First Movie Appearance

Hello from the world of sleep deprivation

Well folks, we've appear to be in a bit of a pickle....since no new pictures have appeared recently and the readers are getting restless. Speaking of rest, Miss Gwen still appears to have her days and nights somewhat reversed. Although we did manage to sleep from 2-6 am last night, it was the no sleeping until 2 am that makes the parental units look slightly zombie-like, just in time for Halloween. However, the show must go on. Here are some more pictures to stave off the crowds until we can truly write something worthwhile about the last few days.




Mommy gets some sleep...............

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Baby dreams of sheep.............




Then back to milk bar she will leap......

Testing Out the Hunter Orange

Anyone that knows us will realize that we tend to be rather active outdoor people, especially during hunting season. With excellent assistance this past weekend from Mandy and Eric, Anne figured out how to strap on the baby backpack and take Gwen for her first walk. It is amazing how a single piece of equipment, designed to make life simple, can have so MANY straps, buckles, latches, etc. Once we figured out how to run it all (and not accidentally eject dear Gwennie), it was off to the land of sage and searching for antelope. Eric did take his hunting rifle, however, daughter child decided midway through her snooze in the carrier that she wanted Dad to try his hand at things. Somehow, Anne's slow shuffle and short stature from the ground seemed to scare her. So, the hunting was officially put on hold (we'd have had to find a deaf antelope anyway.......) but it was great to get out and about. Mandy, Tim and Anna got to see more of the countryside and Anna enjoyed a well-deserved snooze in her mom's Moby Wrap. Weekend plans for House of Miller are to include another try, trading out on who shoots and who carries the babe!

Pictures for Moms

Okay, we swore we would update the blog since it had been left untended since Wednesday. So as an added bonus to certain individuals in England and N. Idaho - here are more random pictures from the week. Captions from top to bottom: 1) Gwen plays with her mobile (thank you Traci!) 2) Anne plays with Gwen...finds out mobile really hurts when it whacks you in the eye 3) Multiple baby blankets....X dollars; Mommy's sweatshirt = Priceless 4) Ditto, only Mommy is included in final package.

Meyer and Co Visit

For the past several days, House of Miller has been visited by "Meyer and Company." Anne and Mandy met on the first day of kindergarten and have been best friends ever since (they teamed up together to protect their crayons and super glue from the "mean boys") Since then, both decided that boys aren't all that mean and have worked to super glue together wonderful families and colorful lives. Mandy and Tim have Anna Olivia - who turns 2 months old this week. We were all very excited to introduce our young lady to theirs.

There is a sense of irony to their close birthdates; Anne & Mandy had a bet shortly after high school involving the timing of children. The first one to have kids "lost," meaning that they owed 2 weeks of babysitting time to the one starting the family later (aka the "winner"). Since it was only fair, Tim and Eric were each clued into the bet when marriage and family planning were on the table in each relationship. Keep in mind, Mandy and Tim have been married since 2001 and the House of Miller became official in 2006. Even with a five year lead, the Meyers began their family only roughly one month ahead of the Millers. We've had talk of double-or-nothing on the second child but, due to spousal protest, all bets are off. At the rate we were going, the second children would probably share a birthday! :)

Meals on the Move

We decided that, rather than waiting for an emergency scenerio (or extreme tiredness incident), we would test out the bottle system once or twice with Gwen. As you can see, she didn't seem to mind....neither did her dad, who thought the whole ordeal was quite cool. For right now, Anne's Milk Bar is still open and still accepting the little patron- no plans to switch to bottle full time. However, when she gets teeth.....................................

Bold Bright World

After experiencing loads of snow yesterday, we awoke to cleared skies and a bright, still morning. The entire country out here looks like one enormous quilt, with fencelines acting as seams between the squares and haybales offering various patterns. The above shot is from looking East from the house, off the front porch. The picture below is looking South, from the french doors in the living room. Don't ask how much snow was still on the deck - all Anne can say is that, last she checked, snow is still very cold....especially when you are dumb enough to walk out there in your slippers!

The weather outside is frightful

So much for opening day of antelope and Anne's theory of shooting hers off the deck in the wee hours of morning. Yes folks, the above sights are from today - not from our reserve pile of photos we pull out to scare off movie stars trying to settle out here. And it is STILL snowing. This is also a morning that Anne & Eric look at each other and realize just how happy life is - we have a cozy house, a beautiful baby that sleeps occasionally (see proof below), two dogs that think they are people (again, see proof below on the couch) and more than enough food/water/firewood to settle in and enjoy a snow day. Apparently, the City of Billings has decided that their streets and all county roads in the area are for emergency travel only. Up here, on the other hand, we expect to see pickups passing the house on the way to hunt quite shortly.

Evening Plans

No - I am NOT sleepy! Sorry people! Ok Dad, maybe you have a good point............


My willpower is weakening........ Mmmmm....the land of fuzzy blankies and oodles of milk

Happy 50th Mom

Anne's mom, Sally, spent nearly two full weeks with us to help with the post-baby chaos and enjoy the first grandchild of the family. This was the most time that mother and daughter had spent together since roughly jr. high (Anne's high school years were spent flitting about being a social butterfly). We all had a great time. Eric and Sally are distinctly morning birds (more about Anne's not being a morning person later) and spent the wee hours chatting politics and life in general, all while the new grandmother held Gwennie. Anne and Sally spent a lot of valuable time together catching up on life and laughing like crazy about the finer points of diapering 1o1 and what to do when your child refuses to sleep at night. We cannot thank her enough for all of the help!!!!!

During her stay, Sally was ambushed by a 50th birthday celebration. During time she assumed her daughter was upstairs editing some work materials, Anne was nearly passing out from hurrying to fill as many balloons as possible before someone checked on her "office progress." Then, Sally was sent to retrieve a package from her car while House of Miller rapidly got out the presents, a crazy and insanely large singing card and put up some decorations. For those of you curious, the Hops and Yoyo card (courtesy Hallmark) sings it's own variation of a birthday song when opened. Which means that Anne & Eric spent some time upstairs quietly snickering while trying to figure out how the heck to discretely sign a card that basically screams at you when you open it (reminiscent of the "Screamers" received by various characters in the Harry Potter series).

So, from the bottom of our hearts....THANK YOU MOM for all of the tireless help, advice and encouragement in the past several weeks. You are very solely missed out here by the three of us.

A Shorter Version of War and Peace

We have been adamant about reading to our future children, meaning that the House of Miller has been building up kid books for quite some time. Dad decided to treat Gwen to her first book, a touch and feel-type about animals. Although we don't expect to wake up one morning to find War and Peace by the side of her bassinet, at least she is getting used to hearing stories (and not just the tall tale fishing adventures her mom often told while she was in the womb).

Wascally Wabbits

This post is a special request from a particular roomie of the Bozeman variety. Jess provided us with a fun box for the babe, in which she had put several very cute outfits. To Eric's utter amazement, the color pink showed up every litte in her selections (anyone knowing Miss Jess will realize just how much constraint this took! :) ) Gwen was given the "Elmer hat" to top it all off. We think she will grow into her bunny hunting days quite well.

The Baby Bath (aka How to Hold a Slippery Little Tadpole)

Gwennie is officially clean behind the ears now several times over. The parental units are far too modest to say that they have perfected anything, when it comes to not getting soaked and/or assulted with tears, but we're making progress with the sponge baths. Hopefully, she takes after her Dad's enjoyment of swimming and has a brillant Micheal Phelps-like career (her mother sinks like a rock and isn't very happy in water deeper than a bathtub...) We swear half the fun of getting her clean is an excuse to use the little hooded towels on her!

We arrived home (FINALLY) on Monday - still another day later than planned, but we got her out of the "box." The first checkup was yesterday in Miles again. Gwen is in good health. In fact, our pediatrican laughingly informed us that she is definitely going to be "an active child" (hmmm, who guessed). Right now, Gwen is strong enough to hook her arm over the edge of the diaper changing table and turn onto her side without any help. This also means that diaper changing sessions are as brief as possible and eyes are fixed on the daugher at all times.

Anne is looking forward to fitting back into some of her clothes. It's pretty sad when a person gets excited about being able to wear early maternity wear vs the 4 ft long shirts needed to cover the massive basketball-sized tummy late in the months. Eric is celebrating the new child's arrival home by working to chink some of the logs inside and outside the living room to prepare for winter. Right now, he is perched on a ladder above, happily trying not to drop bits of the sticky chinking into his wife's hair and/or laptop. So, as usual, projects of all sorts abound at House of Miller.