Miles' First Halloweenie

Miles was an extinct dinosaur for Halloween. He got to sleep in for a little while because he was spending the morning with his Nana, before she headed back to Texas. Miles, his Nana and I went shopping in the morning and then headed to lunch with his Daddy at Addison's.

I also wanted to include the picture below in today's blog because I feel like it will be one of those wonderfully embarrasing pictures that he forbids me from showing off when he is a teenager.

 The day before (Sunday), we attended the Early-Miller Halloween Bash. There were so many adorable babies and toddlers running around that I almost couldn't stand it. Exhibit A:

Miles had such a fun time! He went as Baby Smurf, and Andrew was Gargamel. We got the idea for our costumes from Kenny. He came into the lab one day and asked Andrew "Do you know who you look like?" Andrew said, "Who?" and Kenny said "Gargamel!" So, we ran with that.

 I am Azreal. The cat from the Smurfs and Gargamel's partner in crime.

 And...bit of trivia....there is acually a Granny Smurf. My mom was a sport about it. We created this costume on Sunday morning.

Miles' favorite Mommy Song

Here is a song that is usually a sure fire way to get a smile from Miles - 60% of the time, it works every time. Can't wait to see my own mom this weekend!

Miles' First "Father-Son" Talk

Here are a couple of adorable videos with Miles cooing and laughing during a nice conversation with his Daddy.

The 'Great' Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, our friends, the Cooks and Millers, invited us to a pumpkin patch just outside of Columbia. It was a beautiful fall day, if not a little warm, so the Littlefields headed out for another adventure!

When we arrived, we were surprised to see that there was admission fee for adults ($5), but Miles was still free (< 12 months). The poor Early-Millers had to pay $15 for the triplets, plus another $10 for themselves.

Here is a picture of Miles in his outfit, reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson

First, we saw a donkey that was part of the petting zoo. The petting zoo was mostly a bunch of goats, some turkeys, and chickens. There were two little pigs I felt sorry for because they were in a smallish vat with a screen over it. The donkey screeched at Miles and he just stared it down...

Then we took a hayride around the farm and got to see some animals and a small lake. Miles had a great time on the tractor!

We hung out at the small lake for a little while. Little Thomas got into the [spring break] spirit of things!

And the triplets were hamming it up...so cute! Here is an adorable snapshot of Eva and Alex.

We ended our day at the "pumpkin patch" where there were actual pumpkins for sale (by the pound). We didn't actually go home with a pumpkin because we honestly didn't want to pay them anymore money. I figured we could get a pumpkin either on our way to Moberly sometime (as we did last year) or at the supermarket.

Still, Miles enjoyed our outing and he got to see a lot of new things! (BTW, his onesie says: "I'd rather be reading Faulkner").

Zorro Steals Some Thunder

This morning when we woke up, I put Miles on his playmat to grapple with Captain Calamari (and Friends!) for a bit as he normally does in the morning. When I put him on his belly for tummy time, he rolled over for the first time! I wasn't sure I could capture it again, but Andrew didn't see it the first time so we tried a reenactment.

In true middle-child-syndrome fashion, Zorro let us know that he thought he wasn't getting attention. So, we got Miles' second roll over on film...kind of.

Our Trip to Chi-Town

Last week, the Littlefields drove up to Chicago. It started out as a trip to meet with some collaborators at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Then I realized I wouldn't have enough reserve milk to leave Miles at home with Andrew for 2 1/2 days, so I asked Andrew to come up with me. We decided that we should stay an extra day, as long as we were up there, and morph it into a nice family trip.

On our way out of town, we headed to the Moonrise hotel. Yes, we still had a chance to book a room after the debacle a few weeks ago. It was a nice opportunity to split up the trip on the way North. The Moonrise hotel went out of its way to treat us very well this time around. We had our room upgraded for free to a suite.

It was very swanky and the bed was quite comfortable. Andrew and I lamented at how we only got to stay from 9p-6a before we headed up to Chi-town.

I was excited to get some quality work done with my new collaborators. This was my first time meeting two of them in person. The other I had met at a conference a couple of years ago. After our meetings, we came up several papers we are working on and also a contribution to a special issue. The authors in the special issue read like a "Who's Who" in the field I study; so I was grateful to just say my name outloud on one of the conference calls. A little name recognition might go a long way, who knows!? For the two days I was in meetings, Andrew was a stay-at-hotel dad.

They had a great time together. The first night, my collaborators and family went out for a traditional Italian dinner at Rosebud's. Everyone took turns holding Miles and he was a little fussy but also a big flirt, so it worked out pretty well. The conversation was easy and enjoyable.

After my meetings were over, Andrew and I took Miles out to a nice Greek restaurant, Santorini. The ambiance was just beautiful. I had the salmon, cooked very simply and deliciously. Miles had a nice nap underneath the table.

The next day we headed, first to a Jewish Deli (The Bagel), and then to to Shedd Aquarium.

Miles first had a quick lesson in the art of noodling.

The next thing we wanted to see was the Aquatic Show. Miles was transfixed on the sea lion. I think it had something to do with the spotlight that followed him around on the floor of the arena.

During the show, Miles "blew out" his diaper and Andrew had poop running over his pants leg and onto the stone floor of the show arena. Miles had made mess all down the side of one leg. As I was cleaning up, a boy about two rows down started vomiting profusely - what looked like milk. No one noticed our mishap, but people couldn't really miss this other showcase of this poor boy, so we soon headed off to the gift shop to purchase a "Sometimes, I am a little crab" onesie. This did a good job of covering up evidence of his recent accident.

After the aquatic show, we headed to the Happy Feet 4D experience. I am surprised Miles lasted through the 20 minutes short film. The seats moved throughout and the seats in front of us periodically "spit" at us, either "snow" or "sea water."

As we were headed downstairs on the elevator to see the beluga whales, we were thrilled to see that our only other fellow passengers were a penguin and his caretaker. This was quite exciting because the penguin exhibit had been closed due to habitat cleaning. We tried to tell Miles that this was probably the only time in his life he would be in an elevator with a penguin but he didn't seem to notice - he was too busy smiling at his Daddy. Oh well, we captured the following picture (although not a real penguin) for posterity's sake.

Even though he wasn't interested in the penguin, he was amazed by the beluga tanks:

When we got back to the hotel, we had some take out sushi (I can't go to a big city without trying the local sushi joints!). Of course, we also got a deep dish pizza for the road home because, hey, we were in Chicago!

The next day we headed back to Columbia. The car ride was pretty uneventful. Miles mostly slept the whole time. We did manage to fit in a stop at Charlie Parker's (featured on Diner's, Drive-in's, and Dives) in Bloomington IL on the way back.

It was a fun trip! Somehow though, since we have returned, Miles doesn't really like car rides as much as he used to. Go Figure!