Miller Happenings

Here's a little update on what's going on with us lately:

BRYCEN

This little guy surprises us everyday. I was cleaning up the office today when Brycen came walking in with his pack of Twist Up crayons Aunt Amy gave him for Christmas. (He loves them! Thanks again, Amy!) He handed them to me and said, "Color?" Apparently he says "color" now! It was so fun hearing him say that. We walked into the living room, picked out his Clifford coloring book, and colored on the living room floor. Every time he picked out a new crayon he said, "Color."

I made him up a plate of leftover shepherd's pie for lunch today (which he loves). You can find the recipe here by the way. :) The mashed potatoes can get a little messy so I went to feed it to him like we did last night for dinner. He got mad and said, "No!" Then he took the fork away from me and ate the entire thing all by himself. My baby is turning into an independent little boy!


On Friday night we went to Burger King for a little family outing. I was craving a chicken sandwich after seeing the advertisements on TV that they are buy one, get one free right now. Tyson and I each got one and then we got an order of fries for all of us to share. We got Brycen his own hamburger. I had torn it into pieces for him to eat with a few fries and he just wasn't eating them. So I decided to give the hamburger to him to try eating on his own. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before, considering he eats a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch once or twice a week with no help. After I gave him the hamburger he was in heaven.

After dinner we gave him a Burger King crown to wear and he loved it. He wore it the whole way home and didn't want to take it off. I had the point-and-shoot camera with me so I was able to snap a quick picture of him on the way home in the dark. That night I went to change him into his pj's, but he was mad because I needed to take his crown off to get his shirt off. I hurried and took it off, and while he was screaming for his crown I took his shirt off, put on his pajama shirt, then put the crown back on. I changed his diaper and put his pajama pants on, all with his crown on.


The next morning (Saturday) we went to take Tyson's truck in to get the windshield replaced. While we waited for it to get finished we decided to go to Zurcher's. I love that place! And so does Brycen. He loves the balloons and that he gets one every time we go there. He loved that balloon and wanted to play with it all day. And that's exactly what he did. He carried it around with him and sported his Burger King crown in the process. I took this picture after I got him in his jammies on Saturday night. He's a funny kid.


ALLI & BABY BOY
I am 18 weeks pregnant. How in the world did that happen? It's amazing how much quicker this pregnancy has gone. I'm not sure how I feel about that! The picture above was taken at 16 weeks. Lately my stomach has all of a sudden poked out even more. I started feeling our little boy moving around at about 15 weeks and I've felt him a lot more lately. On Thursday morning I started feeling SO much better out of nowhere. I haven't been nauseous or had to rely on my nausea medication at all. It's been wonderful! However, the fatigue has really set in. But some days are a lot worse than others. Most days I feel awesome, with that occasional tired day. It's funny how each pregnancy is so different. After 15 weeks with Brycen I felt awesome till I started feeling contractions at 33 weeks. This pregnancy has been all over the place. But I'll take it! I've been able to manage it just fine, and it helps that I have a busy toddler to follow around all day long.

This little baby boy is healthy and doing really well! As soon as I get better ultrasound pictures I will post one. I feel so grateful to be having a healthy pregnancy and that all is going well. That's always a worry.

My latest food cravings include:

• pickles
• sugar (candy of all kinds)
• Subway
• chicken sandwiches
• mint chocolate chip ice cream
• slushies
• diet pepsi (When do I NOT crave a diet pepsi?)

TYSON

Tyson is keeping busy with work and really enjoying it. It's a tough job, but somebody needs to do it! He's really good at what he does. To recap on that, Tyson is a therapist at the Behavioral Health Institute with McKay-Dee Hospital here in Ogden. He works with all kinds of people. We're talking "lie down on the couch and tell me about your problems" kind of therapy. It's pretty nice having someone like that around, especially during pregnancy! He was recently asked to present at the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute Conference on critical issues facing children and adolescents. I'm excited and proud and all of those other good words that he was asked to take part in an event like that. What a neat experience that will be! He's amazing.

And our most recent family event:

We said goodbye to Tyson's Dodge Dakota that he had for three years on Saturday. It was a great truck and we'll miss it! (Do I dare admit that I cried when we left it? I blame the baby.)

We took the truck to a dealership and traded it for a van! Yay for vans! It's a 2009 Dodge Caravan and we love it already. We had no intention of getting a van so soon (it has been a plan further down the road with more kids). We saw one at Ken Garff Nissan in Ogden and thought we'd go look at it and test drive it. The price was way too awesome to pass up. So we left Tyson's truck and came home with our van. We got our extra space, Brycen got his DVD player, and we're all happy. Traveling is going to be much easier with this van!

Boys Will Be Boys! And a Confession

Yes, the news is true! Baby Miller #2 is a boy! We just got back from a weekend in Idaho Falls with our families and we had fun telling them our news. Even though a lot of them wanted us to be having a girl, I think they're happy with a little boy instead. This will make four grandsons for my parents and four grandsons in a row for Tyson's parents (they have three granddaughters and two more grandsons to add to the bunch). My mom's parents' first four grands were boys as well so she's following in their footsteps. The oldest of those four grandsons of my grandparents' is my brother Aaron.

I'm very excited that we're having a boy. Now. Here is where my confession comes in. I was so sure that this was going to be a girl. And I think it was because I really wanted a girl next. In my mind as I pictured us telling our families I thought of us saying, "It's a girl!", but then I'd quickly say to myself, "Hold on, this could be a boy." Yet I still had this idea of "girl" in my head. With Brycen I could just tell he was a boy. I had the feeling and just knew it in my heart and soul. With this one I think it was more of a desire than anything. When we got into the doctor's office and she started the ultrasound I was getting nervous for the big news. Then she turned to Brycen and said, "Time to see if you're going to have a little brother or little sister! And it's a...brother!" And there was the proof...boy parts and all. And my stomach sank and I was bummed. I hate to admit that I wasn't happy with the news. This is my child we're talking about here. Tyson was there and just laughed when he heard the news. He was excited.

Tyson went back to work and Brycen and I went back home. I walked in the front door and got Brycen some lunch. I was truly sad when I got home and totally bummed out. I felt like crying. I wanted a girl so bad and now I'd have to wait for the next time around where hopefully we'd have a girl. I walked around the house and tried to snap myself out of the sadness I was feeling. We would be leaving for Idaho that night and I still had a lot to do. I pulled myself together to do it and got excited to see our families.

We stayed at Tyson's parents' house over the weekend and enjoyed a lot of family time, including Amber's two baby showers on Saturday. On Friday night Tyson and I had the opportunity to go to the temple with my parents, grandparents, Che', and Adam for Adam to go through the temple for the first time. I hadn't really thought about the baby much that day but was so excited to be at the temple with family. The session had barely started when the baby entered my mind. I thought about him the entire time I was in the temple...and it was wonderful. I felt at peace with the fact that we were having a boy and I was all of a sudden really excited. I thought about him being close in age to Amber's baby, Tayen (coming in March), and Aaron and Britney's little guy, Boston (almost 6 months old). I thought about these three boys playing together and most likely being in the same grade. I thought about a name for this little boy and couldn't get it out of my head the entire time we were there. And I felt an incredibly strong love for this little boy. I also felt a lot of guilt for how I'd been feeling about him over the last couple of days. My eyes filled with tears thinking about the thoughts I had about wishing so badly he was a girl instead. I hoped and prayed that he wasn't sitting up there in heaven learning how his mom felt about him while I was having those thoughts. That is still hard for me to think about.

By the time we were finished with the session I felt so peaceful and lucky to be the mom of such a special little boy. Over the weekend I talked to family and friends about this little boy. They all told us how fun it will be to have two boys together and how they'll be buddies. It made me even more excited to be having a boy.

I hope this little boy knows how excited I am for him to join our family this summer and how much I love him. He's my child, and it doesn't matter if I ever have a girl because these are my children. There's nothing like the love a mother has for her child. It's funny how you look at your child and wonder how you can love another as much as you love them. I did this with Brycen. But now I know it is possible and it's already happening for me. We're truly blessed to be having a boy and I'm so excited for Brycen to have a little brother.

Adam's Temple Night

We came to Idaho Falls this weekend so we could attend the temple with Adam tonight. Brycen stayed with Tyson's parents while we enjoyed the evening. It was his first time going through the temple and he was really excited. It was such a neat experience and I'm so glad we were able to come! Tyson and I, as well as my parents, Murri grandparents, and Che' were at the temple with him tonight. It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad we were able to share that with Adam.

After the temple Amber and Amy joined us and we all went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. (Minus Grandma and Grandpa.) I ate my entire meal. It was a really special moment.

Great night!!

More on Brycen

Brycen is growing up way too fast and doing all sorts of funny things these days. Here are a few:

• He started saying "shhhh" while my mom and Amber were in town back in January. I held my finger up to my mouth to say "shhh" and he did the same thing back. It was quite a surprise!
• Brycen was really attached to me for about 3 days and I loved it. When he was sad he always wanted me to hold him and not Tyson. Usually this is the opposite. He wanted me to hold him when he woke up crying, he wanted me to pick him up during the day...It was wonderful while it lasted!
• Brycen gets put in timeout at least once a day. Timeouts involve sitting in his crib with nothing in it for one minute. I learned in a parenting class that timeouts should be one minute for every year they are old. So for now they are one minute long. But he better watch out, he's two in April!
  
• He calls graham crackers "cookie". If he wants a graham cracker he'll point to the box and say "cookie".
• Brycen loves putting money in his piggy bank. My mom and dad have provided him with probably $10 worth of change just because they love watching him take it to his room and put it in his bank. Thanks for contributing to his mission fund, Mom and Dad! :)
• He broke something for the first time on Monday, January 23, 2012. He had a glass and dropped it. I know. Why the crap did we let him hold a glass? It was one of our rocks glasses, which get used more than anything. Oh well. It's just an object. He was trying to put it on the entertainment center and it dropped, breaking on the carpet. I still worry that we didn't get all the glass picked up but that's another issue!
  

• Brycen likes to sit on the counter while I bake. He'll grab things like measuring cups and pretend like he's putting something in the bowl. On January 24th I was making banana bread and he grabbed my bottle of prenatals and pretended to pour them in. He also grabbed a spoon and pretended to stir. He loves to be in the kitchen with Mom. On the 27th we made a Texas Sheet Cake for Tyson and he sat on the counter and helped me mix the flour and sugar. He loves to pretend like he's helping.
• Brycen really likes to get in the cupboards and pull out the big plastic mixing bowl and all of the wooden spoons. He'll sit on the floor and pretend like he's mixing things. Sometimes I'll throw a few peanuts or raisins in the bowl and he'll stir them around. He loves it! It makes me smile when I'm sitting on the couch at night watching one of my favorite shows and I see a wooden spoon sticking out between the cushions. He loves to play with wooden spoons.
• On February 12th he started saying "bu bye". I called my mom to see if he would say it while I was on the phone with her and he ended up having a 10-minute conversation, ending it with "bu bye". I was so glad Tyson got the video camera out during that time!
  

• The other day he walked into our bedroom and came out with a sock on each hand and holding my deodorant. He also took his pajama bottoms off during that time. Funny kid!

• He loves to sit in his highchair and watch cartoons on Tyson's lap top. We just pull them up on YouTube Sometimes we'll let him sit up to the table in one of the chairs. Lately he's been watching "Small Potatoes", "Tiny Toons", "Looney Tunes", "Pound Puppies", "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers", and old Mickey cartoons.

Last Night's FHE: Appreciating Music

Normally for family home evening Tyson and I end up discussing a topic and making it about us. Brycen has no idea what is going on. He is getting older now and starting to understand more so we decided to start holding family home evenings for him and focusing everything on him.

I've always been overwhelmed at the idea of planning a family home evening around a child, even though it sounds really fun to do. When I came up with this outline for last night I decided I would share for any other parents who are in the same boat, unsure of what to do for these family home evenings. So here's what I did!

First I discovered the Family Home Evening resource page on the Church website. Wow, that is a huge help! Not sure why I didn't look here before. This page has lessons by topic, activity ideas, videos, music, and many more other helpful resources.

I clicked on the Lessons by Topic tab and decided to start from the beginning with "Appreciating Music". After clicking the topic I found a whole list of articles, lesson ideas, a picture kit, etc. to help me prepare. Since Brycen is still pretty young I decided to go with the story from the Friend listed in the articles titled "Service with a Song" (found here). It was a short and very sweet story about a three year old singing good music at a rest home. Very cute.

When it came time for the lesson, I read the story then I had Tyson read two scriptures: D&C 25:12 and D&C 138:24. We talked to Brycen about how good music is important and what those scriptures mean. Brycen loves music so it was fun talking to him about it.

The activity for the evening was a coloring picture for Brycen:

"Music Makes Me Happy" coloring page found here

And for dessert we had Cake Batter Blondies. You can get the delicious recipe here!

And that was our family home evening! I hope this was helpful for anyone who is like me and trying to get into the groove of teaching the little ones. :)

Got It!

Today Brycen put two words together for the first time: "Got it!" We were playing with his car ramp in his room when one of them went flying. He reached back behind the toy box to get it, and when he finally reached it he said, "Got it!" It took me so off guard, yet it was so exciting! He said it three or four more times before going to bed at 8:00. Most of the time he says a lot of fluent jibberish with a real word mixed in. So this was a big deal! What a milestone for our little man! I'm such a proud mama. :)