Summer's Almost Over?!

Between moving, working, being sick due to the baby on the way, and not having the nicest weather until the least couple of weeks, I feel like we had almost no summer! How is it the end of August already?! Ellison loves to play outside so she has been loving the nicer weather we've had the last 2 weeks. She's gone swimming at Grandpa Jay's a couple times, played in our yard (she has a basketball hoop now!), helped Gramma and Grampa with their yard work, and gone to the zoo and park! She does not like when parks have sand on the ground (like the ones within walking distance of both our old and new places). She gets pretty upset that it gets in her sandals and on her hands. What a girlie girl!

At Zoo a la Carte

Loving lemonade!

Daddy's girl

Not actually in the water...she's on a chair here!

 

Future b-ball player?

 

The new house is coming together. We have a microwave and a kitchen table now! Still working on blinds/curtains though. Finally have a few things hanging on the walls. And we got cable/Internet this week! I will post some pictures when there's a few less boxes and a few more things hung up on the walls. 

Ellison had her 18 month checkup this week. She is still tiny (20 lbs, 2 oz - 15th percentile) but tall (32.75 inches - 75th percentile). And she continues to have a big head (79th percentile). Probably for her big brain :) The doctor said she is very smart and advanced, which was nice to hear! She was surprised that she already knows her body parts, some animals/their sounds, and a couple letters. Also by the number of words Ellison can say, which we can barely keep track of because she repeats so many things we say! So a very good appointment. The doctor did say it's time to get rid of the pacifier because Ellison has a small arch in her teeth from it. We already only use it in the crib so I am a little nervous about cutting it out completely. We tried without for the first time last night and she cried for awhile bit eventually fell asleep and slept all night. She was up earlier than usual but I can handle 7 am! She's been getting up after 8 since the move. We will see how naps go this week. She's been in an odd napping pattern anyway...some days she takes one, some days two. Varying lengths and at various times. At least there is still napping at some point every day, though!

Ells loves her ball pit (got it for Christmas, finally put it together!)

As far as baby #2 goes, I am still not feeling the greatest. Caught some kind of bug (sore throat, etc) and ended up only making it through 3 of my 4 day stretch at work over the weekend, so I wasn't very happy about that. I absolutely HATE to call in sick. I need to save my paid time off so I can take my whole 12 week leave! I'm sure I'll end up a little short again this time, but if I don't have to call in anymore at least I should be close to the full amount I need by March. Headaches still appear every so often and most food is still not super appetizing. I'm guessing I will have either maintained or gained weight this week though...for the first time since finding out about the pregnancy. Hopefully things will improve as the second trimester begins (tomorrow!).

E LOVES bubbles!

 

18 Months Old!!!

Sweet Pea E is already 18 months old!!! Our little lady has been learning so many new words over the past month. My favorite thing she says is "pretty". It just comes out so cute! Jay likes when she says "go, go". She also says "bless you" when we sneeze which is adorable. She has given names to her grandparents (Ama, Bapa, Nana, Papa), Auntie Kon (Ahnee), and Uncle Ryan (Nanu) over the past few weeks. We counted up all the words she says regularly and came up with between 50-60!

She has been enjoying looking out the front window and door of the new house at all the dogs in the new neighborhood...she absolutely loves dogs! She gets so excited whenever she sees or hears one. She met the dog across the street the day after we moved in and absolutely loved her. She also likes digging in the backyard with her little plastic garden set! Jay put her Cozy Coupe together after we moved it over here so she has been enjoying rides in that. Basically a walk with her becomes a puppy hunt, because she wants to go inspect every dog we pass!
 

Digging :)

 

The Cozy Coupe!

We celebrated her half birthday with some chocolate cake, which Ellison loved! We didn't get her a present this year but I have an idea for a belated half birthday gift for her...a crib for her beloved "babies". She really loves her dolls!

 

We had 18 month pictures taken by Krystal which we will post as soon as we have them. Wasn't her most cooperative photo shoot - she is a very wiggly, active toddler and not super interested in posing for pictures. She is still getting two teeth in (14 total teeth!) and has had a runny nose for quite awhile, so we were constantly wiping that. Luckily Krystal is amazing so I'm sure she will get some great pictures despite the struggles we had getting E to smile!

Ells finally perked up when we let her throw rocks in the water!

 

Ellison's 18 month doctor visit isn't until August 26. She will finally break the 20 pound mark this time! She is a tiny little thing and is still wearing 12 month pants and onesies (since last winter). She wears 18 month shirts, so it is hard to buy her outfits/pajama sets because 18 month pants literally fall off her little bottom. I have quite a lot of 18 month summer stuff that we didn't even take tags off. Maybe next summer?! I'm guessing the winter coat and snow pants we bought her on clearance last year won't fit her this year (24 month)...our little peanut!!!

Other than that we are just working on getting settled in the new house. Our garage is completely packed with boxes and miscellaneous objects. We haven't found Ellison's favorite movies that she watched constantly, which has been a struggle since we have no cable until next week! Jay did buy an antenna so we wouldn't miss the Packer game over the weekend, so at least we have PBS now.

Here's some pictures from before the move and moving day:

Painting with Papa (yep, they are on a ladder)

Getting carpet for E's room

The truck is here!

Taking a break

Ells' room

Another break?!

The living room (walls are so much better NOT green!)

No kitchen table = a place for stuff

All done!

 

Here's a couple from State Fair!

Grilled CHEESE

Our little chickie

Obsessed with baby chicks

Mmmm ice cream sundae!

 

More BIG News!

As our faithful Miller Time blog readers know, we recently moved into our first house! But that's not all that's been going on with the Millers this summer. We are excited to finally announce that we are expecting Baby Miller #2 in March!!! Due date is March 5, but if this baby is anything like Ellison I won't get my hopes up that he or she will be here by then!

We found out about the pregnancy at the end of June, when I was just over 4 weeks pregnant. It has not been an easy first trimester for me, which really complicated packing and getting ready for the move (now it all makes sense, right?!). Besides going to work, I was mostly in bed between weeks 5-9. I even had to call in sick once, which I didn't do while I was pregnant with Ellison until I was past 39 weeks! The main issue has been severe headaches, but nausea, exhaustion, and other normal pregnancy symptoms have been mixed in as well. I never had headaches while pregnant with Ells, so they came as a total shock and really knocked me down. I am allergic to all the "stronger" pregnancy-friendly pain medications that were suggested by the doctor (severe codeine allergy, I won't take anything related to it) so I've had to get by on just Tylenol. Luckily over the past few weeks I have started to have less headaches, and when they do come they are not as severe. Still extremely tired and struggling to eat much at this point, though (actually lost 10 pounds from week 4 to week 12). Hoping for smoother sailing in the months ahead!

I have to say that Jay has been amazing throughout the first couple months of this pregnancy. Not that he isn't always amazing, but he has had to do everything he normally does and everything I do as well. He's been cooking, cleaning, basically being a single dad to Ellison, plus working full-time, managing our finances, and pretty much buying, packing, and moving into the new house without my help. I was barely able to pack anything until the couple days right before the move. I couldn't help paint the new house (luckily we had family members who could), and I couldn't help move anything heavy (again, we are blessed with an amazing family!). Jay is the best husband and daddy in the world!

We can't wait to find out whether Baby #2 is a boy or girl so we can start getting his or her room ready. Up until this point we have just left the 3rd bedroom as it was when we bought the house. And we haven't really bought anything for the new baby yet...so different from the first time around! We definitely plan to do a gender reveal party like we did for Ellison. She is too little to know what's going on, but she will turn 2 right before baby comes so hopefully it will make more sense by then! She does love her dolls so hopefully that will translate to her brother or sister :)

We had Ellison wear a "Big Sister" shirt on moving day to announce the pregnancy to the family members who were helping that didn't already know. Only my dad was really surprised, I guess everyone else already had their suspicions! The shirt was also the way Ells and I told Jay about her new sibling. We went out and bought it the day I took the pregnancy test while he was at work. We are so sneaky!

Ellison on moving day

The day we found out about baby #2!

Mommy with big sister E

Daddy and E

We had our first ultrasound just before 10 weeks. The tech was Australian and called the baby a "bub" in her fun accent. Loved hearing the heartbeat and seeing that all was well with our little gummy bear! We could see him or her moving their little arms and legs, which neither of us remembered seeing at our first ultrasound of Ellison. Due date based on ultrasound was 3 days earlier than what we thought, so matching up well. We're sticking with the original due date rather than the 3 days earlier date because again, don't want to get our hopes up about an earlier arrival!

12 week appointment (first with the doctor) went well, very quick and simple. Blood pressure is good, weight loss is ok at this point. No issues, nothing major to discuss. Stay out of the heat, stay hydrated. I forgot that for the most part, nothing really happens at these early appointments! But we did get to hear baby's nice, strong heartbeat :)

12 Weeks...8/21/13

 

Very excited to share more details about the pregnancy on the blog as we go along. We have been taking our weekly block pictures and also chalkboard photos this time. I have to say the second pregnancy is going SO much faster than the first so far. Even though I haven't been feeling well, the first trimester has flown by! I guess moving/settling in at a new house and having a toddler to chase leaves minimal time to think about the pregnancy. It's barely sunk in that we will have a newborn living with us in just over 6 months!

 

Here's the weekly chalkboard pics...

(Didn't start the chalkboard until 5 weeks)

 

 

 

More updates coming soon...when we have INTERNET!