talking

Click play for a video of Ellie "talking"... with a surprise ending!

Ellie is asleep, tentatively, in her baby seat for the moment so I'm taking advantage Iof the time. The speed with which she is growing and changing just floors me. This week she's been "talking" to us... babbling and making the cutest sounds back and forth. As soon as I get a good video I will post it. She's also a lot more interested in her toys and is awake for longer periods.

I'm starting to gear up for the inevitabe return to work. I go back July 2 and will fortunately be able to start back at half time, at least for a week or two. That will help me ease back in to the swing of things. I have such a strong peace from God about going back... He knows that I need that or else I would be even more of a mess than I already am. :-) He keeps reminding me that His hand is all over me having my job. It's so obvious that He wants me there and has continued to provide so many opportunities for me, both personally and to do well at my profession, not to mention giving me a job that I enjoy so much. Believe me, if I wasn't absolutely sure that God wanted me there, I would be going down to the welfare office in a heartbeat and gleefully signing us up for food stamps in order to stay home with Ellie! I am really coming to know Him more as my Rock that I hold on to during this time. I'm so thankful that Justin is going to be able to take care of her when I'm at work. He may need some help, but we'll know that soon, and we trust that God will provide.

In other news... we had Teen VBS last week, and had a teenager come to Christ on Sunday night! Praise God for that one! Please keep him in your prayers as our kids from this neighborhood face huge obstacles to their growth. We're gearing up for regular VBS next week. We had an awesome turnout last summer and are hoping to build on that.

Ellie Live...

Ellie loves to have her diaper changed... you can see her smile at the thought of it!

how time flies...

Yesterday, if you can believe it, Ellie turned 8 weeks old. She is just now starting to do well if i put her down in her bouncer or bassinet for a nap so I can get a few things accomplished, hence the lack of blog postings and the poor correspondence with many of you. She is finally beginning to act a bit more like a normal baby! Her reflux is much more under control, and she is having much longer periods of alertness. She's starting to be fascinated by her toys, our ceiling fans, and anything with a high contrast. She is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

We have had a parade of family for the last month. It's been great to see everyone. This weekend my dad and Lynne are here, hence the pic of Ellie and her Poppy. The last visitors were Mom and Richard two weeks ago, and the Millers came out two weeks before that. Next on the list are the aunties... Alison and Deena. We hope to see them this month sometime.

I have been keeping my Flickr site updated at the very least. For pics of Ellie, you can click here. Until I go back to work, large chunks of time are rare for me to post (Ellie is asleep in her bouncer right now, hand up in the air) but I will try and get as much up as possible.

She's Here

Sorry for the late post but it has been just a little hectic!

Elinor Ann Miller, otherwise known as Ellie, was born at 6:33 PM, Friday, April 6. She weighed 7 pouns 13 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/praise711/sets/72157600063233155/

More to come soon!

latest update

Today Ellie weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, according to the ultrasound. Her head is getting farther down and much more difficult to see. Good news.

the beginning of a long break

Today is the first day of my 14-week vacation. I guess it will really only be a vacation until Ellie gets here but I am enjoying these last few days, however many there may be. It's shaping up to be 75 degrees here today - extremely warm for March, and Ive already got all of the windows open.

It's a nice luxury to sit, sip my coffee, have my quiet time, and plan out what to do for the day... or just stare into space! I do have a bunch of thank you notes to finish. Here are some photos from the church shower as I mentioned before.


Lots of gifts from everyone!


Kadee and Jessica


Carolyn and the chow!

counting down

I have pictures of the church shower to post, which will occur as soon as I get to my laptop. The shower was last Saturday and a wonderful time. I have been really overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and their excitement for Ellie to be born. This is the hardest waiting I have ever done. I thought it was hard to wait for Justin to get back from Cambodia before we were married, but at least I knew when he was coming! I still feel like Ellie's not going to come out and I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. I guess that's first-time mom jitters.

The weather has been turning warmer here and it's wonderful. We'll still probably have a cold snap before it breaks altogether but we've been enjoying lots of 50s and 60s. It's finally been warm enough for sandals and I celebrated by wearing a (very large) skirt for the first time since the early fall. I have felt very skirt-deprived all winter. It will be nice to wear normal clothes again eventually.

Today is my lat day of work until July. It really doesn't feel like it at all. The longest I've ever been off of work since my first job has been 2 months - first to go to China and then summer unemployment in Kansas City. The thought of being off for 14 weeks is insane. Wonderfully insane, but I still can't wrap my brain around it. I have a feeling that I'm going to miss and appreciate my job a lot more from the time off - which is a nice feeling. In the past it's been much more of a "good riddance" when I have some vacation!

We went out and got a camcorder last night! It's funny, the last time I owned a video camera it sat on my shoulder and popped out full-size VCR tapes. This one has only a hard drive and fits completely in the palm of my hand. It's insane. I know I sound like an old lady... "Back in my day..." but I guess I am getting pretty old. :-) Seeing that making home movies and recording in general was one of my all-time favorite activities when I was a kid, I'm suspecting that some interesting video blogging might result from this latest purchase! Look out YouTube. I've had to promise Justin already that I won't stalk him with the video camera as is my natural tendency. That will take a lot of self-control on my part.

healthy baby

Ellie passed her non-stress test today with flying colors. She even kicked the little monitor to make some noise for our benefit. I also had an ultrasound and she is currently 6 lbs 10 oz and right on target. I got to see some shots of her little face today! She has beautiful lips. :-) She is also head down (hence my waddling) and should be right on schedule if not early.

showering and gigging

Thursday was our first baby shower. It was at work, and I was frankly overwhelmed! There were tons of people, food, and generosity going around. I'm glad Justin got to come and meet everyone who he hears me talk about all the time! Photos, courtesy of Peng, attached at the end.

Saturday we had Shower #2 at Marie's house. It was, again, a great time and I got some very cool books for Ellie, including a surprise return of the infamous Bun Appetit from Laura. That one will have to wait until she is a bit older I'm afraid. I'm not sure I want "Victualize my voluptitude" to be her first words! Of course, I forgot to take photos. Duh. You can take my word for it that it was a blast.

Sunday night our praise band had our first "gig!" We got our "roadies" Justin and Andy to help us load up and truck over to Faith Fellowship where we played at their revival service. The best part was the look on Matt's face when he walked in to the sanctuary and saw that they had a REAL drumset. He was practically jumping up and down. We left the electric set in the truck and let him bang away, which sounded awesome. We rocked so hard we ended up blowing out our sound system, hee hee! ;-) I wonder what Ellie thought of all that noise. She will be one rockin' baby!


Xiaolei and me, looming large, at the work shower


Me, Justin, and Laura chatting it up


Gifts galore!

scary smokestacks

I can't find a decent video of this, just bits and pieces, but the stills are scary nonetheless. I have always had this strange fear of smokestacks (and other tall things) falling down since I was a kid. They're continuting to demolish the old GM plants here in Lansing and they blew up the smokestacks the other day. Scary. Click here for the pics from the Lansing State Journal. If I find a decent video clicp I'll put that up too. It just makes my stomach tie into knots!

wake up and smell the... bouquet

Matt's bump on the head must have knocked some sense into him... kind of like the proverbial holy 2X4... because since his little stint in the ER he has managed to buy Kadee a ring, propose to her, and even gotten her to say yes! We are all very excited! The future Mr. and Mrs. Kidd are currently basking in the glow of betrothal. Of course poor Kadee is now resigned to a life of firetrucks, various distracting shiny objects, vividly detailed comments about poo, and cute little quarter-Mexican children (girls of course).

congratualtions both of you... we love you!

the last straw

I've been filling some of you in on our floor saga. To make an extremely long story short, we have had tile disaster since we tore up our kitchen and dining room floor in September. From contractors who didn't show at all, to one who disappeared in the middle of the job, to Justin and Matt learning how to cut tile and getting covered head to foot in slate mud, to the grout not coming off the tiles, to me being pregnant and incapable of helping, to Justin throwing out his back... who thought it could get worse. As I was coming home Friday at noon, Justin called to tell me not to park in the driveway so that there was room for the ambulance. Apparently Matt, our resident hazmat technician, got a nice whiff of the hydrochloric acid in the grout remover, passed out when he tried to stand up, and made a very impressive hole with his forehead in the kitchen wall. (Which he now thinks is "sweet.") Yes he is OK, but we all had a fun time in the ER on Friday afternoon. AND, to boot, the grout remover didn't even remotely work.

I REALLY think we could make it on to some HGTV show at this point. "DIY Disasters" or "Ghetto Grouting" or something like that. Oy vey!

frozen

Just had to say as my car very reluctantly started this morning I noticed that the thermometer said -5. We are definitely paying for 60 in December.

Jackson Pics

Here are some brand new family photos thanks to Kadee. Matt and Jill are proud parents!