Organizing - It Is Amazing The Results.

I was cleaning off my Jump Drive to add files and I found pictures in a file labeled - Favorite Pictures.

I wanted to share some of these pictures (in no order, in no rhythm). These pictures represent some of my most favorite moments in life! Enjoy...What can I say, I am a sucker for a sleeping puppy. She really hates to be bothered when she is sleeping (as we all do...). I managed to snap a picture before she was able to hop up and move away!

While Cullen will hate this picture, (because he hates when I make Brodie more of a baby than he is) BUT, How CUTE is this picture?? Brodie snuggling with his bear... Melts me every time!! This is a picture of my Brodie after a long day of swimming in my parents pool. Yes, he sunbathed on his towel after. This is Brodie and my Daddy just relaxing.... something they both do well. (Brodie more so than my dad; he is the K9 version of Garfield The Cat). Cullen took our niece, nephew, and the dogs swimming. What a superhero! I sat and watched and took pictures!! One of the puppies favorite place to hang out is my parents backyard. How cute are they?? AND, don't they look MEAN? If you have ever met them, you know they are HARMLESS.
This is one of my most favorite picture of my niece and nephew. Aren't they just precious?? And, believe it or not, they have only gotten cuter with time! He was on to me... he knew I was taking his picture. I caught this. How PRECIOUS!

That same afternoon that these two were soooo cute - he turned into a little monster and got in trouble. He had to sit out for a few minutes. Look what I was able to catch - what a pout!

Stats at 36 Weeks

My dear friend Danielle was so good about keeping "stats" during pregnancy - especially near the end. I loved reading her stats, and thought through the rest of pregnancy, I would do the same. I went to the doctor Monday; (the first of the weekly appointments.) As of Monday, here is how my stats break down:

Fetal Age: 36 Weeks, 4 days
Total Weight Gained: 23 pounds.
What's the tummy measuring: 35 cm (for those who don't know what this means: it is how big your tummy gets lengthwise during pregnancy. It roughly correlates to the fetal week you are in.) A side note: Until week 33, I ALWAYS measured exactly to the week I was in; however, week 33's appointment, I measured at a 34. Week 36 appointment (this week) I measured at a 35; so... Doctor seems to think baby is pretty close to being done in the growing department.
Dilated: You got! 4 CM
Station: -2
Effacing: 50%

I will update stats next week!! Baby is getting so close!

I Love My Husband.

I often tell stories of how funny/quirky Cullen can be. I often have little tangents about how much he can get under my skin, and turn around and he has done something to knock me off my feet... this is a husband thing, right??

In this post, I bragged about how awesome Cullen is. WELL - Let me share THIS with you, friends. Cullen has done two things lately that have melted my socks off. At the end of last week, there were TERRIBLE thunderstorms and Tornado watches/warnings with reports of quarter sized hail. I woke Cullen up because I didn't want to rescue him if there was a tornado.. I was genuinely scared through the entire situation. BUT, Cullen got out of a deep slumber, in the pouring rain and moved his car, put my car in the garage, and moved his back in the driveway. He came back to bed soaking wet. I smiled from ear to ear. I have such a SUPERMAN of a Husband!!

Then Sunday night, we came home from a long weekend in Austin, and Cullen cleaned my car, inside and out. Oh, it made my day. (night, really.)

It is something my daddy would do for my momma. It made me smile. big time.

Conrad/Anderson Wedding

This weekend, Cullen and I are trecking down to Austin for a wedding. This wedding is very special to me. Miss. Chelsea Conrad is marrying Mr. Jacob Anderson.

Jacob is my little brother's best friend. Jacob and Chelsea have been dating as long as Cullen and I have been dating. They are one of the sweetest couples I have ever met. They love each other so much. They compliment each other very well. They are just "good people."

Chelsea, I cannot wait to see you as a BEAUTIFUL blushing bride.

Jacob, I cannot wait to see you with a ring on that left finger! Sucker!

Love you both!

Turkey's Ready

Nine months into pregnancy leaves you feeling many different emotions. Anxious. Nervous. Excited. Uncomfortable. Thrilled. Hungry....

...Speaking of hungry - the turkey is ready. My belly button, which has spent the vast majority of the last 3 months flat has finally popped. I have an outie. I wish, like a turkey, that when the knob popped out the fully cooked bird, it meant the baby is ready to be here. I'm certainly ready for him to be here. Cullen..... is ready, but has definite daddy worries.

I asked him tonight at dinner what he is most nervous about (**mentioning he couldn't answer with: A) everything, or B) Noah not picking up on how to do a 3-step drop when it is time). His answer: I am worried about not knowing how to do anything. Awee. My response: "Cullen, you are going to be a natural. And if you aren't, we'll learn how to be parents together."

I know I have said this before, but I am so excited to, not only, share becoming a parent with Cullen but BEING a parent with Cullen.

FOUR WEEKS, MR. NOAH. FOUR WEEKS.

An Open Letter to Jake Pavelka

Dear Mr. Pavelka:

Good Morning. How are you? You do not know me. However, we have some serious issues to work through. Once upon a time, you were a contestant, vying for the heart of Jillian Harris, everyone's favorite Canadian pocket-person. When you were cast aside for being less than stellar in the personality department, I was so sad for you. How can anyone not choose you immediately based solely on your looks??? God knows, I could stare at you for hours a day.

Then ABC came along, clipped your wings, grounded your plane, and moved you to LA to find your "one true love", who ended up being a money grubbing, college drop out who steals money from her ex to buy "enhancements." (Not to mention, she was the UGLIEST (both physically and emotionally) contestant applying for your co-pilot position.) Throughout the taping of The Bachelor: On the Wings Of Love, you showed America that you had the personality of a Slim Jim. While I now understood why Polly Pocket canned you... I still thought you were easy on the eyes. I decided to hang on throughout the season. I couldn't jump ship just because you were boring. Your applicants for co-pilot were entertaining enough to keep me interested (even if I watched your show on fast forward). It was on the season finale that ABC announced your contract renewed....again.... that we were stuck with you...again.... for the last spot on Dancing With The Stars.

Did you disappoint the first week? Of course you did. That is due to no fault of your own, however. Unless you were Nicole Schwerindaggesdrasdfasers from The Pussy Cat Dolls, you were doomed for failure the first week. Did you suck most?...No, but close. Buddy, the second week, Walking Like An Egyptian; this week, showing your Risky Business.... I am LOSING RESPECT FOR YOU BY THE MINUTE.

You no longer have my heart; You no longer have my respect. What you do have, is my cheers and praises for being a complete tard. I am ashamed for you. I feel sad with you. But, do not let that get you down. When the weather is bad, switch off of the auto pilot and move forward. Flame On, Jake Pavelka. Flame on.

Sincerely,
Erin Mills

P.S. - You do not look like Tom Cruise. You are tall, blond, and your name is not Maverick. The ONLY thing you have in common with that dumb-dumb, is you both have worn aviators at some point in your life.

Baby Checklist....

From what I hear and from what I have read, pregnant women tend to be emotional. NOT TRUE. I refuse to believe it.

This last weekend, Cullen and I spent Saturday and Sunday getting life ready for Baby Noah. We had a checklist....

1. Put together the Crib (not the actual crib... but the bedding.)
2. Find and Buy shelves for the baby's room.
3. Put together the stroller.
3b. Make sure we read the manual so we know how to not only safely use the stroller, but also know how to properly install the car seat in the car.
4. Put diaper genie together and figure out how that works.
5. Find recliner, rocking chair, or glider for Noah's room.

Okay...that list is manageable... right?? WRONG. Let's see; We....

1. Put the bedding into the crib - realized it wasn't exactly fitting and had to make adjustments. Okay. Frustrating, but DONE.
2. Find shelves - let's come back to that one.
3. Put stroller together... DONE. Easy and done.
3b. Read stroller and car seat manual... DONE and DONE.
4. Put diaper genie together and figure out how it works... Done.
5. Find recliner, rocking chair or glider - kind of done.

We started running errands around 2:00 p.m. We went to visit several furniture stores looking at all different types of seats for Noah's room. We found NOTHING we were in love with. We recently found a white rocking chair that we LOVE - so, we wanted to do our comparisons prior to just buying it. (Look at us, being so responsible!!) We ended up buying nothing. We will get to it this weekend or next. AND, we will end up buying the rocking chair. I am excited about this. There is just something sweet and innocent about a rocking chair. Especially when it has an ever so quiet creaky noise. Makes me tired thinking about it. As nice as it was to reach this decision - it took many stores and a TON of frustration.

Shelves. OH the shelves. I knew I wanted to put shelves up in Noah's room. I wanted shelves on the walls so I could put nick-knacks on the wall. I wanted to put up picture frames that couldn't hang. AND, I still wanted space on his dressers. Prior to going shopping for shelving, I knew I wanted to go to Target, Walmart, Home Depot, or Hobby Lobby to find these shelves. It was only after we went to Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby ...then a movie because it was raining... did I find myself in absolute tears. Yes, big crocodile tears. I tried to hide them from Cullen. I tried so hard... he knows me too well.

So, maybe it is true what they say... pregnant women are emotional. I knew why I was crying. I didn't want Cullen to know why I was crying. I didn't want him to think I had completely come off my hinges. I was crying because if we didn't get shelves today, get them hung TONIGHT, we were going to have a baby with an empty room. He is going to come home from the hospital with NOTHING in his room, except cluttered dresser tops. While I realize NOW that I was being so irrational in thought, I couldn't help it then. It was all I could think of. So, Cullen (who was willing to do anything to get this basket case of a wife to calm down) suggested we go to Lowe's and see what kind of shelves they have to offer.

Thank goodness for everyone... Not only did they have shelves galore, they had the best prices of anything we had seen all day!! We bought 5 total shelves, and got all of them installed Saturday night. DONE. And, just like that, I am okay, emotionally stable and feel comfortable that Noah will be pleased with his room.

We had an extremely successful weekend. We managed to check off everything off our weekend checklist. Cullen survived his first (and hopefully only) pregnant-wife-meltdown. He was so good under the hail-storm of Erin Mills. He is such a great husband. He is going to make such a great daddy.

Now... let's revise the checklist, and get the next many things checked off. The beginning of this list looks like:

1. Pack hospital bag (which includes buying maternity bras, granny panties, chap stick, matching pajamas, shower shoes/flip flops, and a huge chocolate bar.)
2. Buy the white rocking chair that will be the perfect match to our shelves.
3. Buy newborn diapers. Right now, we have 3...

Chelsea Handler...Part Three.

Chelsea Handler was this weekend..... as I mentioned in the post below. Lauren and I went (along with her boyfriend) to dinner prior to the show. We then quickly made it downtown, to park in the garage, to run in the rain to find our seats, to sit in front of the worlds tallest/largest/loudest/funniest drag queen. She described herself as wearing clown make up, and her date looked just like George Lopez but gray-er hair.

Jo Koy opened the show for CH. He had the entire audience laughing so hard. I was laughing hard enough to think I may have cracked a rib. I had tears running down my face and could hardly breathe... given my condition - I may have peed a little.... but that's not here nor there. :)

Chelsea Handler on the other hand. I had HIGH EXPECTATIONS for her. I set her bar so high, there was NO way she was going to live up to the hype. Turns out, I was right. While Jo Koy was easily a 12 out of 10. Chelsea was an 8 out of 10; don't get me wrong, she was hysterical. But, I don't know that I would pay extreme amounts of money to see her again. I think if Chuy was there - she would have been rated 10 out of 10.

Other than Ms. Chelsea Handler Friday night, I had such a great weekend... to see what I did to fill the rest of the weekend, you need to hop on over to Growing A Peanut.

I Need Mommy Help.

Each week from the baby website Baby Center, I get an email that updates me on what Peanut is doing this week as well as a checklist of things I can do or work on in order to prepare for his arrival.

This week, one of the things on the checklist says, "pack your hospital bag". It gave me suggestions on what to pack. However, is there anything that you would recommend as "Must Haves" in the hospital bag???

Thanks for the help!!

For Anyone Keeping Tabs....

As it turns out, my lucky-streak only lasted 24 hours. I woke up every 2 hours last night... no more sleeping through the night. Bummer.

Surprisingly, I am well rested today. Not sure how that is possible - but I am.


Want some fun news: I officially start my maternity leave one month from yesterday. HOORAY!... That was a scary realization, but, we are super excited to have Baby Noah on the outside, with us. I can't wait to hold him in my arms. I can't wait for Cullen to hold him in his arms - and not be able to the baby's parents, "Nah, I am good." when the ask if Cullen wants to hold the baby... :)

I can't wait for my parents to meet their 3rd grand baby and I am so excited for Billy and Carol to hold their FIRST grand baby. These are all things that will happen in just about a month.

See you soon, Little Peanut.

Mini Milestone...

Last night, I went to bed and fell asleep before the end of my beloved Chelsea Handler. 10:30; As usual, I woke up to go potty in the middle of the night and looked at the clock. 5:34 A.M.! Normally, I would be so angry that I woke up 30 minutes before I would get up..but, I SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. I, Erin Mills, who never sleeps more than 2-3 hours in one span slept for the ENTIRE NIGHT. It was a pure slice of Heaven...a slice Heaven that I really needed. I've heard that waking up every 2-3 hours is God's way of preparing your body to get up with the baby... but wowee. It was so nice to sleep all night long.

I love you Baby Noah; can we do this again tonight??

So Many Updates.

So much has happened in the world of baby since I last blogged. Since the last post....

I have had two BEAUTIFUL SHOWERS. The first one was March 27th, a joint shower with my dear friend Chyla who is expecting her little biscuit mid-June. This was hosted by a friend of ours, and it was OUTSTANDING. Here are a few pictures:

Noah's Diaper Cake, made by our hostess, Terra.

A close up of his name on the diaper cake.

This is the momma's holding the soon-to-be-mommas, hugging our hostess.

Finally, a picture of the honorees. We were treated like royalty, not only by the hostesses, but our guests too. Noah and Landry were given so many sweet gifts. Now, we just need the babies to use the gifts!!

The second shower was this last weekend, April 11th. This shower was hosted by three of my favorite girlfriends, at my parents house. It was a fabulous shower, and Dr. Seuss themed... I loved it!!! Here are a few pictures from the big event!Some of the incredible decorations. Thank you Lauren; I couldn't have been more impressed.

This is the AMAZING diaper cake made by Ashley. Isn't it so special. I am kinda sad to take it apart...but, what sounds better, an intact diaper cake or a diaperless baby????

Here is a picture of my wonderful hostesses and myself. I promise I don't look this big in person...and let it be known, I will not wear this dress again. I look like a grey HOUSE!

Finally, this is a picture of Aunt Lauren holding little Peanut. Although there is not a picture of the spread of delicious food, you should have seen the enormous amounts of food. Sarah, you outdid yourself. I had so many people compliment the chicken salad and food.

Again, Cullen and I were so overwhelmed by the amount of love and generosity people showed through gifts and presence at the shower. I was blown away - truly.

Besides showers, I have an appointment in about 9 days...then we are down to ONE WEEK APPOINTMENTS. Really, we are down to ONE WEEK APPOINTMENTS. We are starting to check the cervix, and all that other business. At my last appointment, the doctor told me (after waiting 2 HOURS) that I had only gained 1/2 A POUND. You got. Peanut gained 1.5 pounds, I gained .5 pounds.... which in my world makes it seem as though I have lost weight. :) JACKPOT.

I guess that is it for now. I didn't take a picture last week. Thursday just kind of escaped me. So, this Thursday, we will have have my 34 week picture. I will share soon.

Chelsea Handler... See you Friday, Girl.

I posted recently about Ms. Chelsea Handler's books and just how great they are... I am so excited to say, My dear friend Lauren and I have EXCELLENT seats for Friday's show in Austin.

I.AM.SO.EXCITED.

Lauren and I are sitting 20 rows away from the front...dead center. Check back this weekend for a full recap. Wahoo.

A Funny Moment -

Millie and I were sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon. Usually she lays curled up in my legs (because, let's face it, she hates being touched or pet unless it is on her terms.); However, yesterday, she was having a rare moment where she wanted to be sweet and cuddle. She crawled onto my tummy, and rested her head on my chest. I pet her behind her ears, and she was quickly asleep and in puppy-dog Heaven.

...All of the sudden, Baby Noah was awake, or tired of being squished by Millie-girl. He kicked harder than I have been kicked before, and Millie BOLTED OFF OF ME so fast, I am not even sure she took one step between me and the floor. She looked up at me from the floor as if she was saying "what the heck just happened??"

She avoided me for the remainder of the evening.

It appears as though Noah is winning the domination battle between the Mills' "children" and he isn't even here yet.

Bittersweet Bluebonnets

This weekend, Cullen and I drove to Fredericksburg to spend Easter with my Mother's side of the family. As we were driving through the Hill Country, I quietly and peacefully looked at all of God's beauty. The Bluebonnets were abundant; the Indian Paintbrush were plentiful. I thought to myself, Gosh, this is the last time we will drive to Fredericksburg just the two of us. This one of the last road trips we will make just the two of us.

And.... this time next year, we will have an 11 month old beautiful baby boy who can crawl (or walk) through his own set of Bluebonnets (with mommy snapping pictures the whole time)!!! This makes me happy and so very nervous.

Lately, in the last week or so, I have become increasingly more aware of the fact that I am going to be a mommy in 6 weeks. Cullen is going to be a daddy in 6 weeks. "WE" are no longer a we; we are three. Can I do it? Am I ready to be a mommy? Do I have what it takes to be a mommy?? These are all questions that I think about regularly. I hear this is quite normal and common.

I know I am ready to meet him. I am ready to hold our little Noah Thomas. I am ready to see Cullen transform from a wonderful husband to a fabulous husband and father.

Bittersweet is the best way to describe my always evolving feelings around being a mommy. In these next several weeks, I will become more and more excited - you know what is the better part of this excitement??? I have Cullen, my parents, his parents, and all my friends helping and supporting this new endeavor in our lives.

An Easter....Turtle?

This morning, Cullen and I woke up, went to church and he took me to a nice lunch. On our way home, we turned onto a semi-busy road near our house to find a little Easter turtle crossing the road. (I can hear the jokes now... "Why did the turtle cross the road???")

I like to think of myself as an animal lover...I quickly said, "Cullen!!! Turn around. Turn the car around. We have to help him!! Go help him across the street!" I knew I wasn't going to help him cross the street. I love animals - but I love them more from afar. Cullen turned around, pulled over the car and got out. He walked towards the little turtle (who was probably 6 or 8 inches in diameter) and the little turtle went into his shell QUICKLY. Cullen reached down to grab him and he scurried away.

As Cullen started to walk back to the car, I convinced him to give it one more try. I pleaded, "Babe! We can't just leave him here. He will get hit. He will become turtle stew!!! I can't live with!" Like a great husband, he turned right back around and walked towards that turtle. He reached down, quickly picked up that little stinker..... GOT 'EM! (Contrary to popular belief, turtles are not that slow.) That turtle's arms and legs kicked and squirmed and "air-swam" all the way to the other side of the road. Cullen put him down in the brush, facing the creek (where we think he came from) and Cullen said he bolted!! That little turtle hit the ground running; With a smile on his face, Cullen walked back to the car and we went home feeling great about our good deed for the day.

How was YOUR Easter Sunday??