Monday, January 31, 2011

The Newest Members of our Clan

       We've been wanting to introduce you to the newest Milam's. They came from far away to join us a couple of weeks ago. They're something we've talked about for years, but the time and opportunity had never been quite right. Low and behold, the little beauties recently popped up over on our friend craigslist.com. It was no easy journey getting them here, but they're here and... they're in pieces. 
       They're vintage and they're red. They're not identical but they compliment each other very well. Lately, Jon's been spending more time with them then he has with me. We haven't named them just yet, but we will.  
They go a little something like this.
And this.
Oh, and this.

We hope that they'll be with us for a very long time. 
We'll say hello to them for you, and we'll 
make a proper introduction when they're looking their best.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Milam's 2011 List

       The baby is sleeping. The dog is curled up on the couch. The fire is burning. The house has already been vacuumed and the dishes are drying, so I have a few wonderfully quiet minutes to myself. You should feel honored that I'm spending that time with you. Seriously though, I have about 10 other big items on my to-do list staring me down, but a cup of coffee and some blogging seemed to call my name.
       I realize that we're already knee deep into 2011, but better late then never? At least that's what I tell myself. Our goals for this year are by no means brief as we're hoping that we can bring about a good deal of change in our lives over the next 12 months. I'm sure this list isn't comprehensive, but it will give you and idea of what's going on around Casa Milam. 

So without further ado, here's what's keeping us busy. 

1.  Purchase Megan an adult car
I realize that this one seems pretty materialistic and superficial,
 but I think it's the easiest on the list, so I shall start here. 
I've been VERY fortunate to have a few hand me down 
vehicles that have wonderfully served their purpose, 
and I've never had to buy one of my own. 
Cars are not important to me, they simply get me from 
point A to point B. But I'm turning 30 pretty soon and with 
the big 3-0 comes an adult car.  What I've decided on is the Volvo XC70. 
Oh, and here she is now.
It will be used, hopefully it will be white, and it will be paid for in full. 
It will also mean that my precious cargo will be 
getting around in a very safe auto-mo-bile.

2. Pay off Jon's truck
Really going to have to work hard to make this one happen, 
but we know it will be worth it in the end.

3. Move ourselves to the big city: Truckee
Tahoe City has been very good to us over the past nearly 4 years.
We live just a few blocks from the lake, we are within 
walking distance to town, 
and we have some great neighbors. But, it's time to move on. 
We have a lot of friends (and friends with babies) in Truckee, 
there's more of a sense of community there (ie, year round residents), 
and there are some nice childcare options there.
This one could take a while, as finding a good rental around here
is like locating Blue's tennis ball in 3 feet of fresh snow. 
But it will happen.
Bye, bye beautiful lake.

4. Get Nolan settled into a new daycare
You might have seen this one coming. Our current daycare 
situation is working out just fine. Nolan's getting socialized, 
it's just a few minutes past our house, and they've been 
working with kids for a very long time. But do to some scheduling
conflicts, the fact that Nolan has had a cold for 2+ months, and
our desire to have him receive more personal care, we're
hoping to transition him into a smaller, more private daycare in the next
year or so. 

5. Career adjustments
This one is probably obvious because it's not the first time
 that I've mentioned it here. Jon continues
to work very hard to secure a full time fire position and this remains 
one of our biggest goals.  While the process has been long and 
has required a lot of time, we realize that anything worth achieving 
is worth sacrificing for. So we're keeping our eye on the prize. This remains
one of our biggest goals, and if we don't achieve it in 2011, we'll continue
working on it into 2012. 

6. Take a little risk
I need to pull up my big girl pants, and take a little risk.
I'm not talking about sky diving or riding a bike with no hands. 
I'm talking about rolling the dice on some ideas that I have 
bouncing around in my little head, and seeing if they turn
into anything. I'll let you know how that goes.

And here's the rundown on some smaller things 
we have on our minds set on this year:

1. Running the Reno & SF Half Marathons.
2. Get started with Paramedic School.
3. Get our new toys up and running 
(more on these new toys very soon).
4. Continue to save, save, save.
5. Learn how to use this beautiful new camera of ours.
6. Enjoy where we live just a little bit more.
7. Keep the blog alive.

       In case your wondering about our New Years resolution, I think it has unofficially been to stop having ice cream in the house. And you know what, we've actually succeeded for the first month of 2011. One month down, eleven to go. Because of it we're feeling a little less soft around the midsection and that makes us feel a little bit better. Truth be told however, we tend to snack on any random pieces of chocolate that we can find in the house after dinner in place of our ice cream fix, so I'm not sure if we should totally be patting ourselves on the back. 
       How's your 2011 shaping up? Getting yourself where you're wanting to be and enjoying the process along the way? Do share.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I'm the proud owner of....

A six month old!
       Yes, this past week, marked the big day. Five months brought lots of things, including reaching for and holding toys, a longer attention span and interest in things, sitting in a high chair, eating rice cereal, progress towards rolling over and less fussing and more playing. It has been our favorite age so far. Unfortunately sleeping through the night has continued to elude us, but maybe that's in store during the 6 month mark? I'm not holding my breath on that one.
      Six months has already brought with it the milestone of sitting up on his own. He's still a tad bit wobbly, but he is very near to mastering it all together.  This month, we're also hoping to tackle rolling over and trying some more solid foods. Oh, and did I mention sleeping through the night. Here are some recent photos (on our new camera, I might add), that show just how big our bug is getting.
Bath time = Highly adorableness time.

And what does a highchair + rice cereal mean?


It means we've got a very cute sitting & eating baby on our hands.

5 months also brought with it a love of toes. 
As in, putting his own toes in his own mouth. 
Anytime that he had the chance. 
During a diaper change is one of his favorite opportunities. 
The new year and our big boy have meant lots of walks in the snow.
Hello blue eyes.
This weekend, with very sunny skies, 
and some freetime on our hands, 
we took Nolan on his first sledding adventure. 
As in, ghetto-laundry-basket-sledding adventure. 
Yes, I said laundry basket.

He seemed to enjoy the comfy ride.
The Spring-like weather made for some 
blissful photo opportunities.



That's all folks. 
I've got chores to tend to. 
Thanks for watching.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Milam Holy Days: Round II

       Okay, I'm realizing that this post is about 2 weeks overdue, but for the love-of-butter, it's hard to balance a baby, a home, a job and a blog. So the blog tends to be on the lower of my priorities. Sorry. Because pictures speak louder then words (especially pictures on our new fabulous camera), I'm going to let the photos do the talking this time around. Here. We. Go. 
On the morning of Christmas Eve, with our new camera in tow, 
we packed up our boys and headed down to the bay area. 
Grandma and Grandpa were waiting.


There were cousins to play with.

And one well trained dog.
Then of course, there was the magic of Christmas morning.




The rest of the day proceeded to go like this.










Oh, and then there was the all-cousin shot.
This one took a little work to capture, 
but it will be worth it 20 years down the road.
       I have lots more that I'd like to share- about all the snow that we've been getting, about things we've been capturing with our new camera (there is A LOT to learn with our new toy), and about our growing boy. I only hope that I can wedge it in...

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The Milam Holy Days: Round I

       It's taken me a few days to come out from the toy boxes, wrapping paper, leftovers, and snow (more on that soon!!!), but I'm out. I'm here. And I'm ready to share! We had a great Christmas involving lots of family, kids, surprises, and a good amount of driving. Let me start from the beginning. 
       I'm somewhat obsessed with traditions. As in, creating memories for us and our kids, that we continue throughout the years. But I took somewhat of a bye on new traditions this year. Next year we will have an Advent calender, maybe an Elf on the Shelf, homemade cinnamon rolls, etc. etc. For some reason, I could hardly get my gifts wrapped in time this year, let alone create new traditions for a won't remember it, 5 month old. 
       This is the first year that Jon and I have had the entire Christmas holiday off together and I was very thankful for that. We had a four day weekend to relax and enjoy together. After finishing up work on Wednesday, we decided we needed to treat ourselves and get out of the house. We rarely splurge on eating out, but appetizers and drinks at the River Grill were just what we needed. After having our wedding reception here, over two years ago it was only fitting to come back with our addition to the family. Oh, and the manager there always takes good care of us. Our sweet boy even fell asleep at the table which made for a great evening out.
       We opted to open gifts on Thursday morning, the Eve of Christmas Eve. We wanted to get on the road on Christmas Eve to avoid traffic on our way to the bay, and we didn't want to rush opening our gifts. So on Thursday morning, with snow on our porch, we brewed a pot of coffee and cut up some coffee cake that had been gifted to us. And then the magic began. 
Santa was very good to us. 
He left us an elf and a reindeer.
Santa left his favorite reindeer the biggest bone his sleigh could bring.


Having Nolan here on Christmas morning 
made the holiday more magical.
Yes, I said "magical."

Jonny has been wanting a chainsaw. 
I found these boxers with chainsaws on them. 
That will have to do for the time being.
And my husband surprised me with something 
I've been wanting for months. 
Something we've been needing.
Something we've been pining over. 
Can you guess what it is?
Any ideas?
A CAMERA!
The camera of our dreams. 
Well, at least our current dreams.
I say "our" because apparently it was just 
as much a gift for Jon as it was for me.
He's been using it way more then I, and he's
been devoting his time to learning about all its various settings.
Which also means that we have been documenting
our live with  SO MANY pictures.
As in, hundreds upon hundreds each week. 
While we study up on how to use our beast of a camera...

My gift for Jon was a bit less anti-climatic.
A homemade, "Man Toy Gift card."
The bottom reads "Not redeemable for motor vehicles. Sorry."
He's had his eye on a few nice toys, 
but I knew that he wanted to hand pick them himself. 
I've told him that he better redeem his gift card, before
I see our credit card statement and realize how
 much holiday shopping already needs to be paid off.
The holiday left our house in a bit of disarray. 
But finally, everything has found its rightful place
and we're feeling a bit of more prepared to start the new year.
I'll be back to share more of our photos from Christmas Round II.