Meet Mr. Miller!!!

On Friday morning we had our court date to make our adoption official!! It took all of 15 minutes and Nicholas was a crazy man for every second (that's what happens when the kid fights nap time!). The judge just asked each of us our names, address, do you promise to take care of him.... and POOF! You are now parents! Eric took the day off work so we went back home, packed up the car and headed to Ankeny!!

Saturday was my typical run-around-like-a-crazy-person day. Nicholas and I met Erin, Carter and Addyson at CJ's for breakfast. Then we dropped off the kids and hit up some garage sales; which we bought all stuff for the kids! Saturday afternoon we had my Grandpa Owens' 80th birthday party. Nicholas loved seeing all of his relatives and was passed around from one to the next!! That night was pretty relaxing watching The Blind Side while the Miller men watched Northwestern beat Vanderbuilt.

Joy, Mark and Nicholas having a great time!

Sunday afternoon my dad and Kelly hosted an open house for family and friends to come over and meet the new Mr. Miller. Nicholas is mister social and loved every minute of playing with all of the kids and adults! Afterwards we went over to Aunt Rae's for what I called Big Rae's Labor Day. Although by that point Nicholas was ready for bed so he and Eric left while I hung out for a couple hours.

Whoo hoo!!

I don't know who loves Nicholas' new toy more!!

We love having a holiday weekend! That extra day makes the vacation seem sooo much longer! That morning we met a whole group of family and friends at Gray's Lake (Claire, Dustin and the boys, Mike & Deb, Erin, Brad and the kids!). A number of them went boating while the rest of us hung out. Then we all met Katie and Alex at Perkins for lunch (Breadbowls could use some re-recipe-ing). After going to Alex's new apartment we headed back to Waukesha.

Mike, Dustin and Tanner canoeing while Eric, Brad and Carter paddleboat

Future spouses: Addyson Hill and Nicholas Miller

Be Our Guest

On the 21st, my cousin Kim sent me a Facebook message that she and Jordyn wanted to come and visit. She said they could be there as soon as Monday so I told her, "See you Monday!" They got here around 5 that evening. Since it was getting close to the kids' bedtime we just hung out at home.

Tuesday we decided to spend the morning at Betty Brinn Children's Museum. Since Eric has a GE discount there we got in for free! Whoo hoo. Jordyn LOVED this place! They have a kids grocery store that she thought was so much fun and we had to pry her away from. Kim is thinking about setting up her play area like the store!

Jordyn checking out the Baked Goods section

Then we headed over to the Backyard for children under 3. There was so much fun stuff for both crawlers and walkers, without getting trampled by the big kids. Garden, slides, baby play area, greenhouse... so many fun things! I think Jordyn could have played here all day and Nicholas LOVED getting out of the stroller and playing. One of his friends from Gymboree was there as well!

                                        

Kim, Nicholas and Jordyn in the Treehouse

The next hour Jordyn just ran from exhibits playing for a few minutes and then off again! After Betty Brinn we decided to have lunch at Alterra on the lakefront. Uhh... BEST. LUNCH. EVER!! This place not only has great views of Lake Michigan, it is the most delicious food you will ever taste. You can't decide if you should save it so you can slowly enjoy the food, or scarf it down as quick as possible!! The rest of the afternoon/

evening we hung out at the house so everyone could rest for our fun on Day 2!  

Wednesday was Zoo Day!! At the beginning of the summer Eric and I bought a zoo pass that covered admission for me and a guest plus parking and I think we have gotten great use out of it!! The last trip that Kim and Jordyn were out for, our trip to the zoo was quick since Kimmy wasn't feeling well. We made up for it this time! We saw the birds, monkeys, fish, small animals, cats... and much more! The kids were both in excellent moods so it made for a fun trip!

Thursday, and the last day of there trip, we were pretty low key. Our plan was Gymboree and the the Botanical Gardens, but we decided to not go to the gardens so Kim and Jordyn could rest before the drive back to Iowa. That morning we went to Free Play time at Nicholas' Gymboree. The kids got to play on all the equipment, plus do bubbles, parachute and puppets. I keep telling Eric when we move back to Iowa I am going to open one of these! The kids had a BLAST! After Gymboree we went and ate lunch at the food court followed by a little mall shopping. We were sad to see Kim and Jordyn leave that evening. I don't know who had more fun the kids or the adults. Can't wait to do it again!!!!

                                                  

                                 

Oh!! The funniest thing happened the first day! Kim, Nicholas and I were hanging out in the living room and Kim was saying how she couldn't believe Jordyn was still sleeping. So Kim went to check on her. Well, Jordyn was awake... and playing in Kim's make up!!

                                     

Crawling and Climbing and Teething... OH MY!!

From 7-8 months Nicholas has developed A LOT!!!

CRAWLING

At the beginning of 7 months he took his first couple of crawls... now we can't get the kid to stop! He and I go to Gymboree a few days a week so he can crawl in a more open environment. Most of the time he doesn't crawl like a normal he has one leg that he is trying to walk on while crawling, or sometimes he crawls with his feet and hands!

Normal crawling

Nicholas crawling

CLIMBING

So, if you have been to our house, you know that we have a sunken in living room. No more than a week after he started crawling, he figured out how to climb up those two stairs. Now that means he has access to the whole house. Even if I try to block it off with stuff he pushes them aside to climb those stairs (because there is no wall on the other side, we can't put a baby gate there). Also! As soon as he gets up the steps he sits down so he has to have a spotter or else he will tumble back down! Don't worry, Eric caught him when we figured that out!!

                                                  

The other day he was chasing his bottle that was rolling away. Somehow it got up the shelf on the end table and Nicholas climbed up after it. He is pulling himself up on everything as well so I figure in the next few weeks he will be trying to take his first steps!

Ignore the dust.... Nicholas was able to....

TEETHING

So far Nicholas has his bottom two teeth in, but we are thinking the third is coming along soon. He doesn't fuss too much, nothing that Baby Orajel can't fix! He usually has a runny nose and that is about all. I have heard that when the incisors come in it is a lot worse, but we will see. Our main problem is trying to find things for him to teethe on... he doesn't use a pacifier and anything cold just makes him mad that it isn't food. Oh well, we will get it figured out eventually!!

Holy long time, no blog!! Hopefully Nicholas can chill in his activity center long enough for me to post some stuff!!

Let's see... since we last talked a lot has happened!

Ankeny Weekend
July 9-12 we went back to Ankeny. Eric had asked what weekend he could take a couple of days off around so we could go home and I could hang out with my friends. We ended up choosing this one. We drove into town on Friday and just hung out that day. Alison and Ashley spent the night with us at the Miller's house.

On Saturday I went on a wine day trip (6 wineries in 1 day, I think we did well!). Rae, Nick and the girls took Nicholas to the Ankeny Summerfest Parade, check out pics on her website: The Canfield-Barrett Family during the day. Then he hung out with dad for the rest of the day.

Sunday I scrapbooked the day away while Nicholas and dad went over to Jared and Patti's house. It sounded like the kids had fun playing while the dad's hung out. That night we went with my dad and Kelly to Hickory Park! Yum!!!!

Baptism Weekend

This past weekend we had Nicholas' baptism at St Luke's Lutheran in Waukesha. We were so excited that so many people came out to celebrate his big day with us!! On Friday afternoon Nicholas and I showed Katie around with Kim. We met up with Rae, Nick, Alison and Ashley for dinner at Chili's and then went back to their hotel. Nicholas had never been swimming so I brought his suit along. He swam with Katie and LOVED IT!!!

That Saturday we drove down to Jelly Belly in the morning. A few people in the group had never been, so we had to show them what all the fun was about! We followed with lunch at Perkins and some outlet shopping. After dinner we headed to the Waukesha County Fair. It was fun, but a little muddy because of all the rain we had received the past few nights.

Shopping crew

Kim & Alison

Sunday was the big day! We reserved the tea room at Steaming Cup since there was 14 of us!!! From there we went to the baptism just a couple of blocks away. Afterwards we took a few pictures followed by lunch at our house. Nicholas got some wonderful gifts and we love them all! Thank you everyone for coming out and sending cards for his big day

Update

Just to let everyone know, the paperwork has been filed for Nicholas to become a Miller!! In Wisconsin the child has to live in the home for 6 months, which was the 22nd. Hopefully soon we will have our court date and then it will be official!!

Fourth of July weekend!

So, I am not sure why I put an exclamation point... we had a fairly boring fourth weekend. We haven't been very good at planning our trips back to Ankeny on holidays! We were there the past two weekends and then are heading there this weekend so we figured 4 weekends in a row may be a bit too much!

On the fourth we decided to go to the Waukesha Parade. Since it was a Sunday, the parade was moved from 10 am to 1 pm. Well, it was pretty warm here that day so we decided to head to the parade early so we could get a spot in the shade. At 12:15 we found the best spot ever! There was a store whose awning hung out pretty far so we set up shop there. After 45 minutes of hanging out, Nicholas decided to nap as the parade started. Why does he wake up at home if I cough but marching bands can play on by and nothing?? The rest of the day we just hung out until bed time. We decided it was finally time to get Nicholas on a night schedule. It was a lot of tears the first night, but the second night was no crying and tonight was just a couple of minutes! Whoo hoo!!!

Before the parade

When the parade was going on

Eric has off yesterday and today for the fourth. Today we decided to go to the zoo for a couple of hours to get out of the house. We decided to go this morning because it was cloudy and windy. No joke, the second we started walking towards the zoo the breeze stopped and the sun came out! What?!?! Since we have a zoo pass I didn't feel to bad leaving about an hour later.

Long time, no blog

So, I write I will blog tomorrow... and then everything has been crazy!! So let's start at last weekend

June 18-20

Nicholas had his 6 month doctor appointment this morning. He is a pro at shots! He cries when the needle is going in and then he is over it. Sometimes I feel like a bad mom because it doesn't make me upset when he is getting these shots, but seriously folks, I don't look. I am trying to hold down the little monsters' arms!! I think he handles shots better than I can take them!

Around noon Nicholas and I headed to Ankeny, with Eric and Tink to follow after Eric got off work. We drove seperatly so I could bring the Canfield girls back with me on Sunday. Getting into town a few hours earlier than usual was nice. I was able to go with my dad, Kelly and Alex to Old Chicago for dinner and then K$ came over to the Miller's to hang. Eric and Tink came into town around 11:30.

Saturday was a BUSY day and Nicholas' half birthday!! Nicholas and I went and visited the Hill family that morning, so we could pick up Erin to go garage sale shopping. The kids had fun hanging out together until we left. Nicholas only made it to one sale because a) it was freakin hot and I couldn't carry his car seat without breaking a sweat and b) I bought him a new activity center at the first sale and we needed space! After Erin and I were done shopping, Nicholas and I went over to visit the Canfield-Barrett clan for a little bit. Then we went over to Claire and Dustin's for Declan's 5th birthday party. After eating cake and watching him open presents we rolled on to the Big 0 Bash.

All of Declan's loot!

A number of people in the Owens were having milestone birthday's this year. Grandpa turned 80, Ji turned 60, Joe and Mark 50, Heather 40 and a number of people turned 30 (Rae, Kim, Adam, Justin, Tracy, Kurt... I think I got them all...). They reserved a shelter at Easter Lake. We were supposed to start out playing sports, but since it was 95, we just hung out under the roof! After dinner we had our third white elephant auction. Yes, our family is nerdy but we are the funniest group of people you will ever meet! All of the items brought is about $165 which was then won by KB.

The Owens family crew

Sunday was Father's Day and pretty relaxed. In fact, I can't really remember what we did! I know we hung out with the dad's and then back to Waukesha, but I can't give you any details!

June 21-24
The Canfield girls are taking a number of vacations starting mid July so I figured if I want them to come out here I better make it early in their summer break! I usually keep super busy while they are here and I think this trip was the same.

Monday - our plan was to go to Nicholas' Gymboree class at 10:15 and then head to the zoo. So, we get to Gymboree, start playing and then I realize that his class is at 11:45 on Monday's!! Whoops. Luckily it was the end of free play so about 15 minutes later we headed to the zoo. It was the BEST day to go (thanks Eric). There was talk of rain, so that scared everyone away, but no rain at all! We got there at 11 and left at almost 4, and still didn't see everything. We saw tons of animals, picnic-ed with our Lunchables, rode the train... busy, busy, busy! That night we went shopping for a bit, but Eric texted us at 8 that there was a tornado watch so we headed home. It later turned into a warning so we hung out in the basement for an hour or so.

Tuesday - the girls wanted to go to Build-A-Bear so this day we went to the mall for a few hours. They got new animals, we ate lunch at Panera and then a little more shopping. Sadly, I lost their Build-A-Bear bag with the birth certificates and a pair of shoes Ashley had picked out for her bear. Of course, no one turned it in :-(  That night we went and saw Toy Story 3. We all really liked it. Afterwards we tie-dyed some shirts and socks.

Wednesday - we just hung out in the morning and watched Toy Story 2. That afternoon we went back to Gymboree for Family Play. On Monday Ashley really wanted to play, but wasn't able to since it wasn't an open gym time. She LOVED running around and playing. When Eric got home, the girls and I went to the outlet mall. Ashley loved this shirt at Old Navy and the only one they had was on the display... and it was her size. So we undressed it and bought it for her! Ali had turned 12 a few days before and I didn't get her a gift so she bought some tank tops and a t-shirt at Aeropostale. Although our favorite stop was at Bath and Body Works. They were having a huge sale so we were able to get $53 worth of items for $22!

Thursday - the girls, Nicholas and I headed back to Ankeny around 11. We had a number of things to do before we go, but were only 8 minutes later than I wanted to leave! We had made some car bingos and other travel games for the car ride so it was something fun and new to do for the 6 hours. It went by fairly quickly so I was happy!!

What's so funny!!

Nicholas got a beach ball at his Gymboree class today. He was cracking up the mom's with his laugh when I threw it up and down. Luckily it was still funny at home.

P.S. I will blog more tomorrow!!

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