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...

Random Millie Update

There really is no theme to this update other than to show new Millie pics and tell what we've been up to...beware, it's a long one.

Guess who has discovered her hands?!  John and I both witnessed her checking out her hands the other night on our walk around the neighborhood.  The past couple of weeks, Millie has been sucking on her hands, but this is the first time we've seen her actually watching how they move.  She was mesmerized; I didn't get a pic though. :(  Since then, I've been putting on her arm rattles to draw attention back to her hands.

 This is a new face she's been making...and check out all of her new hair!

I've also been seeing her stick her tongue out a lot.

Camilla's been pretty easy to entertain lately.  She's still very interested in watching the ceiling fans; I can lay her down on Mimi's quilt and she's happy to watch the fan for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Since she's so into the fans, I figured it was time to introduce a playmat that had some things above her head to look at and play with.  This is a Baby Einstein mat that Millie's friend, Cayden, highly recommended.  She loves it!

Here's how I end up for a good portion of the day...stuck in the lazyboy with the three B's: baby, buddy and a book.

I'm not complaining, but it has become the only way Millie can nap during the day.  So this weekend, John helped me start putting her in her pack-n-play for naptime.  It works sometimes and other times, not so much...but it's a start!

Last night, we even got to go out on the deck for some adult time while Millie slept.  These video monitors are amazing; it has both video and sound (and nightvision).  I love having a baby in 2011 with all of this awesome technology!

Millie has always pretty much had been fussy around 6-8pm.  John has figured out lately that she likes to be turned around so that she's facing out and then walked around the house like in this picture...and sometimes she even falls asleep (though not very often).

For some reason, John usually also gets the brunt of the spit up. ;)

Bikes, Blues & BBQ was last weekend, so Papa and Tricia came over to visit on Saturday.

Newborns have all of these crazy reflexes, including the startle reflex where the baby's hands and legs fly straight out. John and I were just discussing recently how this has seemed to calm down in Millie lately. We thought she had outgrown it, which would be nice since it wakes her up pretty often. Then this weekend, it seemed to be back in full force. One tiny sound and she goes from this:

To this (all within one second):

We finally got around to having Millie's newborn pics framed and hung up in the house.  They are hung in our entryway; it's the beginning of our little Millie shrine.  Sorry, this pic is from a weird angle...I had to go up on the landing in the stairwell to get the shot.  I love how they turned out though!

In other fantastic news...Baby Oliver was born last week!  I can't wait to see him and love on him (they live in Houston)...but until then, I'm happy to see pics.  I love this sweet pic of Lacy and Oliver!