Halloween

Millie is a mermaid!  She loves to play dressup with almost every princess, but she loves Ariel and Mulan at the present time.  For Halloween Millie trick or treats with her cousins at Aunt Jill and Uncle Rob's house.  We have so much fun watching the kids run from house to house until Millie is done, then she wants Mommy and Daddy to go up to the house for her.  What an adventure it is to have a child that is so full of life and energy fill our house and hearts during the most precious times in our life.  Today Millie went with me to vote, she was the one who pushed to ballot button for mommy and it was so special for me.

Our annual trip to Lake Rudolf

Millie had such a great time doing the Holiday World thing and riding every ride that she was tall enough to ride.  She has no fear, the more it spins and the higher it goes the more she screams "I wanna do it again Momma!"  Four is my favorite age at the present time.  I'm sure I say that every time she hits a new stage in her short life, but at this age she is still so innocent and sweet but at the same time she is gaining so much knowledge and thinks that nature is so wonderful.  I have paid more attention to acorns, twigs, leafs, trees and flowers than I think I have ever in my life.  While walking through Holiday World Millie wanted to smell and pick all of the flowers that we came across.  While camping she collected rocks and acorns in bags that were her jewels that Ariel found at the bottom of the sea.  She trick or treated and savored every piece of candy that she got from each camper.  I love that she is so thankful, makes me think I doing an OK job in some ways.  This year she is going to dress up to be the Little Mermaid, she is so stinkin cute I can't stand it.
Millie roasted marshmellows, trick or treated with cousins, Carson and Reese, danced the night away with the little girl that camped next to us at the costume contest and managed to eat tons of candy.  Love this baby girl!!! 

Wedding Post

Millie at 4!!

Well it's her Birthday and she started school today in the pre-K program.  How come all of Millie's first have to be my last's?  I have tried to embrace every minute of Millie growing up, but still feel like she is getting to big too fast.  When I left her in the classroom today she couldn't wait for me to leave, she was waving at me and giving me big hugs before I left.  I love that she can adapt so well, going to childcare has helped us with that, but I still worry because Millie has soooo much energy.  The age of 4 means so much around our house, she has become a big girl with big idea's, she isn't a toddler anymore, she a little person with so much to say, do, and explain to us how to do.  Her birthday party was so nice because we just had a small get together with fun playing for her and cake, all Millie wanted was for everyone to sing to her.  Mermaids are the big thing this year and she was showing off her dress that Momma and Daddy gave her as a gift the entire day.

 This one is for Millie.  As we sat down everynight before you went to bed, we spelled your last name, counted how many letters were in your entire name, practiced your address and phone number, recited your birthdate and then we prayed.  Your prayers were Now I lay me down to sleep, and then you thanked God for Everyone that you could think of that you love, and before we finished you prayed for your birthmother in China, and we thanked God for her love that brought you to us and wished she could see how much we love each other.  That is really hard for me to say without crying so you say it for us without batting an eye, your so brave and smart it melts my heart angel face.  Then as I watch you pray for her and hope she is happy, you ask God in the sweetest voice I have ever heard if he could please, please, please bring you a mermaid fin for your birthday so you can swim in the water like Areil.  That makes me laugh and we hug and kiss so many times before you go to sleep.  Thank you for all of you memories that make me feel so full of love and happiness.

3 years since we gottcha!!!

I have to share this one to all who still check this, I have graduated nursing school and am now a RN!!!  I have accomplished what I thought was impossible for me to do while becoming a mommy to a beautiful little baby girl who is full of energy and laughter three years ago.  I love my life and the best is yet to come.  Millie is quite the little talker now a days.  She is a little helper and wants nothing more than everyone to pay close attention to her and her princess ways.  I have a very hard time getting her to slow down long enough to eat or for anyone else to speak to me.  I would complain but, after all I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Millie is so smart, she does so well with her school work, the attention span is not very long.  We are so blessed to have such a woderful gift in our home.  Soon we will be adding to the number of Raisor's, Shawn will be having a baby boy soon, and we are so excited!!

It's been so long

Millie is growing so fast, I have been so busy with being an adult student that I have not had very much spare time to catch up on this blog. But I am going to make this a goal of mine for Millie. She is now 3, she is still going to school. Millie is getting ready for Halloween and is going to be Tinker Bell!!!! The pictures will show the glam of her outfit. Millie went to the beach this summer to her grandparents house and had the time of her life swimming in their pool and in the ocean, which made me very nervous. Her favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse so we are planning to go to Disney World. That is what has started this Tinker Bell obsession. I took her to see Disney on ice this past summer and she fell in love with Tinker Bell, Millie thinks that she can skate on Halloween as Tinker.

TIME is moving too FAST!!

I have missed being able to sit down and write about Amelia and what she is doing!!! And there really is no excuse for me not doing it other than I have no time. I'm in school all day, with Millie till she goes to bed and then it's study time. I just won't sit down and write anything, I have to feel it. Lately that has been a struggle. Millie is potty trained and has been since the weekend after Thanksgiving. She spent Thanksgiving in Florida with her Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Daddy this year. I was unable to go because of school. She loves to swim, and they have a pool, so she was in heaven. When she came home in the airplane, I waited at the gate for them, with tears in my eyes of course, she was very happy to see me. All she could do was put both arms around her Daddy and Mommy's neck and scream. Christmas was a very big deal this year, pure excitement. Her favorite toy was her jumpy. We have wore that thing out. It has a hole in it now so we need to patch it. She is full of energy. Santa still gets talked about once a week or so. The lights on houses and at the Zoo were a huge hit. It has been awhile since I have gotten this excited about Christmas. I can't wait till next year. Millie is back in School (daycare) and she is loving it. She can count to 30, knows all of her ABC's even recognizes them on paper, trying to write her name. She loves to drawl and color, loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse. She has learned so much in the past 4 months that I can't believe how much she has absorbed. I hated the thought of her going to daycare from the very start, but it has made such a big difference in Millie's speech. She is pretty clear now, still some area's that need to be worked on, but that will come. The daycare talks endlessly about how smart she is, and I hope that she keeps it up, I don't want her to struggle with learning the way I do. But she does get into trouble at home and in school for attitude and behavior. She is a live wire and as I have heard many times, a leader and not a follower. She tries to run the show in every situation, and will not give up, but neither will I, most of the time. She is the light of my life and I thank the big guy everyday for the gift he gave me.

Halloween

SNOW WHITE in her cutest form!! Face painting at school, parties and tons of candy while trick or treating with her cousins and PawPaw and Grandma!!

All About My First's

We went to Huber's with Kaelin and Millie to pick our pumpkin's, and they had a blast. What a sweet day for us. As you can tell Millie is almost as tall as Kaelin now. She is getting so tall and still thin. Her weight is almost at 23 pounds at over two years old. She loves having Kaelin over so she can play and try to boss her around, and they are starting to play well together now. We also went to a get together with Millie to a good friend of ours house and Millie got to sit on a horse for the first time. She was a bit worried at first when I didn't get on it with her, but she did warm up some. She likes to pet them on the face of all places on top of their nose, makes me a little worried but I watch her close. This week Millie starts back to school, our babysitter is pregnant so we are going back to the daycare. It was a great time for Millie to get the one on one with the sitter, but she needs some interaction with other kids now and I'm very anxious to see how it goes this time. I hope she will like it, and have a great day!! Come back and see her costume next week..

Saying Bye-Bye to Pawpaw and Mawmaw!!

It' s that time of year again for Millie and her Paw paw and Maw maw!! They spend the winter months in Florida and Millie has to say goodbye to them. Even though she doesn't know that they are leaving it still gets to me and Paul. We are still amazed at how she pay special attention to her grandparents on both sides of the family. She truly has a special bond with them. You would never know that they weren't there the first months of her life. Millie like any other child I'm sure picks her people she wants to give all of her attention to and they in return to her. She was forced to be with Mommy and Daddy, but she has picked them to love and cherish. She does have many favorites but Grandparents take trump to everyone. It melts my heart to watch her interact with them. I thought she would have a hard time fitting in with the rest of the grand kids before I met her, but Millie fits in where she wants to, in the middle of it all. We miss them and get to talk to them by the skype camera Paw paw Jim gave us before they left. She wants to call every day to give them kisses, but we have to limit her to 3 times a week or so. If she had it her way everyone would have a camera so she could see them on the computer. She walks to it every time the phone rings and asks to talk. So smart!!!

Millie in her toddler bed??

Tracy bought Millie a toddler bed for her birthday and I have had it in Millie's room for about 2 months and she hasn't even acted like she wanted to sleep there, but lately she has been laying in it and asking to sleep there. So tonight on a day when she wouldn't take a nap and has been playing all day outside she asked while saying her prayers to sleep there again. So we tried it out, never got up or cried, went to sleep like a little angel, and I didn't stay in the room. We are so shocked. I do know that it will change and I may have more trouble in the future but WOW!!! I may be posting next time that things didn't work out, but I'm so proud anyway. She is growing up so fast.

Birthday party girl. I can't believe that she is 2!! She is talking and running all day long. Millie loves Elmo and thinks about him all the time. Which was her birthday theme of course. This blog will be so funny to her when she reads about this when she is a teenager. She watches his movie on the DVD player that Momma and Daddy bought her for the car. She used to cry and scream the entire time we tried to take her somewhere that took more than 15 minutes, but now, ELMO lives in the head rest in front of her and we all couldn't be happier. She doesn't watch TV at home, way to busy for that, only in the car. She glady greeted everone that came to her party, she is quite the social bug. I'm still getting used to that!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO AMELIA, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
She has grown so much in just one year. And if you ask her who is Momma's gift from God? She will tell you MILMIE!!! There is no other way to describe what she is to Momma and Daddy. She had a big night at Chucky-cheese. We left a picture that we had made of Millie in one of the machines, and a man walked up to us and laid it on the table. He said to us that picture is cute but it can't even capture how beautiful that baby is! How sweet of him. As I turned around to say thank you to him, I saw that he had a handful of kids and a really nice wife that took a great deal of interest in Millie and our process to get her. They are on the waiting list and have been for 4 years, which made me get very emotional for them. I can remember seeing people out with their daughters which were adopted and just wanting to talk to them, look at the end result, pure happiness in that families eyes. I hope Millie and I gave that to them, because Millie was having a blast and everyone in that knew it. Millie did think that all of the horse games belonged to her and told plenty of children to move, and screamed no to them as they got on the ride. We are always noticed one way or the other.

Update on Millie

Millie is growing up so fast, she is really trying to communicate with us now. Her personality is so cute and funny. She loves to laugh and play with anyone that will give her some attention. She has a laugh that is contagious. I have come home from school and had two test to study for, stressed out about when and how I would fit that in with everything else in my day and Millie sits down in my lap and starts trying to give me her fish kisses in the eyes. Everything stops and I forget that I have so much to do, and enjoy. She always, wants to enjoy us, so my world stops for her. She likes to scratch my back and in return me hers. Her favorite books are anything with Elmo, she is attempting to count to 10, learning her colors. Maybe she is just average but I think she so smart, way smarted than her mother. Our Grand baby Kaelin, Millie's niece just turned 3, I really can't believe how beautiful and sweet she is. Millie was there to get the first taste of the cake, with her hand in the middle of it.

Happy Father's Day!!

Well it's been awhile, and I have been behind on my posting's but today is Father's Day, and although it's a very difficult day for the people that have lost their dad's, I felt like we needed some picture's of Millie enjoying hers. Millie's daddy lost his dad and I know he has a hard time celebrating without him but we try to make the best of it. Yesterday we went to the lake with Papaw and Mamaw Waggoner to celebrate with them, had a wonderful time. Millie likes to swim with us and would stay out in it all day if we would. She also loved the speed boat, Papaw let her drive and she screamed at her cousin's while they skied and tubed behind us. It is the longest time I have ever seen her sit still. She was amazed by the site of them on the water. Millie has had so many experiences in such a short time with us, she is one blessed little girl with so many wonderful people in her life.

Today we went to celebrate Father's Day with Papaw Willett at Aunt Jill's house. We ate breakfast and played with all of her cousin's. Millie has a big thing about screaming out names to get them to watch her. Daddy gets called on when we are at home, over and over, I get called on if no one else is around, but if we are around Papaw's then they are screamed at by the top of her lungs. So today was Papaw's turn, and everyone knew when she wanted his attention. He takes it very well considering that he had 6 other grand kids around to give attention to. Millie thinks she is the one and only for everyone. But she gets that from being our pride and joy. She will never have to work to hard to get mine or daddy's, we love just to hear her sweet little voice trying to communicate with us how much she wants us to watch her and love her. And that we have no problem doing. Her personality has grown so much in the last month. She is really trying to talk in sentences. She has some separation anxiety with me and her daddy leaving her. She wants to play and laugh all the time, and if she thinks that something is funny she wants to share it with us. She is getting to be very picky about eating. but that's typical at her age, she still throws screams and smears food at the dinner table,(lots of fun) she does have a time out chair that she likes to play in, again lots of fun! Terrible two's here we come!!! That's it for know I need to catch up on some studying.