March 2011

The really difficult thing about trying to catch up with blogs, is that you rarely remember what was going on almost seven months ago. Seven months! Wow, I can't believe I've let us get so far behind. I'm trying to multi-task today. Watch the A&M game, and get some blogs posted at the same time.

March was the month that Miller got his first haircut! So, that's what most of these pictures are about. Here he is pre-haircut. Our poor baby looked like a balding man with a comb-over. He still needed some hair to grow to fill in the sparse spots, but the rest of it was getting so long, we just had to get it cut.

He sat in Daddy's lap for the haircut, and he didn't throw a temper tantrum, but he didn't really like it either.

After his haircut, he got a sucker. I'm sure he thought this was, by far, the best part.

Miller's favorite pasttime is still riding his bike. He loves it! He wasn't too thrilled about not getting to ride too much during the scorching summer, but on St. Patrick's Day, he was still loving his bike rides.

Playing at the park is Miller's other favorite thing to do. So many slides, so little time!

This was Miller and Daddy, playing in the bubbles in the sink. He was so hilarious, we had to post a video about it too.

Finally, here's the bubble video, and a video of us brainwashing our child. We were already schooling him for football season. That should catch everybody up for March. Let's hope it's not another three months before I get something posted about April. :-)

February 2011

I realize it's been an extraordinarily long time since we've posted, but let's see if I can keep up with all that's been going on. It's been so strange going back over these pictures over the past few months. Here's Miller using his silverware, back when he still used his highchair. He's moved up in the world now, and he sits in a booster seat at the table with Mommy and Daddy.

This is just a sweet picture of Mommy and Miller. I love that big ole grin on his face.

Miller's potty! He's used it a few times, but we haven't started hardcore potty training yet.

Here he is with his toothbrush.

His current obsession is shoes. If you leave a pair laying around, he'll have to try them on and walk around in them. It doesn't matter whose shoes they are, Daddy's or, as this picture proves, Mommy's.

Crawfish! Miller loves them. I wonder who he gets it from, his Mommy or Daddy.

Snow Day!

This one has actually been sitting in draft mode for a while because we were having issues with the video. The video still isn't working, but we're just going to go with it anyway. February has been crazy with weather, and the associated illnesses as well as trips out of town and just our every day to day lives. Here's some pictures from our snow day a couple of weeks ago.

I think Mommy did a pretty good job of the self-portrait here, don't you?

So, Mommy decided to find the smoothest spot of snow to do her snow angel. Did you know that the smoothest spot of snow is usually associated with a barely frozen puddle? Well, now you do.

Daddy's snow angel.

Miller's snow angel.

So, this was a Friday, and we had been planning for months for a trip to Bryan. Work had been rough, to say the least, and this was the weekend I was really looking forward to. We were going to a wine tasting and out to eat with adults, sans kiddos. When the snow hit, I was so upset. I know John saw it when he looked in my eyes, so he decided to try to make the drive in all the snow. It was really tough at first...we almost turned around before we made it out of town. Thankfully, the further we got, the better the drive. It took an hour longer that it normally does, but we made it safe and sound. Along the drive, it was really bright out, and John had left his sunglasses at home. So, I let him borrow mine. Super cute, right?

Miller doesn't do as well in the car as he used to do. Thankfully, he loves my phone. If he sees it laying around, he'll say "Momma hello" and bring it to me. In the car, I would just turn the music on, and let him scroll through the albums, and he was perfectly happy. This is probably the only thing that got us through the last 45 minutes.

Family picture at the Casas house.

Our Godson, McKason. I just love that little guy.

Getting the three of these guys together for a picture is SUPER difficult. You don't have to take my word for it, you can ask their mother, the professional photographer...Well, she's the mother of two of the three of them. I'll let you guess which two.

Miller and McKade.

The one and only picture I got from our wine tasting and tour. I was too busy tasting.

OK, since the video didn't load, I'll just tell you guys a little about Miller and what he's doing now. We go to the doctor on Thursday. His pediatrician says he's a candidate for tubes, so we'll go see the ENT Thursday morning to see.

Miller still loves his books. He's also a huge fan of Elmo and elbows, which he commonly confuses. He is a man's man. He'll always pick the man over the woman in any pairing. He's a daddy's boy of momma. A Pops's man over Nonna. Paw-paw over Mimi. We're still working on getting him to say MA, so he definitely picks Uncle Austin.

He's not so much into television, but at night, when he's real tired, he'll rock with me and watch a little TV before he goes to bed. He's a big help around the house. It's so much fun to see him help out. He helps me unload the dishwasher every time. I stand next to the counter, and he takes every single thing out of the bottom rack and hands it to me one at a time. I always say "Thank you" when he hands something to me, and then he starts saying it at the same time. He hands me a plate; I say thank you; he says thank you. Repeat roughly 25 times. He's also a fan of throwing stuff away. We can hand pretty much anything to him, and he'll throw it away.

He LOVES spicy food. He proved that this weekend when we had crawfish for Uncle Austin's graduation. Fruit snacks are his crack cocaine.

He does throw temper tantrums (totally gets that from his Daddy), and he's the most pitiful thing in the world when he's put in timeout.

He's such a clown. When he does something that makes us laugh, he'll keep doing it. He loves the attention. If he does something unintentionally that makes us laugh, he'll look around to make sure everyone's laughing, and you can see the gears moving wondering what it was that inspired the laughter.

He has a special Blankie that he can't go to sleep without. He loves those little dancing animals you get from Halmark. Right now, Nonna and Pops have a dancing Daffy Duck with bunny ears, and that's the first thing he goes to when he gets to their house.

That's all we can think of for now. I hope everyone has a good week.

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.