Eighteen

Months!! A whole year and a half has gone by with our little man. Oh what joy he's brought into our lives and we love our day to day with him. What did we ever do without him.
His intense laughter & action packed busy, busy-ness brightens up our whole house.

Miller's Growing Personality- Our little climber is on top of everything lately. He's been turning lights & fans on and off from the top of his rocking chair for months. When I'm not looking, he loves to climb on top of the kitchen table and play in the fruit bowl. He thinks the shiny red apples are toy balls for him to throw and play with. It's on and off the couches and chairs around here. At least he knows to roll off with his legs toward the ground.
Miller loves to put his head in between my knees with both hands wrapped around each leg and walk right along wherever I'm going. He gets a kick out of doing this to daddy while he's trying to cook dinner!
He loves to play with stickers and place them on construction paper, however he get's frustrated when he can't remove and replace them on his sheet of paper...we're still learning!
Miller stands at our front door usually with his nose pressed against the glass in the afternoons pointing and begging to go and play with the kids on our street. He doesn't want to miss any of the action going on before his eyes. Hmmm...sounds like Landon.
Another funny ritual happens when it's time to go bye-bye. I'll call for Miller and announce bye-bye time. He usually doesn't come running until he hears the garage door open and an unlocked door. Then, he runs as fast as he can making an "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh" sound while his cheeks bounce up and down as if to say, "Hey, you better not leave me momma!!"
He enjoys spinning & turning around and around in circles until dizziness overtakes him and he falls. Walking backwards is also another discovered way of mobility.
Miller also follows simple directions like, "Bring me your sippy. shoes, book, toy etc. I guess I should add that he obeys my directions when he feels like it!! We're working on the importance of obedience.



New Words- Miller's little vocabulary is growing everyday. Most of what he says mimics conversation rhythms that he hears with words interjected here and there.I enjoy listening to his nonsense talk while he "reads" books. He is obsessed with "Melmo" (Elmo). Miller loves reading Sesame Street books and hunting for his furry red friend in all the pictures. As soon as he spots his "tickle,tickle" me buddy, Miller points and proudly announces "Melmo". The cookie monster also captures his interest and he identifies him as "cookie".
Miller loves saying "shoes" and helping me hunt for them in the morning. New animal sounds have been further developed over the past few months..."ooohh oohh, ahh ahh" for Monkey," "toortle" for turtle. "way-el" for whale. "Sssss" for snake. "Prrrshe" & "L-fent" for elephant, "tickle tickle?" for dog. "meoooowww" for kitty kitty."horsey" for horse."grr" for tiger. He loves to make a very fierce lion's "Roar" to scare those around!
He says "hot" or "cole" when something feels a particular way. Miller stands on the air conditioning vent and announce "cole". He sends me into a frenzy when he touches the outside of the warm oven and says "hot, hot" and shakes his hand up and down.
When Miller plays with his toy cell phone, he loves to open it, hold it up to his ear and say "hello". When he closes it, he repeats "Bee-bye" Grandmama taught Miller "bu.....S" and "See the bus" this week as they hunted for big yellow school buses on the road. And, how could I leave out a word we hear every hour on the hour..."uh-oh". My heart melts when he points for something and says, "peez momma?" Just yesterday after Miller sneezed, I heard him say "ahh choo" afterwards...too cute! A favorite hobby of his is to look at family pictures and scrapbooks and point out familar faces. He identifies himself as "baby". Landon loves to observe our mini-lessons on new words each night. I'm sure he's thinking, this is only the beginning of her tutoring Miller:)
Another cute trait he's picked up is humming familar songs and singing certain words in the song with us. We've played our Music CD from this summer over and over and he loves to humm what song is coming next in the series. Our favorite song continues to be "I'm going to the Zoo". Miller joins in with each animal noise and proudly sings along with us. I need to get it all on tape before it becomes a distant memory of days gone by with our big boy 18 month old!

A Day at the Fair...

Happy Fall Ya'll!! Landon and I agree that fall is our most favorite season of all. And, what better way to spend a fall day than going on a field trip to the fair with your family. Well, part of that is true. Landon and I have never really been fans of the sights,smells and well I'll go ahead and say overall classiness of a fair type atmosphere..does that sound snobby?


There's something about having a toddler that makes you want to experience different places and things together. Grandmama and Poppy asked us to all go to the fair on Saturday to join them after their shift at the McCain/Palin booth. When I heard they had a petting zoo and carosel rides, I knew the experience would be enjoyable for Miller. So, we loaded up the car this afternoon and trecked to Jim Miller Park for the North GA State Fair with grand plans and big ideas for our day ahead.
Miller soaked up all the sights and smells. He even chimed in with the squealing he heard from the passengers on the rides. We met many animals at the petting zoo including "too-tles", and "baa baa's". Miller was intrigued by the camel and zebra too!


We ate dinner...traditional fair, fare and then dined on funnel cakes for dessert. Miller couldn't get enough of this sweet treat. He had powdered sugar all over. The highlight of the night was Miller's first ride on the Merry Go Round. Giddy Up! He loved it so much that we rode it with him twice! Most of the time,our little cowboy held on to his wild horsey for dear life. Every time he would pass his fan club, he would search in the crowd and distracting rides to find his onlookers and then laugh. Yee Haw!

Maddie & Mi"th"er

After returning from the mall today, I observed a daddy duty playdate in full swing across the street. I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of all the action.
Miss Maddie Moo invited Mi"th"er ,as she calls him, to take a Saturday joy ride in her dad's car. She decided to drive to the beach and needed some company to ride along. Check out her 3 year old big girl shades. Who could say no to those baby blues?

After soaking in the hotness of the car, we decided a wagon would be a better mode of transportation for this toddler playdate duo. And so they were off into the sunset.... down to the cul-de-sac & back shaded by a cool umbrella and smiling all the way.

Notice Miller leaning in for that good bye hug and kiss from his "girl next door" favorite girl on the block!

Mighty to Save

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I have loved this song for over a year now & never knew or heard the history behind it. Wow..what an incredible story of love and devotion amidst a difficult trial in her life. The song takes on a whole different meaning when you know the events surrounding its making. Also, how God's plans for our lives are often different than what we have in mind. Enjoy & grab some tissues!

Uh-Oh, Spaghetti-O

Take a gander at our messy, messy boy during mealtime! Miller loved this Italian meal so much I thought I'd dedicate a post to his saucy hands and face. He crammed so many noodles in his mouth at one time, I had to retrieve some and encourage Miller to slow down and take his time eating. In between "Mmmm's!", he managed to clean his tray from the sticky noodle mess. The only thing that remained was it's red stain under finger nails and in every wrinkle on this boy's hands! I can only gather from all his smearing fun, that Miller was imagining he was digging in the dirt playing with slimy worms. We're already instructing our little guy to never order spaghetti while on a date unless he can get his manners under control. I figure we have 30 some years to teach him the proper spaghetti etiquette. Until then, spaghetti night will be his favorite!

Nap Boycott

A public service announcement from Miller:



Hello my fellow 17 month olds.... I'm calling to order a special movement right from my very own crib. The protest starts around 9:30 each morning beginning tomorrow, 9-12-08. The reason for all this foot stomping protesting is to boycott morning naps. You see, I've tried out this gig for at least a week now. Not napping in the a.m. really has its perks. You get an extended playtime and you don't miss out on any action downstairs or with other kids for that matter. It's time for a change from all this unnecessary morning snoozing. Join with me and rally for my cause....NO Morning NAP! All together now....NO Morning NAP! Just remember that you have a voice with your mommy. Stand up with me tall and shout it proud from in between your crib rails...NO Morning NAP!

Choo Choo

Landon is enjoying his "NO girls allowed, All guys weekend". His best buds from high school traveled from out west to visit for the long weekend in Atlanta. I volunteered to camp out at Grandmama and Poppy's house with Miller while the guys could just hang out with their gentle-manly kind and reminisce about days gone by.

Well, we couldn't just sit around and miss out on all the fun that the weekend had in store. Instead, we enjoyed a night on the town in the Marietta Square this evening. Grandmama, Poppy, Miller and I all dined at our favorite corner spot, The Marietta Pizza Kitchen. While we ate pizza curbside, Miller was truly fascinated watching all the cars, motorcycles, and trolleys pass us by. Things that go surrounded us from every angle. Entertaining sites were all around!

Our favorite part of the night was playing in the park on the Choo Choo train playscape. We brought along Miller's engineer hat so he could really get in the spirit of things and feel like a big boy train conductor. Our lil' conductor enjoyed running around and sitting in the ticket booth. Turning the wheel in the train's engine room and stomping on the steps was also entertaining. Of course, he tried to spin the fixed wheels of the train around and around to no avail. There were several children in the park, and Miller enjoyed chasing one little guy his age around and around the train. To add to the ambiance of all our playtime fun, we got to hear the real train pass us by on the tracks nearby. After an extended time on the choo choo, it came time for this train to leave the station. Poppy treated us to ice cream to cap off the evening. Miller hopped from all three of our cones sampling Butter Pecan, Strawberry, and Cinnamon. His chin had a whole rainbow of dripping, running colors to show off his sweet tooth. And, Miller's white colored shirt showed stains of a memorable evening in the park!

New Smyrna Beach

"What we did on our Summer Vacation"

We loaded up the car and left Atlanta around 1:00 p.m. Thursday for our much anticipated Labor Day trip to New Smyrna Beach, FL. My bag of tricks helped to entertain Miller on our 7 hour car trip south. I won't lie, it did get challenging at times!! I kept waiting and waiting for Miller to doze off on his afternoon nap, but he must have felt the energy in the car that we were about to explore something different. Four stops and 1 Arby's run later, we arrived at the condo with a sleeping baby in tow just in time to settle in and greet Grandmama and Poppy. Miller got his second wind and ran all around the condo shrilling with excitement while playing chase with Poppy. We did get him calmed down in time for a 10:00 p.m. bedtime!!

Highlights of our trip included morning strolls on the beach while Miller enjoyed his morning naptime. We enjoyed playing with Miller on the steps of the pool. It's rare that the whole family visits the pool together. Grandmama and Poppy were on deck observers watching all the action and splashing from our water man. What a treat to have the pool all to ourselves on Friday!!

Other fun happenings included watching Miller run along the compact, flat sand of New Smyrna....so different from the sand in the Gulf. At low tide, the shore extended out quite aways, allowing Miller to get out all of his energy chasing dadda and building sandcastles. Grandmama and I got a kick out of watching Miller charge full force towards the crashing waves & then as soon as the water was about to touch his toes, his happy face turned to an "uh oh" face and he would run back to the safety of the beach chairs on shore. What a funny guy! Miller did eventually warm up to the idea of playing in the ocean and loved the feel of the waves crashing on his body. Dunking him in the Atlantic was the only way to wash off all the sand that collected in every fold and pocket of his trunks. This baby had sand from his ears to his shoes!!

During Miller's afternoon naptime each day, Landon and I enjoyed our time at the beach soaking in the sun. We played and exhausted ourselves in the water. The current was very strong & the water murky. The whole time we were jumping waves, I heeded the advice of my friend Terra. She informed me that New Smyrna ranks among the top beaches for shark attacks. Scenes from the movie Jaws did not leave my head the whole time we were in the surf! One huge wave, swiped both of our sunglasses right from behind our ears. We searched and searched but no such luck! Oh well, another excuse to shop for shades. This is exactly why I buy Target sunglasses! They only last one season.

We dined at several local restaurants around town for dinner. Our favorite dinner spot was Norwood's. They had excellent seafood. The key to mealtime success with Miller is to keep him occupied. I can somewhat relax at kid friendly restaurants, but when it comes to fine dining with white tableclothes, I try to consider the other patrons looking for a pleasurable dinner out!! I kept Miller busy, busy during mealtime with his new interactive Cheerios book. He had fun putting his favorite snack in all the pictures of the book.

After dinner each night, we journeyed to the boardwalk for ice cream overlooking the ocean. Miller ended up wearing his ice cream instead of eating it! I didn't consider this when I dressed him in all white. The game of Uno became a nightly ritual. It brought back memories of vacations as a family in the past sitting around playing board games. Gametime on vacation has always been a favorite family passtime.

We were sad to leave sunny Florida. In a way, it was a last hoorah, final farewell to a memorable summer. We're so thankful that the weather cooperated. Landon and I also talked about how we feel there's no other way at this stage of life to go to the beach other than with grandparents!! What freedom we can enjoy when there are so many hands helping out. We enjoyed making lasting memories together as a family. As we pulled up on our street this afternoon, I had an equally good feeling. There's just no place like home!!

Click on "New Smyrna Beach" on the left for more pictures.