The Mastins

Two & a Half

2012-02-16T20:14:00.000-06:00

I'm a few weeks late, but Miller is officially two and a half years old. I wanted to be sure and document a few of his favorite things right now and some of our favorite things he says. I've been putting off this post, because I wanted to include some pictures but that's just not happening these days. Sorry folks.

Favorite song to listen to: "Noah" ("Arky Arky")

Favorite song to sing: "Baby Jesus" ("Away in a Manger")
Favorite books: A Crack in the Track, The Thinks You Can Think, ABC Jamboree, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Favorite Toy: train table
Favorite Foods: milk, bananas, biscuits, cheese, avocado, raisins, fruit snacks

Some of Miller's cute words/sayings:

polka dotty (his polka dot blanket)
dat's si-yee (That's silly)
doowin? (What are you doing?)
Sure is
oh dear
baby jo (Betty Jo - his great grandmother)
baby daddy (Baby Addie - Kendall and Will's baby girl)
tomato (tornado)
Wanna cuddle mommy?

He also uses the pronoun "my" instead of "I". For example, instead of saying "I want to get down" he'll say "Want my get down".

We potty trained Miller this past weekend and he is doing pretty well so far. We've made it a few days with no accidents and the other days he's only had one each day. Today he had an accident at school which got his shoes wet so he was barefoot when I picked him up. On the way home he told me he had to tee-tee. Since I'm not really sure how long I have when he says that I pulled over and had him go on the side of the road. So there we were. He had on no shoes, his pants around his ankles, peeing on the side of the road. I didn't look like a redneck at all.

We also seemed to have officially hit the "terrible twos" this week. He usually gets a good report whenever I leave him somewhere (school, church nursery, gym nursery, etc). This week almost every time we went somewhere he got in trouble. Each teacher said something along the lines of, "He just wasn't himself today." Well, after four days I think we can officially call it a pattern. Therefore we're stepping up our discipline game and not letting anything slide. Hopefully we'll be back on track soon. He's also in a big "I do it myself" phase. So that's fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's learning to be independent and there are certainly lots of things he can do by himself even if he struggles some. However, there are also lots of things that at two and a half he cannot do by himself and he doesn't like that one bit.

Even though spending my days with a two year old offers many moments of frustration, I wouldn't trade it for anything. His contagious laugh or one sweet cuddle from him can turn my day around in an instant. Love that boy.

Catching Up

2012-02-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

In order to catch you up with what we've been up to, I'm going to have to jump all over the place. Hope you can hang with me :)

1. Last week Miller woke up from his nap to find a present waiting for him outside of his door. It is his very own potty and he has been all about trying to use it.

I wasn't even going to attempt potty training until after baby #2 arrives, but he has been so interested lately that we're going to give it a try. Since he has the desire, but can't quite figure out how it all "works" we're going to try the 3-day potty training method. Basically we'll stay home for three days straight, drink LOTS of fluids, and hang out in underwear {him, not me} until he makes the connection to when he has to go and getting to the potty on time. Wish us luck! Our three days start on Friday morning. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but I know it's like many things in parenting. I cannot let him smell my fear ;)

2. Our sweet adult Sunday School class threw a Girls Night Out/Baby Shower for Jenny Jones and me. It was so much fun to hang out with girls, finish a whole meal without feeding anyone else, and open many precious gifts. We were so busy having fun that we only remembered to take one picture as we were about to walk out the door.

3. This weekend we got to celebrate this pretty girl's first birthday.

{The pretty girl on the right, not the left. Just in case you were confused.} You can see all of the precious party details here. Miller could not wait to get his hands on a cupcake. He may or may not have gotten his hands on two or three, but only one was allowed in his mouth.

We tried to get a picture of the smallest party guests. As you can see, it went really well.

4. I have been busy "nesting" these days. We moved Miller into his big boy room {he is still in his crib though} last night and I'm trying to reorganize some of his toys since his new room is the former playroom. I'll be sure to snap some pics of the new room soon. As part of the toy reorganization, I've been wanting to come up with some fun, creative activities that will keep Miller's little hands and brain busy. He has a gazillion million toys, but honestly he walks right by most of them and acts bored after playing with them for about two minutes. I found this great website with some terrific ideas for toddlers. We've only done a few of them, but so far they have all been a hit! Miller LOVES these little pom-poms {or cotton balls as he calls them} and has found so many ways to play with them. I'll be sure to let you know if any of the activities flop. I'm steering clear of anything involving rice or paint :)

5. Last, but definitely not least we have been fervently praying for "Aunt Amy".

Amy is married to my step-brother, Jay, and was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Amy and Jay have precious twins, Ty and Mia, that are almost two and a half. Tomorrow she will undergo a double mastectomy and your prayers would be greatly appreciated!! You can read about her progress and leave an encouraging message if you wish here.

Sorry for all of the randomness! Hopefully I won't be gone so long again and get so far behind :)

Stir Crazy

2012-01-24T21:41:00.000-06:00

We were getting a little stir crazy around here the past two weeks. Thank goodness for a little bit of pretty weather yesterday and a gorgeous day today! Miller was sick with a cold or something about a week ago, so that kept us locked up for a few days. It's especially hard with a sick baby because we didn't go to any of our normal activities for fear of getting other kids sick. After he was better we had a cold, rainy stretch which kept us inside also, but at least we could get back into our routine. Anyone with a toddler knows how crucial outside time is. Here's a peek at how me managed...

Miller learned to play Memory {kind of}

Miller played Daddy's "cowboy" {That's "gameboy" if you're not familiar with toddlerese.}

Mommy and Daddy took advantage of snuggles when he was sick.

I tried to give Miller a few free passes since he didn't feel good. Meltdowns were quite frequent regardless. The poor kid couldn't figure out what he wanted.

I realized I wasn't the only stir-crazy one when I found him in the recycling bin.

We broke out the blocks Miller got for Christmas. He was so proud when he built this train track and "tunnel" all by himself. He came running to get me and left it up all day so that he could show daddy.

And lastly, we watched a little too much tv. We watched Robots for the first time {a Christmas gift from Poppy} and Miller thinks it's hysterical. The first time we watched it he laughed through the entire thing. That is all he wants to watch now.

Sorry for the blurry phone pics.

Thursday I got a really fun email from our architectural designer telling me our preliminary plans would be ready Friday. We have been scouring the plans for minor detail changes, but overall we love them! So exciting!

Family Pictures

2012-01-15T13:46:00.000-06:00

A couple of months ago we had some family pictures taken. I just realized the other day that I never posted them on my blog so here are a few of our favorites. April Stanley took the pictures and did a wonderful job. If you're a local, I'd definitely recommend her!

A Shopping We Will Go

2012-01-07T17:43:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I hope I didn't sound too depressed in my last post about the house deal falling through. I was a little bummed of course, but I realize that whatever the Lord's purposes may have been in all of that, He is good. I trust that He will provide a buyer for us when the time is right, and guess what - even if He doesn't, He is still good.

I've just returned from a day of shopping in Huntsville. Well, I guess you can call it shopping. I didn't actually buy anything, but I picked out a whole lot. I had a list of several stores to visit to begin choosing materials for the home we'll build. Once our plans are complete and we have a list of materials, we plan to let a few builders bid it out for us before settling on one. To say this is a little overwhelming would be an understatement. Choosing every single thing that will go in your house takes a lot of thought and time. While I'm loving it and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to build, I'm a little nervous that everything I pick out will look ridiculous together and I'll botch the whole thing. I had to give myself a reality check today and remember the verse, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy..." The truth of the matter is even if everything I pick out is hideous it will still be a nice, warm home for our family and that's all that really matters. Still, it wouldn't hurt if it looked good too ;)

So dear bloggers, I'm hoping you can help me with this process a bit. The biggest difficulty I ran into today was choosing lighting. I have decided to use brushed nickel on my hardware inside (I'm using black iron on the outside I think). However, I'm not crazy about most brushed nickel lighting. So, I'm trying to figure out how much variation will look good and when I cross the line of looking like the items in my house were chosen by seven different people who never met. So, here is what I'm thinking for the kitchen. I like these kitchens and I'm choosing similar colors/materials...

Today I found this pendent light for over the island that I like. It was actually just about the only satin light that I really, really liked. The picture doesn't do it justice. They have a larger version as well depending on how large our island ends up being (the plans aren't finished so I'm not sure).

So I'm pretty happy with that one. Next, I was thinking I would do a light with a big drum shade in the dining room. The place I looked today could order this one...

with a different shade. Probably one of these fabrics... (it would be solid fabric without those lines all over it)

I like that one ok, but it's a pretty pricey and I don't absolutely love it. Maybe because I couldn't see it in person. The light I had most trouble with was one for the foyer. I picked this one out for the front porch in front of the door...

I couldn't find a nickel light that I loved for the foyer. Seriously, this was the best I could find.

The metal is actually kind of cool because it's kind of hammered (or something), but I'm really not a fan of the glass. What do y'all think? Since I have the black lantern just before you walk through the door, could I get away with a darker metal in the foyer?

As for bathroom lighting and fans, I need to pay more attention to what I like. I've never really noticed these lights. I guess that's a good sign that it won't matter too much if I don't pick the perfect one :)

Thanks for your help, friends!

Healthy Baby & Bum House Deal

2012-01-05T14:50:00.000-06:00

That's basically the two headlines from our week. Yesterday, we had our ultrasound and found at that we are having a healthy {as far as they can tell} baby BOY! We are so excited for Miller to have a little buddy and feel blessed to have received a good report from the doctor. When I told Miller he was having a baby brother he obviously didn't get it. Then I asked him what we should name his little brother and he responded, "Abraham". Hysterical. Now, don't get me wrong we've talked about Abraham from the Bible so it's not completely out of the blue. However, we've also talked about Joseph, Noah, Jesus, Elijah, Moses, and Jacob so it's kind of funny to me that he zeroed in on Abraham. While there are certainly worse names he could choose, I think we'll bypass that suggestion. At least Miller has an idea though. That's more than we have at this point. We. are. clueless. The good news is we still have several months to decide on a name.

I had Bryant snap a picture of me with his phone before we went to the appointment since I can never remember to get a baby bump picture when I look halfway decent. So, here I am at twenty-one weeks.

Not a great picture, but you can see a bit of a bump. I am pretty much past all of the nausea I had, but it still sneaks up on me every now and then. I have started having a good deal of pressure in my lower abdomen and pain on my tailbone. This could be explained by how low baby boy is. The ultrasound tech could barely get a picture of his head because he is so low. Hopefully, he'll head north a bit so that he won't fall out before May :) This could also explain why I need a restroom every five minutes. I had my first bout with Braxton Hicks contractions on Christmas night. I've had them almost everyday since then, so I'm trying to hydrate and rest more to ward those off a bit. While the busyness of Christmas might have brought those on, the food of the season helped me head the right direction on the scales. I've gained four pounds since my last appointment five weeks ago so that's good. So far, I've gained five pounds total. It is so crazy to think that I am past the halfway mark in my pregnancy. Baby boy will be here before we know it.

Now for the other big news of the week, you may recall that we were supposed to be moving this weekend. Supposed to being the keywords. The last few weeks have been a bit of a roller-coaster as we've tried to work towards closing. Our buyer's loan fell through, she got another one. The new loan required a home inspection, it went fine. Our buyer's house got water/moisture under it last week, her buyer was unsure if they still wanted to buy it, today our buyer's buyer officially backed out. So, we are not moving anytime soon since our buyer can't pay for our house without selling hers first. She does still want our house and we have a contingency contract with her for now. Hopefully, someone will come along and buy her house, but I'm not holding my breath. So for now, I need to get my house back into order since there were many things I kept putting off until we moved. Wish me luck in hooking up our wireless printer : /

Birthday Fun

2012-01-03T10:35:00.001-06:00

Saturday we celebrated Hays and Hunter's 2nd birthday. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we took full advantage letting the kids play outside on all of the twins fun riding toys. It really helped that there were two of every toy since there were so many kids. Miller must have ridden a hundred miles that day!

Will broke out their miniature horse, Prince, for a few rides.

After the kids had worked up a good appetite it was time for grub!

And of course cupcakes!

Happy birthday, Hunter and Hays! We love you very much and we hope to share many more birthdays with each of you!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

2011-12-27T13:51:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning, we were prepped and ready to celebrate our savior's birth!

Miller was so excited about his train table. He didn't want to want to open any other presents and it took some real persuasion to get him to pause long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blow out the candle. That's pretty huge since blowing out candles is pretty much his favorite thing to do. It was so sweet to hear him sing to our Lord Jesus. I know he doesn't comprehend what a gift Christ is, but it is still so amazing to watch him learn about Him.

He was also pretty pumped to get to have "cake" for breakfast. Little did he know it was whole wheat banana bread ;) After "cake", Bryant and I exchanged gifts while Miller played with this train table. Look what the hubby gave me!

I am super excited about my new wide angle-telephoto lens and definitely look like a member of the Paparazzi now. It still has a great aperture value and I look forward to some fantastic pictures, both near and far! This lens came with a hood which I've never used, but from the little bit I've read sounds like it would be good to use. Thoughts from any more "professional" photographers out there? Miller finally came around to looking in his stocking and I think he was pleased.

Once we had opened all of our little family's gifts and spent some time playing, we got ready to go to Bryant's parents' house for a late breakfast and opening gifts. Once again, it was hard to get Miller away from his train table. Once again, as soon as the camera started rolling he toned it down a notch. Prior to this video he was very insistently replying "no presents play with Mill-Mill's trains".

I finally gave up on trying to get him completely dressed. So he's in half clothes/half pjs. It wasn't a battle worth fighting. We finally made it to Nana and Papa Frank's for a delicious breakfast, many wonderful gifts, and time with family. By the time we got there, Miller was no longer insisting on "no presents" and happily accepting them all. ;)

Christmas this year was really special with Miller being a little older and able to understand more. We weren't great with our Jesse tree {I think we only discussed and hung eleven of the twenty-five ornaments}, but it was still amazing to see how many of the Bible stories Miller remembered. Next year I vow to be better!! Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!

Christmas Parties

2011-12-25T21:01:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! I'm going to back up a bit and post about some Christmas parties we had this past week. Bryant's family is all about some Christmas parties so we were busy, busy, busy for the past several days. On Thursday we gathered with my mother-in-law's siblings and their children/grandchildren. We had a delicious dinner and the kids exchanged gifts.

Mike and Deidra gave Miller this cute police motorcycle complete with a working siren. We had this inside for about ten minutes before I told Bryant it needed to be an outside toy. Miller liked to turn on the siren and leave it running even when he wasn't riding it. If I snuck over to turn it off he'd run back over, turn it on, then run off to play. Needless to say, I can think of about a thousand things I'd prefer to have as background noise than a police siren. It is perfect outside though!

I got to snuggle with sweet Molly for a while. Molly is the little girl of Bryant's cousin, Mallory. She was so snuggleicious.

The next night we went back to Margaret's for Christmas with the Ainsworths. The Mastin and Ainsworth families have been getting together to celebrate Christmas for the past twenty years or so. Of course, it was much easier to get everyone together when the kids were little and the families lived right across the street from each other. We had a pretty good group this year, but we missed Shannon, Austin, and their families.

Sorry this picture is blurry. I need to show Bryant how to set my camera on automatic mode if he's going to take a snapshot. It was the closest thing we had to a group shot though!

More baby snuggles. I got to see Malley, my sweet niece, a lot this weekend.

Saturday morning {Christmas Eve}, Margaret had her annual brunch for some of the ladies in her extended family. We had to take the annual "kids" on the stairs picture.

And the annual adult picture. Somehow I snuck into the kids picture even though my recent birthday makes me anything but a kid.

That evening we gathered with Bryant's immediate family and his grandmother, Betty Jo, for the Christmas Eve service at their church. They don't have a nursery, so it's always a bit of a gamble when taking small children. Miller did surprisingly well and loved the candlelight part at the end. Malley was doing great as well; that is until I picked Miller up and didn't pay attention to the fact that his shoe swung right into her face. Ouch. Sorry Malley girl!! Miller and Malley got a lot of playtime in this weekend. It made me very aware of how much we're going to have to work on the definition of the word "gentle" before the baby comes in May. Poor Malley got pushed around quite a bit. Don't worry Malley girl, Aunt Whitney's got your back. We're working on it.

After the service we went back to Margaret's house for a yummy dinner which was cooked by Betty Jo and a few gifts.

It was a great few days with friends and family! Stay tuned for a post about the big day!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day is filled with fun, family, and most of all worship and praise of the One who was sent to save you! Be back soon with an overview of our Christmas. For now, I'm buried in wrapping paper, boxes, and gifts!

The Big 3-0

2011-12-22T22:10:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right. Yesterday I had a pretty big birthday. It feels really strange to say that I'm thirty and somehow I still can't quite believe it. My friends and family didn't disappoint in making me feel loved and special. My day began with a "happy birthday" from my baby boy {after a little prompting from my mom of course} and, per his request, a candle in my cheese toast which he helped me blow out. After breakfast I got ready for a spa day that my sweet husband planned for me. Kendall made plans to come along which made it even more fun. My mom was kind enough to drive up to keep Miller so that said spa did could actually occur. Thanks, Mom! Kendall and I enjoyed pedicures, a yummy lunch, massages, facials, and lots of uninterrupted conversation. So far thirty feels pretty primped and relaxed ;) Unfortunately, we never got a picture together because we looked pretty rough most of the day. {Gotta love the massage-oil-in-your-hair-look.} After we got cleaned up and dressed, we did a little shopping until Bryant got to Huntsville and picked me up. From there we went to dinner at Commerce Kitchen and then to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie.

Add to that the many messages and calls I received from so many of you and I'd say it was a pretty fantastic day! And as if Bryant hadn't already done enough, he gave me tickets for us to go see Wicked in February!! Yay! I've been wanting to see it for years and I'm so excited!

Thanks for making an old lady feel special everybody! ;)

Christmas - Take Two

2011-12-19T21:50:00.000-06:00

We traveled to Birmingham this weekend for Christmas with Poppy & Cissy. As always, Poppy had quite a few toys and activities planned. Miller loved the train that Poppy has around his Christmas tree and spent a lot of time turning it off and on.

Saturday morning, Santa made a special trip to see Miller and bring him a couple of gifts.

After Santa came, Miller played with Poppy & Cissy so that Bryant and I could go shopping and have lunch. It was such a treat to have a quiet lunch out!

That night we all went to the Zoolight Safari. The weather changed on me and I didn't pack accordingly. I think Miller was the only child who wasn't bundled up appropriately. I felt so bad, but he didn't seem to mind.

Snow! {Man-made of course - it wasn't that cold}

Miller wanted to touch every. single. light. In the whole zoo.

We made the mistake of mentioning the train at the zoo. It was all Miller could talk about all afternoon. After quite a bit of line-waiting, we finally boarded.

It really was a nice ride, complete with a bell from Santa along the way. Miller loved it. However, I am not exaggerating when I say that the second the train stopped, Miller started chanting "carousel". So that's exactly where we headed next.

We could have stayed for hours there was so much to do, but we had to get the little man home for dinner and bedtime. He had a rough weekend sleep-wise. The next morning we exchanged gifts with everyone.

Bryant got these little finger flashlights in his stocking and they were a big hit with Miller Man. He wore them around all morning.

Brad and Lauren got Miller this Thomas train to play in and he was so excited! It folds up really easily and will be awesome to pull out on rainy days.

This is hysterical. Remember when I said we should have just given him a box of leaves? Well, that's exactly what Uncle Brad did. Miller was soooooo excited! Honestly. Out of all the gifts he received, this one got the biggest reaction. It was so funny!

After the excitement of the leaves had worn off, we all got dressed to play outside awhile before we drove home. I caught this shot of Miller and Bryant and just thought it was too precious not to share.

Love. I am one blessed girl. Thanks for a fun weekend, Poppy & Cissy!

Miller's School Party

2011-12-15T20:04:00.000-06:00

First, I stand corrected. The game I was referring to in my last post is called "Chubby Bunny" not "Fuzzy Bunny" {which makes much more sense by the way}. Thanks to my friend, Blair, for refreshing my memory. Bryant still hasn't heard of it. Perhaps we'll have to play a round later so he can get the idea of why it is funny to watch someone stuff their face with marshmallows and try to repeat the phrase, "Chubby Bunny". Of course, he may have to watch himself in the mirror since my gag reflex is still pretty jacked up.

Now on to new business, Wednesday and Thursday Miller had Christmas parties at school {he goes on a weird schedule which is why he had two parties}. Wednesday I arrived a little early and got to watch the class sing a few songs from the hallway. Pure preciousness.

Day two with Santa.

Miller was giving Reagan some sweet hugs. Is she not absolutely adorable?

We of course had to get a pic with our best buds, Hays and Hunter.

Both days Miller got to make some "reindeer food". He refused to put his bag down in the car on the way home and would not rest until we sprinkled it in the backyard. As soon as he dumped it out, he started looking around saying, "reindeer". I'm pretty sure he thought reindeer were going to show up immediately and eat their snack he made for them. Needless to say, we had a bit of a meltdown. Thankfully, today it was raining when we got home and by the time he was up from his nap he'd already forgotten about the bag of magic food.

It's going to be a loooong few weeks with no school ;)

Christmas - Take One

2011-12-14T22:10:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we had our first of many Christmas celebrations at Pop and Gran's house. Miller is definitely "getting" Christmas a lot more this year, and I don't just mean the present opening part. He is learning a lot about the Christmas story and that makes me oh so happy. I pray that he learns and understands the true reason we celebrate. We really want to make an effort to keep it from becoming a holiday of greed, as it is for many people sadly. That being said, we did of course exchange gifts and it was fun to watch Miller light up as he opened gifts and the joy on his face as he gave our gifts to others.

Uncle Brad gave him a basketball, football and soccer ball set. Daddy wasn't too fond of the logo, but they're just the right size for Miller's little hands and feet.

Miller received a few Chuggington DVDs, which is a favorite of his right now. He also discovered jelly beans and was happy to sit with daddy and make him share a few.

Miller was all about helping people open their gifts this year. He'd been eying Lauren's pink present under our tree for weeks and tried to open it a few times. He was excited when it was finally time to help her open it.

Funny memory: There was a pair of yellow "scissors" in the playdoh set Mom gave Miller. They can't cut anything except playdoh, but after he saw us using scissors to open various boxes, etc. he decided he needed to use his to open every present, too. Here he is helping Brad open his box.

After the gifts were opened, it was time to break-in a few of the new toys.

We came to the conclusion that we should have just wrapped up boxes full of rocks, sticks, and leaves. He found a big leaf pile at the bottom of the seawall and, after daddy inspected it, he must have jumped into it a million times.

Where's Waldo?

That evening Miller and Bryant built a fire in the fire-pit outside so that we could make s'mores. Miller loved them, but he wasn't really patient enough to actually roast the marshmallows. He ended up looking like a contestant in Fuzzy Bunny. {Bryant just laughed at me and said he's never heard of that game. Please tell me you know what I'm talking about!}

The next day it was time for us to head home, but mom wanted us to attempt a few family pictures while everyone was actually dressed {a rare occasion since we're usually in our pajamas or bathing suits at their house}. Miller was really excited about the photo session.

And then we gave up. Oh well, maybe next ~~time~~ decade we'll get a good one. Thanks for a wonderful, early Christmas Pop & Gran!

Seventeen Weeks & Big News

2011-12-10T13:47:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I am seventeen weeks pregnant and feeling a little guilty about my lack of documentation for this sweet second child. I was pretty sick between around eight and fifteen weeks. I still have occasional nausea and... well, the product of nausea :) I have noticed an improvement in my appetite during the last week or so and food is starting to taste good again. Hallelujah. I lost a pound between weeks eight and twelve, but gained two pounds the next month. So overall, I'm up one pound. I'm pretty sure December is going to help me pack a few pounds on, especially since my appetite is returning. I'm beginning to get a little baby bump, although I'm still in that awkward in between phase where I just feel like I have a gut.

I had some excitement on December 4th when I felt the baby move for the first time! I love feeling this precious little life within me and I'm so thankful to be able to experience pregnancy again. Especially now that I'm feeling a little better ;) Hopefully we'll know the sex in about a week!!

Now for the big news {for those of you who don't already know}...we sold our house! Here's the story: We had it on the market last Spring, but the house we wanted to buy sold before we could sell ours. We took ours off the market and begin making plans to build. We have an architectural designer working on a floor plan for us right now. Our plan was to get the house started and then put our current house back on the market sometime this Spring or Summer depending on how the building was progressing. We hoped there would be an ideal situation where a buyer wanted our house just as the new one was ready, but realized that more than likely we'd either be in a rental for a few months or worse, end up with two mortgages for a while. Our old realtor called last week and asked if we'd show our house to someone who looked at it before and liked it. We decided it couldn't hurt and wouldn't you know it, she made an offer! After lots of prayer and a little negotiating, we feel like it's a good offer and a wise decision to go ahead and sell since the housing market is still not great. We think we have found a rental house that we will move into in January, yes I said JANUARY. Our closing is set for January 6th as of now. We plan to pack up a lot of things up we can do without for a while, leave them boxed up in storage {or a garage if our rental house has one}, and live a very simple, functional life while we build. December is already such a busy month and I don't want to rush through Christmas. I'm going to try and pack a little before Christmas, but will probably cram most of it into the last week of December and the first week of January. Prayers for sanity over the next month or two would be greatly appreciated!!

Let the festivities begin!

2011-12-06T20:22:00.000-06:00

Miller and I went to Birmingham this weekend and while I was busy Christmas shopping, Poppy & Cissy kept Miller busy with lots of Christmas fun! On Saturday they went to Calera to ride the train with Santa. Miller is really into trains these days so it was right up his alley.

My cousin's husband, Matt, went along with their little girl, Olivia, and his sister, Kate.

Miller is still talking about his Christmas tree cookie that he got to eat. Yum!

Miller was not a big fan of Santa. {Side note: Whenever he sees a Santa ornament or figurine, he calls him, "Noah". I have to admit, the children's Bibles we have all depict him with a long white beard and a robe so I can see his confusion.}

After a busy day for everyone, it was nice to relax at home.

On Sunday afternoon, they took Miller to the Galleria to ride the carousel while I was at a baby shower for my friend, Katie.

I think he had more fun than this picture depicts. Thanks for a great weekend, Poppy & Cissy!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T19:02:00.000-06:00

Happy {very belated} Thanksgiving! I have much to be thankful for and it was a great few days with family. {If you have a short attention span, you may need your ritalin before reading this post - it will be long and not exactly sequential. You've been warned.} We went to Pop and Gran's this year and were so glad and Brad and Lauren could join us too.

We had some beautiful weather while we were there and Miller absolutely loved playing outside in all of the leaves and throwing rocks in the lake.

Brad even found some cardboard for Miller to use as a sled. He LOVED it!

I didn't get him on video that day, but the next day I was sure to take my Flip out.

I even caught Pop in on the action!

Miller was also loving eating his "pop icicle" that he helped make, until I tried to get a shot of him with Pop and Gran. Complete meltdown {no pun intended}.

Once he got back in a pile of leaves, he was over it though.

On Thanksgiving Day, Pop and Gran whipped up quite the feast. We started with an appetizer created by Pop: a roasted mini pepper stuffed with goat/cream cheese, raisins, and toasted walnuts with a balsamic reduction glaze.

I think he was saying, "I want one!"

For our second course we had Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish.

Our main meal consisted of normal Thanksgiving foods: turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, cranberry sauce.... have I forgotten anyone??

And dessert was pumpkin with white chocolate bread pudding served with a warm butter rum sauce.

I was thankful to be feeling a little better so that I could enjoy most of the delicious food, although I was still pretty picky {sorry, Pop!}

Besides all of the playing outside and the yummy meals we had, we did a lot of relaxing inside.

On Saturday, Pop and Gran watched Miller so that Bryant and I could go to Auburn for the game. We had a good time catching up with friends and having the day to ourselves, but needless to say he was a little happier than I was. Boo for no Christmas lights this year :(

Whew, I told you that one was gonna be a doozey. I'll leave you with this picture:

Miller was eating broccoli, butternut squash risotto, and lobster when he pointed to a crystal candlestick and said, "Turn that candle on." Of course Gran obliged. He may or may not be a little spoiled.

If you stuck it out to the end, you deserve a medal! Happy Thanksgiving blogosphere!

Miller's Preschool Program

2011-11-19T13:36:00.001-06:00

Thursday Miller's school put on their annual Thanksgiving Program. As always it was short and sweet, but oh so adorable.

Hunter and Hays are in the one year old class and made the cutest turkeys. I just love this picture. It looks like they're thinking, "What the heck is on your head?"

Miller didn't sing a single word. He stood there with this blank expression for about the first minute...

until he spotted us. He got so excited when he saw us. He still didn't sing, but he at least smiled the rest of the time and attempted a few of the motions.

Betty Jo was so sweet to take some time out of her day to come to the grand performance. Miller was excited to see her.

Our attempt at a family shot = total fail.

Here's a video of the program. We didn't have our Flip Camera so we had to use Bryant's iPhone. I must say that while I'm thankful this handy device has the technology to video, I sure did miss my Flip. It took me about six times longer to edit and upload this video than it usually does. Sorry the quality isn't great, but you get the idea. In case you're having trouble spotting him, he's the third pilgrim from the end. The short one.

It should also be noted that during nap time that afternoon Miller never fell asleep, but instead sang the "turkey song" from the program over and over again for almost two hours. I guess he's a private performer. Maybe next year he'll sing a little for the crowd. :)

Fall's First Fire

2011-11-17T14:40:00.000-06:00

We had our first fire of the season a few nights ago when the temperature dropped. Bryant loves building fires and I certainly don't mind relaxing in front of one with a mug of cocoa. As for Miller, he loves to help Daddy with fires and so far he's been pretty good about obeying the rule of not going near the fireplace without Daddy.

Good fire boys! I think we may need another one tonight!

#24

2011-11-10T21:20:00.000-06:00

Not this #24...

or this one...

this one!

Kate {along with Scott & Malley} returned to her Alma Mater today to play in a alumnae game at the grand opening of Boaz High School's new gym. We were so excited to go and be a part of her fan club! I made Miller and Malley some really fancy t-shirts to support Kate.

I think Papa Frank was pretty happy to see his baby girl back in action and both of his grand-babies sporting Boaz gear.

Miller wasn't crazy about the Boaz shirt as first, but he warmed up to it after a while. I think he's a wildcat at heart ;)

Kate played really well and it was so much fun to watch! Miller thought it was pretty cool to see her out there and he was dieing to get on the court himself. He had to settle for playing on the bleacher stairs {and almost busting his face again}.

As we were leaving we noticed several pieces of Kate Mastin memorabilia. She's pretty much a rock-star.

In other news, Miller's face seems to be healing well. I took him to the dentist for the first time the morning after his fall. Dr. Conley put him on an antibiotic to prevent infection which could cause an abscess. He said that his teeth looked ok, but that from what he could tell at this point his two front teeth might turn gray as they start to die. The good news is that there usually aren't any problems or complications with this. The bad news is they may stay gray until he loses those teeth naturally, which won't be for another three to five years. The vanity in me is really hoping they don't change colors, but I'm so very thankful that the fall didn't cause more damage. Here we are waiting to be seen by the dentist...

Here's a closeup of his mouth from tonight. The swelling has gone way down and the scabs look like they're healing well. So far, no gray teeth, although you might be able to tell that his top right front tooth is a little black at the top.

Thankfully our photographer was sweet enough to let us reschedule our session for next weekend. Hopefully by then any remaining marks will be small enough to photoshop. {Am I allowed to use that word as a verb?}

Have a great weekend everyone!

Miller vs. Pavement

2011-11-08T18:20:00.001-06:00

The pavement won.

He wanted to call you all and tell you about it.

I told him it would be faster for me to just blog. Poor little buddy. Out of all the crazy, dangerous things he does as a two year old, he got this bloody nose and fat lip scooting along on a riding toy in Kendall's driveway. Somehow he flipped right over the front and his face broke his fall.

In related news, we have a professional photo session scheduled for this Saturday. Hopefully he won't look like a boxer by then.

Happy Halloween! (a little late)

2011-11-02T11:14:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! We had such a fun weekend and I hope your family did as well. My mom and John came up for the weekend and it was so great to see them. On Saturday we went to the Whole Backstage in town for a Fall Festival. Miller loved all of the blow-up games and it was a beautiful day for them!

His favorite thing to do was come in and out of the jump house since the entrance looked like a slide.

On Sunday night we went to our church for Trunk-or-Treat. Miller kind of got the hang of trick-or-treating this year, although he rarely actually said "trick-or-treat". When we'd approach a car I'd say, "What do you say if you want candy?" and he'd respond with "Please". I guess that's better anyway ;)

Ms. Sally

Ms. Jill

Ella Kate and Miller giving each other hug. So stinkin' sweet.

The Hawk family had a s'more station setup complete with a fire-pit. It was such a cute idea and Miller loved it! Here he is roasting his first marshmallow.

Trying out his first s'more. Mmmm....

Ms. Janice

Joel (our preacher) and his wife, Janice, dressed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth. Hysterical.

We finished the night off with a hayride and I didn't manage to get any pictures. It was Miller's favorite part though and he's still talking about it.

On Monday night, actual Halloween, we went to the Methodist church for their Fall Festival. It took Miller a while to warm up to the crowd and the new place, but after a few games he was all about it.

After leaving the church, we stopped by the fire station to trick-or-treat and of course my camera battery died :( I got one snapshot of Miller getting candy, but I didn't get to capture any of his excitement from seeing all of the fire trucks up close. Lesson learned about checking my battery.

Whew! I'm tired just remembering all we did this weekend! Miller has asked me every morning if he can wear his "dog cartoon" and carry his "pumkin". I'd say it was a hit!

Party Animal

2011-10-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

First things first, thank you for all of the sweet comments and well wishes! I had actually been feeling a little better the past few days and then... today happened. It was ugly.

Thankfully, I was able to clean myself up and pull myself together for Miller's school Halloween party. He had parties at school yesterday and today. He goes on a weird two-day schedule which is why he had parties on both days. The first day I got there a little early and was able to watch the class sing a few songs. They were so precious and I was amazed at how well they all sat on their "color" and participated.

This is the first year Miller has picked out his costume which was fun. I took him to Target one day and he didn't like anything there. I was about to just pick something for him, but I wasn't really crazy about any of the ones they had left in his size either. Thankfully at Belk they had a few in his size and he chose this puppy dog costume, or "carnoon" as he calls it.

Miller and Saylor

Miller and Olivia

Snack time!

Gran got in town just in time for the party today {and just in time to take care of my child while I laid on the sofa and picked at food}.

Trick-or-Treating

Showing off his goodies

Hunter and Hays came to visit us after their party was over. It is about impossible to get a picture of all three boys looking at the camera and smiling. This was the best I could get.

Sweet Ms. Jennifer. Miller LOVES her. She is such an amazing teacher and we're so blessed to have her again this year. Thanks for a great party Ms. Jennifer!

Miller's News

2011-10-18T08:15:00.001-05:00

The word is out! Miller will be a big brother some time in May. May 16th is my exact due date, which happens to be Kendall's birthday. We told most people using that fancy t-shirt I made {I'm thinking about starting a small business}, but I left this on the front porch one day when Kendall was coming over to play with her boys.

The test was a couple days old so you can barely tell it's positive in this picture.

Here's the little peanut's first picture and a little more proof than just a blue line which allowed me to breathe a big sigh of relief.

I am ten weeks today and counting down the days until the first trimester is over. I'll spare you the gory details, but most days are not the best. I'm not expecting to win any mother-of-the-year awards this month. We've eaten a lot of leftovers and take-out, played outside very little, and watched more cartoons than I care to admit.

Hopefully this part will be over soon and I can get back to cooking, cleaning, working out, providing stimulating activities for my toddler, and brushing my teeth more thoroughly (major gag). Bryant has been so helpful and has yet to complain about his mess of a wife or mess of a house. While I'm definitely ready for the sick part to be over, I'm so excited and feel so blessed to get to experience pregnancy and motherhood again. We are thanking the Lord and would covet your prayers for a healthy baby!

Forgot about this one...

2011-10-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

I was looking through some pictures on my iPhone and came across this sweet moment I had forgotten all about...

Miller is not a fan of the fire at the Japanese restaurant. He loves the waterfall there and the food, but he could do without the entertainment factor of the chef preparing his meal for him. Cuddles are rare from this toddler so we'll take them anyway we can get them.

Millerese

2011-10-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

ABC/Old McDonald Remix {you have to listen very closely for the "e-i-e-i-o"}:

Miller telling me about his day at Dream Duck a few weeks ago:

Fun in the ~~shower~~ waterfall!

Alabama's Homecoming

2011-10-11T21:05:00.001-05:00

Thursday night we went down to Tuscaloosa for a long weekend. Bryant played in a golf tournament that was a fundraiser for Alabama's golf team. Scott, our brother-in-law, is the assistant coach and put a lot of work into planning the tournament. Bryant hated to a take a day off work to play golf, but it's important to support family :) We took Miller out to the course Friday afternoon when they were announcing the winners and he had a blast. I hate we didn't get any pictures. He had lots of wide open space to run and loved rolling a ball into all of the holes on the practice green. The miniature flags in each hole were a hit, too.

After Miller's nap on Saturday, we went on campus for a little tailgating.

Miller insisted on walking the whole way from the car to the tailgate. He was mesmerized by all of the action.

One of Miller's favorite tailgating activities was kicking a pile of dirt. Isn't that what everyone does when tailgating?

Poppy stopped by to visit and play, too.

He brought Miller a little football which he loved. He, Miller and Scott had fun running a few plays.

We also got to see sweet Malley girl a lot this trip.

Sweet cousins

Next time we'll plan a little better so we can tailgate a little longer. It was a little rushed to get there, hangout a few minutes, and then head back to exchange Miller since he wasn't going to the game. I should have put Miller down for his nap sooner and we should have been ready to walk out the door as soon as he got up. Lesson learned.

Appropriately, Miller learned to say "Roll Tide" this weekend. It's pretty cute, although I can think of another phrase which would be even better ;)

Twenty-Six Months

2011-10-02T20:00:00.000-05:00

Miller is twenty-six months old today! I won't do a real detailed update, but I do want to note some of the words he's saying right now that I want to remember.

"cado" - avocado

"farfall" - waterfall

"snake" - steak

"chiglios" cheerios

"ogurt" - yogurt

"mama blue ogurt" - mama's blue yoga mat

"allfant" - elephant or muffin (??)

"strawbies" - strawberries

"oxagon" - hexagon

Here's what we've been up to this weekend...

Friday night we took Miller to his first football game. We went to our local high school's game and it was a fun night out! Miller didn't watch any of the game {shocking I know}, but he did run about a million miles, watch the band at halftime, cry whenever he saw the mascot, and pick up a few chicks.

Saturday morning Bryant took Miller up to Dream Duck so I could sleep in a little. I'd been up late helping at a 5th Quarter for our Youth Group. When they got back they did a little work that afternoon and spread some grass seed.

Today we went to church and I had to snap a picture of the cute outfit Nana got for him.

This afternoon we went to our church picnic and I'm so mad I forgot my camera. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't have had much time to take pictures. As usual, Miller. was. everywhere. That's what two year olds do though, right?

P.S. Please keep praying for Addie. In addition to Group B Strep, she has also been diagnosed with Pneumonia. :( Pray that the antibiotics kick in soon and she'll start making some improvement!

Addison Faith Ainsworth

2011-09-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know my best friend Kendall. We've been friends since our freshman year at Auburn and I'm so blessed to have her just five minutes down the road now. Without her and her husband, I wouldn't have met my husband. Her boys, Hunter and Hays, are already Miller's two best friends. Hardly a day goes by that we don't at least talk on the phone and a week rarely goes by that we don't get together at least once. You get the gist, she (and her whole family) are pretty important to me :)

Anyway, she delivered a beautiful baby girl on Tuesday! Yay for fun girl stuff!! At first everything seemed ok, but then the pediatrician started to become concerned about her rapid breathing. He decided to admit her to the NICU at St. Vincents and after tests they discovered she has a little fluid in her lungs (or is the actual term "on" her lungs... I don't know). Now, apparently this is kind of normal and not a huge deal since they caught it. If she had gone home, different story. However, now they have also diagnosed her with Group B Strep. She has to stay in the NICU at least another eight days while she gets a full round of antibiotics. You might remember that Kendall and Will are old pros when it comes to the NICU since their twins came so early. I know how much Kendall was looking forward to a "normal" birth experience and I just hate that she's having to do this all over again. Only this time, she has two other babies at home to worry about.

My mind has been thinking about all of them constantly and I think the Lord is probably about to get tired of my prayers ;) Please, please pray for sweet Addie. Pray for a swift recovery and for wisdom for her doctors and nurses. Pray for patience and peace for Kendall and Will. Pray for the grandparents that are all helping to take care of Hunter and Hays back home. If you'd like to do a little more than pray, here's a way you can help ease the financial burden this next week is going to bring.

http://www.giveforward.com/addieainsworth

Thank you for your prayers!!

We're still alive...

2011-09-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

Don't give up on us. We're still here. Here's a little proof...

Miller and Bryant watching Bama play {Miller only lasted as long as the snacks did.}

I feel as though I should introduce you all to cow, or "tow" as Miller calls him.

Miller has never been really stuck on a paci, blanket, lovie, animal, etc. but he has recently become very attached to this cow. Part of me feels like it's been nice that we've made it this far without him becoming obsessed with one single object that we will more than likely lose. For that reason, we are trying to keep his attachment to a minimum. It is pretty dang cute though.

Off-roading at Dream Duck

That's all for now! Apparently I have taken a hiatus from my camera. I'll try to be better :)

Miller's First Four-wheeler Ride

2011-09-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, so technically this was Miller's second four-wheeler ride, but that's just not quite as catchy. Bryant took Miller out to Dream Duck, the hunting land we own with a few other people, last Sunday and that was his real first ride. I wasn't there to video that one though. Miller wanted to ride again one afternoon so Bryant took him around our yard a few times. He wants to ride it every time we walk past it in the garage; which is really fun when we're in a hurry to get somewhere :)

I'm sure this is just the beginning of many "manly" adventures that will terrify this mama!

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-07T03:40:00.000-05:00

My college friends had our sixth annual Labor Day trip to my parents' lake house this weekend. It is pretty crazy to think how much has changed since those first few trips. On the first one, Bryant and I had just started dating and there were no kids. This year we had five children there and we were missing quite a few. Next year if everyone comes, we'll have ELEVEN little ones. Wow. It definitely changes the dynamics of the trip!

Waving to Aubey

Sweet Evelyn

Jordan and Sally Caroline. She wins the prize for the being the best baby EVER.

The front of the boat is definitely the preferred hangout.

Sam and John

Sam and Miller sharing a few snacks

Maggee and Emily

What did you think about the boat ride, Sam?

After all that time outside we had some dirty babies. We decided to make it easy on us and throw them all in one tub. Unfortunately, I didn't pay very good attention to my camera settings. Sorry for the crummy picture.

Annual PJ pic

One night my mom bribed all of the kiddos to eat by promising cake with a candle. We sang "Happy Labor Day" to them and they thought it was so much fun!

This is where poor John spent most of his time...

We ate, and ate, and ate some more. Fancy stuff too. This was dessert one night...

Poached pears with mascarpone filling and fresh whipped cream. Amazing!

This is really what SC looked like the entire weekend. She is so happy allllll the time. Love it!

Every time I'm with my friends I am more and more amazed by all of them. We are so blessed to have each other and I love them dearly! Mom and John, thanks for letting us bombard every square inch of your house and for all that you did to help. We love you!

On second thought...

2011-08-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

maybe the markers weren't such a great idea.

At least their washable!

Sweet Moments

2011-08-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

I hope I never, ever forget moments like the one I had last night. Since I have the world's worst memory, I better document it just in case.

Last night after reading Bible stories and saying prayers, Miller cuddled up in my lap and let me rock him. We do this many nights for a minute or two, but he's usually too wiggly to let it go on for too long. Last night was very different. He wrapped his sweet little chubby hand around mine, cuddled up close to me, and began commanding, "eyes", "nose", "lips". For those not familiar with Millerese, "eyes" means butterfly kisses, "nose" means Eskimo kisses, and "lips" means regular kisses. I promise you he repeated these orders at least a hundred times. Obviously, I willingly obliged :) Every time I gave him butterfly kisses, he would explode with contagious giggles that made my heart feel like it might explode out of my chest. After a while, his eyes began to grow heavy and I just stared at him while I rocked him. Just when I thought it couldn't get any sweeter he'd look back into my eyes and smile. Oh. my. goodness. Melt me.

Now before anyone says, "I told you so" on the issue of rocking, as sweet as these moments are it makes all the difference in the world that I do not HAVE to rock him to sleep every night. I'm so thankful that he goes to sleep on his own and that we can truly just enjoy sweet moments like this occasionally. Just had to get my Babywise disclaimer in there ;)

Sorry again for no pictures. I'd give anything to have had that moment captured. This will just have to do.

First Day of K-2

2011-08-25T19:53:00.000-05:00

Miller had his first day of K-2 Preschool yesterday! He is attending the same preschool he went to last year and will go two days a week again.

For some reason he plopped himself down in front of the door and wouldn't stand up. Doesn't he know how first-day-of-school-pictures are taken? Thankfully, an airplane decided to fly over our neighborhood so that got him up. I was even able to slip his bag over his arm without him noticing.

We were so thankful to see so many familiar faces, especially this one...

Ms. Jennifer was Miller's teacher last year and she liked him so much that she moved up to the two year old class :) Only kidding of course. We are so glad she did though! We had an awesome year with her and look forward to another great year.

Thanks for loving on our baby, Ms. Jennifer!

Girls' Trip

2011-08-23T15:02:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! Did you all think I'd suffocated from poop and was never going to return? By the way, that same scenario happened AGAIN a couple of days later. We are now going full-footy-zip-up pajamas for naps and bedtime. Thankfully, I had a girls' beach trip planned for a long weekend and it was not a moment too soon. It was supposed to be large group of my college girlfriends, but unfortunately it slowly dwindled down to just three of us. We hated everyone couldn't be there, but it was still relaxing and fun anyway. It was so much fun to hang out, laugh, and talk (a LOT!) with these sweet girls. I grow more thankful for these friendships with each passing day and don't know what I'd do without them. There's just something about girl time. Can I get an amen?

While we had fun in Panama City, Miller stayed with Poppy & Cissy in Birmingham. They had a busy, busy time while he was there and Miller is still talking about all that they did. Cindy had fun playing dress-up with all of her boys' old clothes and Dad got to be his big-kid self with his grandson.

They both look pretty pitiful in this one, but I think they were both exhausted!

Checking out the "big choo choo"

Dad said he was loving it until the train actually started moving...

They went to visit Merrye Summers who is always so sweet to Miller...

and then headed to the McWane Center.

This is funny to me. Miller made a friend, Ryder, while they were there (my dad knows his grandfather who was with him, or something). Anyway, I had JUST met this little cutie and his mom on Thursday when I was getting lunch with Katie. Small world...

Sunday before church. Bryant about croaked when he saw Miller in this sweet little outfit.

Thanks for a great long weekend, Poppy & Cissy! Miller had so much fun and I really enjoyed the getaway!

One of those days...

2011-08-10T22:29:00.001-05:00

Today was one of those days. Really, it's been one of those weeks. Among other things, Miller napped for thirty minutes today {which is thirty minutes longer than he napped yesterday or the day before}. I'm big on routine, so I always leave Miller in his crib for two hours during nap time {unless he's screaming his guts out or something}. Today, although he was awake for most of the nap time, he was relatively quiet for the last hour or so. At the end of the two hour mark, I had intentions of seeing if he might let me rock him and get a few more minutes of sleep. I walked in and immediately smelled a dirty diaper. I decided to leave all of the lights off and try to change him without getting him too riled up. I had to turn on the lamp on the changing table and THANK THE LORD I did. Disclaimer: stop reading right now if you are squeamish about gross things. This. will. be. gross.

Poop. Everywhere. His hands were completely covered on all sides by it. It was in his hair. In his ears. On his face. On his clothes. On my clothes from picking him up. I glanced back at his crib.

It. was. everywhere. On the bed. All over the sheets. On the bumper. On his blanket. On his stuffed animals. On the rug below his bed. Somehow the wall behind his crib was spared.

After two baths, a bottle of Clean-Up Clorox, two loads of laundry, and washing my hands 1, 253 times, and a fair share of gagging I think we got it all. I tried to emphasize to Miller how very, very bad this was by telling him, "We don't play with poop." To which he responded every time, "In da bed." No buddy, we don't play with poop anywhere. Got it? Let's hope so.

Party Time

2011-08-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

My only regret from the party is not recording the singing of "Happy Birthday". Miller was so excited to have everyone sing to him. It was so sweet!

The engineers trying to get Miller's bubble mower to work.

Brad and Lauren just returned from Hawaii and brought Miller this cute shirt.

The aftermath.

Two, Part Two

2011-08-04T19:50:00.000-05:00

I'm back as promised! I realize that 99.999999% of those of you who read my blog could care less about each and every little thing that Miller has learned to do, but I still want to document and remember this time. I got a little nostalgic and started looking through old pictures and decided to do a little comparison...

August 2, 2009

September 2, 2009 (One Month)

August 2, 2010 (One Year Old)

August 2, 2011 (Two Years Old)

We went to the doctor today and she said that everything looks great! Here are his stats and what he is up to these days:

Height 33.5 in (31%)

Weight 28.5 lbs. (59%)

Vocabulary: Miller is calling me "mommy" sometimes now and he sounds so much older when he calls me that than when he says "mama". Miller has definitely mastered all of his colors (probably about two months back) and we're working on shapes, letters, and counting. He's almost mastered identifying triangles, squares, and circles. He still skips numbers when he's counting, but is starting to get a little better at one-to-one correspondence {actually counting objects, not just calling out numbers in order - or more often, out of order}. He firmly understands the concept of "1" and "2", but that's all. He can identify and tell you the sounds of letters "A", "B", "C", "D" and sometimes "M" and "R". He is also speaking in two or three word sentences frequently. He can also finish lines to songs and nursery rhymes, which I think is so cute and so fun. For example, "Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir! Yes sir! Three bags full. One for the master and one for the dame and one for the little boy who lives down the lane." I was able to capture of few of these skills on camera, but not all of them.

Sizes: Miller is still in 18-24 month, but not for long. I'm hoping we can make it to Fall before we have to go up to 2T to avoid buying summer clothes for only a couple of months. The same applies to shoes. He's still in his size 7 sandals, but there isn't any growing room left in them.

I hope it's just a phase: This week Miller has cut his naps down to 30-40 minutes of sleep. Not cool. We also had a major naptime casualty the other day. Monkey is in mommy's sewing hospital waiting to be fixed up.

Favorite Foods: Most of Miller's favorites are the same, but he has a new love for raisins. Today {after he'd already had two boxes} I found him in the kitchen with the trash dumped out, because he saw a raisin box in it.

Favorite Toys: He is still really into driving trucks, etc. and has found a new obsession with "bridges" and ramps. He is also starting to build with blocks a little more.

Other tidbits: Not much else to share, besides this cute pic from lunch the other day. This hat has provided a lot of entertainment for him!

Two!

2011-08-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

My sweet baby boy turned two today and we had so much fun celebrating all day long. I have a feeling this post is going to pretty long, so I'll be postponing my normal developmental updates until a later post. For now, I want to document this special day. When I woke up this morning, I reminded myself that this will be the only second birthday this little boy has and I am lucky enough to share it with him. This day wasn't going to be wasted on laundry or chores. We started out with a round of "Happy Birthday" and a candle in a muffin for breakfast.

After playing "baketball shoot" and "baseball bayoon" (that would be hitting a balloon with a little baseball bat), we ran a few errands and visited Nana at work. We were a little early for our lunch date, so I decided to go through a quick car wash. Big mistake. Miller was traumatized. I really didn't even think about how scary that would be to a toddler. My bad. Thankfully, as soon as we came out of it he was fine. From there we met Kendall, Hunter, Hays, and a few other friends at Chick-fil-a. Can I just give a quick shout-out to Chick-fil-a? That is the best place to take toddlers out to eat, in my opinion. The food is slightly more nutritious, everything is always so clean, they have tons of highchairs which are always equipped with plastic place mats, and they have a great indoor play center. Sold. We had five toddlers and five adults, so we were quite a sight. Thankfully all of the little ones were well behaved and we didn't cause too much of a scene. Unfortunately, I didn't get a group shot and all of the pictures I got of Miller playing looked like this...

After nap, we went outside to see his birthday present. He was so sweet and so excited!

We only lasted about twenty minutes out there though since it was about 100 degrees today. Miller requested "Cars" which I willingly obliged to as a good way to cool off a little. Miller actually watched it for about 45 minutes, which is a record for him. He might have lasted longer, but Daddy got home and playing with him is much more fun.

After dinner we celebrated with another round of "Happy Birthday" and cupcakes.

Miller Man, you have rocked my world baby. In such an incredible way. I am so so BLESSED to be your mother and I'm so thankful for these past two years. It doesn't seem possible that two years have passed since I looked into those baby blues for the first time. You are growing into such a sweet, fun, smart, laid-back little boy and watching you grow and learn is honestly the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed. If ever I doubt our loving Creator, all it takes is one look at you. I love you more than words could say. Happy, happy birthday Mill Mill!

Balsam Mountain Preserve

2011-07-31T21:28:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! We've just returned from an almost week-long trip to Balsam Mountain Preserve in North Carolina. It was absolutely beautiful and about twenty degrees cooler than sweet home Alabama. Add that to the good company of Bryant's family and you've got yourself a successful trip. I got to see this precious face a lot and soak up some baby lovin'.

Although it was cooler than Alabama, it was still pretty hot. The big boys spent a good bit of time playing golf and the girls and babies spent a fair amount of time at the pool. They had the coolest baby pool with a waterfall, fountains, and best of all... a fence. Miller loved it!

He also loved the big pool. It is crazy to see the difference in how he acts around water since our beach trip just a few months ago. He had so much fun playing with "Stott" and "Tate".

When we were at the pool he looked like this a lot of the time:

Sweet Scott and Daddy got a good workout and must have thrown Miller a thousand times. As soon as he came up for air he'd shout, "More!"

This little cutie spent a little time in the pool, but preferred the shade.

Miller tried out Daddy's lollipop...

and we think he liked it a little :)

After playing so hard in the pool, Miller tried out this new thing called "resting" and "cuddling" while he dried off and warmed up. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Our attempt at a family pic. Apparently I need to work on my posture.

These two got along great...

It was all fun and games until Malley went for Miller's sippy cup. He wasn't too sure about that one.

He forgave her by the next morning though and decided to teach her about the "stars", "cow", and "moon" on her blanket. Malley kindly shared her car in return.

The house that we stayed in had an unbelievable porch with comfy chairs, a beautiful fireplace, and a gorgeous view. We spent a majority of the trip out there reading, drinking coffee, talking, making s'mores, and building "bidges".

Frank, Bryant and I hiked to the highest point in the preserve one day. It was a pretty intense hike, but the view was well worth it.

Miller was a little whacked out sleep-wise on this trip, waking up two nights in the middle of the night and getting up uncharacteristically early. The last day we were there he decided not to nap at all. After two hours of playing in his pack n' play, I gave up. When I brought him outside, he climbed straight in Nana's lap and fell right to sleep. I don't think you understand how bizarre this is. This child has only let someone rock him to sleep a handful of times and he NEVER falls asleep outside or out of a dark, quiet room for that matter. He slept for an hour and I'm not sure who was happier, him or Nana. {I was pretty happy too since I wasn't looking forward to taking a tired toddler out to eat.}

If he hadn't have had that nap, Mama might not have been able to enjoy this...

I think I earned it after that hike. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Thanks for another wonderful trip Papa and Nana! We had a great time and appreciate it so much!

Big Kid

2011-07-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

Look at this kid eating big boy snacks...

watering ~~flowers~~ the driveway by himself...

and eating his corn right off the cob.

I think my baby is no longer a baby :(

Ty & Mia

2011-07-20T21:05:00.001-05:00

We just returned from a visit to Pop & Gran's house where we got to see these cuties...

Mia {or "Mimi" as Miller called her}

Ty & Mia are my step-brother, Jay's, twins. They made the long journey up from Sarasota and we're always so glad to see them. Here's a pic of Jay & Ty. They don't look a thing alike do they?

The kids played so well together and were on a very similar schedule this year which made it easier.

We spent a lot of time on the boat and all of the little sailors got to drive.

This trip, Miller got brave and decided to jump off of the boat to Pop a few times.

Then Miller & Ty scoped out Chimney Rock. Miller said, "Jump" a few times, but Mama wasn't down with that. Maybe in a few years. Maybe.

This was the closest thing to a family pic we could get while we were there.

We also tried to reenact the pic Gran was so lucky to get. Fail.

Pop did get a few cuddles though.

All of the kiddos said their goodbyes last night since the Alexander clan was getting up at 5:30 to head back to Florida. They were so sweet to share a few hugs and kisses with each other.

Aunt Amy and Miller

They've all grown so much since our visit last year!

It was so fun to see you Jay, Amy, Ty, and "Mimi"! We can't wait to see you next summer!

Confesssions of a Hypocritical Mother

2011-07-14T13:47:00.000-05:00

Dear Miller,

This is what I had for lunch today after feeding you milk, chicken, carrots, and potatoes:

Oh, and I also ate it in the den on the couch.

I will however partially blame your 20 minute screaming tantrum for the junk fest. I'm not sure where it came from and I don't think you know either. After almost hyperventilating from crying so hard, you suddenly laughed, looked at me, and said, "What was that?" Good question, buddy.

You are currently still awake even though you've been in your bed for almost thirty minutes. I promise that if you don't go to sleep we'll both have a tantrum like that this afternoon. And I'll probably be forced to eat another cupcake without you.

Love,

Your hypocritical mother

Malley's Baptism

2011-07-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

We got to watch this little cutie get baptized Sunday...

We went to Tuscaloosa for the whole weekend, so we had lots of opportunities to play with Malley Girl. Miller even shared a sticker or two with her.

And a kiss or two.

Malley did great on her big day! She was so sweet the whole time Reverand Cain talked and only cried a little bit when he actually baptized her.

Malley and Nana

Reverend Cain talked about how "Malley" means "sweet as honey" and "Frances" means "free". He incorporated Psalm 119:103 which says, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" and the freedom we find through Christ's grace. I had no idea her name meant so much and it was such a beautiful, personal message.

The big moment...

She recovered quickly and snacked on her fingers a bit.

Here's a shot of most of the family right after the service:

And our attempt at a picture including Miller since he was in the nursery.

Afterward, we went to Kate & Scott's house for a delicious lunch. I didn't get any pictures there, but you can take my word that everything was beautiful and oh so yummy!

Malley Girl, we're so honored and happy that we got to be a part of such a monumental day in your life. We meant what we said when we promised to support your mommy and daddy in bringing you up to know Jesus as your Savior. We pray for you every night and can't wait to see the little lady you become. We love you!

23 Months

2011-07-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

Wow. Miller is one month shy of being TWO! Crazy. Here's what he's up to these days...

Vocabulary: Miller can now count to eight {sort of}. We sometimes have to say "three" for him and he always skips seven, but that is pretty good in my book. I had planned to get a video of him counting using his cute little pop-up bug book until I found it like this...

Bye-Bye bugs. Oh well, I'll work on it and get back to you. I actually just discovered he could count this high TODAY. Crazy. We were driving down the road and I'm not exactly sure what we were counting, but Miller said, "One, Two" and I said, "Three" thinking he needs to learn what comes next. Much to my surprise he spouted out, "Four, Five, Six, Eight". I love his little sponge brain :) He's probably wishing he hadn't revealed this knowledge to me. I think I've made him count a hundred times since I discovered it this morning.

He also loves to say, "Hold it" these days when he wants to hold something himself or if he wants a whole piece of food {like a piece of bread, a banana, etc}. The phrase becomes "hold you" if he's scared of something and wants to be held.

Daddy has also taught him the phrase "stab it" for when he's trying to get food on his fork. Don't blame me when he's a serial killer.

We're still working on "please" and "thank you". I guess we'll always be working on those :)

Sizes: 5 diaper, 7 shoe, 24 month clothes {some 2T}

I hope it's just a phase: Miller is now scared of the drain in the bathtub. He does not want us to drain the tub until he is completely out of the bathroom for some reason. We're not sure when or why this started.

Favorite Foods: Miller has discovered sugar and I should probably note that his true favorites are juice, cookies, and cake. However, those items are not on the menu at Casa de Mastin :) So, favorites that he actually gets on a regular basis are milk, carrots, prunes, spinach, cauliflower, crackers, bananas, and bread. I'm really not lying when I say these are his favorites. He asks for these things and usually wants more when they're gone. Over under on how long this will last?? He's still not big on meat or chicken, but does okay with fish and eggs. Don't worry, he does get those favorite treats occasionally. Remember, the child has three sets of grandparents :)

Favorite Toys: Miller has always loved trucks, but this month I've noticed him taking it to a whole new level. The tractor book in the picture below could seriously occupy him for hours. He "drives" that thing all over the house. I always take it with us wherever we go because he plays with it so well. He's also beginning to like little cars and trucks that he can hold in his hand more than big trucks.

Miller has recently starting loving TV. Up until a few months ago, he would only sit still and watch ten minutes of a cartoon. Now, he'd watch it for hours if I'd let him {I think}. I try really hard to only let him watch about thirty minutes of TV, but I'd be lying if I told you I never broke that rule. It's so tempting when you have a lot to do! Plus, look how sweet he is when he's watching it. {Sorry for the picture quality.}

Other tidbits: I noticed this month that Miller is beginning to recognize the places we go. For example, if we turn left onto 431 from our house he says "chuwch". If we get into Albertville he'll either say "school" or "gym". One time I told him we were going to play with Hunter and Hays, but I didn't clarify that we weren't going to their house. When I turned right out of our neighborhood {away from their house} he pitched a fit until I explained where we were going. Clever little stinker.

Well, I guess all that's left to do now is to let the birthday countdown begin! I have about 27 days to get everything in order for the big day! First on the list, tissues for this nostalgic mommy :)

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Independence Day! We just returned from a long weekend on Lake Martin. As always, it was so much fun and relaxing. For the first time, Miller loved the water. He really couldn't get enough of it. It actually gave me a little hope that we can work on swimming some this summer.

Miller loved the big float this time too, especially the slide.

I was so glad to see that he didn't mind going under. He probably swallowed ten gallons of lake water though. We'll have to work on closing his mouth and eyes when he goes under.

I'm sure the play-by-play picture roll is enough for most of you, but we did get a pretty cute video of him sliding and "swimming" too. I love how much he's talking now!

We had one storm on Sunday afternoon, so we had to play inside for a little after Miller's nap. La La and Brad helped provide some fun ~~accessories~~ entertainment.

It was such a wonderful weekend and all of the fun reminded me of the freedoms we enjoy in the good ole USA. I for one am extremely thankful. I hope you all had a blessed 4th as well!

Summer Playdates

2011-06-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

We've had a couple of fun playdates with friends this summer. For the first, we went to Courtney's house to play with Saylor. Kendall and Hays came too {Hunter was sick and stayed with his daddy}. We were so busy talking I failed to take many pictures, but I did get a few...

Miller LOVED Saylor's big sandbox and the slide in his baby pool. He also LOVED the pizza we had for lunch :)

Last week we went to Lori's mom's house to play. We had so much fun and hope to do it again soon!

Hays & Hunter

Sweet Turner enjoying one of the many baby pools Lori had out.

Nicki & Mia

Hudson came to play for a few minutes after he finished his swim lessons. Sorry the picture's blurry!

Precious.

Miller always has fun borrowing Turner's Jumperoo. This was one of the only non-blurry pictures of him in it since he was usually going a hundred miles an hour in it.

We're so thankful for these sweet friends and hope to have them over to our house soon once we finish getting the back yard and porch fixed up!

Paint, Pudding & Pizza

2011-06-26T20:21:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! I hope you've had a great weekend! I spent most of mine looking at this...

and these...

It was actually a little therapeutic to be outside all day, painting, and listening to praise music on Pandora. About halfway through I'll admit I felt a little like Tom Sawyer. Only none of my friends came by for me to trick into helping me. While I was busy painting, Bryant and Miller spent some quality time together. Apparently they covered themselves with stickers and ate chocolate pudding.

I also interrupted a game or two of truck-riding-dodge-ball.

About ten minutes after I finished the second coat on the porch, I heard some serious thunder heading our way. Bryant helped me haul the boards that we took off of the porch {the ones that cover the edges of the screen when we put it back on} down to the garage since I still needed to paint them. I had just started painting them when the bottom fell out. I was hoping that the paint job I just finished wouldn't be totally ruined since the rain wouldn't be hitting it directly. I worried about the stairs since they're not covered. My fears were multiplied when I saw this...

We took the drainpipe {is that the correct term?} off so I could paint behind it and the water was conveniently directed right on top of the steps. Woops. Thankfully, off all the things to have to repaint the stairs are the easiest by far. I haven't had a chance to fully examine the outside rails of the porch, but I think they are fine. I still have another coat to put on the boards in the garage and then Bryant has to hang the new screen, put on the new door, and reassemble said boards. I also want to do another coat on the floor once the first one dries thoroughly. I'll be sure to get a picture of it when it's all finished.

Since I've been busy outside, we've eaten our fair amount of junk/fast food this weekend. We ordered pizza tonight. Big boy Miller didn't want me to cut his up for him.

Miller also had steamed cauliflower on his plate and he asked for THREE helpings of it. Let me break it down for you, baby boy had PIZZA in his hand and he CHOSE steamed cauliflower. He didn't just eat the veggie, he INHALED it and asked for more. I'm one proud mama. Bryant and I were cracking up and decided to take a picture to show him when he's eight. He'll probably hate cauliflower then and beg for pizza.

You know you're almost 30 when...

2011-06-24T14:02:00.000-05:00

a new fridge excites you and makes your day.

I. am. obsessed.

Family Get-Togethers

2011-06-21T20:00:00.002-05:00

Monday morning Miller and I loaded up and went to Birmingham for a quick trip. My aunt Linda {my mom's sister} was in town from Texas and they decided to have a mini reunion of sorts.

Back row: Donna {mom's cousin}, Linda {my aunt}, June {my great aunt, my late grandmother's sister}, Carol {mom's cousin}, Barbara {mom's cousin) Front Row: my mom, Debbie {my aunt}

Here's the second & third generation that was there. Back row: Morgan {my cousin}, Miller, me, Austin {my cousin}, Brandy {Austin's wife} Front: Preston & Sawyer {Donna's grandsons - this makes them my third cousins?? Is that right?}

Joe, Randy, and Martin. A few of the husbands who married in to the crazy Stuckey family. Yes, I did in fact say Stuckey.

Austin was sweet enough to share his cake with Miller. He was getting some good practice in since he and Brandy are expecting a baby girl this Fall!

After Miller had his nap, we loaded up again and headed over to my dad's house for a belated Father's Day dinner and to spend the night. Miller had so much fun playing outside with Poppy & Cissy until dinner.

He wasn't quite brave enough to try out the big slide yet.

He even helped them do a little yard work. In his swim diaper. Somehow I failed to get any pictures of him in the baby pool. It had a little slide and was FULL of new water toys!

This morning Poppy & Miller played outside a little more, watched some cartoons,

and Miller helped earn our keep.

Before we left town, we decided to grab lunch at one of my favorite spots in Birmingham: O'Carr's. Miller ate a little chicken salad and a TON of fruit. He loved it! Poppy got us a piece of chocolate swirled cheesecake to top it off. It was deeeeeelicious!

After lunch we met up with Gran and Aunt Linda at the Summit for a little shopping.

Miller was asleep by the time we made it to the interstate. I could have been, too!

The older I get the more and more I appreciate these family get-togethers. I love hearing all of the old stories and reminiscing of my childhood. We really need to do it more often! And of course, it's always fun to see Poppy & Cissy. Thanks for a great night!

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! Happy father's day to all you daddy's out there! We've had a great weekend and hope you have too. Gran & Pop came up to visit and Pop got roped into a few projects {as always}. The biggest one involved fencing in a portion of our backyard to make a safe play area for Miller. Pop & Bryant worked so hard on Saturday afternoon to get it put up {and move the swing that was in the way.}

Sorry ladies, he's taken ;) Bryant did most of the digging while John put on the finishing touches.

The final product:

The fence is on either side of our screened in porch and blocked by the retaining wall on the back side. It doesn't give us a huge play area, but it's definitely an improvement! Next weekend, we plan to repaint the porch {which we've been saying we were going to do ever since we moved in} and from there we hope to lay a little sod. A small perk of the tornado that came through is that we have a little more sun coming through to our backyard so grass may actually grow now. Pop & Gran gave us the fence for Miller's birthday {a little early} and we are so grateful! It is the perfect gift for a little boy who loves to be outside and for a mama who is so very tired of chasing him to keep him from falling down the steep hill or from running into the street. Thanks, Pop & Gran!

Pop & Gran left on Sunday morning when we left for church. Miller & Bryant watched a little "Trucks" and "Rocket" while I got lunch ready.

Papa Frank & Betty Jo joined us for lunch to celebrate Father's Day. By the time we got around to pictures Miller had already been stripped after being covered in brownies. Plus he was a little squirmy and ready to play. Shocking.

After lunch, I put Miller down for a much needed nap and Bryant got to spend the afternoon out on his hunting land. After coming home to play outside with Miller and eat dinner he is fishing on our lot right now. Hopefully it makes up for making him work like a slave yesterday! Haha!

VBS 2011

2011-06-15T21:32:00.001-05:00

We've been VBSing around here this week. Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been teaching a class of about nine first graders {it varies from night to night} and Miller hangs in the nursery with "Bake" and "Sayee" {also known as Blake and Sally}. I NEVER remembered to take a picture of Miller with them, but he loves them! Here's two quick stories to prove it:

1. VBS started at our church on Sunday night. On Monday afternoon, I mentioned that we were going to church and Miller parked himself next to the door to leave and chanted, "Chuwch Bake Sayee" for about ten minutes until we left.

2. Today he was coloring in his high chair working on a few cards for Father's Day. As he colored each one I would tell him who it was for. After we finished all of them he looked at me and said, "Bake". I asked him if he wanted to color a picture for Blake and he got so excited, which in toddler language means yes.

Sally told me she took a cute video of him in there with them so I'll be sure to post that when she gets it to me.

All in all it was a great week! It is such a precious opportunity {and huge responsibility} to teach the Word of God to such sweet little hearts. Truth be told, I got a little teary-eyed a few times listening to all of those tiny voices sing to Jesus. I pray that seeds have been planted this week and I'm thankful to have had a small part in it!

Yummy Recipe!

2011-06-09T19:41:00.000-05:00

I was hesitant to put the name of the recipe as the title for fear that you would turn your nose up and not read on. I promise these really are good! And they're healthy. Twice the reason to try them.

Carrot-Zucchini Muffins

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 egg, slightly beaten

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 medium carrots, shredded

1 medium zucchini, shredded

Combine first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of mixture. Stir together egg, orange juice, and butter. Add to dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened (will be thick). Fold in carrots and zucchini. Spoon into greased muffin pans. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.

Can be frozen up to 3 months.

I also threw in about a fourth a cup of flax-seed mill just to boost the nutrients even more. The jury...

the verdict...

Miller LOVES these! I'm talking asks for them {he calls them "pink" because the first one he had was in a pink liner} and eats two every time. To me, they're pretty good. Probably because I'm a sugar junky. If I were making them for me, I'd probably up the sugar a little bit. Maybe to 1/2 a cup. My intent was to make a healthy breakfast or snack for him though so I'll leave it alone. This recipe made two dozen so I might double it next time since they freeze well. I'm all about cooking in bulk and freezing. I should note that my friend Jessica sent me this recipe. I think she got it from one of her friends. Just didn't want to mislead anyone into thinking I turned into Rachel Ray or anything. Give 'em a try!

Best Laid Plans

2011-06-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

I had big plans to videotape bedtime prayers tonight. I set up our tripod and Flipvideo in Miller's room before bedtime hoping he wouldn't notice it. Whenever we try to tape anything he does, he clams up as soon as he sees the camera. I even snuck in his room before bedtime to hit the record button. It started out okay, but about halfway through prayers he saw the camera. See for yourself...

Normally, Miller names just about every person he knows when we pray. It is so sweet! It amazes me that he can remember everyone in our family without prompting. I wanted to capture this moment, but I guess I'll have to try again. Maybe I need to use a hidden camera next time :)

'Cause we're classy like that

2011-06-04T19:07:00.000-05:00

Twenty-two Months

2011-06-02T15:07:00.000-05:00

As you may, or ~~may~~ probably not, have noticed I never got around to the monthly post last month. By the time I realized it, I decided I might as well just wait. So here we are. Twenty-two months old. To quote Leo from Little Einsteins, "I CANNOT believe it!" {Can you tell that's a favorite cartoon around here?} It seems crazy that I'm already thinking about Miller's 2nd birthday. Here are some updates on our little Miller Man...

Vocabulary: Miller's vocabulary continues to flourish and it brings us such joy to hear him learn new words and phrases. A few of our favorites are "tetitopter" {helicopter}, "are do?" {Where are you?}, and "tank to" {Thank you. It should be noted that he pretty much only says this when HE is giving something to someone. A little backwards, but it's still progress.} On a bittersweet note, he now says "milk" instead of "guk".

Sizes: 4 diaper, 6.5 shoe, 18-24 month clothes

Sleep: Miller is in a pretty good sleeping phase right now. {And I'm sure I just ruined it by blogging about it.} He still goes to bed around 7:00 and sleeps until at least 7:00 a.m. He's been known to sleep as late as 9:00 or so these days though. He takes one nap around 1:30 and sleeps for an hour or two.

I hope it's just a phase: Right now Miller LOVES stuff animals. Until recently, he hardly noticed them, but now he is all about them. When we read before nap and bed, he wants to get all of his animals out and set them around him while we read. He also wants to carry some type of creature with us wherever we go. Usually it's "baby", "dog", "bear" or "bee". I'm trying to keep him from getting super attached to any one animal {for fear that we will have some serious meltdowns if anything were to happen to the beloved animal}. I'm also trying to pick my battles and make reasonable boundaries. Usually the animal is allowed to sit near him while he eats and he can take it in the car, but we try to avoid lugging them into restaurants, etc.

Other tidbits: Miller is really into hiding right now.

He is {kind of} eating off of a plate with a fork or spoon.

He looks like this most afternoons after playing outside with daddy.

Needless to say, a bath is now a necessity every afternoon.

Miller Man, we love you and watching you grow brings us such joy! We are so blessed by you!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-31T22:39:00.000-05:00

Happy {late} Memorial Day! I hope yours was as blessed as ours. We spent the long weekend celebrating with family at Pop & Gran's house. We got to see Poppy & Cissy, too. See if you can follow me here. Cindy, my step-mom, has a cousin named Mary. Mary lives next door to my mom on Lake Martin. Small world, huh? Cindy and my dad came down to spend the weekend at Mary and her husband's house. So they were right next door. It was quite convenient actually. We spent a lot of time in the baby pool on this trip.

We also spent a lot of time on this bad boy. Brad and Lauren brought it up. I didn't get any pictures of anyone on it for some reason. It was fantastic though.

Poppy & Cissy stole Miller Man one morning to take him over to Brian & Mary's house. The golf cart was a little more convenient than trekking up the mountainous driveways. Plus it was a fun ride for Miller.

Brian sent him back with this on...

{Side note: Miller DID NOT actually ride the jet ski. And certainly not without a life jacket. He just pretended to drive while still tied to the dock. That was plenty of fun for him.}

Miller was enthralled by this "airplane", as he called it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how to correct him. What is this thing?

We ate and ate and ate some more. I'm pretty sure I can blame Pop for a few extra pounds.

We tried out Miller's new Puddle Jumper. He did pretty well, but I think he would have liked it more if it weren't so choppy. There were about a gazillion boats out this weekend so the water was pretty rough. {Sorry for the blurry picture. John took it with his phone and I zoomed in on it some.}

We had such a great weekend and realize that freedoms like those we enjoyed this weekend haven't come without a price. Thanks to all of you out there who have served to protect our freedom!

Cousinly Love

2011-05-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

Malley and her mommy came up to visit last week while Scott was at their regional tournament. Miller wanted to hold "baby" as he calls her and it made for a pretty good photo-op.

Then he decided to give out her a few hugs.

It was a cute little glimpse of how he might react whenever we have another baby. He did such a good job holding her and was so sweet with her! {I was snapped back into reality when he wanted her "off" of her play-mat so that he could lay on it like he was a baby.} We can't wait for them to visit again when Scott and his team go to Nationals! Congrats Scott!

Farm Boys

2011-05-24T13:02:00.033-05:00

Check out Miller's new ride.

Every farm boy needs a good "lovey" to help him...

a few friends to ride around with...

and a hot bath at the end of the day.

A Day at the Zoo

2011-05-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went to Birmingham for the day to go to the zoo with Poppy and Cissy. We had a blast and hated that we couldn't stay longer! There was so much to do!

Miller and Poppy watching the train go by.

I think Miller would have climbed IN every exhibit if we would have let him.

We took a break about halfway through the animal exhibits to play a bit.

Then it was time to ride the train!

Miller wasn't too sure what to think about the tunnel...

To end the day we decided to cool off a little on the splash pad. He was a bit apprehensive at first...

but then he warmed right up to it.

Thanks for a fun-filled day, Poppy and Cissy!

Last Day of Mother's Day Out

2011-05-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

Today was Miller's last day of Mother's Day Out for the year. Well, technically. He is going to the Summer program and that starts in about a week and a half. So we don't have to be too sad. I have been so very pleased with his sweet little school. To be honest, when I signed him up I was most interested in having a few hours a week baby-free for errands, appointments, and chores. I, of course, wanted him to be well taken care of, but I never dreamed he would learn so much and DO so much while in their care. We are so thankful for the teachers and staff and are excited to have found such a great program to be a part of! He brought home the sweetest book full of pictures taken throughout the year and artwork made using his hand-prints, footprints, and fingerprints {those teachers are way braver than I am!!}. I will treasure that precious book always! Thank you Beth, Jennifer, and Leslie for a fabulous year! I had to include Miller's class picture from the Spring. Aren't they the cutest?!?!

Photo Courtesy of Lecroy Photography

Beach Trip

2011-05-15T21:15:00.001-05:00

We just returned from a fabulous five day trip to Orange Beach with Bryant's parents. We stayed at Turquoise Place and why I didn't take a single picture of our condo is unknown - it was incredible. By far the nicest beach condo I've ever stayed in. Miller did great on this trip. The six hour car ride wasn't too bad {thanks mostly to our portable DVD player}, he slept like a champ while we were there {we had to wake him at 9:00 almost every morning}, and he was pretty easy to keep up with on the beach this year. I had imagined him running all over the place, but he was still a little hesitant of the sand and of the ocean which actually made it kind of nice. He was content to sit in one place with a bucket full of water and a few toys {most of the time anyway}.

I had to get a picture of his first stop at Priester's. My family always stopped here on our way to the beach and I'm happy to continue the tradition with Miller!

Day One: Pretty hesitant walking on the sand. A little whiny.

Once Daddy and Papa showed him how it's done, he was much better.

We tried a ride around the Lazy River, but he wasn't much of a fan.

That night we attempted to get a family pic before dinner. Wind + squirmy toddler = total fail.

Day Two: Miller got a little braver and played in the water a bit.

Miller loved to play on the steps of the Lazy River, but that was as far as he wanted to go.

Day Three: No daytime pics. It was raining so Margaret and I went shopping at the outlets. That afternoon we attempted some beach pictures before dinner though. We weren't too successful, but we managed to get a few decent ones.

And then Miller told us it was time to go "up". He was right. The bottom fell out about five minutes after that.

{In case you are wondering what is wrong with my hand, I am fine. Just a moron. I had a minor one-car accident with the pole in our garage. I was able to avoid actual stitches and they glued the cut I got, but I had to keep it dry and clean. A difficult task with a toddler. Even more difficult when you're at the beach. Just a reminder to everyone out there: make sure your car is in park before you get out of it. Lesson learned.} Moving on to dinner that night.

Day Four: Miller finally got the hang of the beach the last day we were there. Of course.

Miller made friends with a group of ladies on the beach. They gave him a juice box, chips and some new beach toys. In return he entertained them with his dancing skills.

He got a little distracted from the kite because he was looking for the "hetitopter" {"helicopter"}. It provided endless entertainment.

That night, Bryant and I got to go to dinner and a movie alone. Ahh...

Thanks, Nana and Papa for a wonderful trip! We had so much fun and made so many memories we will cherish forever!

When the Lights Go Out

2011-05-09T20:01:00.000-05:00

While our power was out, Miller and I took a mini-vacation to Pop and Gran's house. No sense sitting in the dark with cold showers and no way to cook. While we were there we...

cooked a few "dot dogs",

made a new friend, Neola, who was visiting her grandmother too,

drove the boat,

{and obviously loved it},

did a little cleaning,

and colored with Pop.

Mommy got to go meet Miss Molly Jones Northcutt...

and play with all four of the Northcutt girls {the fourth, Alyssa, had to play photographer}.

Miller cuddled with Daddy when he came for the weekend,

did a little more boat driving,

told everyone how old he is,

yelled, "Weeeee!" when we bounced over waves,

and... well we're not real sure what he was doing here.

Thanks for taking us in Pop and Gran {or as Miller calls you, "Gu-Gu"}!

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:36:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! Happy Mother's Day to all of you mamas out there! I hope your day was as fantastic as mine was. Miller gave me the best gift a mother can ask for by sleeping until 8:30 {at which time we had to WAKE HIM UP for church}. Ahhhhhh.... Granted I had to get up earlier, but it gave me plenty of time to get ready for church without having anyone steal my toothbrush or attempt to flush anything down the toilet. After church we went to Cracker Barrel, which never disappoints as far as food is concerned, but it took much longer than expected. I'm really not sure what we were thinking. Next year we will plan better and make reservations at The Rock House {which is where we headed first only to find that we couldn't be seated until 1:30 without a reservation... on second thought this might have been the same as the wait at CB}. Oh well. Lesson learned. We came home for a relaxing afternoon at home {mixed with a few chores}. And of course, no Mother's Day would be complete without a gift or two...

My first blog book!

And this afternoon I looked outside and found this...

Thanks for a wonderful Mother's Day, Bryant and Miller! I love you both and I'm so thankful for the blessing of motherhood!

And of course, I must wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers I am blessed to have and learn from. Thank you Mom, Cindy, Margaret, and Betty Jo for your wonderful examples of what it means to be a mom. I love each of you!

Heavy Heart

2011-05-05T21:04:00.001-05:00

As I'm sure all of you know, our state was hit by a violent wave of tornadoes last Wednesday. Bryant woke me up that morning at 6:30 {I know, don't judge} and told me to get Miller and go downstairs. You have to understand a little background about my husband to fully grasp my alarm. He must have been a weatherman in a previous life and he NEVER wants to go downstairs during storms or tornado warnings. Granted, many times when our sirens go off there is not a storm or tornado anywhere near us since our county is so large and he is always attentively watching the radar. However, I'm usually downstairs insisting that he come just in case. So you can imagine my surprise and fear when he woke me up and told me to get down there. It was a first. Thankfully we have an entire floor underground so we went to a room that basically has dirt on three sides and the other side has about three walls {including the exterior/garage doors}. I include all of these details to emphasize the fact that we were basically buried underground. I couldn't believe how loud it was though. Normally you can't hear anything down there, but on this fateful morning the wind was horrendous and I could hear what I later discovered were trees snapping, I guess. Let me also emphasize that we were not actually hit by the tornado. It was a few miles north of us, so I can only imagine how loud and terrifying it must have been there. Here are a few pics of the comparatively small damage we found on our street.

Our neighbors across the street:

This is a horrible picture but it is of a huge oak tree that lined our driveway. It fell on our neighbor's house. You can't even see her house under it.

Why we were without power for a week:

I snapped this picture on my way out of town, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that almost every power pole I passed in Guntersville looked like this or worse. After seeing the destruction, we decided that it would be a few days before we'd have power. I was planning to go to my mom's house the next day anyway, so we decided it would be best for Miller and I to pack quickly and leave before the next storm hit. We ended up staying until the following Wednesday when we got power back on.

My mom lives on Lake Martin and that night another tornado touched down not too far from their house. Here are a few pictures of that devastation:

Now, I can't continue without re-emphasizing how very fortunate our family was. While we had many trees fall none of them hit our house. Even if one had though we'd still be in the lucky group. There are so many places across our state that are just rubble. And so many lives were lost.

My heart is breaking for these families.

I can only tell you of my small encounter with this devastation in hopes of inspiring you to help. Darby has a list going on her blog of ways that you can help. If you haven't already done something, please do. I will also add that if you are local canned food is needed for emergency workers in Guntersville. Two meals a day are being served to two hundred people. Large quantities of sides are needed. You can drop off your donation at Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce or Marshall County EMA.

And above all else, pray.

A Visit from Poppy & Cissy

2011-04-28T13:44:00.000-05:00

The weekend before Easter, Poppy & Cissy came up for a visit. We had such a great time with them and we were thankful for there help! They rolled into town on Friday complete with a new suitcase for Miller...

Which was filled to the brim with goodies!

Bryant and I went to Huntsville for the afternoon and evening while we had free babysitters staying with us. I was excited to find a few snapshots from their night!

I'm so glad they took this next one. This sums up how our bedtime routine looks these days. Miller insists that we sit on the rug to read while he holds his "beaw".

The next morning we all got ready for "chuwch", as Miller calls it.

The weather on Saturday wasn't very good, but after they left on Sunday we had Miller's first Egg Hunt to get him ready for Easter.

He got the hang of it pretty quickly, especially when he found out their were treats inside of each egg.

Afterward, he helped Daddy with a little yard work.

Miller loved the bubble gun that Poppy & Cissy gave him.

It was a great weekend!