We spent the last part of our Christmas vacation in Tampa, visiting my family. We left Atlanta on Christmas Eve morning and drove down to Tampa. This was Luke's longest car ride ever. We were extremely worried about how this road trip was going to go...Luke has never, ever liked the car seat. He is one of very few babies who almost never falls asleep in the car, and on the off chance that he miraculously does doze off, it only happens after a complete meltdown and then lasts just a few minutes. For this reason I got permission from our pediatrician to give Luke Benedryl to knock him out during our drive. She warned us to test it out first, because some people have the opposite reaction to Benedryl and get really revved up...We did NOT want that, so we tested it out on our one and a half hour drive back from Phil's parents' mountain house. We only gave him a half dosage and while it did put him to sleep, it made him really cranky first and then only made him sleep for 30 minutes! Plus, it made us feel really guilty for drugging our innocent little punkin. So...we weren't all that encouraged when we set out for our long drive to Tampa. We decided to wait on the Benedryl until later in the drive, and lo and behold, we never ended up needing to give it to him. Even though he only took 2 short 30 minute naps (in all of the 8-ish hours that we were driving), he never had any big melt downs and we only stopped 3 times, once being for lunch and gas and the other 2 for quick potty breaks at rest areas. We were very pleased with our little man. I don't want to start taking road trips with him every weekend or anything, but I am proud of him for stepping it up at crunch time. Way to go, Lukie Lu.
Anyway we arrived at my parents' house just in time to feed Luke dinner and put him to bed. The next day was Christmas and we waited until after my brother and his wife arrived at 2 pm to open presents. Luke was super tired and in need of a nap at this point, so we put him down and started opening presents. It wasn't long before we looked in the monitor and saw that not only was Luke standing up in his crib and bouncing up and down like a crazy person, but at this point his jeans were around his ankles. He had stepped on them (he has such short legs that all his pants are way too long) as he pulled himself up and had just pulled them right off. By now we knew that it was highly unlikely that he'd settle down and go to sleep, so we decided to just go and get him up. Somehow between Phil getting him up, changing his diaper, and bringing him downstairs, Luke managed to get his pants back on but lose his shirt. I'll never know how this happened. Anyway, that is why all of our Christmas morning pictures are of Phil and Luke, the hillbilly redneck baby, opening presents together while I snapped the pictures to freeze the moments in time.
Ooooh... a new book from the book club ladies!
Ummmm... a little help here please Dad?
Yay, a new noisy toy!!
Wait. How does this thing work?
This present stuff is pretty fun.
Opening his "Dance, Dance Revolution" for babies. Fabulous.
Bubba got a new drum.
Heehee...this makes noise too!
Thankfully by dinner time, we had managed to get some clothes on that little ragamuffin baby of ours. Sadly I only have ONE picture from that night. Don't know how that happened.
My handsome boys on Christmas night.
In my family, Christmas Eve has always been a big deal. Ever since we were kids we've gone to my grandparents' house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. This year we postponed the Christmas Eve festivities until the 26th when we'd all be in town. I bought Luke a special Christmas shirt and tie for the big event, and it was a huge hit. I have to admit that he was pretty darn cute. Unfortunately we didn't any pictures of just him in his get-up. By the time we got to Grandma's, he was not in a good mood. Then as it got closer and closer to bed time, his picture taking tolerance diminished at warp speeds. Oh well.
The frat boy wanna-be with my sister.
Happy in the car on the way to Gma's.
So I hear you're a really good cook. Can you hook me up with some turkey and dressing?
Dude. Don't you be messing up my look, now.
Luke was not down with taking a family picture. He protested by refusing to take his thumb out of his mouth.
The whole fam.
From left to right: Ben (my little brother), Abbi (Ben's wife), Rick (my dad), me with Luke, Phil, Flip (my mom), and Anne (my little sister).
What are you, the paparazzi? Get that thing out of my face.
Looking as chubby as possible, with my pretty cousin, Amy.
My mom took him outside at one point to try to cheer him up.
You can see how well that worked.
Only dinner could make him happy!!
Sweet boy, happily having stored up half his dinner in his cheeks in preparation for the winter.
The next day we had a lazy day...It was great. Luke never got out of his pajamas, and I barely did. We had Gma over for some quality time with Luke. Here we are hanging out with Gma and Annie, who had just woken up from a 4 hour post-late-night-out recovery nap:
Laughing it up... maybe because we realized Gma's the only one in this picture who got dressed for the day.
Four generations in one picture. Gma, Dad, me, and Luke.
Had I known we were going to take such a special picture, I might have actually taken a shower and gotten ready.
Luke LOVES Abbi. Most of the time he just stares at her. Can you blame him? Here he is in a rare moment of realizing that the rest of the world still exists when he's in Abbi's arms.
My little brother, Ben, is not so little. At 6'4" or so, he's a lot to take in, and Luke often just stares at him, too. Here he is in awe of the ultimate big boy, Uncle Ben.
Hey, have you seen how big this guy is??
Gma, Anne, Ben, and Luke, all smiles for the camera.
So my mom had these party popper things that have party hats, prizes, and riddles inside them. Usually she pulls them out for New Year's Eve. This year she didn't have enough for the New Year's party gang, but she did have enough for us that night, so she pulled them out, and we proceeded to eat our entire dinner looking like fools with paper crowns on our heads. We sure know how to have a good time at the Miller house.
Some people could barely get the crowns onto their big ol' noggins, so they were rockin' quasi yarmulkes.
So I managed to change my clothes for dinner, but that was about it. Luckily I had a fancy crown to gussy me up.
The rest of the week was full of hanging out with the fam and playing with Luke. It was nice and relaxing and fun just to be together.
Pops and Luke playing together. Hmmm...who's having more fun?
Once again, Luke is taken with Big Ben.
...and in heaven just staring at Abbi.
Here my parents are pretending to be normal and mature with there grandson....
...But this is what they are really like with him....
Flipper and Luke, made into a USF Bulls fan, and really excited about it.
Pops chasing Luke all around the house, even under the dining room table!
Just chillin' with his toys.
Getting a kiss on the nose from Gma, who ADORES him.
Driving his car, practicing for the day he turns 15.
My best friend Paige came over one evening and brought her daughter (Luke's Tampa girlfriend) to play with Luke. He spent the whole time chasing her around the living room. She spent the whole time playing hard to get and feigning a complete lack of interest in him.
Like, what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy here.
Ummm....I don't go for guys who can't even walk.
Anyway we arrived at my parents' house just in time to feed Luke dinner and put him to bed. The next day was Christmas and we waited until after my brother and his wife arrived at 2 pm to open presents. Luke was super tired and in need of a nap at this point, so we put him down and started opening presents. It wasn't long before we looked in the monitor and saw that not only was Luke standing up in his crib and bouncing up and down like a crazy person, but at this point his jeans were around his ankles. He had stepped on them (he has such short legs that all his pants are way too long) as he pulled himself up and had just pulled them right off. By now we knew that it was highly unlikely that he'd settle down and go to sleep, so we decided to just go and get him up. Somehow between Phil getting him up, changing his diaper, and bringing him downstairs, Luke managed to get his pants back on but lose his shirt. I'll never know how this happened. Anyway, that is why all of our Christmas morning pictures are of Phil and Luke, the hillbilly redneck baby, opening presents together while I snapped the pictures to freeze the moments in time.
Ooooh... a new book from the book club ladies!
Ummmm... a little help here please Dad?
Yay, a new noisy toy!!
Wait. How does this thing work?
This present stuff is pretty fun.
Opening his "Dance, Dance Revolution" for babies. Fabulous.
Bubba got a new drum.
Heehee...this makes noise too!
Thankfully by dinner time, we had managed to get some clothes on that little ragamuffin baby of ours. Sadly I only have ONE picture from that night. Don't know how that happened.
My handsome boys on Christmas night.
In my family, Christmas Eve has always been a big deal. Ever since we were kids we've gone to my grandparents' house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. This year we postponed the Christmas Eve festivities until the 26th when we'd all be in town. I bought Luke a special Christmas shirt and tie for the big event, and it was a huge hit. I have to admit that he was pretty darn cute. Unfortunately we didn't any pictures of just him in his get-up. By the time we got to Grandma's, he was not in a good mood. Then as it got closer and closer to bed time, his picture taking tolerance diminished at warp speeds. Oh well.
The frat boy wanna-be with my sister.
Happy in the car on the way to Gma's.
So I hear you're a really good cook. Can you hook me up with some turkey and dressing?
Dude. Don't you be messing up my look, now.
Luke was not down with taking a family picture. He protested by refusing to take his thumb out of his mouth.
The whole fam.
From left to right: Ben (my little brother), Abbi (Ben's wife), Rick (my dad), me with Luke, Phil, Flip (my mom), and Anne (my little sister).
What are you, the paparazzi? Get that thing out of my face.
Looking as chubby as possible, with my pretty cousin, Amy.
My mom took him outside at one point to try to cheer him up.
You can see how well that worked.
Only dinner could make him happy!!
Sweet boy, happily having stored up half his dinner in his cheeks in preparation for the winter.
The next day we had a lazy day...It was great. Luke never got out of his pajamas, and I barely did. We had Gma over for some quality time with Luke. Here we are hanging out with Gma and Annie, who had just woken up from a 4 hour post-late-night-out recovery nap:
Laughing it up... maybe because we realized Gma's the only one in this picture who got dressed for the day.
Four generations in one picture. Gma, Dad, me, and Luke.
Had I known we were going to take such a special picture, I might have actually taken a shower and gotten ready.
Luke LOVES Abbi. Most of the time he just stares at her. Can you blame him? Here he is in a rare moment of realizing that the rest of the world still exists when he's in Abbi's arms.
My little brother, Ben, is not so little. At 6'4" or so, he's a lot to take in, and Luke often just stares at him, too. Here he is in awe of the ultimate big boy, Uncle Ben.
Hey, have you seen how big this guy is??
Gma, Anne, Ben, and Luke, all smiles for the camera.
So my mom had these party popper things that have party hats, prizes, and riddles inside them. Usually she pulls them out for New Year's Eve. This year she didn't have enough for the New Year's party gang, but she did have enough for us that night, so she pulled them out, and we proceeded to eat our entire dinner looking like fools with paper crowns on our heads. We sure know how to have a good time at the Miller house.
Some people could barely get the crowns onto their big ol' noggins, so they were rockin' quasi yarmulkes.
So I managed to change my clothes for dinner, but that was about it. Luckily I had a fancy crown to gussy me up.
The rest of the week was full of hanging out with the fam and playing with Luke. It was nice and relaxing and fun just to be together.
Pops and Luke playing together. Hmmm...who's having more fun?
Once again, Luke is taken with Big Ben.
...and in heaven just staring at Abbi.
Here my parents are pretending to be normal and mature with there grandson....
...But this is what they are really like with him....
Flipper and Luke, made into a USF Bulls fan, and really excited about it.
Pops chasing Luke all around the house, even under the dining room table!
Just chillin' with his toys.
Getting a kiss on the nose from Gma, who ADORES him.
Driving his car, practicing for the day he turns 15.
My best friend Paige came over one evening and brought her daughter (Luke's Tampa girlfriend) to play with Luke. He spent the whole time chasing her around the living room. She spent the whole time playing hard to get and feigning a complete lack of interest in him.
Like, what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy here.
Ummm....I don't go for guys who can't even walk.
Finally forced to get near Luke, Finley quickly gobbled up her snack, afraid the chubby not-so-little guy would steal it from her.
We had a great time in Tampa with my family. Thanks Flipper and Pops for having us!!
We had a great time in Tampa with my family. Thanks Flipper and Pops for having us!!
So glad I got to see you Merran, even if only for a few minutes! Loved all the pictures! :) What a great family!
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