Mom's Christmas List

I am having a hard time posting on the family blog, so will pass along my Christmas wish list here. I only have three items:
1. a purse. I would like an Ameribag type (sort of like a backpack or knapsack with one wide strap, made of microfiber or tapestry). It does not need to be an actual Ameribag---a knock-off is fine. OR a hobo style bag, something with a wide strap that goes over the shoulder, but short enough that the bag fits up under the arm.

2. An old work table or butcher's block for the cabin. It can be a worktable like one finds in a garage, with at least one drawer under the tabletop, suitable for replacing the top with butcher block, or a real butcher's block. No more than 36" wide. This will go against the wall in the kitchen, with a stove beside it.

3. CDs by Selah, Alan Hall, Casting Crowns, or anything else you think I would like. LCT, for example.

Mom

Claire's Spelling Test

Claire wanted to let everyone know that she got her first 100% on a spelling test. There are 2 sections to the test: spelling 10 new words and 2 review words for a total of 12 points. The other section is "sentence dictation" - the teacher reads a sentence and the students have to spell all the words correctly and make sure to puntuate correctly. There are 2 sentences in this section for a total of 16 points. Claire got 12/12 and 16/16. She was so excited!

Wesley's Christmas List

My Christmas list can be found here, or by clicking on my Christmas list link on the right.

Mike's list

Fireplace Tool Set (the thing with the stand and has a poker and grippy thingy and a couple other things)
Nice Jeans (2 pairs needed) size 31 x 30
Vitamins/Drugs from the Healthline Store (please call or email Margaret for details on what to buy)
Rocking Chair for Evelyn's room
Tires for the truck
Bedliner for truck

At last...

This is actually Carrie, not Wes. Most of you have probably heard by now - Wes landed a full-time job!!!! This is an exciting opportunity that will finally allow him to actually use some of the college courses that he took, lo these many years ago.

He'll be working for our friend Dave Wilson at the TV station WSFJ, which you can read more about here. His official title is "Production Assistant"; this means he'll do editing (so that, in that infamous episode of "Little House on the Prarie" in which Mary finds out she's blind and drops the F-bomb, instead she says "beep!") He'll also run the master controls part time.

The TV station is right across the street from my office, so Wes and I will be venturing into the wonderful new world of car-pooling.

He starts tomorrow (Monday the 12th), so that is a big huge pre-Christmas blessing for us.

For your viewing pleasure....

Hey, Rachel here. I though the masses that check this blog would maybe like some new pics of the still youngest member of the Miller clan. All but the box one were taken today (the box one is less than a week old). Sorry for the red eye. I don't know how to take it out yet. Brian needs to show me!

C-Section

I sent out emails, but just to make sure everyone knows: My c-section and Evelyn's birth is now scheduled for December 28th at 12:20pm. This is moved up a week from the previously scheduled day. Evelyn and I will be in the hospital until Monday afternoon or evening.

Tessie's xmas list

Please note that I have changed the spelling of my name. Some people in the family spell it "Tessy", others "Tessie". I've debated this for a while and finally decided on "Tessie", although if you want to make an argument for the other one, I'm listening. Anyway, here's what I can think of, not necessarily in order:

1. Victor Martinez shirt (size medium? not sure, have to check)
2. DVDs: any of our family favorites on DVD, Indiana Jones trilogy (maybe wait until the 4th one's out?) Finding Neverland, Little Mermaid
3. either/both of the two new Michael Crichton novels (State of Fear and I can't remember the newest one)
4. a new backpack/carrying case, one that looks more professional and has a long strap. not the traditional backpack kind. should have a place for a laptop, and the more pockets, the better.

Dad's xmas list

Dad claims he doesn't have access to this website, so he asked me to post this for him. I guess this means whoever's name he has, he can't see your wish list, so tough luck for you! he probably would have just given you his toenail clippings anyway.

Dad:

1. An IPOD.

2. Northwestern Huskies lined rain coat. I can give more detail if needed.

3. Jewel cds. (Alice in Wonderland)

4. A tribe World Series ring.

5. Well hoodah poster.

James' Christmas List

tractors
backhoe
excavator
basically any toy machinery that typical boys like to play with
bike helmet (he has a bike)
clothes 2T and up

Oooooo so scary!

Here is Johanna in her costume. I will take more when we go trick or treating at the nursing home with my great grandma!

Johanna's Christmas List

Johanna wanted me to ask if her name could be added to the list of Christmas Lists at the bottom of the page. Thanks!!

Jammies size 12-18 months. We still need some more warm ones for winter. We currently have two spring type jammie sets, and two winter jammies. I prefer one piece fleece ones for winter, or anything that looks warm! For warmer weather, I like two piece sets cuz they make for easy diaper checks!!
bath toys
blocks
any great learning and development toys for one year olds

Rachel's Christmas List

Here goes-
Gilmore Girls (I need and want all the seasons except 4 & 5)
Gift certificates for clothes and accessories for student teaching (gap, target preferred)
Books- Math Doesn't Suck by Danica McKeller
gift certificate to education innovations (online)
Writing tablet that can hook up to apples, IBMs, and maybe even a Smartboard
Fun Math and Science things for teaching (i.e. Magic Sand- look it up if curious!)
I also have a huge list of books that I eventually want for my classroom I will type them up and post them at some point, soon.

Claire's Christmas List

Hannah Montana guitar - they have them at Toys R Us for about $30
guitar lesson book to go with guitar
"Hannah Montana" stuff for bedroom: posters, sheets/comforter set, or any other decor
clothes - size 8 - preferably "Hannah Montana"
SpiderMan 3 on DVD

ultrasound pics

Ihad to get another ultrasound on Friday and here are the pictures. One is a face shot - you can see one eye (the other is towards the bottom above the "MOM" and kinda blacked out) her nose and mouth. The other picture is a profile of her head.

Margaret's Wish List

Bible - preferably Life Application or similar - needs a good concordance
A handy-man to come help us with a few remodeling projects
A rocking chair for Evelyn's room
DVDs: Chicago, Ella Enchanted, The Holiday
A couple Mary Kay products - Beth is having a party on Dec. 5th so if you want to know what I want, please email her and order from her party so she gets credit

Claire's first game

Claire had her first game today. She looked good, but the team lost 4 to 1. Claire had our team's lone goal! Hopefully she'll keep up the good work.

The newest addition (for a few more months!)

Here are some pretty recent pictures of Johanna for comparison! They are within the last month or so. We have taken some very recent ones, but don't have them on the computer yet. I can't get over how much James looks like that picture of Margaret! ~Rachel

A surprising photo

This photo amazed me when I pulled it out of the storage container. If you look past the blue marker scribbles, I think you will see an amazing resemblance to James. I guess he is not "100% Bowman" after all. This is James's Mommy at 14 months of age.

Carrie and Brian

Carrie is three; Brian is one. They are wearing the corduroy outifts I made them for Christmas. Brian finally has some teeth.

Another adorable Miller baby

I think this is the only one who doesn't look like Johanna. This, of course, is Aunt Tessie at six months.

Aunt Carrie

Isn't she a little cutie? And another strong resemblance to Johanna.

Johanna's twin?

I was very surprised when I pulled this photo out. This picture is dated April, 1983---but if it wasn't for the darker eyes, I would swear it was taken in August of 2007.

Johanna's Daddy

No, Johanna, you are not looking in a mirror. This is your Daddy when he was just your age.

Good news and hopefully good news

Our good news is - Wes got a job!!! It is a temp job with a company called Excell (sp?), but it's doing stuff he likes, and it's long-term temp. Located at Polaris - conveniently close to both the gym, and looming-closer-LCT rehearsals. Wes is happy and I am ecstatic.

Over the weekend, Ernie was horribly sick with his 4th urinary tract obstruction of the year. This is a problem that costs us $600-$800 every time we take him in to the vet, and this weekend was the worst he had ever been. We thought were going to have to put him to sleep Sunday morning, but he ended up passing the obstruction himself.

The hopefully good news is (restrain yourself, Dad), that there may be a procedure the vet can do that will help out. He (Ernie, not the vet) is scheduled for X Rays in a couple of weeks to see what can be done.

Hi

Nobody's said anything in nearly a month.

HI.

Clare's softball

I emailed everyone with Claire's softball schedule. I know June is busy and with the games on Tuesday and Thursday it might make it hard to get to, but Claire loves having people come watch her play. Especially cause she can show off how she does her arm farts when she is on the bench.

Lizzie has earned her keep

Most of you know that Lizzie is currently staying with us. Yesterday she sniffed out a nest of rabbit kits and killed all 5 of them in about 10 minutes flat. (The kits were about 3 weeks old, I would guess, so not too speedy yet, but still....)

I was a leeeetle bit sad, because they were just reaching the cute bunny stage, but 5 cute bunnies right now translates into 25 more bunnies in just a few months, and no green beans in our garden at all this summer, so I got over my empathy pretty quickly!

Now I'm just wondering where the doe was, and if Lizzie can tackle something that big.

Good girl, Lizzie!!!

It's time!

Wes and I are excited to start our foster care/adoption classes on April 30th. They will run every Monday and Wednesday night through the end of May. Then, there's a sixth-month process during which we complete a home study (that's where the state comes to check that we are not dangerous criminals), then a few months longer for our children to actually be placed with us!

We are not certain at this point if we want to foster or foster-to-adopt, but at this time are leaning toward the latter. Once we become licensed foster parents, we have to take a continuing education course every year to remain licensed.

So, our paper pregnancy begins.

Anyone else been sick this week?

James was really sick Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I stayed home from school to take care of him and by about 2 in the afternoon, Claire was throwing up too. They both seemed to be over it by Wednesday night so I went to school Thursday, but the sitter called during first period and said James wouldn't stop puking. So I came back home. By Thursday night, I was the one bolting to the bathroom. I stayed home Friday and was better by the afternoon. It seems to pass through the system fast, but man is it painful to the gut.

Brian/Johanna

The photo on left is Brian at age two months. Johanna's face is rounder, but otherwise I think the resemblance is pretty strong.

My 2 beauties

This may be my all-time favorite picture.

Johanna's dedication at church

We are going to have Johanna dedicated at church on Sunday the 29th of April. We would like the whole family to be there so consider this an informal invitation.

Princess pictorial units

Ok, ok. To everyone named Carrie, hold onto your panties (while "accidentally" snapping photos of them.) Here are some recent Johanna pictures.

I'll take "Things that are wrong but funny" for $200, Alex

http://borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=6704&srch=

Supreme Court Gives Gore’s Oscar to Bush
Stunning Reversal for Former Veep

Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received an Academy Award for his global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” the United States Supreme Court handed Mr. Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Oscar and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead.

For Mr. Gore, who basked in the adulation of his Hollywood audience Sunday night, the high court’s decision to give his Oscar to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least.

But in a 5-4 decision handed down Tuesday morning, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Mr. Gore of his Oscar because President Bush deserved it more.

“It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. “But President Bush has actually helped create global warming.”

In another setback for the former vice president, a group of scientists meeting in Oslo, Norway today said that Mr. Gore was growing at an unsustainable rate.

“The polar ice caps may be shrinking, but Al Gore is clearly expanding,” said Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke of the University of Tokyo.

The scientists concluded that if Mr. Gore continues to expand at his current rate, he could cause the earth to spin off its axis by 2010, sending it hurtling into the sun.

“Here’s an inconvenient truth,” Dr. Kyosuke added. “Al’s got to stay away from those carbs.”

Elsewhere, after foreigners received a record number of Academy Award nominations, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs proposed building a 12-foot high fence around the Kodak Theater.

August 1991

I include this photo simply because it is one of my all-time favorites. Carrie made this portrait of her baby sister as she was preparing to depart for her first year of college.

A Christmas present

Remember this? Ipper shot up a whole roll of film trying to get one good photo that we could frame and give to Dad for Christmas. We finally got one, but this isn't it. Margaret is about a month old here, and Carrie (9, going on 10) and Brian (5, going on 6) are just adorable. As for me...well, this photo is proof that I once was young and slender. Also that I wore very big glasses.

Steph at 3 months

Steph at 3 months. Nothing more need be said.

Hello! Who are you?

Steph comes home from the hospital and is introduced to big sister Margaret. Aren't they sweet?

Margaret at three days old

"What's this in my bed?"

Brian-three days old

Brian at three days old, eyeing his father suspiciously.

Carrie & Dad

Carrie at one month old. Dad and Johanna had this very same conversation last night.

Daddy & Daughter

Anyone see any resemblance here? Brian is one month old in the photo at left.

As I went through old photos, it was very depressing to realize what a lousy photographer I was (am?). There are numerous shots of you kids as babies, featuring acres of sofa, wall, window, floor, etc. with a blurry little image in the center that appears to be a baby, but it's too small to tell. Very difficult to make out distinguishing features.

I Can Read Your Mind

I saw this on a David Blaine special, and I think I've figured out how to do it, so I want to try it out on everyone.

I want you to think of a number between 1 and 50. It can be any number between 1 and 50, but both digits must be different odd numbers.

Have you thought of a number? Okay, concentrate on that number.

I've got it. I know what number you're thinking of. I'll post it in the comments section.

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Blog

Okay, hearing all the problems people have been having, I think I've figured it all out. You may or may not know that Blogger is owned by Google, and Blogger has been going through an upgrade for the past few months. In addition to upgrading the entire Blogger system to a kind of "Blogger 2.0," one of the upgrades was to merge Blogger and Google accounts, so you only need one account/password to sign in to either account. Unfortnately, I didn't realize that I had to upgrade our blog before any of the other changes could take place. So Blogger was asking for Google sign-ins, but then wouldn't allow them.

With the new Blogger 2.0, you'll notice a couple other changes. Most importantly, you can now add labels for your posts, so it'll be able to find a post about a particular topic. For example, I'm going to file this post under "Admin."

Long-story short--I think I've fixed the problem. You should be able to post again normally now, by loggging in with your Google account information. If anyone continues to have problems, please ask me directly to look into it.

Put the pictures on the blog and no one gets hurt

I demand pictures and updates on the newest doings of our newest niece. Inquiring minds want to know what fun new trick she has learned (where "trick" is a broad term that can encompass everything from learning to suck her thumb, to getting her first cold, to peeing on someone other than herself, etc.)

What we're up to

We have a meeting next week with our contractor to lock down the final details and determine a start date for our latest home renovation project: a carriage house/workshop (for our horseless carriages and our work and our shop ;-), a mudroom breezeway connecting this to the kitchen, moving the back door around to the west side of the house, installing some windows in its place on the N side, and framing/roughing in a master bath addition off our closet (which will become a walk-through closet).

Mr. Bun John has also said that he can install a much-needed new asphalt roof for us on the second story, plus shingle the carriage house (I am calling it that because the word "garage" is like fingernails on a blackboard to me - unless someone else can come up with a better name - but the design is like an old carriage house) roof, plus shingle the master bath addition.

We will be doing all the electrical work, plumbing beyond the rough-in, rock, mud, tiling, and finish carpentry work ourselves on all these things. Plus (don't know if this will be this year or not) building a deck-with-pergola/patio combination off the back of the carriage house, replacing remaining east kitchen windows with french doors as access, dividing the existing first-floor bath into two rooms and turning one into an office and refinishing the other as a 3/4 bath, and turning my existing "office" in the kitchen into a pantry area.

Then of course we'll need to remodel our closet and bedroom to go with the new master bath.

And when all that's done, that'll leave only the Bowman guest bedroom as the last remaining existing room to remodel!

Then of course there's the fact that at some point we want to finish off the attic and turn it into a small en-suite plus a box room.

And oh yeah, the contractor's project may include a potting shed/greenhouse/mower storage area, depending on how much home equity loan money we have left when we're done (and how much of our sanity....)

Yeah.... Looking at this list, this isn't all going to get anywhere near done this year, but for sure the new garage, mud room, and framing for the master bath, and the roofing.

Just thought you might like to know that eventually we'll have covered parking. Too late for winter of 2006-2007, but ooh, next year will be grand.

Update on Claire

We saw the Dr. on Monday and here is what we think: She was running high all afternoon and evening on Saturday and we couldn't get her sugar down. I changed her port and this fixed the BG. The problem is that her body was getting used to being high so the rapid drop in her blood sugar made her feel hypoglycemic, even though she wasn't. When she hit 98, her body reacted like it was bottoming out. We don't need to do any further testing and she has been fine since Sunday.

Don't be alarmed but...

Claire had to go to the ER very early this morning. She woke up at about 2am and said she had a very bad dream, and then after that she was very disoriented and confused. Mike checked her blood sugar and she was 98 which is pretty decent but he was worried she might drop more so he gave her a banana and a small bolus for it. Then he laid down with her to help her sleep. About an hour later he came and got me and said she was still very confused. She kept flinging her arms and legs around, kinda like when you are trying to go to sleep but can't quite get comfortable and your frustrated. She also had her eyes open the whole time, but was very out of it. I checked her BG and she was down to 69. I suspended her pump and tried to get her to eat some glucose tablets or drink some pop, but she refused to open her mouth. I would ask her to eat it and she would nod but then get mad when I tried to put it in her mouth. She would start crying for no reason and then stop suddenly and look around like she had no idea what was happening. We asked her questions like what her name is or who we are and she would either just shrug or say I don't know. He blood sugar after about 10 minutes of this was at 89 so she was coming up rapidly just with the pump suspended. We realized that the whole thign was probably unrelated to her diabetes, but something was still terribly wrong. I called the nurse-on-call and explained what was happening and she said she really couldn't figure out what was wrong and we should take her in to be checked. By the time we got to the ER her BG was up to 108. They did a CT scan and lots of blood tests and a urine test. The CT was fine, blood all good, but she has a slight UT infection. The DR. is unsure if this has anything to do with anything, but he said sometimes infections can cause wierd problems. We were there for about 3 hours before she finally came around and could answer all of our questions. There is also the possibility that she was just in a very deep sleep, but he said it should't take hours to come out of it like that.

Anyway, we were realeased and told to make an appointement with the pediatrician tomorrow and he will probably have her go to Akron Childrens to have an EEG and some other more extensive tests done. She has had to do this once before about 2 years ago. Eveything was normal then, but you just never know.

If anyone has heard of something lke this before and can give us some insightt please do. I don't know what is worse, to have all the tests come back normal and still have no idea what is wrong, or to have something come back irregular but at least know where to start fixing it.

Cheerleading

Claire was a Husky Cheerleader last night at the basketball game. She did so well! I was a proud mom. They did 3 different cheers and then a dance. The dance was a bit harder for her as there were a lot of moves to remember and they only had 3 practices to learn all the cheers and dance, but she was awesome on the cheers. There were probably between 50 and 75 little girls out there on the gym floor. It was so cute.

Our big news

I'd like to share our big news, which is that we have a new niece! Her name is Johanna Eden Miller, and she was born on 2/2. I think she was 8 lbs, 1 oz. and 20.5" long.

She was very opiniated and gassy and cute, so she fit right in with the rest of the family.

I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew about this.

claire

I called mom yesterday midmorning and was surprised when Claire answered the phone. She had a snow day. After I talked to her for a bit, I asked to talk to Grandma, and she said "okay hold on." A few seconds later, Claire comes back on the phone and, in a deeper voice says "Hey, I'm grandma. What do you want?" I chatted with her for a bit and she said things like "You need to come home immediately!" Her voice kept getting deeper, and I said "You know, I'm starting to think this is actually grandpa, not grandma." And she goes into the lowest voice possible and says "OY. That's because this IS grandpa. What do you want?" ......the conversation continued for a bit.
I was impressed with her improvisational skills. :)

Oh, and last night, Holly told me that about 6am I screamed and threw the covers off, got out of bed and stood there in the middle of the room. She asked if I was okay and I said "Yeah, I think so." Then I got back into bed and went to sleep. I don't remember any of this.

i had a dream too

except mine was more em-bare-assing. long story short, i kept trying to get dressed after a shower, but random people i didn't even know kept walking into the room, so i'd leave and go into another room to change. every time i walked into the other room, the people would stare because my butt was hanging out the back of the towel, which was flapping happily in a slight breeze. (the towel was flapping, not my butt...well, maybe a little of both.) (i thought i should "claire-ify" that for y'all.)

I have a dream

Last night I dreamt that I was standing around talking to Brian and Rachel, and Rachel said, "My cervix feels funny," and boom! There arrived the baby 2 seconds later! Only instead of Johanna, the baby was a boy.

Medical Report

I had my first post-op doctor's visit on Wednesday. Nothing much to say, except incisions are healing up nicely, and it is now legal for me to do the things I have been doing for the last several days; e.g. slipping my arm out of the sling to get dressed, taking a shower (now I am allowed to get the incisions wet) and sleeping in my own bed. I now have a new fashion accessory---a big black dorky brace covering my forearm, wrist and hand. I go back on Jan. 31st and at that point, if all is well, I begin PT.

Long Term Sub Job

I will be subbing full time starting about mid-March at Hillsdale Middle School. This will go through the end of the school year. An 8th grade Math and Language Arts teacher is having a baby and going on maternity leave. I was called and asked if I would be interested and I interviewed with the principal, the departing teacher, and another 8th grade teacher today. It looks great and I am very excited. The drive is only 15 minutes (about 10 miles) and I can still continue to work at NW's after school program. I really hope this goes well and that it will help me gain a job next year.

Back from the dead

Since no one has posted on here in a month, I thought I'd say hi.

Lessee. Wes' dad had another heart attack right after Christmas (this is number 5, 6, or 7, depending on whose count you believe). The good news is that he is home and feels fine. The bad news is that he lost another 20% of his heart (he had already yet lost a third in previous heart attacks). Plus the fact that he lost more means that he has a blocked artery, but they can't do an angioplasty or even another heart cath because his health overall is so poor. So please pray about that.

Thanks to Brian and Dad, we now have new, non-leaking, functional water lines in the entire house (except the downstairs bath, which we held off on until we remodel that). That was an unexpected hitch in the holiday week, but something that was on our long-term to do list, plus I finally got a hose for my flower beds out of it, so we're happy.

We're still remodelling the upstairs bathroom, and will be for a while yet since these other events took up a lot of time that we weren't expecting, but we sealed the plaster on the cement board and put on the first code of paint yesterday. Next up: installing the floor heating system and tiling the floor.

Wes is making good progress on his new book (yay), and I am back at the office (boo). Baxter, Bert and Ernie are all still fat and stupid and cuddly, so life is as it should be.