Miles Updates...

Fall has arrived... Someone forgot to tell the weather!

This is a pic of our mommies group at the pumpkin patch. We had a great time playing with the little ones & all the pumpkins. You'd never guess that it's late October by the 83 degree weather! Where's the sweater weather??!!


Miles has his mommy & daddy wrapped around his finger with all the smiles he's been giving us lately! He gets more & more fun everyday!! He laughs at all the silly songs we sing to him- no matter where we are. Don't be surprised if you run into us at Wal-mart singing B-I-N-G-O....B-I-N-G-O...B-I-N-G-O & Bingo was his name Ohhhh. It's really been quite humorous seeing what parenthood will do to you! Suddenly you don't care what other people think about you- as long as you're child is happy it's all good!

Miles discovered pumpkins for the 1st time this week. I think he likes orange! Go Gators & Clemson!

He actually got to help carve his 1st one (see pic below)! ok- not really but he probably would have liked to play in the slimy pumpkin mush!

I know, the cubbies are done this year- but they gave it a good shot this year- so Miles had to give them some love and show his support. Plus he looks so darn cute in this outfit!!

Go cubbies!!

Miles and his buddy Brody hit the gym together.

He found a girl-friend to hang out with too- Meet Leah Klein.

Maybe in oh... about 30 years!! Sorry- he can't date until he is 30- nothing personal - just house rules!

Daddy & Miles love to hang out & watch sports center!

Daddy's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

It was Daddy's birthday Sept 11 - so we decided to get away for a few days and head up to the mountains outside Gatlinburg, TN. Miles was dressed and ready to celebrate. With Daddy's favorite Starbucks and a Chick Fila chicken biscuit in hand (ok, it was Mommy's hands) -Miles greeted Daddy for his birthday morning. Unfortunately it was a rainy day- but we considered everyday Daddy's birthday while on vacation.

Turns out, Miles is quite the little hiker as you can see. In fact, his very 1st trip he got to see a black bear. I must say I was a bit nervous about the hike -Josh kept saying... I hope we see a bear. And I kept saying... I hope we don't! But all in all it was a really neat experience. Miles actually got to see a real live Winny the Pooh before the cartoon! The bear found honey! He was coverd in bees! It was a little scary - but great never the less! I plan to put the video up on the blog- but I don't know if we are blog savvy enough yet to do that! We'll see!

In other news... Miles also made his 1st trip to the beach! It wasn't the best timing on Mommy's part- We had just come the dr- Miles got his 2month shots :( But- our great friend Jen was in town and we had to make it to the beach before she left. Miles was rescued by Daddy about 15 minutes after we got there! Hopefully the next beach experience will be better!

This was Miles before his mean shots.... He was so happy- laughing and smiling. Which of course made it that much more difficult - I can't even express how sad I was to let him get shots. I know it it is a necessary evil- but I wish I could have taken them for him!!

This was right after ... :( :( :(

I couldn't even stand next to him while he got the shots. Josh was the brave one. I stood in the corner, heating a bottle- trying to distract myself so I wouldn't have a melt down! I mean really, I felt like if I stood next to him while this mean nurse stabbed him in both legs- I thought he would look at me and think- how could you let her do that to me?! So I was the clean up crew and tried to soothe him after the storm. I am thankful that Daddy could do the hard work!

I know it's been a while since we have posted... sorry to those faithful readers. We'll try to get better!

4 Generations of Surratts...and a little more!

Miles' Great Grandpa was in town this week and they got to spend some quality time together. I thought this was a cool picture - 4 generations of Surratts in one picture. It's kind of crazy when I start to think of some of the history that is there. 3 out of 4 of the Surratts that are pictured are pastors. I don't know what Miles will do when he grows up, but I am thankful for the groundwork that my dad and grandpa have laid for him. Because they have chosen to give up their lives for God, Miles will have every opportunity to grow up with the knowledge of Jesus' love for him.

In other developments:

• Miles sat in the bumbo seat for the first time. This is definitely dad's favorite wake time activity!
  



• Mom started a new mom's small group on Tuesday mornings. Miles is meeting lots of new friends...and mom is getting to spend some time with some adults!





• I love our bedtime routine. We feed him, change him into his pj's, sing him 4 songs (Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and You are My Sunshine), pray with him, and put him down to sleep while he's still awake. We are so proud of him for learning how to get himself to sleep! Now if only he would sleep a little longer!



• Lisa and I have been reading some great parenting books that have helped us develop a gameplan with Miles. I'll post on that later.


• Miles is really embracing the Cubs as his favorite baseball team. Imagine that!

S-MILES!

Okay, nobody actually prepared me for what happened today. Lisa and I were hanging out in our bed this morning, playing with Miles, when he looked up at me and did the most amazing thing I have ever seen - he smiled at me. Apparently this type of activity started a couple of days ago with Lisa, but I hadn't witnessed it yet...until today.

Miles officially has his parents wrapped around his finger after that one. I think he will pretty much get anything that he asks for from here on out. All he has to do is flash those pink gums at his daddy and I won't be able to say no! In fact, I think I am going to go buy him a car tomorrow!

In other news, Miles weighed in at 10 pounds, 14 ounces yesterday. The boy has been gaining weight to the tune of an ounce a day for the last few weeks! He definitely takes after his father in the eating category. Failure to thrive is not an issue with this little chunker!

Here are a couple of pictures for your (my) enjoyment!

Pictures are courtesy of Papa Greg. If that preaching thing doesn't work out, I think he could make a career in photography!

OUCH!!

Miles got his first shot this week! I must say, as his father, that I was pretty impressed with him. He had fallen asleep right before the nurse came in to give him the shot, so when she hit him with it, he was totally unsuspecting.

Upon realizing that he had been attacked by this lady while his parents stood by and did nothing to help him, he let out two really loud screams...and then he went right back to sleep! Whew...we got by the first one with out too much damage. I hear it gets harder as they get older.

On a happier note, we did a little photo shoot with Miles this week and it turns out he really likes the attention. Here's a couple of the pictures. Will post more later!

Miles Turns 1! (1 month, that is)

It's hard to believe that Miles is already one month old today. In some ways, it has flown by, and on the other hand we feel like he has always been a part of our lives. He has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams!

So we celebrated by doing one of Miles' favorite things...taking a bath! As you can see, he is a big fan!

Then I remembered how much stinkin' money we spent on his crib...and he hasn't slept in it once! So what better present than to introduce him to his crib. He actually did really well! You may notice that he is actually sleeping on his changing pad in the crib. I guess he's on that changing pad so frequently that he is pretty comfortable with it.

Here was our view of the action from our bedroom on our sweet video monitor that we got courtesy of our small group! Just one of the many perks of being in a small group!

Bring on the next month...we are absolutely loving this!

These are a few of my favorite friends...

(Sorry for the long wait between posts! Dad had a busy week last week in prep for the weekend...but we're back.)

For being such a little guy, Miles has made quite a few friends. We can't wait until he can actually play with them! So here are some introductions:

This is Wrigley, Miles' oldest brother. He has more or less ignored him since day 1...but he did that with Otis too. So the jury is still out on how that friendship is going to work out.

Speaking of Otis...here he is! Today Otis grew concerned about some of Miles' whimpering so he licked his face! Believe it or not it worked! He's a great older brother.

This is Miles' first actual baby friend Brody Banks! He and Miles love to play soccer together...they will pretty soon anyways. Right now they just like to sit in their car seats and hang out. The Banks are great friends and we are so excited to be raising our kids together.

Say hi to Gavin Plis, another one of Miles' good friends! He even offered to hold Miles' head up for him during a quick cat nap. Heather, Cory, Haley and Gavin are long-time friends of the Surratt family!

Miles' first girlfriend could possibly be Seven Overcash. There's no doubt that Seven is one of the smartest, most athletic little 2 week old girls you will ever meet! Michael and Kristen sure did make a cute little princess!

As you can see, Seacoasters have been busy popping out babies here lately! We still have the Robinsons, Fazals, and Phelps in the on deck circle. There's no doubt that these little crumbcrunchers are going to be keeping KidsCoast busy!

Miles Goes to the Movies

Obviously things are really different for Lisa and I now that we have Miles. We understand and embrace the adjustments that we have to make now that he's here. But at the same time, we still want to live our lives and continue to do the things that we enjoy. So in the two weeks that we have had Miles we have had the grandparents babysit four times...most of them so that we could go and work out, run errands, and visit our friends, Michael and Kristen, who recently had a baby. They are so gracious to do this for us...it's quite the sacrifice...can't you tell!

Tonight we decided to take Miles with us on our date night. It was quite the adventure! After a nice dinner at Outback thanks to a gift certificate from some other great friends, we decided to go catch a movie that we've been wanting to see, License to Wed. Miles did great, but we did have a couple of minor issues. 20 minutes into the movie Miles got a bit queasy and spit up all over himself! Fortunately, Lisa always packs a couple of extra outfits for him so she got him changed and back in there. He must have been pretty bored because he slept through the rest of the movie.

Then a pretty bad thunderstorm came through towards the end of the movie...which caused a power outage. By the time we left our theater they were experiencing some pretty bad flooding in there. We had to wade through ankle deep water to get out. Quite the adventure!

We capped the evening off with some Starbucks with our great friends and small group leaders, Matt and Brooke. Our first date night with Miles in tow was great! We're looking forward to many more!

Some More Firsts

Over the past few days, Miles has experienced several more firsts. Here's the proof:




1st Starbucks





1st time to Seacoast












1st Restaurant - Charleston's Cafe - mmmm!








1st Diaper Change By Grams and Papa Greg





All in all, it's been a good couple of days!

Why Miles?

I have had a lot of people ask the logical question, "What's the significance of the name Miles?" That is a great question. I mean, choosing a name is one of the more stressful parts of having a child. The name is something that a child is going to have to live with for the rest of his life - or at least until he's old enough to legally change it.

So naturally, Lisa and I struggled for a long time trying to decide what to name him. We didn't actually make the decision until we were in the recovery room after Lisa's c-section. Here's the logic: We just like the way the name sounds. It's not a family name. It's not a biblical name. We didn't even name him after my good friend Jim Miles, although I thought about giving Miles a "silent Jim" on his birth certificate. In fact, when you look up the origin of the name Miles, heres what you get:

MILES m English The meaning of this name is not known for certain...

I love that...because we were uncertain of what to name him up until the last minute!

If you dig in, the origin of the name is believed to come from the Latin word for "soldier". We hope that Miles will grow up to be a mighty soldier in the army of God! I pray Jeremiah 29:11 over him all the time!

While that would make a great reason for picking the name, the truth is that we just like the way that Miles sounds! As for the middle name, my middle name is Gregory, which is my dad's first name. We liked the idea of carrying that tradition on to the next generation. Thus the name Miles Joshua Surratt!

I was happy to hear that my sister and her husband are now thinking of naming their first child Kilometer. Ha!

#1 Dad

I really have been in awe this past week with my life. The Lord has doused me with blessings! I am so thankful for my boys. Josh has been the most amazing husband to me for 6 years and now to watch the Lord mold him into a dad has truly been awesome. His love for Miles has made me love him more than I ever thought possible. He has been so patient with me and the 2am feeding frenzies. He has jumped in with both feet - helping out with all of the house work, changing diapers during late night/early am feedings, bringing me breakfast in bed, and keeping us all on somewhat of a schedule. And all without me asking. He has blown me away in out serving me. He has made me feel more beautiful and more loved than ever- even with my mushy belly and leaky boobs! He has been so cute taking pictures of every waking moment- careful not to miss a beat of Miles' little life. I thought he might even document the 1st poopy diaper... I am glad he spared us! But really, I think this kid will be the most photographed child around!

Anyhow, I write all of this in great gratitude to Josh for all of this - and the Lord for his awesome blessings of an amazing husband and a beautiful baby boy. If I even get started on my love for Miles- I am afraid my postpartum hormones will leave me a sappy puddle of tears on the floor! He is truly more than I could have asked or imagined!

I thought I'd share a few pictures of Miles and Daddy taking an afternoon

nap. Aren't they cute?! He certainly looks like he has made himself his own personal throne upon daddy's lap. There really is nothing sweeter to me than these two boys!

Much Better!

I ragged on the little man yesterday, so I have to give credit where credit is due today. Miles slept like a champ last night. We actually feel like we could get out and accomplish some things today. It's amazing how your perspective on sleep changes after you have a baby. 2 hour stretches of uninterrupted sleep are like gold these days!

Here are some pics from the last couple of days:

Miles loved his first bath.

He liked being dry and bundled up even better

These are the two most precious people in the world to daddy!

He had his first doctor's appointment yesterday. He's healthy as a horse! He currently weighs in at 6 lbs 12 ounces...one ounce more than his birth weight. Pretty impressive after only 5 days. Like any Surratt worth his name, God gave him the appetite of an offensive lineman in the body of a defensive back!