PEAS, please!!

Melanie had her best night yet of eating veggies; the key is the chair!! Jeff's coworker Sarah (a frequent subject in the blogs for all the things she gives us!!) provided this booster seat that screws onto the table, and Mel really enjoyed her peas tonight!
PS - Yes, that's Lucas next to her. As soon as she got situated and wanted her peas, he was right up with her, staring at us wanting to know where HIS peas were! He apparently got shy for the camera.

Melanie in Frankfort

Melanie spent the night last night with Grandma & Grandpa Doan. She slept through the night for the first time ever!! She had cereal for breakfast and dinner yesterday, which I think was the trick. She has only done that one other time, Wednesday. We planned to do it Thursday night, but she was asleep by 7pm. While spending time with Grandma, she got to spend some more time with her cousin Molly, wish Great-Grandma Huck a happy 83rd birthday, and go to the Hotdog Festival!! Big time fun. My boss's 40th birthday was yesterday, so Jeff and I helped him celebrate, and then had houseguests.

Giggles, dinner, and cousins

I got Melanie to giggle once on Monday night! Yes, just once. She still makes noises when she gets excited (and smiles nonstop), but Monday was the first giggle. I've been trying nonstop to replicate it!

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We decided to add a cereal feeding to Mel's daily routine, and I started that tonight. She didn't eat as much as she does in the morning, but she did pretty well. Let's hope that helps the little belly get full for bedtime!

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She is getting to be such a big girl, holding onto things, reaching for things, pooping in the bathtub.... Good times. The photo above shows just how hard she can play. Check out the sock above her head, the positioning of her hands....she sucks her left thumb and holds it in with her right hand when she's particularly tired or hungry; the pose above shows she was sucking, and then just crashed! Becky, that is the outfit you got her - "I pulled an all-nighter" :) Except she didn't, she passed out during it!
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Cousin Update: Molly and Julie are still doing great; I don't know where Julie's energy level comes from! And Melanie's new cousin Worzala is set to arrive the week of August 11. Charlie's 2nd birthday is August 11th, so what a birthday gift he's about to get!

Melanie and Molly part two

Mel & Mol did a better job today! We spent the day at my parents' house (and by spending the day, I mean that Jeff was on the golf course and Mel & I slept)... but the girls got some time together without either of them crying! Julie & Molly are doing great; who knew that the secret to a happy baby is making sure she's eating!? Guess I could've used that tip about four months ago!!

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Mel is staying the night tonight at Grandma & Grandpa's, and having a great time! I am posting here to make myself accountable.... I am doing the Biggest Loser Competition to lose weight! My way to lose weight is not to crazy-diet, but to do everything in moderation. So, stay tuned. We'll see if I can really stay motivated!

CEREAL

Feeding Mel the cereal that she eats every day at daycare wasn't exactly a nice clean event. Oh, what we have to look forward to in the years to come as she learns to eat much more! We only hope she's not as picky as either her mommy or her daddy! Today she weighed 11lbs, 6oz

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Mel was soo cuddly with her daddy when he got back from playing golf today, and she decided to wear his hat to get even more daddy time.

Update on Melanie (with picture of Molly...)

How cute is my niece?!?!!!

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As for Melanie... she is now eating CEREAL FROM A SPOON. Yes, I know. Big time stuff. She is doing great with it. I should know, as we've never seen her do it. :) She's done it the last three days at daycare. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when we have to do it ourselves! It honestly seems to make her sleep better, but, just like any other thing with a baby, you think "this is how it will be...." and then it changes!

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Melanie loves loves loves to nap. According to her daily report, she doesn't nap. So I asked Jeff to talk to the morning shift at daycare and figure that out. My message was, "so what if she's not falling asleep, put the baby in the crib and walk away and let her fall asleep." What he communicated to them was "good morning. here is melanie." But they said she does in fact sleep more than anyone else in the room. They had no idea why we thought she didn't sleep. So Jeff's response, "well, I don't know. for some reason my wife thinks she doesn't sleep." Um, maybe because of the REPORT that we both see every day? Anyway, that's a boy for you. She's been napping upon getting home from daycare, and still going to bed around 8pm.

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Melanie and I are looking forward to visiting more with Baby Molly tomorrow!! On Wednesday night on the way home from Frankfort, when Mel was still pretty fussy, I talked her through all of the things she could teach Molly. Such as saying "Baby Molly, this is how you blow raspberries!" "Baby Molly, this is how you fly like Superman!" "Baby Molly, this is how you eat five ounces at a time!" I also explained that Baby Molly had some things to teach her.... such as "Big Melanie, this is how you have huge feet!" "Big Melanie, this is how you grow hair!" And so on. This actually soothed Big Melanie and she fell asleep! Yay for Baby Molly!!

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Please keep Cory & Baby Worzala in your prayers; BabyW is breech and not seeming to want to move, and may need to arrive in a different way than originally planned. We can't wait to meet her, and want her to make her mommy's life as easy as possible, knowing she'll make up for it in her teenage years!!

M&M

Molly & Melanie met for the first time tonight! Neither were in too great of a mood when the meeting happened - they took turns crying, and I'm not even sure if Grandma saw them in the same room at the same time. Mel has a bit of a rash, which is making her cranky; but when we placed Molly next to her, she immediately stopped crying. Then Molly started up. Then Molly stopped, and Melanie started. Okay, you get the picture. This will not be the last time they soothe each other when they're crying - or the last time they make each other cry!

Molly is precious; she has such a muted little cry, and snorts just like Mel did when she was a newborn. Tonight was a little stressful, but our family is so blessed by the two little Ms in our lives!

A Star is Born!

Miss Molly got to spend last night with Mommy & Daddy; she was released around 11pm to their room. She's doing great!! She still has the port in her hand so they can administer antibiotics, but yay, I was able to hold the little angel tonight! Seriously, this kid has some hair and some toes on her! She is precious. She didn't open her eyes for me at all (except when the nurse was checking her vitals, I got to peek a little) - and my mom had a lot of photos with Molly's eyes open. She and I got to cuddle a lot while mom & dad got caught up on some stuff (phone calls, paperwork, etc). It was awesome just to sit and hold her and kiss her little hairy head.

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I can't wait for Melanie to meet Molly; she wasn't able to yesterday since Molly was being taken care of by the nurses, and today I left Mel with Daddy while I went to visit. However, it's just now dawning on me all the crazy shenanigans these girls are going to get into together, being in the same "grade" going through school together. Hold on tight.

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We have been very blessed to have two healthy girls born this year; we are looking forward to the third (Randy & Cory's) in August. I hope you all get to meet Miss Molly very soon; she's precious!!!

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!!

Molly Carolyn Miller was born today - July 13 - at 11:26am, weighing in at 7lbs, 15oz. She's got a full head of black hair and is beautiful!!

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Molly had some fluid in her lungs, so she's being taken care of separately from Julie right now, but they should be reunited this afternoon. She was breathing pretty quickly, which was probably an effect of the fluid, so as soon as they get her regulated, she'll be in her mommy's arms! The thing on her arm in the photo is an IV - I couldn't figure out a way to photograph her without her hand being in her face :)

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The story behind the name, in case you're interested....Molly was the character's name that Julie played when she and Matt starred opposite each other for the first time at the Red Barn. Plus, it's just a cool name that they both like! Matt's mom's name is Carol, and our mom's name is Linda, from which "Carolyn" was dubbed.

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We're so looking forward to Melanie & Molly growing up together and seeing what kind of trouble they can get into together!!

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So, another "3" birthday for the Doans - and Molly was delivered in Labor &Delivery Room #3!!!

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3 has long been the Doan family lucky number. It all started with Julie; her favorite basketball player when we were younger was Scottie Pippen, #33 with the Chicago Bulls (mine was #23, Michael Jordan). 33 then took on a new meaning when my mom was diagnosed with cancer and had 33 radiation treatments, which kicked her cancer's butt. Everything can be cured with some form of 3.

My parents were both born on the 5th of the month (Butch in August, Linda in January). However, they were married on the 3rd. Julie was born on the 3rd. Melanie was born on the 3rd. Matt & I were both born on the 13th. Jeff was born on the 31st. Picking up on the theme? We like the number 3.

Stay tuned for more on the lucky number 3

Happy Birthday Amy!

Today is AmyZ's birthday.... Okay, so her last name doesn't start with Z any more, but old habits die hard....

Amy and I have known each other since birth - she was invited to my 1st birthday party, but couldn't come because she was just four months old (Melanie's age now!) Our friendship actually started in middle school, though, when she befriended my dorky self and saved me from the trenches of middle school hell. Our friendship has withstood a lot, and there are many adventures that we've shared that will NEVER be passed along to our kids! Although we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like since she, her husband Roddy and their son Matthew are in Ft. Wayne, Amy is always just a phone call away, and can be counted on always!

Happy birthday Amy!!! I hope it's fabulous!!

Update on the Week

I made it to Denver and back in one piece, and found Melanie still in one piece! I slept 11 hours one night I was there and 10.5 hours the following night. Life was good.

Before I left, on Monday, we had the GI appointment. We confirmed, little Mel does have reflux - despite no spitting up, I guess two big signs that I didn't realize were indicative of reflux are her congestion and her love of being on her tummy. We just need to continue with the Prevacid, and we changed her formula "recipe" a little. She had a few days of eating more than 30 ounces a day, and now she's back down into the lower 20s, and eating more squirrely. However, it does seem like she's gained weight, and definitely gained hair! We're going to take her in this afternoon to weigh her, if she stays awake. Monday (7/7) she weighed 11lbs,4oz. The doctor advised against weighing her as frequently as I have, just for my own sanity. However, as we all know, I have an obsessive-compulsive personality, so that plan probably won't work!!

In other updates, Julie has been contracting since 3am this morning!! However, the hospital sent her home so she could "labor in comfort" (an oxymoron?!) She's not dilated at all, so she decided to sweat it out at home. Stay tuned, Baby Miller will hopefully arrive this weekend!

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a great weekend with family and friends! Thursday we headed to Lebanon for the annual family reunion, where Mel got to visit all kinds of cousins close to her age (not Cousin Miller yet, though!!) We had family home from Texas and Georgia as well, so it was a true "reunion"! Later that evening we cooked out at Brenda & Marshall's with Cory & Randy, so Mel & Charlie got to play together, and then we headed back to my parents' house for fireworks.

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Friday, we got to visit with Amy, Matthew, and Amy's mom for a little while, and I got some pool time in while Jeff & Randy were on the golf course, and then Jeff even got some pool time. We decided to spend another night in Frankfort, so we headed over to Shelley & Joe's for a BBQ, and then home to relieve my parents from babysitting duty so they could go late to my mom's class reunion.

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This morning Jeff played golf again.... and got a double eagle! For those, like me, who don't realize just what a big deal a double eagle is, you can ask Jeff. Just kidding, but it really is very rare, and a great golf feat! He then headed back home to get some projects done, but I hung out by the pool all day and got to spend time with Suzi, Ernie, Wyatt, Jessica, and Ethan, and then later Aunt Rose, Grandma, Emma, Sean & Kevin (all cousins) came over to play in the pool. It was great to spend a lazy day by the pool when it was actually sunny :) I also got to spend lots of good time with Julie & Matt this weekend (including them driving me back to Carmel on Sunday evening, which was so nice!) - so now we're truly waiting on the edges of our seats for this baby!!!

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Melanie has had quite a weekend of eating. She has had 27 or more ounces the last two days, and the wonderful thing about this is that she has had these in 6 feedings - versus the 13 or whatever crazy number we got up to there for a while :) Yesterday when she topped out at 27, it was her personal best - until today, when she hit 30! I think she's going through a bit of a growth spurt, since she got up twice over night, and ate 4 ounces each time!

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Tomorrow, we head to the GI specialist and hope that she doesn't take after her daddy in that arena.... and then Tuesday I head to Denver for two nights. I look forward to that sleep, but not to being away from Melanie and potentially Baby Miller's arrival!!!

Happy Four Month Birthday!

I can't believe it's already been four months! Melanie is feeling much better; the difference in her from one hour to the next when she went from sick to well was incredible. She's back to smiling nonstop, chewing on her hand (and ours), rolling over, and playing. She is starting to notice the cat - although not reaching for him yet. She loves "standing up," looking in the mirror, taking baths, watching the ceiling fan, cuddling, sucking her thumb, and meeting new people. We continue to be blessed every day!