Baby Lanie!!! (Alayna)

Hello fam. As you know, Emily gave birth naturally to Alayna Mae Milam on Sunday, August 28th at 7:17am at 8 lbs 2 oz 20 inches. We just went to the doc today to have her checked. She's doing really well. Her jaundice level was 1.3, which is much lower than Hannah's or Parkers was at this point--which is awesome (good job Em). Her weight has dropped down to 7 lbs 6 oz, so Emily is doing som 'marathon-feeding' today... then we're going to get her weighed again tomorrow. Oh, and she was measured again today: 21 inches tall, 14 inches around her head.
Hannah was a little scared to touch Lanie at first, but she warmed up to her quickly and gave her some kisses (yes, I said 'Lanie', that's what I call her)... although, I think she's more interested in watching movies in grandma's car than spending time with her newest competition for mommy's and daddy's attention. Parker is usually pretty rough, but he's been nothing but sweet and gentle with Lanie--it's so cute to watch him kiss her, he's SO careful. Mom and Dad have been taking care of Hannah and Parker (and us) up until yesterday afternoon when Em's parents picked them up to take care of them for a few days. It's been very helpful to have a [somewhat] quiet house recently, and to have prepared meals delivered. Thank you all very much.

Of course, we're not sleeping much, especially Emily, but the cries and shrieks coming out of Lanie's mouth are music to my ears (even with my earplugs out). Emily cannot stop taking pictures of her while she sleeps, she's so darn cute. She is "my precious." I don't know who has what pictures so I've put up a few here for your enjoyment. Thank you all again for all your support, I hope everyone is doing well. We love you all.

We blew past the holiday and birthday season without even a whisper on here. Sorry about that. So much happens in a span of five months that it would take forever to write (let alone the time it would take for me to remember--prego brain!) Let me see if I can sum it up here: Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Found out we're pregnant. Hannah's birthday. Parker's birthday. Now I'll post pictures. :)

Where does the time go?... ...Seriously, where is it going?!

Well, it feels like we have been keeping ourselves very busy the last few months. Brian's been working super-overtime and keeps busy on his days off (even if it's only one day between trips). He's been remodeling our bathroom--slowly but surely--and it's looking really awesome! We've been looking at that nasty carpet in there for years and saying to ourselves, "We'll get to it someday...". Well, the day came when Hannah decided to be sneaky and gather all of her giant legos and q-tips and play with them in the bathroom sink. Long story short, our bathroom was flooded and the carpet just had to go! You'd think the way the tile looks in there now a professional did it, but, alas, Brian is da man. Just can't wait 'til the finishing touches and we can finally use it (and stop competing for the one bathroom we're all using)!

While Brian has been working his tail off (ha! no pun intended) I've been busy looking for work. I got a little burned out because I was looking every day and sending in apps and resumes like crazy. After turning up only one serious interview opportunity, I really lost the job hunt mojo or whatever it is. I've been looking casually now, but it really wouldn't pay for me to work unless it is part-time, and even then it's not worth the gas. I really needed to refocus on being a mom because I could tell the kids were pining for more attention while I was on the computer. It literally felt like life was just going by while I was at the computer. It sucked! With Brian being away a bit, I was also neglecting other little things like dishes and laundry that would just pile up. So, back to livin'!!

We've been visiting family and friends a lot. Celebrating birthdays and whatnot. I've also joined MOPS and go to mommy-time meetings while the kiddos get to play with other kids their ages. Last meeting I went to Parker apparently kept trying to leave the room! I thought that was funny. Not leaving in the sense of 'I miss my mommy,' but more like, 'I'm gonna give these nice ladies a run for their money!' He is pretty fearless and so curious about everything. He's at that fun age discovering everything for the first time. Hannah was curious at that age too, but she was more dainty compared to Parker. He just goes full-force into things. Never had to baby-proof, but having second thoughts with him. And man, is he fast! If I drop something he shouldn't have on the floor, he just beelines for it!

I can tell Hannah is a little jealous of her brother, but she's also a sweetheart. She's starting to get the big sister thing and she likes to take control of things. I keep thinking she's turning into a tomboy because she's precocious and likes to get dirty in the backyard. (I never fathomed how much Spray n Wash I'd be using!) Then she sees a bug, screams, and is like, "eeeeeewwww, a spider! ... Mommy, a buuuuuuug!" I feel relieved and then put her in a dress just to put her in check. :)

A couple of weeks ago, the grandparents took us all to Leavenworth, the Bavarian-themed town for my birthday and to see Oktoberfest. It was fun to grab a bratwurst and kraut and much on gingerbread cookies. It was crazy busy there, but we enjoyed people watching and visiting and generally being outside was refreshing. Hannah got so excited about this toy shop where she found a unique wood doggie puzzle, which she plays with all of the time. Oh, and at dinner at this ski-lodge style place, Parker would not stop staring at the cute girls sitting at the table next to us. He even followed this cute brunette when she left down the hallway. It was sooo funny! When he got their attention, he just flashed this smile that only cute little baby boys do and did this thing with his eyes where they were almost twinkling! Lol! What a ladies man. Seriously, if anyone is looking for a date, you can borrow him as bait, 'cuz he attracts the "10's!"

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend! We had a nice time at home. Brian was getting over his sinus infection, and Parker got a bug and he is on an antibiotic, so we stayed put. Weather was blah too, and soon I was getting some inspiration to make this a nice holiday with some yummy food! So, I rounded up some cash and went to the fireworks stand and grocery with Parker while Brian and Hannah were napping and got a few "little kid" fireworks. Sparklers n such. You would not believe the reaction he got from the ladies working there. It was cute in the beginning, then got a little old cuz everyone (and it was busy) wanted to look at him and his blue eyes--he's smiling away the whole time--and I was holding him in his car seat. It wasn't the fact that people were oogling at him that started getting a little annoying, it was that he weighs almost 17 lbs and his car seat is about another 15-20 lbs--it was getting soooo heavy! He was loving the attention though. :-) And, hey, at least one of my arms is getting really buff.

We ended up having a really good makeshift bbq with steaks, hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob, cesar salad, watermelon (Hannah ate, like, almost a whole half of one!), and some homemade strawberry shortcake cupcakes. Makes me hungry thinking about it! We lighted up a few sparklers and this funky chicken thing for little kids that shoots egg fireworks out of it's bum. (It would have been more exciting lighting up the three dollars I spent on a package of them.) But, hey, it was for the kids and Hannah loved it! Parker even laughed pretty hard when Hannah came at him with a sparkler, which was hilarious! Brian even got creative and taped four sparklers together, which amazed Hannah--but she kept her distance!

We also took a family walk around the neighborhood to burn off full tummies after dinner and check out the fireworks action. Neighbors had some awesomely big fireworks! Hannah was luvin' it of course! She was like "whoa!" then turned her head in the opposite direction and "whoa!" It was pretty cool--she had so much fun!

The Zoo

We took Hannah to the zoo yesterday for the first time ever--Poin Defiance Zoo. She had no idea what we were talking about when we said lets go see the animals... until just after she finished her hotdog (we ate first cuz we were starving). She was playing under the table with her plastic fork, and wouldn't come out when we asked her to. So Daddy said, "Hannah, lets go see the tigers," -- I've never seen her so excited nor have I ever seen her move so fast... in her life! We had a ton of fun! I think one of my favorite parts was when we saw the Horshoe crabs. She called them "craps." She saw a big one and a small one in a tank and called the big one "Mommy Crap" and the little one "Hannah Crap" and when we left the area she was yelling "Bye Crap!" In a nutshell: we walked a lot, Hannah got wet, Parker had an explosion, and Nemo found his way into our car, and everyone slept REALLY well last night. Check out Brian's facebook page for the album.

Summer is here, kinda

So can anyone tell me where the sun is? I was sure it was supposed to be here... I mean, we've had an appointment for summer all year....

So there's not a whole bunch to report from the past six months... Parker is getting bigger, louder, and stinkier! He is able to turn himself over when he's on the floor, where he loves to french-kiss Sadie Belle. Tickle him from his legs up to his neck and he will belt out an infectious baby laugh!

Hannah is speaking somewhat in full sentences--her new favorite movie is NEMO... according to my brother, we'll be watching that for a few more years, thanks A LOT, Disney. Hannah also LOVES to be outside and gets super-excited when she gets to go for a ride in the big blue twuuuuuuck. She's also been a BIG little helper with everything lately. She can really get Parker (and herself) going... it's really nice to have someone else entertain Parker sometimes.

Emily has completed her Business degree at WSU and has been looking for a yob for a month or so now--meanwhile she continues to amaze me with her motherly (and husbandly [is that a word?]) patience. She has also finished painting, arranging, and decorating Parker and Hannah's room recently, but you'll have to come by and see... I don't have any pictures and its too early to wake up the kids with a camera. Maybe I'll add them on here in a few days.

I haven't really accomplished anything noteworthy in the past 6 months--just trying to slim down finances and find a better way to provide for our family.

I mainly wanted to post some more recent pics on here for everyone to see. Hopefully it won't be another 6 months before we post again. Mom and Dad, thanks for all your support lately!

No. 2

Well, the long awaited moment finally arrived. PARKER IS HERE! He came into this world as Parker Reid Milam at 5:24pm on Thursday, January 14, 2010. 8 lbs. 1 oz. & 20 inches tall. Initially, he had a little trouble breathing in his first few minutes of life. However, shortly thereafter (and quite often ever since), he put on a monumental display of his lung power. He is the most beautiful boy a couple could ever dream of having - we're so proud. Now if we could just get some sleep..... .... .... ...... ....... .......... ......

Hannah's Birthday

Hannah finally turned two - although she hit the "terrible-two's" about six months ago.... She sure is full of life - as you can tell from the picture above (taken shortly after she ate CAKE). She's been pretty happy go lucky lately; maybe it's because Daddy has been home more ;) She loves to read books, watch Disney cartoons, get tickled, and take advantage of Daddy whenever she can. Hannah has been quite helpful lately, especially when Mommy was pregnant!

Visiting Daddy

We took Brian's flight to visit him over in Kalispell, Montana a few weeks ago, and Hannah got a chance to check out Daddy's work. She was mesmorized by all the lights and buttons in the flight deck and we were lucky she looked into the camera for this picture, which is very cute!

Here we are the next day heading back to the airport after a crazy last couple of hours. Hannah was bouncing on the hotel bed and fell off, biting her bottom lip wide open. :( It was a little scary as we were told to bring her into the ER by a nurse in case she needed stitches. We were both not ready to see that! Luckily, the cut split very evenly, so the doc didn't see a need for it. It was terrible, because anytime we got Hannah to smile through the hospital visit and on the way back, she would start to cry because it would stretch her lip. Other than that, the visit was nice! We got breakfast at a nice hole-in-the-wall place, hung out at the hotel pool/spa, and played outside in the grassy courtyard.

Here's Hannah and Brian with his alma mater airplane that we took back to Seattle. We should be doing this more often (minus the little incident)!

Four Generations

We were up visiting my parents and grandma stopped by, so we got a four-generation girls pic! :)

Summer Update

Eating strawberries at the park.

Spaghetti--yum!

At the beach (this was taken a few months ago).

Well, we found out that our 2nd baby is due Jan. 12th, which is Hannah's birthday! Crazy. This sounds stupid, but I don't worry about anything else except how we're going to figure out birthday parties when they both get older (for now I think we can combine 'em for a few years--maybe?). Anyway, we're very excited and got to see the baby again on ultrasound because the Dr. couldn't find the heartbeat with the Doppler thing. The nurse and Dr. didn't really believe me when I said I could feel it moving already--at 12 weeks! But when the picture came up on the monitor, there was this baby doing nothing but kicking it's little legs out! I was like, "I told you so!" We're not going to find out if it's a boy/girl until the big day (sorry to the curious cats!) because it gives us something to look forward to.

It's very fun to try and explain to Hannah that there's a baby in mommy's tummy. She likes to poke (really hard, mind you) my belly and say "babiee!" But I don't think she knows quite what it means. She is so curious about little babies (watch out, Josh--Donny & Marcia's newest) and likes to poke them and pat their heads.

Summer's been nice so far, so we've taken advantage of it by going to the park and Hannah just loves being outside and gets upset when she has to come in. We spent the 4th at my parent's house and saw fireworks at the Everett marina, which were awesome! Hannah loved it and didn't take her eyes off it for a second. Brian and I took a short trip to Vancouver to see a Coldplay concert (my Valentine's Day surprise--I loved it!) and we stayed at a B&B near Mt. St. Helens. We got up early and took a drive to the mountain before anything was open and even saw a deer and her tiny baby walking down the street. The deer even ditched her baby when she heard us coming down the road and the poor baby coudn't get over the guard rail! We got some video of it--don't worry the mom came back after we turned the car off and drove neutral to follow 'em. Anyway, it was a pretty cool trip--my first overnight without Hannah. I missed her, but I have to say it was too short!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Yeah, the black eye is bad. A toy fell on her cheek by her eye. And I "forget" every time to tell people the story includes mommy was getting a new toy out of a box and it accidentally slipped out while Hannah was looking up at me waiting for it. :( Anyway, as you can see, she's doing just fine a couple of days later having a pillow fight with mommy. (Which I especially needed cuz this semester end is making me so... blah! Can't even find the right word...)

Hannah's Black Eye & News!!

Being a ham, books, and snow!

Just took some pictures lately of her playing... she was being cute as usual... and posing (especially the second pic)!


She's being so goofy!







She also loves to read books a lot (when she's not chewing or using them to practice her awesome throwing skills). She likes to bring a book to me, daddy, or Grandpa M and curl up in our lap to listen... until she thinks we're reading too slow and she flips the pages for us!

It also snowed a couple of days ago. It was so pretty! Hannah likes to stand on the window sill to look out in the morning sometimes and she was so mesmerized by the stuff. You can't really tell in the pic, but the flakes were ginormous! ...Ok, more like 1 or 2 inches. :)