The Bagwell Family

Brush With Death

2012-02-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

It melts my heart when I find Millie in her crib looking like this:

You'll be glad I don't have actual pictures that go with the meat of this post. I've been saving those gems for a good time to share, and now seemed as good as any.

So I'm 10 weeks at 2 days pregnant now. Feel free to shout hooray. Week 8 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but week 9 was quite possibly the worst week of my life. At least I hope I never go through that again.

Let me start by saying Nursery at church is awesome. I love everything about it, except the occasional germs Millie brings home to share. I mean let's be honest. My child definitely puts the fake baby bottles in her mouth in Nursery, and I'm betting she's not the only one. Germ swapping is inevitable.

Millie came down with a nasty bug in the middle of the night. Luckily Buck checked on her (I'm so adamant about her crying it out for a while, but he has a soft heart and decided to get up) and found her in throw up again. I stayed up with her all night long watching TV and cleaning up her throwing up about seven more times. Eventually she stopped and slept, but the next day she was so weak she just laid around and slept. It never even dawned on me that I could catch what she had. I just held her and tried to help her in any way.

Well I got it and it was horrible. I don't know if it was so bad because of the morning sickness as well, but I literally couldn't get off the couch (except to run to throw up). Needless to say Millie ate lightly that day and watched anything she wanted...even Caillou which I strongly dislike. That night Buck caught it, and had pretty much the same story as me. In the more than 10 years I've known him I've never known him to throw up. He definitely did, poor guy. I mean I'm at least used to it.

So the point of this story isn't to gross you out, though I'm sure I have. The point is to say Buck's Mom has certainly earned her spot in Heaven. She was planning on coming to help me (over her birthday, I might add) and showed up right in the thick of our stomach bug. She nursed us back to health, took care of Millie (we really couldn't have done that ourselves) and scrubbed our bathroom! I had to share the details of our sickness to really drive home the magnitude of cleaning our bathroom. We eventually got better but she still let me rest while she cleaned, cooked, grocery shopped, and entertained Millie. I really think being pregnant with a full-time housekeeper is where it's at.

One last thing about the sickness, I promise. Laying around thinking about the pain I was in gave me time to ponder a little bit. I really felt like being on the verge of death couldn't feel much worse. I've been blessed to be surrounded by long-living family members, so I have not seen a lot of death or suffering. My Dad's Mom passed away a few years ago somewhat slowly. She kept coming to mind as I tried to convince myself I would eventually feel better. It must have been so hard for her to smile and even talk with each family member that wanted to see her. Actually when you feel that crummy, smiling and talking is downright heroic.

Enough of the heavy stuff. I'm feeling so good today I think I might actually do an activity with Millie. I've got another ultrasound this week and I'm meeting with a genetic counselor in a few weeks. My doctor has everyone do it as well as some tests for the baby I didn't have in Utah. I can definitely tell I live in a more liberal state. I'll save my pro-life post for another day.

Millie's New Shirt

2012-01-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

Isn't she the cutest? She was pretty excited to hold this special piece of paper, and luckily we snapped a picture just before she crumpled it. Fear not, we will get plenty more.

So there is our big news. We are thrilled for Millie to have a playmate, and are crossing our fingers for another girl (Millie has enough clothes for twin girls actually!) for practical reasons but would not be disappointed with a little boy.

I'm only a wimpy 7 1/2 weeks along (due date of September 2nd) but feel it so much already. I have to say 7 1/2 instead of just 7 because I literally feel the pain of pregnancy (nausea) all day every day so I have to give myself credit for surviving half the week.

By surviving I mean laying on the couch while Millie watches Dora, Sesame Street, Arthur, Angelina Ballerina, Curious George, and anything else she wants. I did figure out that if I put something on for me to watch then she forgets the TV and plays with her toys. That's been my big accomplishment so far. We occasionally do puzzles or color, too. She eats a steady stream of whatever I can grab in the kitchen that doesn't make me gag and I can get while holding my breath. Believe me, that really limits our choices. Thankfully Buck handles dinner so she isn't completely deprived of decent food.

It's already so easy to feel like a bad Mom, but I find it especially easy these days. I'm not too hard on myself since Buck has done a good job of picking up much of my slack, and I am thrilled Buck's Mom is coming to visit for her birthday to help my poor Millie. It helps me get through those really hard things I have to do like cook her eggs. I just think "I can cook her an egg this once, even though it might make me throw up. Angie will do it when she gets here." Kind of a light at the end of the tunnel I guess. She's only here for a few days but I'm pretending it is a month. I feel even more wimpy recruiting help, but I just feel so bad for Millie it helps me get over my pride.

Ok enough complaining. I'm sure you're dying to know about my doctor. I've been seeing a specialist in Stamford that has an entire wall (floor to ceiling) in his office covered with awards, plaques, certificates and diplomas all from Yale. Now I know that doesn't automatically make him the greatest, but it sure eases my mind a bit. I've already been to the doctor 3 times (and had two ultrasounds with another one scheduled for next week) and had ton of blood work done. They started testing me a few months ago for diseases (in the hopes of finding an explanation for Millie's prematurity) but I've got a squeaky clean bill of health. Hooray and boo all at once I guess.

I had a big sit down with my doctor (there is only one at this practice) and went over these results in detail as well as my medical history. I loved it. Anything I said he took as a valid concern and didn't dismiss anything. I forgot to mention a couple of things but plan on it next week, especially since he is so open to my ideas and concerns. He basically doesn't think I have an incompetent cervix (which is also what my Utah doctors said) but there are so many reasons a cervix can be incompetent that it is still possible...though we've ruled out 90% of those reasons. He would still like for me to consider getting a cerclage (not a McDonald, but I can't remember the name of the one). He would also like for me to take weekly progesterone shots. On top of everything I just said, he would like for me to come in weekly (probably starting at 20ish weeks) so they can monitor me for signs of preterm labor. So basically I'm pretty sure I'll have a full term baby though we don't know the reason still for Millie's premature birth. I've got a little while to research it all and determine what we should do.

There's the nitty-gritty. Buck's job ends in June so at the very least we'll be switching insurances, but at most we'll be moving somewhere else. Also since I'll be visiting my doctor every week (not to mention it might be risky) we won't be leaving for a summer vacation. There, that's everything. We are really excited even though September is so far away. Oh I've decided I won't be sick past 12 weeks. It's decided so it will happen. Power of positive thinking, right? I was sick until 20 or 21 weeks with Millie, but not this time.

We Love Christmas

2012-01-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

But then again, who doesn't?

Since we were missing all the lights at Temple Square this Christmas season, we decided to find out where the awesome lights are in our new neck of the woods.

We were lucky enough to find (through a very quick google search) The Setti Christmas Village just down the street from us!

Seriously this is at a house in a neighborhood:

You park on the street, get out, and roam around the elf village.

Someone was obsessed with all the little chairs.

The night before we headed south I remembered we never got a picture of our Christmas tree this year. Millie tried her best to hold still for a picture.

Take a good luck at those P-jams. We woke up extra early to drive to South Carolina on Friday. We loaded the last few things in the car, turned it on to warm up,waiting to grab Millie very last to hopefully keep her asleep. Well would you believe that poor girl got sick sometime during the night? We found her covered in throw up. That always makes you feel like a good Mom. So with that we started a load of laundry and warm bath for our sweet girl. We were knocked off schedule a little bit, but no big deal. She did great for most of the drive, only throwing up once. It turns out the disposable container you get from lunch meat is perfect for toddler throw up. She such a trooper, and other than throwing up once never even acted sick.

On Christmas Eve we quickly visited my Grandparents in Columbia (just quick enough to exchange gifts-we're so greedy!) then went to Buck's family Christmas party in Camden. We ate yummy food and enjoyed all the fun company. Why didn't I get any pictures?

Christmas morning we spent with my Dad and Step-Mom in Summerville. The girls had a blast playing together and ganging up on the dogs.

Showing off her chocolate and jewelry Santa brought her.

Loving Grandpa.

Where are my child's pants?

I'm not sure we could have survived the trip without our favorite apple products.

Nora's so sweet.

After Christmas morning (and a yummy Christmas lunch) at my Dad's we headed back to Fort Mill for Christmas Dinner with Buck's family. Somehow Santa found us again there. We opened up oodles of gifts. In fact my hands were so busy opening I didn't get any pictures! Millie loved all her gifts, but on this particular night she refused to take off the dress-up shoes her cousin Jocie got her.

The next day we woke up early to head over to my Mom's house for our third Christmas! I know you won't believe me, but Santa found us again. I mean that literally. We literally opened three stockings over the course of two days--each! That's just the stockings. We opened crazy amounts of presents, too. Millie got a few more pairs of dress-up shoes from my Mom, which have been lovingly worn every day since then.

Nora is insanely good at running in high heels. It is incredible. If you can't tell from the poor pictures, these girls move fast once the fancy shoes go on. Its hilarious, especially when they are pushing the baby stroller around.

As if this post wasn't already long enough, I might as well share with you (ok, brag) some of the gifts we got:

For me, this was the year of appliances and bags. I got an ice cream maker, food processor, wireless printer, and a bunch of various cute bags (purses, totes, etc). I also finally got a copy of South Pacific and can hardly wait to teach Millie how to "wash that man right out of her hair." My most un-expected, yet very exciting gifts I got was a bungee for Millie's kid-sized trampoline I got off of Freecycle. The bungee was no good, so I've been wanting one. I'm thrilled to have it, and expect Millie to take out her wiggles on it this winter.

Buck's Christmas is going to sound kind of boring, but he is a very piratical guy and loved it all. He got black dress shoes (did you know Nike bought Cole Haan so now their shoes have "air max technology?), a suit, dress shirts, an electric razor and a new-to-him Driver. We both also got some things for our ipads and computer. Most notable was the ipad head-rest car mount. Buck says that was something "we didn't know we wanted" but love.

Millie ended up with a baby doll, her first Vera Bradley purse (that we call her diaper bag since it holds her doll accessories currently), a princess scooter, a princess pop-up tent, a new winter wardrobe, a sushi, cookie, and sandwich play food set for her kitchen, a tea set, a kid-sized stand mixer for her kitchen, little plates, mixing bowls, and other kitchen goodies.

Guess what? That wasn't even everything. I bet you're wondering right about now how we fit it all in our car. Well, we barely did. And yes, we're having to go through all of our stuff to make a Goodwill sweep to fit it all in our house. Out with the old, in with the new.

Overall our Christmas was busy, fun, full of food, gifts and family, and we loved it. We hope you loved yours, too.

NYC Date Night

2011-12-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of a free Friday night and some good friends by heading into the city to see the Christmas festivities first hand. It was wonderful.

In case you've been seeing too much of Millie (is that even possible?) here are a ton of pictures of Buck and I. I'll just go ahead and say it. We only have one pose. We really need to fix that.

We were starving when we got there, so we grabbed a quite bite from a street vendor. Always enjoyable.

We though these more modern jumbo lights were so neat.

Across from Radio City.

THE Christmas tree

This is what happens when you try to get a picture in front of the ice skating rink only to have someone offer to help and think you're going for a picture in front of the tree.

Since we knew y'all would be wondering why we didn't ice skate, here is Buck with a few thousand of his closest friends.

Blurry, but you can see the masses better.

I was expecting to see tons of amazing store displays, but only a few stores really came through for me. Bergdorf Goodman was incredible. This one is my favorite and was made of paper.

I'm still afraid of the flash I guess.

FAO Schwarz was a good time, even without Millie. I enjoyed running through the doll section dreaming of Millie's future toy obsessions. Madam Alexander had me drooling...almost. They had some pretty spectacular Barbies as well. Vera Wang now designs Bridal Barbies, and the Grace Kelly Barbies were beautiful. I'm a Barbie girl all the way, if you couldn't guess.

Buck got a kick out of the Barbie Foosball Table.

We also enjoyed the giant candy.

Can you believe he let me pose like that in public?

One of our last stops of the night was the Macy's.

The window displays were awesome. The store itself is massive. Eight floors even.

Standing right where the parade performances are each year.

Taking in the wooden escalators.

We rode the escalators all the way to the 8th floor.

The 8th floor is the North Pole with the mailbox.

Buck mailed a letter to Santa for Millie.

We also happened to walk in UNI QLO which seems like a great place to buy a black sweater. I don't think I'd go in looking for something other than the basics.

It might not look like we did a whole lot, but when you factor in walking everywhere and our commute to and from Connecticut our dear friends were stuck with Millie for over seven hours. It was a great date night that won't be forgotten any time soon.

Listening

2011-12-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

I recently read a friend's blog post where she wrote about how affected she was by positive comments on her blog and on facebook. It's so true. Why do we still love to be accepted by others?

In pondering over her words I couldn't help but think of how much I love comments. Although my comments tend to be from the same folks, I still love any feedback. I couldn't help but think about how bad I am at doing the same. Here I am going on and on about myself, loving when others listen, but am I doing the same? Regretfully, I am not.

It's not entirely my fault. If you have to place blame, I point my finger at the iPad. The way the internet browser is set up, it is impossible to look at all your blogs you follow on your dashboard. So since last Christmas (when we got our first iPad) I've had to rely on my friends posting links on facebook with their new blog posts, remembering blog addresses, or getting on an old fashioned computer! Poor me, right?

Well feel sorry for me no longer! I just figured out how to look at all my followed blogs on our iPad. It is just something they worked out with the new blogger dashboard, and I'm so glad they did.

So when I'm sitting on the couch watching another episode of Pawn Stars with Buck playing with the iPad I can add checking my favorite blogs to my mix of Pinterest and Facebook.

So you could say I'm officially listening.

Terrific and Two

2011-12-05T08:33:00.001-08:00

Little Millie a couple of days old

Little Millie on her first birthday

Little Millie on her second birthday

Oh my, we love this little girl. We loved all 1 pound 4 ounces of her, and we certainly love all (nearly) 24 pounds of her now.

I never look back and think of her time in the NICU as depressing (well maybe the last 30 days...) but rather as an experience our family had. Simple as that. Going to the hospital twice a day, every day was our life. Waiting for her to open her eyes for the first time, seeing if her heart was okay, monitoring her eating like crazy, rejoicing when she could breathe on her own, holding her, and giving her a bath. It was all incredible. Those were tender and sacred experiences, unique by circumstance. I'm sure every parent remembers very similar situations with their first child. They just don't usually have them in the hospital.

I sometimes wish I still lived in Provo so I could volunteer to work with the NICU parents, and perhaps that is something I could do wherever. I think seeing tiny babies regularly, and their loving parents, would help me remember just what a delicate baby Millie was. My heart bursts and tears come easily to my eyes whenever I reflect upon our 135 day journey in the NICU. They are always joyful tears, but mostly because I feel blessed beyond description.

Delicate is not a word I would use to describe her today. Her nursery leaders at church refer to her as "daring". You feel sorry for them, right? I do. She's the one standing on the table constantly. She's the one jumping out of the baby high chair. She's the one hiding her shoes in the toys, and then snatching someone elses'. The worst part is she's light on her feet so you don't even hear her sneaking off to do something crazy. She is also a little accident prone. I'm not sure I'd recognize her without a goose egg on her head.

Her two year old check up was uneventful. I asked for a laid back doctor, and boy did I get one. I didn't even take one of those quizes that asks you detailed questions like "can your child pick up a cheerio using only their teeth with their eyes closed?" or something. I always feel like I should have about a week to test her on all of these things since most of them I've never noticed or tried. Can I get an amen? I can't say I missed the quiz, but I still miss Dr. Later. I wanted to like this guy, I really did. I never got a "wow, she looks great for a 23 weeker". I'm not actually convinced he read her chart ahead of time, mostly because he never referenced her prematurity. I did, but he never really did. We are planning a visit to the cardiologist and eye doctor to see how her heart and vision are. Other than that, all is well. She's just under 24 pounds and either 32 or 34 inches. I can't remember what the nurse said and I never got a print out. He never said "she's officially caught up" or "she's not quite caught up" and when I brought it up he said children are usually all caught up between two and three years old. Each question he asked, she was right on. So pretty much, I don't know where she stands.

So there you have it. We've got a terrific two-year-old and we love it. When she screams (often) we try and remember how long we waited to hear her make a peep. When she begs for another cookie we try and remember how lucky we are she eats on her own and has no food allergies. When she colors a beautiful picture on anything that stands still we try and remember how blessed we are she has the motor skills to color. She keeps us on our toes, and we do our best to remember just how lucky we are.

A Very Special Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T09:48:00.001-08:00

You know how you work so hard to make sure your child looks cute for church on Sunday only to have her come home (after nursery) looking like she did her own hair? To prove that I actually do try to make her look cute, I thought I'd take some before and after church pictures. Only I forgot the after.

Millie wasn't into it

Somehow we convinced her it was a good idea. If only we could have found her (still missing) black shoes...

The purpose of these pictures were to show off her early birthday present from my Dad.

Ta-da!

Now on to Thanksgiving:

Since Millie's birthday was on actual Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated on Wednesday with a small (yet large) party for our families. I worked tirelessly on decorations for weeks, yet seemed to get no pictures of them. Trust me, it was my best work yet.

Her loving father picked out her party theme: Sweet As Pie

We went all out with more than eight types of pie to enjoy, a pie-in-the-face booth, a pie eating contest and sent everyone home with a pie-in-a-jar. Because these pictures don't reflect all of that, you'll just have to take my word for it.

We've been practicing blowing out the candles for weeks. Stage fright I guess?

Buck's Grandma, Grammy, made the pie Millie is loving.

Some of Buck's family, and a small sample of the decorations.

Present opening is always crazy!

Millie got a sweet stroller that she pushes around very seriously. Jocie wanted to help.

This is Millie's official Barbie. The one we used in the hospital.

The party went well, but I sure missed having someone (Ashley did it last year) take official pictures of everything. Millie did learn how to tell everyone she is two by party time, which made us so proud.

We were only home a short while but managed to squeeze in her party, a surprise baby shower for my Aunt Molly, Thanksgiving Dinner, my cousin Lily's Baptism, and Black Friday shopping before we took off early Saturday Morning.

Lily's Baptism was a sacred experience for me, and I'm sure the rest of my family. Having the opportunity to participate in something so special in such an intimate setting among family (that lives all over, I should add) doesn't happen very often. Lily asked me to give a talk on Baptism, which I was thrilled (and nervous) to do. I also got to hear my brother give a talk on the Holy Ghost as well as see my cousins give prayers and sing together. These are such simple things, but because we live all over and don't attend church together it isn't something I get to see very often. She is such a sweet little girl that I know will work hard to keep the covenants she made that day.

Millie goes in for her two-year-old check up next week, so I think I will hold off on the "my, how you've grown" post until I know more. This will be our first visit to a doctor in Connecticut, so cross your fingers we will love him.

Tri-State Love

2011-11-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

We've been living in Connecticut for over four months now. We love it. I though it was about time we shared with you why we love it.

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut make up what is called the "tri-states." It's not weird for us since we come from "the Carolinas." While we haven't experienced New Jersey yet (just vicariously through Jerseylicious), we suspect it is lovely just like Connecticut and New York are. By the way, New York (like Westchester County) is stunning. And that's coming from a Carolina Girl.

You've already seen this picture of our entry way, but we love all of the historic old houses. I've already personally decided I'm ready for a house with a back yard so Millie can go out alone (with me watching from inside), but we still really love the house we are in.

This is our driveway, but we love having a quiet little space to run around.

We love being so close to the city. One quick (about an hour) train ride and we are right in Grand Central Station. We have only been in for a few day trips, but look forward to visitors (aka overnight babysitters haha) to come visit so we can really take it all in. I'm looking forward to a nice dinner, going to a show, and shopping.

Family pic in Times Square

Friends nice enough to take us around the city

One of the city's hundreds of parks (this one was in Harlem)

We love living by the beach. It isn't a Florida beach by any stretch of the imagination, but we've got sand, water, and sun. And it only takes about ten minutes to get there from our house.

We love the people here. They may drive a little aggressive and look at you funny when you say y'all, but we have yet to encounter the "rude Yankees" I've been looking for. Our friends from church and neighbors have really become our family, looking after us closely.

The only thing we don't love about living here (besides not having family with us) is the cold. We survived our first snow storm, and anticipate an extremely cold winter. Of course we also get to see NYC at Christmas so I think it evens out.

Even though Buck's current job is just a one year position, we are crossing our fingers that a job opportunity will work out for us to stay here. It is likely, but we've got to decide which is the best over-all so stay tuned. We won't know for sure until next Spring.

We're so excited for Thanksgiving and Millie's birthday party. We are really looking forward to spending time with our families. My Mom, sister and I have been working pretty hard on Millie's Pie Party, so look for pictures of the party in a few weeks.

P.S. Just so our families know, I just posted a Birthday List for Millie's wishes at the top of the page. I've had a lot of people ask what she would like, so I thought I'd just share it all in one place.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

This year we took a big bite out of Halloween:

I think she thought her little pumpkin was fruit. Gross.

One of the play groups this month was going to a "farm" (really just a done-up nursery but Millie didn't notice) for fall fun.

She loved the hay ride, just not the sitting down part. Typical Millie.

I turned my back for one second and Millie ran full speed ahead into the "maze." It was so cute seeing her little hair above the hay. In this picture she's climbing up the side a little.

Even though she got in the way of a few bigger (and eager to be faster) children, she survived. She's an explorer and never afraid to run around and see what she's missing.

We just got back from trunk-or-treat at church. My initial costume plan didn't work out, and since Millie and I were a little under the weather today I didn't want to go out shopping for a costume. At the last second (well, really a few hours before) we came up with a simple costume for Millie.

Cindy Lou Who

I think the costume turned out really cute, but no matter how many pictures I took I couldn't capture the complete cuteness. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Trunk or treat was so busy, dark, and cold I wouldn't say Millie enjoyed it all that much. I really don't think she understood people were giving her candy. We didn't end up with quite the loot we were hoping for. We only ended up with one Reese's cup! Oh well, less candy I'll be forced to eat.

Buck and I are going to a Halloween party tomorrow night, and will be wearing another thrown-together costume. Since we are new to the neighborhood I have no idea if we'll get trick-or-treaters on Monday. So basically we are pretty much wrapped up with Halloween which means...

time to plan Millie's Birthday Party/Thanksgiving/Black Friday!

Did you hear we are supposed to get snow tomorrow? Yikes. How am I supposed to hold off on Christmas music with snow falling outside? Who am I kidding. I won't. It starts playing November 1st.

Regular Ol' Days

2011-10-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd give y'all a little update on our new routine, just for accountability purposes. I've made some pretty drastic changes that have helped my sanity a lot. Don't worry, it won't be minute by minute or anything.

1. I started showering at night. It is wonderful showering without someone screaming at you. It is wonderful being able to get ready in 10 minutes each morning. It is wonderful having time to do something with my hair since it's already clean and dry. Why didn't I think of this sooner?

2. Each morning (around 10:30 AM or so) I spend one hour of quality time with Millie. I usually try and do a planned out activity, which makes me feel like Super Mom, but sometimes we just play with toys and read books. During this one hour I cut us off from technology, unless it has to do with our activity. So don't try calling me then :) Of course if we have a friend over or go to play group that counts as our one-on-one time. The above picture is one of our activities. Coloring a box while sitting inside it. It was a huge hit.

3. I plan out a month's worth of dinners at a time. This sounds like a huge thing, but it really was pretty simple. One Sunday evening I just sat down with our calendar and a few cook books and planned it out. This way I could space out the nights we have pancakes (hehe) better. I could also look at "cook once, eat twice" strategies (like making a pot roast then using leftover shredded beef for tacos the next night). It has been great having a plan in place for those weeks I only have a second in the grocery store so I pick up the bare minimum. I saw something much cuter at my friend Jessica's house a few years ago, it just took a while for me to try it out.

4. I bought a treadmill off of Craig List for $25. It isn't in the best shape, but now I have no excuse to at least walk each night. I figured out how to hang the ipad on the top so I can watch Drop Dead Diva on Netflix. I don't (usually) allow myself to watch it without walking, so it motivates me to see if Jane had told Grayson yet...

There you have it. I feel like Millie is learning and growing, and I'm helping. I feel like I'm still taking care of myself. I feel like I'm feeding my family well. For now, everything else seems to fall into place on its own. Of course we still get more than our fair share of screaming, throwing, crayon eating, messes, and endless amounts of untamed laundry.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

2011-10-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

I recently (within the past few months) joined Pinterest. It is a website that allows you to "pin" ideas you've seen from anywhere online (crafts, food, places to visit, fashion, home decoration, etc). It makes it easy to keep track of everything you like. You also have a social circle within Pinterest (if you'd like) that allows you to see what they are pinning and share your pins.

I have a love/hate relationship with the concept. I love seeing great ideas, but it's easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed with everything. Why didn't I think of that? I did think of that, and now everyone will think I found it on Pinterest! I never do anything like that with Millie! Wow, I need to decorate. Millie will look so cute in this. Those are just a few things I think to myself frequently.

With the start of my new "strict" schedule, I was able to fit in a few of these "pins" to see if they were as great as I thought they would be. Like the title implies, you win some, you lose some.

Winners first? Okay.

1. Play mat turned "rug." You can find the inspiration here.

I actually love this one so much, I'm working on two! This first one was already white on the back, which saves me hours of painting. I'm planning a chevron striped mat for the kitchen. Comfortable, simple. Oh, and I bought this mat at a tag sale for $1.

This other one is for Millie's room. Poor girl really needs a rug in her room. I'm doing a stencil but haven't finished/perfected the method so just white pictures for now. It will be mostly green when all is said and done.

My only complaint about the play mats themselves is that Millie is obsessed with pulling them apart. I'm just hoping that when they are finished the design on the front will convince her it isn't a play mat anymore. She's so smart though.

2. Halloween Decorations

Pinterest is full of Holiday decoration ideas, and the black & white color scheme was showing up everywhere. I made and bought our Halloween Decorations for literally less than $5 this year. I'm not completely finished, but here are a few of the decorations.

These stuffed pumpkins are my favorite. I used scraps of fabric and bought a pillow from Goodwill for $1 (to supply the stuffing). The tutorial and inspiration can be found here.

3. Reading Nook in Millie's Room

The inspiration can be found here.

Although this might not look like a winner, it is. After reading that the original creator just used things from around the house I decided to do the same. I used old curtains, a shower curtain rod, a big piece of ribbon, a command hook, and some pillows. The whole thing took a few seconds to put together. Of course with the items I just listed, it's pretty obvious it isn't durable or permanent. I hope to make it so, but for now it's perfect.

I'd say Millie approves.

4. Artwork by Millie

Inspiration can be found here.

Love this so much. I opted for watercolor since that is what we had and what I trusted Millie with using. She didn't mind. Basically you use painters tape to cover an area on a paper, have the child finger paint, remove the tape and you're done. The best part is, I felt like Super Mom just for planning ahead and doing this simple little activity.

The Losers:

1. Sleeping with socks in your hair to try and wake up with curly hair. Terrible idea. I slept horribly and it didn't work for me. I would consider trying it again, maybe. I would definitely place the sock curlers more strategically next time.

2. Crockpot French Toast casserole. We like our French Toast crispy on the outside. I should have thought about that. Basically I cooked it only to have to fry each piece of bread again to get the crispiness. For us, it was a loser.

3. Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies. These were labor intensive (for a darn cookie) and tolerable at best. I threw most of them away. Definitely the biggest disappointment of my weekend.

For my Pinterest Followers, I'm planning on creating a pin board of the things I've actually done with a brief review. I'd hate for someone to make those cookies and dis-like them without me warning them!

If you're interested in joining Pinterest and need an invite (you can join on your own, it just can take a few days) I'd be happy to invite you. Just make sure you know it's great, time consuming, and might make you feel like a loser occasionally. But we know you're really a winner.

The Brave Little Soul

2011-09-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of an old friend today who lost her little two year old boy last night. I don't know the details of his passing, but I know surviving to the age of two was a miracle. When Millie was born this sweet friend reached out to me to lend support. She also shared her "Carepages" with me. In reading her son's story I found this story she quoted. It warmed my heart as I thought of my experience with the hundreds of strangers and loved ones praying and thinking of our sweet little Millie. I hope you will say a little prayer for his family.

'The Brave Little Soul'

By John Alessi

Not too long ago in Heaven there was a little soul who took wonder in observing the world. He especially enjoyed the love he saw there and often expressed this joy with God. One day however the little soul was sad, for on this day he saw suffering in the world. He approached God and sadly asked, 'Why do bad things happen; why is there suffering in the world?'

God paused for a moment and replied, 'Little Soul, do not be sad, for the suffering you see, unlocks the love in people's hearts.' The little soul was confused. 'What do you mean,' he asked. 'God replied, 'Have you not noticed the goodness and love that is the offspring of that suffering? Look at how people come together, drop their differences and show their love and compassion for those who suffer... All their other motivations disappear and they become motivated by love alone.'

The little soul began to understand and listened attentively as God continued, 'The suffering soul unlocks the love in people's hearts much like the sun and the rain unlock the flower within the seed. I created everyone with endless love in their heart, but unfortunately most people keep it locked up and hardly share it with anyone. They are afraid to let their love shine freely, because they are afraid of being hurt. But a suffering soul unlocks that love. I tell you this - it is the greatest miracle of all. Many souls have bravely chosen to go into the world and suffer - to unlock this love - to create this miracle - for the good of all humanity.'

Just then the little soul got a wonderful idea and could hardly contain himself. With his wings fluttering, bouncing up and down, the little soul excitedly replied, 'I am brave; let me go!! I would love to go into the world and suffer so that I can unlock the goodness and love in people's hearts! I want to create that miracle!!'

God smiled and said, 'You are a brave soul I know, and thus I will grant your request. But even though you are very brave you will not be able to do this alone. I have known since the beginning of time that you would ask for this and so I have carefully selected many souls to care for you on your journey. Those souls will help create your miracle; however they will also share in your suffering. Two of these souls are most special and will care for you, help you and suffer along with you, far beyond the others. They have already chosen a name for you.'

God and the brave little soul shared a smile, and then embraced. In parting, God said, 'Do not forget little soul that I will be with you always. Although you have agreed to bear the pain, you will do so through my strength. And if the time should come when you feel that you have suffered enough, just say the word, think the thought, and you will be healed.'

Thus at that moment the brave little soul was born into the world, and through his suffering and God's strength, he unlocked the goodness and love in people's hearts. For so many people dropped their differences and came together to show their love. Priorities became properly aligned. People gave from their hearts. Those that were always too busy found time. Many began new spiritual journeys - some regained lost faith - many came back to God. Parents hugged their children tighter. Friends and family grew closer. Old friends got together and new friendships were made. Distant family reunited, and every family spent more time together. People checked a website and sent notes of encouragement. People made and brought meals to the family of the suffering. Everyone prayed. Peace and love reigned. Lives changed forever. It was good. The world was a better place. The miracle had happened. God was pleased.

Hi!

2011-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is not Millie's actual Halloween costume, this girl just loves to play dress-up. It was a back-up costume from last year. This post needed a picture, and she just so cute (even if she does look a little sad, I promise she insisted on wearing it).

I don't know if its that I've finally faced the fact that summer is over or that Millie is getting so busy but I have nearly lost all sense of motivation. I say nearly because I still try a little.

Sure my idea of scripture study is reading my quote of the day calendar. Perhaps my idea of exercise is researching gyms and making low offers on treadmills on Craig's List. Maybe Millie and I eat breakfast (again) for dinner when Buck has a work thing. And yes, Millie learns a lot from Clifford, Sesame Street, and Curious George but so what?

The good news is that while I feel at a stand-still, Millie is still moving forward. She still eats a lot, but her likes and dis-likes are becoming more apparent (darn it). She is still gaining weight and getting taller, but a lot of her clothes from last fall still fit. I don't mind though, since we haven't bought her anything new yet. The big one, though, is that Millie is finally catching on to the whole language thing.

She had what I like to call a "language explosion" a couple of days ago. I pulled out family pictures to teach her a few names, which she repeated for the first time. I also finally got her to repeat a few different animal sounds and names (poor girl has been stuck on dog forever). She's still dog obsessed, and insists on wearing her dog P-jams all the time. Even in the day over her outfit. It's unfortunate that Papi (Buck's Dad) sounds a lot like puppy, so he gets a bark after his name is repeated. Yes, language is great. It's only a matter of time before I can threaten to spank her bottom and she'll get it.

I'm really proud of her and all her hard work. It just melts my heart anytime I see her "studying" her little books or sneaking into her room to point at our picture and say "mama" and "dada" just to practice. That reminds me that I should probably put up some pictures of other people.

My goal to get out of this rut is to get back on a schedule. We are strict with nap time and bed time but that is it. I need to carve out some learning/activity time, alone time, snack time, etc so she and I have more consistent days. I was pretty good at that when she was a baby-baby, but seriously she never stops moving anymore. Maybe now that I put it out there, I'll actually do it.

Hope y'all are having a beautiful Fall day!

Warms My Heart

2011-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

These sweet girls spent a good portion of the day holding hands while their Dad's strolled them around New York City. We went on a little trip on Monday with some of our BYU friends and had a great time. That was cute, but do you want to know what really warms my heart?

The other night Millie took her appetizer (ok dinner was running late so it was a bowl full of graham crackers) into the living room, set the bowl on the carpet, kneeled beside it and blessed her food. I seriously almost cried.

I'm so glad she's catching onto good habits for now. And she knows even graham crackers are a blessing.

Twenty One Months

2011-08-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't written about how well Millie is doing recently, so I thought I'd catch you up. It is hard for me to believe my little Millie is almost two.

Millie is quite independent. She even opted for the bigger rocker in her room.

Don't worry, I didn't squeeze into the little one.

Pondering.

She swears up and down she's ready for high-heels,

but when I pull out these beauties there is no denying her hillbilly bone.

Oh, and until we find a children's table and chairs she'll be taking her snacks on the floor. It's just too hard to dance to Wonder Pets in her high chair.

I finally picked out a pediatrician for Millie last night. I called today to set up an appointment, but the line was busy. Isn't that strange? Oh well. I'm not in a rush, and to be honest I'm always nervous to go to the doctor and take those little quizzes on what your child can do. I know she isn't caught up yet, but she's doing fantastic.

Millie screamed her little heart out on vacation with my family. I am happy to say her screaming has decreased significantly. I think it is because she learned a few more words and ways to communicate with me. She, bless her heart, figured out how to pull on my clothes. Isn't she an angel for just learning that? She also uses "cracker" like its going out of style. And whenever she hears the fridge open, she makes a mad dash to the kitchen so she can grab what she wants out of there. I promise we aren't starving her, it just sounds like it.

This little girl is shoe obsessed. Actually dress-up obsessed. After a bath, she insists we put shoes on her before her diaper. We sometimes comply. I think she just knows her shoes are too cute to not be used all of the time. She also insist on putting any clothing on she can. I was a big fan of dress-up myself, so this makes my heart smile. I think her love of jewelry goes without saying.

She weighs about 22 lbs (on our scale, diaper on) which I am okay with. I know it sounds like we starve her, but she actually eats almost what I eat in a day so I know she's gaining what she can. She's tall enough to touch the door handles, but not tall enough to turn them yet.

I've had the chance to sub in nursery twice, so I've gotten to see her interact with others. I love to watch her play little games with other kids, or let them give her hugs. She's not the hugging type for some reason. She will occasionally carry a baby and give it kisses though. She still chews on crayons, but what can you do in nursery?

She's doing great. I really am proud of all her accomplishments. I would be genuinely surprised if she was "caught up" by her 2nd birthday (Thanksgiving Day this year!), but I'm betting she isn't far from it.

And We're Back!

2011-08-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Did you miss us? Cramming two weeks of exotic family vacation into one post is probably a bad idea. Here it goes:

Millie and I spent a few glorious days in Siesta Key, Florida with my family before all 20+ of us loaded up for a cruise.

Millie still loves the ocean

and Ruby loves Milie

Millie and Nora loved Ruby's play kitchen. Maybe Santa will bring Millie one soon? She's already picked one out and everything.

Playing at Aunt Molly's before the cruise

On the ship, I loved watching Millie get reacquainted with my family.

My beautiful Aunt Katie

Sweet Nora

Since Buck couldn't come, Millie and I had a whole room to ourselves. I just love that just-woke-up look on her.

Off the ship for a bit...

Cozumel maybe?

Back onboard we slept,

ooh'd and ahh'd over our towel animals,

(Or tore them apart. However you want to look at it)

Made messes for the steward to clean up,

(Which he did so well)

learned to play dress-up,

Swam,
(Who can resist a hungry bum on a baby?)

Nora by the pool

Danced,

(even though we were the only ones)

Sang Dancing Queen to our heart's content,

Dressed up for a formal dinner,

Suzy sporting fake eyelashes not-so-expertly applied by me

and enjoyed spending more time together.

We got off in Grand Cayman to snorkel and swim with the sting rays.

This included a bus ride and boat ride to the sandbar.

My camera isn't waterproof, so I didn't get any pictures with sing rays. That's okay though. It turns out I'm not a fan of swimming with animals. I certainly didn't want to kiss the thing after it spit water all in my sisters face. Yuck.

On the ride to another area to snorkel we saw this beauty:

It disappeared and we survived. That's the last picture on the ship, too.

Back in Florida we headed over to Lido Key one day for some paddle boarding and canoeing through mangrove tree tunnels. It was awesome.

Millie is really just happy with a pile of sand though.

Since I could write a (small) book about our vacation, I think I'll just give you a few more highlights and details.

My Mom's siblings got together and organized a cruise to surprise my grandpa for his 75th birthday. He loves cruises and has always wanted to go on another one (they took us all on one 9 years ago) as a big family. With the exception of Buck, my cousin Ella on a mission, and my cousin Tara plus her husband and new baby, everyone was there. Not bad for him having five children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

One afternoon on the cruise we had a little birthday party for him. Each person came prepared with a story to share about Rara. We were only supposed to share one, which was so hard because of the kind of person he is. He is fun, thoughtful, loving, and involved. Since I lived with him for a number of years , I especially had a hard time. I really would have liked to hear Buck tell a story about him, too.

My little cousins loved Millie to pieces, but unfortunately she hasn't figured how just how to show her love back yet. She screamed from being overwhelmed a lot (and tired, hungry, and bored), but I promise she loves you girls! Millie really loved all the men in my family, especially Riley and Beau. Maybe I have a tom boy on my hands?

Oh and even though the cruise was only a week long, it only took a day or two for guests to start recognizing Nora and Millie all around the ship. I was often asked in the elevator if that was the baby with the leash or the squeaky shoes. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but oh well. The showgirls took to Nora after we sat on the front row of a show. I had no idea they could really look at each person. I feel so bad for snickering at some of the cheesiness.

Fun was had by all, but I sure wish Buck could have been there. And Tara, Ian, Liko, and Ella.

Hookie Lau

2011-07-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

This song has become a family favorite, thanks to my Aunt Bibi's influence. You'd do well to learn it too.

I though this seemed fitting since Millie and I are heading out for family vacation today to meet up with these darling ladies.

Summer 2010: Singing Millie a lullaby before her nap

It's a relief to know she still calms down for music.

Since I took this video last year, I also came across Millie's American Doll video. You might get a kick out of it again, too. She sure has changed a lot in one year.

You can't quit. You're the mother.

2011-07-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Quote from Gordon B. Hinckley and I don't even know the context. I'm envisioning a mother stepping on a lego for the 100th time yelling "I quit" in agony. Then a smart little boy gives that reply. I'm sure the real context is completely different.

Seems like my "Mother of the Year" moments are becoming more frequent instead of less.

I'm not completely hopeless, I just have my moments.

Like when I forget to feed Millie breakfast until lunch time because we are running errands. Like this morning.

Maybe when my kids are grown I'll be able to keep my head straight.

For now, enjoy my favorite part of our new place with me:

Little entry way leading to the front porch

The bright sun room, great for playing.

We're slowing getting the rest of it put together. I'm also researching new doctors for us. When we finally make it to the pediatrician I'll be able to tell you how Millie is doing. From my perspective, she's doing great.

Seriously though. Sometimes I feel like she's eating us out of house and home. It's great. She easily eats two large scrambled eggs and half a piece of toast for breakfast, for example. She's talking up a storm, but is hard to understand. She calls everyone and everything "dada," including me. The newest word she's added to her vocabulary is "flower." She easily climbs on and off the couches. She attends nursery every Sunday, and loves it. She'll give us kisses when we ask. She only naps once a day, which I'm sad to say only lasts two hours. She'll occasionally humor me by doing what I ask her to, like "go inside" when we are finished playing outside. Oh, and she loves Wonder Pets. I'll admit I get a kick out of it too. Millie and I often have giggle fits that I just love to pieces. She is such a happy child, and I'll never quit being her Mom. Even if she calls me Dada.

Wrapping Up Summer: Part 1

2011-07-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

It just so happens our summer was split right down the middle this year. The first half we spent in South Carolina, and the second half we will (mostly) spend in Connecticut.

Before I dive into the joys of our new Yankee lifestyle, why don't I catch you up?

We enjoyed Father's Day

"King For a Day" crown, colored by Millie.

We enjoyed the great outdoors in Helen, Georgia with family.

While in Georgia, we took a quick trip to Atlanta. We did all kinds of things there, but somehow the camera only came out for the park.

Standard Millie "pose." This girl can move.

That brings us to Part 2!

Like everyone else, we celebrated Independence Day yesterday.

Unlike everyone else, we celebrated here in Connecticut.

Sneak peek into my kitchen. No that mirror doesn't go there. Yes, that's the dress Millie wore last year.

We moved in on Friday, went to church on Sunday, and by Monday we already had friends to do things with!

We went to New Cannan's Fireworks to celebrate.

Did you know that's where the Stepford Wives was filmed? Me neither.

I must say for a public event, it was the best dressed crowd I've seen. Not a redneck or true hoochie momma among them.

I know it's impossible to see, but Millie loved the fireworks.

So, we're here.

We are still unpacking and decorating, but I love our new place. I was telling Buck yesterday that I really feel like I wont the lottery. Our new apartment is twice as big as any one we've lived in, and has nearly everything I could want. I say nearly because I completely forgot to ask if there was air conditioning, hence Millie running around in her diaper up above. Also there is no garbage disposal. Ugh, I hate pulling food out of the drain. Eww. After I said that to him he gently reminded me we are paying an arm and a leg for our place. Like seriously, three times as much as we've ever paid.

Once I get all set up I'll share pictures and give you a run down of our gem of a home. It's beautiful. Don't worry about us roasting to death either. We're hunting for a window A/C unit (or more) but for now we sleep with a window open and have fans in a few rooms. It's really hot here by Utah standards, but basically a spring day by South Carolina standards.

We are very slowly learning our way around our neighborhood, and have met a few very nice people. While driving around town during our move-in the pin broke off our trailer we were towing causing the whole trailer to come off and the brake to lock down at a stoplight. Two different men saw us struggling (and by us, I mean my grandma and Buck since I stayed put in the car...oops!), ran to where they work and brought back pin substitutes so we could get driving again. Here I was thinking Yankees were selfish.

At church on Sunday we met lots of new people and saw some old friends from church in Utah. Millie went to nursery for the first time. She loved it. I had to come out and change her diaper, and as soon as we were finished she bolted back in there barely even turning around to tell me "bye bye." Seriously she dove in there and rolled around on the carpet. I checked on her a few times through the window and couldn't help giggling when I saw her playing with other kids. She even sat in a chair up to the table during snack time. I'm just amazed.

We're here. We're doing well. Hopefully you'll hear from me a little more often now that life is "normal" and I have a real nook to blog in. See, I told you my new place is great.

Southern Girls Love To...

2011-06-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

(Just like our old friend Ouiser on Steel Magnolias)

Garden,

Beach, beach, beach

and Bite!

Well maybe just this Southern Belle.

Millie got four teeth finally with three more about to make their debut. I'm blaming the biting on that. Truthfully I am mostly who she bites, but she has bitten Buck (when he tried to buckle her in her high chair, bless his heart). The sweet girl still doesn't get "No" yet, or she has us all fooled at least. What's a Momma to do? She is two Sunday's from entering nursery. I am seriously considering making her a button that says "Caution: I bite."

Enough complaining. She's still the apple of my eye, even with the bite marks on my arms. She still runs into my arms (I get down on the floor with my arms open, and sometimes she'll run across the room to jump into them) which melts my heart. She's obsessed with dogs. She says "dog" all the time, and then breathes like a dog (you know, like when you stick your tongue out and pant). She says "Hi" and "Bye" while waving to everyone. I think it's adorable, but I keep running into those grumpy people that ignore her. Rude. She also says "duck" and "cracker."

This girl is doing great and running at her own pace. She's still so tiny I'm able to put her in some of her summer clothes from last year. Thankfully girls clothing is so forgiving she can wear the stuff intended for this year as well.

We're soaking in the last of our vacation here in the Carolina's. I've very much enjoyed living down a gravel road all summer, completely surrounded by woods. Even more so, I've enjoyed catching up with family and so many long lost friends.

I'm ready though. There is something so nice about having your own home. You can make messes wherever you like, live on your own schedule, and just be lazy easier. Just in case you're wondering, we still haven't found a place to live in Connecticut. No place yet, but we're moving "in" in two weeks. Haha!

Signs of a Good Nap

2011-05-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hope you and yours had a chance to take a few good naps this weekend.

I know we did:


Yep, that's where you put your head through.

Lake Moultrie Has Alligators

2011-05-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Been wondering where we've been?

I left my camera cord in our storage unit in Connecticut, so updating our blog has been quite a challenge.

We loaded up these sweet faces:

Finally can do a spout!

Notice Nora's cute little camo outfit.

And headed to the woods!

Well truthfully it was the lake. It has been a very long time since we've vacationed with my Dad, so we were excited to visit the Short Stay on Lake Moultrie.

We scoped out the entire place.

We spent time together.

We played on several awesome playgrounds.

Nora is a playground professional.

We went to the "beach" a few times. Of course that means sunscreen...

Just to the left of my foot is Millie's tiny foot print.

It's about as big as my heel. I only wear a size 7.

Aaron, Xan and the girls were the only ones brave enough to go into the freezing water.

Shortly after this picture was taken the girls were ready to get out.

Aaron kept swimming until Xan noticed an alligator keeping an eye on Aaron.

Yep. A real alligator. With just his head sticking out, staring straight at Aaron.

He decided he'd gotten his fill of swimming right about then.

We had a great time, and I'm sad to see I didn't get any pictures of my Dad.

I'd say on this vacation we learned at least two important things:

1. Lake Moultrie has alligators

2. Swim diapers are a must for swimming.


Wish I had a video of her trying to walk around with that thing on!

Goodbye Utah, Hello America!

2011-05-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

(Not that Utah isn't American)

Nearly three weeks ago (already?) we officially said goodbye to the Beehive State. Just before we left, Buck graduated. His parents, grandparents, and Aunt Christie came to town to witness the big event and see where we've made a home for the last four years.

We took them to the ever popular Temple Square. I love the Salt Lake Temple, and hope this wasn't a final goodbye.

Millie's proud.

The day before we left, we celebrated Millie's 2nd Easter.

Yes, I forced Millie to wear a bonnet with her Easter dress. Surprisingly, she wore a bonnet easier than she wears a bow! Maybe we have a hat girl on our hands?

One final picture outside our apartment in Wymount.

The first day of our trip (brace yourself, it was eight days long) was from Provo to Denver. We made it out of Provo just in time to get stuck in a winter wonderland in Vail. Oh I hate that place. It is nothing short of a miracle we made it out of the Colorado mountains when we did. We literally made it out thanks to heavy praying and a tow truck. Paying $225 for a tow for five miles doesn't leave you with a happy feeling. Take my word for it. Our fancy hotel didn't even make up for it. Oh, I love priceline.

Day two provided lots of sunshine and flat plains, which we fully embraced, and took us to just outside Tulsa to visit our dear friends, the Tiner's. Matt, Jessica, and baby Colin showed us a good time.

Jessica and Colin showed us a great place to run around:

We took advantage:

We also ate some wonderful food (Braum's is probably top of my list, but it was all good), saw Matt's stompin' ground, and toured the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. They've certainly set the standard high for their visit to our new home. Yikes.

We ended up staying with them two full days and nights, so day four of our trip took us from Tulsa to Springfield, Missouri. Other than getting pulled over on Route 66 for "speeding" (we didn't get a ticket, thank goodness) it was an uneventful drive.

Day five took us from Springfield to Geneva, Illinois to visit my Uncle KC and his family. They moved from Connecticut (the same area we're moving to) a few years ago, so it was great picking their brains for places to live and things to do. They sure miss Connecticut, but have a great new home.

Sweet Lily gave up her room for Millie:

We finally got Millie in a swing! Apparently those are hard to come by. Who knew?

Although Geneva is just a suburb of Chicago, we still got our fair share of wind.

This is the gang watching Elle's soccer game:

Can you imagine playing soccer in that?

Millie loved playing with my cousins. I think Elle could be Millie's biggest fan.

We sure wish we lived by Emma so she could watch Millie for us! She's a great young woman.

Can you believe it? That's all the pictures I took! I'll quickly wrap up since I know this hasn't been super exciting as is.

Day six we left Geneva (with a rocking chair, rocking horse, and Barbie Jeep for Millie) and headed to somewhere in Pennsylvania. That was probably the worst hotel we stayed in, and it really wasn't bad (Country Inn and Suites).

Day seven we finally made it to Stamford, Connecticut. We were shocked with how busy the U-Haul storage unit place was. Stamford proved to be a kind of big city. Really, we felt like country bumpkins. Picture this: We pull up and I jump out to figure out where we should go. An hour-an-a-half later we've got a loading dock and storage unit on the second floor. So over the next few hours we keep poor Millie strapped in her stroller while I pull things out of the U-Haul and load them on a cart. Buck then fights for the one working elevator to fill with our stuff, take to the second floor, and unload in our unit. We pulled up at 4:30 PM thinking we had all the time in the world. At 6:50 PM we found out they close the whole place at 7. We were maybe half way done. Take it from us, all U-Haul storage places are not 24-hours. You've officially been warned. We finished what we could and actually got some help from the manager there, but ultimately had to come back in the morning to finish.

Day eight we drove all around Connecticut to get a feel of the towns. It is beautiful. We still aren't sure exactly where we want to live, but at least have an idea of how far apart these towns are. The shopping (my kind of shopping at least) seems to be pretty spread out, so maybe I'll have to take up a new hobby. Gardening, maybe? Building snow men? Not sure. By lunch we made the very long drive to South Carolina.

The end.

Whew, what a trip. We loved seeing the great country we live in, and have a new appreciation for so many states. We also loved spending that much quality time together. Yes, I did 90% of the talking, but you probably already knew that. Buck did 100% of the driving. Millie was super the whole time (not perfect, but better than expected) and if you need advice on traveling with a toddler I could probably share some. This post is a bit long for all that though.

We did listen to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire during our drive. I need to get my hands on Mockingjay. Anyone in Fort Mill got an extra copy?

One last thing, I promise. If you are wondering who has the most expensive gas, you'd probably guess the North East. Well we're here to tell you, it was Chicago. When we passed through, I'm fairly certain it was $4.60 ish. The most we ever paid was $4.30ish. Makes $3.80 look good, huh?

So Proud

2011-04-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

We're so proud of Buck. This week he is graduating from BYU with both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Accounting.

He's worked really hard, and managed a nearly perfect GPA (darn A- 's).

He's a loving husband:

One of about 3 pictures I have of myself pregnant...though I didn't even know yet in this picture.

He's fun:

Riding our tandem with my Cousin, Lucy.

He's a loving father:

One of my all time favorite pictures of them.

Did I mention he loves his family?

Buck's parents, grandparents, and Aunt Christie get here today to kick off the graduation festivities. Hopefully I'll get to sneak in a graduation picture before we hit the road on Monday, but no promises.

We don't have fancy Internet phones (I don't even have a cell phone), so you may not hear from us until we've stepped foot in South Carolina. Maybe not though. I'm planning a sure-to-be-fun graduation party for shortly after we get there, so who knows?

Now I'm just off topic.

Hooray, Buck! We're so proud of you.

The View From Down Here

2011-04-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

I think all this packing has got the best of us.

Millie thoroughly enjoyed making this mess.

Judging by the fact I took these pictures, I thoroughly enjoyed watching her.

These were Buck's papers anyway.

Hope everyone else is enjoying staying put for now, you lucky dogs.

Had A Bad Day

2011-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ever had one of those?

Well when it involves WalMart, doesn't that just amplify things?

Buck asked us to go get the oil changed yesterday. I usually opt for WalMart so I can walk around the store instead of sitting in one of those stinky waiting rooms wrestling Millie. We got to WalMart and we were the only people there to get our oil changed. That doesn't happen often, and honestly I was a tiny bit sad that I wouldn't get to look through the fabric quite as thoroughly as I'd hoped.

One side note. They give you these cool stickers with a bar code on them now. You can just scan the bar code under any "find the price here" scanner around the store to check the progress of your car. So awesome.

So I wandered around the store, picking up a few necessities along the way. I scanned my code and saw my car was done so Millie and I made our way to the auto department. I was greeted by a less than friendly cashier wondering what I wanted (they are trying to do inventory, so everyone is less than friendly right now). I just told her I needed to check out and that my car was done. She rang me up (and totally forgot to compliment me on how cute Millie was...rude) I scanned my credit card and guess what. I was declined. I made her try it two more times to be sure. Yep, definitely declined. I tried my secret stash bank account and that was declined, too. I usually keep a debit card as well, but I let Buck borrow it to get gas at Costco so it wasn't in my wallet.

So what's a girl to do in this pickle? Well, if you keep up with me at all you know I don't have a cell phone right now. Luckily I had written my home phone number down and put it in my wallet (why bother memorizing it?). I called, crossing my fingers that Buck would answer. He didn't. I knew he was in class anyways, but you have to look like you're trying, right? I would have called his cell but they wouldn't let me make any long distance phone calls on their phone. He still has a South Carolina number, dang it.

I felt like I had exhausted all of my options except one. That's right. I played that card. I cried. I mean really cried. I had to stop and catch my breath even. The cashier got the manager who approved me leaving (and chancing me not coming back) to go get some money. With red, wet eyes I made the walk of shame through the garage out to my car. Bless Millie's heart, she was being good this whole time.

So that, my friends, is how you get a free oil change.

Ok fine. I went back, of course. Thankfully I had cash at home to cover it all so I didn't have to waste time looking for our debit card. Within 20 mins my debt was paid off, and I no longer wanted to kill my husband and Costco for the utter humiliation I just went through.

Just so you know, the credit card we use still has a very low limit on it since I got it when I was a Freshmen in college. I've since had a "real" job and just keep forgetting to ask them to up the limit. We also pay our gas, groceries, and rent on that same credit card (except when we go to Costco, obviously) so it's not hard to reach the limit. Buck set an ultra secure password on our credit card online thingy. It's so secure I can't memorize it. I rely completely on him checking the balance. That's where my extreme anger toward him came from, but has since passed. I promise.

So next time you're having a bad day, just ask yourself "is this worse than crying my eyes out in WalMart?" and you may just feel better. Of course, there are much worse things. Like having your child throw up all over you (and others) on an airplane, for example.

It's THAT Day

2011-04-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

One year ago today we finished our journey from this:

Newborn Millie

to this:

Millie making her great escape after 135 days in the hospital.

Poor girl was probably a little scared.

Having Millie home with us is pure joy.

We get to see this:

Getting dressed for Aqua Therapy

and this everyday:

Just polished off some chocolate chip cookies for snack

If you followed her story closely, you might remember I didn't give much warning before we took her home. That was because I was surprised I was convincing enough (maybe too much whining?) to have Dr. Later approve her going home. He visited us around 8 AM and said Millie still needed more time. By lunch she was eating pretty good (not by the book amazing yet), and by late afternoon he reluctantly said "okay." I was very pushy. I'm not normally like that with doctors (family? maybe) but we were all so tired of being there. You do strange things when your name becomes Mom.

I really wish we took a better family picture of us leaving the NICU, but honestly I ran out of there as fast as I could. I was genuinely scared something would come up, or someone would decide Millie wasn't quite ready. Our sweet nurse let us prance around the NICU (nursery A, with the less healthy babies) to tell all of our favorite NICU staff goodbye. I didn't know her that well, but I will always be thankful for that little parade. After being there so long and gaining this new "family" I felt like we deserved a special goodbye.

It was a hassle having to move her around the house attached to oxygen and a monitor when we got home, but it was so much better than visiting her at the hospital. Carting her and all of that to visit Dr. Later was a nightmare, but still a bazillion times better than having her in the hospital.

I love having Millie home. She might drive me crazy with pulling the DVD's off the shelf constantly, finding a way to get into the toilet, always wanting me to hold her, and managing to get food in her hair at every feeding, but I love it. I wouldn't trade this time with her for anything. I love her. Her personality is contagious, and I miss her even during her naps.

So today we're celebrating Millie's Homecoming. That yucky April evening one year ago today when I snuck her out of the hospital. And we've never looked back.

If you're feeling nostalgic, feel free to read 135 Days Later again.

Beautiful Weekend

2011-04-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Blog or pack? Clearly I'd rather blog. Really I'd rather do anything.

Well, I'd rather pack than try and grocery shop with Millie. But anything else.

Friday was beautiful. We tried to picnic but...

I think Millie thinks "picnic" means run around like a crazy person. Without shoes on.

We were joined by sweet friends. Sure wish I could have enjoyed their company more, but like I said, crazy person. I actually know crazy people don't all run around, so excuse the expression.

We got to house and dog sit for some friends. Millie loved it.

She's trying to persuade them to play with her.

She's very convincing.

When we got home, we had an Easter package from G-Viv! Millie loves the cute little Hello Kitty Easter Bunnies. She'll love them all over again in her Easter basket.

She is so funny. All of the sudden this girl loves to lay around. Please excuse the creative P-jams. We're desperate for a laundry day. Someday we'll have a washer and dryer in our very own place.

So really, that's it. Just a few fun pictures and a recap of what we did this weekend. We also spent 8-10 hours watching General Conference, which was awesome. I especially loved watching it while house sitting. Millie could roam around, play with the dogs, or take a nap and we didn't get in her way. I feel like a better wife, mother, and child of God just from watching it.

I did get bit by the craft bug though. I think it's from trying to avoid packing. Maybe it's from taking a trip to a wonderful fabric store (The Cotton Shop). Who knows. Really though, I bought some Amy Butler fabric 50% off this weekend. My heart nearly beat out of my chest from walking around this store (for an entire hour, Millie on her best behavior) taking in all of the spring fabrics. If only I had money to buy it all and projects to make. It didn't help that the lady we were house sitting for is a quilter so I got to peek at some of her quilting fabrics. Now I want to quilt. Shucks. And get good at embroidery (my new love). Darn. I guess I should finish what I already have going first. I should probably learn to use my sewing machine too. Then can I ask for a silhouette? I guess I'll need a craft room too. Yikes.

One last thing. I'm 99% sure Millie told the dogs "bye" and waved when we left the house. I can't wait to tell her speech therapist.

You'll hear from me later this week. We're celebrating something special, and of course I'll want to talk about it. You know me well. Plus I can avoid packing.

Follow Up

2011-03-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

I feel like I say this all the time, but we've been busy. Before I catch up on how Millie is doing, I'll walk you through some of her shenanigans.

She keeps me on my toes...

(Isn't that the face of someone up to something?)

Millie is nearly tall enough to pull things off the table. Hopefully this new discovery will help push her to ask me for help since we keep most things just out of reach.

She's transitioning from peek-a-boo to hide-n-seek. It's adorable.

No she hasn't taken up smoking. Remember that wretched cough that caused her to throw up on the flight to Charlotte? Well she's still got it. Yep, it's been more than a month. We're trying treatments with the nebulizer to see if that helps. So far nothing, but I plan on giving it until Wednesday before I call the doctor again.

They are pretty quick treatments, but still difficult to give to a very on-the-go girl. We usually put on one of her favorite movies and force her into the bumbo. It works half the time.

Two things:

1. My house isn't messy. I'm not sure why it looks that way in the pictures, but I can assure you it is spotless.

2. Millie doesn't have brown hair. Don't say it. She doesn't. All of these pictures were taken at night with the horrible flash, so it looks darker than normal. Yesterday walking to church the though crossed my mind that she may have strawberry blonde hair, though. Trust me though, it's not brown. There is nothing wrong with brown. It's just that brown isn't blonde, bless it's heart.

Ok, let's catch up. Last week I took Millie to the NICU follow up clinic in Salt Lake. It is something many NICU graduates are invited to do so the NICU can see how their patients are doing and the parents get a very detailed check up on their children. I was working for Millie's last appointment, so Buck took her. I have been looking forward to seeing it all first-hand for a long time. We got to the Health Department at 8:50 AM and left at 1:00 PM. It was a long day, complete with driving through snow (yuck).

She did super, just like I hoped. The very helpful nutritionist pointed out that Millie is in the 10th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height, so she's what we all dream of. Tall and thin. I think it's obvious which side of the family she gets that from. She also reassured me I'm feeding her properly and gave me some more ideas of foods, which I love!

The Pediatrician was pleased, and commented that her gums looked "full." Hopefully more teeth will sprout soon. The eye doctor said her eye sight in her left eye has gotten worse, so we'll need to have her examined again in 6 months. He said he is positive she will be in glasses before she starts school.

The Audiologist said she did great, and even tested a little advanced. I'm not sure how you "hear" advanced, but I'm not an Audiologist. My most proud moment though was with the Psychologist. She passed all of his "tests" with flying colors, so he threw a curve ball at her for the very last test. He gave her crayons and a piece of paper. He scribbled first, then handed the crayon to her. I just knew she was going to put the crayon in her mouth since I had just tried this the week before. She didn't. She colored for him. Twice even.

It was a long day, and we were one of the last families there. Millie played with a little girl in the waiting room towards the end of the day. She was a hoot. She noticed a smell and just had to ask "ewww, who farted?" Her Mom quickly hushed her up. I walked over to where they were playing and noticed it smelled really bad too. It seriously smelled like a port-a-potty. They were playing right by the bathroom so I pointed out it was probably the bathroom that smelled. Shortly after that incident Millie and I were called back to meet with the Audiologist. I was horrified to figure out her office smelled too. Seriously I was starting to feel sick it smelled so bad (and I hadn't eaten). When we went into the "booth" to do some audio testing, and that smelled too, I decided it could possibly be Millie. It was. I couldn't believe it. Seriously the aroma filled that entire place. Thankfully we left after that and I changed her in the car. I couldn't face that poor waiting room again.

We're happy the NICU follow up clinic is behind us, and I'm positive no one was sad to see us go.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

2011-03-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember my original due date was St. Patrick's Day, but Millie was born Thanksgiving weekend.

When a child is significantly premature (earlier than 37 weeks gestation), they have an age and an adjusted age. Millie is 16 months old, but adjusted (as if she was born in March) she is now officially 12 months old. Hooray!

St. Patrick's Day 2010

My sweet little troll :)

St. Patrick's Day 2011

I just threw this one in so you could see how cute she is right when she wakes up.

I just love that sleepy/happy face.

For her un-birthday I was lame and didn't do anything exciting. Buck is out of town (for the BYU games in Denver) so I didn't feel too obligated. We did have some friends over that brought her a Mrs. Potato head, which was so nice! In honor of her un-birthday too. We were also invited to an Irish feast at a neighbors house which was delish. All of that, and I didn't have to lift a finger.

At "12" months Millie weighs over 18 pounds and is more than 28 inches tall. She walks everywhere, tries to run a little and can even walk backwards! We're going to try and teach her walking sideways soon. She does everything she should be doing with motor skills and fine motor skills, but when it comes to communication and problem solving she's not quite there.

My speech class is going great, and I'm learning how to help Millie. Right now I am working on putting actions with everything we do normally and teaching her how to point. She never tries to tell me anything, so we feel like she'd do actions sooner than words to communicate. I think I heard her say "baba" for bottle once, but she now whispers her "words" sometimes so I can't be sure. Don't be mistaken though...she still yells when she's happy all the time.

Millie laughs and claps very easily now. I finally feel like my jokes are paying off. Do you know how exhausting peek-a-boo can be when you don't even get a laugh? Now I get full belly laughs. It's wonderful. She sure knows how to make a mom feel special.

Now that you've fallen in love with Millie all over again, I should remind you that we are moving from Utah soon. Like we really only have four weekends left here. I'm serious. The fifth weekend is graduation. So Utah friends, lets get together.

We love Utah more than we ever thought we would. We've lived here for almost four years, and it is truly our first home. We love our stores. We especially love our restaurants. How can I go on without Cafe Rio and the Art City Trolley? But really we love the good ol' folks of Utah County. We've made oodles of friends in ever walk of life. We've made friends with young couples that I know we'll keep in touch with for years. We've been embraced by an entire medical community, which we never expected. And I think I know every major Boy Scouter in the valley. So many good people that have shown us so much love. It's going to be hard to leave.

So yes my Utah friends, we'd love to see you one last time. Oh, and Happy Un-Birthday Millie!

One last thing. Carolina friends, we'll be heading your way soon. We're eager to see y'all too.

Cowling-Smith Reception

2011-03-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is a little of what kept me busy in South Carolina. My BFF Kathryn got married. I got to plan many of the wedding details with Kathryn while in Utah. It was so fun to see our hard work come together.

Meet Mr. and Mrs. David Smith

(I swiped some of the photographer's un-edited photos to fill y'all in! These were some of my favorites)

Photos by Taylor Giddens

Now on to the details:

We went with a bright shabby chic theme, and I'm thrilled with how it all turned out.

Photo by Taylor Giddens

We made labels for all the foods, thanks to my Mom's Silhouette machine.

Photo by Mary Abbott

Photo by Taylor Giddens

Breaking up the food tables into round tables made handling the food so easy.

Photo by Taylor Giddens

This picture, while good, doesn't quite do these adorable table runners justice.

Photo by Taylor Giddens

The Bride is a nanny by profession (and has a babysitting company too!) so making the party kid-friendly was a must. We also had a cute little set up for eating and coloring.

Photo by Mary Abbott

We had a huge room to decorate (biggest Stake Center Gym I've ever been in), so our decorations had to be spread a little thin. They looked great in person, but I'm not thrilled with how they photographed. Trust me, it was cute.

(Two of the four bridesmaids)

Photo by Mary Abbott

One of the best parts of the reception was the photo booth. Taylor Giddens, the photographer, did an awesome job.

Hundreds of pictures were taken. Here are some of my favorites:

(had to throw one in of my dear Tutu and Rara)

Kathryn's (very serious) niece. Love it.

We fed them cake,

and sent them off!

With few exceptions, the entire wedding was DIY. Since I live in Utah, that meant cramming all those cute little projects in the week before the wedding. We (my Mom, sister, and grandma too!) were busy, but it was totally worth it.

We love you Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

Flying With a One-Year-Old Part Two

2011-03-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Utah yesterday and I'm already writing up how our flight went. Does that give you a hint of how easy it was? It was easy. Since you're here, I might as well tell you a few details.

Our flight from Charlotte left at 6:00 AM. I was not a happy camper at 4 AM getting ready to leave for the airport (and thank you Tutu and Rara for driving us!), but leaving that early turned out to be wonderful.

We sat in the window seat on our first flight, which I now think is the way to go. Everyone you talk to and everything you read says you must get an isle seat. When I fly alone I'm a window seat girl. I don't mind sitting still for hours, and hate getting up so other people (who can't sit still) can move around. We both slept, and leaned on the window. It felt like we were flying first class since we weren't wrestling between the isle and our neighbor. Amazing.

I had a sweet experience. Right after take off I started getting so sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes straight. Of course Millie wasn't ready to nap. I started wondering if it would be okay for me to snooze while she "played." That's how sleepy I was. I said a quick little prayer asking for her to get sleepy or me to wake up, and a few minutes later she was out. We both were. It was great.

We had about an hour of "run around" time in Texas. I decided to let Millie walk while I pushed the stroller of our stuff up and down the terminal. Would you believe this little girl made about 25 friends in just that quick hour? She did. If someone was paying her attention she smiled at them as we passed. If someone wasn't paying her attention, she stopped, walked up to them, touched their leg or bag, and smiled when they made eye contact. She took a particular liking to a young man (maybe 20 years old) who had no clue what to do with a baby. She insisted on us walking over to him about six times. We walked lap after lap until she was too tired to go any further without falling every other step.

She slept on the next flight. We both did.

She did so good I had people compliment me on both flights with how well behaved my baby was. If they only knew how bad it could have been.

Since we are now experienced travelers I've learned:
1. Fly early in the morning. Millie is grouchy in the evening normally, so obviously she isn't going to be "great" on the airplane during that time.
2. Window seats, for me, are the way to go.
3. People are so nice. I still made a point to apologize for Millie pulling their hair, kicking them, or coughing on them. I think those apologies went a long way.

Now I think I'll catch y'all up on what we did while we were there...

Flying With a One Year Old

2011-02-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

I should point out, before getting started, that we were surrounded by such good people everywhere we went. When I first realized I'd be flying with Millie all by myself, my number one fear is that I would be surrounded by grumpy, judgemental people. I've heard horror stories, and that wasn't my case at all.

Let the fun begin.

We took two flights to get to Charlotte from Salt Lake. Being the worry warts we are, Buck dropped us off in Salt Lake two hours before our flight. I totally forgot you get to skip to the front of the security line when you have a baby. By the time we actually boarded our first flight, I had been wrestling a very anxious-to-crawl-everywhere baby (that I didn't want trampled by wheeled suitcases) for almost two hours. It felt like we had been traveling all day already.

The first flight was a tiny airplane. I was squared away to sit in a row by myself (because it had just one seat), but it only had one oxygen mask so I had to switch. We sat around a group of church women traveling from Alabama. Aside from Millie trying to reach over the top of the seat to grab their hair, kicking their seats, grabbing the lady's shirt next to us while sleeping, and kicking the lady next to us, Millie did pretty good. She took two naps on the first flight! Both were nearly 10 minutes. Yep. You read that right. It was a long three hours. I literally felt like I was wrestling a slippery pig in a very confined space...all while keeping the isle clear!

By the time we started making our decent into Houston I started thinking this wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Then it happened. Millie started into a coughing fit (she's getting over a cold). She had done this a few times before on the flight so I didn't worry, I was just wondering what disease everyone else was worried they were catching. Then with out any warning, mid-cough, Millie threw up. Then she waited a second and threw up again. Then another break before she threw up again. Three times people! Three times. She was covered, I was covered, our stuff was covered, the isle was covered, and she even managed to hit others.

I'll spare you the clean up story, but suffice it to say I now know what they do when someone gets sick on a flight. Before this I had never seen it. Now I have, and so have a few other folks. I'm sure we made their day.

Houston. The George Bush Airport is big. I power walked for 45 minutes and finally made it to our gate where I was planning on cleaning us up. I should have looked at a clock along the way. Right as I walked up I noticed everyone was boarded already. Millie and I were literally the last two on the plane. Whew. I sat in our seat next to a sweet lady. I mentioned what had happened (hey, fair warning) and this lady touch Millie's head and said "sweet baby, in Jesus' name be healed." I love the south. I was very touched she didn't say "oh boy. I hope she doesn't get sick again"! Aside from wrestling the greasy pig (I've got cat-like scratches all over my neck and chest to prove it!) it was an easy flight. We landed, reunited with our family, and found out our luggage didn't make it to Charlotte.

Such is life.

So in every respect this adventure was much more than I ever expected. Throwing up never crossed my mind. I thought I'd be around nice people, but people with your child's throw up on them still being nice? That is more than I could ask for.

We're here. We made it. We don't step foot on a plane for nearly two weeks, and I couldn't be happier. Feel sorry for me, please. If you've had a worse experience though, I'd love to hear it. Really I would. Maybe it would prepare me for my flight home.

Speech Boot Camp

2011-02-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to speech boot camp.

I kind of wish I was enrolling in a gym boot camp. 30 Day Shred will have to do for now.

Before I explain, let me catch you up on some Millie pictures. I know that's really why you're here.

Millie enjoyed Valentines Day

If you know me well, you know I love a good deal. I also love vintage things, especially children's clothing. After attending the Gifts of the Heart Exchange and scoring one darling vintage summer outfit for Millie, I just had to see what DI had.

Check out these awesome overalls:

Yes, those are puppies keeping the padding for the knees in place.

Only after I took the picture did I notice she had spit up and crawled through it. What's new?

Handmade bright pink overalls for $2. And yes Lani, I washed them before I put them on her.

I'm seriously considering making a collage of eating pictures. This girl goes through more poses...

but I finally caught her standing up on her own!

And here's a first for us:

I'm not sure how one falls asleep with their arm in the air like that.

Poor girl only woke up after I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore.

I am so excited to announce we officially have a walker on our hands! Millie walks, instead of crawls at least 50% of the time now. I think it is a little funny because her feet are so tiny. Can you imagine walking on feet three inches long? She has nearly moved up to size 3 in shoes, but can still wear "crib shoes" which offer no grip on the bottom.

So to quickly catch you up, we had the team of therapists visit us on Wednesday. The team consisted of two, so that was a relief. I was wondering how many could even fit into my living room! Both of them were great, and very knowledgeable. They both gave me suggestions that I wanted to hear, so I am happy. They also offered to enroll me in an 8 week Speech Therapy class for parents. If I understood them correctly, I'll be learning how to teach Millie (since it is more effective for me to do the therapy with her) and what to be looking for for the next few years with her. Wonderful! The only downside is that I will be missing two classes thanks to our two week trip to the Carolina's, but one of the therapists offered to catch me up.

Know what my favorite part of this is? The class is on Monday mornings in the PEIP office, so they offer child care! I have been really wanting Millie to get more social interaction away from me, so hopefully this will do the trick. Homegirl is clingy.

Tangent: Parent's out there, help! I try my darndest to not spoil this beautiful baby. I try not to let her rule the roost when it comes to holding her instead of cooking lunch for us for example. I go about my day expecting her to go play when I have things to do. I still spend plenty of time on the ground with her playing, snuggling (if she'll let me), and doing therapy throughout the day. I just can't only do those things. You know? I keep waiting for her to catch on, but instead I find this little one holding on to my leg whining. Maybe I'm just whining and it is all normal. Is it normal? Am I missing something? She is teething, so I'll give her a break on the whining. But really? It's more fun to hold my leg while I wash dishes than go play with your toys? I love her and I'm flattered she wants to be near me, but please tell me it's just something "one year olds" do.

Ok back to the main point. Thursday Millie's PT came over and was thrilled Millie could walk. Not just walk, but walk and chew gum. Or maybe it was walk and hold a toy. And drop the toy, stop in the middle of the floor, pick it up, and resume walking without any assistance. She said the next thing we need to work on is climbing onto our couch. Poor girl is so short.

Friday we paid Dr. Later a quick visit. I'm so glad I resisted the urge to hug him when he walked into the room. We sure missed him, and are thrilled to be under this care again. He was great, confirmed all my suspicions (Millie is doing super, don't worry about her vocal cord, keep doing what you're doing, and he liked me giving her pediasure). The only thing he wasn't thrilled about was me cooking her eggs in butter. You can't convince me all natural butter is worse for you than margarine. Well maybe you could convince me, but for now I'm sticking to my old southern ways. Butter is better.

Tuesday we are heading to beautiful South Carolina. I am so excited. It snowed a lot today, so I am even more excited for our little vacay. Packing with a baby attached to your leg is a joke. How am I going to back up for our move? I'll save that for another day. I know you've been dying to know what Dr. Later said about giving Millie medicine on the plane, so I guess I'll tell you. He told me not to give her anything. So that's what I'll do. We've loaded the iPad with wonderful baby apps (if you know of any amazing free ones, do share!), I plan on wearing a necklace (her favorite), and I'll have loads of "new" toys and treats for her. So wish us luck, and you better believe I'll let you know how it goes.

Secret Weapon #3

2011-02-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

This is our current scenery here in Provo.

Who would have guessed it was sunny, bright, and about 50 degrees yesterday?

Last night the winds and snow set in, so I made one of my favorite recipes.

One of our friends, Krista Coons, made this for us right after I had Millie. I loved the creamy, yet smokey flavor. Early this winter I wrote her for the recipe since I couldn't get it out of my head.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2-3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded ( I use a rotisserie chicken)
1 chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
3 cans chicken broth or one box of chicken broth
1/2 c-1 cup desired pasta noodles ( I use whatever I have on hand and to make it healthier I sometimes use wheat)

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tps pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

In a sauce pan add veggies and chicken broth, simmer for about 15 minutes until veggies are tender/soft and turn up the heat and add noodles and chicken pieces. cook all together until noodles are done.

In a large soup pot add 1/2 c butter and melt it on medium heat. add about 1/3 cup of flour and stir together with the butter until it gets nice and bubbily. Add 4 cups of cold milk (whatever percent you like 2% makes it really rich and creamy but i usually use 1%). add 1 tsp of salt ,1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar. On medium heat continually stir the mixture until it boils and thickens. Add the chicken broth and veggies to the milk mixture and let it cook a few more minutes together...its done!!!

I copied this straight from the email she sent me. It's easy, yummy, and besides the rotisserie chicken and maybe celery you probably have all the ingredients on hand.

I haven't actually gotten around to bringing a sick friend food yet, but if I did this is what I would bring.

On another note, along with being a fabulous cook Krista is an artist. I got to see her final art show at BYU and was very impressed with her work! She has an etsy shop where she sells a little of her work (Her Name is Mud). Right now she has darling ceramic jewelry up, and previously had these darling salt and pepper bowls. I plan on ordering a set once I have a real kitchen.

Stay warm and take care of your sick friends!

Say What?

2011-02-13T15:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day tomorrow!

We had a roller coaster week here in the Bagwell home. Millie is doing super, don't worry.

This past week we had a visit from a feeding specialist and speech therapist, together. I learned a lot, and got overwhelmed pretty quickly.

Millie is a great eater, and has taken to pediasure like a fish to water. That's great for gaining weight right now, but we don't want her to only drink that and not eat solid foods. The feeding specialist gave us some great suggestions to help with that, and is planning another visit to see how she is doing.

The speech therapist was so nice, and mainly observed during the visit. Towards the very end, she mentioned that from observing Millie briefly she thinks it is quite possible Millie still has a partially paralyzed vocal cord. If you've been around this girl, you know she isn't quiet. We could barely hear her cry when we first brought her home from the hospital, so I just assumed since we hear her so well now that her vocal cord had healed. Millie breathes very loudly, and that is why the therapist thinks her cord might not be moving properly. That and she prefers pediasure to milk. Pediasure is thick like a milk shake. We had to thicken her bottles when she first came home.

Not a big deal, right? Then the two of them mention because of this she is still at risk for apnea bradycardia. Or is it apnea & bradycardia? Oh well, look it up. It is something we worried a lot about at the hospital, but has been far from my mind ever since we left. They said since she is at risk that I really should only give her thick things to drink or water. I've been giving her juice for the calories.

Ok. So none of this is huge. It was nothing I wanted to hear though. After they left I started feeling so overwhelmed. Its exhausting being the filter for all medical advice. Millie needs a medical manager, seriously. I began really missing our previous pediatrician, Dr. Later. I trust everything he says, I just don't know our current one as well (nor does she know Millie as well).

Then a miracle happened. To make a long story a little shorter, in order to get Millie the synagis shot on BYU health insurance we had to apply for medicaid. We were sure we wouldn't get it because we have been so good at saving our money and had BYU insurance. The asset limit is usually $3,000 for medicaid, which we had just in our car. I heard back from medicaid and with children under 3 there is no asset limit, so Millie is on medicaid! So amazing. Do you know what that means? We get to go back to Dr. Later! I am calling first thing tomorrow to get an appointment so I can fill him in on everything and get his advice. I've got to straighten myself out before we head to South Carolina in 9 days.

Did I mention all of this happened in one day? The therapists and getting completely on medicaid. It was quite a day. I don't think I will ever complain about the medicaid people. I applied online and sorted everything else out on the phone. I never stepped foot in the office. The WIC people on the other hand...

It's a happy day (month, season, year) in the Bagwell home. The world is right again.

Did I mention we're going back to Dr. Later?

I nearly forgot one other thing. The Speech Therapist mentioned Millie makes a very strange noise, like a Donald Duck type noise, and still won't repeat after anyone. I'm not sure if it is that is why, or if it is her vocal cord, but this week we have a team of Speech Therapists coming to observe this darling. Millie loves to entertain, so this should be fun.

Secret Weapon #2

2011-02-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

This one is painfully easy.

Are you familiar with this stuff?

(photo from Walmart.com)

This is another trick I learned from my Aunt Karen, and used at Millie's birthday party (as well as baby & bridal showers).

Make chicken salad, but use Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing instead of Mayo. You can still add grapes, nuts and any other goodness you usually add. Trust me, it will taste out of this world.

See. Told you it was easy.

North of the Mason-Dixon Line

2011-02-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

It has taken all my willpower to not spill the beans.

I've finally got Buck's permission, so here it goes:

We're moving to Connecticut!

I feel better already. I'm sure many of you are confused, so I guess I'll explain a little more.

We had originally planned on moving to Charlotte this summer, and even had a job lined with with PwC there. Buck was nominated by BYU to apply for a one year position for the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) in Connecticut, so we decided to take a chance and apply. Doing this one year thing puts him possibly on a sort of different career path and could open new doors for us. He applied, interviewed, and was one of the six (soon to be) recent graduates accepted!

To mark the occasion, here he is opening his offer from the FASB.

Each accounting firm values employees that have had experience with the FASB, so PwC was more than happy to basically defer his offer. While he's there, he'll be recruited by firms all over again, but mostly for transaction services instead of audit. We know that if he wants to go with transaction services we'll end up in a major US city after this one year opportunity, but if he has his heart set on audit after the year in Connecticut we could return to Charlotte. We will take a look at our options in a year I suppose, and keep y'all posted on what we decide. You'll need to know where to send our Christmas cards to anyways.

So come visit! We'll be somewhat near New York (train ride away), and we're looking hard for a small house to rent. I would give nearly anything to have a yard for Millie and I to play in, a large enough parking spot to pull her easily out of the car, a dishwasher, and a washer/dryer! I would seriously consider not getting a cell phone if I thought it would save us enough money. My sister would seriously consider killing me though. Drives her crazy I don't have one.

Just when we thought we were finished with snow...

So exciting!

Hefty

2011-02-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

Remember this skinny minnie?

Did I ever tell you I wanted to name her Minnie? Buck didn't.

We've been busy:

Spending quality time with Aunt Bibi and Ella before she left on her mission in Italy

loading up on carbs (like Ella's left over Olive Garden)

In this picture she is showing off her new skill. Blowing her snot in and out of her nose. It makes for some darling faces.

and eating sweets!

She loved playing with vanilla pudding.

Guess what? It worked! We went in for our WIC appointment on Thursday and Millie gained about a pound! Aunt Bibi bough her some pediasure earlier in the week, and I am sure that contributed to the weight gain more than spaghetti and pudding.

The WIC nutritionist was shocked with how great Millie looked, and was almost hesitant to give us pediasure. Well the jokes on her. Millie won't drink milk at all now! She loves pediasure, especially vanilla. Is this my child? So we qualified for WIC and got pediasure for the next three months. That should be enough time to grow some more teeth, gain some weight, and prepare to move.

The WIC nutritionist was nice, but I do have to say I could tell she wasn't loving her job. Don't you hate that? I was almost offended by one thing she said to me. She said that she guesses they calculated my due date wrong since there is no way Millie was a 23 weeker! Let me tell you, I went in for an ultrasound as soon as I found out I was pregnant. Those early ultrasounds are super accurate since babies grow at the same rate that early. I mean really? All the medical attention we got when she was born, and even today, and this nutritionist tried to tell me that? I was really taken back.

Did you know I got an ultrasound the day before she was born? It is kind of strange looking back at that one and having a real picture to look at of her just the next day. Three weeks before she was born, we found out we were having a girl, so we have a whole collage of ultrasound pictures from then.

Millie is doing super. She gets up, without holding on to anything (often in the middle of the room) to a standing position. On Saturday she took one step twice! I was getting worried since she still doesn't like to push that toy, but I feel much better now. Why can't I get these things on camera? She is also wonderful at everyones favorite: the back arch. Goodness, this girl can force you to put her down! Did I mention I'm scared to take her on the airplane? I keep hearing to give her benadryl, but the package says for 6+ years. Has anyone tried? I'm scared to ask her doctor how to drug her enough to sleep for my comfort. I just don't see that going over well.

We have a feeding specialist visiting us this week, which I am really excited for. I am still waiting for the speech therapist and aquatics person to call me. I can't wait to get this girl in the water!

On a personal note, I have been so slack lately. I made the major mistake of starting a TV series on Netflix. The worst part? It's so lame. Ever seen The Secret Life of The American Teenager? I'd say it's 7th Heaven meets 15 and Pregnant. Don't even try and say you haven't seen 15 and Pregnant. I won't believe you. Consider this your fair warning. The Secret Life of the American Teenager is not worth watching, yet I can't seem to stop.

Since this is so long, I feel like I need to summarize:

Millie gained weight, we're on WIC, we need benadryl help, and you shouldn't watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Got it?

P.S. Maybe I'll finish our blog construction when I'm finished with this TV series. Hey, I'm just being honest.

Avocado Won't Make You Fat

2011-01-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Know how I know?

It's one of Millie's favorite foods.

Today at her doctors appointment we found out she lost weight.

What's a post without a darling picture of the star?

So here's the scoop:
Millie weighs 16 lbs 4 oz. She didn't lose a whole lot, but over three weeks she should have gained.

When I spoke to a feeding specialist a few days ago to set up an appointment for an evaluation she told me to put Millie on almond milk. We were starting the no-dairy today.

Our new pediatrician said absolutely not. Almond milk doesn't have enough fat for Millie (since we now know she wasn't gaining weight). I need to give her two cans of Pediasure a day and keep putting butter on everything. She also said we need to apply for WIC to cover the pediasure. So I've set up our appointment for that, which should take over an hour (they informed me). Feel free to keep us in your prayers that we'll qualify.

The quick pediatric visit for her synigais shot (yep, we got it!) took over an hour. She had to have her nose suctioned out (you bet she loved that) on top of everything else. At least she's in her bed sleeping like a baby.

It is so hard having so many professionals recommending different things for her. I really like our new pediatrician, but I am desperately missing Dr. Later right now. We understood each other. He knew what was a big deal and what wasn't. I completely trusted him when he told me to try something new.

How do people have four kids, let alone eleven! How can one Mom possibly keep up with every little detail of each child? I can barely keep up with Millie's schedule and she is only one year old!

So there you have it. Avocados won't make you fat. Even if you want them to.

Teeth

2011-01-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

I finally caught a picture of her two teeth!

In this picture she is eating one of her favorite foods, graham crackers. She also loves: avacado, eggs, fried rice, buttered noodles, cheerios, chocolate chip cookies, apple sauce, sweet potatoes, oranges, mashed potatoes, and bananas (whole).

I guess dentures are out of the picture now. Whew.

Millie's Faces

2011-01-25T22:04:00.000-08:00

Pardon our dust. I've started on my blog reconstruction, but haven't gotten very far. I can't seem to find that article I read!

Millie is still, and probably always will be, afraid of the flash.

(do you see sunlight behind her?)

She's patient with me while I try different settings on the camera.

She very much loves to laugh,

and is so good at the perma-smile!

But she really really loves to be right in her Momma's arms.

It's easier to pull her hair that way.

I feel so busy these days! I should rephrase that. I feel like Millie is so busy these days. The poor girl has to run (crawl) laps all over our tiny apartment all day just looking for something new to chew on. Her new favorite place to be is right beside my blow dryer. She recently learned how to be chased, which I think is so funny! Whenever she sees me walking down the hall towards her she jumps (out of excitement) then starts clawing at whatever she was standing up holding on to (usually our bed) and buries her face while she squeals.

She was getting so great at walking behind her push toy, but darn if I didn't teach her how to be chased! Now if I try to get her to walk she just thinks I'm chasing her. So for now, Buck is the only one that can practice walking with her.

I realized after all the feedback on her Synagis situation I really haven't been good at filling y'all in on everything! Millie gets a visit from a Physical Therapist twice a month through a local early childhood program called PEIP. The therapist noticed Millie does not copy anything (but we already knew she does her own thing, right?),wave, or clap and thought it would be a good idea to have a Speech Therapist pay her a visit. She is still as social as can be, she just isn't interested in copying. So for now, I've given up on sign language. She likes looking at it, but if she won't even copy me doing simple things I think sign language is out of the picture for now.

I also had a few concerns with her eating (she's eating pretty good and gaining weight, the poor girl just has a time going to the bathroom) so we are also set up to see a feeding specialist. I just talked to her on the phone tonight to set everything up. She wants me to try Millie on almond milk for 4 days and note the difference. She still gets enough liquid every day, and I think enough food, so I'm not super worried.

At this same visit I learned that PEIP has a water therapy program here in Provo. Hmmmm....wasn't I trying to teach her to swim? Yep. Did I shamelessly hint Millie should be in that program? Yep. We shall see if anything comes of it. I even spelled out that she has tons of swim diapers.

I am so thankful for these programs. We get so much help with every little thing! I know communication skills aren't little, but you know what I mean. Hopefully this therapist will come up with some good ideas to get Millie into clapping. Bless her little heart. I know she wants to keep up with everyone else, and some day she'll get there. She's already accomplished so much.

By the way, the PT said to do "Patty Cake" type things with her to practice clapping. Since she mentioned "Patty Cake" that's the only one I can think of! Don't you hate when that happens? What are other rhymes I can clap with her?

We go to the doctor on Thursday, so I'll have an updated weight for you soon. I doubt she's up to 17 lbs yet, but who knows? I'll be sure to feed her right before we go.

P-Jams

2011-01-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

That's what we call the clothes you sleep in. I'm not sure where the nickname came from. Oh well.

Millie, being a baby and all, has been sleeping in these one piece p-jams since she started wearing clothes.

Once she learned how to rock on her knees, these once piece ordeals posed a problem. You see, Millie doesn't quite fill out the tummy area in any PJ's that she owns. When you have extra space, guess where her little curled up legs end up? When she's ready to crawl or stand? You guessed it. She bursts through them.

That wouldn't keep anyone warm now, would it?

While in Park City this weekend we picked up her first set of two piece PJ's from Carters! (on clearance of course) She loves them, and we think they are pretty cute.

So if you are out shopping (hint hint grandmas) and see some darling two piece PJ's on super sale, know that Millie would love you forever and ever if she got some for Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day (when she turns "one"), or Easter. It's just a suggestion of course. These PJ's are size 12 month (though she still wears 6-9 month in normal clothes).

For all the non-grandmas reading this: Before you think I'm shameless in my hints, just know they spoil her like crazy and if they were going to buy her something anyways...

Oh and since you are still reading I might as well write some more. We are waiting on the edge of our seat to find out if we get Synagis donated to us for Millie. We switched insurance companies (now on the student health plan that covers zero medications) so there is a long process to plea your case to the drug companies. We're talking about a $2,500+ per month medicine here. It isn't something we could just pay out of pocket. We squeezed in two shots before our other insurance ended, so I won't freak out if we are denied.

One last thing. Millie and I got our plane ticket to South Carolina next month! We are coming into town for my dear friend's wedding. If y'all could be sure and encourage the sun to stick around those 15 days Millie and I would greatly appreciate it.

What a Difference a "T" Makes

2011-01-18T20:04:00.001-08:00

Could you tell a little girl was pulling my hair through the last post?

May I share with you the dead give-away? "I should sit in the fridge for three hours..."

Yikes. Please note, when you are making the salad dressing for that amazing salad, the dressing should go in the fridge, not me.

I'm sure that doesn't scratch the surface of my grammatical errors on this blog, but that one was too funny not to share.

Posting while entertaining Millie should provide for some other noteworthy errors, just you wait.

Secret Weapon #1

2011-01-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

First, look at my awesome new KitchenAid decoration! It was a Christmas gift from my sister (made with a Silhouette), but the idea was from here.

That was to motivate you to cook.

I have just a few favorite recipes easy to make, and sure to impress I thought I'd share with y'all. I would take pictures, I just don't have the camera or skills to make them turn out great. So you'll have to take my word for how yummy they are.

If you are like me, you occasionally gather with friends or family for dinner. Sometimes I get an assignment. Sometimes it is something I like to make, like rolls or dessert. Occasionally it is a salad. Blah. Chop up lettuce, throw on some veggies, and bring a bottle of dressing? Not my idea of good. So how do you make a good salad? Well my friends, I have one for you.

This recipe comes from my Aunt Karen (wonderful cook!) by way of her friend Kelli. If you were at Millie's birthday party, this is the salad I made. It was a big hit (always is), and I haven't been good at sharing the recipe like I promised.

Secret Weapon #1:

Kelli's Salad

Salad Ingredients:

1 head Romain Lettuce

1 bunch Read Leaf Lettuce

1 regular size carton cottage cheese

1 red onion, sliced

1/2 lb swiss cheese, grated

1 lb diced and sauteed bacon

Dressing Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 tsp dehydrated onion

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp poppy seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

First, combine everything for the salad dressing. It should sit in the fridge for three hours prior to adding it into the salad.

Just before you walk out the door, mix the cheese and bacon into the chopped lettuce. Then mix it with the dressing that you pre-prepared.

Easy, peasy. And everyone will ask you for the recipe. Way to steal the show with a salad.

Stay tuned for a few more secret weapons. Just a few though, this isn't a food blog. It's a Millie blog!

Ketchup

2011-01-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

Or maybe it's catch up? Oh well.

Truth be told, I'm reading this very interesting book about English and our sayings. I couldn't help myself.

But really, what have the Bagwell's been doing?

For family night (Monday nights around here) we decided to take a look at the Provo Tabernacle. Some of you may have heard about it catching fire. We enjoyed a few programs in that building, and though we'd document the fact that we were here when it caught fire. They won't let you anywhere near the building, so you can't tell how bad the damage is from our picture. Basically the outside is there, and that is it.

We brought in the new year! Buck insisted on waking Millie up to tell her Happy New Year. I'm glad we did. She's much happier here than she was on Christmas morning.

And of course, I'm staying home! So my days look like this:

Millie has started kneeling to drink her bottle.

Her favorite spot in the house is right in front of the space heater! Seriously she loves to have the heat blow in her face, and even sticks out her tongue.

(not sure what I did to deserve these underlines)

I now get to see just how long Millie's crazy hair styles last! She woke up like this, and it stuck around all day.

Look out Millie, you might be ready for a spout.

So that's us playing ketchup! Or maybe catch up?

I love my new job :) and no, I'm not in need of some adult conversation. Haha!

SAHM

2011-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

That's Stay-At-Home-Mom, folks. That's me!

I've loved my time at home so far (one week down, oodles more to go!) but I feel like I'm on vacation. That does make it hard for me to get things done. With that said, I thought I'd share some of my goals with y'all. I've got high hopes...

1. Exercise five days a week

If you know me well, you know I haven't exercised consistently since before I was pregnant. Millie is nearly 14 months old! Terrible, I know. My plan (that I've stuck to for a week so far) is to wake up before Millie and Buck and head to the BYU gym. Oh how I wish it was daylight and more than 20 degrees at 6:45 AM here in Provo. Can you believe I have to scrape my windows and put down ice melt just to go to the gym in the morning? That is supposed to help motivate those of you that don't have weather obstacles preventing your exercise.

2. Have personal scripture study every day

Eh, I'm four for six. An improvement, yes. Our church put together a calendar with a suggested topic each week. This week, we studied Faith. I learned a lot, especially as I read talks from this past conference. Having the giant screen of the iPad makes scripture study so nice. I'm adding journal writing to this one. I keep a journal for myself and we keep one for Millie. I hope to write at least once a week in both.

3. Teach Millie how to swim

I've been wanting to do this for some time. This goal was actually what I was most excited about once I became a SAHM. I just found out that BYU no longer allows anyone under the age of 5 to swim in the pool! I'm so sad. If anyone has a solution (knows someone that works at a local hotel, has a pool, etc.) let me know. This girl loves the water!

4. Teach Millie sign language

Millie is starting to understand us when we ask her to do something, and I can tell she would like to communicate with us. This seems like a great solution! I'm not planning on going crazy, I just want to teach her a few signs to get us by until she starts talking. Plus I'd love to know I actually taught her something. We get so much help from Doctors and therapists, it's hard to know what is our doing.

5. Cook dinner

I love to cook, but working full time and being a Mom didn't leave a lot of time for cooking. If this past week is reflective of the rest of the semester, I'm busy. On top of that, who wants to haul groceries into the house when there is one inch thick ice on all the sidewalks and parking lot? And don't get me started on not having a dishwasher or counter space. My official goal is to "cook" every night (except when we go out, of course) but only really make things from scratch 3 nights a week. We're trying the "all natural" route with food, so this "from scratch" is the real deal.

6. Start a new blog

I know what you're thinking. I don't update the blog I have enough! Well this will be a different kind of blog. I've loved keeping up this blog (and intend to keep it going), but I'm afraid all of this writing has sparked something in me. I want to write more. I want to write about anything, not just Millie. I know that isn't why most of you look at our blog, so I (along with a dear friend) am starting a new one. We're taking it slow, so don't expect a new blog advertised for a while.

7. Re-do our current blog

I wish I knew blogger like the back of my hand, but sadly I do not. Although we don't have quite the fan base we once did, I'd still like to jazz up this blog for those of you sticking with us. I stumbled across a great article recently that explained some fancy things, so hopefully I can put them to good use. Stay tuned!

There you have it, though I am sure I forgot at least one of my goals. I'm planning on filling my days with all of the things I've planned on doing "some day" regularly along with lots of Mommy/Millie time. I swear I'll never get sick of this girl. She just started dancing to every bit of music she hears. It's adorable. She's as bad a dancer as I am. She also has two teeth, lots more hair, and can stand without holding on to anything. And to think, I get to watch it all first hand. I'm one lucky girl.

Christmas at Our House

2010-12-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Post 100! AND my last post being employed full time :)

Christmas at our house was wonderful. Here is a run down of Christmas Eve:

We took Millie to Temple Square for the first time. I loved it. Walking around those grounds, looking at pictures of Christ, and being together calmly as a family provided a spiritual Christmas Eve for us.

We went around 4 pm to get a good parking spot, so we had plenty of daylight time there.

Buck and Millie in the Joseph Smith Building:

(We love this building, and have fond memories of attending church with my Grandparents there several times)

The South Visitors Center has this wonderful new exhibit of the Salt Lake Temple. This is a replica of the Temple, open in the front so you can see the rooms inside. I've been inside this Temple and some of the rooms were new to me. They also have a TV touch screen explaining each room and a virtual tour (of even walking down the halls).

As you can tell from this nice arm in the lower right corner, this was a very popular sight. We stood there for quite some time and never had it to ourselves to take a good picture.

In honor of Tutu and Rara, we made a special trip to their beloved Beehive House. They were "over" the Beehive house some during their mission to Temple Square.

I tell you those little legs never stop moving!

After a lot of wandering and freezing cold the lights finally came on! I wish I could say Millie loved them, but I think she was too frozen to think much of it all.

Ahh, Christmas Morning!

Bless this baby's heart. I stayed in bed as long as I could, but by 7 AM I couldn't take it any longer. We went and woke Millie up. She typically gets up at 8 AM (we know, we're lucky) so you can imagine her confusion. I turned on the lights on her little tree in her room to keep her from crying. It worked.

We made it to the living room and showed her her stocking. This is the reaction she gave us:

Not much.

We showed her an awesome toy Santa brought her:

What in the world?

We showed her this cute play house Santa brought her:

Still not much.

Then it happened. She figured it out. These things are for her.

One bottle and a diaper change later there was no stopping her!

She was bouncing off the walls, refusing to nap, calling her own shots. It was really, truly Christmas Morning at our house.

We called our families, and skyped with some of them too! All the while Millie was basking in the glory of her "new" (thank you DI!) keyboard and pink beret. All without pants on of course. They hold her back.

We finished off our Christmas Day by having some friends over for dinner.

Millie is giving Mina a tour of our tree.

It was a wonderful Christmas. We were all spoiled rotten by Santa and our families.

We missed our loved ones and wish we could have been there with them, but we will definitely look back on this Christmas as a very special one for The Bagwell Family.

Snow Fun!

2010-12-24T09:47:00.001-08:00

This is our 99th post!

With our hometown experience their first White Christmas in 60 years, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you our nearly white Christmas.

On Tuesday we got a massive amount of snow. So much snow that I had to stay home from work since I couldn't get out of my parking spot.

Darn.

We thought it would be a great chance to let Millie play in the snow for the first time.

We put on two pairs of socks and the best fitting boots (her feet are so small) we could find.

We grabbed her snow suit and headed outside!

The snow was so heavy that she barely made an indention when we put her on it. To give you an idea of how deep it was, buck is leaning on his knee below. The rest of his leg is under the snow...so it was up to his knees in this spot!

She couldn't figure out how to move, bless her heart.

Her Dad tried to temp her to eat the snow, but she wasn't sure about this stuff.

Here's a darling video of the whole ordeal.

(YouTube is behaving better than Blogger still)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did. We took loads of pictures too :)

I think it's safe to say our 100th post will be a recap of our awesome Christmas.

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

What? This isn't where you keep your Wise Men?

I'm almost scared to admit this, but I think I've finally gotten used to the cold weather. It's only taken me four winters here in Utah. I still have a few it's-too-cold-to-go-out days though.

While we're enjoying our Winter Wonderland Millie enjoys:

Snuggling with her Dad decked out in a beautiful Christmas dress

Sneaking away from us to learn crawling up stairs (she's now a pro)

Being carried around bundled up

(actually she really dislikes this cover thing, she's just that good at posing for pictures)

Learning to ride "horses"...

though she prefers to ride them like a lady.

Seeing animals up close and personal

Isn't this cow beautiful?

You probably think so now

Let's hope we don't meet too many more cows name Millie. I get so tired of hearing of dogs named Niki.

Did we already mention cuddling with Dad? She loves it.

(Not really something Millie likes to do, but I couldn't resists)

Buck milked a cow!

(All of these outdoor farm-ish pictures were from a birthday party we went to at Thanksgiving Point. I was so fun, and the parents commented on how easy it was. They would recommend it if you are in the area.)

We hope you're keeping warm in your Winter Wonderland.

P.S. We had a snow day this week, so expect another Winter Wonderland post here soon. Millie enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time.

Birthday Cake Take Two

2010-12-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today my sweet husband turned 25. Finally. He's been giving me a dose of my own medicine with the "Are you sure you want to ask me to do that? On my Birthday month?" Hopefully after today he'll give that line up.

On with the party:

We decided to let Millie try eating Buck's "cake" (chocolate cream pie) a la First Birthday Party style. To be honest, she was a tad boring on her birthday.

Touch.

Taste.

Success.

After that last picture she got so into it we had to get video footage. She couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough! I think we've got a chocolate lover on our hands.

By the way, Millie and I both love Buck very much. We are so thankful we got to spend his birthday with him. Millie even started babbling "Dadada" for him.

Don't mention it, but she's been babbling "Mamama" for weeks.

Here Comes Santa Clause

2010-12-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Millie and Santa Christmas 2009

Millie and Santa Christmas 2010

Think we caught Millie and Santa a little off guard?

We're still gearing up for Christmas around here.

Who am I kidding? We're gearing up for Christmas, but we're really gearing up for my retirement.

Only 10 more days of work. I think I can handle that.

Explain Yourself!

2010-12-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

For pete's sake! I was trying to add words to that last post but it didn't work out. AND I wanted you to see the inside of the card, but that didn't happen either.

Boo.

My sister was deeply confused by my Shutterfly post, so I thought I better explain myself. Shutterfly has a promotion (you have to pre-sign up, then post before December 15th and order before December 31st) that I posted a link about. Bloggers get 50 free Christmas Cards. I was worried it was going to be the $.30/each glossy photo cards (what I would have ordered if I was paying), but I got the $2/each folding cards! So, I would highly recommend doing it. I did have to pay shipping, but $8 for 50 cards was well worth it.

So there, that should explain my recent excitement for Shutterfly :)

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-08T09:09:00.001-08:00

Color Me Merry Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Final Christmas Detail

2010-12-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Have you done your Christmas Cards yet?

Last year we took a picture similar to this:
(I can't find the picture for some reason)

and made some cute little cards on Shutterfly.

If you remember what our life was like this time last year, it's really a miracle we were able to send Christmas cards at all! We just loaded one simple picture onto the website, and visited the Holiday card section (here) to choose one that we liked. It was so easy, and we received our cards in enough time to send them out before Christmas.

Just like many photo printing websites, you can print off a variety of photo gifts and prints. I've used them many times and have been very pleased with the quality. I've used other websites that haven't given me such great results. I'm definitely considering a canvas print (here) from Millie's birthday party pictures. Ashely took some great ones! I've always been a big fan of photo calendars too. (here) Pictures of the birthday boys and girls each month might make it easier to remember them.

This year, thanks to their 50 free Christmas Cards for bloggers and our previous positive experiences, we are planning on using them again.

Oh, and thanks to Ashley for taking this cute family photo.

If you're looking for something cute and easy to do this year, I would definitely recommend Shutterfly. I'm thinking something vintage or bright, and they have plenty of both. They have over 800 to choose from, but have handy tools to narrow down your choices for you so you aren't overwhelmed. I love that you can use several pictures, or just one.

Merry Christmas!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

2010-12-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Around here, we're finally in the Christmas Spirit!

It's taken a while...

We started by attending the Gingerbread House Festival a few weeks ago. It is put on by the Boy Scout Council and the Utah PTA.

Here are some of our favorite houses:
(You can't see the sign, but they give details of how much candy, gingerbread, and frosting they used. It was massive!)

A few scenes from UP!

The Biltmore House

Christmas at Fallingwater

"A Christmas Story" House. You can tell by the leg lamp in the lower right.

My personal favorite. The Pinkalicious house.

We've also got Millie wearing her "holiday" clothes to church.
I've always wanted these darling coats for my future daughter. When I saw the super deal on this one Black Friday I couldn't resist.

Thanks to my great camera skills, you really can't appreciate how cute this dress is!

We decorated our apartment and put some of the presents under the tree. Millie is really only interested in the ribbon.

Told you.

We still need to buy and mail a few more presents, but other than that we are very ready for our first Christmas, just the three of us.

Even though it won't be Millie's first Christmas, it will be her first Christmas at home. To us, that's close enough.

Accomplishments

2010-12-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Millie and her father this time last year.

Here Millie is still recovering from her heart surgery.

For a refresher, you can read the early December posts here and here.

Millie and her father these days!

Millie is so busy learning something new every day. Here are a few of her recent accomplishments:

She finds her own toys. One of her favorites is this DVD case. She even pulls it off the shelf when she wants it.

Thanks to her beautiful new high chair, she has taught herself how to drink her bottle sitting up.

She can put on her own lipstick!

She can carry her own toys to church in her new Hello Kitty backpack.

She helps us get her dressed in her warm clothes.

She can sit up in her snow suit!

Our favorite accomplishment is self feeding! She obviously can't feed herself all the day, but she loves to sit in her high chair trying to feed herself solid foods.

She's tried puffs, sweet potatoes (pictured), eggs, bread, and green beans all on her own.

We are so proud she has started pulling herself up! She's proud, too.

Now that she has discovered "standing" she never wants to lay down! This poses a problem when it comes to changing her diaper, as you can imagine.

I gave y'all the update on her party, but I never told you what the doctor thinks of this one year old!

He gave us they okay to switch to whole milk. We're finishing off the can of formula we've opened and moving on! I have to say though, spit up with cows milk is one of the worst smells I've ever smelled. Please forgive us if we sit next to you somewhere.
Our doctor said we should have Millie eating a mostly solid diet with a little bit of milk within the next 6-9 months.
Millie has no food restrictions! Well, other than choking hazards. Did you know peanut butter was a choking hazard? Apparently 3 of his patients have died from choking on it. So be careful, all you parents out there!
Millie weighs 14 lbs 8 oz! Her birth weight was 1 lb 4 oz, and her coming home from the hospital weight was just under 8 pounds. I was expecting her to be bigger, but Dr. Later was pleased with her progress.
Millie is 26.75 inches tall. She was 11.5 inches at birth, and 19.5 inches when she left the hospital. Hard to believe she's grown about 7 inches just since we've had her home! Right under our noses...
We've received her first synagis shot! Hooray! I have to say though, that I've never seen a shot cause her more pain. Poor baby. It is defiantly worth it though because RSV would be that much worse. She was over the pain after 15-20 mins.

Because of these shots, we will be paying our pediatrician a visit monthly. For different reasons each time, we've gone to the doctors office for the last three weeks in a row. I was starting to worry we were taking up too much time with Dr. Later (he didn't make me feel that way, I just know he has so many patients and he is a wonderful doctor). On his way out of the door this week he shook his head and said "it is such a pleasure for me to see Millie." He's the best! I know it is because she is so healthy and such a miracle. He had just shared with me some of the situations he is in right now with some of his other NICU babies, and I am still in awe that Millie came out so healthy. He had just discharged a patient that went home on a ventilator! Not oxygen, but a ventilator. I can't believe it. AND that baby had been in the NICU since April.

We're so proud of our little baby. You probably already knew that though.

By the way, I put in my notice at work. My last day is December 30th. Now I can spend all my days with this little girl. I can't wait.

What a Difference a Year Makes

2010-11-29T19:54:00.001-08:00

November 24th(ish) 2009

November 24th, 2010

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you know I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while. I would have posted these pictures sooner, but I wore myself out!

For the party, we ate delicious food.

The bell of the ball was loving it!

All of this for me?

We were so lucky to celebrate with many friends. Here are a few of them:

These two were supposed to be born only days apart.
One is obviously more mellow than the other, thankfully.

Kate, Alli, and (I'm 99% sure) Amy

Evie

Some of our good friends and neighbors from our previous apartment complex.

Millie's "Uncle" Regie made it during his lunch break! He works as a Respiratory Therapist in the NICU. It meant so much to us to see him.

Hatsumi and little Jimmy, our current neighbors and friends.

Glen and Jamie (can't wait to meet their little girl soon)

Anna and Caleb, a fellow micro-preemie. We were in the NICU together for most of our stay.
(I think she really wants a bite of that piece of paper)

We played pin the bow on Hello Kitty. Buck was kind enough to go first. Before he made it to the board...

he made it across the entire room, bless his heart.

Many played,

but Millie's grandpa got it closest to "right." Pretty good for someone who thought the bow went under her neck to begin with :)

After the games we dove into the cake.

Millie was slightly stunned by us singing "Happy Birthday."

This girl knows how to work a camera.
Is this what y'all want me to do?

What in the world?

Well, alright...

One more smile, and I think I'm done.

Next we let Millie try to open presents for the first time.
She was more interested in everyone watching her.

She loved all her presents, especially the girly ones.

She was very intrigued by this phone, but a little worn out by the end.

Overall, we had a fabulous party.
I hope Millie crawled away feeling loved.

You probably can tell a huge difference in quality of pictures. I have to thank my friend Ashley Lunt for these pictures. In a round-about way she offered to take some pictures of Millie, and the most convenient way was to have her come to the birthday party. Not having to take pictures on top of all my other hostess duties was wonderful! I would totally recommend talking one of your friends with a nice camera and a good eye for photography into doing this for you, or if you have the means hire one! Not that I think every single birthday party merits a professional photographer, but in Millie's case her first birthday definitely did (to me).

I was a little worried about pulling this all off without the help of my mother, grandmother, and sister, but it worked! The only reason it all worked was because of Buck's parents, and those that showed up early (Romney's, Ostler's and Lunt's).

Whew. The party is over. Now I can start reflecting on the milestones we faced this time last year. You all know her birth story. You also followed me as I experienced all those firsts: eyes opening, holding, bathing, diaper changing, feeding, etc. What a beautiful story Millie has, and I am so thankful I was able to share that with so many.

Happy Birthday, Millie dear!

I have a one year old.