2014

2014 ended up to be SO much different than I expected. 

In January, I made resolutions to eat better, exercise more and have more time for me. I went on a 21 day sugar detox which started me off on the right foot. 

On February 4th, I joined It Works! I was so excited for this adventure and felt like this was a great step in doing something just for me!  It did not start out quite how I envisioned; we were busy with a school fundraiser and all of us were so sick! I can remember hanging decorations for the event thinking all I wanted to do was go home to lay in bed. 

February 11th was the day that changed my life. I woke up early for an annual visit with my obgyn. I remember telling Nic I felt nauseous that morning. I was still so sick and had pulled a rib muscle from all of the coughing and could hardly sit up on the table while I was talking to the doctor. She wrote me a prescription for  cough medicine and one for a different birth control, saying, "you can't take either of these if you are pregnant." I laughed and said, "no way in hell I could be."  Well, that pregnancy test proved me wrong!! I'll never forget that feeling. Shock, sadness, anxiety, panic, loneliness, guilt... All at once. 

The next 9 months were difficult for me- physically, mentally and emotionally. 

The past 3 months have been even harder! I have a lot of guilt that I can't possibly give everyone the attention they need and deserve. Nic travels more for work and being home with all four kids is not easy. 

But my heart is in a different place. A better place. My life might not be easy right now, but it's exactly where I want it to be. I am truly blessed. ❤️

Kaden in 2014:

Favorite part of 1st grade: "We get to be more powerful than kindergarten." He likes writing and art the best. He loves his teacher and said this about her: "I noticed that not only is Mrs. Robles nice and kind, she is also really funny."

Favorite school project: snow globes

BFFs: Philip, Gage, Will, Mikey, Aakash, Jaxon

Girlfriend: Lainey. "She's kind."

Favorite part of baseball: catcher because he likes to wear all the gear

Favorite part of basketball: "It's easier than baseball because all you have to is shoot!"

Favorite part of being a big brother: "I get to have more fun with them."

     Cam: "He's my pal." 

     Ryane: "Helping her out when Cam is making her mad."

     Avery: "I really like to hold him because I don't really get to hold Cam and Ryane anymore." 

When Kaden grows up he wants to be a baseball player and an artist. 

Kaden has changed a lot in 2014. He went from a preppy little guy wanting to dress like his daddy, to a kid who wants to be just like his friends. He wears only athletic gear now, a baseball rope necklace (like the pro players) and a hat backwards. He has matured a little at school and doesn't get into trouble as much this year. Reading has started to click and Kaden is doing well learning his spelling words each week. Kaden is more interested in math and science at school and excels there. Although at times he has an attitude like a teenager, he still loves to be a helper and loves to hear what a great job he's doing. He loves to play with his neighborhood friends and he will run over to their houses to play after school. Between that and practices for baseball or basketball, Kaden is really busy!

Cam in 2014

Favorite part of pre-k: snack time (crackers). Upon further questioning he said "going to the art museum."

Favorite school project: drawing pumpkins 

BFFs: Philip. "When we go to swimming, Philip needed to buckle something on his backpack but he kept walking so I helped him."

Girlfriend: Ella "she's berry {very} nice."

Favorite part of being a brother: "taking care of Avery."

     Kaden: "letting him have my tatoo."

     Ryane: "she's funny."

     Avery: "I take care of him." 

When Cam grows up he wants to be a "dult {adult} that cooks."

Cam has also changed a lot this year. He took the prize for being the most difficult child to being the easiest by a landslide. Although he still can throw a mean tantrum, those moments are few and far between. He's really sweet and sensitive and can get his feelings hurt really easily. Cam cares a lot for Ryane and Avery and is a great big brother. I love listening to his conversations with Ryane.  The two of them play really nicely together. And Cam loves Avery. He will bring him a stuffed animal to look at and will sit next to him and talk to him for awhile. Cam loves school this year and has grown a lot. Last year you could hardly get him to hold a pencil, and this year he loves to write and draw. After I had Avery I started dropping Cam off in the carpool line. Now he requests that I do carpool and his teachers say how proud of himself he is when he walks in on his own. Cam is  funny but he doesn't understand sarcasm or joking too well. He's adorable and we love his cute little personality!

Ryane in 2014

Busy. And that's actually an understatement. I told Nic that I can't watch her all the time because she needs an eye on her every second of the day... And I need to blink!!  She's two and acts like it- one minute she is happy and the next minute she's on the floor beside herself crying. And she's got a temper too!! Ryane has a very funny personality and she says the cutest things. I think Ryane is very smart and I don't think there's any comparison between her and the boys at the same age. Ryane loves music and knows the words to every song. She is starting to like to dance too! She's my little light and definitely makes things brighter around here. Ryane definitely rules the roost around here with her brothers and she has her daddy wrapped around her finger as well.  "She's sun and rain. She's fire and ice. A little crazy but it's nice." 

Avery in 2014

He's my heart. He's the sweetest baby I've ever had and is happy just to be talked to. He's much more easy going than any of the other kids were and even fell asleep the other day playing on his play mat in the middle of our crazy kitchen! He has started giggling which melts my heart. I was worried about what his place would be in our family but it didn't take long to realize! I'm in love with this sweet boy! 

Nic in 2014

I'm lucky to have Nic in my life. He's definitely my rock and is be lying if I said I didn't need him every day. He's pretty impressive in my opinion! He ran an ultra marathon in September (40 miles) and I'm sure is planning more for this year. He loves his job as a Sales Manager and he's great at what he does. He works really hard- from waking up early to run, getting the kids their breakfasts, and working all day, to then coming home to the chaos of our lives... He puts up with a lot all the way around. I hope he knows how appreciated he is!! 

Here's to a happy and healthy 2015!

Us

I'm conscious of us a lot. 

We can be loud, obnoxious, out of control and crazy. 

We stand out. 

But all this craziness will go by fast. 

And one day it'll be quiet in our house and we will miss these days. 

I need to remember to take it all in and try to enjoy these times with my babies. Thanks Mom for the reminder.  

2 months

At two months old:

Length:  24 1/2 inches (90th percentile) 

Weight: 14 pounds 1 ounce (75th percentile)

 

Avery looks like such a big guy! He's so long! But he doesn't seem as chunky as the others were. 

 

Avery wears size 0-3 month clothes but I'm sure he'd fit into 3-6 month clothes, especially the one piece outfits. 

He is wearing a size 1 diaper but I am about to switch to size 2. 

He was doing great at night.  His longest stretch was 7 hours. This past week he's been waking between 3-5 hours.  Hopefully it's just a growth spurt and he will start going longer again. 

I usually have to wake him to feed him at 7:30 before we take Cam to school. Some days he wakes up right around then on his own.   

Avery has put himself on an eat play sleep schedule, for the most part. He is usually up around 1-1.5 hours before it's time to sleep again. 

His naps are not very consistent yet. Sometimes he sleeps 3 hours and sometimes 30 minutes. 

 

He generally eats every 3 hours during the day and he nurses well. 

 

Avery is so smiley. He smiles all the time now and loves when you talk to him or smile at him. He has a little almost-laugh when he gets really excited. 

 

He has started to coo a little bit here and there, especially when you ask him questions. I've heard a mmm sound a few times as well.  

 

He likes his swing and will fall asleep in there if he's drowsy. 

Avery also does better now playing on his playmat and tolerates it for longer periods of time. 

 

Avery has rolled over a total of four times Fromm tummy to back! I even caught one on video. 

 

Avery is still doing well taking a bottle!  He drinks about 4 ounces.

 

He's a cuddle bug and so very sweet. He lays really comfortably on Nic's chest whenever Nic holds him. 

 

He still doesn't settle well in the evenings but he's doing better than he was. He gets mostly fussy when he's tired and has a hard time settling to sleep. This is usually around 8:30-9:00.   

 

Avery still likes to rock and get his tush patted (potched, as we say). And he sleeps swaddled up. 

 

His nicknames include Baby A, Aves, A and Avery A.  I call all the babes Bugga and Punka. 

 

Sweetest boy. 

Snow

It {kind of} snowed mid-November, which is very rare. These pictures tell a perfect story...

And we're done...

Two!

A bit behind on my blogging (which is a blog for another day), but Ryane turned TWO! 

Length: 34 1/4 inches (51st percentile)

Weight: 30 pounds 6 ounces (94th percentile)

Ryane wears 3T clothes

Ryane is potty trained during the day! I still put her in a pull up for naps and night but she is almost always dry for both! She's pooping on the potty too (every day, before nap... kind of on command!) 

Ryane naps around 1:00 and she falls asleep pretty quickly. She has been sleeping about 1.5 hours. I leave her upstairs to play in her crib for a bit after nap. 

The girl has quite an imagination! She feeds her baby and Lucy, changes diapers, has them poop on the potty, does my hair, and pretends to be driving in a car or taking a shower when she's playing in her crib. 

Ryane goes to sleep around 7 and wakes up around 6:30. She hardly has room in her crib with all her babies and animals and she needs to have them all right next to her when she falls asleep. She uses her bumper as a pillow. 

 

Ryane talks nonstop.  Nonstop. All. Day. Long.  Some of my favorite things she says are:

Goggie (doggie)

I push button (on key fab)

No! I'm first!

Ouchy-ahwah (ouchy-wahwah)

Aw, man!

No ma'am

Basters (Baxter)

Gotchu mommy (when she thinks she's falling and wants to make sure I'm holding on)

Here is a conversation between her and her pediatrician:

Dr: Hi Ryane, how was your birthday?

R: Good

Dr: Did you have a party?

R: Yeah. Ate cupcakes!

Then she stood up and started singing Ring Around the Rosie. 

Dr: I guess you have no concerns today about speech and language development.... 

She two... and you can tell.  Tantrums, whining, crying, falling on the floor and now throwing things on the ground when it's not going her way. She has quite a temper. 

Ryane is still into everything. It's exhausting. I cringe when I feed Avery because the house will be a wreck by the time I'm done. A couple weeks ago she had pulled a chair up to the counter, climbed up on the counter and was getting out the cups. 

She is obsessed with plastic ziplock bags and puts everything that will fit inside them. 

Her favorite book this month is Brown Bear Brown Bear. 

She loves singing songs and she learns them really quickly.

"Paw Tro" (Paw Patrol) is her favorite tv show and she doesn't really pay attention to anything else. She does request "Fwosen" when we are in the car. 

 

Ryane loves to ride in Mimi's car. She talks about it constantly. If she sees a small gold car on the road she always asks if it's Mimi's car. 

She can play by herself but likes someone in the room with her. 

She can count to 11 (she skips 6)!

She started calling Kaden "Kaden." I tried to correct her and say "Kigi" and she said, "no, Kaden."  Kaden was upset when he heard her say that too!

Ryane is a tough cookie. She didn't cry when she got shots... And I thought that was a fluke. Then they sent us to the lab to get bloodwork- with a tourniquet and needle! She watched them the ENTIRE TIME take 2 vials of blood and didn't flinch, cry, or move a muscle!! It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. 

She has started to pick out her clothes in the mornings. 

Ryane LOVES to put on Cam's clothes and pajamas over her clothes. 

She's a daddy's girl but loves her mommy too. Nic loves the way she lays her head on his shoulder and pats his back. He also loves how she cocks her head to the side and gets in your face to ask a question. 

Ryane is a good big sister and says, "hi buddy!" when she sees him. She also asks, "baby poopin'?" whenever I'm changing his diaper. 

Happy second birthday to Ryane. You are so very smart, sweet, sassy, funny, and beautiful. I can't wait to see what the next year brings! 

One month old

A month has gone by quickly in some aspects, but slowly in others.  Avery is great!  He is so sweet and I think he's starting to adjust to the craziness that surrounds him.  I find myself apologizing to him often: for not being able to pick him up right away, for his big sister waking him up, for general life insanity... A friend said, "he doesn't know any differently," and that made me feel a bit better.

 

Avery had his one month check up last week.  He gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks!!  He was looking so small to me for awhile, but lately he looks very long.  And he is starting to fill out a bit.

 

Weight: 11 pounds- 75th percentile

Length: 22 3/4 inches- 90th percentile

 

Avery wears size 0-3 month clothes.  Not too long ago I thought he'd wear them for awhile.  Now the one piece sets are getting a little short! 

 

He should be wearing a size 1 diaper but I am trying to use up the rest of my newborn size diapers.  They are waaaay too small for him.

 

He is (and has been) great at night.  He sleeps 5-6 hour stretches at night (from approximately 10:30-3:30/4:30) and then I usually have to wake him to feed him at 7:30 before we take Cam.  He has been doing this since he was about 2-3weeks old!  I can't complain about nights.  There are some nights that he has trouble falling asleep and he is really grunty.  A lot of nights he seems asleep when I put him in the cradle but he will cry about 10 minutes later.  It only takes a few more minutes of rocking before he will go to sleep.

 

He generally eats every 2.5-3 hours during the day and he nurses well.  I don't mind feeding him more often during the day when I know he will go longer stretches at night.

 

Avery has had some tummy troubles the last week and seems pretty uncomfortable.  We started on some gas drops and gripe water and that has seemed to help a bit.

 

Avery has a good period of awake time in the morning, and that's his smiliest time of day.  His smile is so sweet and I can't get enough of seeing that dimple on his right cheek.

 

He has started to coo a little bit here and there, again, mostly in the mornings.

 

He's a bit spoiled and doesn't love being awake and sitting or laying by himself.

 

Avery actually rolled over once this past weekend when he was on his tummy!

 

Avery takes a bottle!  He will drink about 4 ounces.  Yippee! 

 

He's a cuddle bug and loves to be held with his head resting on my chest.  And I love it, too.

 

He doesn't settle well in the evenings.  Mostly between 8-10 p.m. But honestly, compared to my others, this is nothing. 

 

He loves the bath, but hates getting out.  He doesn't mind getting his diaper changed, but doesn't love getting a shirt over his head.  He really likes to lay on the changing table and look around.  He likes to rock and get his tush patted (potched, as we say).

 

He only has a few nicknames: Baby A, Little Dude and Nic called him Button the other day which I thought was super cute.

 

We love you, Avery!  Happy One Month, Baby Boy!

 



All my babies at one month.  I can't tell who looks like whom, but they definitely all resemble each other.  And I think Avery is the prettiest at this age.

Halloween

First Smile

Avery smiled for the first time on his 3 week birthday! I had some luck this afternoon and caught one on camera!

In love

Avery's birthday

The day I had Avery was a little bit of a crazy day.

Nic took Kaden to school and then the rest of us left the house (in two separate cars) at 8:00 and headed to Cam's school to drop him off and stay for Shabbat. 

My mom met us there, and after Shabbat she brought Ryane back home to stay with Papa. Then she turned back around and met me at the hospital. 

I'm glad we stayed for Shabbat. It was so nice to watch the kids singing and having fun, and it was a good way to get my mind off of the surgery. At Shabbat they said an extra prayer for a safe delivery and for the baby. I cried. 

We took 2 cars (yes, I drove myself to the hospital) and met in the Labor and Delivery parking lot. It seemed strange to drive myself but it was necessary because my Suburban needed to be at the hospital so all the kids could get back home! It was crazy to plan everything out for all the kids for four days. Who would watch Ryane, who would be home, who would drive them where they needed to be... It took a village and I'm so thankful to have such a supportive family who was willing to take the time to make it all work out. 

We checked in at the hospital and were sent to the pre-op room to start the process. Nic and I joked about the last time we were there when they sent us to room "B, as in boy," even though that was the last pre-op room we wanted to be in!  My doctor was so sweet about my anxiety and requested a really nice nurse anesthetist to be there to calm my nerves. Once everything was started, I felt much more calm about the surgery. Much more than with any other pregnancy, actually. The only thing that really bothered me was a flutter in my heart. The nurse anesthetist kept on it though, asked me a lot of questions, and checked my oxygen and blood pressure often. She was very reassuring. I think it had to do with the epidural but I never asked for sure.

They wheeled me in to the OR and I felt calm. When Nic was able to come in, it didn't feel like it took as long as it had previously. Pretty quickly after that, Avery was born!  His cry was so much quieter than the others and Nic left my side to go take pictures. He was born at 12:13, weighing 8 pounds (our second smallest baby) and was 20 1/4 inches (same length as Cam). He doesn't look identical to any of our kids but he looks like he belongs in the Miller family!

 

I was wheeled back to the recovery room and got to spend some skin to skin time with Avery before he got hungry. I was able to nurse him before we went up to the room. 

We had the kids come meet Avery that afternoon and they stayed for a pizza dinner in my room.  Nic asked all the adults to leave for a few minutes and so we could talk to the kids about our family! All 6 of us. He told them how important they each are to us and how our family was now complete. He told them that we need to all look out for each other no matter what.  It was so touching and I was completely choked up. Still am! 

Kaden was most excited to meet Avery and wanted to hold him right away. Cam and Ryane weren't sure about holding him but they were very interested. We also specifically asked for a room with a train view and they were EXTREMELY interested in that!!

The hospitalization was easy. Like vacation easy. I didn't have a lot of pain except the first time out of bed. I managed my pain well and stayed on top of my medications. Avery nursed like a champ and only had a little trouble on the second day. His sweet nurse helped with that and he has done great ever since. 

When Ryane was born, I wished I had stayed an extra night because of the pain I had, so my plan was to stay four nights this time. I am very glad I did. I'm thankful to have had the extra time to recover before going home to the craziness that was waiting for me. But I'm even more grateful for every second I had alone with Avery, just the two of us. I knew that time would be few and far between at home. 

Our homecoming was perfect and the kids had helped Grammie decorate the house. We were lucky that the kids were able to welcome Avery home separately.  

Ryane was still awake when we got home and she got to see him first. She looked shocked when she saw him in the carrier and hid behind me for a second. 

She asks about him each morning, "baby sleeping?" and likes to pet him on the head. 

 

Cam was home from school next and he was so excited to hold Avery.  He has been wonderful to him. He sets up toys and stuffed animals for Avery to look at and he talks to him and gives him sweet kisses. 

Kaden came home from school last. He's such a natural big brother. He calls Avery "little dude." He sits and talks to him and shushes him when he's upset. 

We are all adjusting in our own way. Four kids is a lot (and is actually frightening when you are alone with them all). But Avery has made our family feel complete and he is so very loved.