an update

its been a long time since we graced the pages of our own blog! naomi is now a few days away from 7 months old! i don't know where the time went. i feel like ethan and i just brought her home. naomi is babbling up a storm. she sings along during the music at church and, we discovered, christmas plays! she rolls everywhere and is pulling herself up to start to crawl when she feels like it. she can sit by herself pretty well. she laughs and smiles all the time. naomi is very observant, she takes time looking at things and people, we can tell she is learning. we started naomi on solids at six months. she now eats quite a lot: applesauce, avocado, yams, pureed peas, squash, bananas and rice cereal! she is teething and we expect her to cut two teeth any day now. she had her first halloween dressed as a ladybug fairy, she loved eating her dress! we are excited to share christmas with her for the first time.

ethan is still working for princess bride cinematic video as an editor. he spends his days there making beautiful wedding videos. he had the opportunity to help shoot a jewish wedding last weekend (there is a picture of him here with a yamukkah on!) which he thoroughly enjoyed. he's looking forward to more chances to shoot weddings in the new year. ethan is very involved with the independent film scene here in minneapolis. he's spent many weekends this fall working on independent films and with minnewood, an organization that promotes and facilitates local film makers. he also works several days a week as a valet at st. joseph's hospital in st. paul. and now that winter is here, ethan can be found clearing snow outside our apartment building where we caretake.

i am thoroughly enjoying caring for naomi. i've been able to be at home since she was born and i'm really loving it. God has given me a real peace to know that for right now this is where he wants me. i count it a privilege to be able to spend this time with her, and i'm thankful to God for his continued provision that allows me to do so.

we were thrilled to have my dear friend jennifer come from scotland to visit for three weeks, we had such a lovely time catching up and just living life together. naomi loved "auntie jen" and spent much time in absolute entertainment. she was such an encouragement to me and just brought joy into our lives! thanks for coming jen!

we continue to be involved in our church of almost 5 years, church in uptown. we have seen the most growth in this past year than any of the other years we've been attending. there has been a lot of time spent on church community events such as meals and trips to apple orchards, it is growing us all closer together. we started the first round of smallgroups this fall and hope to be apart of the smallgroups that will be starting in the new year. there is also talk of adding a second service. it will be exciting to see what God does.

my parents have taken a trip back to scotland to tie up some things with the non-profit/charity my dad started and to seek medical care. we covet your prayers as my mum was diagnosed with cancer and started treatment last week. please pray for healing and protection of her healthy organs/cells as she undergoes both radiation and chemo.

my brother sam will be spending christmas with us in minneapolis this year. we are excited to host christmas for the first time and start our own traditions. look for more posts as we head into christmas, lots of great photo opportunities. hopefully, i'll be able to get naomi to sit still so you can see her in her christmas dress!

fall is on its way

we three millers are very well. thrilled to be embracing the coolness of fall... at long last! there seems to a real energy for the coming months. i am sure some of that is the sheer excitement we experience every time naomi smiles, giggles, or "talks"! there is certainly a beauty in watching a child grow and change. and naomi is no exception, she's a joy to be around. her smiles (and dimples!!!) warm your heart. she is now three and a half months old! how time has flown. she has outgrown her bassinet and moved into her very own crib! a milestone of sorts. and she is growing fast, its a great feeling to see her grow out of clothes and into clothes that once looked so big! we are really enjoying being her parents.

as far as our own news. ethan has the great blessing of working a set schedule with his valet job and get this... its weekday daytime hours!!! what a wonderful provision. he's still working part-time as a video editor but now we get to see him on nights and weekends! we did have a little piece of bad news that turned out to be a good thing. driving back from helping my parents pack up their house, our car broke down on the side of the interstate. we were rescued by a wonderful, compassionate woman, who proceeded to help us find an honest mechanic and tower and convinced her husband to drop us off in minneapolis on his way for a guys night out. God's provision for sure. it turned out that our car had a hole in the engine block about 9 inches in diameter! the mechanic told us it was essentially toast. this car has been trouble since we got it. right after we bought it, it had problems and required more than what we had payed for it to fix it. not to mention that despite all our best efforts we never received our title from the seller. so we happily let our old saturn go. we are currently borrowing ethan's parents car but we have been very blessed to have my parents give us their oldsmobile, affectionately known as the grey goose. we'll be driving it soon. look for us around town, we'll be the one with the hillary bumper magnet. i joke, i wish it could be hillary, it will instead be... well what do you think?

we're really looking forward to the visit of my dear friend jennifer from scotland! she'll be with us for three weeks. its going to be great, we're busy planning all sorts of great minnesota fun for her to experience. but because she's reading this, i'll leave them a surprise! can't wait to see you darling!

oh and in case any of you are wondering, the cloth diapering is going very well. we're still figuring out what works and what doesn't as far as detergent and pre-soaking goes. we did just receive notice that another diaper service is starting up in the twin cities, so we'll see if it remains diapers by danielle or not.

also i have begun another project of my very own: baking bread. aided by the beloved, beautiful and ultimate domestic goddess, nigella lawson and my trusty kitchenaid, i have succeeded in baking my own bread in my own oven and am i ever proud of myself!!! if any of you are as afraid of yeast/rising as i was i encourage you to follow nigella's advice, she's brilliant and takes all the guess work out of it for you whilst making you feel like you are an accomplished master of your own kitchen.

3 out of 3

wedding season has come and gone here at the miller household. we had the great joy of attending and participating in three weddings in july and on successive weekends at that! a trip to bemidji for my good friend rosita and jorn's wedding last weekend brought our marathon to a beautiful end. we managed to take a few pictures in between naomi's fussing including some lovely ones of the bride with naomi!


"dearly beloved we are gathered here in the sight of God..."

signing the registry!

naomi's taken with rosita


we spent the weekend with mum, dad (who are now back from their travels) and sam. it was good to hear of mum and dad's escapades and make meals together. of course they thoroughly enjoyed naomi who graced them with her brilliant smiles and adorable squeals. she is a great delight to us. we can't believe how much she has grown and still grin from ear to ear when she "talks" to us and bursts into smiles. wow. God has blessed us indeed.

we are trying to make the best of the summer, though honestly i'm finding it a bit too hot for my liking, especially without air conditioning. we always get to this part of the summer and wish we had it but convince ourselves its only a few weeks more of sweltering. so we have taken to shutting all the windows in the day time in order to keep the hot humid air out and once the cool air arrives in the evening we fling the windows open and welcome fresh air in. meanwhile ethan works on strategic placement of the fans for optimum airflow. its working... sort of. sometimes i think we are too green for our own good!

speaking of green, i am embarking on one of my most challenging endeavor in naomi's care to date. as some of you know, we are using cloth diapers (nappies for you brits reading this) for naomi. and we have been very blessed to have a diaper service here in minneapolis, that delivers pristine diapers and takes soiled ones away. sadly, i discovered on monday that they are going out of business. as i am (for now) committed to cloth, this leaves me one option: cloth diapering by danielle! so i'm gathering my supplies to be ready when the final delivery runs out. today, i bought a washable diaper pail liner. its all very exciting (to me, i know i'm a nerd!) and a bit scary too. watch this space for how it turns out!

ethan turns 27!!!!

we celebrated ethan's 27th birthday on the 22nd. we began the day by discovering, to our delight, at her two month appointment that naomi has reached the grand old weight of 11lbs 5oz! for all those busy-bodies roaming the streets of minneapolis who keep telling me that naomi is "tiny", i'd like to say she is firmly in the 50th percentile for weight, height, growth etc. we can't believe she is already two months old! how time has flown. we really are getting used to being parents now, settling in. for certain, nothing is predictable but it helps to know she recognizes us and can react to us with smiles and laughs. she "talks" with us when we ask her questions. its a wonderful feeling! and she sleeps really well at night and can now be awake and alert for up to 2 hours, which she decided to show us last night when we planned to take ethan out for dessert after she had fallen asleep. instead, she embraced the excitement and kept her eyes firmly open. she sat in her car seat looking like a queen bee! we changed our plans and ethan picked out a yummy red velvet cake to commemorate his birthday. here are some pictures from the day.

ethan's candlelit birthday dinner

the queen bee herself

happy birthday papa!

kati & jose ~ july 19th, 2008

they're married!!! we spent the weekend in eau claire, wisconsin for the beautiful wedding of my dear friend kati. the wedding took place in kati's parent's gorgeous garden, surrounded by colorful flowers. though the festivities were delayed for an hour and a half due to a severe thunderstorm, we had a wonderful time and celebrated in style. the delicious dinner was catered by el maison, a fabulous restaurant here in minneapolis, where jose is the head chef. we don't have a lot of pictures as i was a bridesmaid and ethan was the videographer but here are a few snapshots of the beautiful evening we shared with kati and jose as they started their marriage. kati's parents, paul and margaret celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary the very next day, and i've included a picture of them, so very much in love 40 years later. may we all live up to their example.

bridesmaids! my good friend deanna and me (notice naomi sleeping in my arms!)

a view from the garden at the candlelit reception

feeling the romance?

happy 40th wedding anniversary to lovebirds paul and margaret!

happy father's day!

today we celebrated ethan as the best dad ever, at least thats what i think and i am fairly sure naomi will one day feel the same way :) thats one thing i knew about ethan long before we dated, he would make a great father and the almost month that naomi has been with us has only further convinced me of that fact. he's so gentle and loving, he is so willing to serve and always encouraging. he is strong in hard times and always ready to laugh. he's a wonderful father and a fabulous husband.

we spent the morning as we usually do on sunday, sleeping in and eating coffee cake at isles. it was a perfect sunny day, so we lingered outside for a while. i had dreamed up a scheme for a family picnic/grill-out to celebrate ethan's first father's day. so after church, we headed off to lake harriet and naomi and i made ourselves at home on the blanket as ethan fired up the grill. naomi really enjoyed the fresh air and wriggled about learning what these new sights and smells were. she even graced us with a smile that i managed to capture on camera, something that we seem to miss every time she does it. i was pretty proud of myself! ethan did a great job of mastering the grill, we had yummy chicken tonight. and ethan sure enjoyed the strawberry rhubarb pie i made for him. all in all it was a great family day.

playdate

naomi enjoyed her first playdate yesterday. our friends ryan & kayla korpi had a little girl about a month before us and this was the girls first chance to get to know each other. kayla and i placed naomi and allison next to each other on a blanket so they could discover one another. it was so fun to watch them wriggle around not quite aware that there was another baby there, and then to watch as allison looked inquisitively at naomi. i really enjoyed the mommy time with kayla. its so encouraging to have someone who is going through the same things as you are.