Blessing rings and "Umbos"

We received so many sweet cards throughout my pregnancy and upon the birth of our precious firstborn, so I decided to make a "blessing ring" out of all of the cards so I could keep them all together in one {cute} spot!

Ta da!

I just bought a necklace ring from Michael's for $1.99, and used bits and pieces of ribbon from gifts that were given to Mills to tie on here and there, and there you have it!

I love this little reminder of how much he is loved by all of our family and friends.

And a short little story...you've seen the ABC's wall in the nursery,

so each night before Mills goes to sleep, as we're putting on his pajamas, we pick a letter and think of all of the things we can that start with that letter. {Yes, this is quite fun to a girl who, as a child, had spelling words called out to her during car rides, haha. School spelling bee champ what what?!?} ;)  

Anywho, the other night we picked "U" and Nicholas says, "umbo."

I said, "Honey, I don't think that's a word..."

He said, "Yes it is, it's a musical instrument."

I said, "I think you're thinking of an oboe."

He said, "No, umbo. It's an Australian instrument...from Australia, and it makes this sound 'Ohhmmmmmmppppppphhhhhhaaaaaaa'!!!!!!!!!!" (haha, with lots of enthusiasm and vigor)

He had a big smile on his face.

And we both busted out laughing.

Clearly he realized he was incorrect...but he just thought he'd go with it.

This is why I love him. :)

We sure do enjoy our before-bed playtime!

Especially when Daddy's home before bedtime! (This has been a rough month with long hours, bleh!)

caterpillars = not tasty

living on the edge...

...and a little sibling love, while Harley is temporarily acknowledging her brother.

Of course Mills is enthralled with her 24/7!

the little mister

Gnawing on anything in sight...

Haha!

And being silly with Mom!

Gosh I love that kiddo!

Just another day in paradise...

(well, besides waiting at the Verizon store for 2 hours tonight, but so goes it...)

With THIS guy!!!

He's been working on his sippy cup skills, and he's almost got it all figured out - he just needs a tad bit of help tipping it up.

"Geez Mom, you suuuure do love taking pictures of me, don't ya?!?"

Haha, missing the mouth, little guy! I know, I know...it's hard to concentrate on the task at hand when you're posing for the camera!

CHEERS!!!

Little man is on the move 24/7...crawling is just not good enough. Although fun at first, it has now become merely a means to an end...the ultimate goal - something to pull up on and STAND (well that or an electrical outlet or cord)!!! I've been moving breakable items from anywhere near the floor one at a time...you'd be surprised how much that entails! Looks like I'll be doing some rearranging...

Good thing I didn't buy another shady indoor plant to go in this pot, because it looks like it will be moving outside for a while (it may appear sturdy, but that was only long enough to snap a picture or two!)...

What I just had to capture, was that sweet boy's feet in his daddy's flip flops! Of course Daddy left them there (as he tends do with his shoes all over the house), but they just happened to be in this perfect spot.  Mills' feet were already in the flops, so I just slid his right foot up just a teensy bit...because I couldn't resist! :)

he absolutely positively has his dad's feet!

Look at that big boy standing up!

hehe.

So proud.

So tonight I made this purchase from One Step Ahead:

because I'm thinking it could save this guy from lots of bumps and bruises, electrical shocks, and who knows what else! Of course he won't be chained up in this thing all the time like some kind of little prisoner, just hoping he'll enjoying playing in it for a few minutes at a time so I can do things like cook dinner, check my work email, pee...you know, the necessities - without chasing him around nonstop and just praying that he doesn't get hurt. Not that prayer doesn't work, but I'm just trying to help the odds, haha! :)  Plus, this thing is portable, can be used inside or outside, and the ad showed it around a Christmas tree, too - ah ha! Wouldn't have even thought about that but I can only imagine...these people come up with the most creative things...they must have kids.

Groupon Goodies!

Have any of you had any luck with Groupon???  I just joined a few days ago and I've seen some great deals already! I know not all cities are listed (thankfully Charleston is!), but often times the deals listed are online deals, so it doesn't matter where you are located.

I just made my first purchase a few minutes ago, and it was actually Miami's daily deal! Since we just had family pictures taken recently, it was the perfect time to snatch up this 16x20 thick gallery wrapped canvas from Canvas on Demand for only $45, including shipping! {It's normally $127 w/ shipping!} 

**If you want to check out Groupon, here's my LINK**

Now I just need to decide which photo to select!!! Since 16x20 is pretty big, I'm thinking of choosing one of the pictures that is a little more artsy/abstract...if that makes sense...

maybe this one

or this one...

...or this one!

Help! Which one do you think would look best???

And in other news...we've had to get a tad bit more creative on how/where to secure the video monitor...

little stink pot.

Forts, family, and fun!

Friday afternoon I was getting ready for my family to come in town. While I was switching out the sheets in the guest bedroom, I sat Mills next to his activity mat to play. Since he's such a big boy these days, he found another use for it...

A cool new fort! He was just playing away...

He had flipped that little sucker right over and thought he was pretty stinkin' cool...

of course I agreed! :)

"Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh, look what I did!!!"

And of course as soon as I got down on his level he immediately made his way over to me...

hehe, that little booger! :)

On Saturday we hung around the house and even enjoyed the {muggy} hot weather as we sat outside for a few minutes little while...

We met a little froggy friend that my mom took a picture of (her lens was foggy...wonder why!) - he was about the size of my fingertip!

And then we went to Taco Boy out at Folly for an early dinner. Poor Nicholas was post-call, so he slept in lieu of dinner. :(

Mills trying to decide what to order... :)

Mmm, milk hits the spot!

oh that sweet boy of mine...

We walked over to the beach for just a couple of minutes...it's still a little too hot to have the little guy out all day at the beach (we get spoiled at the beach house), but we're definitely planning some little Folly days as it's cooling off just a tiny bit...

MaMa, Mills, and I - we really do love each other a lot, despite the distance between us, haha!

Mom, Mills, and Phil!

Mills has been working on lots of new tricks...as I mentioned last week, he's crawling like a pro - Mom says he looks like a wind-up doll because he moves his little arms and legs at the same time to an exact rhythm, haha, it's so cute! He's also become quite the little "singer" in the past week. :) He's been "singing" like crazy and holds his little notes so long - I swear he has the sweetest voice. :) Not that I'm partial or anything. We've been calling him "Michael Buble" all weekend, haha!

Mom snapped a few pics of his singing face in the backseat of the car!

haha!

He absolutely cracks me up.

Gammy told him that singing and making that face is hazardous to his health because it makes her want to PINCH him!!! :)

Another ride in the car...

And he also has his second tooth coming in, too! Last Saturday it was just the one, and now the other one is poking on through!

close up!

AND, we finally put together Mills' highchair so he can have a little more room to enjoy his meals (and not sit in the Bumbo and try to pull everything off of the counters, added bonus)! He thinks he is hot stuff!

Megan came up from Hilton Head this morning and we enjoyed a fun (but HOT) Sunday brunch! :)

Poor Nicholas had to work again, but we really enjoyed having Gammy, Philly, and MaMa in town!

Once Nicholas got in we had dinner, made a quick trip to the grocery store, and walked over to see Richard and Katie's nursery for Baby Heard - it is coming together so well and the paint job looks AMAZING! :)  If being a GI doc doesn't work out for Richard, we know where his other calling lies... :)

Mills hanging out, enjoying the ride.

And I'm so excited that Katie finally started a BLOG - WooHoo!

We had a wonderful weekend, and we have a BIG week ahead! Time sure does fly once you have a baby, but man, it's soooooo much more fun! :)