27 weeks + 3 days Sunday 4/27

April 27th, 2008
Things are moving right along!!! The baby is growing, and so am I!!! I guess that's a good thing. Addisyn comes up and rubs my belly like it is a magic lamp. The girls have all been able to feel the baby kick for the last month! They think it's pretty neat. He is definitely a mover and a shaker! I am wondering what the chances are that we will continue our pattern of look like me, look like Ryan, etc. We will go for our 4d sono in 16 days! I wonder if we will be able to tell????

How much does it cost to walk your dog?

In case you are wondering the answer to this question,$61.40, is how much it costs to take your dog for a walk!!! The Monday after the girls' bday party, Mom and I decided to walk to the school to pick up the girls. Mom suggested that we should take Noel. So, I pushed the girls in the stroller and Mom walked Noel. It was her first time going for a "real" walk. She pulled, tugged, jumped, etc. Mom got quite the workout. A roundtrip to the school and back is about 1 1/2 miles. We get home and notice that Noel is limping on the leg that she hurt. Whoops! We were feeling bad that we overdid it on the walk. By the time my mom left, Noel could not walk. She couldn't put any weight on her front left leg( injured leg) nor could she put any weight on her right back paw. It was quite a sight watching her walk. Great! I was feeling like a terrible "mother". It was so bad by bedtime that Ryan carried her upstairs to our room. She tried to hobble a little the next morning. It wasn't good. I took her to the vet, and $61.40 later it was decided that she had scuffed her paws on the walk. There were little white dots on the pads of her feet, on the legs that she was limping on. Mental note - the next walk will be down the street and back! Expensive lesson learned!!! By the way, do dogs have 9 lives like cats????? Noel is going to need them.

Noel - chewing on a straw!!!

No Name Miller

The baby's room is coming together. Ryan, the girls, and I picked out this bedding a couple of months ago. The room is painted, the crib put together, and a few decorations purchased. Thanks, Mine, for buying a football picture frame and bank. Ryan loved them. It still surprises me when I walk in this room and see "masculine" items!!! Poor baby has a room, but no name. It doesn't look like he's going to have one any time soon, either!

New Shoes

Braelyn loves shoes!!! She was so excited to receive shoes for her birthday. She took them all in her room and arranged them in order. She wanted to sleep in them, but we convinced her to leave them on the floor.

Braelyn & Avery's Bday party

We celebrated Braelyn and Avery's bdays yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect. We all stayed outside all afternoon long. The girls were so excited to see their cousins. We also had some of my good friends from home make the long trek down. Thanks, Leann and Jessica. It meant more than you know to Ryan and I that you took the time and spent the gas money to come help us celebrate the girls' birthdays! We also had our good friend, Christy and her kids - Madison and Collin. Other party guests were Gma and Gpa, Tyra, & Jimissy, Grandpa Max, Gma Bobbie, Eva,& Isaac, Niki, Justin & Julia - Mine - GG - Leann, Emily, Becca & Brandon - Jessica, Abi, & Jacob. There ended up being 17 kids!!!Ryan's buddy Clodfelder, his wife, Traci, and their cute little girl Abi came, too! The kids bounced on the trampoline, participated in sack races and the limbo. After cake and ice cream, we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs! The cars going home should have had kids that were sacked out by the intersstate!!! Thanks everyone for the wonderful gifts and for spending the afternoon with us! It was so great to see everyone!


Madison, Isaac, Tayloran, Braelyn, & Brandon

Braelyn blowing out her candles! She was a little embarassed, but at least she didn't disappear under the table like her sister, Avery, at this age!!!
Braelyn loving her Dora party hat!
Avery blowing out her 9 candles
Braelyn loving her new Cinderella dress!!!
Avery got too many Webkinz!!!!!
Leann and Mine

Christy organized sack races for the kids! Looks like Gma Kaye even got in on the fun!
Look - it's Limbo time!!!
Gma Kaye, Braelyn, and Great Gma Bobbie
Tayloran, Julia, Jimissy, Addisyn & Tyra

Sunday dinner at McDonalds

On Braelyn's bday we attended church and then asked her where she wanted to go for her bday dinner. She chose McDonalds. Avery had went home from church with a friend - Gma didn't want to go, so off we went to McDonalds. Ryan couldn't believe that he was sitting in McDonalds with a shirt and tie on eating Sunday dinner. It just didn't come close to comparing with Gma Bobbie's or Kaye's Sunday after church meals!!!

Later that night we celebrated by having strawberry shortcake! It was very YUMMY!!!

Braelyn is 3!!!!

Braelyn is 3! Where does the time go. It's so hard to believe that she can be turning 3. She was very excited today and was telling everyone at church how old she was. She knows that she is 3 and that she is going to be a big sister to a baby boy. This child has kept us on our toes the last 3 years. I think it would have been better had she been #1, but.... She has done everything that her sisters have never done. She loves fashion - shoes - dressing up. She has a real fettish with flip flops. She has even slept in them a couple of times. The thing that makes me laugh the most is when she sneaks into our room in the middle of the night she wears these. Who is awake enough to put on flip flops? I woke Ryan up because not only did she have on flip flops, but she was also wearing a hello kitty stocking hat. Trust me, it takes a lot to make me laugh when I'm woke up in the wee hours of the morning!!! Braelyn also added extra excitement to our lives last week when she enjoyed a 4 1/2 hour visit to the er. She thought that Tylenol Cold and Cough would be good to drink. Well, it was decided that the amount she got was borderline. They decided to go ahead and treat her with a big does of charcoal. You then are required to wait and have a blood test to check your levels! Let me tell you how fun it is to sit in a little room with a tired, bored almost 3 year old. All I could think about was crawling up into the bed and taking a nap. By the way, Christy, I would have never survived if you hadn't shown up and taken Addisyn. Thanks so much. However, I would have sat another 4 hours in the er if it would have made my child okay. Braelyn showed no signs of being sick, tired, etc! She was having a great time! Braelyn definitely keeps life interesting. We wouldn't trade her for anything!!!! Happy Birthday, Braelyn to our very active 3 year old! We love you!!!

Braelyn Alizabeth Aren Miller

about 1 1/2 months

Braelyn on her 1st Thanksgiving

Braelyn's 1st birthday!!!

WIPE OUT!!!!!!!!

Avery always has to do things her own way! A total wipe out is what she got for not listening to her "wise" mother!!! Ryan and I took the girls out to the park after the carnival. The ground is still water logged and there was mud everywhere. Ryan wanted to check out the ball diamonds. So, as we walked over thru the grass valley, I specifically told Avery to follow right behind me. She didn't listen and the next thing I know, she is lying in a mud puddle. The picture doesn't do justice to the actual thing. Her arms, hands, legs, feet - all covered. She was bawling and Ryan and I were trying not to laugh. She had to undress before entering the van. The rest of the clan headed over to the playground for a few minutes while Avery and I waited in the van!!!

School Carnival

Addisyn winning the sack race against Avery. She did a little short cut!
Addisyn won a cupcake at the cupcake walk. Avery did too!
Tayloran and Avery doing the egg walk.
Tayloran helping Braelyn do the ball toss.
Tayloran hit 1 balloon dart out of 3.
Avery hit 2 balloons out of 3. Avery wasn't feeling very well and didn't do as many games as the others.

The school puts on a spring carnival for a fundraiser. They use the money raised to take the elementary children on field trips, buy classroom materials, etc. The teachers and parents volunteered their time to make this a success. Ryan and I were really impressed with the 16 packages up for raffle. They were huge and had some really nice items. Tayloran put in a couple of tickets on a bike package raffle. Ryan and I put in for the family pack which had several gift certificates for restaurants, a dental exam, oil changes, pest control,.... The list went on and on. The girls had a great time playing the games. The games were only .25/game. All 4 girls were able to play all of the games. There was a lot to do.

Spring Break Trip

Braelyn with her favorite accessory. This phone was giving out sounds that you guessed.
Tayloran with the static ball.
Avery and Addisyn. I don't think Addisyn was shaking her head enough.
I told Tayloran that her "hearing" better shape up!!! Ha Ha
Addisyn testing her speed. Ryan beat us all by a landslide.
The water station. This was Ryan's suggestion. I think Braelyn could have stayed ALL day. Tay and Avs never got to experience this as I never wanted them to get wet and dirty! Leann - I bet you are so shocked with this confession!!!!
The girls shopping in the market. The girls also had fun in the pizza parlor. Ryan and I were served several slices of pizza. They had on their little aprons,e tc. It was very cute. Did you know that America eats 100 acres of pizza a day. It was like 400 something slices a second!! Crazy!
Ryan practicing with chop sticks.
Testing your reaction time.
Braelyn loved this station. The balls were sitting on holes that blew up air. she loved putting her face down and feeling the air in her face!!
We took a little excursion on Sun. We promised the girls that we would do something while they were on break. We had spent the week painting, entertaining, etc. So, Sunday was the day. I recommend this place to anyone who has children. Ryan and I even had a good time. I have been a few times before, but Addisyn, Braelyn, and Ryan had never entered the Magic House. We spent 2 hours there and could have been there longer. However, Gma was sitting on a bench somewhere and we figured that she was probably ready to go. Daddy was ready to go, also. Here are some pictures of the girls and their time!