Pressure

Now that I’m back, I feel this immense pressure to write something great.  I was looking back over the blog (good times there, folks!) and decided to re-start the way that I first got started.

Thankfulness.

In my first post, I listed 25 things that I was thankful for. It ranged from my family all the way to Words with Friends, which I no longer play by the way. With the exception of my family, because we should all be thankful for our families all the time, I am going to make a new list (only 20 this time) with things that pertain to my life now. My how times have changed!

1.      My Family. I’ll keep it small here and only talk about my hubby and son. Although they both can push my buttons some days, I am so thankful that God has blessed me with them both! I am thankful that David enjoys spending his days off with us and realize that not all dads like to do that. I’m thankful that JD is still at the age where he likes to hug and kiss and snuggle. I’m thankful that he still needs me, and wants me. I better stop here. Maybe another post on them another day!

2.      Sunshine. Oh blessed Sunshine!! I am thankful for the warmer and longer days that come with spring and summer! Winter is my least favorite season with all the cold and dreariness. As soon as the sun starts warming things up, my whole attitude changes! I love seeing things grow (though I’m seriously not a fan of the cursed pollen!). I love being outside. I love the sun!

3.      Warm Weather Activities. Following the sunshine, would be the activities that warm weather brings. I’m not just talking swimming, though I am thankful for that. I’m talking markets and festivals and parks and walks and all outside fun. I seriously love spring and summer, and even fall. It’s that crazy cold winter that I’m not too fond of.

4.      Alavert. I am loving all this warm weather, but my sinuses aren’t loving all the pollen. Thankfully, there are tiny orange dissolvable tablets that help with that. Best find ever.

5.      Netflix. You know you all feel the same way! David and I decided years ago to do away with our cable. It was an adjustment at first since we were use to having all those channels at our finger tips. When we moved to the river (the boondocks that I told you about in the last post), we literally only got like 3 channels. We get all the basic channels on our tv now, but it is so nice to have Netflix available as well. The movies aren’t always the greatest, but I have been able to watch a lot of shows that I either missed when they originally aired (Lost), watched part of but not all the way (Gilmore Girls), or had never even heard of (Heartland). Plus, the old faithful that are just fun to watch over and over (Friends).  

6.      My Screened-In Porch. Seriously the best feature in this house. Not only does it keep the bugs out, but it also keeps JD in. Some days you just need that. It also allows us to play outside, even when it is raining. If you don’t have one of these, I suggest you add one on!

7.      Text messaging. There is definitely something to be said for having a real conversation with another person, but at this stage in my life, I love the art of text messaging. It is so nice to send a simple message to someone when you have a question or comment but don’t have time for the niceties that come with a phone call. It is also nice to be able to read and respond to a text when you get a free minute to do so. Plus, the pictures and videos that my sisters send me of my niece and nephew…priceless!

8.      Baby Monitors. When JD was born, we decided to get one of the video monitors. Best decision ever! It was really nice when he was little to be able to check on him without taking the chance of waking him up by going into his room. It was nice when we were sleep training so that I could see there wasn’t anything seriously wrong while I let him cry it out. (Yes, I am that mom. I’m sure there will be a post or two on that later on too. Another of the best decisions that I’ve made!) And now, it is nice to be able to watch JD when he isn’t wanting to nap and have the ability to talk to him through the monitor without having to go into his room to do so. If you are thinking about baby monitors, seriously, go for the video monitor! You will not regret it!

9.      Days Off. I mean, not for me. I’m a mom. Moms don’t get days off. I’m talking about David’s days off. He works a crazy shift that keeps him away from us for most of the day several days in a row. That being said, his days off are like a breath of fresh air. We love spending time together as a family and try to do fun things together as much as we can. I like that we can share meals together. I like having someone to help with the chaos of having a toddler. I like that we can carry on real conversations instead of short phone calls or text messages. I especially like when those days off are during the week so that everything isn’t as crowded when we do go out.

10.   Stickers. JD is really into stickers right now. He likes wearing them. He likes putting them on you to wear. He likes to playing with them. He likes decorating with them. So far, we haven’t had any major incidents with stickers being stuck where they shouldn’t be. I’m sure those days will come. For now, I like that he wants to decorate pictures for people. And I especially like that I can give him a few stickers when we are in the car, and he can entertain himself with them for quite a while.

11.   The Dollar Store. Speaking of stickers, I am very thankful for dollar stores. It really is crazy the stuff that you can find in there for only a dollar. I’m not crazy enough to think that everything is a good deal, but a lot of it is. I buy all kinds of stuff in there – toys, baskets, craft supplies, teaching materials, paper products, party supplies, food, candy, etc. I like to swing in there every few weeks since their shipment of stuff changes so much. If you haven’t been in a while, go!!

12.   The CBS and NBC app. Similar to Netflix but different. Why does it seem like all the good shows come on late? I don’t like that. Some nights I don’t/can’t stay up long enough to watch those shows, and it is nice to be able to watch them on another day when I get time to. This is pretty much the only way that I can keep up with current tv shows. Without it, I’d have no hope!

13.   Nap Time. Can I get an “AMEN” from all the moms out there?! I’m so grateful that we put in the effort to sleep train JD when he was a baby. It was tough for a few weeks, but it was so worth it! Even though we are down to only one nap now, it is still my time of sanity. It’s my time to get things done around the house, take a shower, catch up on some of those tv shows that I’ve missed, etc. I love those 2 hours in the middle of the day!!

14.   My “New To Us” car. It isn’t brand new. It isn’t top of the line. It isn’t the best car on the road. It is, however, paid for, bigger than our last car, meets all of our needs, and even has a lot of the extra “bells and whistles” that we weren’t planning on.

15.   New Experiences. I get bored with the same-ole-same-ole. I need change and I need new experiences. I know that not everyone is like that, but I sure am. I like not knowing what life is going to bring. I like meeting new people. I like experiencing all that life has to offer.

16.   December. It’s hard to believe that my parents have been gone since 2008. On one hand, it feels like yesterday, and on the other, it feels like it’s been forever. I’m so proud of the ministry that they have had in Guatemala over the past several years, but it will be so nice to have them back on American soil. I’ve missed hopping the car and going to visit them, and I’ll be glad when we can do that again.

17.   The Microwave. I’ve always thought that it was a great invention, but as a mom I appreciate it even more. Some days I heat up my coffee multiple times before I can finish the cup. We all know how important that morning cup of coffee can be!

18.   The Area Where We Live. Not only are the views great around here, but there really is so much to do, especially in the warmer months. We have great parks, outdoor markets, lots of festivals, amazing restaurants, mountains, lakes, rivers, water parks and even a zoo! I have loved this area from day one and that hasn’t changed! Now if my family would just get the hint and all move here, it would be even better!

19.   A Happy and Healthy Boy. I am constantly reminded how blessed we are with JD. In the past two years, we have only battled a few colds. There are so many children in our world that are battling serious diseases and illnesses. I am not naive enough to think that he won’t ever experience anything worse than the common cold, but for now,

20.   Pinterest. When I first started this blog, I had just discovered Pinterest and was making it my own personal mission to get everyone else hooked. I think it is safe to say that everyone loves Pinterest! It’s amazing that we ever had our own ideas before this fabulous website was created!

Now that I’m back, do any of you have post ideas for me?

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Wow! That was a long time ago! And to think that I made an issue over not having written anything in a month. I guess I out did myself this time!

As you can imagine from my last post, my world is drastically different than it was then. The Chinese were indeed correct. We welcomed our baby boy into the world on May 3, 2013, which, yes, means that we are about to celebrate his 2^nd birthday. Two weeks after he was born, my husband had his second knee surgery. He spent over a year either out of work or on “light duty” due to his knee injury. It was a unique time for our family. Although being out of work for that long was hard on him, I’m so thankful that he was able to spend so much time at home during JD’s first year. He was able to share in many milestones that most dads miss, and we wouldn’t trade that for anything. It was a year of many mixed emotions. Happy. Sad. Busy. Bored. Annoyed. Aggravated. Elated. Love. Anger. Helplessness. Patience. Impatience. I could go on and on!  

Since then we have been on trips. We have shared time with family. We have laughed. We have cried. We have endured sleepless nights. We have sleep trained a baby. We have watched that baby grow. We have de-pacified a toddler. We have celebrated good times. We have mourned bad times. We have moved. We have said hello and good-bye to friends. We have played in the sun, rain, and snow. We have celebrated our 10^th anniversary. We have changed. We have grown.

Before JD was born, we decided that I would quit my job and stay home with him. It just didn’t seem worth it to work so that I could put him in daycare. I’m not in any way knocking any of the working moms. It just didn’t fit us. If I had a career vs a job or had a desire to move up the corporate ladder, we may have thought differently. I didn’t and I don’t. My pay check at the time and the cost of daycare weren’t far enough apart for me to make that sacrifice. Maybe I’ll elaborate more on that in another post.

That may make you think…No job and no blog posts?! What have you been doing?!

Well, for one, when JD was born, we lived in the boondocks and had horrible service for anything technological. As in, for the first time in our married life, we had a land line phone because that was pretty much the only way to get in touch with us. Oh there were the spots where if you leaned one way, held out your leg, and didn’t breathe that you could get some service, but overall, there wasn’t much available. That, teamed up with us deciding to make every financial cut that we could, ended in us relying solely on our phones for Internet service for the last couple of years. I know that may not work for everyone, but it has worked for us. We are, much to the heartache of Verizon, some of the few that still have unlimited data plans so that makes it doable. It’s funny to see what life becomes when your priorities change. Me staying home and raising our son is the number one priority for us right now, and we will make the necessary sacrifices for that to happen.

All that said, plus the reality of having a baby and then a toddler, has made it tough to keep the blog going. Yes, I can type on my phone, but you all know what it is like to type on those things. I can send plenty of texts and even emails, but typing a whole post in that tiny window while making sure that AutoCorrect doesn’t do anything crazy is challenging. I’m not going to lie. I really have tried to do it a couple of times, but I got so frustrated that I gave up. Plus, you think about adding pictures and links and you can forget the whole thing…which is what I did.

I will say that it made me feel a little better to look at the blogs that I use to follow and see that many of them haven’t added posts in a long time either. I guess we all got busy and gave up at pretty much the same time.

So, why now? Well, in truth, I’ve really missed blogging. I’ve missed getting my thoughts in print. And, the opportunity has arisen for me to be able to do it again, so here I am…

Hiatus

One month has by far my longest blogging hiatus. There are good reasons for my absence though.

David injured his knee at work at the end of Sept, which resulted in knee surgery the first week in Oct. He spent several weeks on crutches and is still going to physical therapy several times a week. I’m not sure when he’ll be going back to work. He is meeting with the doctor this week to try to determine that.

 I have been so proud of him during this time. It would have been so easy for him to slip into “man-mode” and lay around whining and complaining. Instead, he was determined to get up and moving as quickly as he could. He has been helping out around the house and cleaning up while I am at work. The hardest part of this ordeal was the weeks that he was not able to drive. He is now back behind the wheel and he feels like a new person.

The other big thing that has prevented me from blogging the last few weeks was finding out that

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!

We found out at the beginning of September, but wanted to wait a few weeks before we told everyone. According to the doctors, we should be welcoming our little one into the world at the end of April.

I knew it would be hard to blog and not spill the beans, plus I have had a tough couple of weeks. I learned that “Morning Sickness” is a joke! It is not just for mornings! Pregnant sickness is an ALL DAY thing! Add that on top of the lack of energy, and I haven’t felt like doing ANYTHING, especially anything extra like blogging. Sorry, folks, but that’s the honest truth!!

It has been lots of fun going through this with Mir. Of course, she is several weeks ahead of me, but it is fun to share stories and happenings with each other. They recently found out that they are having a BOY which means that John Mark Adams will be joining our family sometime around the beginning of March. I can’t wait for our little babies to meet!

I don’t know if the Chinese are as smart as they say that they are, but I thought I’d give them a shot. It pulled up one of the Chinese Gender Charts online, just to see what they had to say about our baby. If they are right (and I hope they are!!), it looks like we may be having a boy of our own. David is still holding out for a girl, but I’m pretty well convinced. I mean, those Chinese invented fireworks! You have to be pretty smart for that, right?!

So, there are my excuses. I’m hoping that this will not be a pattern for me. I already feel a little better having put all of this in writing. After so long, it seemed like a daunting task to pick back up, but I was wrong.

I’ll keep you posted on the events of the pregnancy as much as I feel like you will be interested. Some of this stuff is just not interesting to the average person, and I get that.

My parents will be coming home next week and will be here for a few weeks. I’m sure I’ll have lots to post about their time here and hopefully some pics to share as well.

Would You Rather - Part 2

Would You Rather

-have to always speak your mind or never speak again?

-find true love or 10 million dollars?

-lose your arms or your legs?

-forget who you were or who everyone else was?

-have to always take a cold shower or have to wake up 2 hours early forever?

-be able to stop time or fly?

-be covered in poison ivy or bee stings?

-be a lonely leprechaun or a hunted unicorn?

-go to jail for a crime you didn’t commit or never interact with people again?

-sit in a box of crickets or pet a tarantula?

Would you Rather...

I was told today that my blog is boring right now. Sorry about that. I thought about doing a big post on my birthday, but quickly decided that might be a little tacky! J

I will say that I did have a good birthday though! I was able to talk to all of my family and was able to spend some time with David’s family. Sunday birthdays are busy, but overall it was a good day. I’m very thankful to be hanging on to the 20’s – even if it is just by a thread!

I don’t have much in the way of actual posts, but I saw something on Pinterest that I thought might be cute. It is a “Would you Rather” Game. I know we’ve played several games here before, but it’s been a while. I’ve got three versions of this so that it isn’t forever long - the one that I actually saw on Pinterest, I split into two and then one that I made up myself. I’ll let you be the judge of which is better.

You know the drill – leave your answers in the comment field. If you don’t have it set up where it shows your name with your post, do me a favor and put it somewhere in your comment. Thanks!

Ok, here we go….

Would You Rather

-be blind or deaf?

-read minds or know the future?

-be able to only whisper or only shout?

-live in Antarctica or Death Valley (not Clemson’s Death Valley – the real one)?

-have 1 wish granted today or 3 wishes 10 years from now?

-always wear ear muffs or a nose plug?

-talk only in snorts or smell like an onion?

-live in the game Clue or Risk?

-fight a dragon or a giant octopus?

-wake up as your gender with the opposite gender’s face or be the opposite gender with your own face?

Summer Bucket List Wrap Up

As you know, I made a Summer Bucket List of things that I had hoped I would be able to do. I'm sad to report that I was unable to have a 100% completion. I was able to do 12 out of 18 which I think is about 65% (I'm not really good at math, so that may or may not be correct!) I don't guess that is too bad especially considering all the extra stuff that we did that wasn't on this list. Completed list or not, I'd say this was a pretty good summer. It was definitely more busy that relaxing, but that's ok. It can't all be fun and games, can it?!

• Go Camping
• Boat Ride
• Roast Marshmallows
• Have a Snow Cone
• Watch Fireworks
• Paint
• Go to a Baseball Game
• Go Swimming
• Go to a Museum
• Go to Dollywood
• Go to a Water Park
• Ride 4-Wheeler
• Read
• Have Homemade Ice Cream
• Indoor Skydiving
• Grill Out
• Road Trip
• Go YardSaleing

Happy Birthday

September 11 (9/11)

This is probably one of the most famous dates in modern history.

For so many this date represents pain and hurt. It brings back thoughts of fear and confusion. On the other hand, it also brings up thoughts of pride and patriotism.

In the Miller family, this has been a special date for many, many years. This is the day that my dad was born - the last of 10 children born to my grandmother and grandfather.

After reading my mom's blog post about my dad, I decided to link it instead of writing my own. Hers is perfect. So, go here and read up about my dad and his work in Guatemala.

Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you!