Millie is quite the observer

I think Millie has a photographic memory....

She can watch me do something a couple of times, and then she is repeating the same behavior. For instance, we have a device that we use to turn the Christmas lights on to where you don't have to plug/unplug every time; you just step on this device and it turns on/off. Well, I've held her just about every time that I've turned them on and the other night, she went over to the tree and decided to turn off the lights, using her foot to press the device. Smart little booger.

She had some thawed dark cherries at Nana and Papa's house (she didn't want them to begin with and then had some of the juice and was in heaven at that point). On Sunday, for lunch, she had some more cherries that I bought at Publix on Saturday. Jacade was feeding her each cherry and when we told her they were all gone, she said, "Juice." She remembered that she loved the dark cherry juice.

She is just so smart and is soaking everything up right now. We've been trying to emphasize that instead of whining, that she use her words (or sign language) and most of the time she will do a little whining, but use the sign language or try to say whatever she wants. So this morning, at 3:30 a.m., she was awake in her room, crying and I went in and she was standing in her bed, doing the sign for "eat." So I got her up and gave her some Cheerios and then she went back to bed. But I was so thankful that she did know the sign language and I knew exactly what she wanted. What a relief, even if it was 3:30 in the morning and I was exhausted.

Christmas pictures preview

Here are just a few pictures of Millie....I don't want to post a lot because I may be giving some for presents!!! But these are cute and hopefully will brighten your day!

Swimming in her clothes

On Monday, I turned on the water for Millie's shower and I was in her room tidying it while the water was warming up. Then....I heard the shower door close and wondered where Millie was..... So I went into the bathroom and there she was...in the shower with her clothes on. Thankfully she didn't have her shoes on. So I ran and got the camera real quick (it was close by) and snapped these pictures. Hey, she was having fun. And she found my toothbrush that I left in there and was brushing her teeth.

Millie couldn't get enough

Last week while at Nana and Papa's house, they were all sitting down for dinner and Nana had given Millie some mixed fruit. She was trying to get her to try some black cherries and Millie wanted no part in it. She avoided having any of the cherries on her spoon, or in her mouth. But then, one accidentally escaped exclusion and found its way into her mouth. It was a black cherry explosion! She then couldn't get enough, saying and signing, "more, more, more."

I think that's how it is for a lot of people. They think they don't want to try something new, whether it be a job or a food or whatever the experience, and then when we finally get around to taking the plunge and trying it or doing something new, we find that we actually like it and want more. What took us so long? I guess the saying is true that "you really do learn a lot from your children." Thanks, Millie.

Millie visits with Nana and Papa

Since Tuesday of this week, Millie has been visiting with Nana and Papa in Smyrna. Our babysitter's son got a stomach virus and has been sick all week, so out of desparation I called Cinda to see if they could watch Millie. Thankfully, being retired, they were able to keep her (thanks!)

Millie has been eating well there and catching up on lost sleep - she woke up two times last night, Cinda said, but then slept til 8:45 this morning. I am going up to Smyrna after I get off work today to see my little dumplin'.

Here are some pictures from her visit. I can't believe how grown-up she looks. And it looks like she already needs another haircut. Wow!

Sleeping Beauty

Over the weekend, Jacade let Millie fall asleep on the couch. She was quite comfy with her quilt and teddy bears.

Millie and her cute dress

On Sunday morning, I got Millie dressed for church in her new dress and sweater, with her tights, socks and shoes. The shoes are a little big, so that's why she has the socks on too. But she still looks adorable.

Millie and Blake go to the Christmas parade

Blake

Blake and Millie waiting (inpatiently)

Last Friday night, Andrea, Millie's babysitter, drove to Jackson with Millie and Blake, her son, to go to the annual Jackson Christmas parade. I got Millie all ready with long-johns, overalls, a sweatshirt, jacket, hat and mittens. They seemed to enjoy the parade, although they got antsy towards the end. But what do you expect for two toddlers. But I took a picture of them together sitting on the couch at the newspaper office.

Millie is talking more and more

Recently, Millie has been saying a lot more words. Her most recent word is "blueberry." She was eating some blueberries the other night and asked for more, literally. And Jacade and I looked at each other, and said, "She just said blueberry." That's a pretty big word, we thought.

She also loves to call Bella and chase her around and love on her. She just absolutely adores Bella. She calls Bella by saying, "Bell...." and then makes clicking noises like she is whistling to her. It is so funny and sweet. And the dinner table, Bella will be begging for food and start whining, and Millie will growl back at Bella.

The other night, I was holding Millie and we were going through the parts of her body and she was pointing to areas, like ears, eyes, nose, head, etc. I then asked Millie where her eyelashes were (thinking that she hadn't learned that yet) and she pointed right to them. I was shocked, but later found out that Debbie (Mawt Maw) had taught her. Way to go, Mawt Maw.

Millie's a bunny rabbit

Aunt Lexi, Uncle Chris and Ryan gave Millie a pink bunny towel for her birthday and here she is using it. Doesn't she make a cute bunny rabbit?

Where's Millie & Ryan?

On Saturday night, Millie and Ryan were playing upstairs and Millie went into the bathroom. So, Ryan had to see what she was doing, so he went in too. Lately, Millie likes to close doors and she closed this one too. She and Ryan were hiding behind the shower curtain and apparently thought that no one could see them. It was too funny! What a great picture and memory.

Thanksgiving 2007 & 2008

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving 2008

Pilgrims and Indians

Indian Chris, Pilgrim Alexa, & Indian Ryan

Pilgrims & Indians 2008

Indian Rebecca, Turkey Shirley (Mom) & Pilrim Alexa

Thanksgiving Skit

Pilgrim Daddy and Little Indian

The Pilgrims singing a song...


The Pilgrims are starving....

The Indians bring food to the Pilgrims...

Mom's Turkey Headband

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble....

Pictures from Thanksgiving

The Little Indians....Ryan & Millie

Happy Thanksgiving (late)

We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early in Davidson and Huntersville, NC. We drove up Friday morning (actually left early enough but still arrived late). We stopped on the way up at Tanger Outlet Mall and got sucked in. We ended up spending about an hour at the Nike Outlet and Jacade bought Millie some cute sneakers and a jogging suit. We finally arrived in Davidson, in time for dinner, which was so yummy. Ryan had been waiting patiently for Millie to arrive and after dinner, the fun began! They played and played and played some more. They chased each other and played peek-a-boo and played with toys together. Needless to say, Ryan wasn't ready to go home - he wanted to spend the night with Millie.

On Saturday, Millie stayed home with Mops and Pops while Jacade and I went to RaceWorld USA in Cornelius. We had a good time and it was just fun to be adults again. We then went to Birkdale at Huntersville and shared a hot chocolate from Starbucks and just walked around. We went to BabyGap and Jacade fell in love with some clothes for Millie (we didn't get her any, not yet, anyways). We then went to Williams-Sonoma and sampled some of the goodies there and tried on different lotions.

In the meantime, Millie, Mops and Pops walked to the playground in their neighborhood, even though it was a little chilly. Mom said that she had the best time playing on all of the playground equipment. On the way back home, Millie walked most of the way back but then stopped, held up her arms and was ready to ride in the stroller. She was tired... They got home and Millie took a much-deserved nap.

Alexa (Lexi), Chris and Ryan arrived, after a day full of birthday parties, for our Thanksgiving feast. For the past couple of years, my mom has put together a Thanksgiving skit, complete with costumes, songs and other activities. The costumes consist of t-shirts, headbands and feathers for the Indians and white felt capes for the Pilgrims. And every year, Tom, Lexi and Jacade are Pilgrims and Chris, Ryan and Rebecca, and now Millie, are Indians. And Mom, since she is the director, she says, doesn't have to wear anything.

So, everyone put on their respected outfits and I decided to present Mom with a piece of clothing, all her own. It was perfect for the director! It was a homemade turkey leg headband, that she wore proudly! We all laughed and cut up but it seriously, was perfect. We usually go out in the front yard, but this year, Mom said it was too cold to go out. I think it was because she didn't want everyone to see her wearing something really ridiculous! Either way, we still had a good time. Millie wasn't sure about the headband and the feather, so she lost the feather and wore the headband around her neck. Hey, she is starting a new fashion, as we speak!

We then performed the skit well, took some pictures and then it was TIME TO EAT! We all enjoyed a great feast and great conversations. Millie and Ryan played some more and again, Ryan wasn't ready to go home.

On Sunday morning, we went to Lexi's house for brunch (yummy again!) And Millie was loaded up with toys from Ryan. Thank you so much, Lexi. We packed the truck down (I should say, Jacade, Chris and Tom packed the truck). We took some pictures and then had to say our good-byes. It was hard to leave, but we knew we had to get on the road.

Jacade stopped by the mall on the way home to look at something and came out with clothes from....yes, you guessed it....BabyGap. What can he say - he just loves to buy Millie clothes. We got on the road finally, and took a break for a few minutes at the Tanger Outlet Mall to return the sneakers and jogging outfit (after all, we had just bought her more clothes - we didn't need to spend the extra money).

We then made another stop in Smyrna to see Nana and Papa. Millie was excited to see them and to take a break. We all ate dinner and I gave Millie a bath so all we had to do when we got home was put her in the bed. That was a big help.

So, all in all, it was a fantastic Thanksgiving (a week early). It was great to visit and hang out and talk.

It's been awhile, I know

It's been awhile since I posted and Marshall just got on to me about not posting. So I am going to overload you - just a warning! Millie has been up to so much lately; just learning new things every day.

Millie had her thinking caps on!

On Friday, last week, it pretty much rained all day. So we were getting ready to leave and put mommy's hat on Millie but Millie decided that she wanted to wear her ballcap too. So she had both hats on and she was perfectly happy about it!

Millie does some re-arranging!

On Saturday night, Millie decided to do some re-arranging in her room, concerning all of her books. I got one to read to her and she decided to bring them ALL to me.

Top Photo is where the books usually reside!
Bottom Photo is where they all ended up - on the table! And by the way, they are still there!

Millie is learning to save money

Jacade and I are currently taking the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class at church on Sundays. And the lesson last week was about teaching your children to save money and the question was brought up in class as to what was a good age to start?

I made the comment that, Millie at now 18 months old, is already starting to learn. She doesn't necessarily understand everything about it but she is learning the concept. We have a large 5-gallon water jar that we use to save change and then we use the change for vacations. Well, Jacade taught her to put the money in there. And everytime we bring home change we give it to her and she walks right to the "bank" and "deposits" her change. And we tell her that we are saving money.

So, maybe it's true that it's never too early to learn how to save money!

Spaghetti Face!!!

Jacade worked at the Exchange Club Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday and brought home 13 plates of spaghetti (now, that's a lot of food!). So for dinner Millie ate spaghetti and this is the second time she has eaten it. Up at Nana and Papa's house, she ate it for them and I was shocked then. I was shocked again when she ate it on Saturday. She must have been really hungry. And she actually asked for seconds.

Wearing Mommy and Daddy's shoes

Over the weekend, Millie put on mommy's and daddy's shoes. By the way, have I mentioned yet that this baby LOVES SHOES! She likes to put on shoes; doesn't matter who's they are. But we went to Target yesterday trying to find her some black shoes and she didn't want any part in trying on shoes. Go figure.

Millie is learning new body parts

Over the weekend, Millie learned some new body parts.
She already knows where her _______ is/are:
nose, head, mouth, teeth, tongue, ears, eyes, belly, belly button, hands, fingers, feet, toes, hair, shoulders.

And we worked on (and she learned) where her ________ is/are:
cheeks, eyebrows, chin, knees, elbows, back, forehead.

I'm really proud of her. She is learning so much in such a short amount of time (it seems). It's so much fun to watch her figure things out (like it actually makes sense to her now).

Millie asks for a specific book

Last night I was reading to Millie before she went to bed. We read Monster's Book of Numbers and when we finished, she actually asked for a specific book - one of her favorites. It's called Clap Your Hands by Lorinda Bryan Cauley. She was clapping her hands and it took me a second and then I realized what she wanted.

A creative gene?

For the past couple nights while Millie was taking a shower, she was playing with her cups and toys. And it was really funny to watch because she was arranging and re-arranging their placement. She would set a few toys in a certain way, sit back, pause and consider everything, and then would move things around. Maybe she's got her mommy and daddy's creative genes! I hope so!

Today Millie is 18 months old!

Wow, I can't believe it but Millie has been here 18 months. She has really grown up a lot during those 18 months. She is talking a lot and doing her sign language, is obsessed about shoes, takes a shower, loves milk (I know, what kid doesn't?), still likes beans of almost all kinds, is stubborn, likes to look at books, loves Bella, loves music and likes to dance, loves the outdoors, likes to drive the car (daddy lets her steer the wheel in the driveway), likes to look at pictures of family members, is using the potty a little bit, likes to wear mommy and daddy's shoes (great photo op!), likes Blake and Gavin (her buddies during the day), likes to go to church and play (she doesn't cry when we drop her off like a lot of the other kids), hates having her teeth brushed...

Millie....we love you!!! Happy 18 month birthday girl!!!

A Mummy on Saturday

Saturday morning, it was quiet and where was Millie? She was in our bathroom getting toilet paper off the roll....and lots of it. So I wrapped her up in it and she played her piano in her room (and Mommy got it on film too). So she was the Itsy Bitsy Spider Friday night and a Mummy Saturday morning.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

I decided to dress Millie up as the Itsy Bitsy Spider for Halloween this year (last year we didn't even dress her up - she had no clue). This year, I don't think she had a clue either, but it was still fun. Our friend, Doug, gave us this costume for Bella, our dog, but it wouldn't fit Bella. So Millie tried it on and seemed to like wearing it. So she had some black sweatpants and I bought her a black turtleneck and she transformed into the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

We went to church for Hallelujah Night and it was fun, but COLD.... I had to work one of the game stations so Millie and her daddy went off and played. She rode the pony one time but was quickly over it after having to wait in line for so long. All she wanted to do was run around the parking lot or play in the islands with the rocks. Of course, what should we expect from a 17-mo old? She and I did go on a hayride. And then we went on one of the inflatables, which she enjoyed. She enjoyed it and then started pitching a fit b/c they were closing it down. As soon as we got in the car to go home, she was out like a light. Thankfully she slept late Saturday morning.

Mommy and Millie are twins

On Monday before we left to go to work and school, I got Jacade to take some pictures of us b/c Millie and I were dressed like twins.

Getting ready to go for a walk

This past Sunday we went for a walk over to Mawt Maw's house just to take her mail over to her. Plus she wanted to see Millie. Who wouldn't????

A trip to Noah's Ark

On Saturday after Millie woke up from her nap, we decided to drive over to Noah's Ark in Locust Grove (Daddy stayed home and slept b/c he wasn't feeling good). I had never been before but wanted to check it out. All I can say is, "This is a great place." And did I mention {it's free!!!}

There are so many animals there. They have emus, Evidence the Zebra, birds (macaws and parrots) monkeys, lion, tigers, cougar, some black bears, goats, pigs, llamas - that were roaming free, cows, buffalo, alligators, snakes, peacocks, and deer (and I'm probably leaving something out). We had so much fun.

I was a little nervous b/c the llamas were just roaming free - would they bother us or would we bother them. But they weren't really interested in us. I was taking pictures of one of them and I was talking to it making remarks like, "are you posing for me?" "are you smiling?" and by the look of the pictures, that's what it looks like. Like he was used to that kind of attention....