McArtor.net

Elia had her 1 year check up on Friday. I am sure it will come to no surprise to those of you who see her often, but she is a peanut (at least by our family standards). She weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz and is 29 inches tall. To give you some perspective of how much smaller she is than Anya and Josiah–they both weighed more at 6 months than Elia does at 1 year! It doesn’t help that Elia started walking at 10 months either–she is burning calories left and right running laps through the house!

Elia has definitely discovered that being small does have its advantages. Why just look where I found her this morning:

Today my baby girl turns 1! Where did that year go? I did my best to savor each and every day of Elia’s first year knowing it would be gone before I know it…and it was! What a blessing to watch our newborn baby grow into a happy, healthy one-year-old! Elia is the piece our McArtor family was missing and how lucky we are to have our puzzle complete!

We love you Elia Kay and we can’t wait to see what new and exciting things you bring to our family!

Yesterday was Josiah’s golden birthday–4 years old on April 4th! I tried convincing him to be 3 for one more year, but it was a no-go on his end. He has been looking forward to holding that fourth finger up when people ask how old he is for a long, long time!

4 years have come and gone so fast–seems like yesterday we were bringing home our baby boy. To watch him grow over the last 4 years has truly been a blessing. It is so much fun to watch his growing independence yet I love how he still wants to hold my hand when we walk or how he runs to give me a hug “good morning” everyday. I thank God everyday for my sweet-spirited little boy and can’t imagine my life or our family without him.

Happy 4th Birthday Josiah!

Check out the videos of Jason & Anya having fun on the flow master at Water Park of America last week!

And now Anya’s turn:

Last Wednesday we packed up the van and headed North for Spring Break! We met Jason & Jill and family and Papa Jim & G’ma Barb along the way and finally got to our final destination at the Water Park of America in Minneapolis.

We had a blast swimming and going on the waterslides and I bet we did 1000 laps in the lazy river! On Saturday we needed alittle break from all the water activities so we went to the Mall of America and checked out Nickelodeon’s Universe (which is like an amusement park right in the middle of the mall) and the kids had a blast. It still amazes me how huge that mall is and the fact that it has a theme park right in it! Needless to say, we spent over 12 hours in the mall and everyone was dog tired after that day

All in all, it was a fantastic way to start Spring Break and we didn’t even have to travel hundreds of miles to get to 80 degree weather! Here are some pictures of our fun!

I feel like we have been so busy ever since Christmas, but when I sit down to write about it, I can’t even remember what we have been so busy doing. Life, I guess. It tends to keep us busy.

We have been battling the normal winter cough and crud, but I think slowly but surely we are beating it. Elia has managed to get her 4th ear infection since December, so one more and I will be demanding ever-so-sweetly requesting tubes immediately. Luckily, just like her older siblings, she tends to bounce back quickly.

Speaking of Elia, she is EVERYWHERE! Mostly where she is not suppose to be, but I guess that is how she rolls. She has a fondness for windows and toilets. She manages to get herself near one or the other quite often. She is mostly crawling still, but just in the last few days has braved a single step a few times. It just blows my mind that we will have another walker in the house sooner than later. The best news about her though is that she started sleeping through the night about 3 weeks ago and hasn’t looked back since. Thank goodness for that because I was at my wits end trying to figure out what to do. I knew that her waking up in the middle of the night had nothing to do with her being hungry and everything to do with her being stubborn–and that is a hard battle to fight with a strong-willed 10 month old. I am pretty sure she gets that from her father

Josiah stays busy playing the iPad or the Kinect. It is amazing how well he does on both. I love to watch him do Dance Central–nothing like a 3 year old shaking his “tail-lights” to get a few extra points. I am pretty sure he gets that from his father

Anya is still loving school although she looks forward to the weekends also. We just had her spring semester conferences and her teacher had nothing but great things to say about her. She is in an accelerated math and reading group and has surpassed all the kindergarten requirements by leaps and bounds already and is quite the social butterfly. It is fun to sit down and have her read a book to you–quite a change. We are just thrilled that she is excelling in school and having fun doing it. I am pretty sure she gets that from her mother

So, I’m alittle behind in updating the blog. A couple weeks ago we finally got to have our last Christmases of the 2011 season down south in Winfield and Washington. Bless Grandma Jeryl’s heart–she left the Christmas tree up wwwwaaaaayyyy into January just for us The kids had fun ripping through their gifts and playing with all the new treasures and Jason & I had the fun of trying to find a place for all the aforementioned treasures when we got home! While we were down there, we also got to have Christmas with Great G’ma Bertie and all the extended Miller family. There were little kids galore running through her house having a ball and it was fun for us to catch up with Jason’s cousins and their spouses.

So, another Christmas season in the books. Sure all the present opening and food eating is fun, but the family time together is what real memories are made of!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas down south!

Elia officially turned 9 months old last week and had her 9 month check up today. Still much smaller than the older two, she weighed in at 16.6 lbs and is 24 inches long. However, her growth has been proportionate and she is right on with her milestones, so she got an A+ from her doctor.

This has been a busy month for her as far as figuring out how to move. She mastered crawling (thanks to her endless desire to “undecorate the Christmas tree) and is now pulling up, standing and even “cruising” a bit on the furniture. Her desire to sit and be held flew right out the window when she discovered how much fun it is getting herself into places she really shouldn’t be. Our gate for the stairs has made its 3rd repeat appearance and we are back to shutting bathroom doors…ah, the fun of a mobile baby

Elia has really taken to food the last several weeks. She eats at least 2 helpings of baby food each day and has started getting table food–which she definitely prefers. She can really do damage to a soda cracker thanks to her barely-through-the-surface bottom teeth and veggie puffs are a favorite snack as well. She still isn’t a huge fan of her bottle, so the more food she eats the happier we all are.

I wish I could report that she is sleeping through the night consistently, but that is just not the case. She still feels the need to remind us of her presence most nights, but slowly she is getting closer and closer to morning before waking up. I am trying a few different strategies lately to get her over this night time party she likes to have, but it is a work in progress at this point.

The biggest change in Elia lately is her crazy personality that is coming through. She is still a drama queen (I want what I want when I want it….and if I don’t get it, you WILL hear about it) but when she isn’t demanding something, she is so silly and smiley. When she is excited about something, she throws her head forward and bends her knees up and down, so it looks like she is doing a dance–one of the funniest sights to see. She likes to try to climb over anything in her way instead of going around it and going for Anya & JP’s toys is way more fun than playing with the ones we want her to play with.

My favorite thing Elia is doing right now is when I come in her room in the morning to get her out of the crib she is standing up in the corner waiting for me with a huge smile on her face. It warms my heart every single time!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Elia from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

As most of you know, last week my Gram Martha passed away and Thursday was her funeral. It has been a hard week for the Miller’s and we will feel her loss in our family always. She had a beautiful funeral, the weather couldn’t not have been nicer (who would ever predict a 50+ degree day in January??) and many family members and friends came to celebrate her life. It was so much fun to talk with people who knew her and loved her and hear things they remembered about her. There is no doubt that she truely left her mark in many people’s hearts.

For those of you that knew her, you know how difficult it is to accurately describe my Grandma. She was the perfect combination of sweet and spunky with just enough ornery–and it made everyone around her love her. For those of us that are her children and grandchildren–well, to say we are lucky would be an understatement. She didn’t have a big family, but her love for us was bigger than anything in this world–and we knew it. And the love and respect we felt for her is beyond words.

The countless memories I have of my Grandma will keep her alive in my heart until I see her again some day. She will forever be missed and never forgotten.

Rest in peace, Gram. We love you.

Here is a link to her obituary if you are interested in reading it.