A Look Back

I was looking through some clips to night of Drew when he was "a little bitty baby" as he would say. I found this one and can remember it vividly. He was about 1 1/2 at the time. He had gotten into the cabinets you can see if the background and found our old wedding napkins (we had a bunch left). We came in to find him playing with them, and having a ball.

Enjoy, we sure did seeing it again tonight.

One Month Already

I can't believe that Cooper is already a month old! He is already getting so big. I put a 0-3 month outfit on him today and the onesie fit just right in the length, but there is not a lot of room to grow for the next 2 months. Cooper has settled into a pretty predictable nighttime feeding schedule, he usually only wakes up 2 or 3 times in the night, and has started giving one 4-4.5 hour stretch. He almost always goes right back to sleep, so it is really not to bad. I take the first shifts and Andy takes the last one of the "night", since he is usually up getting ready for work anyway. I have a great husband, don't I? Drew continues to be a great big brother, he always wants to hold Cooper and even tries to give him his pacifier if he gets fussy. He really doesn't seem to have much jealousy towards him yet! I hope it stays that way.

One night Drew was holding Cooper (like he always does before he goes to bed) while watching a movie, he got really quiet so I looked over and saw that he was totally asleep. Luckily I was able to grab my camera before he woke up.

I think we are getting settled into our new routine. Life seems to have gotten so much busier, but I don't think we can blame that on Cooper. I really think life did get busier just around the time he was born. Drew school, soccer practice and games, as well as Mission Friends and choir at church. Andy and I have social events and commitments at FBCA as well. So we are on the go a lot more than we were with Drew at this age. I know this is just the beginning, soon Andy and I will be taking 2 kids to all these activities, and probably in 2 separate cars.

Cooper is Here

Tuesday, September 23rd at 5:08pm Cooper James Milliorn finally made his entrance into the world, weighing in at 8lbs 3oz, with a length of 20 inches. Drew is absolutely in love with his little brother and wants to hold him all the time. Well, almost all the time... when he cries Drew usually covers his ears and says "what's wrong with Cooper?" So far Cooper has been a pretty mellow baby. He usually only cries when he is hungry or undressed. He really likes to be swaddled.

Everyone is adjusting pretty well to having a new baby at home. I am recovering well and feeling pretty good. I even made it to Drew's first soccer game yesterday. I just couldn't miss his first game... and after seeing how cute they all are, I know I can't miss any games. His favorite part was playing goalie, I think most kids like it because they can use their hands. He did pretty good, and actually stopped several balls. It was a lot of fun to watch, and they all look so cute in their uniforms.

I will try to post more pictures soon.

It Finally Clicked...

Several months ago, I posted about the adventure of potty training we started with Drew (see The Adventure has Begun... ). After that weekend he showed absolutely no interest in using the potty, so we decided to back off until after our cruise in early June. Once we got back from our cruise Drew started swimming lessons, so we (and by we I me "I") decided to wait until after swimming lessons to start trying again. Swimming lessons ended 2 weeks later and we sort of half-heartedly began potty training Drew again. He still wasn't real interested, so we tried not to push it, but still took him to the potty regularly. He would go when we made him, but never told us he needed to go. Like all boys, he loved using the potty targets we had bought him, and like all kids, loved whatever the latest bribe we were trying, but really didn't ever initiate going to the bathroom on his own.

Then, about a week ago, something "clicked"! We were at dinner with some good friends and Drew said "I need to go potty!", so Andy took him! Not only did he go in the potty, but he was still dry too. That was a Friday night, and by Monday he was staying dry most of the day, with only a few accidents. By Thursday he was waking up dry in the mornings, and going to the bathroom by himself without even telling us throughout the day. Last night, he even woke up at 3:00 am and called for me because he needed to go to the bathroom. He hasn't had an accident during the day since Tuesday! What a difference a week makes. Someone told me about a month ago that one day it would just click, and that he had to decide he wanted to do it... and boy were they right.

Right now, he is still wearing a pull up, because he likes being able to see that his designs are still there, but we are planning to make the jump to "big boy underwear" on Monday. So say a prayer for us and him as we take this next step.

We are so proud of our little boy. But also a little sad that he is growing us so fast.

Technology is Amazing

Last week Andy and I were able to go get a 3D sonogram of Cooper. It was so cool to get to see him in more than just shadows like in the regular sonograms. The sonogram tech said that he really cooperated well, so we got some good pictures. They turned out much better than Drew's did.

Cooper @ 30 Weeks

For your comparison here is one of Drew's 3D sonograms. To be honest, when we had Drew's done, it really didn't mean too much to us... yeah, there is a baby there, but it could be any baby. But once Drew was born and we looked at his pictures compared to the sonogram you can totally see how much the sonogram really looked like him.

I don't think Cooper looks like Drew did at this stage, but who knows if they will look alike when they are older. We can't wait to meet the little guy! Only 8.5 more weeks, if I make it that long!

Hawaii Cruise

I thought it was about time I actually posted some pictures of our cruise. We had a great time, and saw such beautiful beaches that pictures really don't do it justice. I definitely want to go back sometime and spend more time on certain islands. Kauai was our favorite and the most beautiful.


It really was a great trip, the only reason we were ready to come back was to see Drew. We really missed him while we were gone. Especially since he refused to talk to us on the phone when we called. Grandma and Grandpa had a great time with him while we were in Hawaii. I think he had a great time to, but he is in no hurry to spend the night again anytime soon.

This is the view from our hotel room in Honolulu.

The Road to Hana in Maui

Me (and Cooper) on a black sand beach on the Road to Hana

Meredith and I on that same black sand beach

The boys were playing golf this day, that is why there are no pictures of Andy. The Road to Hana is beautiful, but not exactly a "fun" drive. There were lots of narrow, very curvy roads. I spent most of the time on the bus trying not to throw up.

Steam and ash from the rim of the volcano

On the ship pulling into Kauai

A beach on the drive from the pier to Hanalei

Us in front of a waterfall we found just by following some road signs

That is all I have time to post for now, if I find some more good ones I will add to this. I hope everyone has a great July 4th.

Drew's First Trip to the ER

We have had quite the eventful Saturday morning in the Milliorn house. After breakfast Andy and I were in the nursery getting stuff ready for our trip next week when we heard Drew screaming and crying from the other room. We go out into the kitchen to see him coming in from the living room with blood pouring from his forehead. We got a wet rag and tried to stop the bleeding, but quickly decided he needed to go to the hospital. Thankfully we only live 2 minutes from Mansfield Methodist Hospital. We scooped him up and were there not more than 10 minutes after the whole thing started. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly, but he did need 4 stitches to sew up the 1 inch gash on his forehead. We are not really sure what happened, he said he hit it on the door in Andy's office, but we can't find any sign of where he hit.

This pictures was taken with Andy's phone in the waiting room of the hospital. He looks so pathetic, but just 15 minutes later when the numbing stuff started to work he was smiling and ready to play (until they came in to do the stitches).

He was such a brave little boy, so the doctor gave him a bunch of stickers. Andy and I are actually a little surprised it took 3 years for us to have to take Drew to the ER. I am sure it won't be our last trip.

Edit: I thought I would edit this to show a few pictures of the actual stitches. He is getting them out tomorrow, but I thought they should be recorded too. As you can tell, they haven't bothered him too much.