What's been goin' on...

So due to the lack of posts last week, I feel the need to backtrack a little bit and recap! My mom and MaMa came down to keep Millsy-bear for the week while I trekked out into the working world for week 2. He had lots of fun all week long, and they said "he never cried" (due to the previous post about the new paci)! Mom and Nicholas also got our yard looking super snazzy and sensationally springy (ah, gotta love alliteration). Now we are no longer an embarrassment to our neighborhood, and our flowers are blooming beautifully! I put my efforts towards shoveling...poop. Yes, our yard had turned into somewhat of a land mine thanks to sweet Harley girl, so mom ordered me to shovel it all into a bucket...let me tell you how fun that was.  Anywho, the final result was fabulous, and we also got our garage cleaned out, too! What a productive week (AND mom did lots of laundry and MaMa did lots of ironing...glorious)!

I'm sure their highlight was hanging out with the little sweetie pie. :)

oh, and me too, right guys? :)

We enjoyed some dinners out, dinners in, and just hanging around!

Harley and Bella enjoyed playing all week long, and of course Nicholas, too! :)

Mom and MaMa kept Mills and Callahan while the "grown-ups" went out for sushi and celebration - Leah turned the big 2-7 on March 19th!

The sweet babes got to hang out again...

Of course they were shy and played "hard to get" at the beginning as usual.

But Mills was pumped to see his number one little chica

We left them playing hard, and we came back they were both zonked! :)

We miss them and wish they could have stayed even longer!!!

Mills has had a stuffy little nose the past few days, and last night had a little bit of a fever, so Nicholas and I took him to the doctor during lunch today.  They think it's just a slight cold, and we're just giving him a little baby tylenol and got some saline rinse from the pediatrician for his nose - I'm not looking forward to that tonight! :(  The dr also told us to bring him into a hot shower when we take ours, because the hot steam helps to break up the nasal congestion (much more so than any type of vaporizer) - I never would have thought of doing that!  Hopefully he'll feel better soon - his little stuffy nose when he's trying to eat is just heartbreaking! Luckily Katie is keeping him while I'm working, and the fact that she's a neonatal nurse makes me feel 100 times better about having to leave him. Although I still miss his sweet face all.day.long.

She sent me this sweet pic of him today

He looks cute even with a cold! :)

Check out this SWEET boy!!!

Usually Mills freezes up on camera, but tonight he was being so cute with his dad! I figured Gammy and MaMa were probably having Mills withdrawals so they might enjoy this. I love his sweet baby talk!

Cooper River Bridge WhAt?!?!

That's right, believe it or not I actually did the Cooper River Bridge Run yesterday!  Of course, last year at this time I had run three 5K races and the route of the bridge run twice.  This year??? Well, let's just say that probably the last time I ran was the bridge run LAST YEAR!!! And yes, I'm serious.  I actually wasn't planning on running it this year, but I thought I may walk it....when I went to sign up, it was full. Soooo, on Wednesday Katie told me her dad had decided not to run it with her, so he was overnighting his race bib for me to use (officially I was a 58 year old male named Bob, ha)!  Talk about a last minute decision!  So I started out with the goal of just making the 6.2 miles, but we actually ended up running about 5.5 of it, only walking on the actual  suspension part of the bridge!  I was so proud! Katie was so sweet to stay with me the whole time and keep me encouraged! Last year we ran it in an hour, this year in 1 hour 15 minutes - not too shabby considering our preparation!

The only downside? I can barely walk today!!!!!

WE DID IT!!! :)

The boys weren't exactly on time to meet us at the finish line (evidently they thought we would take a LOT longer), but Nicholas, Mills, and Richard joined us downtown.

Lots of people running have themed outfits or fun and/or serious phrases on the back of their shirts. Katie said I should have put "I have a TWO MONTH OLD" on my back, haha!

With our #1 FAN:

Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at the rooftop bar (Market Street Pavilion), and celebrated with kobe burgers and lobster and portobello pizza - yummmm!  Thanks, Katie, for being such a great friend!

American Idol 2020

My aunt sent me this video she took on her cell phone last night and I just had to show off how talented my little Peyton is! She started taking guitar lessons, and at 8 years old, I think she's pretty stinkin' GOOD!!! :) What do YOU think?!? :)

"Say hello to my (new) little friend..."

(sorry for the quality, it was taken from my SIL's iPhone)

My new Paci!

That's right, we have moved on from the "soothie" hospital paci to this new guy! Mills began to have a love/hate - actually, no, hate/hate relationship with the former paci...as in if he was crying before, he would SCREAM when you put the paci in his mouth, and then gag like you were trying to choke him with it! Can we say drama KING??? But I still liked to have it in my purse when we went out, because if he got upset somewhere, I could still quiet him down with it if I held my finger in the opening...very high maintence.

Well...Friday night the three of us headed out to dinner, and I realized on the way that I had forgotten our safety net - the paci - but we didn't want to turn back around and go get it, so I ran in CVS to grab a new one! The only soothie paci they had was pink, and I knew daddy would NOT go for that, so I grabbed the only other option that was for less than 3 months old, the Gerber Nuk Orthotic, and Mills LOVES it! :) (Of course I may jinx myself and this may change tomorrow.) He sat through dinner awake and looking around, just sucking away! And it stays in his mouth so well that now we can just lay him down or put him in the swing with it and he falls asleep SO FAST! Needless to say, we love it, too! And we have cute styles of this paci that we received for shower gifts (and cute paci clips that will fit, too), but I was just afraid it was too soon to start experimenting. Nope, this new thing works like a charm! :)

We're still here!!!

It has been over a week since I've posted - a blogging sin, I know...but here's the recap!
I started back to work and had an eastern sales meeting all week long in Myrtle Beach - what a way to start back after maternity leave! Luckily, my mother-in-law kept Mills all day long, and then I got to *sneakily* stay with them at the condo at night. Mills LOVED playing with his Lulu during the days, and even though I missed him so much, he was in good hands! :)  All during the day I got picture texts from them that said cute things like "Hey mom, just thinking about you" and "Good luck today, mom. I love you." It was sooo stinkin' sweet (and I was soooo impressed with my MIL's newfound tech-savy skills)! :) On Monday, Jennifer and Gray came down to spend the night and the cousins got to play (be prepared for a picture overload).

I LOVE this one:

"Simon says..."

"Now let's have a dance party!"

Party animals!

"Now show me your best dance move!"

Haha, i just love them!

Gray says, "Man, Mills...this life we live in the spotlight is exhausting!!!"

I think they're gonna be best buds!

On Wednesday, Mills celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day!  This little onesie was the very first thing I bought when I found out I was pregnant, haha! I was in Target during my lunch break, and it was well after St. Patty's Day last year so this little thing was on clearance for like $1.99. I didn't know what I was having yet, so I figured this was pretty gender-neutral (we could have added a green bow for a girl, ha!), and I was just dying to buy something. :) But I couldn't have imagined then just how cute this little guy would be in it!

He even sent a text picture to his girlfriend, Callahan, to wish her a happy st. patty's day - very hi-tech, this kid!

Momma getting to take advantage of a little st. patty's smooch!

Lulu and Mills - so festive!

Pappy drove down Thursday night to visit with the little guy, too!

Love my Pappy!

Well I made it through the first week back, whew! Thanks for all of the comments, facebook posts/messages, texts, and calls of encouragement. Mills and I were glad to get home because we missed sweet Daddy (and Harley!) so very much! Mommy rewarded herself for making it through the first week with a little stop at Anthropologie on the way home (don't even get me started on how Myrtle Beach has one and Charleston does not - what the heck!).  :)

I promise that I'll be back to regular-scheduled blogging now - there's so much to catch up on!

Happy Weekend, Friends!!!

It's Friday...

TGIF OH NO IT'S FRIDAY!!! :(
Normally people are thrilled when Friday rolls around, myself included, but not this Friday because it's my last day of maternity leave...and who would want to leave this sweet little face all day long???

NOT ME!!!

And what better way to be thrown back into the working world then with a week full of meetings?!? Bleh! But luckily my mother-in-law is keeping Mills next week (Lulu!), my mom is coming to keep him the following week (Gammy!), and then he's gonna be bouncing around with friends the next week, because once April comes around I'm taking an additional 4-6 weeks off with him (long story, but I've been with my current company for a year in April, so that's when I'm eligible for {unpaid} FMLA leave, so instead of taking my leave all at once, I have to break it up).  But the good news is as hard as it's gonna be to go back next week, at least I have that light at the end of the tunnel - more time with my sweet little love in April! :)

Nicholas had the day off yesterday, so after I fed Mills early in the morning, I laid Mills next to Nicholas and went downstairs to pump. When I came back up, this is what I saw:

sweetest sight in the whole wide world!

we enjoyed some good ole family time, and went to dinner (thanks to the camera timer and our mantle we actually have a family pic!). I should also note that on a day off, we got up at 8:30 AM and when we got in bed, I looked at the clock and it was 9:30!!! Umm, have you met me??? I *used to be able to* sleep til noon and stay up til 2 or 3 am! Welcome to the "new normal." We're now like an 80 year old couple, haha!

Today we enjoyed lunch with Calee and Finley downtown, and Mills and I took a nap together this afternoon. And we played lots.

And evidently he was exhausted because after I fed him again I sat him on the pillow for two seconds and he fell asleep on my leg, haha. 

Oh how I LOVE spending days with him! I hope this weekend goes by
v e r y s l o w!

Milk-a-what?!?

(First of all, happy one month birthday to my sweet nephew, Gray!!! :) We love you and can't wait to see you again soon!)
I love commercials with cute babies - my current favorites are the Huggies commercial where the guy is changing the baby boy's diaper and his pee sprays up and hits the ceiling like a fire hydrant, and the coupon commercial where the lady is eating all of the samples at the grocery store to save money and the baby is just screaming, haha! And I also think the ETrade commercials are funny. But did you see where Lindsay Lohan is suing ETrade for ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS because of the reference to the name "Lindsay" as a "milkaholic" in their newest commercial? Like there aren't eleventy billion other people in the world named Lindsay (and, is that really such a slam considering the fact that she has openly gone to rehab how many times for all kinds of drugs)?? Evidently she claims that she is "one name famous" like Madonna, Oprah, or Cher. Seriously, Lindsay?

And speaking of "milkaholics," I happen to know a pretty cute one:

He throws back bottles of milk like nobody's business! :)

And he always nurses responsibly. :)

Randomness galore!

Happy Hump Day!
What have we been up to today??? A whole bunch of nothing...fabulous nothing all day long! :) This morning we had some fun time - a little music lesson (more on that later), and then some playtime with this little cutie patootie!

I LOVE watching this little guy learn new things!!!

And I love this girl, too!

(and I promise I wasn't neglecting Mills, he was just getting a little worn out from tummy time!)

So I didn't post my menu monday this week, but I've still been sticking to it! Last night we had Sweet-Spicy Glazed Salmon (from Cooking Light via myrecipes.com - I would attach the link but for some reason it's not working!) with sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli, tonight we had light penne a la vodka with grilled chicken and salad, and later this week we're having chicken and summer vegetable tostadas! The salmon was A-MAZING! Sadly, I had never cooked salmon at home before and I was muy proud of myself! (And it was soooo easy, but if you cook it don't tell anyone that!) :) And Nicholas said the meal tonight was his very favorite that I've cooked, so a thumbs up on that one, too! A few people have e-mailed me asking for the recipes, and if you want them just shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll send them to you! Maybe one day I'll be a fancy blogger and start a site for all my recipes, too... just call me Susie! :)  ha!
{Also, I have had a few people ask me about how to follow the blog or comment - the easiest way to do both is probably just to start a gmail (google) email - it's free and super easy - and then it will let you know whenever I update the blog!}

In other random news, we just got our house exterminated again (which we do religiously every three months because we live in coastal SC) last week.  And if you live in, or have visited this area, then you know all about these notorious "palmetto bugs," which we Southerners like to call them to make it sound a little less disgusting then what they actually are...cockroaches.  Thankfully (I'm knocking on wood right now), we have not had a problem with them at our house here in Charleston. Thank you, Lord. I say that again because if you knew me when I lived in Hilton Head one summer in college, you would know that I had a nice, neat apartment and still had a horrible roach bug (ahem, excuse me, "palmetto bug") problem. As in they would always conspire to come out when it was only me there, and I would have to call my mom on the phone for moral support so that I could run really close to it, spray it, and then run back. And repeat. Until it was so stiff with bug spray that it resembled a plastic, toy bug.  But then of course I still would have to wait on someone to come over who would pick it up...probably because I was raised in a house where we put a cup over a bug until my dad got home to take care of it, hahaha! (I won't even start on the story of when I lived in NYC and a bat flew into my apartment, right mom? haha) These suckers fly, too, by the way.  So anywho, back to the task at hand...so every time we have our house exterminated, I always find these yucky things dead in the house. And I'm not complaining because they're dead. But they're still there. And have you noticed that even though those things may be lying on their back, they're actually still alive - yes, they play dead - but they're actually like the energizer bunny, they can last for hours...heck, days! There was this one in our living room today, on its back, completely looking dead, but every time I walked past it it would wiggle its legs and those long creepy antenna..EWWWWWWWWWW!!! I get goosebumps just THINKING about it! Luckily, Nicholas does not have a fear of bugs (good thing, or we probably wouldn't be together, ha!), and he took care of it when he got home from work!  

Okay, enough about gross things, I'll leave you with some more pics of someone that's stinkin' CUTE!