Welcome to the Royal Texans Blog

The Royal Texans blog is all about our family and the people we love. It's a little crazy being a Mommy of two lil' guys, but I eventually post everything so check back often for updates on Oliver and Miles!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Miles Brown Royal is Six Months old!

So my baby is one-half year! We are officially entering the sweet spot. Don't get me wrong, I love my babies just as much as anyone else, but I especially love it when they are so interactive and can help themselves a little.

I never thought I'd say this, but Miles has become a GREAT sleeper. Most nights he sleeps 12 + hours, waking up once or twice. The other night I went in to feed him around 5, and by the time I got in there, he had already found his own pacifier; I was so surprised! I still bring him into bed to nurse in the mornings and that is one of our sweetest times together. He is starting to fall asleep more regularly after his morning feeding, so I am thinking this is going to have to end soon. Miles traveled to both Utah and Oklahoma in the last month, and he was an excellent little traveler both ways. And surprisingly, he slept really well as long as he was in his own bed; I think he actually liked having me in the same room. He sometimes takes a little longer nap too, but mainly he is taking 3 30 minutes naps per day.

Miles continues to be a great eater: He has tried more things this month and found more things he enjoys like yogurt, grapefruit, avocados and pumpkin. Although he will eat them, especially if not presented with anything else, he doesn't seem to have an appreciation for green vegetables. I think his face is hilarious when I give them to him...almost like he is going to gag and he talks a lot while he is eating them. We've increased his baby food feedings to two times per day. In addition he nurses four or five times a day (this includes night time feedings), and is fed five or six ounces of formula, three times per day. Sometimes it seems like he is eating all day and his weight is certainly showing it. We haven't yet had his six month appointment, but we weighed him on a scale and by our calculations he is a whopping 17 pounds!

Miles has perfected rolling from his front to his back, and his back to his front and can easily twist and contort his body along with rolling to get almost anywhere he wants, we call this rollamania at our house (Oliver did it too). And if he can't use rollamania to get something and it is on a blanket, he knows he can just pull the blanket toward him and he can get it. He LOVES playing with toys and will reach for anything he sees, no matter where we are, so we always have to be careful while holding him.

I think one of the things I am most excited about with him turning six months old is that his blocked tear duct has cleared! It was still blocked over the weekend when we were in Oklahoma and I remember talking to Clayton's mom about it letting her know that the doctor said it usually disappears before a year, and that if it doesn't than an Opthamologist can do a type of roto-rootering on it to clear it out. But then a few days later I realized that I hadn't been cleaning his eyes for a couple of days. Woohoo! I am so glad it cleared itself up! And I'm really glad he doesn't always have the yucky stuff in his eyes any longer.

Before we get to the pictures from today, there were a couple left over from the last month without a space for blogging, so I wanted to post them first.

Miles absolutely loves his baths. He gets SOOO excited when he sees me take the tub out of the utility room. I'm not sure if it is because he knows he is going to bed, because it is just Mommy & Me time, or if it is because he really loves the bath. Maybe it is a combination of all.

Even though the lighting is not great on this pictures, I did love walking in the room after I finished getting Miles stuff ready for bath and finding Miles resting on his Daddy's shoulder. So sweet!

Alright, now onto the half-birthday pictures...

Miles got the same toys Oliver did for his six month birthday, and he enjoys every single one of them as if they were brand new! :)

Look how tall he is on that tummy!

My six month old little cutie!

Loved this one too!

And Miles LOVES his big brother so much that his half birthday wouldn't be complete without some brotherly love pictures too...



He got hold of Oliver's hair and so Oliver backed away

Miles went with him!

Next they tried sharing the red chair

Miles didn't like it, I can hear him yelling inside "too tight", we here that a lot from his big brother!

And finally some of big brother by himself...

Okay, what is this face??? Silly boy!

now there is my sweet boy

and finally, a very cute big brother picture

Happy half birthday Miles! Oliver and I celebrated for you by eating a cupcake while we were at the mall tonight and it was really yummy! Next half, you'll get your own cake...I promise! We love you!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Oklahoma Christmas

Since Miles has turned in to such a great little sleeper, we decided that we would make the trip to Oklahoma in the evening, when he would normally be sleeping. We fed, bathed, massaged and placed him in pj's, just as we always do except next he went into the car seat. I vaguely remember trying this with Oliver and I think it failed miserably because it was summer and since it was light outside he wanted to be awake, but it actually worked really well with Miles. He was fascinated by all the lights from cars so it took him about 30 minutes to fall asleep, but he did really well after that. And I have to say I was incredibly impressed by Oliver's great efforts to stay really quiet for 3 1/2 hours since he didn't fall asleep until about 15 minutes before we arrived. It was Oliver's first time sleeping in a big boy bed with Daddy and Clayton said he did really well, and Miles was quick to fall asleep in his portacrib after we got him set up too. Clayton's parents haven't seen Miles since he was about a month old, so it was fun for them to see how big he has gotten. Oliver had a great time digging in Grandpa's pile of dirt, playing t-ball, and "messin" with Grandpa. The boys were angels and we had a very nice trip! Thanks for the gifts Grandpa & Grandma Royal; it was so good to see you!

Grandpa Royal with Miles and Oliver

This is about the time when Miles started smiling every time I took my camera out

Grandma Royal, Oliver and Miles

LOVE this picture of both Grandma Royal and Miles

Grandma feeding Miles

Grandpa feeding the rest of us

Oliver digging...this may have been his favorite part of the entire trip (the second day we were there he dug a tunnel through the pile only we didn't get a picture)

Peek-a-boo Oliver, where are you in that hat?


Oliver & Miles in front of the Christmas tree

Miles with his stool Uncle Hank handmade for him, so nice!

Oliver concentrating really hard on opening the box

I didn't do a very good job of capturing the excitement of his present opening...he couldn't do it fast enough and I had to help him

I think Oliver opened EVERYONE'S presents! Here he is opening Daddy's gift card

Now his own awesome t-ball stand

Showing Miles his rattles and onesies that he opened

LOVE the kiss!

Showing Miles his learning table that he opened

And now even opening Grandpa's gift

Grandma enjoying her gardening book

Grandpa checking out his exercise bands

Oliver running the bases

Check out that game face and t-ball stance

Too funny! This face reminds me of something Uncle Steven might pull! :)

That night before bed, Oliver and Grandpa were playing at the table. They would growl at each other and say "Are you messin' with me?" It was really fun to watch them play together and Oliver had a great time!

The following afternoon, Miles got in some more time with Grandpa and Grandma as we packed up to go

This time Oliver was asleep within 30 minutes of hitting the road

It only took Miles about 5 minutes to fall asleep

We ran into some traffic on the way home and what is normally a 3.5 hour trip, turned into about a 6 hour trip, but they both did phenomenal! So proud of my boys!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Oliver Clayton Royal is fifty months old!

I was a total slacker for this monthly birthday (blame it on Christmas preparations) and this is the only picture I took of Oliver all day. Happy 50th little O! :)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Picture Joy Christmas
View the entire collection of cards.

miscellaneous

Just four random pictures that don't necessarily go together, or have a theme...

my sweet baby sleeping in after nursing

snuggling in Mommy and Daddy's bed after waking up

Miles rocking the Bumbo!

And Oliver in his backhoe tractor pose...I think he does a great job with this, and the sound makes it even more realistic!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Just hangin out

It was cold tonight, so Oliver snuggled up in our robes to make dinner. Oliver thought we should take a picture, and I like the way it turned out! Love my little cheesy boy!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Gingerbread house + Pamela = FAIL

Okay, let me say this is the third Gingerbread house I have ever built and they have ALL done this. This time I let the frosting set up twice as long as the box recommended and it still did it. Why does my roof always seem to slide???


before the catastrophe

It had already slid and we tried to fix it, so we took a quick picture with it

It didn't hold, here is the fallen house

At least Oliver was positive about it, he said it was the chimney for Santa to come down

Next year I am buying a prefabricated house!

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