I Moved!!!

I moved!!! Go to http://allthosemillers.xanga.com. Don't forget to "Go to Next 5" link at the bottom of the posts on the first page to read the rest of my catch-up posting!!! :)

10 Months

* Will pull up to standing and then let go, or remaining standing by himself when you place him on the floor for 5-10 seconds before sitting down.

*Usually wakes once a night to eat

*Takes two naps, one longer, one shorter

*Generally only sucks his thumb when he is going to sleep. Also likes to hold a blanket against his cheek while he is sucking his thumb. Cuteness pie.

*Really playing a lot with Israel. Israel really enjoys him, and it's sort of intriguing how much they can already play. Zion just LOVES to play.

*Is very content generally when he is with me. That makes him pretty easy to take to the beach; he just plays right around me, or climbs around on me, or pats my leg, or pulls up on my shirt, and doesn't try to hightail it off to far away places.

Mommy neeeeeeeed...

*Is very playful. Just a little bit ago, I was sitting with him on the floor, and he took off on a bee-line straight to where the electrical cords are for the computer. About halfway there, he hurriedly sat down and turned around to look at me with a completely mischevious look on his face, gave me a big grin, and then resumed his speedy crawl. After a few more crawls, he sat down again, looked at me grinnily, and when I warned him, he crowed with glee and turned around. He just thought that was great. Skunk.

*Has started in the past few days to use his arm to point, with his hand outstretched.

*He's a leaner. He will lean his forehead into your head, or lean his body into you when he wants some cuddles or kisses.

*Still has four teeth, with another trying to come through.

Still making his cheese faces... :)

*Still in size 4 diapers and is in 9-12 and 12 month clothes.

*Has been going to the nursery at church during the worship service for about two months now. He was getting too squwerky in the service.

*Likes to chew on straws and chewy sippy cup lids.

*Likes to drink water out of a sippy cup.

*Really likes his fruit and oatmeal in the morning. He likes fruit a lot; not always so big on other things. Still breastfeeding.

*Has a happy crow/shriek.

*LOVES to get into the dog food and water bowl, which is HIGHLY annoying to his mommy. He will hustle up to the water bowl, put it into a hasty park, scritch happily around in the bowl with his fingers, and lurch back to give me a wide-eyed "Who, me?"look.

*His hair is FINALLY starting to grow in, and is blond with maybe some red in it, and curls in the back.

*Gets a lot of comments on how mild and content he is.

Home Sweet Virginia

The day after Tim's parents returned to IN, we clambered into our sleek 'n speedy new minvan and sped off for other places. Tim was going to a conference in Iowa, and I felt a little dubious of my desire to stay home alone with the kiddos for a week, so Mom picked us up in Maryland and took us home to Virginia.

This was of course a great delight all around, as Israel firmly states his desire to go to "Gamma's house" at least once a day. He believes every ride in the minivan should end at Grandma's.

Zion was a little suspicious of all being well with the world when we got there - he was a little clingy and not so sure about things. Including not wanting to go to sleep very easily at night, a pattern that continued throughout the week.

There were many golf-cart rides all around...

riding of the tricycles...

and the cars...

busy and important things to help Granddaddy with...

cuddling of the grandbaby...

garden tasks to accomplish...

more cuddling of the grandbaby...

Grandma bathing of the long haired hooligans...

football playing with the Grandma and Granddaddy...

close observation by the oh-so-helpful Maddie dog...

digging of the Grandma's flower beds by aspiring landscapers...

and good times on the swing.

Like to make a boy tuckered out.

Or at least lay down for a nap with Grandma. Under your cozy blanket. On the coffee table...

Virginia is just GORGEOUS in the summertime!!!

This field was covered with Queen Anne's Lace flowers. Beautiful!!

I also got to spend some time with my friend, Sylvia,

and her two adorable munckins while I was home. Vincent wasn't too sure about the whole concept of being set down... :)

A few more pictures...since I don't have enough or anything... ;)

Israel cheesing by his Uncle Quentin's play barn.

Snack time before bed...

I totally appreciated all the help, and not having to spend the week alone in the trenches!!! Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for everything!

I thought this was an EXCELLENT article.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/16.22.html

While I Was Gone...

1. Zion turned 9 months old.

He is such a grinny little cheesy scrunch face cheeseball. I love him to PIECES!!!!

• He has been pulling up to standing since about 8 months 2 1/2 weeks.
• Has four teeth.
• The boy can GET AROUND. He books it all over the place, following Israel pushing a toy, or going to check on who is in the bathtub. (please excuse my unfinished cabinet door...)

• He LOVES to be in on the action, whether it's the boys wrestling with their daddy, and he piles in, toppling over Tim's leg, giggling all the way, or watching Gabe and Israel get their bath, banging his hands on the side of the tub and messing with the water, or happily standing by Gabe's bed watching his two brothers play bouncing Super Heroes. :)
• He really enjoys baths.
• Still breastfeeding, but also does really well with ground up table food, crackers, Cheerios... He loves to eat strawberries, and I will put a whole one on his tray and he'll just gnaw away until his sweet little red-stained face eagerly looks around for more. :)
• Makes a bee-line for electronic objects. Really enjoys banging on a drum. Also loves to chew a rubber duck. Pushes cars as he crawls.
• "Talks" mostly when unhappy, "Da da da da nah nah nah na." or particularly happy.
• Has a toothy grin.
• He is a very happy boy who just loves his brothers.
• He takes a nap in the morning and a nap in the afternoon, of varying lengths. I am way more laid back this third time around, and really could not tell you the average nap length. He does well even if he has to miss a nap.
• Still usually wakes up a least once during the night to eat.
• Has had a BEAR of a time cutting those top two teeth. Phew. Lots of night wakings, screamings and flailing and refusing to go back to his crib, so I would tiredly march him around the house until he calmed down and the Tylenol kicked in. Only 16 more teeth to go. Wide wide Mommy eyes.
• He has been the WORST twisty-turny boy for getting his diaper change of the three. He is a MESS!!!
• Loves to be turned upside down.
• So I was trying to do his 9 month pictures, and he kept not looking at the camera, and falling over in the laundry basket, and was NOT into leaving his hat on, and it was so hot outside, and then he threw up on his hat, his outfit and the sheepskin I had. Sigh. Such are the life and times of a mommy just trying to get a picture before the kid up and turns ten months. Here he is pulling off that bothersome hat...
  

Phew! :)

2. Had Vacation Bible School. Gabe just LOOOOOOOOOVVVESSS things like this. LOVES them. He is such a social guy. From all reports, he was very interactive and did well at answering questions. The theme was "Boot Camp", and sparked a lot of following discussion about that all intriguing "sword of the Spirit". There has been a lot of sword action around here ever since. Also talk about how "God is going to beat the debil (devil)." He does an excellent job still reciting his verses that he learned. Such a good job that I'm going to try to work on more memorization with him.

Israel followed his Mommy around in the kitchen, since he decided he didn't want to be left in the nursery. He had a great time playing with Amber, who was also following her mommy around, and eating snacks. :)

Zion stayed in the nursery most of the time.

It was a good week, but really felt kind of long, since we were still neck deep in boxes at home and Bible School was from 6-9 PM. Phew.

3. A Roseola Outbreak.

All three boys came down with roseola the week after Bible School. That Saturday, Israel had a fever of about 102, and Zion had a low grade one. The next day it disappeared, but showed up again on Monday, again 101-103 for both of them. Zion was starting to break out in red spots by that night, and the next day his fever was gone and as the day progressed he got more and more spotty. :)

Israel got his rash the day after that, I think, and Gabe didn't get sick until Saturday. His was the mildest case. He had a lower fever and fewest spots. Zion was F.U.S.S.Y. Oh my. SO fussy. Really for most of the week, but especially the first few days until his fever was gone. He wouldn't really let me put him down, and had a really hard time going to sleep. He was up until midnight or after for several nights. I thought maybe part of it was those teeth that he was working on.

4. Gabe went to see his Grandma and Grandaddy in VA. We had some friends that were traveling to VA for a wedding, and were actually staying with Mom and Dad, and so Gabe hitched a ride to have some Grandparent time. He did such a great job. I missed him SO MUCH!!! I missed him before he even left!!! The house felt only 2D without him, lacking that 3D dynamic. It was a lot quieter. Israel missed him, too, and asked about him hopefully every morning and during the day. He was gone 5 days and 4 nights, from Wednesday to Sunday. He had a great time, but said several times while he was there, "I wish Israel could be here." Before he left he said, "Mommy, will you miss me?" I said, "YES!!!" and he said, "I will miss you too!! And I will miss Zion and I will miss Israel!!"

5. We have been taking full advantage of our new surroundings. We have booked more miles on our stroller in the past month than were on them in entirety from before, I think! We have two playgrounds about a 10 minute walk away, we have tennis courts right down the road from our house that Gabe and Tim love to play on, and a track that we have been to twice. I pushed the boys to the library the other week, and we stopped at the bagel cafe on the way home for some tasty sustenance. :) We have walked around the neighborhood, and walked twice to Nanticoke River Festival that was in town last weekend, for food, rides, and some more food. :) I am SO loving our location.

6. Also, my friend Emily came to visit, which is always a favorite event of ours.

Zion working his nose grabbing magic on Emily.

And the boys and I trekked to the beach with some other friends for some sun and sand.

7. WE HAVE A NEW MINIVAN!!!!!!!!! Love LOVE our new wheels!!! We were GIVEN a van, from Harvey and Grace Mast. It is a 2004. So we went from a 1995 Dodge Caravan with over 250,000 miles on it, no airconditioner, no rear view mirror, and a short in the electrical system that meant that I generally had to jump the battery before going anywhere, to this one with air conditioner, a rear view mirror, doors on each side, extended for more room - and it does that amazing thing of just starting right up when you turn the key!!!...I am just so in love with it. My pupils were dilated from sheer van-love for the first few days and I had to keep going places just to try out my new possession. I feel so incredibly blessed right now, in so many ways. We have a house we love, a minivan that works great, and friends that are such a blessing in so many ways. Thank you so much, Harvey and Grace, and thank you too, Mom and Dad for Ol' Blue that we wore to a frazzle. She was a good ol' girl. We sure loved her when she arrived!!

8. Nana Carol and Grandpa Norm buzzed in from Saturday evening to Monday lunch. We really enjoyed having them around. Unfortunately, my camera battery recharger was safely hidden from my searching eyes, and I couldn't find it until Monday. So here's just a few pictures - I'll do better next time!!

Gabe was very busy with his shoot-gun. Too busy, in fact, to adequately participate in the picture. Somehow all sorts of shooting arrived on the scene, who knows where from. There are many many many things that need to be shooted. Like bears, birds, trees, bad guys ("No, Gabriel, you may not pretend to shoot people. Pretend to shoot a bird." Pause. Shot of the "gun". "I just shooted a bird off of the bad guys head.").

Tim and Norm standing proudly next to their grill patio creation.

Here's a silly dude Israel.

Nana Carol with the boysies.

9. And finally, a few random pictures from the month-ish.

Boys happily helping their daddy.

Here was the helper in the stroller.
Mommy is a big fan of all three boys helping their daddy at one time. That way she can sit on her butt on the steps and be lazy.

When it rains, all boys except the baby must retreat huriedly to the tool shed, so they can hear the rain on the roof.

Mommy with her roseola-ed child.

One of Gabriel's favorite activities is being a "monkey" in the "monkey tree" in our front yard.

One of Israel's favorite activities is standing on his toddler bed, watching the world go by.

Grinny Gus. :)