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!

So This Is What They Were Talking About

I think the planets lined up against us last night. See, Miles has been in a really good rhythm for the last day or two. Once we finally figured out how to get him to stay awake through a feeding, he would eat a full meal and then sleep for a good 2 hours and then wake up happy and hungry. Then we would repeat the process. I actually thought to myself before we went to bed last night that this isn't as hard as everbody says it is.

Then reality set in. We fed Miles at about midnight, burped him and changed him, then settled in for our 2 hours of sleep. About 5 minutes later he was screaming. He had spit up all over himself and was not happy about it.



No big deal right? We just changed him and tried to get him settled down. After about an hour or so he calmed down and went to sleep. Just when mom and dad are getting ready to fall asleep, he was screaming again. I got up and rubbed his chest and talked to him but none of my tricks were working. That's because he soaked himself - diaper, onesie, swaddler, sheets, and anything else within range. Now I'm getting just a tiny bit frustrated:(



So we go through the whole changing, feeding, burping process again and decide to pull out all of the stops. We put him in the swing. He loved it - for about ten minutes. So we switched that arrangement and I put him down in a bassinet type deal...and I begin to pray. I think it worked because as I was praying for God to settle His peace down on Miles, he relaxed to the point that I heard a loud rumble in his diaper, then another, followed by a loud scream. Uggh! By this point it is 4:39am and we've all been up since midnight. Miles changed clothes more times last night than I do in an entire week! After one more feeding, he finally settled down and spent the rest of the night sleeping on mommy's chest.



Time to start it all over again today! Praise God for fresh starts. We realize that it was a lot tougher on Miles than it was on us. Through all the frustration, sleep deprivation, urination, and defecation, I just can't help but look down at this little guy with total adoration. Yep, Miles has his mom and dad head over heels in love!

Miles Comes Home!

Today was a pretty big day in the world of Mr. Miles. He got to experience several firsts - his first time being outside, his first thunderstorm, his first time meeting his cousins Brea and Ella, and of course, his first time coming home! We were super excited when we put him in the car seat for the ride home and he totally loved it. He didn't make a peep for the entire ride home. (all 5 minutes of it) Here are some pics of the major milestones!






First time in the car seat






He felt very welcome at his new home




He liked his car seat so much that we just plopped it on Papa George's lap at the house!



Grams and Papa Greg came by to babysit for a couple of hours so Lisa and I could get a nap. AAHHH - so great!

A Natural

I just have to post real quick on what an amazing woman Lisa is. She has totally blown me away by the way she has picked up on this whole mommy thing. Miles is so blessed to have a mommy who is so willing to give up everything to provide and care for him. It is like she has been doing this all of her life! Watching her bring Miles into this world this week has opened up a whole new chamber of love in my heart for her. This picture above is my favorite picture yet. When Miles came out, he got off to a slow start. He didn't breathe at all for a couple of minutes after he came out...and Lisa was behind a curtain and couldn't see any of it. After what seemed like an eternity of the nurses giving him oxygen and trying to get him going, he made a little peep. Obviously, it was scary for all of us. This picture is after they got him breathing. I just love to look at Lisa's expression of relief and joy as she saw him for the very first time. For 10 months she had wondered what he would look like, worried for his health, and longed to meet him...and in that moment it all came together. I will never forget it as long as I live!

Second Day Highs and Lows

Miles' second day was quite an adventure. He had some highs:

• He met lots of new friends who came by to welcome him to the world! (He's so sorry he missed a couple of you in the afternoon. He got a little worn out...so did mom and dad!) He loved meeting all of his new friends



• The staff at East Cooper is spoiling him rotten. I don't know if they would admit it or not, but of the 11 (yes, I said eleven) new babies born here yesterday I think Miles is a front runner for the favorite



• His doctor came by and checked him out and he is in tip top shape



• He ate lots of good meals and got lots of good sleep!



• His daddy sang him some good songs and put him to sleep. (This was the first time daddy has ever had a raving fan of the singing voice!)

There were some lows too:

• He got circumsized today. OUCH! Enough said.
  



• He's not a big fan of the diaper changes right now. Give me some time buddy, I'll figure it out.

As you can see, the highs far outweighed the lows. The best high of them all is the grandparents though. He got to spend some quality time with Papa Greg, Grams, Grandma Bobbi, and Papa George. Grandparents are the best!

A Great Day!

What can you say about a day like this! July 5, 2007 will forever be remembered as the day that Miles Joshua Surratt swept his mommy and daddy right off of their feet! Neither of us were remotely prepared for the magnitude of the love that we feel for him.

He came at 2:10 pm via C Section weighing in at a respectable 6lbs 11oz. He was 19 inches long, but I think that he'll lose an inch or so when his little head decreases in swelling. (We'll tell that story later)

Here are some more pics:

The official weigh-in

Meeting Mom For The First Time

Daddy is Pumped!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We are incredibly blessed to have such great family and friends to support us and help us raise Miles. Our single greatest desire is that he grows up to love and serve the Lord...whether that is in ministry or the NBA or anything in between! We'll post more later, but it's time for some rest.

He's here!

Miles Joshua Surratt arrived at 2:10pm on July 5th, 2007. His grandpa thinks he may be the best looking kid ever born. Mom and Dad will check in later with the vital stats.