Thursday, February 26, 2015

not exactly a snowpocalypse

We've had an exciting few days of "winter weather" here in the South.

Unfortunately for us, "winter weather" does not necessarily equal "winter wonderland."

This is about as good as it got.
Unless you have a really boring idea of what constitutes a wonderland.

The weather still brought plenty of excitement, though- early releases, delayed starts, the anticipation of what might happen, the constant debate of the varying predictions and forecasts...THAT, at least, did not disappoint. I had hoped that the most liberal forecasts would come to pass- the ones that saw us getting 4 inches of accumulated snow, glorious days of being snowed in...but alas. Nope. Oh well.

As it turns out, Millie isn't #1 Snow Fangirl. I had high hopes for that, too. I mean, she gets SUPER EXCITED about things like paper napkins...so surely her first experience with frozen precipitation was going to blow her little baby mind, right?


Nope.

I've seen her express more excitement about dryer lint.

We still gave it our best ISN'T SNOW AMAZING?!?!?! shot, though. We videoed the whole thing, thinking that her reaction would be some magical moment. 

We got a lot of blank stares.


It's okay, though. I'm choosing to believe her lack of enthusiasm is just because a) she probably couldn't really FEEL it due to her coat/hood, b) there wasn't enough on the ground/trees to really catch her attention, and c) she was really distracted and enamored by the scarf I was wearing and it was hard to direct her attention elsewhere. Ha. Oh well, maybe we'll try again later...if we get any more snow this year. Or next year.

Believe you me, though- this "Millie is not impressed" experience is not at all serving to dial back my excitement about seeing her experience the ocean for the first time this summer. No way. I spend at least 10 minutes a day imaging how awesome it's going to be, and just because First Snow Experience was a nonevent...I'm still holding out high hopes for First Beach Experience. So anyway. No pressure, Mills.

I used my extra free time yesterday to finish up this month's book club pick, Me Before You*. It was surprisingly depressing and thought-provoking, and I'm a little scared (yet excited) to see what kind of conversation it sparks when we meet this weekend!! I've been really slacking on my book-reading lately (I blame you, Parenthood)(the show, not the thing), but this one sucked me in. And then ripped my heart out. But I guess that's just the way things go sometimes.

Matt and I aren't movie-going people, but speaking of really depressing books- I want to see Still Alice. Anyone seen it? I'm hopelessly behind on my current events, but I think I heard on NPR that it was nominated (or won?) some Oscars. Anyway, when they started discussing the premise of the movie, it occurred to me that I'm 99% sure I read the book a long time ago. And really liked it. Well, as much as you can like something really depressing. So anyway- now I want to see the movie. Maybe when it comes to Netflix in about 25 years, I'll remember to look it up and watch.

Well, looks like Millie has awakened from her mid-morning slumber. Time to go rescue her and get ready to roll into work at noon! Good times, I tell ya. Happy Thursday!

*Amazon affiliate link

Monday, February 23, 2015

party all night

It was a pretty raucous weekend all around. Matt and I had our first night out since Millie was born- one of my coworkers got married and it was a black tie, eat-drink-and-be-merry-all-night event! My parents came up for the weekend to watch over the Nuglet and get some baby snuggles in- apparently they think Matt and I don't share well, so they needed us out of the house so that they could actually have a shot at holding Millie. Whatever. I feel no need to share my baby cuddles. But I'm glad this worked out well for them.

Anyway, so Matt and I spent Saturday afternoon getting dolled up for the wedding. Or rather, I did. Matt spent about 15 minutes putting on a suit, but whatever.


Not going to lie- I spent at least 30 minutes trying out different lipstick combinations to find the perfect one for the night. I think it took me longer to choose a lipstick than it did to buy a dress. So now you know about my priorities.


Another bonus to having parents in the house is that they can take save you from a selfie-only existence!

I got exactly zero pictures of the ceremony, the bride, the decor, or anything else remotely important. Good thing she hired professionals to do that so that I could focus on what was really important: eating all the food and dancing all the dances.


There was an amazing 12(ish)-piece band playing awesome music and the crowd was all about it!! We aren't great dancers, but we had a great time pretending! We also enjoyed hanging out with all of my coworkers and +1s. And the food. And the fancy outfits. And everything! Yay for a night not spent sitting on the count watching Netflix. (Okay, not going to lie- I did feel a few pangs of longing for the Bravermans. Hard to stay away from those guys for a whole night. Also, Millie.)

Also, I would like to reward myself with a gold star for Advance Planning.


That's right. While the band took a break from their jamming, I took a break from my heels. Throwing my Toms in my purse before I left the house turned out to be a wonderful idea about 10:00. Bring on another hour of dancing!

So we had a great night out (but were pretty darn happy to get back home to our quiet house and sleeping babe)...and in our absence, Millie took it upon herself to have a baby rave in her jump-jump.

She partied until she just couldn't make it any longer.



Poor sweet baby. All that jumping gets pretty exhausting!

At any rate, we all had a wonderful and out-of-the-ordinary Saturday. I'll be happy to return to our regular, ordinary Saturdays, though. The kind that don't require a half-hour of lipstick planning.

We returned to our regularly scheduled programming on Sunday with Mexican food after church. Millie decided to check out the high chair scene like a big girl.


She thought she was pretty hot stuff, reading books and chomping on Sophie like a big girl.


Wow, Matt and I look like we stayed out too late dancing or something. At least Millie looks excited about life (and/or sopapillas)!

And finally, I wanted to answer a question that I'm sure has been plaguing most of you.

Where can I get a Millie of my own, Erika?? She is so cute and fabulous- I simply MUST get one!

Well, I can tell you.


MILLVILLE!!!! It's like the happiest place on earth.

I know, I know. I am so hilarious. And now I'm out.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

who you gonna be?

Sometimes when I watch groups of kids now, I play a game where I try to guess which one Millie will be when she's older. Yesterday Matt and I observed kids playing at recess for a little while during our lunch. We analyzed the kids and tried to imagine Millie out there with them.

Will she be the one making her arms look like a chomping alligator or shark and chasing the other kids around, threatening to eat them?

Will she be the one studiously throwing basketballs at a child-sized hoop, determined to get the ball to go through?

Will she prefer to sit on the floor and giggle with her friends, or sit on the bleachers with her teachers and talk?

Will she want to just run and run and get sweaty and have tangled, matted hair? Or will she be like her mama at that age, hating sweat and dirt and running and doing anything remotely yucky?

Will she be doing somersaults on the gymnastics mats or playing school with her friends? If she plays school, will she be the teacher or a student?

It's a fun game. I don't have any idea what she'll be like at three, or seven, or sixteen. Yesterday Matt and I agreed that based on what we know about her now, she'll most likely be the kid bouncing on one of those balls that look like a yoga/exercise ball with handles. I mean, given her passion for jumping in her exersaucer now...that seems like it'd be totally her jam in preschool! There were a few little girls laughing hysterically as they jumped...I bet that'll be her.

It doesn't really matter to me which kid she is on the playground one day. As long as she is kind to her friends and teachers and loves what she's doing...she can run or jump or sit or talk or read or sing or chase and it'll be just great.

Today she is a happy, giggly, drooly little nugget who makes folding laundry a lot more entertaining.






I can't wait to see who she becomes...but I sure do love her a lot just the way she is now.

Monday, February 16, 2015

wardrobe and musical interventions

We ended up having a wonderful Valentine's Day (and weekend).

Her festive Friday outfit
 When I took Millie to school on Friday, after walking in and taking her jacket off and setting her down, her teacher looks at her and then me and says "oh, are you saving her Valentine's outfit for tomorrow?" I must have made a really confused face or something as I stared at my pink-bedecked, festively hairbowed child, because her teacher repeated herself: "you must be saving her Valentine's outfit for tomorrow?"

Then I looked around the room at the other babies. The ones dressed head-to-toe in pink mesh tutus and red-heart-blinged headbands bigger than a dinner plate. The ones that looked like they were ready to hit the pageant circuit at any minute.

Ummm...no. This is her festive Valentine's outfit, thankyouverymuch. Ain't nobody got time for that nonsense. Like...how do you even put a baby in a car seat when they're WEARING A TUTU?? Just stop. Call me a Valentine's grinch, but like...no.

Despite Millie's lack of appropriate pageant-worthy flair, we did actually have a lot of fun at her ice cream social. I've been scoping out the parents of the other babies in her class and have had my eye on the one I plan to make my friend. We tend to pick up our girls at the same time, PLUS I discovered that our babies were born one day apart- so they are basically twins. Also, her baby is easily the second most precious one in the class. So I decided I wanted to become friends with her. And then we ended up sitting together (with our husbands, who are apparently equally quiet in social settings) and chatting for the whole party! It was great. I really want more working mom friends, so it seems like daycare is a good place to find them, ha. 


Sorry for the mega close-up of gross chewed-and-then-spit-out food, but look at those little teeeeefffff!!! Also, the eyelashes. I mean...seriously. It's not even right.

We didn't do much official celebrating on Saturday (I mean, besides cleaning, meal planning, and running errands...so festive!!), but we did take a pause in our errand-running for some delightful sustenance.


It was every bit as delicious as it looks. I miss it.


We had hoped to get some snow today but it seems to have passed us by. Womp womp. I would love for Millie to get to experience the white stuff this year, but she may just have to wait. We have some freezing rain and ice going on right now which isn't nearly as thrilling, but may earn a delayed work and daycare start tomorrow, so that could be exciting. Perhaps.

The most exciting news of the day is completely unconfirmed and therefore might turn out to be nothing at all, but for now- I'm excited. I think I am getting (inheriting) a CELLO!!!!!!!!!!! I have wanted this cello (and to learn to play it...for the record, I have NO IDEA how to play a cello) for about 20 years and today I got some good intel that it might be coming my way soon! I am basically beside myself and have fabulous visions of how awesome a cello player I will probably be. I seriously need a new hobby that doesn't involve Netflix and this would totally fit the bill. Plus, Millie's favorite thing in the whole world right now is listening to Matt and I make music of almost any kind. She loves to sit in my lap while I play the piano...she jumps and squeals and smiles her face off if either of us play the guitar and sing...she giggles wildly as Matt makes random noises on an old harmonica...so I predict that listening to her Mama learn the cello will suit her just fine. And maybe she'll want to learn one day! But then again, I also thought she would like to listen to me play the flute.

And I was seriously, severely, incredibly wrong.

Not such a fan of woodwinds, that one. My feelings would have been really hurt if I weren't so extremely dead from laughter. She was okay with a few low notes, but then I decided to really wow her with the upper register and OH MY GOSH THE TEARS AND THE SADNESS AND THE HEARTBREAK AND THE MISERY!!!!!!!!!!! It was the funniest thing ever. But also...seriously, Millie. Show a little appreciation, would you?? Sheesh. I used to be really good, promise. Do you think that this is a sign that she doesn't want to be in band when she gets older? Because that would be the worst thing ever. Is there some sort of early intervention for this situation (besides the obvious: MORE FLUTE EXPOSURE)? 

Soo...I think I've covered all the bases here today. No pageant dresses, no snow, maybe cello, more cowbell flute. And now I return to my regularly-scheduled nightly marathon of Parenthood (currently on S4:E9)! Have a great week!

Friday, February 13, 2015

a halfhearted heart day

I guess I've never been a huge Valentine's Day celebrator. I'm not anti...I've just never really cared much one way or the other. Yesterday I was reflecting on this and decided to see if I could find a good V-Day picture from the past...a little throwback or something, right? Well...I dug through quite a few ancient folders of pictures and couldn't find much evidence of Valentine's Day, so I guess that says something.

I did, however, find this. So my searching wasn't entirely in vain.


This was from the year 2005 and because back then you still had to name your picture files, this one is appropriately named "roundhouse kick." Indeed. That would be me roundhouse kicking my bestie Catherine in the parking lot behind our townhouse. Can we take a minute to appreciate how awesome my outfit is? And how ladylike I am? Truly, my mother should be proud.

Anyway, back to Valentine's Day. It would seem that the most effort I put forward is an attempt to wear pink. Pretty festive of me.

This was in 2006 and is titled "vday," so apparently I celebrated by wearing pink. Matt and I had started dating 3 days before V-Day that year, so we definitely did not do any sort of celebrating. Awwwwkward.
I'm passing on my lukewarm feelings towards Valentine's Day to Millie by not doing much more than dressing her in pink. That would probably be ALL that I did, actually, if we hadn't received several requests slash commands from her school telling us to send Valentine cards on Friday. 

For babies. Because I'm sure they'll really care. 

But I'm not really that bitter. Just cheap enough that I didn't want to spend actual money on cards. Plus, I'm pretty sure the only cards for sale are obnoxious and emblazoned with cartoon and Disney characters, and I'm totally not into that. So I DIYed it.



Yeah. Probably not the most Pinteresting thing you've ever seen, but it'll get the job done for a dozen of her favorite infant friends. (P.S. The "be mine" and "love" are stamps...not my own gorgeous and remarkably consistent handiwork.)

Don't worry, though. I'm taking better care of her teachers.

Hopefully this is their love language. 
So Millie's first Valentine's Day will probably end up being pretty lovey, if only because her teachers forced me to play. Ha. I am definitely going to their Valentine's party, though- again, not sure why a classroom of infants needs an ice cream social, but I'll be there with bells on to eat Millie's share of the sugar!

My mom is so unfestive. At least she lets me wear pink this week, though!

Pink AND hearts?! Are you working for Hallmark or something, Mommy?
Hope you have a perfectly lovey-dovey Valentine's (AND Friday the 13th)! Eat some candy and roll your eyes at forced acts of affection for me! 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

dreaming big

A few unrelated thoughts for your Wednesday afternoon...

1. The other night I had this awesome dream (and here's where everyone stops reading because other people's dreams are never as exciting as they seem to think they are...) that I was a bridesmaid in a wedding. But that wasn't the awesome part. The awesome part was that our flower bouquets were MADE OUT OF COTTON CANDY. The cotton candy was all artsy and swirled to look like huge, beautiful hydrangeas. It was really stunning. And I spent the whole ceremony debating whether anyone would notice if I started eating my bouquet. I'm a classy 'maid like that!! Anyway, obviously this is a vision for the new business I should start, combining my love of flowers with my passion for cotton candy. But then I Googled it and someone is already doing this, so wah. I hate it when other people beat me to my greatest ideas.

2. This girl:                                      

                                   

I don't really have anything to add to this picture, other than omgiwanttoeatherup. Oh, and you know how last week I said I was looking forward to her learning to lift her arms up when she wanted to be picked up? She's starting to do it already!! And it's just as precious as I'd imagined.

3. We're trying to buy a new (to us) car. We finally know what we want (a Mazda5, preferably a 2010 or 2012) and are working on finding one and getting there to buy it before someone else does...which is what's been happening each time we find one so far. We're not in an actual rush or crisis, thankfully, so it's not that big a deal...but I'd like to be done already. Car shopping is NOT my favorite. Anyway, so last night Matt found the perfect one at the perfect price with the perfect mileage and the perfect color and had me all gung-ho about it...until he mentioned that the car is at a dealership in Connecticut. Ummm...yeah, no? We happen to live in, oh, Georgia. Approximately five billion miles away from Connecticut, a place that is probably buried under 25 feet of snow as we speak. But Matt has it in his head that he can just fly to CT on Sunday, catch a train to the town where the dealership is (like an hour from the airport), get the car, and drive it back on Monday (President's Day, a work holiday for him). He found cheap plane tickets and since the car is a few thousand less than similar cars are here...he thinks it's the best plan ever. I vote NO. So what I need is for some of you New Englandy people to speak up and tell me how much snow there is right now and how this is an insane plan that would never pan out. Plus, by the time he gets there, the car will probably be sold. 

I guess it must be a slow day/week/month...I have basically NOTHING worth talking about (that doesn't involve a certain tiny Nuglet...but surely folks get tired of hearing about her eventually). I guess this means that I should start working on my cotton candy flower business...that would definitely give me something to talk about!! Hope you're having a great week! 

Monday, February 9, 2015

maybe a little epic

This weekend ranked pretty low on the scale of OMG THAT WAS EPIC. Which is fine, because I'm not 19 and "epic" things generally scare or annoy me. But it ranked pretty high on the (more important) scale of having fun and being semi-productive, so we'll call it a win.

Millie met a few foods! And by "met," I mean that they hung out in her general vicinity, she maybe touched or grabbed them, and they mostly just made a mess. Not much food actually touched her mouth, but that's what the beginning of BLW is supposed to look like, so she's right on track!

Avocado is slippery and squishy! It makes everything green!
Banana introduction went exactly the same as avocado: slippery and smooshy. No photographic evidence that it happened, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Carrots are alright by me.
She was a huge fan of gnawing on a big ol' carrot, though. It must have made for some excellent teething relief or something. Plus it wasn't so slippery. Millie gives carrot-gnawing an A+.

We also introduced the art of stacking and knocking over blocks this weekend. I handled the stacking, and Millie relished the knocking over. She was a pretty quick learner with this one!


The weather was gorgeous this weekend (my apologies to those of you buried under 12 feet of snow...but it really was great here, so I hate to just ignore it!) and we spent a few hours on Saturday checking out the "parks" in our tiny town. The quotation marks are because there are no actual parks, just playgrounds at a church and an elementary school. But they are open to the public (when services/classes aren't in session, obviously) and have trees and swings and slides, so...parks they are!




Millie had fun, but Matt and I had a blast. When the babe fell asleep in the stroller, we had some serious competitions, including a balance beam dance-off type thing...actually, maybe I need to reconsider calling this weekend epic. I think anyone who saw my amazing cartwheel dismount (that Matt totally butchered, losing the competition) would probably consider it pretty epic.

Besides the playgrounds and the food, we did normal weekendy stuff like run errands, clean (womp womp), and watch an abundance of Parenthood. I finished Season 2 last night and at this point I can say that the prospect of parenting a teenaged daughter one day is terrifying and I am going to hunt down a Fountain of Youth so that she stays tiny forever. Aaaaack. I'm trying to cling to the fact that not all teenaged girls have so much drama in their lives and such turbulent relationships with their parents...I certainly didn't, and surely Millie will follow in my footsteps, right? Right. Definitely.

Oh- we did complete an exciting milestone this weekend: we have ALL of Millie's post-adoption paperwork completed!! We received her amended birth certificate a few months ago, but had never gotten around to filing for her new Social Security card...and now it's tax time and we'd really like to file, but needed to get the SSN before we could do so...so we finally did!! We spent last Monday's lunchtime hanging out at the SS office and filing the paperwork (such a treat!!) and the card came in the mail on Friday- how's that for efficiency?! (Not sarcasm- for real, that was quick!) So we are totally done and she has all the paperwork she needs to be a proper citizen and do her governmental duties like pay taxes (or be claimed on other people's taxes, ha) and vote (in about 17.5 years). It was actually pretty neat- the lady at the SS office that was helping us get everything filed shared that she was actually adopted (at birth, in the seventies)! She was really kind and chatted with us while we waited on the computer/program to do its thing and shared some of her experience and was just so positive and excited...it was great. 

And...now it's Monday again. It's Valentine's week, so I'm embracing all of Millie's (plentiful) pink and red and heart-splashed outfits. It's going to be...well, epic. What can I say.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

six months!


Insane but true: this little buttercup is SIX months old today!!


We had to do a careful examination of the number and check our math a few times to be sure, but it's true. Six whole months. Six beautiful, fun, perfect months. SIX!!! Ay yi yi.

Aliases: Same ol', same ol'. Millie, Nuggie, Nugs, Snugs. Also we're throwing in some Little Bit (even though she's not?) and Love Bug for variety these days. Original, eh?

Stats: Well, since she went to the doctor about forty times in the last three weeks, I feel pretty safe saying she's right at 19 pounds. Not sure on her height- her next appointment isn't until the end of February. She has moved up to size 3 disposable diapers and is pretty comfy in six-month clothes! She's definitely a big girl (95th percentile at 5 months), so it surprises me that she's wearing clothes sizes that actually match her age!

Stop it right there, Mom. Everyone can quit going on and on about how chunky and juicy and squeezable I am. Enough is enough!
Habits

  • Eating: All the sickness this month threw her eating for a loop. She dropped WAY down on the amount of ounces she could eat/keep down at a time (was eating only about 18 ounces a day as opposed to 32ish before) and is still working her way back to normal. Right now she's doing a 5 ounce bottle in the morning and her other four bottles are about 6 ounces each. She's still eating about every three hours.
  • Sleeping: She remains a great nighttime sleeper- 8:30 p.m. to 7:15/8:00 a.m.(weekday/weekend) is her jam. Although she's been at daycare for a solid month now (well, minus a lot of sick days), she is still a pretty awful napper there- she may sleep for a total of an hour and a half divided over four naps. She sleeps for another 45 minutes almost as soon as we get home in the evening. On weekends/sick days, she tends to take 3-4 naps per day for between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours each.
  • Bathing: As always, she's a huge fan. We still take a bath every other night, but she often showers with me on the in-between nights...she's permanently snotty/congested, so I feel like the steam showers help.
Likes: Almost everything. She really is just the happiest baby ever. Sitting up and eating her toys is great, playing in an exersaucer is amazing, looking at a mobile or hanging toy is fantastic...basically everything is her favorite. Easy to please, this one. She has started really liking listening to stories- she now seems to actually look at the pictures and settle down while we're reading. I love that! She loves when we hold her and dance around, she is fascinated by anything Lola does, and she is a huge fan of looking at the pictures and videos (99% of them are her) on my phone. She also loves rubbing her daddy's beard, pulling my hair, 'flying,' practicing standing on her legs, blowing raspberries, chewing on her Sophie toy (and a few others), covering her face with blankets/burp cloths so that we swish them off and say "there you are!!!"...umm...I could go on for days. She loves life.


Dislikes: Tummy time, obviously...it is the worst. I am doubtful that she'll ever learn to crawl, since it would seem to require laying on your stomach to ever get there. She'll just skip straight to walking. Or jumping, more likely. She also greatly dislikes the otoscope at the doctor's office. 

Undecided about: Whether people other than Mommy and Daddy can hold her. Not going to lie- I love that, ha. She doesn't seem to have separation anxiety in general- I can put her down and leave the room with no problem. But sometimes if I hand her to someone and am standing right there next to them, that's not okay. I do like, though, that she smiles at her teachers when we get to daycare- she seems to love them, and that makes me really happy. She is never upset when I leave, which certainly makes the leaving easier.

Special skills: Well, she's still working on that tooth coming in, and just yesterday we noticed that the tooth's next-door-neighbor is also about to make an appearance!! Two at once!! They doesn't seem to hurt her much in general, but she will cry if I try to move her lips/tongue around so that I can peek at them...so it must be sore to the touch. She is a proficient sitter now and rarely topples over- it's awesome!! She can reach for and pick up toys and bring them to her mouth. She seems to be developing some problem-solving skills, too- if she picks up her paci and it's backwards, she will work on it for quite awhile (trying to get it flipped the right way to go in her mouth) before she gets frustrated and needs help (or figures it out and gets it in)! Her teachers report that she just LOVES 'group time' at school and will watch the teachers read, sing, and do music for the longest time! They say she is always happy and smiley, and that makes ME feel so happy (especially since I know she must be exhausted all day long, ha).

Looking forward: We hope to start solid foods this month! We are planning to do baby-led weaning and Millie is displaying several signs that she's about ready to get started (sits independently, can reach and pick up items, brings items to her mouth, seems interested in what we are eating). I am also looking forward to Millie starting to reach out her arms to be picked up/held. I'm not sure if there's a typical time frame where that is expected to start happening, but I think she's on the verge of it and I just can't wait!!

Oh, you mean reaching like THIS, Mommy?? I like to reserve that for trying to grab your phone or to touch Lola.
It goes without saying (but I'm not one to let things go without saying) that these six months have been the best of our lives. Millie is the fulfillment of everything I had hoped and waited for for so many years, and living my dream is every bit as blissful as I'd imagined.


We were given this book as a gift and it has come to be one of my favorites. I can't read it to her very often because it just wrecks me- at best, I get misty-eyed. Other times...it's a full-on ugly cry. But every page reads like a benediction, and although she is tiny and doesn't understand the words that I'm saying...every one of them is true. Last night it was this page that did me in:


And I teared up because that is what she's done. She shines. She came into the darkness- my darkness, our darkness- and she brought light and every day she brings light and she shines. And right now her shininess is all baby cuddles and babbles and cuteness, but my prayer is that as she grows, she continues to shine. That she will go into other dark places- places dark with suffering, with injustice, with hurt and pain- and she will shine. She will bring light and hope and truth and glow, no matter how the darkness grows. Shine, Millie, shine.


Monday, February 2, 2015

she grew up this weekend

We had a low-key, relaxing, and fun weekend. The biggest news of the weekend is that Millie has proven to be a typically defiant and rebellious daughter. Already. Sheesh. Despite my constant demands and pleas to not grow up and to stay a tiny baby forever, she is bound and determined to do anything but.

During a trip to Old Navy, I decided to see how she liked sitting in the cart. Normally I wear her in the Ergo, but that really cramps my ability to carry piles of clothes (not to mention try them on). Since she's been sitting up so well lately, it seemed like it might work...

Mommy, what is this? What am I doing? I...maybe like it?
 By the time we got to Trader Joe's, she was basically a shopping cart pro.

I'm the king of the world!!!!
Please ignore the fact that I obviously couldn't figure out how to use my shopping cart cover thingy. Third time's a charm- we went to Target on Sunday and I realized that I'd been putting it in inside out, which is why it was just laying there and not really covering anything. Oops. Oh well.

Also...I've just started noticing that Millie's left eye often looks crossed in pictures. You can see it in both of these. Is this one of those fun fact infant things that corrects itself, or something worth making our 2810934th trip of the month to the pediatrician about? I'm voting no big deal, but let me know if I'm wrong. As gently and non-alarmist-ly as possible, obviously. ;)

We spent a couple of hours shopping and running errands Saturday morning, then returned home to spend the rest of the day cooking, playing, and watching Parenthood. Oh, and watching Millie grow old before our very eyes. Homegirl is cutting her first tooth!!!!! Despite weeks of me begging her to please stay toothless and gummy and adorable forever...well, she's just not. She has big dreams of steak and corn on the cob, and dangit if she's not growing a tooth just to spite me. I would try to show you a picture of it but it's barely breaking the surface yet and is only visible from the back of her gum, and she acts like the world is ending when I try to move her lips/tongue to look at it, so...pictures aren't really doable just yet. At any rate, it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. Her cheeks will occasionally turn bright pink (like when she has a fever, only she doesn't), so maybe that's related...but no unexplained fussiness or anything yet, so that's good.

I know it's going to be adorable once she has that little shark tooth sticking up, but also, it's breaking my heart. Waaaaah.

I will cuddle with you, Mommy, but I will NOT let you look at my tooth. NO WAY.
So...Parenthood. I cried through the Gilmore Girls finale Thursday night and promptly moved on to newer and greener pastures Friday afternoon. So far I am loving it!! I made it through the whole first season (do me a favor and don't calculate how many hours that means I spent watching TV this weekend...) and it's great! Although I think I spend most of the time being amazed by Monica Potter's (Kristina) hair. It's so...like, shiny? And perfect? And kinda helmet-like, but in a really good way? I don't know, I can't describe it. It's just kind of awe-inspiring. Anyone else?

On Sunday Millie sported a new dress and an even bigger tooth and was just so cute I basically couldn't stand it.

Who me? Cute? Nooooo....
 Even Lola couldn't stand it.

Greetings, comrade.
We did church and errands and more cooking and TV and it was a relaxing, lovely day. I don't think anyone would mistake our weekends for thrilling or action-packed these days, but they are so perfectly, happily boring...I just wouldn't trade them for anything.
 
Slow weekends give me the time I need to ponder deep things.

This week's goal is to keep the whole family healthy and at work/school for five whole days. Who knew that'd be such a challenge??! I'm also going to try to get back on board with drinking my water, getting in steps, and maaaaaybe phasing back in T25. Can't really say I've missed the punishing daily pain, but my skinny jeans sure do. Ugh.