The Miller Family: 2014

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Thankful

Almost four months have passed since my last post. I guess I'm not really using this blog to document things as much now that I use Facebook and Instagram. Alex turned 9 almost a month ago and Heidi turned 17 months a couple of days ago. Alex just got glasses and is so proud of them. Heidi is beginning to talk, so it is fun trying to figure out what she's saying. Isaac is growing up so quickly; I don't really want to think about the fact that he will be 12 in a few short months. He is almost through the 1st half of his 6th grade year. Before I know it he'll be going on to high school. Isaac is playing the trumpet in the school band, and he is really good. I am not sure where his musical abilities come from, but it is so fun to listen to him play. He has his first band concert next week, and I am really looking forward to it.

Alex's Minecraft birthday cake that turned out to be a disaster

I think all the boys enjoyed roasting marshmallows

Alex and his birthday Hershey pie

Alex's new glasses

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. My parents and some of C's family came to our house to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful to have two parents who are still living. They haven't been feeling the greatest lately, and it reminds me that they won't be around forever. Thinking about that makes me sad, so I try not to think about it too much. I am thankful for a strong marriage. Sure, we argue and get snippy with each other (mostly me), but I am glad that we talk and work through whatever is bothering us. I still tell myself what my daddy told me before I got married. To make a marriage work, it takes two. And he was right. Also, I am thankful for three healthy children. That is a huge blessing. I am thankful for our home that we finally found. We have been moved in for almost seven months now, and it really does feel like home. I am excited to celebrate our first Christmas there. I am thankful for the friendships in my life; the old ones that are always there, the ones that I've reconnected with and the new ones. I am thankful for a good employer, but ready for a change. So, I hope to find a new opportunity with my current company in the coming year.

Heidi and Aunt Jess

Heidi loves all the Christmas decorations

I am looking forward to celebrating the holidays with family. I hope that we can make it to see the Christmas lights as a family this year and maybe do some other fun holiday things as well.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Catching up finally?!

A lot has happened since my last post. So, I left off with Mother's Day and Heidi's first friend birthday party. What has happened since then?

At the end of June we went with my parents to Holiday World for Mr's work's family day. The boys had a great time on the water slides and some of the rides, but they didn't ride enough roller coasters to suit me. I really like roller coasters. I think we all enjoyed watching the shows at the park. Heidi took several naps in her stroller. It was a nice weekend.

July 1st was Heidi's first birthday! We celebrated at home with hamburgers, cupcakes and presents. My parents came over and it was a nice small celebration.

July 3rd my wonderful Mr. decided to try to light a fire in our back yard when he got home from work. As I was getting into the shower that morning I heard a loud bang. When I looked out the window he was laying on the ground rolling around and taking his work clothes off. It was a very strange and confusing sight. By the time I got outside to see what was going on I figured out that the loud bang I heard was the gas can he was holding exploding. He was rolling around on the ground to try to put the fire out. The blue flamed fire caused by the remote control car gas that he was using was difficult to see and therefore took too long to put out. When he first got inside I didn't realize the burns were so bad. After he covered himself in mustard to try to draw the heat out, we discovered how badly he was really burned. So, we cleaned him up and I took him to the ER. Long story short, he spent the next six weeks under the care of the Vanderbilt Burn Clinic. He was never admitted to the hospital, but he was seen at the clinic once a week over those six weeks. His burns were mostly second degree and didn't require any skin grafts. After taking care of him for six weeks, I can say I can honestly probably do almost anything. Burns are a tough thing to take care of. The risk of infection is high, so I was super careful to make sure everything was clean for him. I immediately cleaned our bathroom so that everything he touched would be clean. Lysol was my constant friend. I changed our sheets daily for the first several weeks since he was spending most of his time in the bed. His bandages had to be removed daily and the burns cleaned and re-bandaged. The first time I had to change them, the whole process took three hours. It took less time as more of the burns started to heal. The whole time though, I was so thankful that I was the one able to take care of him and that he was not in the hospital having to be cared for by nurses and doctors. The whole situation could have gone so differently and ended up so much worse. I am so thankful that he is still here with only minor evidence of what he has been through. Although, I don't think it is an experience that either of us will forget for the rest of our lives.
July 5th we (I say we... Mr. barely remembers it due to the medication he was on) celebrated Heidi's first birthday with our family and friends. It was a nice gathering but sort of a blur to me. Having to get everything together for her party and take care of Mr. at the same time was a lot to do. I couldn't have done it though without the help of my parents. The party was at their house and my mother prepared most of the food. I am thankful for the pictures I took so I can look back on it and remember. Heidi wasn't really into her cake. She definitely didn't destroy it like her brothers did. She seemed to enjoy the cupcake that we gave her on her birthday more than the cake that she had at her party. She got a lot of cool presents and her first pair of diamond earrings. Heidi might be just a little spoiled.

July 21st Heidi started a new daycare closer to our home. She has been there for a month now, and she is doing great. It has been an adjustment for her moving up to a toddler room. She was ready though. She no longer takes a bottle, she eats anything you feed her and she naps well. She would still like to take two or three naps a day though if you let her. She likes to sleep.
August 1st the boys started a new school year. Isaac is in the 6th grade and Alex is in the 3rd. They have both done really well these first few weeks. Isaac is playing in the band at his new school again this year. He is trying the trumpet this time though instead of the saxophone. He was really excited to find out that he can take band and PE because at his last school he couldn't take PE if he was in the band. Alex has a girl friend at school which has been his motivation most mornings to go to school. We have told him that it is ok to have friends that are girls, but he needs to remember that learning is the most important reason he goes to school.

We have signed the boys up to play soccer this fall, but I haven't heard from their coaches yet, so I'm not sure when that will start. We are really enjoying our new home and are adjusting to being out in the country. We have ventured out a few times to learn more about our new town. I think it's going to be a really nice place to raise our children. I have found some peace in knowing this could be where we'll be for at least the next 17 years until our baby girl goes off to college.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

changes

Back on April 10th we celebrated Isaac's 11th birthday. He wanted to go to Cheddar's for dinner, so that's what we did. Afterwards we went back to the apartment for cake. Although, I think I was the only one who ate a piece. So, I think next year we may do something different.

We bought a new home at the end of March, so we spent about six weeks in the apartment before we moved to the new house. We wanted to let Isaac take his TCAP tests at a school where he was familiar. So, the boys' last day at their old schools was May 9th. They started their new school on May 12th. Isaac had already moved up to middle school, but in his new school, the 5th grade is included in the elementary school. I am thankful that the boys went to the same school again for two weeks because I think it made the transition easier for both of them. Isaac will be starting a new middle school in August.

The last week that Isaac was at his old school, he had a band concert. We were pleasantly surprised at how great he and the rest of the 5th grade band sounded. It is amazing to me how well their band director worked with them. Isaac apparently learned a whole lot more about playing the saxophone than we realized. Isaac wants to continue being in a band, but I am not sure if he will continue to play the saxophone. Hopefully he will have an easy transition to a new band at his new middle school.

Alex recently got a couple of brackets placed on his teeth to start straightening them now that his palate has been expanded. He was so excited. He and Isaac both go back to the orthdontist in a few days to have everything checked out. Isaac may be getting braces soon too.

We have done a lot of work painting the new house since we closed on it. The previous owners liked much bolder colors than we do, we have repainted half of the rooms in the house. The rest of them are pretty neutral colors that can wait a while to be painted. The next rooms we'll paint will probably be the boys' bedrooms. I took before pictures, so now that almost everything is in order, I'll take after ones and document the comparison.

Until then, here are some random pictures that I have taken over the past few months.