Christmas 2009

It is hard to believe that we have been homeless for over a month now! Only one more month to go! Christmas was great this year! We spent Christmas eve night at Jim's parents house and it was really nice. We got to sleep in and Jim's parents got to see Emily enjoy her Santa gifts. She must have been good this year because Santa brought her a kitchen, and Elmo couch, and lots of Wow Wow Wubbzy stuff! Poor "Santa" spent about an hour and a half putting together the kitchen the night before, but he did a great job and Emily loves it! We spent the rest of Christmas day hanging out, eating, and napping. It was REALLY nice to not have to get out in the nasty weather. Later that day, the rest of Jim's family came over and we ate and opened gifts. Emily got all kinds of new stuff and I must have been pretty good this year too, because I got a new sewing machine! Emily and her cousins ended the night by playing board games with their grandma. It was a wonderful day.

Family Photo on Christmas Eve


Santa Came!


Emily got a kitchen!


It's a Widget tattoo!


Playing with her barbie while lounging on her Elmo couch with her Wow Wow blanket, that is the life!


Doctor Emily at your service


Popping bubble wrap

The night before we went to the 4:00 Christmas Eve service at church. I think Emily had a good time, she loved watching all the kids perform and was fairly quiet for the service. We then went to my parents house and had Christmas with my family. Emily got some neat toys from her cousins and lots of books. We sang some Christmas songs and Emily and Ali got to shake bells when we sang jingle bells, which they really enjoyed! And of course there was LOTS of food!


 Shaking bells with Grandpa


Grandpa got barbies and Emily quickly claimed them as her own


Mittens!

Which takes me on to twin news. Being pregnant around the holidays is awesome because you can eat without feeling guilty. The only problem is that, while most of us pack on an extra 5 lbs or so around the holidays, only pregnant ladies have to go to the doctor and have that weight documented. Needless to say, at our appointment today it was obvious that I enjoyed myself around all the Christmas treats! We did not get an ultrasound today, just a regular old appointment. The nurse had her work cut out trying to get each baby's heartbeat- they were jumping and dancing around all over the place! Both heartbeats were in the 150's, which is good. We are now going every two weeks to the doctor. I am right at 30 weeks pregnant and the doctor said that he would like to make it to 36 weeks, but won't let me go longer then 38 weeks. So that means our little girls will be here (ideally) in the next 6-8 weeks, yikes! He said things are looking good, he kept telling me I wasn't massive. Thanks, I think...

I will be turning 27 tomorrow, hard to believe. 2009 has been a wonderful year. I can't wait to see what 2010 brings!

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for! First, my husband Jim. He is so loving and giving. He works extremely hard so that I am able to stay home with Emily and I am so extremely grateful! Plus, he allows me to sleep on more than my share of the bed and he never complains about it, he's the best!

I am so thankful for my beautiful daughter. She is so funny and smart, and everyday she amazes me. She will be a wonderful big sister. I am extremely thankful for our twin daughters who continue to grow and kick. They were a huge surprise and now I can't think of NOT having twins. I am thankful for our extended family, for Will and Michelle for letting us stay with them. For Jim's parents for always being avaliable when we need them- for a car, childcare, or a place to hang out. For my parents and all the love they show Emily, and all of our cousins and  friends. We are so blessed with our health, jobs, and a (soon-to-be) home.

Emily is adjusting well to not being in our house. She and Ali really enjoy each other! They eat breakfast together and we bathe them together. I think they will both be quite sad when we move out. Below are some photos of the girls playing together and on Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Emily and Ali playing in Emily's crib


This is how Jim babysits!


Playing on Grandma Enochs floor


Important Phone Calls


It's much easier to keep track of them this way!


Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's catch you up to date!

Wow, the last month has been a crazy one! We sold our house after being on the market 9 days, hurray! We closed on it today and are now officially homeless. However, we won't be homeless for long! We have bought a house in Carriage Hills off of Cleveland. It is a one and a half story and we close on that house January 21st. Here are some photos of the new house!

The front of our new house


Our new kitchen


I finally get my jacuzzi tub!!

In the meantime, we are living with Will and Michelle (my brother and sister-in-law). So far, so good! The first night was alittle rough on Emily. We took the side off of her crib and I think that messed her up more then anything. We are over here often and she is very comfortable falling asleep over here, and since that night things have gone well. Jim and I are upstairs with the girls in our own room with its own bathroom and that is nice! Even the dog seems to be adjusting well.

In twin news, we had our second ultrasound Monday. Baby A is measuring 1 lb 6 oz and Baby B weighs 1 lb 4 oz. Baby B was a wild child this ultrasound and was all over the place. We got to see her stretch out her legs and then we saw her kick her sister in the head a couple of times. Baby A was somewhat shy and kept her back to us most of the time. Both girls are growing like weeds and more then doubled their weight from our last appointment. It still seems unreal to me at times that we are having twins, but I am sure that reality will be confirmed when they are here! I am looking more and more pregnant each and every day.

In Emily news, she has started talking jibberish. I really think she wants to talk in complete sentences but lacks the words to do so, so she just kind of makes up filler words. She is getting very good at running and loves to comb her hair. She loves to wear a jacket and is getting pretty consistent with her manners. Although, she still says "Excuse You" when she would like you to move. Thank you Uncle Will for teaching her that! Occasionally I get an "excuse you me" from her, but we will continue working on it!


Emily and Chance bonding

1 baby + 1 baby - 1 house = Friday!

If you read my post on Facebook, then you are all caught up! For those of you that haven't- here is what is new with us!

Wow, Friday was eventful around here to say the least! We went in for a routine ultrasound at 8. The u/s tech put the wand on my belly and says, "Oh, you're having twins." Jim and I looked at each other and said, "No, no twins..." and she matter of factly informed us that we WERE having twins! So, we were in shock most of the u/s! We got to see each baby's heart, brain, spine, kidneys, feet, hands, face, you name it! Baby A was not shy at all and showed us her girly bits right away. We had to coax it out of Baby B, but she was another girl! 3 girls under age 3! WOW!! It was a little hard to tell because of how far along I am, but according to 2 different u/s techs, the babies are in two separate sacs and were formed from 2 different eggs. We were told this is the best case scenario for twins because they don't share anything so each will grow on its own. It is extremely exciting, although this does mean Jim and I are out numbered! As I am sure most of you know, Emily wasn't a planned baby, but we were trying this time around. However, we were only trying for one, so Jim joked that out of our three kids, only one was planned- and it wasn't the single birth! The exciting part is that we will get u/s each appointment from here on out, so we will get to see our girls every month!

Once we got home from the Dr, we quickly had to pack up because we had a showing at our house. We are finishing the basement and decided to see if we could sell our house while this $8,000 tax credit is still out there. We live in an awesome first-time home owners neighborhood. So we headed to Will and Michelle's to hang out for a couple hours while we had two showings. (Jim worked from home yesterday!) Our agent called us to let us know we could return home so we did and settled back in for the rest of our Friday and to continue calling everyone with the news of the twins. Around 3 I got a call from our agent saying we had a verbal offer on our house! We talked it over and counter offered and both parties came to terms- so bam! We sold our house! The only thing that is slightly sad is that we have to leave our washer and dryer, and if you don't know, we had some serious troubles getting a HE washer that worked! But at least we don't have to store them.

Sooooo, our plan now is to be out of the house by Nov 20th. We will move in with my fantastic brother and even better sister-in-law for awhile while we find a house! We will hopefully be in our own new home before the twins get here! My official due date is March 12, but I wouldn't be surprised if they make their appearance sometime in Feb. We are super excited and crazy nervous at the same time. The twins are amazing and I feel so blessed- although I think God has more faith in my parenting abilities than I do! And we really do need a bigger house now, so I am sure it will all work out. Keep us in your prayers as we embark on this new journey!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Last Monday we headed out to Carolyn's Cousins pumpkin patch! Emily wasn't as thrilled about it as I hoped, but she was a fairly good sport. Check out the photos below.

Emily and Ali checking out pumpkins

Emily, Cooper, and Caden being pumpkins

Emily showing her sympathy for the pumpkins we are about it pick...
In other news, we are finishing our basement and we now have our house on the market! It is exciting and exhausting at the same time. Our house has never looked so good, but our garage is a MESS while we finish the basement. We boxed up a TON of stuff and yet we still have a full house....

In Emily news, we are attempting to potty train... it's hard work! Emily loves to sit on the potty but only likes to tell us after she has gone in her diaper. She is a chatter box these days! She talks all the time and most of the time I can figure out what she is saying, which is nice. She is hitting her terrible twos and likes to throw huge fits. Sunday her cousin Ali turned one and Emily learned a hard lesson about sharing- it is hard and often isn't fun! There was lots of screaming and crying, and Emily was pretty upset too.. =)

We find out on Friday if Emily will have a baby brother or sister, and that is very exciting! Emily is still too young to understand there is a baby in mommy's belly, especially since I am not really showing. However, Emily loves babies! I have started watching a little girl three days a week and Emily LOVES her! She is very good with her and likes to give her her binky when she is fussy. Hopefully she will still think babies are as much fun when ours gets here in March!

Cows are really BIG!

On Wednesday we went with our MOPS group to visit Shatto Dairy Farm in Osborn MO. It is kind of a trek out there, but well worth it! We got to see how the cows are milked, where the milk is bottled, pet the cows, try milking the cows, and we even got to taste all the milk the sell including a new coffee milk they are trying out- YUM! Emily is going through a phase where load noises scare her, so she didn't fully appreciate the tour, but she did enjoy seeing the cows. She didn't want to pet them- those things are BIG in real life!- but she did enjoy looking at them and mooing at them. I got to milk a cow, which was pretty much exactly like I thought it would be. Once the tour was over, we picnicked at the Farm and then Emily and Ali fell asleep on the way home.

Petting A Calf


Ready To Try The Milk

In other news, Emily's Granny (my grandma) passed away on Wednesday night/ early Thursday morning. Hospice was called in on Monday and we went to see her Monday night. At that time she was still awake and talking and we were able to tell her bye and that we loved her. Emily told her Nu-night and blew her kisses. After that we never saw her awake again. She will be truly missed, but I know she is in a better place!

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1

Eventful Day at WalMart

We had an eventful day at Walmart Monday! Michelle and I took the girls to do our Monday morning grocery shopping and as we were headed to check out, we were told we wouldn't be able to leave the store due to a gunman in the parking lot! We were told we could go to Subway and get a free drink. However, Subway is at the front of the store right near the entrance, which didn't seem safe or smart. So, Michelle and I decided that the best place to be was the back of the store near an exit. We hung out in the back of the store where we could keep an eye on the front door, but near an exit so we could make a run for it if need be. By this time, all the customers were aware of what was going on and most had stopped shopping and were just standing around, speculating. After about 30 minutes, the employees started moving us out of the main aisles and to the back of the store. We were escorted into Site-To-Store and the kids were given juice and cookies, and they turned on cartoons for them to watch. We stood around in the back for another 30 minutes. Throughout the ordeal, I was on and off the phone with Jim. He told me that they blocked the road in front of Walmart and it was all over the news. Finally, they told us that they were letting people leave 10 at a time through the exit by the vision center. By the time we made it to the front and checked out, they were just letting everyone leave. In order to get out, you had to walk past the SWAT team, which was pretty intimidating with their helmets, bullet proof vests, and giant guns! Once we were home, we learned that the gunman wasn't even at the store, he was calling in threats from a private residence where he was arrested without incident. If I have to be locked in a store because of a gunman, I guess this was the best situation! We most certainly had some angels on our side that day! And honestly, it was probably Emily's favorite trip to the store yet-free cookies, juice, and cartoons!

In other news, Emily now has a favorite TV show, Wow Wow Wubbzy. As far as cartoons go, it isn't too annoying. It is on Noggin so it's geared towards preschoolers. However, it does have her constantly asking for "wowwow" anytime you enter the living room. One particularly rough day, I couldn't find "wowwow" on TV, so (thanks to YouTube) I found a few shows online, which got us through without a meltdown by either Emily or Mommy. As a result, anytime I get on my computer she hounds me for "wowwow".

Emily almost has a full set of teeth, she is working on her canine, which causes lots of drool and moodiness. She is also working on compound phrases. Her newest phrase is announcing that people/things are sleepy. "Daddy sleepy" although it comes out more like "Dahde seepy". She also says Bless You if you sneeze, and Excuse You if you burp. She also says Excuse You if she burps, which is pretty funny. Her other new thing is labeling who things belong to, Daddy's Shoes, etc. Rather then saying, "Mine!" she says, "No! Emme's!" which I'll take, although I know the mine phase isn't far away.

A day in the life of a toddler

Emily is an opinionated child, I am sure you can all attest to that! For those of you that don't know, it rained cats and dogs here yesterday (Monday) which just happens to be our grocery shopping day. So, we donned raincoats and headed out. Emily didn't do too bad, we got our shopping done and headed home. By the time we got home, it was lunch time, my feet were soaked and I had tons of groceries to put away. I kicked off my shoes and started making Emily lunch while simultaneously putting away groceries. Now, some of you are aware of Emily's shoe obsession, for those of you that aren't- Emily is obsessed with shoes. From the minute she gets up, she wants shoes on, and if you aren't wearing shoes, she will bring you some and harass you until you put them on. So, Emily and I are both wet, crabby, and hungry at this point- and then she brings me my shoes. My extremely wet, dirty shoes, and demands I put them on. I politely tell her no and to go put them away. BIGGEST MELT DOWN EVER. Crying, screaming, foot stomping, you name it! She continues to follow me around the kitchen screaming "Shoes on!!!" After about 5 minutes of this, she finally takes my shoes back to my room and returns with a pair of flip flops. Lip quivering, she holds them out and asks, "Shoes?" What is a mom to do? At least they weren't wet. So I ate my lunch wearing brown flip flops with my black outfit.

Big News!

We are happy to announce that Emily is going to be a big sister in March! We are currently 8 weeks pregnant, and while it is early we were just too excited to keep the secret any longer! Please pray for us all that everything goes well.



In other news, we had a great trip to Springfield this past weekend. Emily spent the weekend with her Grandma and Grandpa Mills and joined us Sunday for a baby shower. She had a great time and we enjoyed a kid free weekend!

July

It has been a busy summer here for the Mills family! Emily is 18 months old and walking. Jim is golfing and playing in the band at church, and I have been busy- although I am not really sure with what! Emily can now talk in two word sentences such as 'sit down' 'slide please' 'all done' and 'no no!', the last one being her favorite! She is now a whopping 28 lbs and is 34 3/4" tall. She is slowly making friend with Chance, although she likes him much more then he likes her. Emily is obsessed with shoes (typical girl) and will harass you until you put your shoes on. She is learning to run and climb, and thus far hasn't had any really bad falls.

Since the weather has been so beautiful, we have been playing outside most afternoons. Who knew the average temperature for July would be between 75-80? I am not complaining, I love this weather! I have had my taste of summer, now bring on fall! We also recently redid our flowerbeds. About 4 years ago we put up a nice brick walls, but apparently didn't do it correctly. So it has slowly been falling and this past spring it officially fell. We went to Lowes, got some advice, and rebuilt. They look awesome! I also hired my nephews to weed and mulch the beds and they really look wonderful! With all the rain, the yard looks great too. We haven't had to water once this year- knock on wood!

We have no "real" vacations planned for this summer, but we are headed to Springfield next weekend for a kid-free minication. Jim is taking off Friday and we are leaving Em with her Grandma and Grandpa Mills. She and Grandma will join us Sunday for a baby shower and then we will all head home. I hope you are all doing well and enjoy your summer!

That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:13