Meet Millie week #2

This past week brought more company our way...John's sister, Kathy, and her two boys (Nick & Jack) drove down from Madison, WI to meet Millie and stay for a few days.  John's other sister, Colleen, and her two boys (Dan & Luc) drove over from Tulsa to hang with all of us.  It was such a fun week and pretty awesome to have all of them here together!  We hung around the house a lot; it's still hard to plan activities with Camilla's schedule.  But the boys took it in stride and were fantastic at entertaining themselves...they spent time drawing, playing board games and hide-and-seek, and several hours were spent playing around the pond behind our house.  And of course, Kathy and Colleen got in some good millatime.

siblings Kathy, John & Colleen

 Greenlee loved Jack's attention

 We went out one night for giant pizza & glow-bowling...such fun!

 cousins Nick, Jack, Lucas, Daniel & Camilla

 Millie LOVED when aunt Kathy would perform the Itsy Bitsy Spider

 

Thank you Kathy and Colleen for making the long drives and for taking off work to spend time with us!

Meet Millie week

My good friend, Ashley, came to visit last week.  I haven't seen her in a year; she's been off gallivanting around South America...climbing Machu Picchu, scuba diving in the Galapagos, hatching sea turtles, learning to cook Peruvian food...ya know, pretty much living the dream.  Now that she's back in the USA, she came to Arkansas to meet Millie.  I had such a good time catching up with her!

 These are Millie's jeggings...not quite tight enough...hilarious.

Then last weekend, my dad & Tricia threw a little "Meet Millie BBQ".  It was awesome.  I got to see my dad's side of the family, which unfortunately, is rare these days.  My dad cooked great BBQ, Tricia had us a beautiful cake there to nom on, and Millie got some cool new stuff to play with.  The weather was perfect; it was such a lovely day...thank you dad & Tricia!

Papa

 Tricia

 gorgeous cake!

 Jocelynn, Sheridan, & Maya

 Mmmm....JKK!

 Uncle David cracking Millie (& Aunt Pam) up!

 Brothers - David & Glenn

 Millie looks petrified here...but she wasn't (the beard probably just tickles)

super packed, super fun weekend

This weekend was pretty awesome.  My mom came to visit last week and just left today (sad).  We packed in quite a bit of stuff and had a great time, as usual...and we made sure to enjoy the fall weather with plenty of walks and time outdoors on the deck.

Is that dog chauffeuring a cat around in a pink car??  Why yes, yes it is...

Friday we met Johnny for lunch al fresco at the yummy Green Bean.  It was a perfect afternoon with delicious banana bread, to boot.

And then the girls went for pedis...

Saturday, mom and I made a quick trip to Tulsa for Kenny & Mariann's baby shower.  Baby Easton should be here around Dec. 8th!  Mimi Cindy is super excited!!

Cousin Cindy getting some Millatime:

Cousin Jennie & Millie:

 Aunt Dina!

 Cousin Judy lovin' on Milla:

Cousins Addy & Brookie:

 Milla & Cousin Tami:

 Nana, KK & Millie:

It was so good to see the Ivy family and talk to Kenny and Mariann about the upcoming addition to the family.  We've had a nice run of babies lately. ;)  When mom and I got back home, we had to take Millie's socks off and let those toes feel some grass.  Also just had to get a few more pics of her in this outfit that Rachel sent from L.A.  It is so hip and adorable at the same time...just like Rachel.

Millie has finally discovered toys!  Here she is with Sophie the giraffe; Sophie's already been in Millie's mouth quite a bit.  Does this giraffe look like it should cost $25?  No?  Agreed.  But I've heard such wonderful things from other new mommies about it...and rightfully so.  It squeaks, it is easily gripped and it feels good to chew on...it's pretty much a hit.  And it's french...ooh la la.

 
Nana is pretty good about giving our other kids some attention too...

Daddy likes to get in some Millatime immediately when he gets home from work.  Millie definitely recognizes him and rewards him with big smiles (and sometimes a little spit up).

The view out our back door has been gorgeous as the seasons change.  The morning walks have been lovely...

Sunday, the three of us plus Nana set out to find a pumpkin patch.  We found a good one, McGarrah Farms, up in Pea Ridge.  Millie is too small to do any of the fun kid activities (JKK wouldn't let me get her face painted), so we pretty much just used it for a photo shoot opportunity.  It was blazing saddles out there though; had to break out the hats and find some shade. 

Here are our pumpkin patch purchases along with our newly refurbished front door.  Not too shabby...

We've got a lot of excitement left in October that we are looking forward to:  Ashley is here for a visit this week, then the Tyson "meet Millie BBQ" is this upcoming weekend at dad's, John's sisters and nephews are all coming to visit next week, and then it's Millie's first Halloween! 

tutti frutti

This may be an inappropriate topic that Millie will one day surely kill me for posting, but I can't help it; it is so funny.  Often when she starts nursing, she gets so excited that she eats too fast...then she gets choked.  It never fails that when she starts coughing, she also toots at the same time.  I crack up every single time.  It reminds of this youtube video of a cat hiccuping and farting at the same time: http://youtu.be/rJqDPaf31Gw

3 Months Old

Little Miss Camilla is 3 months old!  Check out the growth...

one-week old: 

 one-month old:

two-months old:

three-months old:

You can tell she's taller...and sitting up much better.  We had to go up to the 3-6 mos. size onesie, but there is plenty of room to grow in it.  Check out that leg chubb!

Dear Camilla,

You have been such a joy to be around this month.  You're such a happy baby and smile a lot; you smile at us and in response to our smiles...but the biggest winner is still the ceiling fan.  The mornings tend to be your favorite time of day.  After your morning feeding, you are so content to simply lay on a quilt and look at the fan or stare at the octopus above you on your playmat; you're pretty good at entertaining yourself these days.  The mornings are also your most talkative time; I love to hear you cooing and making all sorts of sounds to whoever will listen: yourself, the fan, the octopus or big blue whale on your playmat, and especially to us.  We can have an actual conversation with you during your diaper changes.  And just this past week, you've started squealing and making sounds that are sort of a cough-laugh (i think this is a prelude to a laugh). I expect you to start full-on laughing any day now.

You still hate the car seat, so taking you anywhere in the car takes some planning.  I have to time it where you will be sleepy and can fall asleep quickly after the car starts moving.  The same goes for our morning walks.  But it isn't hard to plan since I've had really good luck this month with the E.A.S.Y. plan (eat, activity, sleep, you).  We can always pretty much get the E.A.S. part but only sometimes Y.  You eat every 2-3 hours for about 15 minutes.  Then you are awake for approx. a half hour where we have some sort of activity: playmat or quilt time downstairs, diaper changes, crib time to look at the rainforest mobile, swingtime, tummy time (which you absolutely hate), walking around the neighborhood or out in the backyard, reading books or listening to Raffi music.  I've learned to spot the signs that you are done with playtime (whining and irritability) and would like to move on to naptime.  Now that I've figured this out, it is so easy to pick you up, plop you in the crook of my arm with your pacifier in, and voila!, your eyelids usually close within a minute.  That's the simple part...putting you down is a whole other story.  You would be content to spend your entire nap in my arms in the rocking chair, if I'd let you...and I do several times a day.  But I'd still like to get to the "Y" part of the E.A.S.Y. plan some of the time so that I can get some stuff done around the house or use my computer or fix dinner or whatever else requires two hands.  I've had better luck these past few days with putting you down in the pack-n-play for naps, but you'll only nap for about 30 minutes in that bed.  When I feel like you need a longer nap, I usually let you just sleep in my arms.  I know you won't be this small and snuggable for very long, so I'm pretty happy to rock you as much as I can.

As I said above, you hate tummy time, so you may never crawl.  I still make you try it at least once a day, but here's what you look like after a few seconds and then you go into a real cry.  It's sad, so I don't make you stay on your tummy very long.

You don't have a pediatrician appointment this month, so we won't technically know how much you've grown this past month...but I can tell you've at least grown taller and maybe put on a few more rolls.  You've seemed extra juicy here lately with all sorts of rolls and fat cheeks we like to squeeze and pinch.

We've had to retire almost all of your 0-3 mos. size clothes and pj's, mostly because they are too short.  Since the summer weather is leaving us, I've been trying to snap more pics of your cute summer dresses.  This precious one is from Nana.

This past month has just been so fun and enjoyable.  I finally feel like I'm figuring out her schedule and what her signals mean.  I'm actually able to run errands and leave the house without too much anxiety.  John and I have been able to feel like things are getting back to normal by going out to eat more and enjoying a glass of wine on the back deck some nights.  It has just all seemed easier this month.  Should I knock on wood?!  I know things will never go back to the way our lives were before we had Millie, but I think we both recognize that things have changed for the better.  She is such a little blessing...

Oh, Millie Bear, we're so glad you're ours...