The Thursday after Wallace arrived, my sister Alison and her family just happened to be in town from San Francisco. Alison and her husband Eric both attended Northwestern and were back for their 15th Homecoming reunion with their two-year-old, Van Orion.
We knew that the timing meant they would either see Laine super pregnant or meet their newest nephew. I'm glad it worked out that they had a chance to meet Wallace.
Van and Linden are a year apart but nearly the same height. (Fun fact: Van's birth weight was roughly the same as Linden and Wallace combined.)
They had fun playing together, especially at the park where they took turns climbing up and sliding down a tunnel.
This was also Grandma and Granddad Miller's first opportunity to meet their second grandson. He gave them just what they were looking for, sleeping soundly in their arms throughout the majority of their visit.
Linden has been talking for months about how she's going to be a big sister. "But not yet!" she'd remind people. "He's still in Mommy's tummy," she'd inform them, before then often embarrassing the person by asking if s/he had a baby in her/his tummy too.
So we knew that Linden meeting Wallace for the first time was going to be a big deal. For us if not for Linden.
Laine's parents were kind enough to stay at our house with Linden for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, so they brought Linden with them to the hospital late Sunday morning when they all came to meet Wallace. I took Linden up to the room ahead of Grandma and Bampa so that we could have a family moment together.
I broke the news that baby brother had arrived as I carried Linden through the hospital. She was excited to meet him, but equally excited to see a "car" transporting people through the long hallways, and oh so many doctors.
When we arrived at the room, Linden was very excited to see Mom and then meet baby brother. "His name is Wallace," we told her. "Wawrus?" she repeated back. Yes, it could be considered cruel to name her brother Wallace knowing full well that she has not yet mastered the L sound. I couldn't say L until I was five either, so I understand.
Naturally, she wanted to hold him and she was absolutely shaking with excitement. After a few minutes, her attention turned to equally exciting developments, like the extra bed in the room "That's my bed. Can I sleep there?" and the TV on the wall, "Can we watch a show" etc.
It was a special moment, one that I'll always remember.
We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our son, Wallace Noble Miller, born Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 6:57 p.m. at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, IL, weighing 6 pounds 11 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches.
Laine was a champ throughout the delivery. It was a long day but things progressed as they were supposed to and Laine's determination and focus served her well.
Nurses often commented about how well Wallace was tolerating labor as well. He was monitored the entire time and his heart rate fluctuated just when it was supposed to. Even though he arrived two weeks early, he was ready for us.
Laine, Wallace and I had the delivery room to ourselves for an hour after his arrival. They call this the 'golden hour' before nurses return to weigh him and prepare to move us to a postpartum room.
Still today, Laine and I can't believe how well everything went. We are thrilled to welcome Wallace Noble to our family and thankful that both he and Laine are healthy.
Thursday night, we were enjoying our last night at home. We would be going to Peoria in the morning, knowing that we'd likely be there until Baby Miller arrived.
When I got home from work, Laine and Linden were sitting at the dining room table. Linden was eating a fortune cookie. She loves fortune cookies, so I save them for her. She calls them "daddy cookies." She typically pulls out the fortune and tosses the paper on the floor. (We're working on correcting this shameless littering.)
Family selfie
But that night she tried something new. Laine told me that when she opened the cookie and pulled out the fortune, she read it aloud. "It says, 'This isn't going to be easy.'" Just said that out of nowhere. This seemed a bit clairvoyant since Linden had no idea what was planned for tomorrow.
Now that I was home, Linden asked me for the other fortune cookie sitting out on the counter. When she pulled out the fortune, she read it as, "It's not going to be any fun either."
I take quite a few short videos of Linden each week but don't often post them. So here are a handful of videos from the month of March to give you an idea of what gets Linden excited.
The other day Laine took Linden to Fell park to play. Linden climbed up the wall all by herself for the first time, then went down the big slide on her own.
When it was time to go home, she told Laine,"I gotta go get a snack!" then bolted over to a family at the picnic table and asked them for chips. They gave her some cheese puffs. Ridiculous. Then on the way home she said, "Mommy, I can't stop eating this."
The warm weather has blown in with March, which means longer days and more opportunities to play outside. Even though it's been a relatively mild winter it still feels like we're emerging from hibernation.
Now that we've had daylight savings, the sun will set tonight at 7 p.m. It's always nice to have a couple hours of daylight after work.
Better yet, the sun won't rise until 7 a.m. which I hope will mean that Linden sleeps until then. Lately, she's been getting up before 6 a.m.
Linden has kept active even during the dark winter months. A common request is to go for a run in the evening. By this she means that she'll put on her "running shoes" then make sure we have ours. She'll go to the closet and ask me if I want my green or my blue running shoes, then affirm my choice. Once we lace up, we begin our shuttle sprint routine from the front door to the back door. Mom gets involved too by giving out high fives halfway through the sprint, sometimes calling for it up high, down low, with a spin, etc.
Monday night gymnastics is a high point for Linden each week. She regularly asks when she'll get to go to "nastics" with Miss Kelsey. On off days when I'm busy, Laine likes to take Linden to the mall where Linden runs around with other kids at the play area. For reasons unknown, Linden requests this activity by telling us that she wants to "go to the turtles." There are a few animals to play on in the area, but none of them are turtles. At least it provides an opportunity to run around and meet new friends.
We're in a good phase right now and are making the most of it. Linden is learning new words and phrases each day, which is a lot of fun. One day she said "adorable" another day "time to save the day!" It's always something new. I'm truly amazed by how she can learn a word and apply it in the right context immediately. If only we all committed our full attention to learning about our surroundings.
LB likes to watch herself on video, so we've had fun with Snapchat, which has some options to make silly selfie shots, like this one where she's driving with aviator glasses & a mustache. Videos and photos of her cousins are a favorite -- she talks about them a lot and knows them all by name, always telling us that she wants to play with them when she sees them.
Every now and then she'll surprise us by telling us she doesn't want to go to daycare, but wants to stay home instead. As soon as she gets to daycare and sees her friends though, she plays hard all day then tells us all about it.
Graham is always acting like a dinosaur, which Linden likes because she loves to be scared (something Laine & I don't really understand). Finley and Linden are often partners in crime. Dee told us a few weeks ago that Finley and Linden were both put in time out. This meant that they had to sit on two separate couches for some set amount of time. It didn't take long for Linden to sneak off the couch when Dee wasn't looking, and head to Finley. Dee overheard Linden whisper, "Come on, Finney! Let's get outta here."
Kenzie, Molly McGraw, Finley & Linden @ Molly's IWU game
It's been exciting to watch Dee's daughter, Molly McGraw, play on the IWU women's basketball team. Molly is a true athlete and an exciting player. As an added bonus, we sometimes run into Linden's friends who are also there with their parents cheering on Molly. Below, Linden and Cameron dance to the pep band at halftime.
Also new this month, she's twice eaten two bananas in a row. Something I'm not sure I've ever done. She LOVES painting her nails pink, and that color has emerged as a strong favorite. She knows her colors but admits preference to pink and sometimes purple. Grandma Twanow must be influencing her somehow.
Typical pink outfit with pink balloon
We try to take advantage of playing with other friends and their kids whenever both families have the energy and naps line up just right. Our friends Chip and Val who we ran with at IWU and live in town had a second daughter recently and we had fun meeting her while Linden and their oldest played together. And just yesterday we had our annual "roomie thanksgiving" with friends who we used to live with after college. Turns out that the event looks a bit different these days...and no longer involves us cooking...and happened in March because that was the closest we could get to November. But that's okay because what counts is getting together to reconnect and give our kids a chance to get to know one another through play. With that as a goal: mission accomplished.
Van and Linden are a year apart but nearly the same height. (Fun fact: Van's birth weight was roughly the same as Linden and Wallace combined.)
