My Happy Little 18 Month Old

Wow, precious girl, you are one and a half! 

And I have to say that you have become quite the chatter box, a lover of snack time, a book worm, obsessed with blankies, and a lovely big sister. 

Speaking of snack time, your fav is goldfish.  You ask me for them about 42 times a day, give or take a few.  But you are learning to share very well...especially with your pal Maggie. 

But seriously, you love some snacks! 

{And yes, we still wear Christmas pj's in February in case you were wondering}

Your new buzz word is belly button, or "bey-beyton"as you say.  You love to show yours off...

but it's such a cute little belly so who can blame you? 

Lucy Mills, you are my little shadow, following me all around the house and mimicking things I do.  And wear. 

You LOVE to be outside and ask me every afternoon if we can go "outtide."  We play in the front yard after your nap.  Somedays we go for walks and others we just enjoy the treasures in our yard.  

You are curious about anything and everything. 

Lucy Mills, I love to see your joyful spirit shining through.

"For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

and I have walked in Your truth."

Psalm 26:3

Sweet Smiles, a Visit, and Mr. Bright Eyes

This little lady has quite the tender heart. 

And the smiles {and teeth!}to go with that tenderness.

Last week my grandmother, Meme, came to visit McClain for the first time.  Here she is holding her only great grandson. 

Speaking of McClain, super buddy's eyes are officially brown.  Looks like I have a green eyed girl and a brown eyed boy. 

And his mama melts every time he flashes those bright brown eyes at her. Be still my heart. 

Two Months

Already? 

Baby boy, how are you already two months old? It seems like yesterday we were praying to just stay pregnant a little longer with you, and now you are here.  Healthy, strong, and growing, you are here.  

Monday, Valentine's Day, was your two month check up.  You went from being in the 8% for weight to the 24% big man! 

 You beat your sister a week early by sleeping through the night {11pm-7:30am} on your eight week birthday.  But after a few good nights sleep you figured that was enough because you have been waking for a feeding every night since you little stinker. 

You are just so adorable I could gaze at you for hours.  Sometimes I do just that.

Right now I think you look like Daddy, but have my coloring.  Your hair is still dark like mine.

 Your eyes are mostly brown with a smidge of blue in them.  

You have smiled at me and Daddy a few more times lately.  We love to see you connect with us more and more.  You are such a happy baby. 

You are more alert than your sister was at this age.  You are able to stay awake for a good while without getting fussy, but are also agreeable to napping.  

McClain, your footprints are all over our hearts! 

Bathtub Fun

How much fun can one little girl have in the tub? 

A lot. 

Especially with crazy hair.

And bubbles splashed on the ceiling. 

Just wait until the neighborhood pool opens up in a few months!

I Finally Caught Him...

Smiling!

Love, love, love this little boy! 

The Things She Says

Because I don't want to forget the things she says at this age...


Whenever McClain cries, or even starts to stir, Lucy Mills winces and says "baby ga, baby ga." Translation = baby crying

When I open her door after nap time or first thing in the morning, she says in her cheerful little tone "hey...hey...hey." 

She has somehow swapped animals' names with the sound they make.  Instead of calling a kitty cat a cat, she calls it a "meow meow."  And a duck doesn't say quack but is called "quack." Guess we'll have to fix that at some point. 

She went from always taking the bow out of her hair, to being obsessed with asking me to put her "bow, bow" in.  And not just one...

She loves cell phones.  So much that she will either carry her plastic pink cell around or the calculator {hey, whatever works!} and put it past her ear and say "hewwo...bye!" A lot of times when I am on my cell, she will say bye-bye at the same time I do.  She thinks she's hot stuff!

"Booka" or "bookum" is still book.  Her favorite has always been "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb."  We've read that darn thing about

 8, 262 times. 

When she started walking Travis and I would say "yay, Lucy Mills!" over and over.  She started saying "yay, mama!" Travis asked her to say "yay, daddy," and she thought about it for a second before shouting "yay, mama!" That's my girl :)  

If I am in a conversation with another adult and we start laughing, she throws her head back and starts laughing above our voices.  She must outdo our laughing I guess? Our little extrovert is pretty funny. 

When Lucy Mills and Travis have guitar time, she climbs up in his lap and immediately asks him for the "pick pea." Translation = guitar pick.  She can strum the "ga ga" {guitar} on her own.  Watch out American Idol....we may have a contestant for you in a few years! 

If she is fussing when I am changing her diaper or giving her medicine, I try to sing to her to distract her.  Her new favorite song is "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." She wants to sing it all.the.time.  She starts it off by raising her hands to her head and in her most high pitched voice singing "heaaaad." That is my que to come in and finish the rest of the tune.  {I have zero singing ability so I apologize to anyone who witnesses this!} 

We have been working pretty hard on manners, in particular saying please and thank you.  When she wants something, I ask her to say please first.  She looks at me dead in the eye and her fists bunch up under her chin as she begs in her most dramatic voice "peeeaaaassss." 

Thank you is a different story.  She says "tank ew" whenever SHE hands me something or if I have something she wants. 

"Nee Nee" is still her puppy Lindsay.  Heaven help us if we ever loose Lindsay! 

She loves to yell "hewwo outtide!" {hello, outside!} when we open the back door.  Even though there is no one back there, she must greet the back yard every morning. 

Lucy Mills, you are too cute and I love hearing you communicate with words now.  Well, I guess you can call them words. 

MY baby can read

My little active 17 month old does not sit still for anything.  Well, anything except her reading videos {they are the dvds from My Baby Can Read}.  I don't really let her watch TV and she has not been interested in cartoons or movies, but she sure does LOVE her reading "widyoes."  After nap time I let her sit in her highchair to watch these things and she is mesmerized.  

And she gets so excited when the music starts up.

She has learned dozens of words and will say them or motion them as she sees it appear on the screen.  I am thankful that so far, this girl loves to learn.  

30...yikes!

So I turned 29 again this year.  Just kidding.  But really, I cannot believe that my twenties are now just a memory.  While those years held a lot of ups and downs, they also held the greatest moments of my life.  {So far}.
I met, fell in love, and married my husband. And then I became a mom to my two little miracles.  


My 30th birthday celebration was so memorable.  Suggie came to keep the babies, while Travis whisked me away for a weekend out of town.  Which, as it turns out,  was just what I needed after being pregnant for the better part of two years, being on bed rest with both children, and suffering through some pretty wild health scares.

"Um...you're going where Mom? And without me?"

I don't think McClain missed us too much.  He pretty much just did his usual...

We had the. best. time. 
Travis put so much effort into making this birthday so fun and so memorable for me.  It started off with Travis keeping the baby the night before we left so that I could get a good night's rest.  {He earned big points with that one}.  The next morning we escaped to our favorite hotel in Charlotte, which is nearby our new favorite place to dine.  If you've never eaten at The Palm restaurant you need to.  We could not even get a reservation except for at 4:30 in the afternoon! After rolling my eyes over that idea, Travis reminded me that we normally eat at 5ish at home with the kids anyway.  True.
So we got all fancied up {which I almost forgot how to do!} and made our way to eat with the other early birds.  And we did not get up from that dinner table for hours!  Not only was the food amazing...

but the company was even better.

I guess getting out of town and out of mommy mode allowed me to remember that first and foremost I am this amazing man's wife.  And he is pretty fun to be around.

We both agreed that on that dinner date we felt like it did when we were dating.

What else could I wish for on my birthday?

With all hopes of sleeping late the next morning, we both woke up before 7:30am. I guess I didn't travel far enough away to get fully out of mommy mode.
But it was nice to go grab coffee, breakfast, and go for a walk without having to "load up." We shopped til we dropped all day.  It wasn't long before we started missing two little monkeys so we figured it was time to go relieve Suggie.

I have to say that my thirties are off to a wonderful start!

Happy Birthday to

Aunt Susu! 

We hope that your day has been just as special as you are! We love you favorite Aunt! 

He Smiled

McClain gave me his first real smile today.  

I am confident that it was not gas, or a dream, or whatever the experts say it is when a baby smiles.

  It was the real deal. 

He looked right at me, almost as if he recognized me as his mama, and his whole expression smiled at me.   This kiddo does make some silly faces at us now and again, like he is up to something sneaky.

But I can't wait to get a picture of him smiling.  All of the countless diaper changes and middle of the night feedings don't seem to matter when he gives me a sweet smile.  He loves me.