So here’s my point of view all day . . .
. . . and it’s one of the best views in the house!
Great-Grandparents
Millers:
Robertsons:
Ethridges:
Wilson:
(Nan’s a little camera shy- it took two shots to get one of her face & one with her & Miller!)
Welcome Cousin Matthew!
Three days after Miller arrived, her cousin Matthew decided it was time to make his grand entrance. Here they are on their first playdate at the hospital.
Matthew on the left, Miller on the right
Amy holding Miller, Phil holding Matthew Miller Time- First Week Home
Wilson bringing balloons to tie on the mailbox to greet us when we got home- it was apparently very tiring work
Jack checking Miller out
Wilson and Jack (nose at the bottom of photo) helping mom with Miller
Miller & Big Daddy
Millie helping mom put on her makeup
Clean Baby
Miller Time- hospital
Phil with a very excited assistant surgeon (and great uncle) Rusty Ethridge
Welcome to the family, Miller
Dad showing off the newest addition
Apparently dads “recover” by playing solitaire on their Blackberry, mom’s recover behind the nurses station and try not to throw up!
Thanks, Uncle John, for playing with Wilson while Miller was born
First snuggle with mom
Getting footprints taken
Big Daddy, Wilson, and Granna looking at Miller
It’s great to be a Big Brother
One more look and then I’ll go check on mom
Coming in to see Mom for the first time
Up close and personal with his new sister
The whole gang
Big Daddy, Uncle John, and Miller
This is how Dad plays with his little girl
And this is how Dad plays with his little, big boy
Pat Pat and Miller having a chat
Granna on bottle duty
Paw, Pat Pat, and Miller
Dressed and ready to go home
In Case You Haven’t Heard . . .
Happy 2008!
Here are a few photos from the start of our new year (I’m excluding the one taken of me in the hospital bed Monday when we spent the day waiting to see if I was actually going to get a tax deduction baby. No such luck, and no such picture needs to be flaunted, hospital green does nothing for my skin tone!)
Anywho . . . here’s Wilson enjoying his last few days as an only child. Coloring with his dog by his side, climbing the tree at Granna’s with Daddy, and doing sparklers at Pat-Pat’s. Happy New Year Everyone!
And for those of you counting down with us, Miller Time is officially set for Monday, January 7th at 7:00 am. I’m sure there will be posts at some point next week, but watch your email in boxes for the first info and pictures!
First Before and Afters
Well, here they are. The first of, hopefully many, before and after pictures of the house. These are of Miller and Wilson’s rooms. They lack new floors and ceiling fixtures, but who knows when we’ll get to that. So here they are 90% complete!
Miller Before:
Miller After:
(her dressing room is actually a pastel celery green, it’s hard to tell with the lighting in there)
Wilson Before:
Wilson After:
He wanted his room to be blue like his train. I talked him into just doing the neon blue in his alcove and a lighter blue everywhere else. As you can tell, it’s still very blue, but he loves it and it’s a great color for a lively preschooler! (We’re also just thrilled to be slowly rising from the sea of purple. Just to give you a taste of before’s yet to come- not only are there purple walls downstairs- there’s also purple trim!)
Lastly- you’ll have to use your imagination here, but we didn’t have a fence. We’re so excited that the builders showed up a couple of days ago and got this much needed project done. If it would just dry up a bit, we’d really be enjoying it. But we’re already thrilled that the dog can go out on his own without one of us attached to him with a leash!
Christmas Highlights
The guys getting Wilson’s picnic table out of the garage at Pat Pat & Paw’s
Dad, this one’s a little big- I may need some help
Okay- no one even told me this existed- a “Big Car” & a “Beeper Bus” (these have not left his side since Christmas Eve)
Let me help you out with that, Dad
It’s a good thing I’m here- no one would be able to get any of their gifts opened!
(or their trash thrown away)
Hey- did Santa bring this for Wilson or Daddy!?
Man this is the coolest
Here’s how you put the Big Car on the trailer
Wow- no one told me about this, either
His comments on the giant fire truck from Pop and Mim were “it’s amazing, I’ve never even seen this fire truck, I’m so ‘exciting’!”
Cousin Adam testing out his fire truck
Dad told me not to touch, but Aunt Maggie said to do it
Look- Santa ate some of his cookies and drank all his milk
Opening his stocking
It’s the “Lightning Spiral ‘Fing'”
I think this photo pretty much sums up how great our Christmas was
Finally, I get to open the BIG BOX that’s been lurking in corners at Granna’s
“Is it a hat?”
No, it’s a great new bean bag chair!
Our Christmas celebrations began on Christmas Eve with brunch at Phil’s parent’s house. We opened gifts with all his siblings, cousin Adam, and his mom’s parents. We had a wonderful morning that was full of all kinds of surprises. I’m not sure what was more exciting, the Volkswagen play set that Wilson got or the surprise visit (surprise to Pat Pat) that Santa made to Paw from the watch maker! Then, that afternoon we all went to Pop and Mim’s (Paw’s dad’s house) for a family photo (all eleven cousins and their spouses and children from the four branches of the family were there for the first time in years), a great meal, and great new firetrucks for the littlest boys. It was almost too much and hard to believe this was only Christmas Eve!
We came home, left cookies out for Santa, and went to bed “in hopes that he soon would be there”. If you’ve asked Wilson in the last month or so what he wanted Santa to bring, the only thing he’s had to say is the “Lightning Spiral Fing (thing)” which leaves a puzzled look on most people’s faces and me doing a little explaining. “It’s a dirt track for Lightning McQueen”. Well, Santa came through, and I have to say, my explanation leaves much to be desired. It’s more like Thunder Mountain at Disney World for Lightning McQueen. He gets shot around a near vertical track and there’s a trap door at one point that you can let him drop through. I don’t know who had more fun with it- Wilson finally getting to see it in action or Phil figuring out all the physics involved to get the car to do all the cool things that it can!
Next, we were off to Granna & Big Daddy’s to celebrate with all the great grandparents on that side of the family and my brother and uncle. Although we were certainly blessed with some wonderful gifts, I think we had the most fun giving here. We had put together a calendar of old family photos of my mom & her brother when they were little and a few of Wilson this year for my grandparents. I think my granddad’s comment on it sums it up “this is ALMOST as good as the mustard greens!” (my dad wrapped up a bag that he had picked that morning for him). It was quite fun to watch them look through the months at all the fun photos of everyone. I was also able to surprise my parents with a painting of their house. It’s always fun when you can give a gift that’s completely unexpected! Wilson had a great time wrestling with his uncle on his new bean bag chair and then heading out to explore in “Big Daddy’s country”. We are also now well on our way to accessorizing our new house- we received a print of Walter Anderson’s frogs and a great photography collage that spells Ethridge from architectural and natural elements.
Thank you to everyone for such a wonderful Christmas- we are truly a blessed family to be surrounded by such generosity from family and from our Creator. Thanks be to God for the greatest gift of all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We’re so grateful that there was room for a little one in the stable that night so many years ago! (this is a link to a sweet little book we’ve enjoyed reading this season about when Baby Jesus came).
Well, I better go start taking down the tree and packing my suitcase. We’re under two weeks and counting until our next blessing arrives!
Merry Christmas!
