"Louie" the frog

On the Sunday of Ethan's baby dedication, we decided to have both of our families over for a cook-out. The girls (who are normally so engrossed in being with their older cousins when they are around, that they would not even notice if their pants were on fire...ok...I exaggerated...but back to my story! Starting again-The girls basically ignored their cousins because they were so consumed with taking care of their new friend...Louie the frog (whom we found on the driveway after church). "Louie" was the first of many frogs to come into our family this summer, and i will tell you about the others in a minute...but first let me tell about Louie. All during lunch, Louie was permitted in the house (in his bug cage of course). After the company had left, I was asked to "babysit" for Louie while the girls went out to play. After being relieved from my duty, i decided to take a nap. I woke to find the girls giggling in the living rm after letting louie out of his cage. (Ever tried to catch a frog in your living rm?) Louie was then transported to the back porch where he spent the remainder of his days...or should I say his last few hours! By 5PM Louie had gone to froggie heaven and the tears began flowing! First Nicole was sad at the idea of losing her new pet..After those tears dried up, a new batch came because she was convinced that Louie's parents must be mad at her for caging up their "froggie son" thus causing his demise! What does a mother say to console her child? "Let's go catch another one!" Big mistake!



This picture is an adequate way to show you all what gave kamryn and Nicole the idea to do the unthinkable! Now tell me friends...what makes 2 sweet little girls who love to play dress up and "wedding girl" as they call it, decide to RIP FROG'S LEGS OFF? That's right! On numerous occasions the girls would come in laughing saying that they had ripped froggies legs off and then would drag me outside to show me the helpless frogs! (None of them living anymore of course) Thinking back, I realized that I may have actually given them the idea...un-intentionally of course. You see, when I took this picture, i told Kamryn...don't pull the legs apart so far or you'll rip them right off! Well this must have been a bright shiny "light bulb" moment for Kamryn.
Last photo of "Louie" before he "departed!"

The froggie killings have slowed down dramatically! However, Kamryn occasionally admits to hiding in their clubhouse and harming another. I loved the idea from a friends site (thanks Heather) to post a quote of the day and while I think that her's are hilarious, i don't normally think of any for myself. However, i do remember one that is quite appropriate for these pic's!
So here goes...


Quote of the Day :

Nicole: Mommy can you help us move the garbage can because we are trying to catch a big froggie and he just ran under there

Me: (After moving the trash can) Oh no! Sorry girls but mommy accidentally squished the froggie

Nicole: (laughing) Wow! It kinda looks like Salsa now! (Bet that gives you a pretty mental picture!)

Summer Days

All dressed up...and ready for tea! Each summer when the Iowa cousins come to mammer and popper's house for the week, it's always filled with fun for the kids! This particular day, mammer had planned to take the ladies and the grandkids (no guys allowed) to a suprise tea at a bed and breakfast! The food was amazing and so was the 1800's brick house that it was held at! The kids loved getting all dressed up for the day!




Tyler and Ally gave us a few laughs pretending that they were both nearly peeing their pants while waiting on their little cousins to come out of the restroom! Now come on...is it really that bad? Notice the smirks on their faces?




Kamryn tried her best to ba a "fancy litle princess" and it did last for a little while, but eventually her "true inner self" got the best of her and she was tearing around the B & B in no time! (Let's just say that a room full of tea cups and china, was not the place for 4 adults and a whole slew of kids to be!) We quickly ushered them outside (before the owners did it for us) and snapped a few more pic's in the flower garden's!


Mammer and the "Precious 8" ...Ally, Kenzie, Kamryn, Jarett, Gabi, Tyler(holding Ethan) and Nicole


If I could read Nicole's mind, I bet she would be saying "This tea party is great and all...But I'm tired of being so up-tight. I'm gonna just relax and prop up my elbows on the table!"





We do drink a lot of tea in our family, but we don't always dress in princess attire to drink it! The girls have enjoyed going out to the garden beds to pick fresh tea and tomatoes! Here is Nicole in all her glory after cutting this tea for me to make iced tea!


CLOWNING AROUND...Ha! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself) The girls found some old face paint and asked me to "decorate them" Thankfully kamryn was pleased with just a small butterfly on her arm!
When the cousins come out, we usually have a slew of summer b-days to celebrate. This year aunt Tami and aunt Brooke decided that instead of the typical b-day spankings, tape would be much more fun. After catching them and having help holding them down, Ally and Jarett were successfully TAPED UP!
This is what happens during a busy week with the cousins when I get side tracked and walk away from the sink...(note to self-shut the water off BEFORE going outside to pick tea!)

The cousins spent most of their time just down the road at mammer and poppers house. But they spent several days at our house instead. I couldn't resist gathering them all up for a quick pic before bed and thought to myself...these kids could actually all be mine! I abruptly shut that train of thought down though, before a panic attack came on!

We spent most of our summer enjoying the outdoors! This was an evening spent on the back porch with friends and their kiddos! The little munchkins always like being together, despite the fact that they often fight like siblings! (Chloe, Niki, Kamryn and Seth)

Life Returns to normal...or atleast our "NEW NORMAL"

Big sisters are a good thing for every little boy to have!

Ethan was not the only "new life" at our house. These tiny birds were a lot of fun for the girls to watch. They kept track of them for weeks. The mommy bird made a nest in my ferns on the front porch and so the girls found the eggs and would check them daily. They were so excited when they finally hatched.

Just because we added a boy to our family, doesn't mean that we stopped doing girly things! In fact, Ethan has even been invited to a few of these tea parties!

THE BIG HOMECOMING

YES...THAT'S RIGHT
ETHANS HEAD WAS THE SIZE OF AN APPLE!
AS WE HEADED HOME, WE WERE WONDERING IF THE CAR SEAT WAS ACTUALLY SAFE. HE JUST LOOKED SO TINY IN IT!
THE PROUD MOMMY AND DADDY, FINALLY HEADING HOME ON DAY 8

Week 1 of Ethan's life

PHOTOTHERAPYLIKE FATHER...LIKE SON
TIME TO TEST HIS HEARING

A splash of BLUE in our world of PINK

May 8 did not start out at all as we had planned! I was supposed to be taking Nicole and Kamryn to cousin Gabi's 4th birthday party and then work in the afternoon. Neither Brian or I had scheduled time for me to go into labor - especially not six weeks early! But God had different plans! We called my mom, who was at our house in just a few minutes, to stay with the girls! (How handy that mom and dad are our nieghbors) We rushed out the door as soon as mom got there and headed to the hospital. My contractions were about 1 minute apart. While we were driving I remember asking Brian if he was scared and we both admitted that we were nervous about the baby being so early. However, I did notice that Brian could not stop smiling! Then I remembered that the week before, he had been telling some buddies that he just lives for the time when he gets to rush to the hospital and even admitted that he would love to be stopped for speeding on the way! Cheap thrills, I guess! Needless to say, after we arrived at the hospital, they confirmed that my labor had progressed beyond the point of being able to stop it! They called in several specialists to be present at the birth because of not knowing the condition of the baby when he/she arrived! Everyone made it in time except for one physician! At 7:45 Am (On his cousin Gabi's birthday who was also born prematurely) Ethan Cooper Miller joined our family...thus adding a SPLASH OF BLUE INTO OUR WORLD OF PINK! He weighed in at a whopping 4 lb 9 oz. and was 17 1/2 in. long. The first few hours after his birth were fairly normal, much to our surprise! We were thrilled at the idea of our little man breathing just fine on his own and as one specialist after another, checked him and gave the "thumbs up" we relaxed even more. . Around noon, Brian headed home to do some work in his office and make phone calls. A friend from church, Deb Breneman happened to be one of the nurses attending the birth and was in my room helping finish up the whole check-in process! (Checking in was not a priority when we first arrived at the hospital) Ethan was struggling to hold his body temp. and so we were doing skin-to-skin therapy to help warm him up. He was snuggled inside my gown with heavy heated blankets wrapped around the two of us and I was just thrilled to be holding my little sweetheart! Deb suddenly took Ethan from me after noticing that his face (which was the only thing visible) was completely blue! Ethan had stopped breathing! We still are not sure exactly how long he had gone without oxygen, but he was still not breathing by the time they got him into the nursery. I followed, in a panic, and watched as 3 nursed tried to resuscitate him. Seeing them work on him and yet not being able to physically do anything myself, made me feel as though I was the only person in the world! PTL he finally took in a breath! This was the first scare of many during Ethan's first week of life! Hopefully the pic's below can show a glimpse of those first few precious days!