The "Mane" Question

Happy eleven months little man! Miller is growing more towards todderhood everyday. I see glimpses of just how this transition from baby to big boy will look and feel like as each day passes. His rolls are melting away, he's getting more teeth and loves to throw toddler like fits to show he doesn't want something! I so enjoy his sleepy time just before bed when Miller sucks his thumb, grasps his left ear and lays his head on my chest. I treasure these cuddly moments because this go-go, squirmy boy doesn't give his mama as much sugar anymore. Just another sign of his growing independence. He still gets kisses like crazy on those baby, chubby cheeks of his whether he likes it or not.

Now on to the "mane" question. It's a hairy issue around here....To snip or not to snip? It's been in the back of my mind for several weeks. We've had quite the hair journey over the last year. He came into this world with dark brown locks, then progressed to an early onset of an "Infant Receding" hairline. This set back was followed by partial side baldness around three months that resembled a mohawk. After joining "Infants Hair Club" it filled in to a blondish wispy hair that has grown in nicely.

Miller takes after both of us in that he has a lot of hair but it's very fine. He has Landon's hair pattern which daddy is proud to claim.... Two calicks or is it cow licks?? in the back of his head and hair at the nape of his neck that flips out. So cute! We can't decide if his little personality will be more suited for the preppy "not one hair out of place" look or if he will fit into the "longer curly messed- up" look. You take a lot of heat if you wear the longer look as Landon can vouch for. He is still teased for what his friends call "Yanni Hair" (new age classical composer ...anyone??)

I may just leave it alone for another month and see what it continues to do..or just get it shaped up leaving the longer pieces in the back. If only they made baby gel to keep his bangs in place!! It's so special to think that the ends of his hair have been there since birth. And....I've noticed that once you get that first hair cut that baby faced look is definitely lost.

Happy Birthday Griffin!

Miller enjoyed celebrating with his good buddy Griffin today. Griffin is the BIG ONE! Their budding friendship began last year on March 26 when Chris, Katie and Griffin came to visit Miller in the hospital. Griffin was only one month old. Since then, they have had a whole year of drooling, staring and now interactively playing to share. Griffin and Miller enjoy their Sundays in the nursery together. Miller watches Griffin as he shows him the ropes of how to be a big boy and teaches him what to expect the following month.

The froggy party was adorable complete with a frog cake that Katie made herself...so talented. Katie set out toys galore, so the kids all had a grand time playing with balloons, cars and whatever else they could get their hands on. You would never know that Miller skipped his afternoon nap because he was perfectly content enjoying the festivities of the party. It only made us excited for his birthday in exactly one month! Happy Birthday good buddy. Thanks for letting us share it with you!

Found it!

Attention all you bloggers..I finally found a site that supports what I've been trying to do for months. Visit http://www.blurb.com and check out their BLOG BOOKS. It coordinates with blogger and you can order an artisitic hard cover bound copy of your blog for your coffee table. It's great for busy mom's who have a hard time scrapbooking, journaling, blogging etc.
I've tried to print off each blog entry and the pictures and words are jumbled and the formatting doesn't work. Also, it's a waste of ink.
I think I will order a blog book after Miller's first year!
Enjoy!

Suburban Entertainment

I'm officially exhausted! This sweet ACTIVE boy of ours is wearing me out. It's the good kind of tired. The tired where you feel like you've played and played & played all day. Miller was having the best time today in his little activity n' play pin, interacting with the mirrors and moving the wheels etc. I happily went about my business and when I looked back, I noticed that Miller had taken his pants off!! In my week by week baby book it says that this week he should be helping me dress himself...well he's doing the opposite:) Miller gave me the largest, toothiest grin so as to say..Aren't you proud mom? We sat on the floor and just laughed together.

It's so nice when Landon comes home early to play with Miller while I'm cooking or we switch roles quite often too...Landon cooks while Miller and I play. Tonight Miller and Landon enjoyed a fun round of hide and seek around the couch and kitchen. About every five minutes, Miller is so cute to "check in" with me. He crawls my way, hugs my ankles and climbs up my legs clinging for dear life on any inch of fabric he can grab! It's his way to say, " You still here mom?" I'll tried to put him back in the family room near all of his toys but he just cries and crawls my way again to cling to my legs. No separation anxiety here!

Thinking we could enjoy nice conversation over dinner, Miller spit up all over the tile....poor baby! On my way to get a towel, Jackson managed to sit in the spit up. AHH! Landon cleaned up Jackson who managed to mess all over his arm while I scooped up Miller to wash his face! It's never boring around here, but that's just how we like it.

Baby Love

Happy Valentine's Day from my lil 23 pound cherub. While he can't fully enjoy the spirit of the holiday that St. Valentines Day has to offer...cupcakes, card exchanges, dances etc....Miller enjoyed his first V-day experience.

Jack (Mr. Irresistable) as his shirt read, and Paula invited us over for a Valentine's playdate lunch today. The ladies dined on a Valentine's themed lunch...lasagna, a RED entree, a spinach and strawberry salad, Valentine cookies and cupcakes. All the babies enjoyed Jack's fun playroom getting lost in all of his entertaining toys. Paula and Jack were so sweet to give Miller a Valentine favor as we left. It was a playdate bananza! As you can see, I'm going to have to get faster on the speedy action shots. These boys don't stop for a minute to pose. It's go, go, go ALL the time.

After a 45 minute nap!! I know...that's it!! Too much excitement to sleep on Valentine's Day mom, Miller was thrilled to receive his first email. His friend Allie sent Miller a picture Valentine's Day card. Miller just smiled as he looked at Allie on the monitor. I read her message aloud to him. I think she has a crush and Miller is smitten himself.

We wrapped up our afternoon at the doctor's office to see if we could figure out Miller's chest congestion and came home with a penguin and igloo nebulizer. Miller has been battling a chest cold all week. Hopefully, breathing treatments will help Miller stop the wheezing. I'm so glad I went back to the doctor to get to the bottom of what was bothering him. Hopefully, after a nice long weekend Miller will be back to feeling 100%.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO ...From Miller

Stair Master

Welcome home Landon! Landon just returned today from a 4 day national sales meeting in Orlando. We missed him while he was away, but managed to stay very busy.

Miller has a new talent...climbing stairs!! I found this out when I went to get a drink of water and went back to find our little crawler (15 seconds max!!) Well, I couldn't find him in our entryway. There's nothing like that panic. I quickly looked towards the stairs and that's where I found him, second stair up approaching the third stair, smiling back at me. Up go the gates!

Miller enjoyed playing in his diaper box this weekend. He loved peeking over the top & squatting at the bottom of the box. I loved watching him shake the box back and forth until he almost tipped it over. We played peek a boo through the openings on the side. I'll do anything to hear that cute giggle and see those pearly whites smiling back at me.

Speaking of pearly whites....we have one more bottom incisor that came out to greet us this week...making a grand total of eight teeth. Miller's nose is running like a faucet and we have resorted to wearing bibs again after three shirt changes today because of excessive drool. I'm thankful he doesn't have a fever yet.

The majority of the weekend was spent chasing Miller around and keeping him away from all the non toys he shouldn't have in his mouth. His new favorites are pulling on the blinds and lamp cords. He just loves my cell phone, shoes and the remote control. Miller likes to pull up on our tub in the master and play with the fixtures, turning the water on and off. Do they have a safety lock for that too? :) I try to distract and interest him with toys, but those have become boring I guess. The most interesting part is that our sweet,sweet boy throws a little fit ,flailing arms and all, when you remove the non toy from him or move him from the dangerous situation. He's Mr. Independent with a mind of his own, yet still has the sweetest laid back personality most of the time. People always told me, "just wait until he starts crawling". Now I know what this comment fully means!

Thank you for praying for my mom. She goes in for surgery on Thursday to "map" and search the area in her cheek and her lymph nodes for any remaining cancerous cells. If no cancer is found, she will not have to have the five weeks of radiation. Please continue to pray for a safe surgery with no complications. We really appreciate all the emails, phone calls and words of encouragement.

"Super" Tuesday

It was a super Tuesday at The Coffee Park today for lunch. Paula and Heather introduced us to the wonderful world of mommy lunching while the babies enjoyed supervised play in a fantastic indoor playground. What a neat concept! They have coffee, sandwiches, smoothies etc. all to be enjoyed while you can converse with your girlfriends undistracted. Check it out at http://www.thecoffeepark.com/

When Landon got home we went and participated in our civic duty by voting on this Super Tuesday. Our polling place is First Baptist Woodstock.... just a hop skip and a jump from our house. If Landon gets his wish Hillary will mop up the votes today. Just kidding honey. If any of you know Landon, that is the LAST candidate he would choose for office. As I digress..... this was not meant to turn political!!

Notice Miller's "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker. He charmed all the older ladies that worked the polls with that smile of his. We ordered a pizza when we returned home and were suprised to find out that they had a Super Tuesday special. Everyone wants to celebrate this special Tuesday.....
Happy Voting and enjoy this "Super Tuesday"!

WHAT a week!

Sunday: We enjoyed lunch over at our Tim and Michelle's house after church. All the babies skipped their mid morning nap at nursery and played all over eachother. You can see in the picture that they look dazed and tired but the adults had fun lunching and watching all the babies play! Griffin- 11 months, Ansley 9 months, Miller 10 months

Monday: My mom called me from the dermatologist's office to let me know that a small cyst they removed on her face could be a dangerous fast spreading skin cancer. This news had me in tears for the rest of the afternoon adjusting & googling information. That evening, admist the circumstances our family got together for my early birthday dinner. It was great to be all together.

Tuesday: Happy Birthday to me! 29 on the 29th! One more year closer to 30..I yi yi. The children I've had in previous years at school were so sweet to stop by all morning and wish me a Happy Birthday. You feel like a celebrity walking down the hall hearing...happy birthday Ms Fokens...happy birthday Ms. Fokens. To top it all off...this is how Miller woke up from his nap. Landon spoiled me that night with a special dinner/dessert and $ to go shopping( the best kind of gift!)

Wednesday: Meet Mr. Humidifier..."Vicks" is his name. He is clearing the nasal passageways of babies all over the United States and made his way into little Miller's nursery on Wednesday. Landon went to wake Miller up after his nap and said it feels like a salty sauna in there(you have to add salt to make it work!) Miller's just prepping for our beach trip in a couple months. We're hoping this helps clear up his runny nose. Between saline spray, suctioning and a little humidity, Miller's nose should be dry!!

Thursday: Miller took a fall right over my legs. He dove over them only to hit his eye on a toy. It's amazing how it all can happen right in front of you. He screamed right away so I hugged him. When I examined his head, he had a small cut on his cheek and his eye was already turning pink and blue!! My adrenaline was pumping. He was fine 10 minutes later...giggling and playing peek a boo with mommy. Our little bruiser..so rough and tumble.

Friday: We found out that the test for cancer was positive and my mom immediately began pursuing treatment at a specialized clinic in Seattle. We are encouraged to know she found it early& has clear margins and continue to trust in God for her care.

I began looking for options for Miller's care during the week. So many unknowns, but I know it will all work out. ( Romans 8:28)

That evening, I enjoyed a fun girls night at Jennifer's house to get my mind off of things. I love friends like that...who can make you laugh but at the same time cry with you. We spent the night watching girly movies, looking at one another's wedding albums, and playing "Guitar Hero"...Kelly on bass& drums, Laura singing, Erin on lead guitar, Kelli on drums. I NOW know that I would not be a good guitarist...I failed and was booed offstage!!! It was alot of fun.

Landon took Miller on what he calls a "daddy daycare" playdate at the Berrymans. He enjoyed playing with Ansley and Logan. Landon kept him up until 9:00 and then he crashed in the pack in play!

Saturday: I'm just back from the stylist...new cut and color & we finalized the venue for Miller's first birthday. I've received so many sweet emails and phone calls today. Thank you for your encouragement! Landon, Miller and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner tonight. Miller was entertained by eating his favorite Wheatable crackers and smiling at all the waiters.

I've learned one important thing this week... It's definitely a wake up call to enjoy each day with my family one day at a time. I need to stop sweating the small stuff and appreciate all the blessings in my life. We ARE so blessed.

What a week.