Thanksgiving

It has been a week since Thanksgiving, and I've finally recovered from being out of town. Truthfully, I just finished fully unpacking Millie and myself today. We spent a little over a week in Mississippi. We were in Madison for a few days, and we finished off the week in Greenville. 

Madison included:

park with cousins

running errands alone that included some new clothes for me

Thanksgiving dinner

a date at Julep 

other people getting Millie when she woke up at 4:30 am 

 
Greenville included:
going to the movies by myself
Thanksgiving at the lake along with a boat ride and dancing
strolling
dinner at Doe's (we were right in the kitchen)
wine
attempting to take pictures with the pretty leaves, but the playground was too tempting
hunting too early in the morning for the men folk
poinsettia buying
other people getting up with Millie at 4:30 am

(in pictures below, blurriness is due to dancing)

It was a wonderful vacation. It helped that my mom came home with us. She left today, and we miss her already. Today was the first night in 13 days I had to plan dinner. I almost forgot about it.

I've been busy decorating for Christmas. I've added a few new things this year. I wish Christmas season was longer. And I plan to be done with Christmas shopping this weekend. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. It is always one of my favorite holidays.

Parenting

I blogged yesterday about some frustrations about Millie. I've never been a patient person, and it hasn't gotten better with parenting.

This morning I found this article. She articulates this issue way better than I ever could.

I'm thankful for God's gracious love, forgiveness, and patience with me.

Have a good fall weekend!

I'm also thankful for His beautiful creation. These are trees in my neighborhood that I passed on a walk last week. 

17 Months

Don't let this sweet face fool you.

I took this picture about 4:30 this morning. This was after we had already been up for an hour.

I think she woke up because she is still adjusting to the time change, and I think she was hungry. She had a throwing up incident at church last night. It was during dinner, and we were sitting at a table with two other families. Nick and I cleaned it up, and then we finished eating our dinner (we had nothing at home that would satisfy my dinner needs. we had to finish eating). Then we left as fast as we could. So Millie went to bed with nothing more than a few crackers for dinner.

 (She does this every morning when I make the bed. She climbs on the bed, gets under the covers, and just sits.)

I have been so tired all day. I slept for about 10 minutes during Millie's nap. Millie slept about an hour and a half. That is about as long as she naps these days. An hour and a half nap is a lot longer than it used to be, but it still doesn't seem long enough.

(It's hard to get a good picture when she keeps moving.)

Even though her sleeping habits aren't what I wish they'd be, it could be worse. I am tired, and sometimes that causes me to be a bad or lazy mama. However, I am so thankful for my Millie, and I love watching her grow.

(She likes to grab a bag, put it on her shoulder, and wave bye bye.)

She is 17 months old today. She is precious and smart. She loves cheese. She throws fits over the stuff. She is very opinionated. She cares about what pair of shoes she wears. She loves to talk. She talks on her play phone all the time. She says more and more words everyday. Here are a few of my favorites. "Chee" is cheese. "She" is fish. "Tee-tee" means dirty diaper. "Heeeeeeeey" is hey. "BB" is her blanket. Until the other day, every animal was a dog. Now she can identify a bird and cat. I know most of you don't care about this stuff, but this is the only place I have recorded little details like this. I feel like a bad mom for not recording every little thing in a baby book.

(She was drinking the cup of water before she started playing with it.)

This is a picture of one of her fits (a milder one). She got upset because she wanted more water in the cup. After she poured it on the chair, the floor, and herself (twice), we said no more water. And then this happened.

This kind of melt down happens a few times a day. I can sometimes make her stop by walking away or asking her to bring me a book, or "boo," as Millie's says.

Even though Mils doesn't nap well, throws up at inappropriate/inconvenient times, and throws super fits over some really small things, like not being able to get her socks off, I'm glad she is mine. I'm thankful God made me a mama. I'm thankful God made me her mama.

It's hard to believe she has only been around 17 months. I can't picture life without her. I love you Millie.

New Orleans

I can't believe it is November. I can't believe the election will be over tonight. I've already voted. It only took about 15 minutes of waiting, and 1 minute of voting.

We had a busy October. After Nick's conference, he had to finish preparing to take his big Professional Engineering test. This is a test that all engineers have to take after working for four years. It lasted from 7:00 a.m. to about 6:00 p.m. He was worn out.

To celebrate that October (and a lot of extra work for Nick) is over we decided to go on a trip. We also thought of it as a belated birthday celebration for both of us. We left our Millie with my sister and brother-in-law so we could go to New Orleans with my parents.

Our only plans were to eat Friday night at Commander's Palace, see Les Mis on Saturday afternoon, and eat at GW Fins on Saturday night. Commander's Place's bread pudding souffle is the best bread pudding  I've ever had! The rest of the time we enjoyed walking around, looking in some shops, and stopping for a drink every now and then.

We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast on Magazine Street. It is called the Terrell House. The house was lovely, and the breakfast was wonderful! This was my first stay in a bed and breakfast were we actually ate breakfast with other guest at the dining room table.

We downloaded the music on the way down so we could be familiar with it. We also listened to it on the way home. I'm still singing these songs in my head.. 

Our rooms were on the third floor. There were two bedrooms with a sitting area in between them. These are the third floor stairs.

This is the courtyard. They were setting up for a wedding on Saturday. 

On Saturday we strolled down Magazine Street before heading to the French Quarter. We found a place to eat lunch, and then we went to Armstrong Park where the theater was located. We went to the 2:00 show. The play was wonderful!

After theplay, we walked across the French Quarter to Cafe Du Monde. 

I had to get a beignet and cafe au lait.

 This was the only photographed food of the trip.

We walked by the river before heading to dinner.

We were worn out from walking all day (and going up and down the stairs in the B and B). However, it was a wonderful trip. 

Here are a few more shots of our bed and breakfast before we left. We were able to go in a few of the other rooms because they were being cleaned. There were so many little details I didn't get a chance to photograph. It was a great place to stay. 

Thank you Spooners for keeping Millie. We had a fabulous time. We loved the B and B, food, and the play!