EVENTFUL week!

Here goes to an eventful week in the Miller home (I'll go in order of events):
FYI:  As you read this keep in mind these are totally normal days for us.  It looks really stressful on paper, but in real life its just part of our normal routines.  It really isn't as bad as it seems.  I just wanted it in our journal for laughing purposes.

Reece: ER/Asthma Attack

 2 weekends ago we visited Spencer's sister in Burley.  She was super awesome and watched our kids while we visited the Twin Falls Temple.  Before we submitted our ranking list for residency we wanted to visit the Temple to make sure we felt good about our ranking list--which we did!  Anyway, we had a fun drive to Burley (Spence and I LOVE road trips because it gives us time to just sit and laugh together).  Once we got there Reece started having Asthma problems.  But it shouldn't have been a problem considering I had TWO huge emergency kits with everything we would need for both children--except Albuteral.  I couldn't believe it.  So Spencer had to pay full price for Albuteral.  We kept giving him more puffs and sooner than later he was up to 6 puffs, heartbeat was fast, and he couldn't breath--he was in an asthma attack.  I took him into the Emergency Room where they gave him steroids and he came right out of it.  At first he didn't want to go until I told him he could play Spencer's IPhone.  He was DARLING to the nurses and Doctors--he acted all mature and had great manners because he knew it was special to have the I-Phone. 

                                                               Benson: ENT/Hearing issues
If you've been around Benson for the past 9 months you would have noticed that he is constantly sniffing and clearing his throat.  Our Pediatrician gave us a couple rounds of antibiotics to try and get rid of it but they did nothing.  Well, for the past month if Benson is in another room I had to seriously yell at him in order for him to respond.  I thought he was using "selective hearing" and so I would get upset.  Recently I have realized that if I talk in a quieter voice he doesn't respond, but if I talk louder then he will listen.  So I asked for a referral to an ENT because when Benson was 2 he failed his hearing test due to his tubes being filled with liquid and I thought maybe the same thing was causing all these problems.  Sure enough--we took him to an ENT and his ears are completely filled with fluid and his hearing is impaired because of it.  I felt like a TERRIBLE mother for yelling at him.  He's on fluticazone and Singular to try and resolve the problem--if they don't work he has to get tubes in his ears.  We'll find out in 5 weeks.  At night I feel like a drug dealer because both Reece and Benson are on the same drugs--one is for Asthma and the other for Ear problems.

                              Benson is a charmer.  He'll raise his eye brows and then wink at you!!

 For a school project Natalie put together 12 diabetes kits for toddlers going onto the pump.  We then wrote about Benson and put a picture of these two silly kids on it!

  Tanner: ER/Croup

Tanner experienced his first trip to the Emergency Room on Sunday morning.  I woke up at 4am to feed Tanner and he sounded super croupy.  I was worried and so I brought him into our room so I could hear him better in case he started to have more problems.  Sure enough, an hour later Spencer and I started to get more concerned.  He had a seal like bark and was getting a fever.  We called the on-call pediatrician who told us to go straight to the ER.  Once we were there he was given some steroids and breathing treatment.  It took awhile for them to work, but eventually he started to sound better.  By Sunday night we thought he had made significant improvements.  Then Monday came...he seriously was screaming all morning, afternoon, and evening.  Apparently the steroids make babies irritable--VERY irritable.  My ears were ringing all day from his cry.  I thought he had an ear infection so I took him into the Pediatricians office around 4:30pm.  Apparently I was preoccupied with trying to keep my baby from screaming because it took me 15 minutes to realize I was sitting next to IAN JOHNSON.  We started talking and then a lady came over with her son and thought I was his wife--hahahaha--I certainly don't look like a petite college cheerleader.  They had just had their first child 3 weeks ago and were in for an appointment (she and the baby were in the car to avoid germs).  Tanner received two Priesthood blessings: the first helped him recover on Sunday and the second helped him go to sleep last night.  I am thankful Spencer has the Priesthood and can administer to our Children when they are sick.  I can't imagine life without it.  We have received countless blessings from the Lord through Priesthood blessings.

                              Juliann: banned from Famous Footwear

This is a HILARIOUS story.  I hope you're ready!  I a pair of boots for Christmas from Famous Footwear.  They were to small and so I returned them for a bigger size (I have massive feet--size nine and I wasn't even blessed with the height to go with it).  They had to ship the boots because they were out in the store.  The boots came and they were to big.  I then exchanged them for a different kind of boot which they had to order because they didn't have my size.  That boot came and it was the wrong size again.....this went on 2 more times.  During this process I got another pair of shoes which I exchanged twice before keeping them.  So I went to Famous Footwear with the determination to come home with my final pair of boots--I wasn't going to have them ship me some--I was going to find some I liked that were in the store.  I succeeded in finding the perfect pair.  At the register the STORE MANAGER who has worked there for 5 years said, "I've never seen this before.  But you aren't allowed to return anything to famous footwear for 60 DAYS!".  I laughed soooo hard.  Anyone who knows me and my shopping problems know that I'm a returnaholic.  I return EVERYTHING.  I have the worst buyers remorse so I spend more of my shopping exchanging or returning items.  Spencer thought this was hilarious and self-deserving. He's learned to take the tags off my clothes so I can't return them. 

                                                       Spencer: Cardiology

Spencer is currently in his cardiology rotation.  For the past couple years he's been debating cardiology as a specialty.  I think he's becoming more and more excited about the idea of being a cardiologist.  It's been exciting for him to work with the Boise cardiologist.  He's realizing it may be a perfect fit for him and our family.  We won't make our final decision about specialty until our 2nd year of residency, but for now I think we're heading towards the cardiology route (that means only 7 more years until we're done!!!).  At the end of this year he will have completed 9 years of school.  Time flies when you're having fun! 

Tanner Chad Miller-2 months old

 Tanner had his 2 month check up last week. 

He is a healthy and happy little guy weighing in at 13 POUNDS and 9 OUNCES!! 

Apparently his mama cow is feeding him well. 

 I switched all his 0-3 month clothes to 3-6 month today. 

 He's been a pretty awesome baby.  He gets fussy at night for about an hour,

but other then eating all day long he's an easy kid. 

He started smiling about a week ago--his best smiles are in the morning when he's super happy. 

He is loved by his brothers--especially Reece.  Reece is constantly in his face.  The other day he was a couple inches from his face when Tanner projectile vomited right into his MOUTH.  It was so nasty.  Reece didn't know what to do and since I started laughing hysterically he joined in!

                                             I love Tanner's mischievous grin in this picture.

                                                     This is the LIFE IS GOOD look.

 Benson wanted a picture with Tanner.  He told me today that I have 2 boys and a baby--Tanners not allowed to be called my boy quite yet!

                                       This was taken tonight.  Spencer was making him smile!



Snow day!

 We've been waiting for snow and it finally came!  Spencer has this obsession with getting the driveway clear of snow so when the car drives on it the snow doesn't turn into ice.  The house he grew up in has a steep driveway and so it was important that they shovel the snow before they drove on it to avoid slipping off the driveway.  Fortunately, the boys think it's super fun to shovel the driveway so I had lots of help.  Reece helped me before school, Benson helped me during school, and then I gave up after that because the snow was coming down faster then I could shovel.  We then had our friend Maggie over and the kids played in the backyard for about an hour.  Reece made a cool little hill and Benson made a tunnel.  Bensons hat got turned around and the flap that goes over his ears was in front of his face so every 5 seconds or so he would lift his head up, pull the flap out of his face so he could see, and then the flap would fall over his face again and he would get to work.  It was HILARIOUS! It makes me laugh thinking about it.

Reece's OCD tendencies got to the best of him.  He couldn't stand it that ice was left on our driveway from my tires (yes..it's true, I didn't shovel everytime I left the house and so the snow turned into ice) and so he spent 20 minutes by himself trying to chip it off.  I was cold and the baby was crying so I went inside.  But I was proud of him for working so hard! 

Grandkids pics.

 Okay, seriously...if I force my children into one more photo shoot they are going to never smile for me again.  But I couldn't resist this one.  My mom hired my awesome friend Sarah to come take pictures of her grandkids.  My mom now has 5 daughters and 4 very handsome grandsons.  She wanted a picture of them to put in her grandkid playroom.  I thought they turned out awesome! Plus, we had some fun while taking them. 

                                                        Tate, Reece, Tanner, and Benson

                     I LOVE this picture.  We kept telling them to sit up nice and tall--and this is what we got!
                                                                  No-neck-cheese balls!

                          And then the boys found the swords and wanted pictures of them acting like ninjas!

                                                                  Nice tongue Benson.

                    Isn't this the most ADORABLE picture ever?  I LOVE this pic of Tate.  He's so stinkin' cute.

And this is the ONLY photo shoot where Tanner has been asleep for us.  What a cute little chunk.

Trip to Utah/Tate's blessing

The last weekend of our Christmas break we spent in Utah. We had a fun and adventurous road trip to visit friends and see my sister bless her baby, Tate. We enjoyed a fun car ride to Utah where we stayed at an awesome hotel with a warm swimming pool and Hot tub. The boys went CRAZY at the hotel.  We decided getting a hotel room is just as much fun as going to Disneyland.  They enjoyed jumping on the beds like ninjas, running down the hallways with Spencer and Natalie playing "hide and go seek" with their walkie-talkies, doing somersaults with Kristi, and listening to Benson be a comedian while trying fall asleep.  Both my grandparents and my parents stayed in the hotel with us.  One of my favorite parts was watching my Grandpa Dunkley snorkle in the swimming pool--it brought back childhood memories of going on vacations with him and watching him snorkle in the pools and calling me his little fish.  I thought I was the greatest swimmer because I was his little fish!

On Saturday we spent the morning with our friends, Christine and Brandon, and then the afternoon with the Byer's family.  Both families are dear friends of ours who we love to visit and hang out with.  Then we met up with my family at The Olive Garden.  It was a delicious meal with great entertainment by Natalie and Benson...and of course the rest of the crew.  It's always a show when you get my family plus both sets of grandparents together! We have a lot of FUN!

We ended the night with a family swim at the Hotel and some good conversations with the family.  One of my favorite comments was in the hot tub with my Grandpa Dunkley.  He sat down and said, "I just don't
understant how people can spend their day sitting.  They need to get up and move around--like this..."and he starts doing exercises with his arms and moving around like he's a teenager.  That's my Grandpa Dunkley in a nut shell--he never stops moving.  He's the energizer bunny who goes and goes and goes. 

                                                                 Tate's baby blessing!
The real reason for our Utah trip was to witness Tate's baby blessing.  It was a beautiful blessing.  Both sets of Grandparents and two sets of great-grandparents were there for the blessing.  It was a special event and having the support of all the family made it even better. 

                                                                    Dunkley Family

                                             Tate with his parents and Great-grandparents

                                              Matt and Jamie: The proud parents of Tate!

Baby Tate

                                                 Welcome Baby Tate Mathew Jimenez!

Born December 13th, 2011

Jamie and Matt are awesome parents to this handsome

little guy.  We are thrilled to have a cousin on my parents

side of the family and are happy that labor and delivery

went well.  Isn't he so darn cute? :)

BSU basketball game

Today we went on a family outing to the BSU basketball game--courtesy of Chad for giving us tickets!

The first 5 minutes were very eventful! 

Event #1:  As we were walking into the gym, Reece in all his glory forgets to look where he is going and walks right into the BAR that's between the doors and pancakes onto the floor.  I watched the whole thing happen and couldn't contain myself from laughing.  

When we got to our seats Spencer leaned over to Reece and had this conversation:

Spencer: Reece are you okay?

He shook his head Yes.

Spencer: I don't think you were looking where you were going? 

Reece then shook his head No.

Spencer: There was a bar right in the middle of the doorway.

And Reece looked at Spencer with innocence and great frustration and said, "Why was there a bar Dad?"

You gotta love that kid! Leave up to Reece for the funny comments.

Event #2: We had been sitting quetly in our seats for a couple minutes when the it came time for the National Anthem to be sung.  As the crowd stood up and the gym become silent--guess who decided to wake up--TANNER! It was seriously DEAD QUIET and Tanner starts screaming.  I frantically tried to find a binky but it took atleast 8-10 seconds (which is a very long time) until he settled down.  He slept peacefully for the remainder of the game.  Why do children have such impecable timing?



Tanner enjoying the game



After the game we came home and while Spencer was cooking dinner the boys found my Ipod. I thought this was a precious picture so I ran and got my camera.  Reece has been obsessed with holding Tanner lately and Benson's started warming up to him.  All is well in the Miller home.

Fun at home

 There are some days where life at home is just perfect.  I have energy, Spencer's home, the boys are playing like they are best buddies, the house is clean--and smells good (thanks Scentsy), and there are fresh cookies waiting for me to devour.  Yesterday, was that kind of day.  I like to call them my perfect days!  And what makes a perfect day even better--A photo shoot with Spencer in the background making sarcastic comments about how ridiculous I am.  He thinks he's funny--and he kind of is! :)

We started out by putting a hat on his head.  He went from peacefully sleeping to this....

And he continued to be grumpy....

                                                  Until Mom found the binky--our life saver.

                                   But after a quick nap we were happy and ready for some fun!!
Tanner is already 2 months old! Time flies when you are having fun.  He's started to smile and interact with us more.  He has a sweet little voice and sleeps well during the night.  He eats like a true boy and truly is a bundle of joy.  I tell myself every day that TONIGHT will be the night I catch up on my blog--but then I put the kids to bed and lay Tanner on my chest and nothing in the world matters.  I become completely dysfunctional because all I can do is hold him and kiss him until I'm practically asleep.  He's my charmer.  I told my mother-in-law the other night that with my 1st baby I felt like I needed to still conquer the world, with the 2nd I only half-way felt that way, and with the 3rd I could care less about conquering the world because I know my baby is going to grow up to fast and so all I need to do now is hold him, love him, and enjoy my time with him.  To bad it took me three tries to figure that one out.  I'm a slow learner. But there is a time and season for all things.

                                                          Check out those chunky legs!



Random Miller pics

 Reece conveniently wants to hold and kiss Tanner when it's time to go places or do something he doesn't want to do.  This is a picture of the boys stalling before going to school.

 A couple days ago I walked into the toy room and found Reece wearing his wolverine mask while reading a book to his bear named coco nutty.  Sometimes he can be the most precious child. 

                     Tanner LOVES getting in the shower with us.  It's been one of the highlights of the week.

                          Muscle picture.  Each of my boys have a picture that looks just like this.

Jamie & Tate

 Jamie and Tate came to Boise for a week to relax and spend time with the family.  Tate is 3 weeks younger than Tanner and is so stinkin' cute!! It was fun to spend time with her and watch her as a Mother.  She is wonderful and Tate is a darling, cuddly, and precious little guy.  We are so happy to have him as a cousin for our boys.