Here in West Michigan, slowly the weather is feeling more like Spring. It hasn't been particularly warm, but the sun has been shining and it is a reminder that warmer temperatures are on the way.
As a family, we are trying to make use of the nicer weather, and we are feeling how nice it is to be back outside. The thing we are most looking forward to are walks which we hope to incorporate into our weekly schedule.
Here are few picks of your favorite Miles from the last week:
I believe we mentioned this before, but Miles has really gotten good at reaching out and touching a target. Here is a picture of Miles touching Mama's face while eating and reaching out to touch the mirror on his play mat. These picture are from a bathtime. Miles continues to enjoy the bath. The first pic is an action shot (note the kicking foot) as Mama goes in to wash the little hair Miles has. The second is Miles' concerned look... he has been working on it. This will probably be our last post for a couple of weeks. We are traveling to Florida next week in what will be Miles' first road trip. Say goodbye Miles...
Today has been a REALLY good day. I have been waiting for a day like this, and here it is. What makes it so good? Not the weather, not what I did or didn't do, not because of any external factors. The Holy Spirit prompted my heart this morning with a hopeful and peace-giving word. Although not a new thought, it is revolutionary every time I re-learn it.
God is the only water that I thirst for.
There is so much more I could say about that, but the words just don't seem to give justice to the complex thoughts that dash across and through my consciousness. Have you ever dwelt on a confusing physics problem, sitting to think about it for a long time, and experienced a milli-second glimpse of it all making sense...only to have it slip away into confusion again? I can feel this slipping already, as I slip back into my week of routines. I treasure a day like today, however, where it all seems to make sense. I thank God for the reminder, and for being an always-available well-spring.
I pray that Miles will someday hear and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is an honor to take care of this gift that God has given us...
Here's his hard-to-catch-on-video laugh:
And here he is eating carrots...finally a food that he loves!
Thanks for letting me ramble a bit. And thanks for checking in on our little family.
Well, the streak had to come to an end. Like Megan mentioned in the last post, the month of February is a busy one and I am glad we are on the other end. Before I get to our Miles update, some updates on our life.
At the beginning of this week, I along with a few of my colleagues traveled out to Seattle for a Student Affairs conference. The conference was great and I felt that I learned a lot. It also wasn't too bad spending a few days in Seattle. This was my first time there and I really enjoyed it. We spent time with good friends, enjoyed some good food, and got to check out some neat sites like the Pike Market and the Seattle Library, both very cool destinations. Thanks to Joe and Rachel who played the role of innkeepers. You guys are awesome! All in all a very good trip.
The Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle
Megan and Miles during my time away traveled to another great city, Tinley Park Illinois, and visited with the fam. Seemed like this was a nice get-away for those two as well. I think for all three of us, however, it is nice to be home all together!
Where is Tinley Park you ask?
So, since I have 6 weeks or so to cover, I really have my choice of "Miles-Tones". Needless to say, this was a very busy and exciting time here in our little apartment. In no particular order:
Miles Speaks: It's true. Now, he has no idea what he is saying, but Miles has gotten a lot more "chatty" over the last month or so. He always has made various noises, but they seemed like either a) mistake noises or b) screeches. Now his noises are more deliberate and under control. Even his cries seem more calculated. Common Noises: Bah Bah, Dah Dah, Mah Mah, Bwah, Ike, pbth, owewa, etc... Words we thought he came close to saying: window, thank you, itchy, yeah, no, mama and dada, neuroplacisity (well, maybe not that last one).
Miles Eats: Well, this title is also a little misleading... it should read "Miles eats solids" or even better "We put food in Miles' mouth and some of it he swallows". I am joking actually, Miles, while messy, actually is a pretty decent eater these past few days. He has his favorites - sweet potatoes, prune juice and oatmeal - but he is pretty open to anything. It is very fun to feed him and he gets a kick out of "sitting" with us at the dinner table.
Below is a video that shows both of these talents. This is a few weeks old (2/28), but shows him enjoying food (somewhat) and saying "Bah Bah Bah". Note: this is a longer video. If you want to skip to him talking, it is later in the video
Miles Sits: This is still a work in progress, but Miles has been working really hard on sitting upright. Usually you have to distract him while he is sitting or he will get bored and will fall over. Below is a picture displaying this very challenging skill.
Miles has also started doing other things: rolling over front to back almost automatically (he still hasn't quiiiiitttteeee figured out back to front but he is close), reaching out for faces, toys, and other things I am sure I am missing.
Here is Miles hanging out with dad as they check on their fantasy basketball team Miles chilling on a bench on a day out with mom. Miles and mom from that same day. Like above, Miles is dressed like a bear. Scary.
Well, that is all for now. Enjoy this very cute picture as Miles wishes you a happy St. Patrick's Day (remember, he is 1/8th Irish).
So Matt is really busy with work right now. Residence Life is in the midst of interviewing candidates for next year's Resident Assistant positions. Therefore, he has not been able to take his turn to post recently. He still reserves his right to be the next to update everyone on Miles, but I thought I'd throw in a treat for archive's sake.
We didn't start our blog until the night before Miles was born, so I never did post my pregnancy pictures. Well, you are in luck, because here they are! The first one starts at 3 months, and each picture has about four weeks between them...
Hey folks! Here are some fact-updates on Miles (for those of you who like to know the details), and then some good pics from the last week or so...
At this week's pediatrician's appointment, we found out that Miles is in the 97th percentile for height! We knew he was looking long! He's also just under 18 pounds already. New things he's doing lately? He will grab things placed close to his hands and bring them to his mouth, he'll spend long amounts of time entertaining himself in his new jumperoo, he tried rice cereal, and he's had a good week of naps (we just put him down, walk out, and he falls asleep--we went back to swaddling him for his naps, though, because it's the difference between a 30 min. or a 2 hr. nap!). Oh yeah, he finally re-rolled over:) He did on his 1-month birthday, but that was just a fluke because he didn't do it again until last week! It's a lot of fun to see Miles' personality develop more, too. He's seeming to be quite contemplative and content. Matt predicts he'll be the kid who is a little quieter, but busy with whatever things are right around him.
Here are some recent pics we like:
We hung out with our friends Colin and Sarah and their son Henry on Friday night.
It was such an amazing and momentous event watching the inauguration of our first African American President! Miles and I watched it together (we don't usually face him towards the TV, so he was enthralled with the bright lights and sounds!). It was so cute, and I thought that Miles might want to see/remember that he experienced the event, so I took some pictures...
And then there's Miles' first taste of cereal:) We haven't added cereal to his regular schedule yet, but we bought some on sale in preparation, and just had to see him try it!
Please no more, Mom!
Needless to say that it is going to take him some getting used to:)
Wow, wanted to get a blog post in before January was all gone. A lot has happened since our last post and so here is a brief overview...
-We traveled to Detroit for New Years. We had a great time visiting with family, especially seeing Auntie Liz an Uncle Jay who are currently living in Mexico. It was great spending time with them, along with my parents and Laura. We had a great time.
-We had a few days back in GR before everything got started again. Megan is now back at school one day a week and I started grad school classes after taking a semester off. Also, interim is a very crazy time at work for me.
-Here at Calvin, the new field house opened up the first day of class. It is a beautiful facility, great new arena, and this fantastic climbing wall. I had an opportunity the next week to climb on this wall, and I really had a blast. I think I really could get into this hobby, though I also became very aware that I have very little...well... strength. It was exhausting.
-Also, winter is hitting us here in the heartland really good. Being the weather geek that I am, I know that we have already surpassed the yearly snow average. It also has been uncomfortably cold over the last few days, with lows as low as the single digits.
Here are some pictures, y'all.
This is a picture from our trip to Detroit, actually taken by Jay. Let's go back in time for a second, to November, to Miles' baptism. Here are a few pictures taken by Laura... Here is Miles rocking out an outfit from Aunt Allison... Here is Miles' favorite thing to do... ... and his new favorite toy... ... and a few of our favorite pictures...
Hello friends and family! We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas! We were able to see and celebrate with my (Megan's) side of the family already, and are off in about 10 minutes to see Matt's family and continue the festivities. Having a baby really reminds me of how helplessly Jesus entered our world. The King of King and Lord of Lords...completely dependent! The story really takes on a new meaning in light of our new experiences these past few months.
Some new things from the past week or so: Miles is batting at toys, smiling even more than before, putting himself to sleep for most naps (I still let him fall asleep for the night during his last feeding), and possibly teething (it seems early, I know, so we'll see). He is now over 17 lbs, and just turned 4 months old on the 28th.
Before we leave in a minute here, I wanted to post some pictures from the Christmas celebrations we had with my family (notice the difference in picture quality--we got a Nikon D50 for Christmas from my parents. Thanks guys! These are just the first of many memories we will capture with such a thoughtful gift!):
Enjoying Grandma's tickle games
Men's edition of the grab-bag game at the big Visser Christmas party (we rent my childhood school's gym, play volleyball/basketball/etc., eat a potluck dinner, visit with a ton of family that we wish we could see more often, and open presents).
Great Grandma Stob is happy to see Miles!
And play dress-up with Miles using her scarf:)
"What just happened to me?"
The next day we had the Stob-side Christmas party at my parent's house. Aunt Charity tried to soak up as much Miles as she could before going back to Alaska!
My brother Nate couldn't get off of work for long enough to make it out for Christmas, so my mom found a dessert recipe for "Orange Alaska", which we ate "in memory" of him. It consists of an orange sherbet/yogurt/juice mixture on the bottom of a frozen organge-half, topped with meringue, and broiled to a brown which makes it look like mountain-tops. We guessed that is where it got the "Alaska" part of its name.
Matt and my Dad went out for a morning of experimenting with cameras while all of the ladies got together for coffee at my Grandma's house. Here is one of our favorite pics that Matt took.
Blessings to all of you in this New Year! We pray especially for those who have spent days or nights alone during this season, and for those who have lost loved ones around this sentimental time of year. We thank God especially right now for the years we were able to spend with our sister-in-Christ Shari, who went to her heavenly home just a few days ago to celebrate Christmas with Christ himself.
Thank you for the important role that each of you play in our lives! Thank you for all of the great times we will have been able to spend with many of you over the holiday season! Oh, and many of you are reporting that you can't post comments on our blog. We'll try to check into that once things slow down again. Thanks for checking faithfully, and let us know if you are trying to post and can't.
We are the Cooke Family! Matt and I met during college, and we fell in love with each other over a matter of a couple of years as we came to know how deeply we both long to love Christ and love others. We have since grown into a family of four. This blog started as a place to update folks on our firstborn and sadly our second has not been as published yet due to, well, life. However, since our families are not in the same city as us, we feel convicted to again try to squeeze out a post every once in a while. We hope to convey our love for Christ and our love for others as we continue to update folks on life's major Mona- and Miles-Tones and everything in between.
It was getting very difficult to hide this (I needed maternity pants by 2 months)!
I was desperate to finally announce it to my teaching staff. 
