Miller Time: May 2014

Friday, May 23, 2014

Almost Back to Work

It's almost time to head back to work. I've never been so anxious about something! I just want to stay home with my babies forever. Ellison may be a wild child and sometimes test my patience, but she is so smart and funny. I don't want to miss any of the things she says or does. My favorite part of the day with her is snuggling in her chair to read at bedtime, and now I'll be missing it 3 nights a week. And Kellen just seems so little to be away from his mommy! I don't want to miss any of the exciting milestones he has coming. I'm grateful that I have such a rewarding job, and that I get to help people. I love taking care of pediatric heart patients and I've met so many amazing kids and families. But I wish I didn't HAVE to work!

I'm so happy the weather is finally warmer. When I looked at the 10 day forecast earlier this week, every day looked nice! It's been awhile since that was true. I really don't like humidity or super hot temperatures (I would be happy with 75 being the hottest it gets), but I will take summer over winter any day! Ellison loves to play outside and this year she is big enough to actually enjoy outside toys - bubbles, chalk, and sports stuff... She has her playhouse and picnic table, and we just got her a water table. She also has a little 4 wheeler! We will definitely miss having Grandpa Jay's pool this year, but we plan to get a kiddie pool. Hopefully a swing set and sand box will be part of the yard before the end of summer too. It's great to have our own place with all this room for fun outside toys!

The garden

Digging dirt

Trying to fly her kite (no wind, haha)

Snack at her picnic table

Water table!

E's 4-wheeler

Jay had Monday off so we got to all go to the zoo together. The kids and I have been there three other times while I've been off of work, but it was awesome to all go! It was a really nice day and not too crowded. Ellison would be happy if we went to the zoo every day...she goes around asking, "What's my next animal?" after she is done looking at something. Jay took Wednesday off too and Ellison got to play outside a lot, and we had a picnic for lunch. The kids and I have also been down to the lakefront and to feed geese at Scout Lake this week, plus a visit from Auntie Litz, Uncle Brian, and Olivia and breakfast with my grandma, stepmom, aunt, and cousin.

Having a "buddy picnic"

After lunch the buddies wanted to climb the tree...

At McKinley Beach by the lake

Feeding geese and checking out baby ducks at Scout Lake

Kellen is doing very well. He hasn't been sleeping super great, but other than that he's awesome! He eats like a champ, loves tummy time - he pushes himself up really high to look around and sometimes rolls over, chews on his hands constantly, loves playing on his playmat, and is still nice and snuggly :) He smiles and makes lots of noises and is just the cutest little guy ever!

Ellison is looking SO grown up now. I can't believe it! She has her moments where she can be very sassy, but for the most part she is a lot of fun. She loves her brother so much and it makes my heart so happy to see them together! She is currently into the game Elefun, doing anything outside, Play Doh, and playing her beads. She still loves to play with her buddies and blocks, and to color and read! She constantly wears her purple tutu around the house. She does not stop singing. I have had to set a timer at lunch because it takes her so long to eat (she talks and sings instead) and she would sit in her bed at naptime and sing for hours if I let her. She is so full of life and SO smart. I can't believe the things she says or how much she remembers. She amazes me!!!

It's hard to get both kids smiling in one picture, but here are some of the recent attempts...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

2 Months Old!

Kellen is already 2 months old. Slow down!!! He's smiling a lot now and making more noises. Love having "conversations" with him! I hope I don't kick myself for saying this...but FINALLY, 9 weeks in, I am starting to feel like I can handle two kids. I'm not ashamed to admit that I had postpartum depression this time around, and the first 6 weeks after Kellen was born were really difficult. I just didn't want to do anything besides sit at home. There were no issues with bonding with the baby or anything like that, I just felt sad and mopey and irritable. I was snappy and cranky. I felt like there was no way I was going to be able to take care of both kids and also get other things done. It was really getting me down because we are pretty sure we want more than two kids, and if I can't do this, how can we have more? The last couple weeks have been much, much better...but this is the first week where I've actually felt productive. Making meals, cleaning, working on projects I meant to finish a long time ago. We've been getting out of the house more and that has definitely helped. I think I can handle this! Still very stressed about the thought of going back to work, but I know Jay is extremely capable of managing at night without me.

2 month stats were: 12 pounds, 7 ounces and 23.75 inches long. Kellen's a big boy! We are just about ready to move him up to size 2 diapers and have already started putting him in some 3-6/6 month clothes. I can't believe how fast he's growing!!! He also got shots...he was a little champ. The doctor was impressed with how high he could lift his head up while on his tummy, and said it was more like what a 4 month old can do. Very proud :) She was also excited to pass on our tummy time tip - which I'll give Ellison the credit for, since she makes it happen - to parents who are resistant to doing tummy time. Our whole family gets involved in tummy time and she just thought that was great!

We moved Kellen into his own room over the weekend. I wanted to keep him in our room longer, but he seems to like to stretch out and the bassinet isn't a great place to do that. The first couple nights it was difficult to initially get him to sleep, but once he was finally sleeping he slept for about 5 hours, then another 3-4. The last 3 nights he fought bedtime much less so I think he's getting the hang of it. He went an 8 hour stretch between feedings last night!

Definitely not how I put him in the crib...

Napping in the swing

Since Kellen loves to sit up and look around, we tried his Bumbo for the first time. He has pretty good head control but I stuck the Boppy behind him so he could sit for a longer period of time.

We are officially a double stroller family now! It's so nice to be able to keep both kids contained without a second set of hands. And this thing is pretty cool, it has all kinds of different ways the kids can be positioned. The things parents get excited about! Now if we could just get some consistently nice weather...we could actually get some use out of it.

Speaking of weather, Miss Ellison is thrilled about it starting to get warmer. She loves to go outside and "dig dirt". Her and Jay spent some time over the weekend getting started on a garden! We are happy she isn't afraid of dirt and sand like she was last year!!! Guess she isn't going to be a prissy little lady...thank goodness.

E is really starting to use her imagination. She will pretend she's a princess, an animal (lion, bird, horse)...it's so cute! She plays doctor, uses her tools to help Daddy, walks her stuffed giraffe with a "leash" (belt), and of course makes meals for her buddies. We built a fort the other day to play in, which she loved. Her buddies join us at the table for meals quite often.

Lunch with "Foz people"

This plastic bin kept her entertained for quite awhile

Loves wearing other people's footwear

Watching Frozen in our fort!

In a "horse kennel eating hay"

Boating with her buddies (that's her oar in her hands)

In preparation for me going back to work we started making freezer meals and bookmarking lots of crockpot recipes over the past week. I wish we had done this sooner, I think it will make nights I work a lot easier! They always felt rushed, and adding feeding Kellen plus pumping will make it even more jam-packed. Our deep freezer is pretty packed with pumped milk but I'm hoping to make a couple more meals to freeze each weekend until I go back to work! Only 3 weekends left of maternity leave :(