Who Needs Teeth?

Happy Halloween!

Wish You Were Here

Myles is 7 months old today! We celebrated with his first trip to the beach. (The pics I took were way overexposed and these are my lame attempts to fix them.) Myles decided he wanted to roll off his towel over and over again to get to the sand. Apparently he thinks it's yummy. He was not a fan of the water or being placed on the wet sand. He does, however, love the pool! He's growing up so fast!

I also forgot to mention in our last post that you can see more pics of Myles on Twitter.com if you search for #mylespicofday. We try to post a new photo each day, so you can catch up there.

A Family for Four Weeks

I always wondered why it took people so long to post after they got home, ha ha! Now I know. These past few weeks have flown by, too quickly (well, not the first week and a half — see previous post!). But we are doing so well now! Here's a little about us:

Eating and sleeping: Myles was a great sleeper while we were in Ethiopia but he wasn't very interested in eating. When we first got home he was starving all the time and never wanted to sleep. We also discovered Myles was probably held quite a bit, which is a great problem to have but made bedtime challenging. We all finally adjusted to the time change and we're on a good schedule. And we don't have to rock Myles to sleep anymore. We can lay him down drowsy and he'll go to sleep. We're at the beach right now and he's sleeping like a champ. We've also started cereals and have some squash to try out this week. We've tried a little juice also but so far he's not a taker.

Bonding: Myles is such a sweet, easygoing, and funny baby that it's easy to love him. But the bonding really was not instantaneous for me. It's a process, and jet lag and the flu didn't help. But it gets better all the time. I'm not sure yet that Myles knows we're his parents. He will go to anyone without fuss, so it's hard to tell.

Development: We've been to the pediatrician and the Vanderbilt International Clinic for Myles to be checked out. He's in the 17th percentile for weight, the 19th for height, and his head circumference is something like the 71st percentile! We haven't gotten back all of his bloodwork yet, but so far so good. Myles isn't too far behind developmentally, with the exception of his torso strength. When we first got home he wouldn't bear any weight on his legs, but he does now. In fact, Myles had an ultrasound on his soft spot to be sure there wasn't excess fluid on the brain that was hindering his development (there wasn't). He continues to make progress and does amazingly well with tummy time. I don't think it will be too much longer until he's able to sit. He's also very vocal (it's so hilarious to hear him roll his R's) and says new sounds all the time. He loves to "sing" in the car.

More about Myles: When we were in Ethiopia Myles wouldn't take a paci, but we've found one he loves. Give this kid a paci and a blankie and he's out! He loves blankies, really fabric and anything with texture. He's fascinated with his hands and feet. He actively tries to make us laugh. His first trick when we got home was scrunching his nose and sniffing in and out for laughs. His newest trick is fake coughing, which he learned from our nephew Eli last weekend. We got him a Baby Einstein stationary jumper to help with his leg strength (that and tummy time has really helped), and he loves it. He also loves music. He does this funny little wiggle and nods his head when music comes on.

The dog: Myles seems to like Topher, or at least doesn't mind him. Topher has been really sweet with Myles, which is a miracle. I've had to pry fistfuls of Topher's hair out of Myles' hands and Topher has been so gentle.

We're on vacation right now, so I don't have my laptop with pics from our trip. But I do plan to post about our trip soon. I don't have tons of pictures anyway because our camera broke on our first day in Ethiopia. A few families have sent us some great pics, which we really appreciate!!!

For now, here are a few shots I have from Chris' computer:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It has been quite an eventful first week home as the Hollomon three.

The Bad and the Ugly: We touched down at JFK last Saturday morning and stopped to get some food first thing. When Chris went to pay, his debit card was declined. After a quick call to the bank, we discovered Chris' debit card number had been stolen and someone in our hometown went on a many hundreds of dollars shopping spree while we were in Ethiopia. The card was flagged by the bank because of some of their purchases. We're working to get that resolved. Then Sunday we discovered our refrigerator was broken, so we took all of our food to the church freezer. What are the odds that the church freezer would break? I'm not great at math, but it happened. And now today, our van died. Then within the hour we totaled our other car. So, as a word of caution, please steer clear of us or you may be struck by lightning.

The Good: In the midst of all of our drama, getting over some minor illnesses plus jet lag and time changes, Myles is adjusting really well. I'll post more about him later as well as our trip. Please pray for us!!!

And We're Off!

Well, here we are. It's overwhelming to think that we'll be holding Myles in our arms in just two days. We are so thankful for all of your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for travel mercies and a great bonding time as a family.

A BIG THANK-YOU to all of you who are helping around the house while we are away — all the house sitters, house cleaners, dog sitters, meal preparers, curtain sewers :), and everyone else who will be helping out around the abode while we travel. It is a huge weight off of our minds! We appreciate you all!

The next time we see you, this Hollomon two will be three!

Want to Meet Myles?

We get back to Nashville on Saturday, September 19th, via Delta Airlines Flight 6489 from JFK to Nashville at 5:10 p.m. We would love to see you at the airport!

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