Just Bite The Bullet Already...

I can't take it anymore. It has been too long since I last wrote. Let's be honest...the last post was a bit weak anyway. So, here I am, in the middle of the BUSIEST weeks of my life - feeling guilty for not blogging in AGES.

Alright, where do I start?? Over the last month, Noah has grown more than I think he has ever grown before. He has gone from not talking (merely making noise that should be words), to talking in full, complete, thoughtful sentences. He can tell you anything he wants/needs. He can tell you CLEARLY when there is something he does NOT want/need. He is forming the BEST little personality and oh boy, the love this child has for his daddy infinitely grows daily. He is opinionated and has a crystal clear memory. If he does something once, he remembers it every time! He is a lo-ver! He will hug and kiss anyone. He will tell everyone {individually} hello and good-bye. He is thoughtful and so sympathetic. Recently, when we watch TV, if someone is crying or gets hurt, he will look at you with very serious faces and say, "Oh no. He/She sad."

Noah saying "leeese" {please}.

Noah will turn TWO on May 12th. Yes, my child will be two in less than a month. Is that possible?? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? The great news is, I am excited about this year. This year's birthday does not come with gallons of tears or complete heartache like last year's. This year, I am embracing the idea of him turning two. After all, he will never get younger, no matter how hard I try to fight it. 

For Easter, the Easter Bunny brought Noah a shaving kit! He shaves like his Daddy, and LOVES doing so. Frankly, he is quite good at it!  

What a toot! Dancing and shaving a way!

Shaving his chest...

Do you ever have to shave your hands??

While Noah has ALWAYS loved being outside, he has learned that he LOVES working in the yard. His daily activities include: checking on the trees, raking, shoveling, and mowing (Yes, daily). He is a huge help when he goes to his Bedo and Coco's house. 

 

Noah helping rake the mulch out of the garden.

Outside of Noah news, Cullen is fantastic. He plays softball one or two nights a week and Noah LOVES watching his daddy play. You can ask Noah where his daddy plays and he will quickly tell you, "ou-fel" {out field). Watching Cullen play ball frequently takes me back to childhood memories of when my dad played ball. We spent COUNTLESS evenings at the ball field.

School is school. My students have lost their love. Apparently that is going around the whole school. Worse than usual this year. We have met as grade levels and as a school to figure ways to entice the children into behaving for the remainder of the year.  I have five Mondays until FREEDOM summer. Although, I have already signed up for several summer conferences that I am more than excited about.

We went to a wedding in Abilene recently and met up with my very best friend in the world. It was great to see her. 

Taylor, Kelly, and Me.

Looking forward... Cullen and I have the annual Elliot Family Reunion over Memorial Day Weekend. Behind white elephant Christmas exchange, it is hands-down my favorite Mills' Family event. We go to a different city/town each year and just catch up with family. It is wonderful. This year is extra special. We are sharing a suite with the newest member of the family, Little Miss. Addison Struby - For this, I could not be more excited!! We are also planning a trip to the Texas coast with the Durbin family. In my world, nothing is sweeter than when Noah and his best friend get to play...now add sand and water. I, for one, will be in hog-Heaven!

For now, I think that will do. It is my BEST intention to not let so much time lapse before the next blog.

Spring Break With Noah

This is Noah enjoying Dora on his new DVD player.

Over Spring Break, Noah and I were BUSY. We traveled a ton. We went to Houston to see The Mabry Family. Sadly enough, we didn't get too many pictures WITH all of us. Below is a picture of Noah and Landry talking. Don't be fooled by their perceptive size difference. These two are only a month a part in age!!

Landry and Noah!

We also went to the Cameron Park Zoo with my co-worker and her baby! Isn't Mr. Wesley so cute?! Noah has learned to say "cheese" for the camera...

Noah saying "cheese" and Wesley.

Here are a few more from the zoo...

 

We had a wonderful spring break. We were nonstop and my little traveling buddy couldn't have been better. I adore him and fell in love with him more than ever before with our week together.

Addison

My cousins, Lauren and Scott, welcomed their sweet Angel Addison into this world two days ago. Even though I am a momma myself, I just cannot help but be moved beyond words with new babies. I just melt.

Congratulations, Lolo and Scott. I am so excited to meet her!!

Impress Me

Noah is such a toot. He amazes me daily with how much he learns. how much he retains, how much he can focus on one tiny aspect and "just get it" almost instantly. The last two days, he has wanted to sit with his "ah-ah" (monkey) in his high chair in the morning. While watching Dora The Explorer yesterday, he pointed to the TV and said "Dora's ah-ah" then pointed to his monkey and said "my ah-ah".  I was amazed that he could form that whole thought and relay it to me. Dora has a monkey and I have a monkey. I know that he understands possessiveness, but, I was just stunned.  He then proceeded to feed himself a bite of salsa (applesauce) and then his monkey a bite of salsa. He told his ah-ah "Ya-you" (I love you). It was like he was sitting with his best pal in the whole world. Here is a picture of this sweet little man and his "ah-ah" in the morning.

Noah and his "ah-ah".

I Kissed A Boy, And I Liked It...

Nine years ago, today, I kissed my husband for the first time. NINE YEARS AGO. Nearly a decade. Cullen Mills - you complete me. 

I love you.

FIVE YEARS and counting.

Today is Monday, March 5^th. To most of you, this is just another Monday. This is just another day in March. To me, this day marks a pivotal moment in my life. Five years ago today, my dear, precious, wonderfully talented mother “graduated”. She finished her radiation from breast cancer.

This is her golden year. FIVE WHOLE YEARS ago, my momma won her battle. She beat it. I couldn’t be more proud of her.

Momma – I love you with my whole heart. I couldn’t imagine my life without you. Thank you for fighting so hard to be who you are and showing us that not even cancer can hold you down! I hope that I can learn how to be as strong of a woman, mother, mentor, friend (amongst so many other titles) as you have shown us you are.

I love you. Congratulations on this MOMumental milestone.

Welcome Back, Silly Millie.

What a whirlwind yesterday was. Work was busy as usual. From 4:30 - 6:30, I was on the go, go, go! I called my dear friend T, who was helping me arrange a dinner for our friends. On my way to her house, I go home to get my part of dinner and I pull up to the house only to notice out backyard is wide open. NO DOGS. My heart sinks. I have one dog who is dumb as mud and follows his nose... HE WAS IN THE FRONT YARD. Millie, my smart girl was GONE. I frantically search the neighborhood. Noah is in the backseat being an ANGEL. After about 15-20 minutes, I had to do the MUST-DOs on the list. I prayed Millie would come home on her own and went to T's house. After the MUST-DOs were done, I came home and continued the search. Cullen got home and the search party widened. We posted notes on Craigslist, Killeen Animal Control and with the HH Animal Control....

Noah ran through the house, funneling his hands around his mouth, yelling, "Ninny?" "Where's Ninny??" Break.My.Heart.

About 7:15, this feeling came over me. I went out front, and there she was, a couple houses down.

So Welcome BACK, you Silly Millie!

The Pioneer Woman

I love cooking. I love being in the kitchen. It is the heartbeat of my home. It is where most of the great memories start or end. It is where my children will remember me...either cooking my butterscotch cookies or chasing their daddy out of the kitchen before he eats all my cookie dough.

Our PTA president and another board member asked me to be in a chili cook-off at school. Without hesitating, I say yes. (I am a glutton for punishment; I cannot say no...AND, see above, I love to cook). So, here I am. It is Sunday. The chili cookoff is Tuesday at 5:30. I have been scouring websites for the perfect white chicken chili. (Why white chicken chili?? Well, because everyone makes regular chili, and I need something that will stand out.) I finally found one I am satisfied with... Pause.

I recently purchased a Pioneer Woman cookbook. If you are a new cook and need help, she is your gal. She takes pictures at every step. She makes cooking seem like an armless baboon could do it. She has a white chicken chili recipe. It has 274 great comments attached to this deliciously simple recipe.

Unpause. After much stress, headache and kitchen pacing, I am making the Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Chili. So, Ree Drummond, if I win Tuesday afternoon, half of my prize is owed to you. (The other half, of course is mine...because I was able to pull off a perfected masterpiece!) 

All In A Days Work

Well, for those of you following the baby-sleeps-in-a-big-boy-bed saga, let it be known...we have reached success. 

Here is a brief run-down of the week.

Monday: Noah was a fuss bucket. We put him to bed asleep. He awoke and decided to  crawl out of his crib for the first time in his life. We were up at 1:15 and stayed up. Until after work. He turned into a holy-terror over night.

Tuesday: My parents came to town to pick up their Harley-dog and see Noah. Dad fixed Noah's crib - he turned it into a big boy bed. I prayed for great night's sleep. I prepared for a HORRIBLE night. I knew we would be up all night...again. Not.A.Peep! 

Wednesday: We prepped for bed. Noah sleeps in footed zip-up jammies (you know, because God forbid his feet touch air at night. You know I was raised right.) Fearing that Tuesday was just God giving me MUCH needed sleep, I knew this night would be terrible. Did he wake up? Yes. Did he fuss? Yes. Did we get him? Nope. I found him this morning pulling at his door, in a diaper only, with a new pack of diapers (104 count) hanging from the rafters and everything below. They were absolutely everywhere. He also had little bits of carpet indention all over his left side. He clearly slept on the floor. 

Thursday night: I laid him down...thought he was asleep. He wasn't. I went ahead with the plan. I laid him down, gave him a kiss and said night night. I shut the door; he screamed. He got out of bed and pulled at the door. Finally after he stopped crying, we went to check on him. We first grabbed the flashlight to look under his door. We didn't even want to attempt to go in if he was asleep against the door. He wasn't. I went inside his room and found him.........asleep. Laying in his bed, asleep. 

I, my friends, call this a success. 

The Serenity Prayer

Writing is cathartic. It works for me. I am good with words. On bad days, this is what I do. I write. I write it out. If I can write it down, I don’t have to think about it any longer. Today was one of those days. You know, the kind of day that you know at any moment, it WILL get better because … well, how could it get worse,  but then it does get worse?? 

Yep, God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. 

 I must have said this ten thousand times today. Not in the "AA" sense of the meaning, but in the God I need your help today kind of way. 

 

Today, I woke up mad. I woke up mad about something that was completely out of my control. I woke up angry for something that I couldn’t fix…time can only fix it. I was just a GRUMP today. Here is how my day went:

I left my cell phone at home, which quickly threw me off. I left my ID badge at home – which I found out about halfway through the day that it was in my car.  My students were Uncharacteristically bothersome today. I promise that each one asked to go to the bathroom no less than 3 times each BEFORE we went to specials – at 9:20 a.m.. Three of them went AGAIN at Specials. They talked, and chose not to listen. They just couldn’t quite get it all under control today. I didn’t pack a lunch, so, I had to go get one. I had a dentist appointment – which was probably the highlight of my day. THEN, I pick up Noah who was also uncharacteristically cranky. I went to the grocery store. I thought, this could be my redeeming moment. I will buy Cullen’s favorite cake mix and make him a sweet little cake.…I cooked dinner. Cullen came home.. I started his cake backwards. I poured the cake mix before I noticed that I didn’t have eggs. Crucial. After dinner, I went to the grocery store alone. I prayed. I prayed out loud to make sure God heard me. I prayed for a better tomorrow. I prayed for peace. I prayed to see the light of this day. Then, one of my dearest girlfriends, Chyla calls me, and we talked. Gosh it was wonderful – but too quick. I get to the grocery store, still on the phone, buy the milk and head back home. I get about half-way home and realize I DIDN’T GO TO BUY MILK! I needed EGGS! SO, I heavily roll my eyes, turn back around, and go buy eggs. Knowing I can’t do it all, knowing my limit, I get off the phone. I check the eggs to make sure they are not cracked, and I drop my phone… it breaks into 7 pieces. SEVEN! I put it back together and it takes the whole trip back home to reboot. I prayed again. I prayed for this day to end, for God to hit reset. I prayed tomorrow is better than today (how could it not be??).  Okay, I begin the cake making process again… NO FRIGGIN VEGETABLE OIL. Are you kidding me??

I call my friend (and close neighbor) Taylor. She saves me. She puts vegetable oil out for me on her driveway. I drive there and back and start the cake for the THIRD time. {{no good deed ever goes unpunished!}}  Ugh.

So, here I am. It is 9:08. I have schoolwork to do…that I must do. All I WANT to do is go to sleep and start over. Press snooze and start over. Tomorrow WILL be better – It has to be better.

Good Lord, it must be better.

The funny thing is, this is not a bad day. Yes it is a bad day for ME. But, everything I wrote that happened today is not a bad day. It is a series of unfortunate events. AND, even on these bad days, I know God is watching over me. I know that God has filled my life with everything I need and want. Want to know the best part?? Even on the really bad days, I can find one of these two boys. Both have an uncanny ability to turn my frown into the warmest heart, and fullest smile.

January 26, 2012

So, here is to tomorrow NEEDING to be better. GOD GRANT ME THE STRENGTH…