In Honor Of the Olympics

Before heading down to Centennial Park in honor of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics-- Milla and I met my Mom at Taqueria Del Sol for a mouth watering lunch of their incredible fish tacos!! Wonder if Milla will LOVE going there as much as I do someday?!!!

It was such a pretty, sunny day to walk around Centennial Park downtown. There were lots of people down there because the circus was at Philip's Arena.

Also this week-- Anne and Elizabeth were in town from Birmingham--so, I got to visit with them at Mrs. Eshelman's (Anne's mom) house. She was so nice to serve us a tasty lunch of chicken salad and tomato basil soup. (I realize that I am ALWAYS talking about food--but, have you had the tomato basil from "La Madeline"--yum!) Elizabeth is really growing up--she is so tall-- long and lean! She always has a bow in her hair--even in her pj's!!

Elizabeth and Milla rollin' around.

THANK YOU STEPHANIE!
Stephanie (she works with me at CMG) is brave. Our couple's Bible Study is doing the marriage study called "Intimate Encounters"--we normally hold the babies during group-but, we are trying to really focus for this study-and our sweet babies of course always steal our attention--so, Stephanie is so kind to come every Thursday to watch the 3 babies (all about 6 months) while we meet. Here she is with Milla and Will last week.
(she would have needed one more arm--but Asher was out of town!)

SNOW & ICE

Thanks to icy roads- work was cancelled last Saturday--
and I got to spend the whole day with my fam.!!!
Hank had a ball teaching Milla the ropes of playing in the snow!!!

* Brandon and Milla making a snowman*
Not the most round snowman you have ever seen--
but it did the trick!
We loved it--and it hasn't melted (1 week later)--
a small stack of snow still stands.

Staying cozy!!! The funny thing was- we got all bundled up--had about 10 layers on Milla to go out and enjoy the snow-then, our neighbors came out in normal clothes and we realized we were burning up and way overdressed! It just "looked" soooo cold!

Half of a Year

Milla turned 6 months on Saturday! Wow!
Half of a Year!!
She had her appointment at the doctor yesterday:
17# 12 oz
29 inches
everything checked out great!

She got to try food for the first time--started with rice cereal on Saturday and then last night we introduced bananas. It is so exciting to witness all of these "firsts"!!! We will wait 3 or 4 more days and then butternut squash is next on the menu!

Milla got to go to her first Super Bowl party on Sunday! She was pulling for the Colts--but, happy for the Saints! Here she is playing with the older girls over at Lauren & Matt's house--
Emerson (9mo)-Haley (8 mo)-Milla (6mo)
Brandon trying to teach Milla all the classics! I love it!

OUCH!!!

Hair Tourniquet---- OUCH!!!
This is a very random posting--but we see this every now and then at our office-- and we had a little baby with one yesterday (this is just a picture from the Internet, not the actual child). The baby had been up all night crying-- waking every 45 min.-- parents didn't know what was wrong-- then, in the morning the mom decided to give the baby a bath and discovered that the baby had a piece of hair wrapped around the toe (usually one of Mom's that has fallen off)!!! It cuts off circulation and the toe was purple when she found it!! Luckily they were able to cut the hair off and come in to get checked--and the baby will be fine. But, in some rare cases they can actually loose the toe!!! So, moral of the story-- if your baby seems to be crying for no reason--check all toes, fingers, and unmentionables (on baby boys!).

Good Stuff

There are some neat things that I have learned about lately that you should check out if you are interested....
****TO GET INSPIRED*** my friend Audrey introduced me to a website called "My Mama Made It". It is done by a lady that is so creative and she makes clothes for herself and her 3 daughters. She finds something she loves and then figures out how to make it with things she has at home. She is up to date on the latest and greatest.... the site is now called www.madebylex.com
****BABY FOOD*** I ran into a friend Ashley on Friday night. She is the Mom of 1 year old Max AND she works full time. She told me about a website that has encouraged her to make her own baby food for Max. She said it makes her feel good to know that even though she isn't with him during the day, he is eating food that she prepared. It saves soooo much money too she says. It is www.nurture-baby.com
****GOOD MUSIC**** If you are looking for some good songs to buy on itunes--try these. Our friends Chad & Lauren got married this past summer and they made a CD of songs as their "party favor"--We love it--it has grown to be one of my favorites lately... these might be songs you have already heard--but, if not--look them up
1. "Heaven Sent" by The Steeldrivers
2. "Supply and Demand" by Amos Lee
3. "Simple as it Should Be" by Tristan Prettyman

Those are some recommendations of mine--- if you have any for me they would be much appreciated!!!

Is it possible?

With a group of 6 adults and 9 children is it possible to get everyone to be still, look forward, and smile all at the same time???
I think it turned out pretty good!
(Amanda holding Natalie, Elizabeth holding Harper, Melanie, Kriya holding Wade, Lisa with baby boy in her belly, Gregory, Sarah, me, Hannah holding Milla, Caroline holding Neely.)

We had such a good lunch over at Kriya's---my favorite thing (along with Melanie's delicious Asian turkey pitas with thinly sliced marinated cucumbers) was this AWESOME soup that Kriya picked up. If anyone lives in East Cobb you have to go get it-- there is a restaurant in the Publix shopping center-- the one on Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn-- I think it is a little French restaurant connected to a furniture store. Anyway-- she found this soup there called "lemon artichoke"-- it sounds kind of strange--but it is so good.
You've got to try it if you are in the area!

Happy 2010

Happy 2010!!!

We were home by 8pm on New Year's Eve!!!
We celebrated "New Year's Evening" rather than late night!!
It was low key--but, wonderful!
We got to hang out with my college roommates, their husbands, and toddlers over at Jill and Jonathan's in Marietta.
(Anne&Elizabeth(18m.), Jill&Hudson(17m.), Megan&Milla(5m.)

Aunt Connie and Uncle Bob drove through Georgia on their way back home to Indiana--after being in Florida for the holidays to see their kids and grand kids--and cheering on FSU at their bowl game in Jacksonville on New Year's Day--(Bobby Bowden's last game!)
*Aunt Connie and Milla* Uncle Bob and Milla

WOW!!
Milla's Florida cousin's are SO GENEROUS!!
Aunt Connie & Uncle Bob brought a car load of clothes and baby stuff from Milla's girl cousins Reagan Grace and Emersyn. What a spread!!! She gets to wear all of their cute clothes. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!

Christmas Celebrations

We got to have all of the Christmas celebrations at our place this year. Dad and Grandma came over on Christmas Eve afternoon/evening. It was one year ago on Christmas Eve that we told them that we were expecting little Milla!!!!!

We went to Christmas Eve candlelight service with out friends Adrienne, Derrick, and little Elise. Luckily there were seats available in the very back of the church and we were able to keep Elise and Milla happy and occupied during the service!!

Brandon, Milla, and Hank on Christmas Morning!

I loved the sweet way that Brandon wrapped the gift he gave me.
He traced Milla's hand.
Brandon's family came over for lunch on Christmas at noon.
me, Brandon, Mr. Crim, Mrs. Crim, Grandmother, Grandaddy, Kelli, (Kelli's boyfriend Brian, and Cousin Linda were there too--Brian was taking the picture and only Linda's hand made it in!)

Mom had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day--but, she had a 20 hour layover in Ashville--so, Cappie flew on her flight and they got to have a festive dinner at the Grove Park Inn. We celebrated Christmas with them on Sunday night.

Have you ever tried this?? Mom made an aluminum foil bikini for the turkey-- as it browns in the oven it gets tan lines!!!!

Nursing School Friends

It was great to get to see some of my MCG Nursing School friends. Rebecca has taken a break from the exciting, fast paced world of "traveling nursing"....(she has been SO MANY neat places) and is working just outside of Atl. in the OR, Chanler is still working in the Pediatric Cardiac Step down Unit, and Lauren still works in the NICU. We visited Rebecca at her pretty, new townhouse in Vinings/Smyrna

Becca and the Babies

Rebecca, Lauren(&Haley), Chanler(&Harrison), Megan(&Milla)
Chan and wide eyed Harrison!!!
Harrison and Milla cuddle on the couch

The Stache

Brandon grew a beard at Thanksgiving and wore it through December. One night he decided to shave it and leave just a mustache and the side burns. He just walked out into the living room and didn't say anything. When I turned around and saw him I could not stop laughing-- It was Hilarious!!!!