All Grown Up

Every once in a while I really realize that I'm a grown up.

Getting married.
Seeing my best friends have babies.
Buying a house.
Seeing my name on a real estate sign and having business cards.
Buying my first pistol.
Going to my 10 year high school reunion.
Finally getting a positive pregnancy test.
Having a baby.
Being in charge of a baby all by myself.
Taking my big girl to the Library and to Kindermusik and to Sunday school.
Planning to get pregnant again.
Getting pregnant again.
Being in real labor for a really long time.
Having another baby.
Seeing my two daughters together.

And after today I can add one more thing to the list.

My very first favorite little girl (Kelly Grace, and no it's not really a coincidence that I have an Ellie Grace) from when I first taught preschool has been accepted to her top college picks!

Needless to say, I am so proud of her! I hugged her dad and my heart squealed with delight. Kelly is an amazing girl and she has the most wonderful sister and parents. She really wants to go to Wake Forest or Elon University, but she may "settle" for UNC because of the outrageous tuition at a private university. She's going to be a great lawyer one day. She lives just down the street from us and I constantly imagine her outside playing in the yard as a sweet, little five year old, but she turned 18 this past October. She's the girl that you want your daughters to grow up to be. She loves Jesus and sings at church and has the sweetest heart you could ever imagine.

Anyway...I must really be an adult.

Guess who...

is saying "ma-ma"??

That's right, this sweet girl is! She was playing with Maggie and couldn't find me, so she crawled away and was saying "ma-ma-ma-ma" in the most pitiful voice.

Of course, Maggie said, "I think she's really saying Nana".

I should also say that she's been saying "da-da" for several weeks.

She Writes & Draws & Colors & Writes

It has been a busy week around here in more ways than one. After two weeks of spelling out M-C-M-I-L-L-A-N for two weeks, Maggie finally memorized the spelling! She writes Maggie McMillan, Mommy McMillan, Daddy McMillan and Ellie McMillan. She found out that my last name is hyphenated so I spent quite a while explaining that. I think she has decided to hyphenate her last name when she gets married too. ;-)

Her writing has changed so much. She used to "dot" her i's. Then the "dot" changed to a "curly Q". Now it is a giant dot that gets colored in. If she makes a mistake or doesn't like the way a letter looks (she's very picky) she scribbles it out and will keep writing until she gets it "right".

She also colored this picture of a house that I drew. She added dark clouds, flowers, green grass and multi-colored snowmen. If you're wondering, she was pantless in this picture.

You can see in this picture how Big Daddy gets attacked by the girls when he gets home each evening! This was before dinner, so Maggie was creating at the table. She was wearing Babylegs, so I guess her legs had gotten cold. I was letting Ellie play with the broom and an assortment of other things because it keeps her occupied while I cook. She absolutely lights up when she sees the broom, dust mop or vacuum cleaner. (That's my girl!!)

This is a picture of Ellie with her bruise. She also busted her top lip this morning, so she looks a little rough right now. Her nose was so runny this morning that she stayed with Nana for 45 minutes while I took Muff to Storytime. A few people were surprised that I usually bring Ellie when I could have Nana keep her every week. It's proof that we actually choose to take our kids places with us!

Ellie didn't sleep well last night, but we have had a really nice day...so far. Muff has been happy and is taking a nap right now. Yesterday she did flips on her bed for an hour and a half while I cleaned and rearranged the living room. She was a little hyped up after a birthday party at preschool.

Not Wordless Wednesday

Baby Ellie is in her high chair playing with a puff, (which she refuses to put in her own mouth) humming and signing "more" because she wants me to feed her. She has a bruise on her cheek from falling and hitting the very hard tile floor in my bathroom yesterday morning. She's been up for looong time, so she's had a short nap and is happily eating her puffs and cheerios and jumbo rice crispies for snack.

The Muffin woke up right on time (because Ellie was crying so loud) in a great mood. We had a nice, relaxed morning before preschool because I spent at least thirty minutes after I put the kids to bed getting everything ready for the morning. I fed Ellie extra early while Muff was still asleep. Her yogurt and milk were all ready in cups and I made applesauce for Muff (because that's what she wanted) and she dipped graham crackers in it. Her water cup was full because she drinks water for breakfast every morning, regardless of what she eats. My oatmeal was ready to cook and I pre-measured the granola to sprinkle on it because I'm doing W.eight W.atchers today...because I ate more Ch.ips Ahoy cookies than any woman should yesterday. (It wasn't really that many, but it was too many) I was feeling so proud of myself until I realized that I forgot to grind my coffee beans last night and grinding beans this early would be too loud and wake up my sleeping Muffin.

Anyway...
Her are a few pictures from the past several days.

Not a good day

In the grand scheme of things, it's not that bad, but I believe it's all relative to what you're used to, so I say with confidence that this has not been a good day at all.

I slept more consecutive hours than usual which was a surprise considering both Ellie and Maggie have runny noses and chest congestion. Ellie seems to sleep well when the humidifier is in her room. It's probably the white noise and I should go out immediately and by a white noise machine and I will start having many consecutive hours of sleep each night, but who knows?

I woke up when Maggie came into my room and said she had to use her bathroom because she needed "just a little bit of light". She said it with such a whine that I couldn't understand her and had to ask her to repeat herself...three times. I explained that one of the four light switches in my bathroom would give her "just a little bit of light" if she would turn them on. This set her off and then she woke Ellie up with her loud complaining.

After lots of crying and snot dripping on Ellie's part, we were ready to go to the grocery store. I wore Ellie in the Baby K'Tan for the second time while shopping. She loves, I love it and it's super comfortable. Maggie pushed the little shopping cart, ran over my heels a couple of times and entertained everyone in the sore with some very crazy antics.

We left with our groceries, stopped by the recycling center, returned Library book, checked out new ones and arrived home just in time for lunch. I'm choosing to remeber today in that way and leave out all of the stuff that made it not a good day at all.

Sick babies and date nights don't mix

Big Daddy spent most of the weekend locked in his room working on school stuff and I did my normal stuff with the girls on Saturday morning. My sister had a sick "baby", so we had a double date with Maggie & Ellie Saturday evening. Cousin Callie had a stomach bug and was really feeling bad. Of course, it wasn't at all a big deal to take them to Panera with us (like we have been doing almost every weekend since November). Of course, my sister has offered her babysitting services for next week, but we are having lunch with my in-laws and probably won't have any time for a date because of the whole school work-thing. (If you know me, you know I'd rather not eat for a week than to eat with them...and I like to eat.)

Big Daddy decided to stay home from church on Sunday morning and try and get caught up on his work. I decided to take Maggie & Ellie to my parents' church since the service started later and I wouldn't have to juggle both girls, two Sunday school classes and most of all the computer system that generates their name tags. I still haven't quite mastered getting them checked in yet.

Cousin Callie was feeling better yesterday so I begged my sister to let her go to the The Wizard of Oz play with us while she kept Ellie. Callie and Maggie had a great time! Of course, going to the play caused Maggie to miss her nap which caused a huge temper tantrum later. Maggie needs her nap!!!

This morning Ellie woke up with a horrible, green runny nose and chest congestion.

It's going to be a fun week.

It IS Important

I had to go to the not-so supercenter this morning with Maggie and Ellie for something very important.

Glue.

Yes, glue.

Maggie used the last of the glue sticks a couple of days ago and she's thought of "so many things that need glue". As soon as she's up from her nap we'll start cutting and gluing and taping. She loves tape almost as much as she loves glue. You wouldn't believe the things that she makes. On Saturday she made Dorothy's house (after the tornado), Dorothy and Uncle Henry.

Maggie has a slight cold or something, but we're still planning to leave her and Ellie with my sister tomorrow evening for our little date. She seems to feel fine, but has a little bit of a runny nose and coughs once in a while. We had a slight change of plans because Big Daddy has a test next week and will spend most of the day studying. We'll be going to dinner and then to pick up a pair of sunglasses for me.

On Sunday afternoon, I'm taking Cousin Callie and Maggie to see "The Wizard of Oz" at a local high school. Maggie is already so excited. She's planning to wear her Dorothy dress and ruby slippers.

Gimme More

I received my package today and you were right if you guessed it was a new carrier! I was just telling one of my friends the other day that it was sort of sad how terribly excited I am about this gift! If you had told me a few years ago that Babywearing would be one of my passions, I would have laughed. I have never (and still don't) really considered myself to be an attached parent, but maybe I am. I tell Big Daddy all the time that I'd like to have another baby just so that I'll have another little one to wear! I love Babywearing that much.

Big Daddy and I bought a Bjorn style front carrier shortly after I found out I was pregnant with The Muffin. It was on clearance and I thought it would be cute to wear our baby. I started using it when Muff was about 3 months old and Big Daddy and I both wore her like crazy when we went to the beach that summer. I continued to use it when I went to the grocery store, on walks and if we went anywhere that wasn't stroller friendly.

I still remember the last time I wore The Muffin in the front carrier. I remember what she was wearing and I remember knowing that my back would break if I had to wear her a minute longer. She weighed about 5 pounds less than what Ellie wears now, but the front carrier was killing my back and shoulders.

I discovered slings when I was somewhat desperate to find something to help with The Muffin's colic symptoms. I found out that Babywearing was supposed to help with fussy babies and placed an order for my first sling that day. I only used it on walks and never felt that comfortable with it, although it helped quite a bit with her fussiness and often put her to sleep. This is the same sling that I used almost every single day for Ellie's first four months and felt so comfortable. I wore her in it for the first time on the day we came home from the hospital. I fell in love with it and felt so much more comfortable wearing her, mostly because I was a more comfortable mommy!

When I became pregnant with Ellie I knew that it would be a huge benefit to wear her so that my hands could be free. I decided that I wanted a ring sling because it's what Steph suggests as a good start. It took a while before I felt completely comfortable wearing Ellie in it, but it quickly became our go-to sling. Ellie now weighs 20 pounds and I can wear her in the hip carry position completely pain free for quite a long time.

I've only tried to wear Ellie in the front Bjorn style carrier once and it was not pretty! I've used the backpack carrier with her once and that went pretty well. Big Daddy will be able to use it this Spring and Summer if we go hiking with Ellie perched on his back. Based on Muff's weight, I could wear her in our new Babywearing device, but I wouldn't want her to know that unless it was absolutely necessary. We may try it out hiking this Spring..we'll see.

Anyway...it's a Baby K'Tan and it arrived a couple of hours ago. I wore Ellie in the "Adventure" position and she kicked her legs and loved it! My friend Ms. A has the same carrier in a different color, so we'll sort of be twins!

Speaking of more...here's Ellie signing "more" . Our girl loves to eat.

Love Him!

I really don't talk about Big Daddy very much on the blog, but he's not off limits or anything. I wouldn't want to bore you talking about the long hours that he works, how his job is driving him crazy, how he is too much of a friend and not enough of a parent to the girls or how he stays up late and gets easily distracted while he's doing homework. I definitely wouldn't want to air our dirty marriage laundry on the blog and have you thinking that we don't have a picture-perfect fairytale life. I do occasionally tell about some of the things he does that drives me crazy, but for the most part I don't talk about him. I do love him oh so much and occasionally I'm amazed at how sweet he can be after nearly 14 years together.

Of course, he started out much sweeter than he is now. He used to mail me at least one card every single week and he would actually write something in it. (And they were very sweet) Now, he sends me flowers because "it's easier than having to shop for a card". I'd rather have a card or a scribbled note or something a little more personal. Sometimes he surprises me with sweet things and I usually cry. One of my favorite gifts was when he told me that I could name Baby Ellie, Pacey. In the end, it didn't fit, but that gift made me cry.

Tonight, he asked if I'd want to go somewhere with him on Saturday and maybe I could get a massage while he did the thing that he wanted to do. I told him that there were so many things I'd rather have than a massage. He asked, what I wanted, I told him and then we ordered it. It turns out he'd been checking the history on the computer and was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted. I had shopped around a lot, so he was clueless.

Feel free to guess what it is. I'll share all about it as soon as it arrives by UPS.

And why is all of that underlined??

Post-It Note Tuesday

I decided to participate in "Post-It Note Tuesday" again this week because I had very little to say...until Big Daddy and I had a little talk Click on over to SupahMommy's to play along!

Music Monday

I'm finally joining in on my friend Tara's Music Monday carnival! This happens to be one of my favorite songs and I heard it on the way to the grocery store this morning.

I have no idea (and don't really want to know) why the video is taking over the whole blog, but I don't have time to fix it since it's almost time to pick Muff up from school.

Have A Happy (Music) Monday!

Olympics...Every Sunday

Does anyone else feel like they've competed in an Olympic event at the end of a long Sunday? I do!

We haven't really watched the Olympics, but Maggie is a little confused about "where those boys are skiing to".

I'm hoping to have the oppurtunity to introduce Maggie to figure skating at some point this week. We'll see. She has done a little "skating" around on the hardwood floors while wearing socks. That was before she realized that those boys were skiing and not skating.

I hope he had a happy Valentine's Day

**I'm not trying to make fun of anyone or any of the products mentioned. This is merely the musings of a sleep-deprived mother of a teething baby and strong-willed child.**

So...I went to the pharmacy with Ellie on Thursday...to buy medicine for my toenail fungus. I was a little embarrassed and had one of those moments where I hoped that I wouldn't run into anyone from my childhood or from high school while I was picking out which fungus medicine I wanted to buy. (I have found that running into people from high school is a huge downside to living here...with the exception of people that I have talked to since high school. I want people to know that I married, left here and then came back and haven't just been living in a closet at my parents' house for all these years.)

Anyway...

I was standing in line with Ellie and my fungus medication when I realized that Ellie was mesmerized by the man behind us. I had thought it might be the younger looking man that spoke to her when we were almost to the fungus medication, but it wasn't.

It was a man in his early to late forties. And he had two things in his hand as he juggled his cell phone. (And btw, Ellie was looking at his cell phone)

He had V.agisil and a box of (maybe 6 or 8) little bottles of some sort of K-Y brand product (massage oil maybe???).

The part that seemed so funny to me was that he was calling his wife at work. She was unavailable so he (loudly) left her name, his name and his phone number and he had to repeat all three.

I left the pharmacy knowing his wife's name, his name and number and what he was buying.

And that's what you've been waiting for. I hope you're not disappointed and found it at least somewhat amusing.

If you read this PLEASE leave me a comment and let me know if it made you laugh or if my sense of humor has left with my sanity.



I hope you are celebrating or have celebrated Valentine's Day in your own special way. You know we did.

"Snow, snow, again!"

The Muffin woke up from her nap on Friday afternoon and I broke the news that they were calling for snow.

She said, "Snow, snow, again. NOOOOOOO! I don't want it to snow anymore. I'm ready for Spring."
My thoughts exactly.

February 13, 2010

We don't get a lot of snow around here, so I decided it would be fun to take a picture of our new house while there was snow on the ground. You know, in case it didn't happen again.
This is the third picture I have of where there's snow on the ground.January 31, 2010

December 19, 2009

It was only a couple of inches last night, so we're still meeting Big Daddy at Panera tonight for our special Valentine's dinner. I'm sure it will be romantic!

Baby Ellie gave me an early Valentine's gift and slept VERY well last night! The flowers from Big Daddy and the girls are starting to open up, too. Peruvian lilies just get prettier every single day.

Something Sweet for Little Readers

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd write a little post about some of our favorite love books. I think all of these books are really sweet and would make great gifts.

I Love You, Mommy! and I Love You, Daddy!
written by Edie Evans and illustrated by Rusty Fletcher
These are Little Golden Books and we just love Golden Books! The "I Love You, Mommy!" book was Callie's, but Maggie sort of stole it. I bought the "I Love You, Daddy!" book for Maggie at Father's Day one year. These books talk about fun things that Mommy's and Daddy's do with their kids. It has cute pictures and it rhymes, which I always like!


Guess How Much I Love You?
written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram
Maggie has the hardcover and Ellie has the board book and I just love the ending of this story. Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare compare their love for each other and will have little ones saying, "I love you more!".


You're All My Favorites
again, written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram
This was a gift to Maggie from Big Daddy's goddaughters. This is such a sweet story, especially if you have more than one child. This is a reminder that everyone is special and our favorite in their own way.

Love You Forever
written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw
I bought a copy of this book years before Big Daddy and I even married and out it away for our children. I think every parent should read this one and it's been known to make Big Daddy cry. One of my favorite memories from my time as a preschool teacher was reading this book during Mother's Day week. I love love love it!!

The Invisible String
written by Patrice Karst and illustrated by Geoff Stevenson
I've written about this book before, but it is one of my new favorites. I think every child would like to know about The String that connects them to the ones that they love.

I Love You As Much
written by Laura Krauss Melmed and illustrated by Henri Sorenson
We have this board book and both girls like looking at the pictures. Different animals tell their babies that they "love them as much as" something. The sweetness of this book may appeal more to the adult, but it's a great book.

God Gave Us You
written by Lisa Tawn Bergren and illustrated by Laura J. Bryant
A mommy polar bear tells her cub about wanting a baby, being pregnant and then welcoming the baby home. There's also a "God Gave Us Two" that talks about a new sibling and "God Gave Us Love". I bought this book for Cousin Callie and bought a copy to put up for when Big Daddy and I had babies. It would be a sweet book to give a new parent.

When Valentine's Day Comes Early

**NO. This is not a post detailing the wondrous gifts that Big Daddy surprised me with before Valentine's Day. Last night he said, "and when is that again?". Then he said, "Don't get me anything and I won't get you anything, okay?". **
EDITED TO ADD... Just received flowers from my "loving husband and crazy daughters". They're from Proflowers.com and they're Peruvian Lilies which Big Daddy just happens to love because they open slowly and last for days and days. He always sends flowers from Proflowers because they're fresher and cheaper than a florist. I'll post a picture after they open up.

Yesterday was The Muffin's first field trip. We had planned to walk to the post office to mail Valentines, but decided to drive since it was so cold and extremely windy. I was also one of the party parents for snack, so I was able to go on the little trip and be there for the party afterward.

(I didn't even ask her to smile, she's just that sweet at school)
She mailed a card to her Mommy & Daddy!

(Gosh, I LOVE her!)
Maggie leads a somewhat sheltered life because we never buy goldfish, cheese doodles or cupcakes and she had all three things at her party. She very rarely drinks juice at home, but asked that I bring C.apri Suns for the party. I also brought the heart-shaped strawberry marshmallows because we are all about some marshmallows.

Because Muff is so strong-willed an has been a real handful this week, I'd like to brag on my sweet girl. She was the only one that wrote her name on her Valentine cards because she is the only child that can write her name. She also writes Mommy, Daddy, Ellie, McMillan and our address. Her teacher also said that she never has any trouble with Maggie except for cleaning up the centers. She cleans too much! Her teacher has to make her sit down and give the other kids a chance to clean up their own messes!! Maggie is such a pleaser.

(Taken at snack this morning. She was so tired!)
Ellie stayed with Nana while I partied with Maggie. That gave me two whole hours of alone time. I bought Ellie these Baby Mum Mums. These are the darndest things! They taste pretty good and get so sticky once they get all wet. I found a piece stuck on Ellie's shirt and I had to really work hard to pull it off. I wasn't so sure that she could handle eating them, but she really enjoyed it. Of course, Maggie had to eat one too because she tastes of everything that Ellie eats to make sure that it's not poison.

I also bought Maggie & Cousin Callie matching dresses for $1.00 each! Wal.mart, of course. I got a couple of shirts for Maggie for the same price. She only approved of one of them and said she "probably won't ever" wear the other one. Two out of three's not bad! Maggie wore her new dress to the Library Valentine Party today and I forgot to take a picture because she looked so sweet and innocent sitting on her carpet square and following directions and not screaming or looking strong-willed at all. I just sat there with Ellie in the sling and cherished the moment. Seriously, I had tears in my eyes at one point.

(Yes, she is wearing the "boy" boxing shirt again.)
Ellie will chew on anything she can get her hands on. Yesterday, she snatched the O.rajel tube out of my hand and chewed on it for a good thirty minutes. I was cooking dinner and standing right beside of her, so I kept an eye on her to make sure that she didn't bite the tube and suck all of the pain relieving yumminess out of it.

(Notice Ellie's sweet smile and The Muffin's cross-eyes)
And just for fun, these two LOVE each other. Muff entertains/aggravates Ellie while I cook dinner every single night. After dinner, Ellie crawls around while Muff watches Taylor Swift videos on youtube and I wash the dishes. That's the only sort of nice thing about Big Daddy getting home at 7:00 most nights.

The weekend doesn't look very promising. Big Daddy is working on Saturday (and maybe Sunday too) so I'll have just another day of the week. (We are planning on meeting for dinner and I'll most likely have Maggie & Ellie in tow.) We are really missing Big Daddy's old job with no weekends and only 9-10 hour days. Most days he works 12 hours and let's just say he doesn't love his job...at all. On the bright side, he'll only be sitting at his desk in case an engineering problem arises so he should be able to do lots of homework.

Big Daddy informed me last night that the little scene at the pharmacy wasn't as funny as I thought it was. I was afraid of that. I have decided that I will share it on Valentine's Day because this is my blog and I swear I think it's the only thing I have that's mine. So...stay tuned. Hopefully, some of you will find it amusing and none of you will think that it's gross or offensive.

Wordless Wednesday- A Tale of Two Sisters

Post-It Note Tuesday

I had a post planned for today, but I didn't have enough nerve to publish it. Big Daddy and I both found a particular thing that I saw yesterday very funny and I wanted to share it with everyone. I wrote out the post, set it to auto-publish and then I went back and hit the delete button. Maybe I'll share it sometime later, but it almost seemed inappropriate for the family blog.

That leads us to "Post-It Note Tuesday". I really have very little to say today, but here it is. You can head on over to SupahMommy's to join in the fun.