It's official...we have smiling!!!

For a few weeks, we've seen occasional glimmers of a smile that didn't seem to be in response to much in particular except for Jackson...he LOVES Jackson and almost-smiled the most for him. Then on Christmas, Luke smiled a bunch at Aunt K-K, and yesterday he flirted and grinned with Grandma. But today, FINALLY, I got some smiles pointed at me!! He had just woken from a 4 hour nap in his swing, so he was in a really good mood, I guess. Note the beautiful dimple! Isn't he a cutie??

"Is Santa going to bring me rocks?"

This is what Cody asked me tonight. LOL

We've been having a major battle over potty words...eg. poop, weiner, etc. Honestly, I don't care if they use them in the house, 'cause they're boys and it's hilarious, right? But Jacks got in trouble at school earlier this year for using potty language, and apparently Cody called one of his little classmates "butthead" on Monday.

So, we're working on ONLY using potty words IN the potty. This is hard for my boys. LOL I finally lost my temper today and got pretty mad about it.

Jacks and Cody and I had been talking a few weeks ago about how Santa has a list of naughty and nice kids, and the naughty kids only get coal in their stocking. I described coal as little rocks.

Hence, poor Cody was worried that his potty talk was going to result in Santa bringing him rocks.

Teehee.

Home Sweet Gingerbread

We got a gingerbread kit at Target last weekend, and lucky thing we did...it gave us something to do on this stormy afternoon.

Our Christmas Card 2007

Santa Baby!

Blue Eyes, Buzz and The Buddha

I mean seriously, how many chins does Luke have now? And those cheeks!!!

Jackson's School Pic 2007

What does he know that we don't??? Such a knowing smile....

Santa 2007

Yesterday we visited Santa at WillowBend after school. Cody was excited to see him and tell him he wants a Dora Talking Kitchen (lol), but when he actually got up on his lap, the shyness struck. So Santa had to do a lot of cajoling and finally resorted to tickling Cody with his beard to get him to smile....but I love how it came out.

Jackson's Thanksgiving Feast

Jackson has been learning about Pilgrims, The Mayflower, and the first Thanksgiving this month. He worked on his Native American costume all last week at school, and today he and his classmates got dressed up and sang 4 turkey songs for all the parents. Jacks did all the motions and even moved his mouth through most of the songs (unlike at his Christmas program a couple of years ago)! Then they sat down to a delicious "traditional" feast of popcorn, oreo turkeys, and Capri Sun.


Cody felt the best way to see the show was from atop Daddy's shoulders, through Mama's sunglasses:
Baby Luke slept through the whole thing, luckily, allowing me to take pictures. But here's one of him from this morning, making friends with Mr. Sun. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Cody!

We decided to celebrate Cody's birthday at home with just family. Anthony made an incredible multi-layered rainbow cake and brought home Cody's favorite, fried chicken. Gramma and Grandad joined us and we had a nice little party, complete with Backyardigans decorations, a brand new electric guitar (kid-sized) , and enough supplies for the play kitchen to enable Cody to prepare 3 gourmet meals a day for us all.


Here he is in the official "Birthday Boy" hat:

Change of hat, with his amazing cake (of which he proudly told ANYONE who asked, "It's GREEN!"):
Check out those layers!
And here's the little rock star with his very own guitar...yes, that IS an amplifier you see. He's wired, and ready to bring down the house. How much does he look like Anthony in this picture?

Cody's School Pic 2007

Jaundice Update

Good news! On Monday, Luke had gained 5 oz (since Friday) and his bilirubin level was down from 14 to 9.9! He's off the bili-bed for now, and we go back in on Friday for his 2 week check-up to see if his level is back up again and how high. :)

Little Thinker

Life's a Beach

Lucas was discharged from the hospital last Sunday with slight jaundice, but when we went back for a recheck on Monday, his bilirubin level had gone up and he had lost more weight. By Wednesday, he'd begun gaining weight (yay!) but his jaundice was getting worse. He's not at a dangerous level yet, and he's actually at a remarkably low one (14) compared with how high Cody's got (26, requiring hospitalization), but we've been on a phototherapy light off and on all week. On Friday, our pediatrician said he wanted me to stop nursing and give formula for 48 hours to see if that made a difference. This is what we did with Cody, and he never resumed nursing. :(

I told the pedi that I really wanted to give it through the weekend and see if we could make some progress between round-the-clock feedings, and keeping him on the bili-bed (special lighted bed) except when we're changing his diaper or when he's eating. I'm so hoping we see a change in the number come Monday. Lucas is a champion nurser so I'd hate to take that away from him (and me). Think good thoughts for us, please!

(The picture above is from before we received the bili-bed...sunlight is supposed to be effective in breaking down bilirubin as well, so Lucas has been sunning himself as much as possible.)

Welcome Littlest One!

Lucas James Miller came into the world on November 2, 2007, weighing in at 8 lbs 7 oz. The labor was our shortest and easiest, and also as perfect as we could have hoped for...no NICU team, and we got to hold him right there in the delivery room. He even began nursing not an hour after he was born. We are a happy family of 5!

Here are some pictures we got at the hospital....

Snuggling with Daddy:
My 4 Men:


Proud Big Brothers:
Jackson soothing the baby:
Lucas' first storytime!
Yaaaaaaaaawn!!

I Wanna Be a Rock Star

We got red guitar boots a few months ago, and that's when the boys decided they wanted to be rock stars for Halloween. They have been SOOOO excited about tonight ever since we got the red hair-dye spray and stick-on tattoos...that was a few weeks ago, and we chose not to have a trial run, so tonight was IT.

They came home from school ready to put their costumes on. They ended up looking terribly fab and really got into the spirit of it, pretending to do windmill guitar riffs and singing REALLY loud. LOL Cody's hair is so white-blond that the "red" dye came out neon orange on his head, but he sure did enjoy checking himself out in the mirror. I ended up carrying his guitar, and he removed his sunglasses and dog collar before we even left the house. Jacks just pushed his sunglasses on top of his head, which considering their shape, ended up looking rather funny (as you'll see in the very last pic). Here are some pics of my rock stars!

Lovin' their guitars (which they decorated with stars and Jacks even added some flames LOL):




Ooooooh, psychedelic, man:



Jacks really has the pose down:





Cody tried to be tough, cool and aloof, but he let his hair down before too long:







Presenting The Miller Brothers Band....first verse by Cody:



Take it home, Jacks:



Chillin' after our big Trick or Treat (and to Cody, going TOT'ing was not only the act itself, but also each piece of candy, ie. "Look at the Trick or Treat I got!" LOL...oh and he also says we're going to go again tomorrow ):