The Miller Family

We're baaaaaak!!!!

2010-07-30T23:23:00.012-05:00

Ok, after almost exactly a year of not posting (last post was Ellie's 1st bday party! Crazy!)......I'm back on this beast!! :)

I gave our blog a little face lift and now...we're ready to go again! I hope the 2 people who read this blog thoroughly enjoy this! LOL!

Updates:
Anna is 3 1/2 months old now!! She is doing great, getting sooo big. She smiles a lot and loves to laugh and talk to us with her sweet little baby coos. Her favorite is "ooooowwwwww". She is such a content and happy baby. She's also doing this funny thing where she does, what I call "sit-ups" where she raises her head and feet when she's laying down. It's so cute and funny. Her favorite toys currently are a pink rattle and an orange stuffed monkey. Anna is such a sweetie pie. She is almost always in a good mood and just loves hanging out with everyone!
Ellie is about to turn 2 years old on August 6th! I can't believe I'll have a 2 year old!! She seems like such a little girl now instead of a baby. It makes me so sad, but happy at the same time, strange feeling. I love her so much, she is such a sweet, smart, loving, inquisitive little girl. Every day with her is wonderful. Ellie has always been a strong-willed independent baby, and for the past year has just been soooo active!! She tries to climb on everything! I say she's 70% Angel, 30% Monkey. (I had to remove my kitchen chairs because she kept trying to climb on the table and counter tops and I have 4 gates up in the house!) Besides from being an excellent climber, Ellie can also talk really well. She repeats everything and I feel like she says like 5 new words a day! We've been working on our ABC's and 123's and she's getting very good at them. And lately Ellie has been saying multiple word thoughts and occasionally a full (short) sentence. They are mostly commands, ha ha, little bossy girl!!! Examples: "Mommy, sit, here!" "Mommy, this way." The other day I was singing while making her breakfast and she said, "Mommy, no, it's ug." (ug meaning...ugly. I died laughing!!) She is so much fun, growing up too fast and entertaining me all the way!!! And she definitely keeps me busy 24/7!!!

Jamin is still working at Halliburton. He has been traveling every once in a while for his job. Next week he'll be in Durango, Colorado for a week. :) I bet the weather will be nicer there than it is here! He has also been super busy the past year doing what he has wanted to do for a long time...buy rental properties. We currently own 2 rental properties in the Spring area. I'm his little assistant and I help do all the busy work that comes with managing properties. We've had fun with it so far.

Though I am a stay at home mom...I don't eat bon-bons and watch Days of Our Lives all day...contrary to the housewife stereotype. LOL!!! I've been super busy lately with 2 babies under the age of 2!!! We go to library story time and also a weekly playgroup with other mommies and babies. And I'm trying to make it to the YMCA a couple of times a week to work off this baby weight. (I do have 2 weddings that I'm a bridesmaid in coming up!!) Jamin's real estate stuff keeps me busy too. And...this year I am the Chairwoman for the Junior League of North Harris and South Montgomery Counties's Cookbook Committee. We have been doing tons of stuff for our cookbook this year. Really exciting! They are great books! (go online to buy one!! jlnhsmc.org) So, needless to say...I feel busy, but I am enjoying all the hats I wear!! :)

Below are some recent pictures of my cutie pies! :)

Love you all!!! Talk to ya next post! :)

Ellie's 1st Birthday!!

2009-08-27T17:30:00.005-05:00

Ellie just celebrated her first birthday on August 6th!! :) I made a strawberry cake with vanilla icing shaped like a heart for her and put up a big Happy Birthday sign and streamers to celebrate. Then, we went to our baby playgroup and I tried to make her wear a birthday girl hat, but...she of course ripped it right off!

The following weekend we had a princess party for her! It was really fun. A lot of our friends and family came to help us celebrate and I think Ellie loved all of the attention.

She got shy when it was time to blow out her birthday candle on her princess cake and put her sweet little head on my shoulder. I helped her blow out her candle. And, when everyone started clapping she liked that, she clapped too!

Ellie seemed to really love her birthday party! She seemed like she was having so much fun playing with all of her friends. And she ate 3 pieces of her princess birthday cake!! (We let her splurge!) And Ellie loved crawling in and out of her princess castle that mommy and daddy got her.

Everyone got her such adorable birthday presents, really cute clothes and fun toys. She will be stylin and having fun playing with her new toys for a long time! Ellie is truly a blessed little girl to have such thoughtful, sweet friends and family around to love her! Thank you all again so much!!

OH....P.S.

Ellie also got a really big present for her birthday!! A few days after her birthday party, we found out that I am pregnant again! Ellie is going to be a big sister!! :)

Hello again blogging world!

2009-03-27T10:02:00.005-05:00

I just might win an award for biggest blogging slacker! But, I'm finally posting again!! :)

We have had a busy couple of weeks. Ellie's schedule is becoming busier than mine. I have to work around HER soical calender...already the demanding diva! LOL!

Wednesdays: Mother Goose Time at the Library
Thursdays: Infant Playgroup
Fridays: Big JL Playgroup

And, we might join Kelly and Paige for stroller fit on Tuesdays.

Whew...we're booked! :) But, of course, having fun and LOVING every second of it!

My mom just visited for a few days of her Spring Break last week, and we all enjoyed seeing her and having her hang out with us! Ellie is beginning to realize that Grandma Callie is fun!!

Ellie updates:
Ellie is now; pulling up on everything, inch worming it on the floor (not really crawling yet, technically), talking A LOT and showing us more of her cute personality every day!

Here are some recent pics:

Another tutu photo shoot with mommy.

At the Houston Rodeo watching Reba!

Getting a little sleepy and wanting dada to hold her.

Ellie loved the music and lights!!

Ellie loves Jamin's old rocking chair! This is the one he had

when he was a little kid! She rocks herself back and forth and

smiles because she's so proud of herself.

Playing before we head to Allison's to watch Twilight!

Black and White Party!

Dada and Princess Ellie

Big Blue Eyes!

Ellie...waiting for playgroup to start at Brittney's house

One of her first big girl baths! (I used her baby tub FOREVER!)

But, now that she is really sturdy sitting on her own, I let her take
"big girl baths"...she likes her big girl baths sooo much more now!

More room, more water, more splashing and toys!

Sitting, sitting everywhere...and pulling up on things too!

2009-02-24T23:29:00.009-06:00

Ellie has been sitting really well lately, so well, that I don't have to hover around her anymore... really! She has also been pulling up on things and this week has just started to try to get on her knees and pull up with her arms. As for crawling...no signs of that yet. Ellie likes to be up high on us or things around her and she pulls up to get higher. Whenever we put her on her tummy for potential crawl time...a screaming fest usually follows. But, she did get up into the crawling position today for the first time...only for a second, then she fell and started crying. She's so adorable. We're still having so much fun with our little munchkin!

Here are some pics of her recent accomplishments...

Ellie sitting in a shopping cart at HEB by herself! Big Girl.
Thanks to Jamin's cousin Amy for the shopping cart
cover, we LOVE it!!

Here is another pic of Ellie making good use of the
shopping cart cover...in a high chair...sitting like a
big girl! She looks so adorable in this sweet little outfit
that my Mimi gave her. :)

Ellie and her friend Beau at a playdate at our house.
Ellie was really excited that Beau and Brittany came
over to see us. They had fun together! Look how great
Ellie is sitting all by herself!

Ellie getting into crawling position for about 2 seconds

...then it was tears and screaming until I put her

sitting upright to play with her toys. She is a girl who

knows what she likes and dislikes, that's for sure!

Little miss priss starting to pull up on her toys. (her

feet are sort of indian style in this pic and she is pulling

up on them) She has also begun to pull up on people

(if you're sitting byher) and the couch, big toys etc.

I can't believe she's getting so big..and will be

crawling soon! I'm not ready!

I've still got to baby proff....

Random Adorableness of Ellie....

2009-02-17T20:44:00.008-06:00

Our little valentine.

Ellie loves her Da-da!

So fresh and so clean clean!

Toy time!

Ellie trying to avoid the paparazzi (aka mommy and my camera)

Cutie pie

HUGE monumental day...Ellie's first Houston Galleria experience!

My momma (aka Grandma Callie), Ellie and me.

Sporting her baby Lilly Pulitzer outfit.

So happy :)

Our first Infant Playgroup at The Tarro's

Ellie and Paige...little buddies

Our Big Junior League playgroup! All the babies are sooo cute!
Ellie is in the back with the red pants and HUGE red bow! :)

Big girl...sitting all by herself!

Aunt Cindy's napkins are pretty and fun!!

Daddy's little helper...working on projects in the Garage

Ellie acting shy...

Her favorite thing in the whole world...ABC's

EXTREME close up of the fam getting ready to head out

the door to watch the super bowl at the Hampshire house.

Can you tell who we were rooting for??? :)

DANCING QUEEN!!

2009-01-27T15:32:00.005-06:00

Looks like Ellie is going to be into dancing when she grows up...she already has some moves!! :) I don't really know where she gets it (I know I can't dance)...but, this little Ginger Rogers is already amazing crowds (mommy and daddy) at the young age of 6 months.

Watch out So You Think You Can Dance, Americas Best Dance Crew etc. competitions.....here is Ellie Miller in her debut performance:

"She is a baby dancing genius...I'm so proud...NO I'M NOT BECOMING A STAGE MOM!"

EGGO's are FUNNY!

2009-01-23T23:15:00.006-06:00

The only set up this needs is that it makes me sooo happy every time I watch it, it is just sooo cute of Ellie, it cracks me up every time...hope you think it's as funny as I do!

(Oh, and I'm recording this, holding Ellie and popping the waffle...so sorry I'm at points staring creepily into the camera...I'm making sure it's turned in the right direction to catch Ellie laughing. Also...you might want to turn the music at the bottom of the page off to hear the video better.)

2009!!! Happy New Year!

2009-01-08T23:27:00.008-06:00

It's a NEW YEAR! Happy 2009!

We spent 2009 at our friends Brittney and Cody's house with just a small group of our friends and their kids. It was really chilled, relaxed and fun. We all just ate, talked and rang in the New Year. Ellie was the only kid to see the ball drop both times, at both 11 and 12. (Which means she wouldn't go to sleep. LOL!) She was excited to see what was going on and what all of the exitement was about.

This was also the first year that I didn't kiss my hubby at midnight...we both kissed Ellie's cheeks instead! :) We had a cute little family moment while ringing in the New Year.

I always like New Years Eve and the start of the New Year. But, this year in particular I feel really inspired and energized by the New Year for some reason. I really feel like setting some important goals in my life and trying to achieve them this coming year. I am not doing the whole New Years Resolution thing this year. Instead of trying to reform something in my life or give something up, I want to make things happen, strive to create, achieve and experience new things in my life. I'm not going to openly disclose my personal, private goals on this blog, but I have a few important goals to me... and I hope that within this year I will succeed in accomplishing them. And then next year I'll probbably be back to giving up Cokes and Ice Cream!! :)

Below are some cute pics of Beau and Ellie hanging out with eachother on New Years Eve and some pics of The Miller Fam ringing in the New Year at 12! Happy 2009 Everyone!

Beau and Ellie, best friends already!

Me and my little night owl.

The Miller Fam...I love my little family! (Ellie doesn't seem to be liking all the noise in this pic!)

2009-01-02T00:10:00.006-06:00

Christmas 2008 in CC!

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas in Corpus. We started the festivities with Christmas Eve Church service at my family's church, First United Methodist Church. Ellie did as well as could be expected...meaning I had to take her out about 10 times! At least we were prepared and sat in the back. :) We then went to my parent's house for a while to say hi to everyone at their annual Christmas Eve get together. After that we headed out to Jamin's Aunt Dene and Uncle Terry's house on The Island for their annual Christmas Eve Party. Every year we do a $10 gift exchange at the party that is really fun! This year I ended up with a gold bird and Jamin took home a tool set. It's always funny seeing what everyone ends up with. One year we got a chia pet and candle sticks! LOL!! It was the first time some of Jamin's aunts and uncles got to see Ellie, so it was really awesome spending time with them and introducing Ellie to all of the extended family.

Christmas day was wonderful too. My mom of course made Christmas morning soooo special for Ellie. She got Ellie her own stocking, had it monogrammed and filled it with presents and treats! With the combination of things we bought for Ellie that were "from Santa" and things my mom got her...Ellie had a wonderful Santa visit for her first Christmas morning! :) Too bad she had no idea what was going on...and only played with 2 of her toys before she passed out from all of the excitement! LOL! It was very special though to be with Ellie and see her excitement on her first Chirstmas morning. And, another very special event... my Mom got Ellie her first Madame Alexander doll. My sister and I collected them when we were growing up, and now I am so excited that Ellie will collect them too! Ellie was also so lucky to get some beautiful presents from my Aunt's and Uncle's and my Mimi, Jamin's grandmother Momo and Janis.

My mom's attention to detail for everything Christmas and my dad's wonderful cooking and everyone's Christmas spirit and happiness made Christmas morning so much fun. Thank you Callie and Hooner for making Chirstmas so wonderful.

After we opened presents and had breakfast at my parent's house, we headed over to Jamin's parent's house for a South Texas Christmas lunch (AKA Mexican Food! YUMMY!!!) and presents with The Millers. Jamin's parent's got Ellie some toys that she LOVED! She loves this little train that they got her with animals that attach onto it. She also loves this spinning animal toy they gave her. Papa Jerry showed Ellie the Chirstmas tree and Grandma Lynn played with Ellie and showed her her new toys. They also made the Chirstmas holiday so special for Ellie...when we drove up to their house, there was a huge blow up Frosty the Snowman scene!! And, it played music! Ellie liked looking at the huge frosties in the front yard. Thanks Jerry and Lynn for making everything so fun!

Then it was back to my parents house later that evening for Christmas dinner. Whew...I'm getting exhausted just thinking of our busy schedule over the holidays.

It is so wonderful being with family over the holidays. I miss everyone already. Our time in CC went too fast!! Hugs and Kisses to all of our family and friends! Wish we could see you all more often.

Ellie's Santa presents and stocking Christmas morning

Daddy and Ellie

Mommy and Ellie about to unwrap presents

Pretty baby girl in her Christmas PJ's...holding her first baby Juicy Couture track suit...thanks Grandma Callie!!

Pretty blue eyes

Playing with her toy Grandma Lynn got her

Corpus Christi bound!!

2008-12-22T23:50:00.000-06:00

I am sooo excited to go to Corpus tomorrow! I can't wait to see all of our family and friends and start getting our Christmas on!!! Yeah!! Merry Christmas everyone!

Top 10 things I love about Christmas:

10) Presents (ok, it's gotta be on the list, presents are fun!)
9) People running around like crazy on Christmas Eve, and the exitement in the air
8) Mall and street Christmas Decorations, the tackier the better!
7) Cheesy Christmas Sweaters
6) Christmas Parties!
5) Fudge...I don't know why but fudge around Christmas time is AWESOME!
4) Christmas Carols
3) Feel good Christmas Movies
2) Spending time with family and friends
1) Introducing Ellie to the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus, and witnessing her first experience with all of our Christmas traditions and special family events around this time of year.

And...we're back! ;)

2008-12-16T11:47:00.000-06:00

Ok, so it's been a really long time since I last blogged!!! But, we just got a new computer...yeah!! And, I organized all my photos and I'm ready to go again! :)

Here are some catch up photos of what we've been doing the past couple of months:

DECEMBER:
*We've been taking Christmas photos and going to the last meetings and holiday parties for the year etc. and we celebrated Jamin's 28th birthday!

Family Christmas photos by the HUGE Christmas Tree in Market Street:
(Little did we know that I picked the night to take pictures that it was really cold and there was a parade going on in Market Street...but, it made it feel very festive! Santa was there and carolers, so it was fun to see all that and take our christmas photos.)

Trying to get Ellie's first Christmas card photo:

*Jamin's 28th Birthday was on December 2nd, but he was in Michigan on business...so we celebrated that weekend when he got home. We had a party at our house for him and had a bunch of friends over. I made tortilla soup, queso and chips and a birthday cake! We had a great time! :)

NOVEMBER:
*We went home to Corpus over Thanksgiving and had 2 delicious Thanksgiving dinners one with my family and one with Jamin's family. Thanks parents for the great food. I'm still dreaming of yummy turkey, dressing and green bean casserole! Everyone loved getting to see Ellie again and see how she's gotten so much bigger and more alert and fun! We had a great time in Corpus eating and hanging out with family.

OCTOBER:
*Halloween party at our friends Rob and Lindsays, it was really fun with all the kids and moms dressed up! The dads had fun too, just hangin out. :)
*I went to 2 different pumpkin patches trying to get photos of Ellie for her first Halloween...here are some...

Attempted Halloween photo shoot in the pumpkin patch:

All the kids at Rob and Lindsay's Halloween party;
Avery, Beau, Ellie and Dylan

The farmer and her prize pumpkin.

Ellie Laughs!!

2008-10-22T22:29:00.001-05:00

Ok, today 10/22/08 was a huge monumental day... Ellie laughed for the first time today!! :) Oh my gosh...I thought I was in heaven when I heard that sweet little high pitched giggle. It was sooo cute. Jamin was throwing a tennis ball outside and our dog was barking at it and Ellie and I were sitting on the deck watching them and she all of a sudden just thought what Jamin was doing was hysterical and started laughing! It was the cutest thing ever. I loved seeing her so happy and giggly. I can't wait to hear more sweet laughs from our precious little baby girl!

Pictures from Hurricane Ike

2008-10-22T01:02:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from when Hurricane Ike hit The Woodlands! We got really strong winds and rain and a lot of our tree branches were knocked down. We were really lucky though that nothing bad happened to our house. Some of our neighbors had trees fall on top of their houses! Yikes! No one we know of was hurt, thank God!

Ellie slept through the whole ordeal. So funny! And, after Ike passed, there was a really cool breeze for about 2 or 3 days. It made the weather so nice! So, we took walks every day. (There was not much else to do with no electricity! We were without electricity for 4 days, but some people we know didn't have it for almost 2 weeks!)

One great thing we noticed...after the Hurricane hit, the following days were filled with people out and about in our neighborhood. All of the kids were outside playing, biking, skating etc. All of the adults were doing their lawns, out chatting with each other, sitting in their front yards, enjoying the weather. It was so neat to see everyone outside and enjoying each other and the outdoors! I wish that happened more often!

Ellie's first Halloween Costume!

2008-10-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

We just got Ellie's first Halloween costume!! She's going to be a pumpkin!

It is so hard to find cute infant costumes that actually fit an infant. We checked out party city, walmart and target to find a cute infant Halloween outfit. There were some funny ones for babies like a tootsie roll...LOL...that made me laugh. But, Jamin and I both liked this cute pumpkin outfit. It fit her really well and it's very Halloween themed...perfect for her Ellie's first Halloween. I also call Ellie my little punkin', so I really liked it also because that's one of my nicknames for her.

I'm not sure what Jamin and I are going to dress as yet, still thinking on that one. We are going to our friends Lindsay and Rob's house for a Halloween party that night. Their little boy Dylan is 2 and is dressing as a cowboy! So cute! We are also so excited that our friends Brittney and Cody will be bringing thier new little baby boy, Beau. Ellie is so lucky to have friends already...she is only 2 months old...and already she is so social!! LOL! That will be really fun! We can't wait.

Big Day for Baby Ellie!

2008-09-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a big day for Ellie. She not only received her first round of immunizations, but she also had her first bath where she didn't scream her head off! (The latter doesn't seem as important, but believe me...after hearing a screaming baby every time you bathe her...a quiet happy bath is a huge milestone!!)

The Bath:
Nearing 7 weeks with our precious Ellie...we have started to pick up on her likes and dislikes. Baths, changing her diaper and changing her clothes are very much classified under "dislikes"! I personally don't understand her dislike of changing outfits...I mean...is she MY daughter?? LOL!! I'm thinking she's just proving to be a modest girl...she doesn't like being in her Birthday Suit!! :) So, after weeks of going from happy baby to screaming red tomato in an instant when any of these 3 events happen...it was a wonderful joy, and what I consider a great milestone when I hesitantly put her in her rainforest themed baby bathtub today. Preparing myself for a screaming session...she surprisingly just sat there very contently as I lathered her in her Johnson's baby body wash. Yea!! Success at last! I was strangely proud of her minuscule accomplishment. I believe I have truly arrived into the world of motherhood.

The Dr. Visit:
Today was also Ellie's first round of immunizations. She sees a really nice pediatrician named Dr. Chandler. She did her residency and first years of work at the Dallas Children's Hospital and has worked here in The Woodlands for a while now. I was sooo dreading going to this visit. I hate to hear Ellie cry (except for her poutty big bottom lip fake cry...I love that cry! Sooo cute). On the other hand, I also couldn't wait to go to the visit because I do love to hear about her growth in height and weight, and get all my baby questions answered. And, I am so happy to report that Ellie weighed in at 9 lbs 14 oz! :) Yea!! She has come a long way from losing 10% of her weight at the hospital and leaving at 6 lbs, to nearing 10 lbs within this short amount of time. She also is measuring 22 inches long, the 75th percentile for height. Everything was great and all of the exam was wonderful and Ellie was in a happy mood...and then came the immunizations. I gave Ellie grape flavored infant Tylenol, which she really liked and was very cute smacking her little lips and sticking her tongue out as if she was wanting more. Then came the part I was dreading all day. The nurse was immunizing her for 6 different viruses with 3 shots. She was sprawled out on the table with her little progressively chubby thighs bare and I grabbed her tiny hands that she was holding over her head. She was so happy...and then a look of fear came across her face and the screaming and crying started. As a mom, I felt so helpless. I knew she needed those shots, but I felt so bad for my sweet little baby because I know that hurt. Ellie was a trooper though, I picked her up right after the nurse was done and she stopped crying within just a minute or so. I told her that she was "very brave", I think that helped. LOL! :)

I know that this is just a glimpse of different milestones to come in Ellie's life. I feel so special and blessed to get to experience everything in Ellie's life with her and be there every day with my sweet little baby. She is the best thing in Jamin and my lives. We are so blessed. :) I can't wait for every event to come!

Baby Ellie

2008-09-19T11:20:00.000-05:00