We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Florida with lots of family! Josh really enjoyed being in a new place with lots of yummy food, people to play with, and several dogs to chase. He was a trooper on the long car rides to and from Florida, but we are all happy to be home again. We are looking forward to going to Virginia for Christmas – it will be his first trip to Roanoke where Peepaw and Meemaw live. And he’ll get to see his cousins Olivia and Michael!

In other family news, Josh is going to be a big brother – SURPRISE!! Many of you may already know, but baby #2 is due June 26, and we are all excited. I’ve felt great so far, and this pregnancy seems to be flying by very quickly since I have someone to chase after all day.

Josh will go for his one-year check up on Monday, and we’ll try to post some stats and recent photos then (including birthday bash photos). I think I hear Josh shredding something in the next room, so I better end this post for now. I sure love being Mommy to Joshua David!!

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Yes, he opened the pantry doors himself and began rolling pickle jars around on the floor.

Don’t worry, Mommy washed his hands right after snapping this photo!

Josh LOVES to walk around this glass table and play with the magazines (which are a “no”).

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This is my favorite. He was crawling around the kitchen last night and found himself under this chair. He is so good at pulling himself up, so he decided to stand up – then realized he was trapped. Then Mommy insisted on leaving him there to catch it on the camera. Poor little boy!

I love this one, too. I’m not sure who/what he was looking at, but he was captivated.

This diaper box gave him more fun than I would have imagined!

Watching the Georgia game (the Gators had the week off) with Daddy.

We’ll be visiting Florida next weekend, then Raleigh the following weekend. If you’re in one of those places, we look forward to seeing you!

Nathan’s parents came to visit in August, and we all had a blast together! My youngest sister, Megan, was home for a few weeks, so she got to go with all of us to the World of Coke. It was so much more fun that I imagined! Even Josh loved it – he went more than 8 hours without sleep, but was hardly fussy at all. Nathan’s parents also took us to the Georgia Aquarium, and Josh LOVED seeing all the fish and penguins and other animals in the water. How fun it is to experience things with him for the first time. His expressions and noises at the aquarium were hilarious! This past weekend we joined my parents, Megan, and lots of other family from Florida at the Stone Mountain Campground. What a relaxing weekend we had! Of course Josh loved all the attention from his aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, but today he’s back to real life. Auntie Megan flew to NY yesterday, and it’s not quite the same without her, but we’re excited that we’ll get to see her (and possibly Aunt Leslie, too) in a few weeks.

Also in the last two months, several of my girlfriends have had babies. In fact, Josh has a new cousin, little Christopher Michael, who we hope to meet soon! Nathan’s parents brought pictures to show us when they visited, but it still will be much better to get to see and hold the little guy for ourselves. When we get to visit Michael, it will be fun to see Josh with his other cousin, Olivia (Michael’s big sis), who is about 20 months old.

Josh is very good at getting around the house now with his “army crawl.” He doesn’t usually crawl on all fours (although he has made it a few paces like that), but prefers to use one arm to drag his body behind. He’s taken as many as three steps by himself before falling, and can stand up for quite a while on his own. He’s now eating almost everything we eat, and it’s nice to be able to give him table foods. He understands what “no” means, and usually stops what he’s doing when we tell him no. He laughs and smiles easily, and has also started saying “dada” this week. How precious! He prefers men to women, and will choose his daddy over anyone else. I’m thankful he has a wonderful, godly daddy to look up to and follow after.

Well, I hope that catches you up. Maybe tomorrow we’ll be able to post the photos to go along with the post.

Tonight after dinner Nathan and I were indulging in ice cream cones, and Josh felt a little left out. Since it was almost bath time we decided to give him a little treat of his own to entertain him – a biter biscuit. We set him on his own blanket, gave him his little biscuit, and we all watched America’s Funniest Videos together. Such fun. As you can see in the picture, Josh really enjoyed his snack.

Josh is sitting up on his own really well these days, and while he still hasn’t crawled, he likes to walk with our help (especially when a kitty is in front of him). We thought a push and ride toy might help him out with that, and we found a John Deere Tractor this afternoon that our little guy seems to love. He can push it. He can ride it. He can even sit next to it and play with the farm animals inside. Maybe one day his Pawpaw can take him on a tractor ride.

In other family news, Nathan’s new job has been going well. He works for a printing and mailing outsource company called Data Media Associates, and he’s been enjoying the job so far. He had the 4th off, so we’ve enjoyed a nice long weekend as a family. We are so grateful to God for His faithfulness in providing for our needs!

This morning was especially fun because Cub (our cat) noticed the light. Of course, he loves to chase things, and he proceeded to chase the light that Josh was moving. I attempted to show Josh that if he moved the mirror with Cub watching it, then Cub would chase it. However, Josh was just as happy to watch Cub rather than teasing him. Maybe another day!!

Height = 28in. = 90th percentile

Weight = 16lbs. 10 ounces = 50th percentile

He grew 2 3/4 inches from his 4 month appointment and added 2lbs. 2 ounces. As you can tell from the numbers, he takes after his father and grandfather, tall and skinny.

Life in Georgia has been great! Josh has been able to go to the pool for the first time. Of course, he enjoyed that! Yesterday, we took him to the playground, and he loved his time there as well. His item of choice was the swing. And he was not content to sit there. He wanted to move and he wanted to move fast. A man after my own heart! Our time with the Livingstons has been great as well. If I didn’t know any better, I would have to think that they’ve been enjoying their time with him. I guess that’s what Grandparents do. Speaking of Pop Pop, I think he has enjoyed his time teaching Josh to read. I love the look on Josh’s face! I think he likes the story. Well, that’s all for now. I’ve also uploaded more new pictures to the Gallery. You can check them all out here, CLICK HERE.

]]> http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/20/stats/feed 2 http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/10/we-made-it http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/2008/06/10/we-made-it#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:29:03 +0000 Nathan http://www.nateandjenmiller.com/?p=186 Hello everyone! I know this is a much needed update, but things have been crazy the last several weeks. First of all, Jenny and I have finally graduated. It’s hard to believe that we are finished. For most of my life I have been in school and now we are done. It’s a good feeling!

Second of all, we are greatly indebted to all of you in Raleigh who helped us load the moving truck. We had a lot of help and we probably would still be there loading if it wasn’t for the help we received.

We will miss Raleigh, and the people that we have met, but the Lord is moving us on. We are looking forward to what he will teach us here in Woodstock. For the most part we are unpacked and settled in. I still do not have a job yet, but I’ve been looking around and I have a few prospects. So keep me in your prayers that I would find something soon.

On another note, Josh had the opportunity to go to the pool for the first time, and he had a blast. I never imagined he would love it as much as he did.

Well that’s all for now. I hope that all of you are doing well. I’ll update you all soon!

The second set of photos are from Jenny and Josh’s trip to Georgia. They had a wonderful time spending time with Grams and Gramps. I’ll let her update you on the trip, but in the meantime here are the photos. Enjoy!

Remember you can access all of my galleries at any time by clicking the Photos link at the top of the page.

I’m sure all moms have days that test their patience more than others. On Saturday afternoon, there was a series of catastrophes around the Miller house that had this mom feeling a little frazzled. I thought I’d share the story for a little comic relief. Nathan was running sound for a wedding, and his parents had just recently left after a short visit. Josh had been taking a nap in his bouncy seat, and I was taking a little time to relax. He awoke from his nap quite fussy. As soon as I walked into the living room to get him, I smelled an unpleasant aroma. I figured one of the cats was responsible and went to inspect the litter box in the corner. No, it was not the litter box. What could it be? You guessed it! Our little man had taken care of business, and it was all over him and his bouncy seat. (Not really a shocker after all the green beans and peas he had eaten earlier in the day.) I started working away to remove the clothing without spreading the you-know-what all over him (with little success). He kept wanting to put his hands in his mouth, but his hands were not clean, so I kept telling him “no” and wiping them off. I finally resorted to the paci, which he promptly pulled out and swung around in his hand, almost getting it in the mess that I was attempting to clean. This process of diaper changing took at least 8 minutes from start to finish. In the meantime, one of the cats decided to do his business. His litter box just happens to be next to one of my favorite houseplants. We always put gravel on top of the soil on the houseplants to keep the cats from digging. Well, I guess because it was next to his litter box, once he was finished, he started scraping gravel into the box and onto the floor as he covered things up. I just watched this unfold as I finished cleaning Josh up. I went to lay Josh down on his play mat while I got his clothes in the laundry when I discovered that Cub had gotten gravel, litter, and you-know-what on Josh’s mat. Plan B – I decided to lay Josh in the crib while I got laundry started. I cleaned up the gravel off the floor, put the play mat and the clothes in the washer, and scooped out the litter box. By this time, I was warm and wanted to put my hair up. I grabbed a pony-tail holder, and just as I got it wrapped around my hair – you guessed it – the rubber band snapped. At this moment, I started to realize the humor in the situation. I grabbed another one and put my hair up. Finally, I went to pick Josh up from the crib and noticed – yep – he’d spit up green beans on his white sheet. Thankfully the laundry was still on the wash cycle and I was able to toss it in with the other things. Whew! The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, but those thirty minutes or so gave us quite a good laugh. I hope this censored version of the story didn’t offend or gross anyone out. And if it did, just wait until you have children.