Welcome Baby Max!!

Hello! What a life altering couple of weeks we have had! Max Christopher Miller was welcomed into our family on August 18, 2010 at 8:40 am. He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and measured 20 inches long. Max has already been such a blessing to our lives! The surgery went smoothly and we are all happy and healthy. McKenna has really embraced her new role as big sister and is taking it very seriously. Already she has been so nurturing and protective of her baby brother. She was such a big girl even in our absence while Max and I were in the hospital. We were so lucky to have my parents and Matt's parents here to help and support us as we welcomed Max into our lives. And of course we have such amazing friends that have been bringing meals, calling to check in, but most importantly loving our little ones like their own!

We are adjusting to life with a new baby and I am absolutely enjoying my time at home with the kids. I watch McKenna coo at Max and talk to him with such a loving tone of voice and my heart melts. Not sure how I got so lucky to have two of the best kids in the world! And of course Matt is so proud of his baby boy. He is such an amazing, hands-on father. I couldn't ask for a better man to raise a family with. I am healing well from the surgery but Matt has been more than helpful in picking up tasks that need to be done and his willingness to tend to spit-up and poopy diapers helps too!

Maybe it's the hormone changes I am experiencing or maybe it is the miracle of life that I have just been blessed with, but I have been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to have a loving family. We all know that life is short and time is precious but the birth of a second child and the completion of my family has really made me think about what is important in life. My heart is full and it is full because of the people that surround me. I am so thankful to all of you for your love and support. I am so thankful for all the blessings my family has been afforded!

As you can see....we just wrapped up McKenna's birthday week extravaganza! She turned four on July 14th. We celebrated with lots of friends and family and ended the week with a birthday party at Premier Gymnastics where the kids bounced around on trampolines and ran off all kinds of energy. McKenna is so excited to be "a big girl" and is so looking forward to her new role as a big sister. All along we have been telling her that the baby will come after her birthday so now she is really anticipating his arrival.

I am 35 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good! We are slowly but surely getting the baby's room put together and just can't believe that in a month our family will be blessed with a darling baby boy! We set the date for the c-section and as long as everything goes as planned, we will welcome the little guy on August 18th.

Hope you are all having a great summer and keeping cool!

Love,

Matt, Megan, and McKenna

Happy Summer! We have been very busy around our house getting ready for our baby BROTHER that will be here in just a couple more months! McKenna is so excited to meet this baby she can hardly stand the wait! We were back in North Platte for Easter and then we headed to Kansas City to spend a couple days at the Great Wolf Lodge. We had a blast! McKenna has zero fear and went down the big slides with Matt hundreds of times.

The beginning of June brought McKenna's first dance recital. We were so fortunate to have lots of friends and family there to cheer her on. Quite the little performer she has become. McKenna has decided that she wants to dance again next year so she must have enjoyed the experience!

Now that summer is in full swing we have been trying to stay cool with sprinklers in the backyard and pool time as much as possible! McKenna is a little fish and would stay in the pool all day long if we would let her. We are all doing well, looking forward to welcoming the new addition to our family in the next two months!

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting! I am seven weeks today, so it is still very early. We were able to see the little bean and the heartbeat at an early ultrasound yesterday. Our journey to acheive pregnancy was a long one this time around. We have had our ups and downs which makes this pregnancy that much more sweet!

I am not sure McKenna really understands the concept quite yet, but she seems excited to have a sister or brother (no preference, which helps!). Pregnancy this time around is proving to be much more exhausting. Gone are the days of lounging by the pool in California and grabbing a nap whenever one was needed! I really have no complaints though! Just working really hard on my New Year's Resolution.....more patience!

I will do my best to keep you all updated! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Megan

Fall 2009

Hello! Since Halloween is over and we are already into November, I thought it was time for an update. McKenna is doing great. She dressed up as Blue from Blue's Clues for Halloween and has so much fun trick-or-treating. We got together with some friends of ours and had our kiddos trick-or-treat together which was a blast! McKenna ran as fast as she could to get from door to door collecting candy. I think this is the first year she really understood the concept. She had a full bucket of candy in no time!

We visited Pooley's pumpkin patch this year. It is a smaller, family run pumpkin patch and McKenna loved it! Grandma McGargill joined us for a windy day on the farm too. McKenna surprised me and took a pony ride. She absolutely loved it. We picked out some good pumpkins and took them home to carve up!

Grandma and Grandpa Miller visited in October and we got to visit the zoo with them and Aunt Melissa and baby Ryleigh. We had so much fun checking out the animals....the monkeys are still our favorite!

We had McKenna's three year pictures and some family pictures taken early in October. I am looking forward to seeing them. I will be sure to post the website when they are available to look at. In the meantime, here are some snapshots from the past couple months. I hope you are all doing well and getting into the Holiday spirit! Crazy how time flies!!

Matt, Megan, and McKenna

McKenna is 3!!

I hope this posting finds everyone well! We have been having one very busy and fun summer! We just concluded what turned into McKenna's "birthday week." Last Saturday we started the festivities with a party at P.E. 101 Kids Gym. McKenna had a bunch of her friends from school and some of our friends' kiddos come to celebrate with her. They had so much fun bouncing on the trampoline, riding the zip line, and playing with the parachute. She was so excited when each friend arrived and seemed so grown up! That night, we had some of our close friends and their children over for a cook-out and more celebrating. It was a busy day, but full of gifts and sweet treats. McKenna had a ball!

Today was our family birthday party. McKenna was lucky to celebrate with both Grandparents at the same time. She got some really fun presents including a new bike and her very own Leapster (a learning game that she thinks looks like the Nintendo DS games that her older friends have). We ate some good food and topped it off with an ice cream cake. Another great day to celebrate McKenna!

Tomorrow is McKenna's first official day in the three year old classroom. This means the start of our preschool program. I can't believe she is already in preschool. That just makes school all that much closer and that thought actually makes me sick to my stomach. While I love seeing her grow and change, I don't want her to be growing up so fast!

We are having a great summer so far. Matt built a new swingset for McKenna for her birthday so we have been spending as much time outside as possible. We have been splashing around in our little pool out back and taking walks down to the park too. Trying to soak up all the sunshine we can get. We hope your summer is going well!

Matt, Megan and McKenna