Ice Cream Crank

Sunday we volunteered at the Ice Cream Crank for Drake House here in Roswell. Ben's firm had a booth last year but it was the weekend of my baby shower here so I had other stuff going on. We decided it would be a fun to do with Miller. Of course when I volunteered for our time slot a few weeks ago, I tried to plan around Miller's naps at the time, but of course those changed. I tried putting Miller down early but he has been taking forever to go to sleep which meant he only got a 20 minute nap when normally he gets about 2 hours.

 Anyways, he was pretty good. We walked around the park but once things started, Miller and I stood in the back of the tent while everyone else worked. We tried to hand them the tubs of ice cream out of the freezer when they needed it.

These are some of the hats we had in our booth. This picture makes me giggle everytime I look at it.

That hat did not last long so I tried out another one. 

You can see that was not going to last long. And yes, I dressed them in matching outfits, bow ties and all.

Another go with the ice cream cone hat. 

This is what Miller and I did in the back of the booth. 

Working really hard. 

 When our shift was over, we met up with some of our friends. Pretty much, Isla and Miller ran around while the rest of us held the little babies and chatted. When we got home, we knew Miller was long overdue for a nap, but it took him and hour to fall asleep. We are starting to wonder if he might only need one nap a day. He has been sleeping more and more at night, waking up later in the morning,  so maybe he is getting a lot of what he needs then. He has been getting up between 9:30 and 10, making his first nap be around 1, and then we always eat lunch after that. Pretty much, we are eating lunch at 3. This week I am going to to try to have him go to bed earlier, wake up at a decent time and see what his naps do. If he is ready for just one nap, so be it, but this mommy is not sure she is ready for that. I like my naptime break!

This picture is from Sunday night. Miller was being so good and playing with his toys. I happened to catch him leaning down and kissing Scout. He has been so sweet and doling our kisses lately.

We are heading to Knoxville this weekend and we actually have not been out of town in over a month and a half. I am excited to see my family, and of course they are all just excited to see Miller.

Miller Week 43

I finally have some time to post some recent pictures.

This is when my mom was in town. Miller loves to play with her glasses. I tried putting them on him to complete the nerd look my mom had started with the outfit and the hair. 

That day, Friday, I got a call in the afternoon from Ben. He asked if we were coming to Beerthirty. I just thought he wanted to know when to head home if we were not  coming. He said Heather was not feeling good and probably needed to go to the hospital. After a bunch of back and forth I finally figured out that she was in labor. We did lots of calling around so I went over and met Ben who drove Heather, and Steve and Isla at their apartment. Yeah she was in labor. We brought Isla home to eat dinner and get settled in for the night while we waited to hear when her little sister was born.

Miller and Isla having a date for dinner. 

Heather had Miss Ruby early that evening. It was super quick! The next day Steve came and picked up Isla to go see her baby sister. We hung out a bit, and got ready. Then Ben and I left the house with Lindsey to go to the hospital. We saw the baby and visited with Steve, Heather and Isla. Then we had lunch. 

Steve brought Isla back that evening. We did not know if we needed to give Isla a bath but we figured it would make for good pictures so after dinner we headed up to Miller's tub. They had so much fun!

I had lots of not web suitable pics so these were the best G rated ones. 

We wrapped them both up and laid them on the bed like we always do with Miller. Normally he rolls over and tries to run away. This time, he rolled over and started to give Isla kisses. He loves her! (sorry the pics are blurry. I was trying to be quick and did not get a chance to adjust my settings).

I put him in his jumperoo in the mornings so I can pump. Most days he goes crazy but this one morning he started dozing off. He has done that 4 times and I have no idea how that is possible. 

Saturday, we finally did some much needed yard work. Ben went outside to trim bushes so he took Miller's jumperoo out there so he could watch while I made breakfast. After a while I saw that he had a couple of bug bites so I brought him in but he still wanted to watch  daddy. 

This is just a random shot from the other day. He looked like such a big boy in this outfit and shoes. 

Most of the pictures that I have taken the past few weeks have been for projects that I have done around the house. Not sure when or where I will post those. I will keep you updated .

Miller: Month Ten

(I know this is late. Sorry! Keeping up with blogging has been kind of hard lately. I am trying to focus more on keeping up with daily life and maintaining my sanity.)

Weight: 21 lbs 4oz (+13 lbs 2oz)

Height: 29" (+ 7.5")

Head: 19.5" (+ 4.5")

Sleep: For once, I am happy to report about this. As I said in his nine month update, we decided to try sleep training Miller to reduce his night time wakings and stop him from getting our bed. In the past month, we have only had a couple of times with two wakings. For the first one, we let him fuss for 5 minutes, go lay him back down with his paci and he goes back to sleep after a few minutes. For the second one (or the first and only on most nights) it is around 5:30 or 6, I get him, bring him to our bed (where I sit up) and nurse him, then put him back in his bed. For the past few days he has actually been sleeping all through the night. As for naps, sometimes they are a little shorter than I would like but for the most part he takes two decent naps.

Eating:As for solids, he is a great eater. In terms of nursing, it is another story. I try to feed him when he wakes up, before naps, around 7 in the evening and before bed. If he does not nurse well before the nap, I try again when he wakes up. Normally 75% of those feedings are not very long because he gets distracted after a minute or two. I am not going to force feed him so I try not to worry.

Best Moment: It is a challenge to pick one best moment. Miller hitting a big milestone (as I mention below). Having Miss Isla over when her mommy had her baby sister and how much fun her and Miller had. Miller reading (also mentioned below).

Milestones: He got two more teeth, says a few words ("Hi", "Mama" which means more, "Dada" when he is babbling, and I swear he says "Love You" when I do) AND he started walking. For the longest time he would only take a step or two but with some bribing we got him to take more and more. Now, he chooses to walk to places rather than crawling. I love him walking. I know some moms cry when their children hit milestones but I love it. He is such an active child and I love to see him find an easier way to get around that makes him so happy.

Monthly Wisdom: As I mentioned in my only recent post, my two best friends had babies. I love, love, love these babies and there are many things I miss from my own child being a newborn but it really makes me appreciate where Miller is. In the past 10 months, we have overcome so many challenges. While the thought of having another baby when we are blessed with another one normally makes me excited, I am more thinking about having to start all over and hoping that we can accomplish the same things that we have with Miller. Plus, newborns are cute and cuddly and so innocent but there is no personality. I remember feeling as if I knew Miller so well when he was brand new and now I realize that I had no idea who he was or myself. Now, we are best buddies. I went to a friends bachelorette party this past weekend and I was so excited to get a break from mommy life but actually I was so glad to be back home and with my boys. I was glad that this was my normal life.

Goals for the Upcoming Month:
- Continuing to plan his birthday. Yes, you read that right. Miller's birthday is coming up in less than two months and I am working on stuff for his pictures and parties. And yes  that was plural because we are having a party in Knoxville and one in Atlanta.
- This kid has been clingy so I am really wanting him to go back to being a bit more independent. I hear this is a phase, that I hope he will soon grow out of.

Things Miller is doing:
- Walking!!!!
- He tries to climb but since he is still little, he can not go too high when he tries hiking up his little leg to get on top of something.
- He loves to read books. Whether it is us reading  to him, or him flipping through a book on his own, this kid loves books!

Just a Little Blog Update

I have been a bad blogger. It is not that nothing has been going on blog worthy, but more there has been too much going on.

We have actually been home for 4 weeks and that is the longest stretch in this house and almost the longest stretch since Miller has been born. Since we have been home, I have been tackling a few projects around the house, mostly crafty home decor stuff which I eventually will be blogging about. We also managed to unpack a bit more. We still have some things in boxes and not in their final place, but we are mostly settled for our day to day use.

My two best friends here in Atlanta, both had their babies, 5 days apart. It has been quite exciting, just busy with 4 separate trips to the hospital this week, watching other children, and taking some newborn pictures. Last weekend we had Heather's older daughter, Isla while her parents were in the hospital with Miss Ruby. Isla was great but my kid can be a pain. He had so much fun with her and was sad to see her go home. This week we had to do some serious arranging so that Heather and I could go see Lindsey with her new little Luke. I am so happy that we now all have babies that can grow up together (and then get married and give us grandbabies).

My mom was here last weekend, yes when Heather had Ruby, so it was a huge help to have her around. She helped out with both kids, and babysat so Ben and I could go visit at the hospital and go on a date.

Other big news in our world, Miller has had two more teeth come in on top, bringing the total to 6 and he started walking. For a few weeks now, he will take a few steps every couple of days with a lot of coaxing. Mom and I worked with him on Monday and now he is walking all over the place. I am so proud of my big boy.

Alrighty, now that I unloaded, I need to start posting some pictures and maybe a video or two. I will be working on Ruby's newborn pictures and then I will get around to posting some on here. Hope it is sooner rather than later. Have a good week blog world!

Miller Week 40

In our second week in Knoxville we had visitor that Miller got to meet, my stepbrother Joe, sister in law Leslie and nephew Silas. Miller was so excited to meet his cousin.

Pheobe and Miller snacking..

Jake was so patient and snagged a Goldfish when no one was looking. 

Silas is such a cutie! I love his little cabbage patch kid cheeks. 

The boys loved watching each other play. 

We went out to eat for Mitchell's 18th birthday. Miller was trying a lime. 

 

The reaction to the lime.

We had these chocolate covered pretzel sticks. I took a bite and Miller asked for it. I gave it to him and gnawed on it for a while.

Watching the rain. 

On our way out of town, we went to the cabin. Miller and Silas got in the baby pool (aka the hot tub with the temperature turned down). 

My kid loves to splash. 

Silas just sat there and chilled out. 

It was a fun trip and we miss everyone but we were so glad to be back home in our own house and own environment.