11 Months Old - Tanner

Man was it hard to get a good photo of this squirmy little boy! He is fast approaching 1 and keeping us on our toes. 11 months and not walking is difficult when outside b/c if the grass it wet or we are on concrete, crawling isn't the best mode of transportation! Or conversely, if we are on dirt or sand, a little boy who puts everything into his mouth shouldn't really be allowed on the ground. Sooooo, it's hard and he won't tolerate the walker for very long. He does love being outside though--just not contained, stroller included, if it isn't being pushed. Tanner, you crawl, you coo, you wake up a couple times at night still, you get into everything, and you stole our hearts. 

Not a bad one! 

Just sit still and look! 

Pushing him back into the seat and quickly snapping the picture. He thought that was pretty funny :) 

And this was difficult. He tried to grab this every chance he got!!!!

So, we had to resort to this :) 

Love you baby! I think I call him baby more than Tanner...or baby Tanner :)

Big boy Blake - lots of firsts

Where do we begin? Our preschooler, Cubbie, big brother, selfie loving, swimming, social little boy???

I think the sign says it all. :) 

Checking out the school with his family

After the first day--being silly with his name tag. 

Swimming lessons!!!! He has come soooo far this year. Early in the year, he cried being carried into the water. After a Mommy & me class where we just introduce them to the water, he was ready for swimming lessons. Now he swims into the lake with his life jacket and jumps off trampolines! 

Engaging a young boy in a race at the beach. The kid was running into the water several times, so Blake just positioned himself next to the kid when he did it again and raced him while he ran. Sometimes we meet kids who aren't as interested in him, but he tries. The kid did it a couple times, but then stopped even though the adults with him encouraged him to continue b/c it was so cute having Blake race him. :) 

Jumping off the trampoline!

Racing in the kids big wheel race. He is fast! He would have won had he had a bigger front wheel like some of the others. They have a real advantage, but he was trying the hardest!

His "slightly" too large tye dye shirt from VBS :) I made Sadie's b/c she was too young for VBS

Blake made us take a picture of every dinosaur at the zoo :) 

But still loves his teddy bear :)

He also loves music but won't sing for an audience typically. So, here is a taste of him singing at home :)

Blake singing "Who Built the Ark"

Sleeping, silly Sadie

Our Sadie has given us a run for our money with her sleeping. Thankfully, it has gotten a little better, but she fought bedtime pretty hard for a while there. She still hates it, but has maybe given in a little?? We also got her a big bed mattress b/c it seemed she was uncomfortable on her toddler one. Also, she moves around so much that she needed bigger. I'm thinking of going with a king size soon...j/k. We also find her in places other than her bed. Last night I had to get up with Tanner (venting about that is for another day) and I think I stepped on her hair while I was going towards the stairs. She was inbetween the stairs and the bathroom and I didn't see her. I just heard her moan a bit while I was walking down the stairs and that's how I realized she was there! Mind you, this was the middle of the night!

Here are a few places we have found her, although her favorite is just going into our room to fall asleep, and then we move her when we go to bed :) I can't seem to find a picture of one of those times, although I'm sure I took one!

Sleeping outside her room, feet up on her door, water bottle in one arm.

 She had a toddler bed, which she would fall out of, so we added another mattress on the floor. When we switch to a big mattress, we doubled up the mattresses on her bed for a few days and shoved it against the wall. We found her like this:

On the bed, under the shade

Another view: must have been looking out the window, then fell asleep

At the top of the stairs

Halfway under her bed...

Next to Grandma at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She much prefers someone next to her when she sleeps. 

She used to strip all her clothes off, including her diaper, so every night we'd go in and dress her back up. More recently, she would just take off her diaper and then put her pants back on, so we'd have to go in and make sure she was still wearing a diaper before we went to bed. Most recently, she usually leaves the diaper on, but rarely do we find her in the clothes we put her to bed in. She always changes after we leave. :) Such a girl :) The diaper removal we found the hard way--let's just leave it at that ;)

She also loves a funny face! Here's a few :)

Funny face!!

Silly girl (she was copying Blake on this one)

Blake and Sadie goofing off with the camera in Mommy and Daddy's room (Blake took this) 

And this.

Funny face!

Oh whoops, she didn't want to take a picture here, so she put her face on the table :) 

Probably her favorite silly face

Oh, and did I mention she has a mean stink face too? 

Silly photo with brother Blake :) 

She love this :) 

Fun with banana in her mouth

Our climbing little boy - Tanner

This is what happens when you have a major milestone and you are 11 months old with two older siblings...

Tanner's Milestone

I really don't remember when the other kids started doing this, but I feel it was later...Tanner has been climbing the steps for a very long time now and mastered them quickly, but it is only recent that he can descend. He also climbs on my dishwasher door, up step stools, kid's rocking chairs, and lots of other dangerous things. Ok, the dishwasher is only dangerous b/c one of these days the door is going to break and then I'll be upset ;)

Climbing the diapers

At the top of the stairs...Blake took this and showed me later. A bit disturbing b/c he could have fallen (this was before his tackling of the descent)

Climbing a step ladder (which he can now climb down like a pro)

Playing with the dishwasher (every time it is open, which makes it hard for me)!

Watching Daddy mow the lawn

I am thankful our spokes are close together!!!

Look at me Mommy!!

 Also, our little man drives little cars around, which just melts my heart. I honestly don't remember Blake doing this at such an early age. I can't get enough of it! He especially likes this one that revs up when you push it.

Tanner pushing cars

Vroom, vroom!

Outta the way, Daddy!

Fun phone call

Ok, so I had a phone call I just had to document. As an introduction, our little miss Sadie Jane has given us quite the fights in going to bed at night and many nights we find her sleeping in our bed. We never do hear her go in, she just sneaks in. Well, tonight, Scott and I were sitting down to play a game and my phone rings. I get up to get it and the caller ID says "Scott Miles." My initial thought is that he lost his phone and someone was calling me to let me know they found it. I mentioned that it was from him, and he said, my phone is charging in our room. I answer it and there is a pause, and then a sweet little voice. It was Sadie. She says Hi and says something about Grandpa and Grandma. She clearly thinks she is talking to Grandma. I was tickeled pink about this phone call because it was so incredibly cute. Here is the conversation in a nutshell:

Sadie: This is Sadie
Me: Well, hi Sadie
Sadie: Hi. Do you have to go to work today?
Me: No, I don't have to work today.
Sadie: Can you come to my house?
Me: I'm already at your house. Do you know who this is?
Sadie: Grandma. My name is Sadie.
Me. I know you are Sadie. Sadie, this is Mommy.
Sadie: I'm not Mommy, I'm Sadie.
Me: Sadie, aren't you supposed to be in bed?
Sadie: I'm on Mommy's bed. I'm on Daddy and Mommy's bed.
Me:  Sadie, this is Mommy you are talking to.
Sadie: I have to go poop. I have to go pee. (side note: Sadie always claims she has to go poop and pee when she wants to get out of bed).
Then Scott grabs the phone and says, "Sadie, go to bed!"

Soon we see her emerge from the bedroom and heads to the bathroom. I couldn't get over how funny it was talking to her while she is chilling in our room, thinking she is chatting with her Grandma!!! Man I love this girl.

This is how we found her later in our bed, phone next to her on the nightstand:

Tanner Jude

Ok, it is high time that I included our dear Tanner in my blog. Tanner was born Sept 19, 2015 after a relatively short labor. I had some contractions the night before that seemed more consistent, but I wasn't about to be faked out again, as I had a ton of contractions with Tanner, thus leading me to believe this baby was definitely coming early. Well, he was my latest. 1 week late and 8 lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches long to be my heaviest baby yet (by 2 ounces). Blake was just a tad bit smaller, but Tanner has been growing much faster than Blake was due to his ability to keep lots of milk down without spitting it up, and also due to the fact that his Mommy was able to supply a ton of milk, whereas we struggled with that the first time around.

Thankfully, we had a neighbor who was willing to be on call in the middle of the night because naturally the only time we go in in the middle of the night is when we have two other littles sleeping peacefully in their beds. I woke at around 1 or 1:30 and realized my contractions quickly became consistent and fairly close together. I woke Scott (or he woke--geez, I should have written this sooner!) and I told him they were about 5 minutes apart. They hurt, but I could handle them. Well, he thought we should go to the hospital with them so close together and after considering it for a moment, I agreed. Well, the contractions quickly escalated and by the time Beth got to our house (around 3:30), I was bent over trying to control the pain.

I didn't want an epidural, and since I was 8 cm when I arrived at the hospital, I figured he was coming fast. Plus, they said it would take 45 minutes for an epidural and I (and they) figured it was possible he would be born before then. Also, they said they could break my water to speed things up. I agreed b/c, why not?? Well, after they broke the water, the contractions became much more painful, to which they said, "well, now you don't have the water as a cushion." What?! Thanks for telling me that AFTER you broke it!! Well, of course, I wasn't progressing as fast as expected and now my contractions were quite intense. The anesthesiologist was now in the building and since I had been started on the drip just in case, I could have relief in an instant. I thought, why do I make myself go through this? Yes, give it to me. Of course, after that, everyone disappears from our room and we seem to be forgotten about for quite a while. Finally, they decide that yes, let's deliver the baby before the next c-section since she is a healthy 10 cm., which i had probably been for a while. They considered going to do the c-section first, but I am thankful they delivered Tanner b/c unbeknownst to me, he had the cord wrapped around his neck. He came out purple, but quickly took some breaths and his color returned. I had to fight some guilt afterwards for getting the epidural when later I knew he would have delivered probably an hour earlier if I hadn't gotten drugs and may not have been purple. They have assured me he was fine b/c his heartbeat was fine and showed no signs of distress. But honestly, they weren't very good about even keeping that device on me. It was falling off so I had to put it back on. So, knowing I couldn't do anything about it and the experts were telling me he was fine, I had to put it behind me. But, what if there was some damage they don't know about and don't make the connection to that??? A mommy always wonders, but he seems just fine :)

I again had some difficulty pushing since I couldn't feel anything, but thankfully was able to get him out much sooner than Blake (I pushed for 2 hours with him). We had an ultrasound the day before and had a scheduled induction in case Tanner didn't arrive by Tuesday, and at the ultrasound, they guessed him to be about 9 lbs 5 oz. Scott has guessed to the ounce the size of our other babies, but was thrown off by their estimation, so he guessed high. He was a bit disappointed about that, but still didn't quite think he would have been spot on, but he guessed higher than he though due to their guess.

Tanner wasn't named for a while b/c Scott and I couldn't decide on his name, but just before having to give them our SS# paperwork, we had it figured out and he ended up with Tanner Jude Miles, which if he chooses in the future, he can also go with TJ. :)

Here are some photos of our beautiful baby boy! I still love looking at these!

He's here!!! 

All wrapped and cozy

His cute little hat he got at the hospital. Dang we make cute babies :) 

Love from his sister

Love from his brother

With his Grandpa Miles

Grandpa miles came to watch the kids. Beth had dressed Sadie, or let her dress herself. She had her swim top on, pajama pants, no socks and tennis shoes when she arrived at the hospital. It was so cute

Our family of 5 

Snuggles with Mommy

Snuggles with Daddy

With Grandma Spaeth

Arriving home!!!

Tanner Jude is a blessing from God!!