Happy Birthday GaGa!!

Happy Birthday GaGa! We love you lots!

Walk This Way

One of Joshua's new favorite tricks:

Walking backwards! It is so funny and so cute!

15 Months....Whoa!

I say this every time I blog about Joshua, and I'll say it again......

My baby is growing up way too fast! Where has the time gone?

Joshua turned 15 months old on Monday. We had his well check up on Tuesday. Here are his stats at 15 months:

Weight: 23lbs 14.5 oz (less than 50th percentile)

Height: 32.5 in (90th percentile.....oh my!.....where in the world did that come from?!!??)

Head Circumference: 18.5 in (50th percentile, but seriously, it has to be bigger than that)

What is he up to at 15 months? I'm glad you asked.

-He is talking a lot more. Some words include ball (ba), mama, dada, bus (bu), hat, shoes, teeth, car, truck, boat, cat, dog, bye bye, juice, banana (nana), cracker. (I'll add more as I think about them.)

-He signs "more" for everything. It's the only sign he'll do now. So when I say everything, I mean everything.

-He can wave bye bye.

-He can point to some of his body parts, including toes, teeth, ear. When we ask him to point to his nose he always points to the right side of his head behind his ear. When we ask him where his head is he pats the top of his head and says "hat".

-He constantly shakes his head no, whether he means yes or no.

-His favorite food is still banana. He LOVES him some banana.

-Lately he has had an obsession with juice. He calls milk, water, or juice all juice. And the way he says it is adorable.

-He is a great walker, and runs quite a bit now.

-He has started to climb, or try to climb, on all kinds of things and furniture.

-He loves loves loves to be outside.

-His favorite toy at the playground is the slide. That kid is a slide fanatic! He doesn't really care for the swing much anymore.

-He loves to put things into boxes or buckets. For example, he has a big plastic pumpkin bucket he plays with right now, and every time I go to pick up his toys there is some toy or thing he's found around the house in it.

-Balls are still a favorite toy.

-He loves to hide from us and then peeks out to see if we're watching. It's so cute!

-Boxes are another favorite toy. The other day he pushed around an empty diaper box for hours. He would move it from one place to another, get in it and sit down, and then climb back out and do it all over again.

-He has the cutest and sweetest laugh ever. You can't help but laugh or smile when he starts laughing about something.

-He loves to brush his teeth, and often requests to do so several times a day.

-He can follow some simple commands. For example, when we ask him to bring us his shoes, he will do so. Or if we ask him to go get in the bath he'll walk to the tub and wait for us (except sometimes he tries to climb on in so we have to be on our toes). If it's time to eat I'll ask him to go to his high chair. He'll go get his plastic bib that's hanging up and go wait by his high chair.

-His hair still sticks straight up on the back part of the top of his head. I love it!

-He sleeps 11 to 11.5 hours a night and naps for about 2 to 3 hours a day. His bedtime is still 7:30, likes it's been for the last year, but I think we're going to try and push that back until 8:00 soon. He wakes up each day between 6:30 and 7:00. We would like to get him to sleep in a little later, or at least until 7:00 every day. Plus, he seems ready (most days) to stay up a little later. We'll see how it goes.

-His personality is so cute and so fun. It's hard not to have a good time when you're with him!

-He is still such a joy and a blessing in our lives! We simply couldn't imagine life without him. He is certainly one loved little boy!

I just had to add this picture b/c it shows just what a nut he is. He loves these slippers and insisted on wearing them around the house one day when it was hot as all get out outside. (Also, notice the empty diaper box behind him. This was one day where he pushed it around and climbed in and out of it about 50 times.)

(*I'm sure I'm forgetting something, so this post may be updated at some point.)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Joshua and I would like to say, "Happy Birthday to the best daddy in the world!!!"

No kidding, Joshua really told me to tell him that. He is just so smart these days.

Derek is such a wonderful husband and father to us. We are very blessed to have him!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!

Weekend Fun

The first weekend of October we finally headed back to Concord and Albemarle to visit our families, celebrate some birthdays, and attend Derek's high school reunion. It had been way too long since we went to visit. What can I say, though; we had lots of football games to attend ;). On Friday afternoon Joshua and I drove to Concord. We went and picked up my sister and then went to surprise my mom at the school she works at! It was so neat to see my mom's reaction to us being there. She knew we were going to be around for the weekend, but I hadn't told her when we were coming to visit her. I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture of her face and the ginormous smile she had on her face when we walked in the door! I hope (and am pretty sure) she enjoyed her surprise! It was really nice to get to spend some time with my family Friday afternoon. I can't wait 'til we see them again, and I'm so sad we didn't get ANY pictures.

After our fun and too short visit in Concord we drove to Albemarle to meet up with Derek and the rest of his family. Unfortunately, Derek didn't get to see the Miller girls with me. He couldn't get off work in early enough to go with me to see my mom at work, so he caught a ride with his brother. Friday night David, Pamela, Katy, Derek, Joshua and I went to the Albemarle High School football game. Whoa.....flashback. I hadn't been to a high school football in a LONG time. It ended up being a little fun. We left in the third quarter since Albemarle was ahead 49-0. We figured we didn't need to stick around to see who wins. Because of the game Joshua didn't make it to bed until 10:00 that night. He NEVER stays up that late. Usually he wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning, but because he went to bed so late he didn't wake up until after 8:00!!!! To say we were excited would be an understatement. Most of the time when he goes to bed late, no matter how late it is, he will always wake up at about the same time.

Saturday was a full day for us. We had a lunch celebration for Derek, David, Pamela, and Ben (Tabitha's husband). They all have October birthdays. We played lots outside and then Saturday night we left the kids with Grandma to go to Derek and David's 10 year high school reunion. We had a great time and enjoyed a date night out. We don't get those very often. On Sunday we got up and went to church and played some more outside at Derek's parents before we headed back home. I love seeing our families and getting to do fun things, but it sure is nice to be home. We are looking forward to going back to visit again sometime soon, though!

Enjoy some pictures from the weekend.

AHS Class of '99

Isn't this the sweetest thing ever??

FINALLY.....

.....an update. Let's start with a recap of September. We'll just call this the "Month O' Football".

-The weekend after our beach trip we went to tailgate at the NC State/Murray State football game. Derek actually stayed for the game. Joshua and I went home at the start of the game so that he could get to bed at a decent hour.

-The weekend after that we went to tailgate and to stay for the Gardner Webb game. Joshua did really well. He would sit still with us for 15 or 20 minutes, and then we would have to get up and walk for 15 or 20 minutes. Derek and I took turns so that we could both watch the game some.

-We finished up the month and went to where else but another game for the last weekend of September. It rained. And rained. Joshua and I hung out under the bleachers for most of the game. Let's just say it wasn't the most fun game I've ever been to, but boy was it a good game. State came from behind and ended up winning the game! (sorry, no pictures from that game)

September was so long ago that we may have done something besides go to Wolfpack football games, but right now I just can't think of anything.

And just so you know, Joshua is just as cute as ever! He is learning and growing RAPIDLY! He amazes me every day with something new. I'll try (try being the key word) to write up a post about him soon.

Bad Blogger

I have been a terrible blogger the last month or so. Please forgive me as I try and get caught up. Check back later for some updates!

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of my two handsome men, which should give you a hint at something we've been up to ;)

Laboring at the BEACH

It's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it...ha! For Labor Day weekend we headed to Oak Island with Derek's family. His parents and brother's family went with us. Unfortunately his sister, Tabitha, and her family weren't able to make it at the last minute because they had all been sick. We had such a good time! I can't tell you how awesome it was to get some good quality time in with David, Pamela, Hudson and Katy. We've seen them a few times since they came back from Thailand, but we were finally able to really reconnect. We ended up only getting one day out on the beach. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, so we headed out to the end of the island where the water looks more like a lake. There aren't waves or bad undercurrents, which is great with Joshua. He was able to have a little more freedom to run around and go where he wanted..most of the time. Boy oh boy is that kid independent!

The Babies, Katy and Joshua

Sweet Katy at the Atlantic Ocean for the first time!

The boys and their children

Saturday night we went out for a yummy seafood dinner. We didn't end up eating until about 8:00, which is WAY LATER than Joshua normally eats dinner...ha! (It's actually later than he normally goes to bed!) But he did fine and tied himself over devouring the hushpuppies. He certainly likes some fried bread! After putting the children to bed we played some Uno! None of us had played Uno in so long that we had to refresh our memories about the rules. Did I really just admit that? We're pitiful, I know. It was a lot of fun, though!

On Sunday it rained most of the day. Derek, David, Pamela and I got Sunday morning and decided to try out a church we had heard of there while Grandma and GaGa babysat the little ones. The praise team leader from Campus Crusade in college, Dave Holt, is the worship leader at Generations Church. He had mentioned this to Derek earlier in the summer knowing that we go to Oak Island on vacation. We enjoyed the service and may go back the next time we go to the beach. After church and naps we went to Southport. We were planning to take the ferry to Fort Fisher to go to the aquarium. I think everyone else in the area had the same idea because the wait for the ferry was FOREVER long. So we just parked by the water in Southport and did a little exploring and ate some yummy ice cream.

Joshua really enjoyed being silly with Hudson!

Pamela with our babies (somehow I managed to not be in ANY pictures)

On Monday the boys fished for what seemed like a lifetime while we girls hung out inside with the babies (can we still call them babies?). We took our time cleaning the house and packing up and left around 4:00 that afternoon. We stopped to eat a very nutritious dinner at McDonald's with David and his crew. Then we left on our way to get stuck in traffic on I-40 going home.

We are still bummed that Tabitha, Ben, Taylor and Riley couldn't make it. We'll have to try again sometime to get all five cousins together. That's never happened before, and we are anxious to see them all together!

Don't feel sorry for the fact that we had to spend our Labor Day weekend laboring at the beach. It's hard work being a beach bum, but it's also oh so fun!

How did you spend your long weekend?

Meet The Pack

On Saturday we ventured out to Carter Finley Stadium to meet the Wolfpack!! It was a HOT day, but it was really neat. The only line we ended up standing in was to meet the quarterbacks and kickers. Every line was super long, and did I mention it was hot? We at least got Joshua's picture with quarterback Russell Wilson and the back-up quarterback Mike Glennon! Just two days until the Pack take the field to start the season!!! GOOOOOOOO WOLFPACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joshua and Russell Wilson

Joshua and Mike Glennon

Thankful

It's hard for me to believe how grown up Joshua is now. It's like every day he's a little bigger and knows a little more. It's been so fun watching him for the last two months mastering his walking skills. He is a fast little guy. And just this week he's learned to stand up from sitting, so he's even more mobile and QUICK! Before he had to crawl over to pull himself up on something so that he could walk to wherever he was going. He also knows what more things are. Even though he may not be able to tell us what they are, he knows. We can ask him to go get something, and he goes and gets it and brings it back to us. It's been so fun to see him learn new things. I love the stage he is in right now, but sometimes I miss my little bitty baby who would let me hold him for hours. He lets me hold him for all of two seconds now before he's demanding to get down and GO! I am so thankful to God for blessing us with this sweet child. I'm thankful for a child who is healthy and developing right where he should be. I'm thankful for his sweet (and slobbery) kisses. I'm thankful for a husband who is a wonderful father and a great role model for our son. I guess you could say I'm thankful.