Mill Turns One!

I cannot believe that is has been an entire year since my sweet baby boy was born!!! This year has flown by and been full of many and wonderful memories.

Mills turned one on July 30th. We celebrated as a family of 4 that day for his big day. David and I started a tradition of filling our kids' rooms with balloons on the night before their birthday so they can wake up to the excitement of them, when Mary Kate turned one. We continued this with Mills and he loved it! He tried to grab them, only to have them slip away from him. He would laugh and keep trying until he caught one.





























We gave Mills an adjustable plastic basketball goal for his birthday. We set it up in the bonus room. That morning, after we had fun with the balloons, we let Mills walk into the bonus room to see his present. I think he liked it, but Mary Kate loved it and would hardly let him play. Mills' favorite part was when David would pick him up and let him dunk the ball. He grinned from ear to ear and would also laugh.

















Another tradition of our is a homemade breakfast. After playing with he basketball goal for a while, David made pancakes for all of us and Mills ate them up! Both of the kids were in good moods that day and we enjoyed playing outside. We had fun playing outside in the pool while David grilled out for dinner. After dinner, Mills ate a small chocolate cupcake with smurf blue icing. He LOVED it! We had a great day as a family celebrating this extra special birthday.

















Because my parents were going to be out of town on Mills' actual birthday, we waited a week to have his party. Since he has a summer birthday, we thought it would be fun to have a water theme. We had a Finding Nemo cake with blue and green decor. I made a slideshow of pictures and videos from Mills' first year. It was a lot of fun to make and a bit emotional for mento watch. It just seems like time is going by too fast and I am trying my best to soak up every second of it! We started the party with the viewing of the slideshow and then moved on to the cutting of the cake. Mills took a bit to get into the eating of the cake, but when he did he dug in and destroyed the smash cake that I made for him.




























































Along with our water theme was an inflatable pool and a slip n' slide. After we ate cake and opened presents, the kids took off for the water toys and they had a blast!!! Mills started off in he pool and spent the rest if he time doing a combination of sliding and busting it on the slip n' slide. All of he kids played on each of the water toys and seemed to have a great time.


















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July 2011

So I am finally getting closer to getting this thing updated! July was a really fun month for us. We hung out, just the four of us for the 4th. We took the kids to play at the playground at Eastridge Community Church, which us right behind our house, and David grilled out for us that evening in the pouring down rain.





































David has been in banking school through BB&T at Wake Forest University since March of 2008. He was supposed to finish up last July, but was unable to because I went into labor, or so we thought, and he ended coming home. So, after waiting an entire year, he was able to go finish up this program. He was gone for 8 days and while he was busy in class and working on a big project, the kids and I went to the beach!

My parents bought a condo in Panama City Beach, Fl back in the spring and this was our first time down there. We took David's sister Katee and her kids Ana and Evan. We left on Friday morning, just as David was getting ready to go to work, and we were going to stay until Tuesday. When we got there the weather was awful! We had a tropical system spinning over the panhandle of Florida producing tons of rain! On Saturday, we decided to get out and try to have some fun, despite the rain, and we ended up at the indoor pool and then got brave enough to go on to the beach. Sunday started off rainy and got better by the afternoon. It was fun and the kids did not seem to mind. Monday was beautiful! We stayed out on the beach most of the day. The kids dug holes and played in the sand and we walked out passed the seaweed to jump the waves. Ana and Evan are great with our kids and were a huge help while we were down there. Next year we are going again, but both dads are coming with us.





















































We were all excited to see David when he got home. Not having him to help with the kids in the evenings made me really appreciate all that he does for me and he kids! Thankfully, he finished the program, graduated, and will not have to go back next summer!!!

My summer vacation came to an abrupt end the last few days of July when I had to go get my room ready at our new school and report to work. I enjoyed my summer at home with the kids so much that I had a difficult time leaving them at daycare and getting back into a routine. The summer time with them really makes me want to be a stay at home mom!
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Way Over Due!!!

So, once again, it has been way too long since my last post!!! I had a wonderful summer at home with the kids and made so many memories with both of them and as a family. I will take you back to June to catch you up...

The third week of June we took our first family vacation to Folly Beach, Sc. With David's mom and step-dad, sister and her family, and oldest step-brother and his family. We had a blast!!! Ron and Sarah graciously rented a beautiful home on the beachfront for us all to stay in. We had Mills stay in our room and Mary Kate in a room with her cousins. We got to the beach late Saturday afternoon and took he kids out for a minute before dinner. Our kids had never seen the beach and they were both so excited! Mary Kate squealed.

The next morning we got up and out on the beach asap. We had a great day. Mary Kate and Mills both enjoyed playing in the water and the sand with their cousins and even with us. We built sand castles, dug big holes and ditches, and splashed in the water...a lot! We even got a pool for Mills to play in since the sand seemed to irritate his skin a bit, but he did not stay in there for any length of time.

On Tuesday, we noticed that Mills was very fussy and clingy. He wanted me to hold him and even fell asleep in my arms as we set in the ocean with the waves crashing on us (such a sweet memory!!!). That afternoon we ventured out to Charleston for dinner I had never been there, so I was excited. The kids did well at dinner, but we decided to take them back to the house instead of going on the tour of Charleston.
When we got back, we took the kids out to the beach and let Mary Kate fly a lady bug kite. She loved it! Another fun memory:) The next morning we decided to take Mills to an urgent care clinic because he had been up all night fussing and slept what little he slept on my chest in the bed. He ended up having a double ear infection and was given some antibiotics...Poor baby!

When we got back and got him settled, I joined some of the others on he beach. Mary Kate had been very clingy to her Gege that morning and when I got out there I saw fluid draining from her ear (she has tubes so that is what it was supposed to do). So, David took her to the same urgent care clinic and got her some ear drops. What a time our babies had with their ears!

By Thursday evening, both kids were feeling better and Friday was our most fun day of the week. Despite the ominous clouds and sprinkles, we went out on the beach and played. Mills was crawling all over the place and would take a few steps and was so proud of himself he would clap. They were both in and out of the water and playing in the sand. The weather cleared up and was beautiful the rest of the day.
Another memory I have is of Mary Kate using her potty on the beach. We had worked so hard with her on potty training and she was so well trained that I was scared that she would regress if she could jot make it up into the house and to the potty on time. So, we decided to bring her pink potty on the beach. We set it up behind our tent and showed her where it was. She told us when she needed to go. She did an awesome job! We are just so prod of her!!

We had a wonderful time on this first vacation. We look forward to a lifetime of family vacations with just us and others with the big family as well!!! The sad part about coming home was getting back to the reality of Daddy not being around all day
everyday.
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At the end of June, the 28th to be exact, Mills took off walking and has not looked back since. He was right at 11 months, again almost two months younger than Mary Kate, when he began walking.

He looks so cute walking! He is a bit bowlegged at this time and it just ads to his cuteness. He is so proud that he is walking and claps at himself often as we clap for him.

Catching Up...Part Two

April

On Saturday, April 2nd, I began the “3 Day Potty Training” method by Lora Jenson with Mary Kate (26 months). She had been telling us for a while that she needed to “tee tee,” so I was determined that we were going to get her trained. Thanks to Kelda and Lara who introduced me to this method and supported me through it because it worked!!!!!! David was busy wheeling and dealing trading in both of our vehicles and buying two new to us vehicles, and my mom kept Mills, so Mary Kate and I got to spend some quality time together during this process. She had a few accidents the first day, but did pretty well. The second day she did even better and by the third day she had no accidents. Pooping was more difficult for her to time than the other. She was not afraid to go, but would tell us as she was going instead of before. Thankfully, her teachers at “school” were very patient with her and by the beginning the third week in April pooping was no longer a problem. She also told me “no more diapers” when I went to put a pull up on her one night early on and has been sleeping in panties since about 1 ½ weeks into potty training. David and I are SO proud of her and she is proud of herself as well!!! She got a tricycle for her big "closing ceremony" present as well as a "big girl" toddler bed. We converted her crib. We will definitely try this with Mills in a few years.

We spent Easter in Toccoa with Ron and Sarah and the Barker Family. It was great! We had an egg hunt and lots of time together with the kids. The kids looked so cute on Easter morning.

This is what happens when I leave him for literally 3 seconds!

May and June

One thing that made me a bit sad was to wean Mills from nursing. Mother’s day morning was the last good feeding that we had. I did feed him later on in the week when we would not stop trying to nurse, instead of taking a bottle, but no more after that. Milk supply has never been an issue, but Mills’ ability to lay still long enough to take in a complete feeding is. He is just so curious and active that it was becoming extremely difficult to feed him.

Mother's Day before church

We took a weekend trip on third weekend of May to visit the Carpenter and Owens families Chattanooga. It was great to see both families! Mills had his first experience in the pool (really neat because Mary Kate also had her first time in the pool there) and he loved it. They were both too cute in their swimming suits.

A bittersweet moment happened on May 27th (at 3 days shy of 10 months) when Mills took his first steps. I was so excited and sad about it at the same time. I just cannot believe that he is trying to walk already, again around 3 months earlier than Mary Kate. We came home from “school” and were playing in the living room when it happened. The next day he took two steps in the morning and another three that afternoon. Since then we have been encouraging him to walk, but like his sister he is stubborn and will not take steps unless he wants to. He is not walking yet, but will be before we know it.

We spent Memorial Day with the Cawthons and Pulliams in Bishop. It was great! The guys ran their 5K, in the neighborhood, and all finished still hydrated amidst the crazy heat! The kids had a blast playing in the water and the adults enjoyed catching up in between the time of chasing, feeding, rocking, and nursing babies.

I have become increasing worried about Mills’ weight, due to the digestion issues he has endured, and my fears were confirmed at his 9 months appointment (at 10 moths). He is now in the 25% for weight and there is some concern about his ability to thrive. Dr. Miller wants us to increase his solids intake and begin reducing his formula to 6 ounces at a time by 12 months, which is fine because he rarely finishes an 8 ounce bottle. So far, he is finishing most of his stage 3 foods (Praise God!!!) , which is great because he was barely finishing stage 2 before. We go back for a recheck in two weeks on his ears and we will see where he is on the growth chart then. The not surprising news, however, is that he 90+% for his height. We think he has a super high metabolism and is going to be tall and very thin like his daddy was.

Mills keeps cutting teeth! He looks so cute with his smile now, which consists of the bottom two center teeth and one tooth on either side of the middle on the top (he looks like a snaggle tooth kid). He just today, June 4th, cut a new tooth on the top (center right).

I’m so blessed that I have a job that allows me to spend months out the year with my children. I have just spent the first week of my summer vacation at home with both kids having ear infections, but have enjoyed this time so much! I really miss them while I’m at work. I am looking forward to soaking up some quality time with both of them this summer.

Catching Up...Part One

So it has been since the middle of February since I posted and I have A LOT of things to catch you up on...:)

February
This month was the beginning of sickness invading the Cleveland home. Mills ended up having what we think was the flu and I subsequently got it, but didn’t go to the doctor like my dear husband begged me to do. I have TOTALLY learned my lesson because I ended up the ER after a very long weekend of traveling, missing David’s grandmother’s funeral (thanks mom and dad for coming and getting me and supporting David when I could not), feeling like I was going to vomit whenever I was anything other than horizontal, and my hands going numb. I was told in the ER that I was having a tension headache. I was supposed to take a couple of days off and follow up with my doctor in a couple of days. Thank you Dr. Patton for saving the day, two days later, at my appointment when he informed me that I had a severe double ear infection, one ear drum was bulging extremely, and was causing vertigo, hence the nausea. David and my mom had to drive me to and from work for a while, including my birthday when I drove to work and had to be picked up by my mom after work…seemed like I was in high school again. Fortunately I got rid of the vertigo within a couple of weeks.

March
Enough about me, you’re reading to find out about the kids anyway…So, Mills has had lot of issue with spitting up and what we thought was reflux. He had been on Zantac and Prevacid with no real improvement and had dropped in his weight percentages from 95% at 2 moths to around 50% at 6, too much of a drop, so Dr. Miller encouraged us to get an upper GI for Mills. On March 16th, we took him to Egleston. I was a bit nervous, but the whole thing was so quick that I didn’t have much time to let my nerves get the best of me. The radiologist told me that it appeared that he was normal structurally, meaning reflux was not much of an issue, but that he had a lot of food in his stomach from breakfast, he hadn’t eaten in the last 3 ½ hours, and that he was having trouble digesting his food quickly enough. Dr. Miller put him on Reglan three times a day and this has made a tremendous difference. We are now, in June, beginning the process of weaning him off of the medicine one week, or so, at a time. We dropped the dinner dose first and he is doing well so far. Please pray that he will continue to do well as the others are dropped!

On March 12th we had a surprise party for Mrs. Sarah (David's mom). It was really fun and very special that so many people came to share in this special time with her. She especially loved the fact that all of her 7 grandchildren posed for pictures for her.

Mary Kate had her own set of struggles in March. She has always had eczema and is prone to scratch, but it got bad when she clawed her face so bad that it looked as if a cat scratched her from above her eye all the way down one cheek. So, we took her to the doctor to figure out what to do about this and in their checking they found white spots on her throat and she ended up testing positive for step. We were in and out of the doctors’ office in early March after she vomited all over one her teachers Mrs. Deanna, which was when we realized that the strep had not responded to the first round of antibiotics and that she needed to be another one. It seems that she is one of those people to who is a carrier of strep, or at least creates false positives on the quick tests, so from now on she has to have a culture taken any time she is tested for strep.

On a happy note, Mills began crawling on March 1st and has not stopped since. He crawls faster than any baby I have ever seen! He loves getting to Mary Kate and any of her toys, cups, etc. that he can grab. We now call him Bam Bam because he loves to grab things and bang them together, or on something, very loudly. I can tell that many things we own will be destroyed before he gets out of toddlerhood. On March 24, Mills began clapping. It is so sweet to see him clap! He claps at many things, particularly when he sees something he likes. Two days later, on the 26th, Mills pulled up for the first time, on the dishwasher nonetheless. He crawled two months sooner that Mary Kate and pulled up three months sooner than she did. He is growing up way too fast!!!

Teeth and Pictures

So it has been a while since I last posted and there are severl things to catch you up on. My baby boy is no longer toothless! On Wednesday, January 26th (yes I'm one of those moms who is crazy about remembering dates for these things), Mills cut his first tooth. It was his bottom right-center tooth. I could tell that his left-center tooth was not far behind and the following Wednesday, February 2nd, he cut that tooth. Just like Mary Kate, he cute two teeth in a week. He has done very well, for the most part, and has not been nearly as fussy as she was with these teeth. He's so cute when he smiles anyway, but these teeth just add to his cuteness! He just melts my heart when he smiles. We have not gotten any great pictures of these new pearly whites yet, but you can see them a bit in some pictures we had taken on January 29th.

We wanted to capture two sweet moments in time with Mills' 6 month pictures and Mary Kate's 2 year pictures and decided to use (Brandi Hodges) Three E Photography, which is local for my out of town friends. Mills was dressed in a cute Ralph Lauren one-piece outfit he had been given and I decided to dress Mary Kate in a tutu, turtleneck, leggings, and ballet flats (I saw some photos Brandi had taken of some girls wearing tutus that were too cute). The weather was very sunny and clear, but rather chilly. We chose to have the photos taken in the morning because Mary Kate usually does best at this time of day and is not fussy (we were way wrong!!!). Both kids started out great, but ended up fussy and screaming by the end. Brandi managed to get some great pictures of the kids, despite the screaming, and the family shots are hilarious. We will certainly use her again, but hopefully our kids will cooperate better next time. Here are a few of our favorites.