Too soon

I am getting ready to start the school year again soon. Only this time, I will have my own classroom for the first time. I am super excited, scared, nervous, and many other adjectives that elude me right now. I have SOOOO much to do to prepare- room prep, lesson plans, curriculum development, etc. At the same time I am trying to deal with the loss of the priveldge of staying home with Johanna full-time. It has been a fabulous summer full of fun times together. We've had play-dates, swimming fun, story-time, lunches out, and lots more. It has been a blast. I've really enjoyed having time to cook dinner and just be mom. I am sure that my perspective on staying home was slightly skewed by the fact that I knew I would be going back to work in August. I am sure that it gave me a little more patience to know that my stay-home mama days were numbered.

On the other hand, I couldn't ask for a better career as a mom. I get home early and have quite a few holidays. I love teaching. I know that this is what the Lord has planned for me during this season of my life. He worked everything out. He provided a job and childcare in a way which left no doubt about His hand and blessing in the matter. This being said, it doesn't make going back any easier.

Isn't it ironic that us moms are always our harshest critics. I have been able to see things from both perspectives. As a stay-at-home mom it was a struggle to not feel like everything always had to be perfect. If the laundry wasn't done, the house not clean, or dinner not cooked- it was difficult to not feel guilty. When I am at home I feel like I should cook or bake the cake no matter how crazy the day was or how tired I am. However, when I am working I have absolutely no guilt about ordering that pizza or getting someone else to make the birthday cake. When I am working, every second that I have at home gets spent on the floor or on the ground playing with Johanna. When I am working I can ignore dirty floors and a huge pile of laundry and not feel as guilty about it.

I guess it's all about the expectations we put on ourselves. After being on both sides, I just believe that us moms should support each other and not be too critical. We never know the struggle or the reasons that someone else does what they do. And we all always have our harshest critic staring right back at us every morning. I think one of those is enough.

18 months

Johanna is not officially 18 months old until Saturday, but we had her check-up a week ago. I just can't believe that she is growing so fast. It is happy and sad to look at her and realize that she is a little girl now, no longer a baby. She says well over 100 words and will string them together into 2 and 3 word sentences. She is all about her stuffed animals and her purses (an actual purse or any bag with a strap). She is such a girl! She will throw her purse over her shoulder and walk to the door saying "bye-bye" or "shopping." I claim absolutely no responsibility for this behavior! She also loves to tuck in her animals and dolls for bed. She puts them in her chair and covers them up with a pillow. It is so cute!

She has recently shown some interest in the tv which started with daddy showing her part of Finding Nemo. She now regularly comes downstairs, points at the tv and says, "memo, shish pease" which is her slang for "nemo fish please!" She also likes to watch Elmo's world (part of sesame street).

She has become very interested in gum. She likes to sneak into the drawer where we keep it and steal some. I'll give her little pieces to try. She tries so hard to chew it, but ends up swallowing it within a few minutes. She tries to pry her hand into the mouth of others who are chewing gum so she can "see, see" what they are doing with it.

Recent stats-
Head circumference- I totally forget at this moment, but I remember that she was in the 70th percentile

Weight- 26 lbs 11 oz 80th percentile

Height- 34 1/2 inches - way off the charts!


She is sooooo tall for her age! When she plays with other kids her age, she dwarfs them! The doctor says that she is the perfect weight for her height and that everything else looks great! We still have some struggles with skin rashes, but I think it is getting better as she gets older.

It has been a GREAT 18 months, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Duck goes Mexican

On another fabulous evening in Mexico, the three of us (duck, Brian, and myself) got to eat at the reservation only Mexican restaurant at our resort. It was amazing! I think it was Brian's favorite of the whole trip. Duck was happy because none of his close relatives were on the menu at this place. After dinner we sat outside, listened to a great saxophone player with his band, and went for a walk. Here are some pics from the evening-









And just to prove duck's impeccable manners- here he is kissing the boo-boo of the poor person slipping on the floor.

Pause

Have no fear fellow bloggers, I am still here and well. I have decieded that I need a vacation from coming home from vacation. It was great to come home and be reunited with Johanna! She was very happy to see us, but had a fabulous time with both sets of grandparents. I have several blogs that I am still working on about our trip. It was such a fabulous trip. We really enjoyed spending time together- just the two of us. It once again reminded me that I truly married my best friend.

Adjusting to post-vacation life has been a little rough. Brian has been working third shift ever since he went back to work (to cover for someone else on vacation). It has made things very interesting around here. Let's just say I am excited that tonight is his last night :)

Also, my grandma is in town from Florida. We had a family reunion yesterday, and have been getting together with family pretty much everyday since grandma got here last Wednesday. It has been really great to spend time with her. Johanna really love her Great GaGa!

Johanna is doing great. I think she has officially entered the "terrible twos" even though she is only almost 18 months. It's not really that bad except when I am really tired which has been often lately. She doesn't listen as quickly as she once did. When asked to comply her eyes often seem to say "and what are you gonna do if I don't!" She also has broken out into a pretty steady chorus of "no" and"mine" lately. At the library, she waits to see what toy some other child is going to play with and them runs up and says "no, mine!" We have been working a lot on sharing and not saying "no" to mommy and daddy. At least she does well when redirected. It's the initial act which is so "terrible" two-ish. It is good to know that she is normal, and the "mine" thing means that she is recognizing herself separately from others. She has also started occasionally calling her daddy "Brian" which of course cracks Brian up. At least it means that she now recognizes that one person called be called numerous names.

That is a brief synopsis of what is going on in the Miller household. Crazy as usual, but I wouldn't miss it for the world!!

Hibachi Duck

Our second day here, Duck got the unique opportunity to eat at the Hibachi table at the specialty Japanese restaurant here at the resort.

Duck was so excited to go to the Hibachi restaurant (called Miso) that he almost broke a webbed foot jumping in excitement! This is duck all ready for his night out (he fluffed his feathers for over an hour).
We were seated quickly and had a five course meal. It was absolutely delicious! Here is duck at Miso
We met some cool people while out. We chatted it up with a couple from Texas (one of whom was originally from England) and another couple from Canada. Here is duck getting up close and personal with the hibachi grill while anxiously awaiting his meal-


Afterwards, we walked around the front of the resort for awhile, and duck stopped to take a dip in one of the gazillion fountains-


Here are a couple other silly shots taken that evening-

This is looking up to a small part of the main desk/ lobby area


This is looking out toward some of the buildings that hold rooms, but it's hard to see anything because it is so dark.


Stay tuned because next Duck went to the Mexican restaurant!

The Adventures of Duck

I know that Brian and I agreed to not spend much if any time on the computer while on vacation. However, we are having problems with our international calling service on the computer and haven't been able to call Johanna since Saturday (today is Monday). So, I am no longer waiting to post all of these until I get home. I will do some small posts to let Johanna see some pictures of us, but I won't be writing too many details until we get home.

These posts will be about the adventures of duck. He is your average duck, nothing too special. However, he has the special quality of being loved by my daughter Johanna. Since grandma and grandpa provided a duplicate duck, Johanna's duck traveled to Mexico with us. Here are some of his adventures...

Duck at the Ramada Inn close to the airport. We had to leave at 3:30, so he wanted to stay close to the airport to get his beauty rest. He didn't want to ruffle his feathers too much.


This is Duck at the airport after checking in for the international flight and going through security. Duck had to have a full body check. He was NOT happy.

Duck arrived in Mexico safe and sound. Pictures of him paddling around the pool and in the sea will have to wait. But, here is duck lounging around our suite-

On our private outside terrace hot tub


Catching some ZZZZZ's



Lounging on the couch



Getting ready in part of the bathroom (yes, we have a jacuzzi tub in there too!)



Watching some T.V. (he refuses to miss the Waterfowl show on the discovery channel)


Getting a kiss from mommy after their morning workout at the gym. He doesn't want to have dimples in his wings.


Johanna- Mommy and Daddy love you sooooooo much and miss you biggest bunches. We will see you before you know it. Have fun with grandma and grandpa!

The time has come...

We leave Johanna in about 30 minutes. I am sad and excited at the same time- so sad to be leaving my little girl, but so excited to spend a week with my husband. I know that she will be fine and have a blast with grandma and grandpa.

I couldn't leave without one more post. I apologize that I usually don't have time to edit my posts. I often go back and reread later (after they have already been posted for a day or so) and make the corrections. However, I will not be doing that this time, so DEAL WITH IT!

We had a blast at a 4th of July party at a friends house. They have a BIG party every 4th and we always go. They had over 100 people this year! There are lots of kids, and they are so accommodating. They have tons of toys and things for all the kids to do. Plus, they live right across from where the fireworks get shot off, so we watch from their front yard! A big thanks to Jim and Darcy for always opening up their home!

We kept Johanna up for the fireworks. She had a blast playing at the party (as you will see) and LOVED the fireworks! She keep saying "oooooo, ahhhhh," clapping, and asking (or signing) for more! Here are some pics from the day. Johanna had a really cute and festive outfit which got demolished in the sand box (thats not mud on her butt- it's sand!). Also, please notice all the sand on her face- not food, but close enough to her. She only ate about three handfuls :)

Before the party:




At the party:





A great pic with grandpa! I wonder if we could get rid of the sand around her mouth?!


During the fireworks:

One day to go....

I must start by saying HAPPY 4th of JULY (and yes that took entirely too much time to do). With us leaving tomorrow, we obviously have a million things to do. Johanna is all set to have grandmas and grandpas watch here all week. Although, I don't know if Brian or I are ready for that :( We are EXTREMELY excited for vacation, but it is still sad to leave her.

So, you know anal-retentive me has a list on the fridge (one section for Brian and one for myself) of things that must be completed before we leave tomorrow. However, husbands have minds of their own. Brian decided that instead of just sticking to the list, he would clean out the refrigerator. Now normally I would be jumping up and down and screaming "YAY!" But, with vacation only one day away, clean shelves just didn't rank high on my list. I had already cleaned out any old food. So, Brian took about an hour and a half to clean out every inch of the fridge which resulted in this-



Umm yeah, that is a broken window. When he was drying part of a shelf, a piece of metal slid out and busted right through one of our kitchen windows. It was like something out of the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire. Brian is now running around getting it all fixed up. Needless to say, our lists are not looking so good.

But, life will go on, and we will still leave and everything will be fine. It really is kind of humorous. I couldn't be too mad since he was cleaning up the mess, he got a shard of glass stuck in his hand. Lets just say- lots of blood. Johanna was very confused. I kept trying to help him and keep her away at the same time. CRAZY!!

I think we need a vacation from getting ready for vacation! Although, I sure will miss this face-

(and no, I am not talking about my face which is cut off in this picture)

4 days to go..

The countdown has begun! Actually, I have been counting down for months, but now it is really almost here. Brian and I leave for vacation this Saturday. Our flight technically leaves Sunday morning (at 7 am), but we are leaving and staying at the airport on Saturday. My parents will take care of Johanna during the week, and Brian's parents will have her over the weekend. We will be gone for about 8 days!

I am so excited, but nervous about leaving Johanna. I am not nervous about her being taken care of or anything. I just hope that she doesn't hate me when we come back. My sis and her hubbie left their oldest (and only at the time) for a week when she was the same age as Johanna. She said that Sierra wouldn't even come to them when they got back! However, she got over it real quick and everything was fine. So, I am mostly excited. I know that it is important for Brian and I to do this together. Ultimately, Johanna rejoices in the strength of our marriage, so this is good for her too. We also figure that this will be our last kid-less vacation for a lloooonnngggg time. I'm sure we'll get a weekend here and there, but not a whole week. Especially a whole week in MEXICO! Woohoo! We are heading back to the same area we honeymooned in 7 years ago. The trip is a graduation present from Brian (thanks sweetie!).

So, we have a rule for vacation- we can only check the Internet once a day (if that), and no long posting or writing. It sounds fair because we both spend too much time on the computer when we could be spending more quality time together. In other words- I will be posting throughout this week, but not as much (if at all) over the week we are on vacation. You might just have to wait to here how fabulous everything was!

Johanna is doing much better. Thanks to everyone for the nice thoughts and well-wishes. I am still working on all my letters. Things are busy getting ready for vacation, and I want to make sure all the letters sound really intelligent and well put together instead of just angry. Maybe I will post them before I send them. We'll see.

Johanna and I are set to have another fun-filled summer day tomorrow. We have been back to our crazy schedule now that she is better. Tomorrow we are planning to visit the splash park. Please pray that Johanna stays healthy this week and throughout our time in Mexico :)