facial battle wounds since his birthday. Luckily, we had great timing….
Miles went back to daycare on Monday and managed to give himself another bruise.  During art time, Miles tried to be sneaky. He would turn his back to the teachers so that he could gnaw away at his blue crayon. He was corrected and the blue wax shavings removed from his mouth. Do you remember me telling you about Miles’ listening problem?? Well, he when was allowed to continue coloring with the other kids, he continued to turn his back to eat his blue crayon. Amidst his sneakiness, graceful Miles dropped his crayon to the floor and quickly bent down to pick it up – WHACK! Miles now sports a horizontal, raised mark connecting his eyebrows.  I cannot get a good picture at all – I know that you’re all dying to see it :(

Rockafeller Tree – worth the trip!!

Last Sunday, we ventured into NYC again!  Yes – we seem to be entering into that chaos a little more regularly lately. Miles doesn’t seem to mind at all. He’s a little people watcher and loves to chill in his stroller (as long as it keeps moving!)

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This time, we took the train into Grand Central and walked 10 or so blocks to Rockafeller Plaza.  We saw THE ultimate Christmas tree – live! It was fantastic :)

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The 75 to 90 foot tall Norway spruce tree was beautiful with its 5+ miles of lights and gorgeous star at the top. The skating rink below completed the picture. We thought about skating, but the rates were ridiculous.  Also, since it was the first weekend after the tree was lit, the place was PACKED!  Miles didn’t’ mind – there was soooo much to watch! Oh.. and every few minutes, white lights would strobe. Miles was a huge fan!

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Lastly, Nate’s studio partner met us there with her super High Def Camera to take our family picture for our 2009 Christmas card. She did a wonderful job. It was a tough decision – but I think you’ll like our choice – Coming soon to a mailbox near you :)

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Grandpa Klinge

I had been thinking about how to best put my thoughts into story form in celebration of a beautiful life. Lucky for me, Beth beat me to it.  She did a wonderful job penning the highlights of Grandpa Klinge’s life and capturing how his legacy will live on with the rest of us.

Please read here

It’s hard being far away from family and friends – but events like this make the distance even more difficult.  Not only were we unable to see George over Thanksgiving, but once we received the call last Friday that his health was quickly deteriorating, we were stuck on the East coast, unable to make arrangements fast enough to see him one last time.

Nate has been working non-stop for the last few weeks trying to crank out his final project for the semester. His review is next Monday (the 14th.) After talking on the phone with Grandpa last Friday, Nate was told to stay put and ‘finish the race.” George was one of Nate’s greatest encouragers for earning a master’s degree. George always told Nate - “Whatever it takes, you need to get your stamp!” Nate listened.

To give as much support as possible to Grandma Klinge and the rest of the family, Miles and I were going to fly back for the funeral. Not only were our last minute flight options limited, but Iowa weather (50 mph winds and 12 inches of snow) has grounded us. In lieu of being stranded in an airport with a 1 year old, we are staying put and trying to think of ways to send our support.

Our hearts are breaking over the loss of Grandpa Klinge’s physical presence, but we rejoice knowing that he no longer feels pain and that we will surely see him again. We will continue to hold on to the many happy memories we have of Grandpa Klinge. There are root beer floats in heaven, right?!

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Thursday, December 03, 2009

Skilled UN-listener!

Irony has gotten the best of me. I should have expected that soon after I publically praised Miles on his listening skills and obedience, my little bundle of sin would make me eat me words :(

I ran some errands after work the other day and had a lot of stuff to carry up to our apartment from the parking garage.  I needed Miles to walk so I gave him something to be in charge of so that he would follow along and help me push the doors open like the days before.

Miles decided that he would do the opposite of everything that I wanted. I loaded all of the bags (containing lots of canned food, jug of bleach, and lots more) onto my arms and tried to get Miles to follow me.  He went the other way.  It kind of reminded me of Cooper – he loves to be chased.  After several minutes passed, Miles started weaving in and out of the parked cars.  He’d occasionally peek out to see where I was and then start running away – laughing his old man belly laugh.

Yes - I know – this sounds cute at first.  But 45 minutes and a couple of bruised wrists later, I lost all patience.  I picked Miles up while still holding all of the bags of stuff and used every last ounce of energy to get him into the elevator.  Miles was not happy to have his game end. He threw a man-sized tantrum.  He had a time out in his crib while I focused myself to finish the rest of the very long night. 

The UNlistening didn’t stop there. Daycare has been telling us that they’ve been struggling with the same issue.  He wants to play and follow his own agenda rather than listen. Whatever happened to “obey your father and mother.”  I know I wasn’t always the best at that, and I’m nearly positive that Nathan wasn’t either….  Isn’t he too young to be so defiant?

Hmmm… Maybe he’ll do a little better as his vocabulary increases.  But I love him lots… and I love a challenge. This could be fun! Wish me luck!

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