Bad Weather Brings Visitors

The weather here has been very "violent" the past couple of months.  Devastating tornadoes have swept through this area of the country, but thank the Lord, that we have been safe.  Many lives, homes, and towns have been completely destroyed.  It is such a sad thing.  Please continue to keep these people in your prayers.

More storms rolled through last night, but thankfully, our town was barely missed by the worst of it.  We had a lot of wind, and rain, but through it all, I could still look out our front door and see the sun.  For hours, I kept tuned into the television watching for any major threats in our immediate community.  As I remember from this morning's news report, I believe there were 80+ tornadoes that touched down. 

At one point I was watching the radar, there was a report of "something" between our house and the town nearest south to us.  I believe it was a hail storm, but you know that I had to just go out and see what I could see.  Yeah, that's right, go look for a tornado, Amy!  Actually, at that point (here), the sun was shining, and it was raining a good steady shower, but as I looked southeast of here, it was very dark.  The clouds looked rather spooky.  Mills was with me as I stood out on our back porch, only to see the local ducks who reside on the lake/pond behind us, waddling up the cart path.  I think they were trying to find shelter from the storm.  As soon as they saw Mills and me, here they came!  Yep, up on our patio, and the porch.  They are becoming more domesticated as the days pass.  No doubt!  Mills was ecstatic!  He saw them, began waving as hard as he could yelling, "Heeeeeey!"  Then, he started in with "whack whack." (quack quack)  He loves animals, and this made his day.  Our neighbors feed these ducks, and so as I was caught up in the moment of Mills' excitement, we ran inside and grabbed a couple of pieces of bread for them, then they hurried back to their pond.

This morning, they were back! Oops! Hope we haven't started something.  These are actually three out of the five ducks that live behind us.  There are 4 mallards (three drakes, and the other, we call her "mama") and one little wood duck.  Only these three came to visit this morning.





Morgan's Graduation

Last Thursday, night, May 19,   Brighton High School held it's graduation at their athletic field.  It was such as wonderful night.  The weather was perfect and the actual graduation lasted no more than an hour.  Wow!  It seems as if we sat through our graduation for hours.  It has been a long time since I have even attended a graduation.  As a matter of fact, I don't think I have been to one since my SIL graduated from CHS in 2003, the same year I graduated from UT. 

 My sister Kim, Morgan, and Me

 My Granny came all the way from Oklahoma to see Morgan walk.  We were so glad to see her!

Morgan's graduation party was held the next night her house.  Dad grilled and we had all the trimmings, and CAKE! 

 Her awesome cake made by Ms. Cheryl

 This picture was put in the Covington Leader on Morgan's first day of kindergarten

Congratulations Morgan!  You are now beginning a new, but not the last chapter in your life!  We are proud of you!

Morgan's Senior Prom

Evidently, I have been in hiding the past week and a half.  I am so behind on posting.  Life has been so busy, and so, I guess that gives me a lot to post, huh?

My sister, Morgan, went to her Senior Prom on May 13.  The prom was held at the Memphis Zoo.  How cool is that?  We went to see her off and take pictures. 
It has been 15 years since Erik and I went to prom.  It is interesting to see how dress styles come and go.

Notice the little guy in the bottom left corner.  He is waving and literally screaming, "Bye!"

 

21 Months

*This post, intended for Friday, the 13th, was put on hold until today, due to technical difficulties with video uploading. ha!

Friday, Mill was 21 months old.  He is learning more and more each day, and continues to prove us wrong when we think he is not capable of doing or saying something.  Everyone always told me of how observant a toddler is.  I believe it!  He surprises us with something new, something he has learned, every day.

Just Thursday, Mills started saying, "Oh no!"  It's his new thing and funny at that. I am thinking that cousin Lainey may have taught him that one!   He is becoming quite the little drama king.  We still cannot understand half of the things he says, but we know he is saying something, because it is the same jibber-jabber each time.  It is still cute regardless. 

There has not been much change in anything since my last "monthly" post.  Usually, I have a cute little picture to go along, but today, we have a video instead.   Sometimes you've just got to break habit.

Mill goes down for a nap each day around 1:00.  Friday, he was not having it.  That is very unlike him.  After minutes and minutes of crying, I kept thinking he would just give in and go to sleep.  He's a fighter. No doubt!  Not having his pacifier, which used to put him straight to sleep, has also contributed to delayed slumber.  It is days like this when the devil is tempting me to give in, but...I have not.

Sitting in his crib, he finally stopped crying, but something funny happened, and I had to get the video camera.  This little man was sitting up trying his best not to lay down, but just couldn't stay awake.  His little head was bobbing and his body would lean just before snapping it back up.  He just would NOT lay down.
Due to technical difficulties with uploading.  I had to "trim" the video.  You get the idea...


After this event, that I actually filmed for about 10 minutes after his crying ceased, E went up to lay him down.  He woke up, crying again, and never took a nap.  Oh well! 

Mother's Day 2011

Mills and Mama before church

Mothers Day, has become my favorite day of the year.  Its not the fact that I am honored for being a mother, but it is because I am so proud to be a mother.  Mother's Day reminds me of how lucky I am to not only have the best Mom in the world, but I am the mother of my precious Mills. I, am Mills' mama.  Nothing could make me more proud. 

We had a very busy day.  Starting with church, we then went to eat lunch with our Mom's, and ended the night at Mama and Daddy B's as usual.  Lunch was rather torcher interesting yesterday.  This weekend, starting with Friday night supper, Erik and I came to the conclusion that the time has now come for us to refrain from taking Millso out to eat.  Yesterday was no different.  He was tired after church.  They must really play hard in the nursery-ha!  He has gotten to where he hates the restaurant high chairs, and not only that, he thinks he should be able to run around like a mad-man.  Of course we don't allow him to run around like a crazy child in restaurants, so, you guessed it...he threw down...the whole time....oh yeah.  He wanted no part of sitting in his high chair. Happy Mother's Day to me! ha!  Needless to say, it was definitely naptime for him.  Lesson learned.  To anyone reading this who just happened to be attempting to have a nice quiet Mother's Day feast at the club yesterday, we sincerely apologize for any disturbance! hehe...and I say that laughing, because you know I'm joking.  Yes, I could have crawled under the table, but you know what?  I am learning that he is a strong willed, strong headed, healthy 20 month old, and it could be worse.  We are blessed.

Trying out Mama B's rocking chair.

Lainey is a hoot.  I wish you could hear her jibber-jabber.  I think She and Mills have their own language!

Mills decided that he wanted to walk up the sidewalk on Main St.  So, off we went.

Mills' First Piece of Artwork



I have looked forward to this since the day Mills was born.  Mills did this at Mimi's on Thursday.  What mother doesn't love a colored page, craft, or piece of art from her son or daughter?  This warms my heart. The best Mother's Day present of all!  I look forward to many more creations by Mills and will proudly display them ALL OVER the refrigerator!  I think its time to find a scrapbook for these!  Hey, not to shabby for a 20 month old, huh?  Hehe!  I never knew that a page of scribble would make me so happy!

Going Strong

We are on night #6 and the kinky and pappys have not left the top drawer.  Mills is doing very well.  Out of sight, out of mind.  He has not said, "Kinky?" or "patty?" (aka. "Bobo" at times)  Now, I just hope we don't run into another child who has one! ha!  We may have a skirmish, if you will.  Lets hope not. 

Everytime I open the top drawer to get a pair of socks for him, all 5 of them are staring me in the face.  Now, if I can just throw them away.  I will...maybe...one day.  Soon?  I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can.  Maybe they will just disappear into thin air.

Farewell Kinky and Pappy

April 30, 2011
Tonight, as I sit here to write this post, I have no intention of publishing it.  Although, I will... when I feel like it.  So, if you notice the date of this post, not coinciding with today's date, it is because I wanted to write, but just really "didn't want to talk about it" at the time.

I, "that mother," who swore up and down that her child would never take a pacifier past the age of 6 months, is sitting here in the recliner, after putting her baby, who is not a baby anymore, down to sleep with out his 2 pappys and his "kinky"  which just happens to be his monkey wubbanub.

This is a wubbanub.  Mills would hold him every night while going to sleep.  Every time he would see it, he would smile real big, wave it in the air, and yell, "Kinky!!"  Mills can't say "monkey" very well yet.  So he says "kinky."  I bought this thing at the baby expo.  It is supposed to help keep the pacifier in a baby's mouth.  The purpose was to sit it on Mills' chest while he sucked his pappy.  You all know of that time when babies spit their pacifiers out, and get screaming mad, because they are incapable of putting it back in.  Well that was the reason for this purchase.  Mills had become attached to it.

Mills hasn't had his pacifier during the day in months.  We just made it a point to always leave them in his crib in the mornings.  His kinky is his friend.  At night, it has just been part of his bedtime routine:  lay him down, tuck him in, say prayers, and pappy in the mouth.  Giving it to him, was just part of our routine, not to mention that it soothed him and sent him to dreamland.

Actually, I hate the things.  I have never liked them, and didn't want to give him one.  The only reason we gave it to him to begin with, was because of the SIDS risk, and after his little newborn boy "procedure," he screamed bloody murder the whole afternoon.  We had to do something.  Poor little thing.  We couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough.  Then, pappy use began.

 I really DO NOT like them.  In my profession, I see too many malformed mouths because of over use of a pacifier.  I have heard things like, "my child used one until they were...a certain age and their mouth is just fine."  I understand that. I really do, but what most people don't realize is, I see it a lot more than they do.  I know the affects of it and I don't want my child to be "that one" who has a serious malocclusion from it.  I have always thought that age one  was more than the limit and have thought it to be silly looking for a child older than 2 to be walking around with a pacifier in his/her mouth.  It drives me insane. I would be envious of those moms who said, "I can't get my child to take one."  I wish I would have been one of those, but I was not.  Even when Mills would steal his pappy out his crib, or find a spare or lost one somewhere lying around, he would stick it in his mouth, run around happily, and all I could look at him and think was, "he is too big for that and looks awfully silly."  Yep!  But that is just me.  I don't mean to offend anyone by saying so, but that is just how I have always felt about the matter.

So far, we haven't had to "break" Mills from anything.  He has pretty much given up most things on his own.  It has been a breeze.  For 8 months now, I have been meaning to just take his pacifier away.  I just couldn't do it.  He loves it at night, and I just couldn't bear the thought of him trying to go to sleep and being devastated by not having it.  I've been telling myself, "okay, the longer he takes it, the harder it is going to be."  In all honesty, I think I was just waiting on Erik to send me somewhere for a weekend, so that he could "break" him from it and I would have to hear him cry.  The question is, did he really need to be "broken" from it? In all honesty, I don't think that he is totally dependant or attached to it, but everytime he saw it, he wanted it.   I was not willing to find out, so each night, we did our routine, ending with pappy and a kiss.  I am acutally thinking that the out of sight, out of mind thing would totally work for him.  How dare we take his kinky away?

My mom and I gave a bridal brunch for my cousin this morning.  In an effort to make things easier for preparation, Mills stayed the night with Papa B and Gram. Gram called me last night wanting to know if Mills still took his pappys at night.  Sheepishly, I said, "yes."  Ugh! I just hated having to say it and was ashamed of myself.  I had sent them, but she then told me that they had put him down to see if he would actually go to sleep without it.  I was TOTALLY on board!  Hey, if they wanted to try it, I was giving them the total go ahead.  YAY for them!!!  That was the little "push" I needed.  Guess what? He did it!  No crying.  I am so glad that they decided to do the deed that I have dreaded.

As I began this post, my stomach was in knots and sad, but relieved, because I had placed Mills' pappys in the top drawer of his chest of drawers and left him without another part of his life, the dreaded pappy.  What I should have done, was throw them in the trash, but...I did not.   Another phase has or is (as long as I don't cave)  come to and end and passed.

 As I end this post, Mills is sleeping soundly in his crib without his pacifiers.  He did play a while and talk to  himself after I left his room, but he eventually went to sleep.  My fear is that he will wake and start looking for them.  Last night, he did not, so I am keeping my fingers crossed and am in hopes that I will not have to let him cry it out.  You all know that Erik and I were good at that one.  We let  him cry just 15 minutes one night when he was a few months old and he has been sleeping through the night ever since. 

So, two nights after no pappy and kinky, Mills has made it through the night.  I guess I need to just fess up and say it...no. more. pappy.  Why did I have such a hard time letting go of something that I absolutely detest?

God Bless America

So that I can remember this victorious day, this is the only reason that I post this.  Osama Bin Laden, is dead.  That is what we, the American people, have just learned.  The horrible mass murderer, responsible for that attack on our country 9/11/01, who killed thousands, including the many brothers (firefighters) of my husband, has been killed by our awesome military.  Almost ten years later this evil evil man, driven by the Satan himself, is dead. As I sit here in awe, watching President Obama give his announcement, I am so proud!  Way to go troops!  God Bless the USA! 

He's a Dancing Machine!

This morning as we were getting ready to for church, I dressed Mills in his adorable sailboat bubble.  As I have said before, he won't be able to dress like this forever, so I am keeping him in little boy clothes as long as I can.  He has the REST of his life to dress in jeans and big boy clothes.  I thought he looked good enough to pinch this morning so I decided to capture a few pictures.  What you can't see here, and I wish I would have had my video camera ready, is him dancing his little bottom off to music on the television.  He was shaking it! I was trying so hard not to laugh, because I was afraid that it would distract him and he would stop.  It was hilarious!

Our handsome man!

A little bouncing action

Oh yeah! Bounce with it!

Go Mills Go!