Welcome home, Nana!!

I am thrilled to announce that Colby and Miller's Nana is home!!! She made a miraculous recovery after fifty-something days in the hospital and a couple of weeks in a rehab facility. Words cannot express how thankful we are that she got herself out of there! She still has some work to do to get back to full strength, but after all of this, there's no doubt she'll get there.

Nana, please don't pull a stunt like that again. I'm not sure we'll forgive you a second time.

Just for fun, here is one of my favorite pictures of Nana and Colby from 2 summers ago, right before his first birthday. (Is she a chic grandma or what?)

Our baby girl is 1!!

I can't believe Miller is one year old today....it has gone by way too fast. (ok, so maybe not the first few colicky months, but after that, she has been a dream baby)

Miller had her on year appointment today, and let's hope she doesn't roll over on her peers any time soon.
Height: 31.5 inches (outside 100th percentile) Weight: 28 lb 3 oz (ditto)
No wonder she has outgrown all of her size 18-24 month shirts!

Miller is such a delight (I can't remember the last time I used that word, but it's appropriate) to be around. She has a great sense of humor and a loud, deep belly laugh. She loves books and toys and will actually sit still to play with them. (I'm still amazed that children this age sit still....I'm glad I had Colby first because he was soooooo much more challenging) She goes to bed with "Mr. Rabbit" and gives a squeal of delight each night when she sees him. She loves to dance and loves music....we'll see if she becomes obsessed like her big brother.

I don't want to jinx myself, but she eats everything. Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, and cheese....I could go on and on because she literally eats everything. I know this will probably change, so we are enjoying it now while it lasts.

My goal was to breastfeed Miller for 12 months, and now that it's here, I don't think I'm ready to stop. So, we'll just keep going and see what happens. She drinks from a cup and has just had her first glass of milk, so it will be pretty easy to wean her when the time comes.

We are having a small family celebration tonight, but we did have a little pre-celebration when Nan and Pop were visiting.

Ready for cake...


This can't all be for me...


Ding ding ding! The sweet tooth gene has survived.


A frosting goatee...


Nan and Pop gave Miller her first silver bracelet with her name engraved on it. Here she is sporting her new bracelet and doing one of her favorite things- pointing to things in books.


Happy girl!


I wish I could make time go by a little more slowly, because I know I'll look back and this will all be a blur.

Happy first birthday baby girl!!!!

Party Time

Colby's birthday party went off without a hitch...well, maybe a few minor ones (see cake below) but nothing major.

Ms. Linda, his Music Together instructor, performed a special music class for the 21 kids (and their parents) who attended.


We started off singing songs, accompanied by the birthday boy and his new red guitar.


Miller was feeling the beat.


We played with a giant stretchy band....


And threw things in the air.


We played lots of instruments...


Miller loved the shakers...


And Colby made sure everyone stayed awake by playing the cymbals.


And the cake. Ohhhh...the cake. Not only was it ugly, the red frosting (and there was a lot of it) tasted terrible. It was supposed to be a fluffy white frosted cake with a small red guitar on it. Oops. That's what I get for ordering on the phone and trusting a grocery store employee to design it. Oh well, Colby still loved it (although he was the only child at the party who didn't even have a piece)


Colby blew out the candles (with a little surprise help from his friend Charlotte).


Hooray!!! Colby is 3!!!


Happy Birthday to our little rocker!


3 year stats: Height: 39.5 inches (only the 90th percentile...the first time he's been on the chart!) Weight: 39.2 lbs.( > 100th percentile).

Happy Birthday Colby!

I can't believe our little boy is 3! For his birthday, we gave our music man a bongo drum and a floor drum.

He loves them...


And so does his baby sissa.


We're having a music themed party on Saturday, and he's very excited that there will be a red guitar on his cake. What he doesn't know is that he's getting a new red guitar that morning. He's going to be ecstatic!

We had a little celebration at home last night, and Colby gets the award for being the slowest cupcake eater in America...one sprinkle at a time. (He certainly didn't get that from his momma)

Colby's big debut

We've had a wonderful week with Lee's brother and family visiting. I'll have to save that for a future post because the one and only picture of all of us is on their camera....so to be continued.

We all went out for pizza last night and then headed to the Sunday night concert. (with the exception of baby Tommy and Jen, who headed home for an early bed time)

It was like most of the concerts...Colby was dancing...



And playing his guitar right beside us for about an hour.



Then, during one of the songs, the people in the band started motioning for him to come on stage. Colby didn't understand what they wanted him to do, so their sound guy came up, grabbed him, and plopped him right in the middle of the stage (in front of about 200 people). It didn't take long for Colby to understand what he was supposed to do....and let's just say, he wasn't feeling shy. (unfortunately, I had to take the video with a small camera and the quality is not great. I was not able shorten it, so get comfortable...it's a long one and most of the action is in the first half)


As the concert went on, Colby walked up to the front a few more times, and the singer said that she really hoped we'd be putting him in music lessons. We had to leave in the middle of a song because Miller needed to get home, and Colby broke away and ran on stage for one last moment in the spotlight. The crowd laughed as Lee chased him around trying to catch him, and the band asked Lee to let him play for one more song. Lee said no and the band waved goodbye, and as we were loading the kids in the car, we heard them announce "Colby has left the building".

Colby has not put down his guitar today and is still very inspired by his experience last night. I think we will look into music lessons for our little guitarist...I fear there will be lots of noise and garage bands in our future.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a busy morning at our local 4th of July festival....with food, music, blow up rides, crafts, and lots of people we know. Colby enjoyed his first ever hot dog (can you believe it?) and Miller rocked out to the Jimmy Buffet cover band before passing out from exhaustion in the stroller.

Today I was one of those moms....you know what I'm talking about.


We only had to walk a few blocks...but a lollipop is the only way to keep Colby seated.




The highlight of Colby's day was playing on the tractors.


Colby listening to a symphony play America the Beautiful.