An addition to the "24 Hour" post

It turns out that Corban's "snotting" of Annie was not unprovoked. We later discovered that Annie did the same thing to Corban. She just didn't get caught.... little stinker...

The Highlight of My Week

Can you guess what the highlight of my week has been? Grocery shopping by myself today. When Jack got home from work, I took off, happily leaving all four of our children in the capable hands of their father. I made six stops and the only seat belt I had to deal with was my own. I treated myself to a chai tea. I listened to my own music in the car. And I didn't have to say, "Settle down, please" one time in the grocery store. It was wonderful.

I promise to post pictures of lovely Lauren again soon. Posting pictures on blogspot takes too long and I need to get to bed. I will say how much I am enjoying our little girl. I don't know if it's just the time of the year with winter keeping us in, but I'm spending a lot of time sitting with Lauren in my new chair. I love it. I love how she snuggles in and just sits with me. These are good days.

24 Hours

Here's a brief little snapshot of life in the Miller house over the last 24 hours...

10 pm Started getting myself and Lauren ready for bed
11 pm Lights out
1 am Lauren awake to eat. She has a cold (at only 3 weeks!) and was having trouble breathing in her bed.
2:30 am Lauren awake and eats again.
3:30 am I enlist Jack's help when Lauren wakes up again. He holds her in our bed for about 30 minutes before he takes matters into his own hands in order to help both us and noisy, snotty girl sleep. He brought the humidifier into our room and propped up Lauren's bed so her head would be higher than her feet.
4:30 am Lauren is awake again to eat.
6 am Lauren is awake again for the morning.
7 am Annie sleeps in and wakes up for the day.
8 am I wake up the sleepy head boys for the day.
9 am Corban is disciplined for wiping snot on his sister. Finger goes to his nose. Finger goes directly to Annie's shirt. Yes, it was intentional. And yes, it was difficult not to laugh even as put on my best stern face.
10 am School was unusually pleasant with Corban.
12:30 pm Lunch. I even managed to make grilled cheese.
2 pm Annie down for a nap.
2:45 pm The boys leave for cross country skiing.
3:15 pm Lauren down for a nap. I head for the couch for my own nap.
3:16 pm Lauren squawks. I panic.
3:18 pm Lauren is quiet....
4:45 pm Annie wakes up. Yay! Operation Get a Nap is succesful.

Ok, the rest of the day wasn't too eventful. Mostly I wanted to share that we had a hard night and that Corban shared his.... well, snot. Hopefully, Lauren is better able to sleep tonight.... for everyone's sake.

Daddy's Girls

I've had very good intentions regarding my blog posts since Lauren's birth. But, I'm tired and I have four kids and I don't get to the computer as often as I'd like. I guess that shouldn't be surprising. Here's a picture of Jack with his two little ladies to help bridge the gap to my next post.

Lauren's First Week

As promised, here are some more pictures of our new little one. We came home from the hospital last Wednesday - it was about the worst weather day you could imagine for bringing a new baby home. Freezing rain. We had a few rough nights at first. Jack and I took shifts holding Lauren and dozing on the couch all night. The last two nights have been much better with Lauren even pulling an 11:30pm - 4:30 am shift one night! My mom and dad arrived Thursday night bringing the adult to child ratio to 1:1. Dad left this morning, but mom is here all week. Yay! Life with 4 kids is, and will continue to be, nuts. But it's wonderful to have a little sweet baby around again. Lauren is doing all the eating, sleeping and pooping that she should be doing. This week has been a bit of a blur, but it's been a good week.

These pictures are from our first morning at home






One week old


First bath

Lauren Terese Miller

Born January 26, 2009
2:46 pm
8 lbs 4 oz 20 inches

Both Mom and Lauren are doing well. We're so grateful for this precious gift from God. More details and pictures to come!







Whoa. That's a lot of kids....

Still waiting...

I am 39 weeks into my pregnancy. I have officially carried this child longer than I carried Annie. And I can't believe I'm still pregnant. Many months ago, I talked big about not being impatient for the birth of this child because I "wanted to get as much separation from Christmas as possible". I thought that some maturity and patience would come with the experience gleaned from three previous pregnancies. No. None of that. I'm impatient. I can't adequately describe the shock and confusion I feel about the fact that I'm still pregnant. Until 6am this morning when I finally admitted the truth to myself, I was absolutely convinced that I was going to have the baby last night, despite the absence of ANY signs that would lead me to such a conclusion. All that said, my body feels OK. I slept pretty well last night. It's just my mind that's totally consumed and often irrational. I need to keep reminding myself that I haven't even reached my due date yet! And I need to chill out. My poor family shouldn't have to deal with my crankiness anymore!