Peacock Lane 2009

This year we went to peacock lane sans snow and it was much busier.

Katrina's first piano recital

Katrina had her first piano recital on the 20th of this month. She has taken about 10 lessons and is doing really well. We had lots of family here to cheer her on. It was just precious.

Oh Christmas Tree

We haven't had a "real" Christmas tree since before we had kids (almost 8 years)but this year we decided to go cut one down. We searched, found the perfect little tree, cut it down, brought it home, light it up and decorated it. It was a fun family activity.

It's a BOY!!!

Yes! Can you believe it? The Millers can make boys! After 39 weeks of patiently waiting, not knowing if we were going to have another daughter or a son, we gave birth to a son! Monday, October 26th we went in to the hospital at about 6:15am to induce labor (no medical reason). My doctor broke my water at about 7:45am and they started the pitocin drip at about 8am. Contractions started and things progressed quickly after that. At around 10am I got an epidural, I was four centimeters dilated. Right after that we discovered that there was a water leak in the ceiling of our birthing room, it was raining hard that day. We had to move to a new birthing room and by the time we got all settled in it was about noon. My nurse checked me and I was 9 centimeters. She called my doctor down, they got everything set up and at 12:18 they told me to start pushing and our little guy was born at 12:19pm at 8lbs 8oz and 21 inches long! Yes, I only pushed for one minute, please don't hate me. When he was delivered Justin called out "THAT'S A BOY!" and the entire room erupted in cheers and I'm pretty sure my mom high fived Justin. The entire thing happened so fast that it was almost an out of body experience, very surreal. I was in shock that we had a boy. The next day around 8:30 in the evening we were discharged and came home. I am completely in love with this little man. He is just the sweetest most precious baby. So far his temperament is very mellow. Hardly ever cries (although when he does his cry is more high pitched than any of our girls had). In the first week he lost over 10% of his birth weight and my life turned into feeding and pumping. He quickly started gaining rapidly and seems to be completely healthy now. He will be two weeks tomorrow and we go back to the doctor on Tuesday, I am confident he will have gained back all the weight he lost. To think that we were 'done' having kids and that I was so nervous about having a newborn. Just seems like silliness now. I am totally at home with mothering a newborn and am savoring every minute of it, knowing that this really is our last. The girls are so excited to have a little brother and are so good with him. God is SO good. I can't say it enough. He knows exactly what we need and I am so glad He intervened with our plans. I couldn't be happier and you can imagine how happy Justin is! Our family really feels complete now.
(btw, his name is Hudson Briscoe Miller)

A mom's heart

My due date is approaching, as slow as it may seem. I am due the 1st day in November but will likely end up being induced the week before that so we will have our new little Miller by the end of the month. I had always kinda pictured us having 3 or 4 kids but once we had Addison and after she turned two we made the decision together that our family was complete and that we would not try to have any more kids. Adoption was something that I thought might also be in our future so stopping at 3 seemed more sensible if we were to consider that at some point. After making that decision I never really looked back or second guessed it but was kinda relieved at what that meant for us as parents (past the late night feedings, diaper changes, pregnancy hormones and weight gain, and on and on and on). Needless to say, when we discovered last February that we were expecting our fourth child it was quite the shock. Obviously God had a different plan than we did and I am a little ashamed to admit how stubborn I have been in accepting that. I never had a problem sacrificing for our other children, especially when they were infants and in the most dependant of states. God has taught me a lot about myself and my nature through this pregnancy and I am glad to accept and yield to his will and am so thankful to Him for being so patient with me. To be honest, it has taken almost this entire pregnancy for me to get excited for this baby. I have had a lot of self doubt, fear about the future, and just plain selfishness revealed to me. I had gotten too comfortable in our life and too consumed with what I want. God has tenderly showed me, like I said, how selfish I had become and how I was dealing with the duties of being a mom as an inconvenience instead of a blessing and privilege. I felt harassed and annoyed a lot of the time instead of finding joy in the little daily ways to take care of my children. This pregnancy just felt so overwhelming to me, the thought of another person to take care of was not appealing at all. I recognized this in myself and it worried me because I had never felt this way before. After praying for many months that God would change my heart he did in his most gentle and patient way. I have been refreshed with a new outlook on motherhood and am really excited for this new baby and can't wait to meet him or her. I am so thankful for a God who hears and answers our prayers and who shows us the light. I just finished a great book that Amber lent to me called "Stepping Heavenward". I read it at just the right time, it was such an encouragement to me. It follows the life of a women in the 1800's through her marriage, motherhood, and her walk with God. One specific entry really resonated with me and I wanted to share that here. I think she is about to have her fourth child and her sister-in-law was basically chastising her for it, saying her life would be harder now, less time for friends and leisure, more money to cloth and feed them, more work for herself, more sleepless nights. Her response was this "...Here is a sweet fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God, and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a Kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby; you are welcome to your mothers heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her most tender cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!

The Sound of Music

For about a year now Katrina has been asking to take piano lessons. You can't take piano lessons without a piano and it has taken us that long to finally get one. Our friends from church had one that their daughters had outgrown and they delivered it to us this last Saturday. The kids have been on it very frequently since then and I just love the sound throughout the house of kids on the piano, call me crazy. Now we just have to get her signed up for lessons!

Our Birthday Girl

Addy turned 3 on 9-9-09 this year. She got a new trike on her birthday from mommy and daddy and on Saturday we celebrated with friends and family. She loved being the birthday girl and couldn't help telling anyone she saw that "I'm a birthday girl"!

trying to figure out how to work the pedals and steering at the same time

the Groman boys - so much fun!

Carissa and 'Micah dude'

Amber checking the damage Justin did with a water balloon

cleaning up after the water balloon fight

First Day of School 2009!

Justin got home on Sept. 5th and it was a very happy reunion. He got home just in time to send the girls off to their first day of school later that week and to celebrate Addy's birthday on the same day.

Emma our 1st grader and Katrina our 2nd grader

outside waiting for the bus with Annabelle who is a kindergartner this year

'catching' the bus

the parents

proud parents

Keeping busy

One of the days Justin was gone the girls took an old diaper box and just went to town with it. They just happened to be wearing cow girl hats too so that just made it even more of a photo opp. Katrina made a car for Addy and Emma made her a doggy house for her stuffed animals. Silly mom didn't take a picture of the finished products.