We're Baaaaaaackkkk

It seems that part of knowing the Millers is the art of NOT knowing the Millers. As in, where did they go? What ever happened to New Years? Ice fishing? Movies of Gwen? ANYTHING??

The short answer is, yes...we are still here. No, we are not in dire need of medical treatment and, no, we did not win a vacation cruise at the local Ryan's grocery store and leave rapidly. Embarrassingly enough, it's just been a bit busy around these parts since Christmas. Here's the rundown:

1) We threw a New Year's party, which evolved into two different parties: Eve and Day. This was partly due to Anne inviting people to Day, Eric to Eve and the two of us (fortunately) figuring it out in the two days prior to the event. Good thing too - because we were able to scramble plenty of soup together (and football) for BOTH days. Our menu ran along the lines of snacking items and a soup buffet of Potato, Spinach Tortellini, Bean & Cauliflower. If you are looking for more details, check out Mary's descriptions!

2) We woke up one morning and decided we were fat. And not just the kinda-couch-potato-we really-celebrated-over-the-holidays-fat....we're talking the where-'o-where-did-our-muscles-go fatness. Neither Anne nor Eric care to publish just how many push-ups they were capable of at this point. Let's just say if they were auditioning for the stunt-doubles of superheros, both of them would have gotten cut right out of the line trying to get into the studio. And so it begins. The adults of the Miller house desperately trying to eat healthier (more veggies, fewer meaty potato-filled dishes) and also aspiring to finish more crunches, more pushups and more squats than the the day before. Things got off to a rough start concerning foods. The replacement of "normal" butter on the dish with the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter one day lead Anne to think it had gone rancid; in fact, she nearly threw it all out until the husband fessed up to his switch.

3) Ice fishing season started in full force. Thus far, representatives from the house have only been to the lake twice, but we hope there's more. And we brought Gwen...that's right, we took our precious little cute baby on the ice......and she lived. Furthermore, she thrived royally in the Rubbermaid tub filled with blankets with her winter snowsuit on. We realize this has given a few of you second thoughts about ever considering us as potential godparents but think of it this way: we will be able provide our hoodlum with a insanely healthy diet of fish for basically the cost of gas and lots of patience. We realize this argument carries little weight while she is still on milk-diet, but, believe us, it will. Someday.

4) Anne's work required her to be away from said hoodlum and husband for FOUR long days this week. The first time she had been away for anything other than a morning of hunting or quick trip to the grocery. We'll let you all imagine the details but let's just say that when it came time to leave, Eric pretty much had to kick her out of the parking lot at his office. Miss Gwen enjoyed the care of her daddy and close friend Nicole for the duration of the week. Meanwhile, Anne became painfully aware of what happens to a dairy cow when "her people" forget to come home and take care of her. Due to this and extreme stress at the first time away from the babe, she failed miserably at category #2 mentioned above. The Great Falls Starbucks probably had to restock completely after her single run through their window.

5) We reached a decision regarding Her Highness and food. Due to depleting milk supply in the momma, on top of her needing to be absent at times for work, we're currently making the switch to formula. After nearly four months of late nights full of colic (okay, at least 3 of the 4) and a mother desperately trying to modify the diet to accomodate for whatever the difficulty, we made a discovery. During the entire time Anne was away and Gwen ate formula, the child never once needed Milacon (baby Gas-X) and the father never once had to wake more than once in the night to feed her. That's right - she SLEPT! Previous to this, it was a steady evening of nursing every 3 hours or so, with the occasional gassy crankiness thrown in to keep it fun. Now, if it benefited the child - we parents would be in for this evening rodeo for however long it took. However, it appears that Her Highness is much happier these days and no longer constantly starving. And so, dear readers, start buying stock in Enfamil!

Well, that's about it for the updates - we think we're as caught up for now. Below are some recent pictures for the ice fishing and New Year's endeavors.