2nd Year Checkup

After a two hour nap today, Miller was surprised to hear that we would be making a visit to Dr. Gold. I love that he's at the age not to cry when he hears that he's making a trip to the doctor's office. We've been so fortunate to have stayed away from the doctor's office since Miller's 18 month appointment. Washing hands has been the key to good health this winter. I DO realize we aren't exactly in the clear yet. The flu has made a late appearance in Georgia.
The whole waiting room experience was comical to say the least. My little social butterfly befriended two little boys his age in the waiting room. They were running all over and even into the new mom's nursing room...AH! It was no easy task keeping him from venturing over to the sick side of the room & running into the bathroom with clipboard in hand. I was so ready for his name to be called. It's tough trying to fill out paperwork while my wild monkey is practically climbing the walls. At one point, he ran to the door pushing it open when the nurse called "Walker". He was a little too eager to meet Dr. Gold.
Miller was thrilled to be examined in the Lightning McQueen room. He's all about cars these days!

2 Year Stats:
Height: 34" 50%
Weight: 30-12 ounces 75-90%
Head: 20" >95%

No shots this time!! His next booster has to be after April 18th. We'll wait until his 3rd year checkup.

C is for Cookie

 

Today was the highly anticipated day around our house...Miller's 2nd Birthday Party. We went a little crazy with our Cookie Monster theme, but you can see from the pictures that Miller appreciated his Sesame Street friends joining him on the big 2 birthday. Of course, we had to dress Cookie appropriately for the party.

 

 

After Publix rejected making a Cookie Monster cake, we got the cake from the Cake Shoppe in Roswell. And, I'm so glad I did! Cookie turned out blue and fuzzy with no googling eyes, just like I requested. Miller kept repeating "don't touch" while we were getting the napkins and plates ready. We learned our lesson earlier this week and sang the birthday anthem sans candles and hot fire. He enjoyed it just the same and we pretended to blow out nothing! Everyone's teeth, lips and tongue turned out electric blue just like the fuzzy frosting.
After a BBQ lunch and cake, it was present time! Miller really took his time opening gifts. He enjoyed all the wrappings, cards and ribbons first. His oohs and ahhs & giggles of delight were just so precious and enough to make you want to throw a party every weekend. Miller was surprised to open a bubble machine that boasts 10,000 bubbles in a few minutes, a bubble lawn mower, DVD car player with DVD's, beach toys and a new tricycle to name a few.
We're so thankful for sharing in Miller's big 2 with family. What a special time celebrating our little guy. Now we'll just have to hope for the rain to move out to enjoy our new fun toys outside.

 

Click on "The Big 2" for more party pictures

Happy Birthday Miller!

 

Candle Phobia? He was all smiles once we removed the "Hot FIRE!"

 

 

 

Look Who's Two!

Dear Miller,
Happy, Happy Birthday little cutey pie. We can't believe that you've said goodbye to the ONE's forever. In so many ways, you've been two for months. I try to hold onto every ounce of baby there is left in you, and every once in awhile I get a glimpse of those times. But, there's no stopping you now. Toddlerhood has rocked our world! We're cherishing every minute of life just being with YOU and as a family of three. We are absolutely head over heels, smitten with you sweet boy. You are the most enthusiastic, fun-filled, curious, colorful, dramatic, active, talkative thing this family has ever seen. Well, besides your dad! Daddy and I still marvel at God's goodness to our family by giving us the most wonderful gift of YOU!
Enjoy your fun friend celebration with Nathan, Matthew and Ms. Karen this morning over sprinkled doughnuts. We can't wait to party with you tonight over dinner with very special cupcakes. Look what mommy made you, Cookie Monster cupcakes! A preview of coming attractions for your party on Saturday.


XOXO,
Mommy

Puppy Play

Snips & Snails
And, Puppy Dog Tails
That's what little boys are made of

Miller was excited about the special visitors we had over to our house on Sunday Night. Our newlywed friends, Amanda & Brandon brought over their 8 week old miniature Schnauzer puppies, Carter and Beau. And, oh my, they are the cutest little furry things you've ever laid your eyes on. Who knew that puppies were just like toddlers with all their little habits and accessories? Amanda, the cute little puppy momma brought over her carrier complete with teething toys, puppy wipes, and blankie. When the carrier was unzipped, Miller did a little jumping dance... he could hardly keep his excitement inside. He was enthralled with every movement of the puppy dogs. Miller tried to engage them in a game of toss the tennis ball and wrestle the rope, but they're still learning the art of puppy play. Miller kept digging in their puppy carrier for toys. I think he thought there was a special toy for him if he dug deep enough. He loved poking his head into the back of the carrier and opening and closing the flap. We need to arrange more doggy play dates so Miller can get his puppy fix. We've pretty much decided, we're a cat family around here. I think Jackson has given our family enough responsibility!

Big Blue Ball

Who knew that spending $2.99 at Target could bring our boy so much adventure? We spotted it a few weeks back while shopping at Target. Miller reached up from his perch in the shopping cart to the towering stack of balls a mile high above him. We claimed it as ours after selecting just the right color and size. Landon and Miller had a blast bouncing and kicking the ball and dodging customers all over the store. On our ride home, it was quite a site, Miller's wouldn't let go of the big, blue ball in his car seat. We could barely see out of the back window for heaven's sake! He held onto it for dear life until we drove into the garage and he could finally get his new bouncy ball inside.
We nicknamed it his yoga ball because it's almost as big as he is. He loves to bounce up and down while sitting on it, and throw it up and down the hallway. Today, we took the yoga ball outside for a little while to play with it on the grass. It wasn't long before Carter and Grant from across the street came over to enjoy backyard fun. We played our hearts out until bed time. I'm one exhausted momma tonight.

Baby Season

Spring has sprung. And, so has the stork! It's baby shower season around our house. There's just something about March, April and May...baby arrivals and baby showers are popping up right and left! Lisbeth, Melissa A., The new Mrs. Melissa Simmons, and I hosted a baby shower for Brittany today. We decorated in blues and browns all in honor of baby Hinson due to make an arrival in May. You could feel the love in the room already for this precious baby boy. I could sense Brittany's excitement over the outpouring of love and gifts. There's just nothing like your very first baby shower. Of course, we played a fun game led by the gamemaster, Melissa. Brit had to don a blindfold and guess various baby items in the secret bag. She passed with flying colors!



Our sorority pledge class seems to be following a trend, using their maiden names for baby boys. The tally is three so far: Miller, Dawson, and now Hinson. I just love when you can use family names as a heritage for your newborn.

"Mrs. Simmons" a.k.a. newly married Melissa, brought along these fun moonclouds from Birmingham. Aren't they just the cutest with the H initial? They were oh so yummy.



Fun was had by all. Courtney even toted along baby Anders. Oh how I could have just taken this stunning baby boy home with me. His cheeks were so round and kissable. Can't wait for the next baby to enter the world of Adipi Mommas. Who's next?

Celebrity Chef

Did you see our friend from NY, Curtis Stone on Oprah today? It was an interesting show where celebrity chefs go home with different families and help them transform their boring, or frozen meals into healthy nutritious meals. The family that Curtis transformed averaged $50.00 a night on take out food for their family. Good Golly Miss Molly, that's over $20,000 spent on take out each year. And, how unhealthy! He took them grocery shopping, showed them how to shop with a list and gave them recipes for 7 days of meals. They were shocked at how much they could purchase for $120.00 a week. Each chef has posted the grocery list and recipes on Oprah.com. Check it out

Small disclaimer: Oprah and I aren't BFF's. Even though we share the same birthday, I disagree with some of her far out ideas. I do enjoy watching some of her shows and think that she's done some great things in the world

The New "Newbie" Shoes

So we've had a great debate in our house over the past few weeks on athletic shoes for Miller. After a "pretty please", Landon agreed that Miller could sport red keds again this spring as long as he had a pair of "real" tennis shoes. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate Landon speaking up for Miller's manhood. Poor Landon, always having to put up with my love of monogramming and longalls.
Since I knew Miller's size after measuring him a few weeks back, I went ahead and ordered some New Balance "newbie" shoes online at their outlet store. The best part of the deal was that they arrived at my front door Monday morning. I love UPS shopping & free shipping too!
Problem solved: Shoes that please mommy and daddy!

Same Ole, Same Ole

This weekend brought some much needed same ole, same ole to our house...in a great way! I love our family time of just simply being together. The warmer weather has allowed us to take walks as a family after dinner again, a tradition that I'm excited to start back up this spring. On Saturday, Landon helped one of my dear friends move, while Miller and I ran all sorts of errands to get ready for his family birthday celebration in a few short weeks. We let Miller choose the theme this year with a lot of guidance and steering the cart towards a Landon favorite!
Miller is sporting a new hair cut today. His long, unruly locks were driving me bananas. So after church, we scheduled a snippity snip for our little rag-o-muffin. He looks so handsome with his preppy, short cut. You can tell he's proud of his clean cut look too. I caught him admiring it in the mirror. I told him he was so handsome and he kept repeating to me, "so handsome, so handsome" as I combed it just right across his forehead. I'm so smitten with this little boy of mine.
Miller and Landon enjoyed a fun daddy & me playdate at KidStock, our church park 5 minutes up the road. Shane and Allie met up at the park for some afternoon playtime. It worked out perfectly for this daddy duo to enjoy the kiddos together. It makes daddy duty go by so much more quickly. I always love these opportunities for Landon to share in some of the fun that I get to experience with Miller during the week. And, I heard Miller kissed Allie on the cheek with some prompting I'm sure. Too bad, the dads didn't get any pictures of their adventure at the park.
Besides adjusting to "Springing Forward", a quick visit with Grandmama & Poppy, spring shoe shopping for Miller and amazing Greek burgers compliments of Landon, it was just an ordinary fun filled family weekend around here.

Vroom Vroom

Landon surprised Miller with an Iron Mountain piggy bank truck from work this week. And, as you can imagine Miller can't separate from his new favorite toy. He wants to take it with him in the bath and even to bed at night!

While I was capturing a few shots of our boy playing with his "Ni-orn Mountain" truck this afternoon he kept telling himself," On your bottom", "No truck on table!". I guess he's knows the rules about scratching furniture with all of his toys on wheels! He's played with the truck so roughly, that the top of the piggy bank came off. We now call it a convertible truck. He likes it better this way because now Buzz Light Year can be a passenger in the truck.

I hope Miller's not too disappointed when we tell him that Landon is in sales for Iron Mountain and isn't the truck driver. We'll break it to him slowly over time.

Car Conversations

I can't remember what it was like to drive somewhere without my little chatterbox in the backseat. Miller loves to jazz things up on our travels around town by adding his own little commentary to things going on all around us. Some trips, he just wants to insert certain words to his fave songs. Yesterday, he piped in with "Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho-san-an-a,Ha Ha Ha-lelujah." Heaven forbid, that I skip a song on his favorite CD. He lets you know with a sound of displeasure that you just can't skip songs, they have a certain order that they must be played in.
Things really get exciting when we navigate around a construction zone. Miller shouts out, "steam shovel, biiiiig truck, cement truck, backhoe, bulldozer, oh all the trucks, do ya see them? right, there."

Our tradition every morning in the car on the way to Ms. Karen's is to name all of his buddies to get him excited about the morning. I got him started today by asking, "Who are you going to see today?" Miller's response..."Baby Thomas, Hannah, Caroline, Nathan, and Truck Book." I guess he considers his favorite book at her house, a dear old friend. I laughed right out loud when Miller proceeded to cheer as we were driving up to Ms. Karen's house, "Happy Friday", "Yay!" I guess he's really listening like a sponge every Friday when I greet everyone this way.

Happy Friday to all of our blogging buddies!