Good Times in the Submarine Ball Pit

First Swimming Pool

This afternoon I had a whim. Millie and I were coming back from Lunch with friends and cousins at their new house and headed straight to the PX (the post's mall). It's warm and sunny out so I thought there's no better way to enjoy the weather than to sit in the pool. Since the neighborhood pool won't be open for another month or so, I picked up a little plastic kiddie pool. Here are pics of Millie enjoying the exterior of the pool. She explored all around it, threw some of her rubber duckies, hat, shoe, and cup into it but would not actually get IN it. She did, however, test it out by balancing a foot and a hand in the water just enough to confirm her decision not to get in. We were out there for a whole hour under the carport away for the direct sunlight. It totally wore her out and was the perfect prequel to a long nap afterward.

Our fun-filled Spring Break!

Matt had a whole week off of work, and we took advantage of it! We visited with Mia and Granddaddy Morris for three days in Columbia. We went to the Children's Museum and the Farmers Market there. The museum was wonderful! Millie especially enjoyed the mini-mart and talked to and about all the groceries she put in her cart. I posted a video on you tube. Check it out here. There are lots of other fun exhibits for kids of all ages and a special section for children under 3 which we did not find until the very end but still was totally worth it.


The next day at the farmers market, Mia and I strolled Millie around to look at the fruits, veggies and plants. Millie didn't seem quite herself and we quickly realized why... on the way home she threw up all over herself while enjoying a snack of goldfish. Fortunately, we pulled over next to a church. We stripped Millie down, and Mia walked her (half-naked, mind you) while I rationed the one leftover wipe to clean up the puke from all over her car seat. Poor thing. That was the last of the vomit, thankfully, although Millie did sleep very well from then on out especially in the car ride back to Fayetteville the next day.

For the rest of the week, Milllie's Yaya, Papa and Uncle Chris (my family) drove up to see us and to deliver Millie's awesome super-spectacular birthday gift. We have desperately needed a storage type organizational unit for all of Millie's toys. I could not find what I wanted in any store, catalog, or even online, so Jim (Papa) with Yaya's decorating advice created this snazzy cubbie bookshelf together for Millie. It has 9 bins in all and lots of space. Right now its in our living room but in a few months we plan to move it into Millie's room so she can start playing with her toys in there. Fun!

Pictures from Easter Day

Doing the Easter Dance and Hobbling to Mommy

On Leigh's birthday, 4/9/2009. Who knew there would be musical entertainment with an interpretive dance...


From Monday, 4/6/2009, after a weekend of long strides to and from people and furniture...


You can find all of these on my youtube.com account if you are having trouble watching them from this site.

My 3rd OB appointment

My third OB appointment was short and sweet. I got to hear our little peanut's heartbeat. It was 140 bpm. They weighed me in at a pound less month over month although I've been eating everything in sight. Ask Matt. Who knows what that was about. Doctor says it's nothing to worry about, and women can lose up to 10% of their weight within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. I'd never heard that before. With Millie I was already 133lbs and here I am sitting at 126lbs. At this rate, I'll be looking real good at Lauren's wedding in October.

Walking ...breastmilk not included

Since Saturday, Millie has been walking about 5-10 steps on her own. She starts by holding on to something steady and letting go to get where she wants to. If she's standing, she'll walk before she crawls and if she drops down to the floor then she resorts back to crawling. I've tried to get this on video but haven't been too successful yet. Maybe next post we'll have something to prove her new found ability. I have a feeling she'll be fully walking very very soon .

For a week now Millie has been officially weaned. She is no longer being nursed and I feel free! I breastfed for a whole 1 year and 2 weeks! Majority of moms can't say that so I feel like a part of an elite group. Millie doesn't seem to miss our special time together either as long as she's got a full tummy. Her demeanor has changed too. She's become a lot more happy. Of course, it may be me treating her like a big girl now rather than an infant. I don't know how to describe it but I definitely notice a difference in her for the better.

The Bridge Run Weekend in Charleston

We took a fantastic trip back to our old hometown of Charleston, SC, this weekend so Matt could run the Cooper River Bridge Run along with lots of our friends. We had to make the rounds of all of our favorite restaurants. Matt and our friend Josh arrived together on Thursday night and ate dinner at Wild Wing. Then Megan, Josh's gfd, Millie and I drove down on Friday morning and met the crew for lunch at Poe's on Sullivan's Island. Poe's is the place where we celebrated the night we won $10000. So the nostalgia was therapeutic. We met up with Aunt Meg and friends from our old neighborhood and small group (now the current leaders), Paul, Michelle and their boy Brayden. Then, we had to take a walk on the beach. Almost the exact location where my maternity photos were taken about 14 months earlier. Millie loved the water and nearly went swimming in the ocean as she kept creeping her way deeper and deeper.

After the beach we met up with our fabulous weekend hosts- Josh and Lisa and their boy, Miles. For some reason I have no pictures of them or anything else except for those from the bridge run. So here is their little boy enjoying some double stroller time with Millie. Friday evening included a delicious Mexican dinner at Uno Mas and the unforgettable play, The Thorn, at Seacoast. If you live in or near Charleston you must/need to go see this play. It was incredible and will pull at your heartstrings like it did mine.

Friday night was interesting as Millie shared a room with us and woke up with every creaking movement from us in our bed next to hers. Because I didn't want her to wake Miles in the room next door, we put her in our bed. She slept really well for a couple of hours and then we would switch her back to her pack and play. We played that game about 4-5 times that night. I remember Matt waking up on Saturday morning and saying to me... I don't think I can race after the craziness and lack of sleep last night. But, he did it.

We got up on Saturday morning and loaded up the car to meet up with our runners at the finish line on King Street. When Matt was 19 years old he ran the race in 39 minutes. 11 years later, he finished the 10k in just under 50 minutes. He did really well though and exceeded his personal goal so we were happy. After the race, Millie and I tried to get some rest time in while Matt enjoyed more eats at California Dreaming. He brought me back a bowl of their famous baked potato soup and won lots of points with me :).

That evening Lisa and I went on a shopping outing and took silly pics in very expensive and extravagant ladies' Easter hats. Lisa's got those photos but I'm pretty sure she's saving them to blackmail me someday because they are quite hilarious.

While we were away Matt and Josh watched the kids. During that time, Millie dropped a toy on her left toe and Matt thought it was surely broken, which it is not. On top of that, she got a slight sunburn from the day even though spf 50 sunscreen lathered on her all day. She burns easily, good to know. She was not a happy camper. Of course when I find all this out on the phone I immediately freaked out thinking the worse. I came storming in the door with aloe in hand, ready to rescue, to find Millie passed out in Daddy's arms on the couch buck-naked with the basketball finals playing on the tv. I thought for sure she was going to pee on him but she didn't. And, she didn't even move when I applied the aloe lotion, diapered her and put on her pjs. She was exhausted. Needless to say, we slept on the couches that night to make sure we all had a good night's sleep. That night, Lisa recreated Outback steaks at home. My steak was delicious!

Finally to Sunday, we went to church service, ate (again!) at the local McAlister's, then on the road back home to Ft. Bragg.

Woo, I'm exhausted from my story telling, err, writing. Wish I would have taken more pictures. I'll remember that next time.

Swap n Shop Find

I found this treasure at Village Baptist Church's Swap N' Shop this morning. It will be perfect to travel with this weekend to Charleston. We're staying with some friends and Millie has outgrown the Bumbo. I was about to go spend some $$ on one but found this for free!