football, swimming, bikes, and trust issues

Last week was pretty rough- Millie had a round of croup that just would NOT get better, and she (and therefore all of us...) was pretty miserable all week. Thankfully, she started feeling a lot better right around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, because she knows that being healthy for the weekend is of utmost importance! Much appreciated, Mills.

On Saturday, we decided to go to G-Day, UGA's annual spring football scrimmage game. Matt and I went to G-Day a few years ago, and strangely enough, that remains the ONLY college football game (if you can even consider it that) that we've been to together (although we both graduated from UGA and went to all of the games while we were students...we didn't know each other then)!! I keep thinking one of these days we will happen upon tickets so that we can attend a real game together in the fall, but...not yet, I guess. Ha!

Clearly this was Millie's first college football experience- although she has two UGA basketball games under her belt from this season, so I wouldn't say she's a total sports newbie. You never would have guessed, though- homegirl obviously bleeds red and black just like her parents, and spending a long afternoon in the blazing sun was just fine by her!

Oh, you say there will be music and pom-poms? COUNT ME IN!

And while you're at it- count me sassy.

We had a ton of fun- much like her mama, Millie particularly seemed to enjoy the festive food that goes along with attending sporting events. Fistfuls of popcorn and a giant pretzel? Right up her alley. 

But not everything was up her alley, actually. I think that one day, if Millie ends up having trust issues and reflects back, looking for a cause...I think that this G-Day game may pop into her mind. Sure was funny at the time, though.

So there she was, slamming back ballpark snacks with Mommy and Daddy, when she notices that Mommy and Daddy are sharing a huge cup with a straw. She'd been drinking water out of her own lame sippy cup, but obviously Grown-up Straw Cups are far superior, so she reaches to grab ours. Up to this point in her innocent life, the only thing she's ever tasted from one of our cups is water. We're pretty boring people- we just drink water at home (well, and coffee. And beer. But she doesn't get sips of those, ha). But at a ballgame- well, different story. Millie didn't know that story, though. So she gets the cup and proudly sucks up a big ol' strawful of SPRITE. Her eyes got HUGE as soon as that sugary carbonation hit her mouth, and as she swallowed she burst out crying, making the saddest just-sucked-a-lemon face you've ever seen. It was SO sad (and hilarious!!!!). Baby's First Carbonated Beverage: not a success. She stuck to her own sippy cup after that, while giving mean glares to our sporty straw cup. (Also, after the game we went out to eat. The milk we ordered for her came in an opaque cup with a straw. She wouldn't TOUCH it, HAHAHAHA. Not even when we opened the lid, showed her the milk...nothing. Major trust issues.)

I had the most interesting (hahahaha) thought while we were at the game: the last time I was at a REAL college game (November 2004, the last game of my senior year!), smart phones hadn't even been invented. There was no such thing as a hashtag (well, there was, it was just called a pound sign, and it had no social media connotations). My friends and I took TONS of pictures during the football games, but we had to *gasp* wait until we got home to upload them to our computers (with a cord!!! hahaha!!!) and then put them on Facebook (since our college HAD Facebook...we were so lucky!). My, how things have changed.

We followed up our super-awesome Saturday with a Sunday Funday outside. The weather was perfect this weekend- 'twould be a shame to waste it! We pulled out her pool and reintroduced her to the joy of "swimming." Since she's basically the same size as the pool now, that equates to just sitting...but she still seemed to think it was fun. She spent most of the afternoon just climbing in and out of the pool, alternating her swims with playing soccer with daddy and making mud in the yard.

While she swam, I just sat there with googly eyes over how freaking cute she is in her bathing suit. Ugh. To be young and fabulous.

Who you lookin' at, Mom?

Well SOMEONE needs to weed this yard- guess it may as well be me!

We also took advantage of the lovely day to take Millie's new bike seat out for its inaugural spin! I got the seat for Matt for his birthday so that we would have something else fun and semi-healthy to do as a family. We used to love riding bikes (remember those days? Ahhhh), but we haven't done it in probably two years at least. But since Millie loves being outside so much, we figured she might go for it- and she did!!

...well, she went for most of it, anyway. She wasn't a huge fan of her helmet. But she loved the riding part (and the part where we rode by cows and goats). So as long as we were riding, she was happy...but when we stopped for selfies, she remembered how awful the helmet was, and then she wasn't happy. Too bad for her, I'm a helmets-non-negotiable kinda lady. But all in all, it was a success...and I'm thankful that I'm not the one hauling an extra 28 pounds behind me, haha.  (Side note: it was shockingly challenging to find a baby helmet that wasn't COMPLETELY OBNOXIOUS. I'm still holding firm on no ridiculous 'character' nonsense adorning my child (or my house), and since she doesn't have the first clue about Mickey or Elsa or Doc McStuffins or anyone else...I wasn't in the least bit interested in having them all over her helmet. But apparently those guys have cornered the market on baby helmets! It was either that or pink/purple/hearts/peace signs...like...peace signs? How about no. Anyway. Just didn't anticipate finding a solid-colored helmet would be as challenging as it was, but Amazon came to my rescue with this only moderately-obnoxious highlighter yellow monstrosity. Picky mommy- but NOT BABY- approved!)

I rode behind Matt and Millie today and it occurred to me that the last time we were bike riding, I spent the whole time daydreaming (slash stressing) about having a child. There's not much else to do when you ride besides think...and that's what I would think about. Back when we were riding pretty often, it was when we were still waiting for an adoption match...and that's what I'd think about. I always rode with my phone, just in case we were to get The Call while we were on the road. And that's what I remembered as I was riding today...staring at my daughter's highlighter yellow helmet right ahead of me. I'd pull up beside them and Millie would reach out for me, and when we passed the cows, she hollered "HEY MOOOOO!!! HEY MOOOOOO!!!!" The last time I rode, I worried that I may never be a mother. And today...this.

What a crazy, wonderful life.