Hockey and Baptism

It is October, which in the Mills household means the start of hockey season. This past weekend, Denise, Libby and myself made the trek up to Bemidji to see the Beavers open their home schedule against St. Cloud State. There were several surprises on the weekend for us.

First, after an 0-4 start and being manhandled at Air Force, Bemidji managed to split with the Huskies from the WCHA. Bemidji was 0-10 in the D-I era against St. Cloud, but they outworked and outhit the more talented Huskies to skate away with a 4-2 win on Friday night. On Saturday, Bemidji played very well again, but had about a 12 minute stretch in the second period and St. Cloud made them pay for it as the Beavers fell 5-3. Then next time we will make the trek to Bemidji will be the end of November as Michigan Tech from the WCHA will make the trip to Bemidji.

The second surprise was how well Libby did at the games. She did not raise any problems and actually slept through most of the games. She also did very well in the Pack and Play in the hotel room.

Here are some pictures of Libby at the game. They are not the best, but oh well!

After getting up at 6:00 on Sunday morning, it was on the road to Verndale at 7:45. The reason, Elizabeth Rose's baptism. Elizabeth did really well again this day as she slept through most of the service and the gathering afterwards. She was passed around a lot that day as there were several relatives who were meeting her for the first time. Thank you to Pastor Jill for making the service special and to all our family that witnessed the day with us! A special thank you to Stacy and Dave for standing up there with us and being Libby's godparents.

Here are a few pictures of the baptism:

Pator Jill baptising Elizabeth Rose Mills!

Godparents Stacy and Dave with Denise, Libby and myself

Denise and myself with Elizabeth.

The grandparents with Pastor Jill, Denise, Libby and myself.

How Libby spent most of her day, being held and sleeping!

Godfather Dave and Godmother Stacy!

Denise's parents with Libby!

My parents with Libby.

Four generations of Soderberg/Jasmers, myself, great grandma Mildred Soderberg (Jasmer), Libby and Grandma Vicky Mills (Soderberg).

Pictures of Libby

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIBBY

Our baby girl is 7 weeks old today!

Mommy & Daddy love you!!

It Has Been A While

I know, it has been a couple of weeks since we last updated the blog. So, we will try and get you caught up on what has been going on with the Mills Family.

Denise and I are both back to work. I went back to Lakewood Health System on October 6th and Denise went back to Verizon (formerly Unicel) on October 15th. It has been going fairly well as we have been doing a rotation on the night time feedings. So far, I have been working later shifts in Staples, so I have been getting up a half hour early to get Elizabeth fed and changed so that Denise can get ready at a less rushed pace. We have not quite decided how it is going to work when I work the early shift at Staples since that means I have to be out of the house a little after 6 in the morning. But we will only have to do that for one week because...........

I have landed a job in Alexandria. During my paternity leave, I had an interview with a company called Prime West (www.primewest.org). They are a non-profit medical assistance provider for the residents of 13 counties in western Minnesota. They focus on education and prevention as ways to help keep health care costs down for their customers. My position is a Utilization Management Specialist, kind of a catch all since I will be the bottom rung on the ladder, but a majority of my duties will be working on prior authorizations in their growing dental division. I will also be helping out in the pharmaceutical and medical prior authorization areas also since the UMS unit is all one area. I will be starting there on November 3rd.

What this means for us as a family is that I will be 10 minutes from home instead of an hour and fifteen minutes. It also means a little bit of a pay raise, which always is nice, and no weekend work. It is also considered a government position as everything is run through the county from a benefits standpoint. Denise will be able to drop Libby off at daycare in the morning and I will be able to pick her up in the evening. It may cut into our hockey travels some since I can't take vacation days during my six month probation period. But that is a sacrifice we will make for this excellent opportunity.

As for Libby, she has been spending the days with Grandma Rosemary and Grampa Curtis and it seems to be going well. We will be getting her pictures back from Grace Park Photography here soon and will get them up on the blog shortly there after. This upcoming weekend will be a big one for her as she will attend her first Bemidji State Hockey games. Those will take place on Friday and Saturday night and then Sunday morning, she will be baptized in Verndale at the United Methodist Church by Pastor Jill (the same one as our wedding).

So, that is about it from here. Libby is a little over six weeks old now and as close as we can tell, between 13 and 14 pounds. She is growing well and getting stronger in the neck, arms and legs. She hasn't quite rolled over yet since the accidental one early on, but if she ever figured out how to work her hips and shoulders at the same time, she would have it.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Denise, Troy and Libby

Happy One Month Birthday!

I know it has been a bit since I last posted, but there has not been a whole lot going on here. But today seemed like as good a day as any to post since Elizabeth has now been in our lives for one month, and what a month it has been. I don't think either one of us would trade it for anything, and that is including the 2 1/2 hours of sitting up at night. It has had its rough spots, but with both of us on leave, it has been manageable. Next week will be interesting as I have to go back to work and Denise will have 10 more days off.

We haven't been completely home bound though. We did make it up to Verndale to see them play Bertha-Hewitt in football and took Grampa and Grandma Mills with us. It was a historic night as Verndale's football coach set the state record for career wins at 308, and Libby was there to witness it (even if she did sleep through most of it).

We have had a chance to get some newborn photos taken, and I will post a couple of them here at the end. We took advantage of a deal Walmart was running and got a package done through them. Those are the two pictures I will have at the end of the post. We also went to the Cities for a day and had her pictures taken at Grace Park Photography. This studio is run out of a house and my sister has used them for pictures of Abby and Maddy. We have absolutely loved the results of their pictures, so we are very anxious to see what we get for Elizabeth. Once they arrive, I will post some of them on here.

Last weekend, we again made the trip up to Verndale to see Grampa and Grandma Mills, Great Grandma Millie, Auntie Stacy and Cousins Abby and Maddy.

Other than that, we have been busy getting the house and yard ready for winter. I was able to get the lawn dethatched, aerated, fertilized and over seeded. We have also done some cleaning and weatherstripping, and this weekend will probably be spent organizing the basement storage. Then Monday, it is back to work for me!

Now, here are the pictures, both of which came from Libby's Walmart shoot!