Figuring it all out!

We have pretty much fallen into a routine with our new lil' Owen around. Cory and Bethany are finally off work and school. So for part of last week we had all 4 of us around. Owen and I had to readjust to have them around. We loved just having the 2 of us...but the other 2 aren't too bad either. We are just figuring out how to keep Bethany entertained (w/out tv) while meeting all of our Lil' Mans needs.


Here is how it has gone down in our house the past week...

Owen chills ...

His alone time doesn't last long, as Bethany soon offers him a toy.

Bethany decides Owen is lonely...so she joins him up on the couch
Bethany still puts her babies in time-out. They are always hitting her. We really should consider getting her some less violent baby dolls. These are hitting her daily! :)

Owen enjoys some tummy time. Looks like Bethany decided he needed a guard dog.

Owen met his "Big" Grandpa this weekend. Looks like they are checking each other out!

Isn't this a sight for sore eyes! :0)

3 Weeks and Counting...

Owen has been officially with us for three weeks now!


So you want to know more about Owen? Okay...here are 10 things you may or may not have already known about our lil' man.


10. It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to feed Owen without Bethany ending up in my lap also. She LOVES him to death.
9. Owen gets nightly reports from Bethany on what she is eating for dinner. It usually goes something like this, "Owen, I eating pizza." or "Owen, I have Elmo spoon."

8. Owen loves to sleep...during the day.

7. Owen hates to sleep alone during the evening. He insists...and I mean...INSISTS on being cuddled at night.

6. Owen loves tummy time. So much...this is what usually happens....


5. Owen is the world's slowest eater. He'll start eating, then he'll fall in to a deep, undisturbable sleep. I'll set him down, 5 minutes later he is screaming bloody murder!

4. Owen typically goes through 3 outfits a day with all of his peeing incidents during diaper changes. No matter how well I think I have him covered up, he manages to soak his outfit and waste a new diaper during these changes. I am going to figure out how to out-smart him one of these days!

3. Owen makes the funniest lil' faces while he sleeps. It is rather humorous to watch him.

2. He loves to be carried around in the sling...which is making chasing after Bethany a ton easier!

1. Owen is just one of the cutest lil' boys out there!!!

Double Stroller!

I've finally put together the double stoller! As soon as Bethany saw it, she couldn't wait to give it a test drive.

Look at me! I'm ready for a ride in the stroller.

Hurry up with those straps!

What's his problem....doesn't he know how exciting this is?

Oh well, carry on! We must move onward!

note: Owen eventually settled down after being carried for a lil' bit and then placed back in the stroller. Bethany loved the ride completely!!!

TimeOut!

Evidently, Bethany's had a lot of experience being placed in time out. Monday evening she decided her baby need to go to time out as well. Cory manage to catch it on film! Enjoy!

According to Owen...

...we aren't too shabby ourselves, as Owen's onsie indicates!

My Kids Rock!

Why do the Milles kids Rock, you ask...

Well, let me tell you!

First off, they are so cuddly and full of love! Both love to be held. Bethany, for one, loves to give hugs and kisses to everyone. She just has so much love to give. So what that it gets her in trouble at the sitters for hugging the other kids too much....there are worse things she could be guilty of!

Bethany also is such a good girl. Notice in the picture above that I finally trimmed her bangs. She sat so still and was so patient. I don't think they turned out half bad. It definitely beats paying someone $20 to just for a quick trim!

One more reason why Bethany, in particular, rocks--- tonight as I quietly went upstairs after she's been in bed for a little while, I hear her talking. I do what any mother would do, stop to eavesdrop. What I hear is, "...Grandma, Brian, Annabel...AMEN!" Our sweet lil' girl was saying her prayers and reciting what she's thankful for. It was really sweet to hear!

Don't get me wrong...Owen rocks, too.

For example, he has intermittently discovered how to suck his thumb. Sometimes it takes him a while to figure out how he had it all situated...but it's cute when he figures it all out.

Owen is still proving to be a pretty mellow baby. He just wants the basics...food, cuddling, and clean britches.

He continues to nurse well. Occasionally, I have to fight him to remain awake long enough to finish eating, but other than that he is eating like a champ. We go to the doctor tomorrow to make sure his weight is still going up.

He is amazingly responsive to being swaddled. We go from crank-pants to Mr. Happy in 2.4 seconds after being swaddled. It is pretty impressive!

Even his bouts with gas aren't to bad. Bethany used to cry for ever when she had gas. He just fusses during the uncomfortable parts...but once the gas passes he is back to being Mellow Owen!

Now...don't you agree that they rock? That's what I thought!

Name, Numbers and Numerous other Words

Here is some of Bethany's ramblings.

It starts off with her "counting." Just remember she isn't two yet...we are working on it!

Then she just learned to answer the question, "What's your name?"

The rest is just her and Cory rambling on and on. He loves getting her to say random stuff! :)

life as a family of 4

Owen has seemed to worked his way in to our family beautifully. It's hard to believe that only a week ago we were a family of 3. Cory and I had several conversations at how perfect the 3 of us were...knowing that Baby2 was about to turn our world all upside down. Well, Baby2 Owen came in and has integrated himself in seamlessly! He is a perfect fit! As an added bonus...it seems that he doesn't mind the the 3 of us too much!!

Owen enjoyed his first session of Tummy Time with the company of his big sister. She is great at providing him entertainment and loves to "burp" him...whether needed or not!

Owen enjoyed survived his first sponge bath Sunday. Bethany thought it was so much fun to watch her lil; bro get all clean. She was so good at directing what body parts to clean. What a great helper!

I got to enjoy my second Mother's Day with my babies. as you'll see in the picture above Bethany got me some tulips. They are in their fancy Double Big Gulp Vase! :)

Below you'll find the best Mother's Day gift of all...my 2 babies! You'll have to excuse my appearance. This is sans make-up, air-dried hair & w/ minimal sleep. But the babies are so adorable it is worthy to share.

Overall, life a the Milles 4 is fantastic. I especially am grateful for Cory. He is an amazing Dad and husband. He is one of the main reasons things are going so smoothly. He is constantly working on house chores, running to stores and providing entertainment for Bethany. He is definitely a great guy...just in case you were wondering! :)

Similarities and Differences

As a mother of 2 children under the age of two, it is hard to NOT compare Bethany and Owen already. I found myself several times in his short life thinking..."Wow, Bethany did this... She looked like that... Owen does this instead...etc." I am trying to nip that in the bud, but before I do...I figured I'd share some of the similarities and differences that I have noticed so far...
(FYI...the pictures are mostly random & may or may not have anything to do w/ the comparisons)

Difference 1: Feeding Owen has been much easier than feedings with Bethany. Owen know exactly how to latch on without any issues. Bethany took a good week to figure it all out! It was a major relief when Owen knew what to do to in order to obtain food! ;o)

Similarity 1: They both took (take) forever to eat. Owen likes to fall asleep during feedings, which is resulting in hour long feeding sessions. I am questioning whether or not a nuclear blast would wake our lil' man from his slumber. Bethany was just a slow poke & didn't mind feeding slowly....what was the hurry? Good thing I don't have anything better to do!

Difference 2: Bethany had to stay in the Special Care Nursery during her extended hospital stay. Owen got to stay in the regular nursery and was allowed to my room during the normal-length hospital stay. It was so nice to have him in the room with me when I wanted him. Of course he spent sometime in the nursery. I am no dummy and I realized that I should take advantage of the nurses when I had them available! :)

Similarity 2: There birth weight was 100% exact. 7 lbs, 10 oz. Bet I couldn't do that a third time. (Not saying that a third time is coming any time soon! Good Grief, People!)

Difference 3: When Bethany got home from the hospital. Cory gave her the grand tour of the house, explaining the purpose of each room. Then we laid her down on a blanket and looked at each other asking, "Now what?" When Owen got home from the hospital...he was bombarded with loving from his big Sister! She wants to hug on him and kiss him all the time. She even tried to feed him pizza and give him some drink from her sippy. And she couldn't resist playing "tickle, tickle" with his little toes.

Similarity 3: They both came home in the same outfit. They look so alike. What cuties!

Owen Richard Milles

Bethany Catherine Milles

The Most Major Difference: Owen is a rather mellow baby. Perhaps, I am speaking too soon & he is still in his lil' honeymoon phase. But I am enjoying the fact that he likes to eat, sleep and occasionally he'll let us take a peek at his pretty blue eyes. But he is nothing like his screaming big sister was...I am just hoping he stays this way and I am not jinxing us all! He is the perfect fit to our family.

The Most Major Similarity: The one thing I am noticing that is the most similar for both my babies is the over-whelming amount of love I feel for them. During my whole pregnancy with Owen, I'd look at Bethany and think of how much love I have for her. I couldn't fathom how I could love another child as much as I love her. I actually felt a little guilty for the fact that I would just have more love for Bethany. After all, I felt it was physically impossible for me to Love this second child as much as I love Bethany. She is the prettiest and smartest lil' girl I know. Plus, she is amazingly sweet and caring for others.

How could anybody else ever compare to her?

Well, I guess that along with all of the labor postpartum pains an additional side effect of labor and delivery emerged: a larger heart. It is amazing how much love you can have for someone you have known only for a few short days..but my love for both my children is overwhelming at times. I just feel it exploding out of my chest & it is hard to contain. I am certainly blessed to have both these lil' guys in my life. They are totally worth all the physical pain and discomfort that came with creating their lives. They are totally worth the lack of a social life that comes with having young children. They are totally worth getting up every 3 hours for the next several weeks to ensure that Owen is getting enough eat. My one hope for them is that I want them to realize one day how much they mean to us and how we would give the world for them.

Overall, I continue praise God for letting us have children and for blessing us with the 2 sweetest, prettiest, most perfect children in the entire world. I hope we are raising these children in a way that praises and honors Him and I hope that they learn to love Him they way he unconditionally loves them.

An "Educational" Visit

Today, Owen received a visit from his mom & dad's coworkers! They each got to take turns holding him and had a great time.

Owen Richard Milles has arrived!

On May 5, 2009, at 9:45 p.m., Owen Richard Milles joined the Milles family. He weighed 7 lbs., 10 oz., the same as his big sister, but was a little smaller in length. Mom went in for an induction and was given the medicine to induce at about 5 p.m., and he was here just a few short hours later. Mom did very well in labor, and we were all surprised how quick this one was. Mom and Owen are both doing very well and have been checked by their respective doctors.Family hung out for a while, grabbing pictures while they could. Bethany spent the night with our friends Jenny & Daniel, who hung out with her in the evening. Bethany said Mommy and Daddy were at "work," not realizing Mommy was the one doing all the work. Grandma and Grandpa C. picked her up in the morning, and after a nice big breakfast, she came to meet her new sibling.

Bethany got her first look at Owen when the nurse brought him out, and the moment of truth was at hand... how would she react? It turned out, she was all smiles, beaming and excited to get out of Daddy's restrictive arms!

Bethany was eager to hug and to kiss Owen, but of course we had to hold her back. We think she will do well overall, but we know going home with a new baby might well prove to be a different story! Stay tuned for more updates! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Ticking Timebomb!

Well, it seems that both Bethany and I can be described as a ticking timebomb lately. Let me explain...

Timebomb Bethany: It turns out that our fevery, whiny Bethany was a victim of another ear infection (pretty bad, according to the doctor) AND she has bronchitis. Poor Bethany. So why is she a ticking timebomb...well, it turns out that she is human after all and may turn slightly whiny, impatient and fussy when she is not feeling well. She's been home 3.5 days last week (good thing I was off work). Boy, I am not sure what wears me out more a sickly Bethany or 120 7th graders. It's a toss up! Good news is that she's on her 2nd full day of antibiotics & is acting much better now!

Timebomb Mommy: Well, as I enter my 39th week...of course I feel like a ticking timebomb. Each day I wonder...is this the day. So far the answer has been a big, fat NO! After my latest appointment, we've given Baby2 an eviction notice. If he or she doesn't come out on his/her own free-will by May 5th...we are going to force the poor thing out to this harsh, cruel world! We could very well have a Cinco de Mayo baby!

We are almost 100% ready for the baby...Cory just needs to figure out the boy name. I've officially decided that he can choose 1 of the 3 names we have been throwing around. After all, we were all good and decided on a boy and girl name until he mentioned the 2 other boy names recently. Kinda funny that we did this last time with our girl's name when Bethany was born. We officially decided her name 2 hours before she was born. Now, I couldn't imagine calling her anything else.