Easter Celebrations!

 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:8-11

Look what the Easter Bunny brought this sweet little guy!

Mills with his goodies...

The Bunny brought him a beach towel for the summer, peeps (for mom to eat when they get stale, yum yum!), a chocolate Benjamin Bunny, a Baby Einstein Noah's Ark video...

And a few books (Green Eggs and Ham was one of mommy's favorites!)

One book even has the Millsy-bear's picture in it!

The Easter Bunny brought mommy some shorts and a skirt, imagine that!

And Daddy some new boat shoes!

That Easter Bunny is one thoughtful dude! :)

And remember those beautiful and yummy Rice Krispies Easter eggs we made yesterday that I blogged about???

Boy, they sure turned out cute! And we would have enjoyed those too, but after I decorated them and was sliding them on a pan to put in the refrigerator for a few minutes...I dropped every.single.last.one.of.them.on.the.floor.  And then I cried.

So I thought this serving plate (that my Aunt Myra gave me a few years back) was the perfect thing to display them in, even if we couldn't eat them!

Nicholas had to be at work really early, but Mills and I were able to pick him up at the hospital on our way to church so we could all go together! It was Mills' first time, and he did really well - Nicholas bounced him in the back for the second half of the sermon just because he got a little restless, but he really was such a good boy! Afterwards we enjoyed brunch with Richard and Katie at Hominy Grill - YUM! Then we had to drop Nicholas back off at the hospital!

So sadly, this was our only family Easter picture! Partly because Nicholas had to work, and Mills and I couldn't stay in our Easter clothes all day, and partly because Nicholas and I both woke up with one wonky eye, haha! (That term belongs to my friend Danielle) :)  As evidenced here:

...and here:

We're not sure if it's just allergies, or the beginnings of pink eye, but both of our right eyes are red, drainy, and yucky - boo!

But we still managed to have a fun afternoon and evening playing with the little guy!

(be prepared for picture overload!)

All that playing was exhausting!!

But then we woke up and PLAYED SOME MORE!!!

And then we napped some more!

Whew, what a Happy and Fun Easter we had! We missed our grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins though! Hopefully next year we can have a super fun Easter egg hunt!

Happy Easter from the Wallace Family! :)

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's on its Way!

We had a busy, fun-filled day today! We started off with a trip to the mall, because I realized I had completely forgotten about having Mills' picture made with the Easter Bunny!!! And although completely cheesy, what kind of mom would I be if I didn't take him to meet the Easter Bunny for his very first EASTER!?!? Haha, right? So of course I shelled out the $40 for the photo CD so I could share this sweet picture with all of you!

Worth it?? ABSOLUTELY! :)

And of course this little froggy came *free* with our purchase! :)

I actually shopped around a little bit while Mills did this:

And we got lots of goodies at Target to help the Easter Bunny fill Mills' basket.

When we got home, we got busy making Rice Krispies Easter egg treats. Mills was such a big help! ;)

He did a great job "stirring"...

And just plain looking cute!

Afterwards, he wanted to show dad just how hard he worked, so we did the ole "toss a little flour on your face" trick from the old commercials! :)

hehe

Slap worn out, I tell ya! :)

After all that mess, we had to clean up a little with a nice warm and relaxing bath.

And then we headed out to dinner at Sesame - a great burger joint that is actually in the mall (a little ghetto, yes...did we make fun of Leah and Matt when they told us that they eat at the mall Sesame about once a week? Yes. Was it amazingly delish? YES!!!) :)

We just got in, and now it's time to decorate our rice krispies eggs (next year we'll be dying real eggs, too, just like we've always done with my family!) and put Mills' easter basket out in the yard so the Easter Bunny can fill it when he hops through tonight! Do ya'll do that??? I love traditions, and that's something I always did growing up, that my dad did when he was growing up! And then on Easter morning, you run outside to see your fabulously filled basket! 

Mills can hardly wait.

John 3:16

The first Bible verse I memorized when I was little.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

I was thinking about this very verse today, on Good Friday, and just how hard that must have been. I cannot really comprehend it, because I'm human, but what a mighty sacrifice God gave for me and for you. And this little face gives me just a glimpse of the depth of that amazing sacrifice.

...a different perspective, as I look at my one and only son.

This lenten season I gave up chocolate (as I've mentioned before), but I sometimes feel like we give up things for the wrong reasons. I know lots of people give up fried food, fast food, or maybe dessert, and also hope to lose a few pounds in the process (and I've been guilty before!)...but lent isn't supposed to be a diet plan! I actually gave up chocolate because I was enjoying hot chocolate so much (w/ our new coffee maker - no diet goal, it was only 70 calories, ha), and I wanted to give up something I was eating on a regular basis.  And of course I had my few "cheats," some intentional and some not!  But I've also only listened to Christian music during Lent.  And after doing both, I really think that committing to something instead of giving up something is more meaningful for me.  Although Christian radio stations tend to be a little cheesy at times (especially the radio commercials...which is soooo unfortunate!), I ended up with songs stuck in my head that were positive and uplifting all day long! My personal favorite is NeedToBreathe - not only because they're from the same hometown as I am, but also because they're awesome! :) Bo Rinehart was just a year older than us, and his sister, Hannah was in our grade - knew them both well - and Joe Stillwell's dad was my preacher growing up - he actually is the one who baptized me!  NeedToBreathe is not just on Christian radio, but featured in movies and they have become really well-known - it's neat to see people that you grew up with doing so well!  Among my top favorites of theirs are:

Something Beautiful - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH4rC4oPfoU

Lay 'em Down - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcupoogtxis

Washed by the Water - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOs3x94Wos
Click the links and check them out! :)

Happy Good Friday, and even more amazingly, Happy Easter Weekend! 

April Fools!!!

I thought about pulling an April Fools' Day prank here on the blog, but then I decided that causing heart failure (or excitement, depends on how you look at it I guess, ha!) among my family members and close friends was less than desirable! :)  So I just gave it a shot with Leah instead...

My text said "Oh my gosh...I'm pregnant."

But I followed it with this:

April Fools!!!

She said she hoped it was april fools' (of course adding in that she'd be happy if it were true, though) - haha, but I'm not sure if she really fell for it or not!

I gave it a shot with Nicholas this morning...I texted (hmm, not sure if that is grammatically correct - usually I'm OCD about this, but with this newer form of "text" as a verb, should it be texted in past tense, or text...like the word "read" works...does that make sense??) so anyway, back to the story, I *text* him this morning saying that I quit my job, I just couldn't handle being away from Mills during the day. He immediately text me back saying "april fools!" Dang it! He said he knew me too well, haha! So I was basically 0 for 2 today.

Oh and by the way, Tuesday was National Doctors Day,

and I completely forgot to give a shoutout to my very favorite doctor of all...this guy:

:)

“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head." -William Osler

Nicholas really is such a great doctor, and he truly loves his patients and is dedicated to improving their health and doing everything he can for them. He is so very compassionate and he constantly prays for his patients and their families. He's a hard worker and he saves lives every single day. I'm so proud of him and thankful to have him as my husband. And believe it or not, he's an even better father and husband, if that's possible! :)

So I wonder when National Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Day is...

(bahahahahhahaha!)

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!!!