Little Man, Big Boy

I just can't figure that Brandis kid out. I really was about to retreat from the potty training last week before he went poo poo. After that he's gone days without any accidents. I can't believe it. I still don't trust him at night yet so I've been making him wear a pull-up. He gets so upset because he wants to wear his underwear still. It was just a week ago he was upset when I made him take a pull-up off to put underwear on. It's also funny now to hear him comment about Taygan. I hear him go up to her and say, "You stink TayTay." She would totally have a clean diaper but he just wants to be a typical big brother and tease his poor little sister because he is SO mature now. I'm not sure what finally clicked with him but I am very happy that it did. Now I just have one more in diapers and then that will be it. There are a lot of things I miss about kids growing up, but diapers I cannot foresee as being one of them. I mean, I can't imagine after Taygan is trained crying because none of my kids are in diapers anymore. Who knows though, some of those milestones have surprisingly made me weep, so I guess there's no way of telling till we get there.

Toilet Training

I've had three kids go through the potty training course and graduate but my fourth boy has been giving us some trouble. I was so used to how simple it was for the others. I made a big deal about pull-ups and then showed them how to sit on the potty and flush when done and wash hands and then have a marshmallow party. It would take them awhile to get the hang of it all but one day they mastered it and we were diaper free.
This one though was just taking forever. He should have been trained long ago, but he is being stubborn. This week I was thinking about how many potty training guides say that it won't work unless your child is ready. I started thinking that maybe this one just isn't ready yet. I even mentioned it to my husband today. I was forming a plan in my head on how to deal with this prolonged training. And then my son does it. He says, I have to go poop. We go in the bathroom, he sits and he completes the task. It was totally out of the blue. Tony and I were so proud of him. Luckily the dessert was just about finished baking so we could have a proper celebration. I hope it's smooth sailing from here on out. That was one huge hurdle and now that he knows he can do it, maybe it will continue.

Koen's Nose

Koen Before Surgery
Koen at hospital after surgery
Koen a few days after surgery.
A few weeks ago Koen got his nose banged at a friends house on their trampoline. It bled a lot but there was no bruising so we didn't worry about it. A little over a week later Koen's nose swelled up. It was a Tuesday and I took him to see Dr. Shah. The doctor said Koen has strep throat. I asked about the nose because that's why I was there and he just said that it was unrelated to the strep. I tried to get more info about what I should do about the nose but he wouldn't answer my questions. He prescribed an antibiotic and told us to come back in two weeks. I asked if that would help bring the swelling of the nose down and he said yes. I gave Koen the antibiotic for three more days. Nothing was changing and he was just miserable so I decided to take him to a walk in clinic because I didn't want to go back to the same doctor. The clinic took x-rays and said it wasn't broken but that he had a bad infection and needed to see an ears nose throat doctor right away.
I took him in that same day. It was Friday. The ENT doctor Dr. Reddy said he needed surgery right away. We had to wait until that evening because Koen had just eaten lunch. We went home, made phone calls to arrange baby-sitters for the next day and went to the hospital. Dr. Dumas performed the surgery and said things went fine. Because he had the bad infection for a few days the dr. was worried about the cartilage. Koen stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon and Dr. Dumas was very helpful and even funny which Koen liked. I asked him what would have happened if I would have just waited the two weeks like our dr. told us to. He said that I wouldn't have waited because Koen would have been so bad he would have ended up in the ER that weekend anyway. I asked what the damage could have been and he said it would have been BAD being as the nose is so close to the brain. Mom had already told me the same thing.
So we went home and Koen improved. We went back on Tuesday prepared for another surgery. Dr. Dumas said Koen's nose looked surprisingly good and that we didn't need to do surgery that day. He said he will still need cosmetic surgery when he is 14 or 15 years old. We teased Koen that he might have an ugly nose for awhile but he'll get it fixed before it's time to start dating.
We were supposed to see the dr. again Friday but the patient before us took so long with him and we had to get back to meet the other school kids at home that we had to reschedule for Mon. I'm really bummed too because Koen's nose isn't looking as well anymore. It doesn't have anymore infection but it is flattening and widening at the bottom. I'm thinking the doctor might still have to do that surgery he was going to do last Tuesday. He said he would just take cartilage out of his ear and put it in the nose. He said the ear won't miss it. I sort of hope that Koen can have the surgery because his nose looks so strange and he'll be able to breathe better.
So that's what's happening so far. I'll comment about what happens on Monday. And so far it looks like Koen's modeling career will be out of picture. Hardy Har Har.

Some thoughts

My sister is doing something interesting on her blog where she is representing each of us with a color. As I was reading about the family in that way I realized how great of a family I come from. I remember when I was little I thought my family was so funny that we should have had a tv show. Now I see that there is more to us than just our Miller Sense of Humor. We are all so different from each other though. I mean, we do have a lot of things in common, but there is something so special about each one of us.
We each have different gifts and personalities. Now that we are all grown with our own families I can see what kind of people we really are. I was surprised with the things that my sister Emma said about me. I didn't know that she viewed me as such a positive person. It's always interesting to see how others view you. It made me take a closer look at how I view myself. So I figured I would take some time to some up the each member of my family in a few words. Maybe some of them will surprise them, and maybe not.
Dad- Brave, Smart, Righteous, and the owner of the best grin ever
Mom- Strong, Determined, Charitable, and Full of Life
Naomi- Cool, Brilliant, Talented, and a Great Example
Emma- Honest, FULL of Love, Clever, and the Best Story Teller of all Time
Rachel- Dependable, the Greatest Friend, Non-judgmental, and can come up with the best ideas just like that
Samuel- Kindest, Loyal, Uber-Friendly, and he'll give you anything and act like it's no big deal
EJ- Always brings a smile to my face, Sweet, Never gives up, and he's the coolest dancer ever
Ruth- Great Listener, Competitive in the most fun way possible, Confident, and Full of Information
I appreciate all of them for who they are. I couldn't imagine not having them just a click away. I still think we'd make a good tv show though. It might just be footage of us sitting by our computer screens laughing and crying as we read what the others have written. I would actually love to see some of my sisters sitting there laughing to themselves as they type some genius thing down and they crack themselves up. Then they get a comment laugh again, then madly type a witty reply.
What a blessing it is that we all like to write and we are computer savvy enough to keep in contact the way we do. I get updates all day long on my cell phone. It cracks me up some of the things I read. Sometimes I might be having a trying day and then I get a message of some song lyrics that we all love. I smile and feel better. I really love my family and I'm honored to be a part of it. I just want everyone to know it.

Please Vote

I have a friend from the stake who has a daughter with special needs. The last time he came to visit my ward he told me a little more about his daughter. He said he couldn't believe my one year old daughter who was able to do so much stuff and she is just at level. His three year old can't even eat food. She is fed through a tube. So his wife is involved with this Facebook voting thing. The top two highest voted groups get the money. Right now her group is ranked number 5. They have four days to reach one of the top two positions. They are so close and that money could do so much good. The money will be used for research for the disease that the little girl has. It's called Rett Syndrome. There are thousands of girls affected by it. My friends daughter's name is Evalyn. I know the family would appreciate it so much. All you have to do is text 100842 to Pepsi (73774). We have four days. Please ask others to participate.

New Preacher

I found out yesterday that cousin Jacob is a preacher. Rebecca explained to me how it came about and I thought it was so interesting. Here's how it happened. First they had sort of a secret ballot nomination thing. Everyone wrote down the name of someone they respected and who they'd like as preacher. Then they take all the names who got at least two nominations. She said some people might have gotten nine while others maybe only two, but they don't tell who got more. They ended up with about seven men. Then they took seven bibles and had one scripture note that they placed in one of the bibles. They tied all seven of them up and then laid them on a table. The seven men went one at a time and picked a book. She said they might do this by age or in some order but it doesn't have to be that way. Anyway, at the end the Bishop goes down the line and opens all the bibles. The one with the note is the new preacher.
I asked about how Jacob does at it. Rebecca says he gets up there and talks just like he would having a conversation with anybody. He uses his hands and makes all the gestures as usual. She told me that he says he would rather sit and listen to the other preachers but because this is what he's asked to do, he's going to try his best.
She then told me about once when he was teasing Aunt Elva about women in the bible. He stumped her when he asked her what the name of Noah's wife was. She was stumped then but she went home and wrote him a letter. She wrote that her name was Yessah. Noah and Yessah. Isn't she funny?

Silverhawks Game

Taygan eating some hot dog.

People getting dizzy running around bats.

People running and falling over because they're so dizzy.


Taygan Cheering.

And the Pitch.

Swing batter batter swing.

Brandis taking a big bite.


Taygan being adorable.



The wind up.

Marin's Produce getting ready to race.

They start.

We were rooting for Carrot but he didn't win.




Cotton Candy