HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILLIE!!

My baby is 1 year old today. It's hard to believe how much one little person can change in 1 year. We had our big party last Saturday and today she just played with Nana and Pop while I worked. I'll post tons of pictures later. But here's a flashback!

Scooty Booty

Millie has had a breakthrough this week...she has started to scoot. Until this point we haven't had to worry about child-proofing anything because she didn't go anywhere. Not anymore, she can now get wherever she needs to go. She just sits on her bottom and scoots around. This morning when I picked her up from church her bloomers were filthy, very ladylike. We tell everyone that Millie is very advanced...for a 6 month old. This picture was taken about midnight Wednesday night. She is normally a wonderful sleeper, but she just didn't feel good most of the day. We're seeing signs of new teeth, but they haven't broken thru yet.

Back to School

Carter started back to Mother's Day Out this week. It's actually called Children's Day Out (CDO), I guess the kids need a break from the Moms. Carter has a great teacher and he was excited to go back, anytime we drove by this summer he would say that he missed his school. Our new deck was finished this week too. We love it! There is lots of room to relax and for the kids to play. Millie really like the rails!!

STANDING!!

It has been 11 long months, but Millie is FINALLY standing. She has been the funniest child. This past weekend she decided that maybe her legs are good for something. I'll ask her if she's ready and she puts her hands out for me to help her stand. She doesn't last long, but at least we know her legs work. I didn't think she'd be standing in her 1 year pics but YEA she will. This will make her little tutu look really cute!!

As an addition to the post from this weekend... she is now signing 'eat' and 'milk'.

I have to post all these mundane little facts because I'll never remember when they happened unless I write them down. With your first one everything is such a big deal you think you'll never forget. But guess what...you forget almost everything. It makes me sick that I didn't write more down with Carter. I guess I could make a lot of stuff up about him and in a few years I probably wouldn't remember that I made it up. Better not.

Millie - 11 Months

I can't believe that Millie is almost a year old. The time has flown. The past week has been pretty exciting with Miss Millie. Things are really clicking with her and it is so fun to see her start to communicate and show some personality. We have been teaching her some basic sign language, like we did with Carter, and she has started doing it this week. She can sign 'more' and 'all finished'. You can not imagine how much whining is eliminated with just these two signs. They were a lifesaver with Carter. We're also working on 'eat', 'help', 'please', and 'thank you'. That's about as far as I take it but like I said those are a huge help. In the pictures she is showing me what a 'big girl' she is. She will also lay her head on a pillow when you say it's night-night. She sits on her bottom and spins in circles to be able to see everything, still no movement forward. She has finally started being a little cuddly. She likes to give lots of lovin, in the form of hugs or some big slobbery 'sugars'. We are planning a farm animal birthday party and I think the funnest part of planning a party for a little girl is getting a cute outfit for the event. We'll see next month how it all comes together.

The pitiful picture of Carter is how he was acting when I was taking these pictures. He did not want his picture taken and when I tried to get one this is how he acted. I asked if he wanted me to put this picture on the computer or take another one and he said this one. We have days were he is all 2. I'm thinking that with boys it might be 3 that is more of a challenge. A couple of mom's have told me that, and I think we're starting to see it. Carter promoted to big boy sunday school and big church this week. It's a few weeks before his birthday, but it was promotion Sunday and since he's potty trained they were ready for him. Pretty crazy! I now only have one child in the nursery.

Notice in the background of a couple of these pics our new fence. We had it put up this week and I love it. There is a new retirement community going up behind us and I was tired of looking at the mess. It's sad when you get old and a privacy fence is an exciting purchase!!

Corn on the Cob

We had a couple from church over Saturday night and I actually cooked supper. They have a little girl Natalie, she is about 6 months younger than Carter. Natalie is bilingual and it amazes me that she can understand and speak English and Spanish. It will be such an asset as she gets older. Hopefully Carter can pick up some spanish from the Crocketts because I can't teach him much more than the numbers and colors. Anyway we had corn on the cob for supper and about an hour after we'd finished eating Carter decided he wanted some more. And he was nice enough to share with Natalie. Keep in mind that they had not had a whole lot to do with each other all evening. Amazing what some good 'ol corn on the cob can do. I have to add that this corn was some that I put up myself. My first attempt at shucking, cleaning, blanching, and freezing corn (without my mom's help) must have been a success. If your curious how Natalie is so smart...her mom is from Argentina and her dad was an MK from there. Isn't she adorable!!

Swimming 'Blessins'

Carter just finished 2 weeks of Mommy and Me swimming lessons or blessin's as he called them. I think he hated it and loved it all at the same time. We had to endure the 45 minute lesson so he could ride the slides for the last 15 minutes. He knew no fear when it came to the slides but during the lesson you would think he was mortified of the water. I'm glad he'll be old enough for regular lessons next summer and I will not have to participate. I think it was the classic case of being worse because mom was there.Millie did not participate this year. She does not even like for her toes to touch the water. It's all a little too much for her. The picture of her is from Carter's last day, she has not been in the water...she is that wet from sweat. She is her father's child and it is sooooo sad. I'm hoping she outgrows the sweatiness. :)