because you can never have too many tubby pictures...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKSON!!!

these pictures are all out of order...and didn't necessarily all take place on his actual birthday...oh well...my brain is not smart enough to figure out how to load them and then post blogs in sequential order...and really--who cares???

these are all AFTER party pictures...

a radio flyer wagon from grandma and grandpa matchette...LOVES IT...it sits in his room because we don't have a garage...and i often go in his room and find him sitting in it...LOVES IT!!!

look at that hair blowing in the wind!!!


tonka dump truck from mommy and daddy...find him sitting in this, too...wants to be pushed and pulled back and forth...

CAKE!!!

jackson really wasn't into his cake...AT ALL...we were pushing his fingers into it...NOT interested...

snickerdoodle and strawberry cupcakes...YUM!!!

didn't like the hat on his head...so...


we took a picture of it on the counter...

first, tentative touch...

THIS is as messy as he got...how boring!

a sip of milk to wash it all down...

PRESENTS!!!

most impressed by the SIZE of this one...

a wagon...YAY!!! just what i wanted!!!

noisy hammer...having a hard time figuring out how to GET IT OUT...

racing cars...

dump truck...love those eyes!!!

NOISY dinosaur from aunt katie...noisy, but at least it plays a new song or two...we--mommy and daddy--were getting sick of the songs his jumper plays...nice to listen to a new one...4,000 times a day...

john deere tractor from grandpa...

POOL!!!

best pictures i could get...wasn't looking at me in any of them...was too focused on the WATER...LOVES the water...crawls out of this floating contraption and tries to go face first into the water...still has not learned NOT to do that...even after countless nose-fulls of water and coughing/sneezing fits...after a visit to the pool, i spend the rest of the afternoon worrying that he's going to drown in his sleep...did you know that can happen??? IT.CAN. if you get water in your lungs, you can drown hours later...it's true.

he flirts with all the pretty girls he sees at the pool...smiles and babbles to them until they tell him how cute he is...little ladies man...

can you just picture it?!!?!?

ohmygoodness!!!

PINK!!!

so this is what happens...

...when you have a second baby...you forget (?!!?!?) to post about the second baby because the first baby drains your brain of the mental capacity to do something as simple as post a few ultrasound pictures on the blog??? and you're so busy trying to post pictures of the baby you already have you completely ignore the one you don't have yet??? NEVER would have happened with baby #1...bad mommy.

this is LILLIE KATE or LILLIE GRACE at six weeks...okay, the name isn't official, but i don't want to refer to her as a pronoun until three weeks before her birth like we did with jackson...if you ask matt about "lillie", he'll have no idea who you're talking about.

here she is at 19 weeks...it IS a girl!!! didn't even ask God for a girl...didn't dare...but He knew. all the way to the ultrasound i was praying that i wouldn't be disappointed if it was a boy...whatever it was--healthy and whole--that's all i wanted...

after the ultrasound, they bumped my due date up by a week...december 5th. whatever. i'll be 23 weeks on wednesday...feeling good, but tired.

trying to figure out sleeping arrangements...matt thinks a laundry basket will do. yeah. a laundry basket. i've been looking on craigslist...found some cribs that match the one we already have...some even come with mattresses...but matt thinks that's gross...to buy a used bed and mattress from people we don't know...i think it's thrifty...something i thought he would appreciate.

the closet is slowly filling with PINK and PURPLE...found a crocheted hat on etsy today that she HAS to HAVE!!! HAS to HAVE!!! i'll post a picture...

almost one...

almost feeding himself...without utensils...

almost walking...

almost talking...

almost breaking his mama's heart with how fast he's growing...

at aunt mary and uncle glenn's...

more indiana...

dirtiest boy EVER...

made an unexpected trip to indiana...had a family dinner at a picnic pavillion...jackson wanted DOWN...and this is what happened...

they met us in st. louis...

we were able to spend a few days with cindy, jason, and the boys at the beginning of july...so glad we hustled our behinds and made it to st. louis before that chance passed...

the arch...hmmm...an experience in patience and terror...waited about THREE hours to get to the top...went to the top...SIX people...in a "pod" the size of a bathroom stall...don't think i want to do that again...

st. louis zoo..."free"...parking=$11...so not exactly "free". GREAT zoo...wanna go back when it's not so hot. jackson liked the monkeys...but was pretty miserable with the heat...


mario kart...the boys had so much fun playing...the giggles and screeches...jackson has a few more years before he can join the big boys...

took the boys to a huge chucky-cheese/dave and buster's type arcade...go-karts, bumper cars, bowling, mini-golf...lots of games...and really bad pizza. jackson REALLY thought he was "driving"...sat with daddy at this particular arcade game for a very long time.

so FUN to watch the boys all playing together...it will NOT take another THREE years to see this again...love you, miss you, other millers...

mommy's little helper...

turned my back for ONE second...and he climbed up into the dishwasher...and then tried to climb a LITTLE bit higher...mountain climber in the making...

i LOVE me...

he found a mirror just his height and fell in LOVE with what he saw...can you blame him?!!

BOOTY-LICIOUS!!!

recipe for cookies that katie makes and are SUPER great!!!

booty-licious chocolate chip cookies:
2/3 cup butter or marg (i use butter)
2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
3 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 pkg (3.4oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 package chocolate chips

beat butter and shortening until fluffy then add sugars and blend.
add eggs and vanilla.
mix flour baking soda salt and pudding.
add this to the other. blend and add chocolate chips
bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.
i usually bake mine for 12 minutes or so.

ummm...yum.

a few...

thought i should post a few before the move...

his shirt says "major hunk"...yep, i think so.

a few more...

if he looks tired, it's because HE IS!!!

one of his "no nap longer than 30 minutes" days...

BUT, he did find a way to content himself in between the fussing and such that happens on no nap days...

this boy LOVES books...will spend 20-30 minutes thumbing through his favorites...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

the TEETH...three more on top...oh, the grinding of the teeth...i'm over morning sickness, but the grinding makes me sick to my stomach all over again...he grinds his new teeth ALL DAY LONG...i keep telling him that if he keeps it up he won't have any teeth left by the time he gets to enjoy solids...but like all children--he doesn't seem to appreciate long-term consequences...