Our Pre-Christmas Endeavor

This is how Tayden loves to sleep...showing off his big guns.

Tayden's first surf competition

Our giggly, happy Tater Tot :)

Ya surfing!!!

The poopy disaster of 2011. The picture doesn't show all of it but it was everywhere!

So this post is ridiculously late...sorry. But since the last one Tyler had a very interesting experience where Tayden pooped on him. While Tyler was holding him I kept telling Tayden to poop on daddy. He kept smiling as Tyler laid him on his chest. A couple minutes later Tyler lifted him up and he was covered in little presents from Tayden. He had wet spots and poop all over his shirt and Tayden was covered in it. He is such an obedient kid already...He obeys his mama so well :)

Before we left for the mainland Tayden had to get another round of shots again. He absolutely hated it and then after screaming for a few minutes he fell asleep. I think we both hate shots.

Tayden experienced his first two surf competitions and he did pretty good. He sat there on the sand with us and looked out toward the ocean. We don't think he actually saw the surfers but maybe next year he will actually understand what is going on. :)

The most exciting thing that has happened is that Tayden giggled for the first time!!!!!!!! (This was way back in the beginning of December). Tyler was bouncing him on the bed and a little giggle came out along with big smiles! He continues to giggle more each day and we continue to love it!!! He is such a happy, smiley, and now giggly baby!

Next post is going to be about our amazing Christmas break!!! And I'm going to try to write more often because I found out people actually read this :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...fall :)

No matter how we swaddle him he always manages to get at least one arm out.
He is our little escape artist.

This is what Tayden and I do during the day...we hang out :)

This picture isn't exactly fair to Tayd. Where it looks like there is no hair, there is some it's just lighter. But he is definitely losing it.

Tayden won't take a binky...we do this for fun to see if he is hungry.

Tayden helping me make Thanksgiving dinner. He just kept me company mainly :) He is sitting is his bimbo chair.

So I have been meaning to update this blog for many weeks now, but Tayden is awake more often and I would rather play with him than update this blog :) Sorry. And I have also been decorating for Christmas! Life continues to be great here on the warm island. It is actually getting a little cooler (like in the high 70's) and is starting to feel like fall. Tayden doesn't sweat as much as he used to so that's great. We even turn off the AC occasionally. It definitely does not feel like Christmas but we can tell it's getting closer.

So a few weeks ago Tyler was able to go on a five day trip to California for his major. He went to Silicon Valley, Cali., with a bunch of other students with computer majors. He went to Google headquarters, met lots of people from major companies like ebay and Apple, and opened up a lot of options for his internship this summer. He had a great time and came home happy and excited about doing his internship.

Tayden continues to grow like crazy! He graduated from size 1-2 diapers to size 2 diapers on Thanksgiving day! He is getting cute rolls everywhere. He even gets lint and things stuck in his neck. We have to clean it or it starts smelling! haha He still smiles a ton! (especially as he is falling asleep and right when he wakes up). His favorite things to do are to hang out in his changing table. He kicks and wiggles constantly. We don't know why he loves it but he really does. He loves to sit in his bumbo chair (Tyler calls it his bimbo chair) and watch me make dinner and do the dishes. He is constantly looking around at all the new sights and sounds he can find. He loves it when we make funny noises and stick out our tongue. He stares intently at our mouths and sticks his little tongue out too. It's so cute. He is sleeping much better during the night. He sleeps somewhere between 5-7 hours, which is absolutely amazing! He will wake up if he has gas though, poor kid. He is definitely Tyler's child!

We had Thanksgiving dinner with some awesome friends of ours, the Quigleys and the Smarts. We had a delicious dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and everything else that goes with a Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't a normal 'Idaho' Thanksgiving, but it was a great island Thanksgiving.

Love,
TLT

Happy Halloween!!!

Our little pumpkin

All wrapped up after his first bath in his cute little monkey bathrobe :)

The outfit he wore to church for the first time.

This is a swing that we have. He started out with his head at the top and his feet at the bottom, but he is such a little squirmy kid that this is how we found him :)

Tayden had his first Halloween! We weren't going to buy him a costume or dress him up but I broke down and bought the cutest pumpkin costume when I saw it at the store. Even though he only wore it for maybe 10 minutes, we think it was worth it. And now we are set for all of our other kids on their first Halloweens. :) Tayden had a doctor's appointment on Thursday where he had to get a shot. When the nurse first poked him he just made a face, but then a second later he started screaming. He forgot about the shot after a few minutes of eating. Silly kid. So he was 8 lbs. 6 oz when he was born and now he weighs 11 lbs. 11 oz!!! And he has grown almost 3 inches! The doctor said he is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. All we know is that he is eating and sleeping tons! When he is awake he smiles a lot and is even more alert. He loves to look around and follow things. He especially loves to look at lights and a certain poster of a wave that we have on our wall.
So we decided he is looking more and more like Tyler. Some say it's because of the receding hairline (he is slowly losing his hair). Tyler says it's because they are both "short, fat, bald, and stinky." I agree :) I don't care...I love them both!!! So we have so many nicknames for Tayden already and he is only 1 month old. Some of them are:
little shark (when breastfeeding he makes the funniest noises and moves his head side to side like a shark) Tayd, stinky, Tay-shawn, Tayd-ster, Tayder Tott, and squirt.
Tyler is still busy with class and is getting ready to go on a five day trip to California to meet people from distinguished computer companies. This is so he can hopefully get an internship next summer. Tayden and I are going to continue hanging out in Hawaii together and loving it :)
Hope you all have an amazing week! We love you :)
TLT

What a month!

Daddy time :)

Yup...mommy does love him

We did not set this picture up. He did this all on his own. :)

He loves to cuddle! We love it and hope it doesn't change!

So apparently I just didn't get enough of the hospital when I had Tayden because last week I had to go back. Instead of having a baby removed from my body, I had my appendix taken out. On Thursday October 20th, I started having stomach pain but I thought it was just something I had eaten. I woke up the next day and the pain had gotten much, much worse. I asked my friend that is a nurse what she thought. Because the pain was in the lower right abdomen and I had just had a baby three weeks ago she said I should go to the hospital. Tyler skipped his classes and we headed to the local hospital here in Kahuku. They did some tests and sent us down to another hospital where Tayd was born. After more tests they decided my appendix was inflamed and it would need to be removed. It was about 2 in the afternoon, but the surgeon wouldn't be available until 9 pm. Luckily my surgery was moved up to 5:30. While they were in removing my appendix it burst! Good thing they didn't wait until 9! The surgery went well and I had to stay in the hospital overnight. Our amazing friends, the Smarts, watched Tayden for us overnight while we were in the hospital, which made us want to be released the next day even more. We did not like being away from our three week old cutie. Luckily they released me and we were able to go home and be a family again. Over the next week we found out we have some amazing friends. Women from the ward brought us dinner for an entire week. Some friends even helped me with holding Tayden and moving him around the apartment. I couldn't believe all of the little things that I had trouble doing, like sitting, standing, and laying down. But we are sooooo happy to announce that I am doing much better! I can do pretty much everything now. My stomach is mainly sensitive to touch. Enough about me...because I know everyone just wants an update on Tayden :)
He continues to grow fast! He will be a month old on tuesday!!! We can't believe the time has gone by so fast! Our favorite times are when he smiles randomly and makes little noises. He continues to sleep quite a bit and make lots of dirty diapers. Tyler even got to experience his first "golden fountain." The other day Tayden accidentally picked his nose. While his arms were flailing around one of his fingers found a nostril. He did not like that and I had to help him get it out. It was hilarious. :) Tayden has his first bath yesterday and he actually liked it. We love the baby smell he has right after a bath. He is such a fun little guy and we are really loving being parents!
Tyler continues to be extremely busy. He just had mid-terms so maybe things will slow down a little bit, but I doubt it. He loves his computer classes but isn't a big fan of his history class. His executive secretary calling keeps him busy too. He is such an amazing dad and you can see how proud he is of his little son. We think that Tayden is looking more like Tyler everyday, except for the eyes, which we think he got from me.
Hope everything is great with all of you! Love from the land of Aloha,
TLT

TAYDEN SHAWN MILLER IS HERE!!!!

After waiting, and waiting, and waiting...Tayden finally joined our family at 8:34 AM on October 1st! He was due on Sept 25th but he decided to teach his parents some patience before he joined us. The labor went pretty well and Lauren decided epidurals are amazing!!! She had some of the most amazing nurses and it made labor that much more enjoyable. Lauren's mom was able to be here for the birth too. She actually came on September 18th but had to work on her patience also and extend her ticket back to the mainland so she could spend time with her new grandson. Tayden was a healthy 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 in. long. He loves to eat, sleep, poop, and make funny faces all the time. The other day Lauren got to experience her first "golden fountain." Tayden decided to start peeing while she was changing his diaper and she wasn't ready for it. Let's just say...it went everywhere! Lauren and her mom died from laughter (it was 4am so we are thinking that played a huge part.) He is a pretty good sleeper and he only cries when he is hungry or if we are putting clothes on him. We are thinking he is going to be running around Hawaii in a diaper when he gets a little older :) We are getting used to the sleeping schedule and absolutely loving being parents. Tyler has a hard time going to class and work because he always wants to spend his time with Tayden, especially when he is awake. It is amazing to think that Tayden is ours :) We are loving life!!! Lots of Aloha from Hawaii!!! :)
TLT (Tyler, Lauren, Tayden)

Summer time!

Summer is cruising by! Tyler worked all of June in California while I was able to stay with the Millers in Sandpoint and Jenn & Mark in San Diego. In Sandpoint we went biking, hiking, canoeing, and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. It was a great couple of weeks! In California I was able to meet my cute little neice Avery! She is adorable and so cuddly! And of course...Ellie just keeps getting cuter and more fun to play with. I then flew up to Boise with Jenn and the two girls where Tyler met up with us. In Boise the whole Boyd gang was there and we had tons of fun. We stayed at a cabin for a few days and floated a freezing cold creek, went paddle boarding, and played lots of card games. Jason and Michael headed to the MTC on August 13 for their missions! Jason is going to Bogata, Columbia and Michael is going to Cochabamba, Bolivia. They are going to be great out there. All the extended family showed up for their farewell and it was so good to see them all!!! Awesome cousin Emily drove up from Utah with her two cute lil boys, Asher (1 1/2) and Kellen (2 months). She is amazing! It was great to have Avery and Kellen there because Tyler and I were able to practice/pretend having a baby. Only two months before we have our own little boy!!! We are now back in beautiful, humid Hawaii. Tyler is going to school and working at the computer lab as a tutor. Lauren is working part time with testing at the school and getting ready for the baby to come :) Life is good here on the island.

Lauren and Ellie eating ice cream


Tyler practicing his future fathering skills with Kellen :)