Happy Belated Half Birthday E!!!!!

I can't believe it has come and gone already, E was half a year old just one week ago.  Now she is 6 months and 1 week old.  Time really has flown by.

We celebrated her half birthday by staying at Gma and Gpa's house and trying to recover from her cold.  She got a nasty Michigan cold that last week we were supposed to be there for the holidays and I didn't want to fly with her sick and to top it off I was getting sick and started feeling bad Friday so with Adam's permission we rescheduled our flight home to LA to Monday night. 

So, this last month since she was 5 months has been pretty busy with the holidays.  I took 3 weeks off for vacation and we were in Michigan for 2.5 of those 3 weeks.  We spent Monday the 19th and Tuesday the 20th to spend time with Adam before we left for Michigan.  Adam had to work between Christmas and New Years so he wasn't able to come :( with us.  We celebrated Christmas in LA on Tuesday and E had fun opening and chewing her presents:

E trying to open her Christmas present from Santa

Adam and E playing with the hand puppet Adam got E for Christmas

Then on Wednesday the 21st we flew to Michigan.  The flight was pretty easy and relaxing, especially since we got upgraded.  That will probably be the last time that happens since I am not flying as much as I used too.  Then on Thursday Uncle Chris, Aunt Nessa, and A arrived in Michigan and we started to have fun.  E and A renewed their baby friendship and had fun playing with each other on the blanket, sharing the bouncy seat, and crying together.  Every time one of them would start crying the other would take up a sympathy cry, it was so cute you couldn't help but laugh.

E and A playing on the blanket together

We went to Frankenmuth, Mi on Friday to the worlds biggest 354 day Christmas store called Bronners and had a lot of fun looking at Christmas decorations.  Gpa, E, and I saw a little 2.5 week old baby and I realized how big my little E has gotten.  Then we went to a restaurant called Zenders for an old fashioned Christmas dinner.  I got something different and I regret it, I should have stuck to their fried chicken, which is so yummy and tasty...  E had fun though and ate some mashed potatoes, although you would think from her face that she didn't like them.  I am in denial though because I can not image a daughter of mine not liking mashed potatoes...  I'll just wait till she is older.

E at Zenders eating mashed potatoes

We celebrated Christmas eve reading the Christmas story and singing accompanying Christmas carols at the right moments in the story, that was fun, and then we went to bed to await for Santa to visit.  We had fun Christmas morning opening presents, with 9 of us there were a lot of presents under the tree before Santa visited, after Santa the whole room was almost eclipsed in presents.  Everybody was very generous.  E got a few new cloths, some fun toys, and a couple of books.  We also got a BabyBullet to start making our own baby food and I got some very pretty jewelry, and gift cards to restaurants so that Adam and I can go on a date ;)

E on Christmas Day in her Christmas dress

Tuesday the 27th Cindy and Lisa watched the girls so that Chris, Vanessa, Gma, Gpa and I could all go to the Temple and both parties had a great evening.  Cindy and Lisa survived although I think we may have cured them of any desire to ever have children :) 

Wednesday morning we woke early to get ready for the big photo shoot.  Since Gma had all her children and grandchildren home it was time for a professional to take pictures of the family.  Here are some of the cutest pictures:

The Miller family

E in her white Christmas dress

E and I

E and A with Gma and Gpa

My little E

Wednesday we said goodbye to Aunt Cindy, she had to go back to Chicago and we had a great day spending time with her.  Aunt Cindy helped me make E some wool diaper covers for her overnight cloth diapers.  They are awesome, we may 4 of them and of the four 2 fit great, 1 is a little big, and 1 is too small already.  Which is why I made some many.  I really only need 2 in circulation, 1 for use and 1 for backup when the other is in the wash, dirty, or etc.

Wednesday night after I got E to sleep I packed her up in her car seat, got in Gpa's truck and drove down to Ohio to visit with Nana and Papa and family for New Years.  We made great time and the drive down was smooth and E slept the whole way.  I was even excited to see that the speed limit on the turnpike had been upped to 70!  Yeah for the small things!

We had a great time at Nana's and got to visit with so many members of Adam's family.  Here are some pictures from Ohio: 

E having fun on Nana's floor with her new Christmas toys

E with Papa and Nana

Early on the 1st we headed back to Michigan so that we would be in time to go to church.  We made it with 10 minutes to spare.  I would have been earlier but I missed the exit for 275 and ended up in Southfield before I realized that I had missed 275.  I had to cut across on street roads to 94 and then take 94 back to 275.  What a accidental detour.  We had a great time a Church and Gma got to show off both of her new grand babies because Aunt Nessa, Uncle Chris and A were there too.  Early that morning Gpa and Aunt Lisa headed off to drive Aunt Lisa to school in Idaho.  She is returning to BYUi to finish up her BS in Biology wanting to be a Geneticist (she's so smart and awesome).

On the 2nd we had a small celebration for Gma's birthday (we are not saying which...shhhhh, it's a secret).  Officially she is only 30!  We waited until Gpa got back from his trip out to Idaho to celebrate.

On the 4th Gpa flew back from a successful trip and we celebrated Gma's birthday with dinner at Outback and then opened her presents.  Chris and Nessa got her an awesome web camera so that she can skype more with her grand babies and then Gpa surprised her with a Kindle Fire.  Then for their anniversary, which is also on the 2nd, Gpa surprised Gma with a trip out to California in Feb.  They'll fly out to LA on the 9th, on the 10th we'll go see Adam's show, 11th - 14th go up to San Francisco (Gma's dream destination), and then they'll fly back to Michigan on the 15th.

It was sometime around the 4th or 5th that E started getting sick with her cold.  At that point the days just started to blur.  On the 5th we said goodbye to Aunt Nessa, Uncle Chris, and A as they flew back home to Utah.  Then on the 6th E and I were supposed to leave but ended up staying till the 9th.  Unfortunately it wasn't a great extension since we were sickies the whole time and Gma and Gpa ended up helping me all night with E.  Since I was sick I kept her up awake with my coughing and it made her upset and etc etc...  Needless to say Gma and Gpa lost a lot of sleep that weekend but E and I were very happy we had their help! :)

On Monday we were both feeling better, E much more so than I, but I felt well enough to attempt the travel.  We ended up having to check 4 bags, including her car seat bag with it stuffed full of toys.  The flight back was not as nice as our trip out.  Besides being sick and E recovering we had very little seat room.  The gentleman setting next to us was nice enough, but he was one of those overflowing kinds of people and was overflowing into our seat and it isn't like E and I have extra room to spare.  We spent most of the flight standing in the galley or walking up and down the isle.  We eventually made it and Adam was waiting at the bottom of the escalator for us.  It was a sweet reunion with his E who he had missed very much.  We got ALL our bags and made our way home.

I was hoping to settle into regular life when Adam saw that E is cutting ANOTHER TOOTH!  E got both her front bottom teeth in before New Years.  The first one before we left for Michigan was bad but the second one kind of surprised me and just popped up with what seemed like little pain at all.  This third tooth is her top front left big tooth and she is miserable.  Her nose is still dripping from the cold and she hates having her face wiped and then to top it all off her mouth must be hurting her something bad.  My poor pea has it rough... 

We also got news that Adam's show maybe looking for a larger venue to stay in LA and if so he could have a year round full time position in the show, keep your fingers crossed for us!

HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY E!!!

E at 6 months