Long post, but it's a month over due.

I want to laugh as I type this next line, but, yes things have been a whirlwind in the Vrana household. Of course we had Christmas, and drove to John's sister's house to spend Christmas with them. We hosted New Years at our house, and that's where things started to go downhill. My Uncle Nelson passed away on the first. It came as a pretty big shock to all of us. I drove to Houston that Wednesday afternoon for visitation, and immediately turned around to drive back that night. It made for a long day, but, I will have to say that if you need something to keep you awake and entertained on the road, Kathy Griffin's autobiography will do it. After getting home, I wished that John and I had loaded up Miller, and all of us had been there for the funeral. I saw cousins that I hadn't seen in years, and I would have loved to have introduced John and Miller to them. Before I go any further, I'd like to explain my Uncle Nelson. At some point in my life, I started calling him Crankshaft. If you know the comic strip, it's about a lovable old curmudgeon, and that describes Uncle Nelson well. One time when he and Aunt Shanna were coming for a visit, I taped a ton of Crankshaft comic strips all around the room since they always slept in my bed while they were there. The nickname just stuck, and he would always sign cards to me from Uncle Crankshaft. He will be dearly missed.

Paw-paw was put in the hospital on the third for a blood infection. At first they thought he was losing circulation in his leg, and that he would lose either his leg or his kidney. It ended up being so much better than that. They cleared up the infection, drained his lung, and he's now home feeling so much better, maybe just a little weak.

After getting back from that, John, Dad, Austin, and I were all going to the Cotton Bowl on Friday. It was another quick trip, and it had a disappointing outcome. It was also the first time Miller had been left overnight without John or I there. He stayed with Nonna, and I think he did a good job. My mom might have been worn out by the time it was all said and done. Some point, during the course of all this, Miller ended up getting another ear infection. He's all better now, and he's just so much fun.

This weekend, Toby and Ann got married. We drove down on Thursday for the rehearsal dinner, and the wedding was Friday night. We had a fabulous time, and Miller was the life of the party - out there dancing until almost 11 o'clock. Most of you know how strict we are with Miller's schedule, but he did so well both Thursday and Friday night, and he's been catching up on his sleep the past two nights. We really couldn't have done it, if it weren't for Austin's girlfriend, Mary Alice. She was a life saver when it came to Miller because the rest of us were all in the wedding, and there's no way to keep an active 18 month happy during a full on Catholic wedding. John's mom also had surgery on Friday, but she seems to be doing well. We just got back from south Louisiana yesterday afternoon, so now, we're trying to catch up with everything that needs to be done around the house, including finishing taking down the Christmas decorations. :-P

John uploaded all the pictures and video, which I am so grateful for. He's a great guy!

Miller is into everything these days. Before Christmas, I had put some of his presents on the dining room table. John called me in there to show me that Miller had climbed up onto the middle of the table, little stinker.

John and I all dressed up for his office party.

Will they never learn? Mom, Dad, Mimi, and Paw-paw got Austin something special for Christmas this year. They left it at my house for storage, so I decided to "wrap" it for him.

What I mean is, I wrapped several boxes within each other, and...

sent him on a scavenger hunt all over the house...

and attic for them.

While he was in the attic, I pulled out his gift. Miller was helping him check out the specs.

Christmas Eve dinner - seafood gumbo. It was delicious.

Miller seems to like it a lot as well.

Uncle Austin got Miller a puppy dog pillow pal. He didn't like it as much as he like the one Uncle Austin got for Mary Alice, a purple and pink unicorn pillow pal.

He also got a broom and dust pan. He likes to sweep, but I'm still waiting for him to do it properly.

Playing on the couch with his uncle Austin.

Excited about getting his own set of keys.

Riding on his new 4-wheeler. He loves this thing. In fact, he throws a fit when he's removed from it (He has yet to get off of it voluntarily).

Christmas Day at Aunt Tess's and Uncle AJ's.

Granny Chris, Aunt Tess, and Miller

Riding the big 4-wheeler with Uncle Austin.

Trying on Daddy's shoes.

John and I, after the wedding on the party bus.

John, me, and Austin. I thought Austin was the one who wasn't able to keep his eyes open in pictures.

Jason, Austin, me, and Toby on the party bus.

The groom and bride (Isn't she absolutely beautiful?)

Most of the guys - they were a hot mess.

Showing off the new jewelry.

Austin and Mary Alice - seriously, she's a saint.

Miller danced with Aunt Ann during the money dance.

Dad and Mom - they were both readers for the wedding.

Miller, John, me, Mary Alice, and Austin at the end of the night.

This is how Miller was sleeping in his bed this morning.

Showing off

Playing with Uncle.

On his new ride.

News update

Hey everybody!
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We've been staying busy, as usual, but John will be finishing up his semester soon, which is so exciting. We really enjoy having daddy home with us every night of the week. Then, it's hard when his semester starts back up, but we'll deal with that when we get there.


Miller is so much fun right now. He's so stinking smart. Nonna swears that he's smarter than his mommy and Uncle Austin ever were. Thanks a lot mom! He is uber-smart though. In the evenings, when I'm unloading the car at night, Miller will hang out in the car. I'll unbuckle his car seat, and he'll climb down, and he'll crawl into the front seat, press buttons, all that fun stuff. Well, yesterday, after we got home from Target, John had left the keys sitting in the console. Miller climbed into the front seat, grabbed the keys, picked out the correct key, and tried to put it in the ignition to start the car. Tricky little fellow. He also managed to lock the car doors, but thankfully, we had the doors open.


He loves pointing out people in pictures. Uncle Austin was around for an extended period of time over his quarter break, which falls over Thanksgiving. Well, Miller found a new best friend. He spent most of his time chasing Austin around with a book, and, Austin, always stopped what he was doing to read it to him, even if it was the 100th time that day he'd read "Monster Mash". Miller loves reading so much right now. He'll hunt down anybody to get them to read, and then, sometimes, he just sits down and "reads" to himself. It's adorable, and I was lucky enough to get it on film last night. Well, since Austin was around so much, Miller now feels a need to scream "AUSTIN" every time he sees his picture. It's fun to see him start to recognize people and get excited to see him. Sorry everybody, his daddy's still his favorite. Mommy's chopped liver next to Daddy, but she'll do in a pinch.


He's been cutting teeth like crazy recently, so that's been a struggle for all three of us. Also, Friday, we got a call from his day care, and to the doctor's office we went. He had pink eye and an ear infection. Thankfully, he got a shot, has been on antibiotics since, and is back to his happy self.


John did a great job of uploading all the pictures and videos we've taken lately. Otherwise, I don't know when it would have gotten done. Thanks babe! Note: I just realized a couple of these pictures are repeats, but I doubt anyone will mind. :-)


I love this picture of Miller. He just looks like such a big boy. I wish Amy's theory of putting a brick on his head actually worked to make him stop growing. It's just going so fast!

Climbing up the stairs at Sci-port. This kid LOVES stairs. He even figured out how to get past the child safety gate at Pops and Nonna's house. We now have to lock that thing every single time.

See..

Hanging out in the kids' seat at Sci-Port. He loves kid-sized things. He has a rocking chair that Amy and Jessie gave us a while back. The kid now loves crawling up in it. Heaven help us if he wants to sit in the chair with a toy or a book because he hasn't quite mastered how to get in the chair while still holding something. He screams bloody murder because it makes his so mad.

I just love those little hands...adorable.

The wheelbarrow, trouble for anyone walking near him.

He probably spent a whole hour of the time we were there in this car.

This was the weekend everybody was out of town. Nonna and Pops went on vacation for their anniversary, and John was at the football game. Well, we still had to support our Aggies, so Miller put on his jersey. Since I knew we'd be out in the pasture, he had to have the boots on too. Thanks Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Jason!

My little 12th man!

He was having problems walking in the boots at first.

A close-up shot of his boots.

Such a sweet face. The bobo on his chin was from stumbling over the pumpkins a few days before.

Here's an odd shot. I think John just uploaded all of the pictures we had on the camera...

Thanksgiving Day. Uncle Austin reading Monster Mash. Miller in his "Turkey Day" shirt from Granny Chris.

Enjoying his Thanksgiving meal.

Miller, it looks like you got a little something on your mouth.

Walking through the leaves.

Yelling about something...

He found another sucker to read to him.

Another one of his favorite pastimes, swiffering.

The vacuum part has to be on though.

Look at the joy he gets from cleaning. He definitely doesn't get that from his momma.

Again, Uncle Austin was reading Monster Mash to him.

Helping Daddy get the Christmas decorations up.

Yeah, he can climb up, but then he can't get back down.

Playing with Miss MA and Uncle Austin.

Not really sure what's on all these videos, so happy viewing!

These last two are videos of him "reading" to himself. I think it's adorable.

Have a great week everyone!