Birthday Extravaganza!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the long awaited birthday highlights.
The party was awesome! It was a fantastic day weather wise and also in party festivities. Jonathan held up remarkably well. I was worried about two things...
1. He would scream when we all sang Happy Birthday
and
2. I have been to enough one year birthday parties, to know that the "too much party" meltdown.
We (he) successfully avoided both. Mommy held up quite well too.
Here are the highlights.
Thank you to all who were present and those who wished they were!!


We began the day going to breakfast--our first trip in the forward facing car seat.



Great Gramma Betty and Aunt Laura both had weddings that day-so they came to breakfast with us. Here is Jonathan spinning the wheels (his favorite thing) of his new car from Great gramma.
Jonathan and Cousin Emily had a great time crawling around together.



Ahh, our first bite of cupcake. We liked the frosting but could care less about that spongy cakey thing. (just like my great-aunt Marylain)More playing on the floor together.

The birthday cupcake-cake!


The birthday boy and his mama!
This picture is for gramma-so she can see that Jonathan doesn't always cry around her!


Here is a video Everette put together of the afternoon-especially present opening.

I am retarded

Seriously, I am. My brother's cd release party is SATURDAY (like it says on the flyer). I for some reason have it in my head it is Friday, but it is most definantly SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Come to this

If you live in Lafayette and you are looking for something this Friday. You should come here.....



It is my brother's band-super cool and totally awesome CD release party. You really really really should come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is their website!. With more information.

It is seriously going to be a good time!

Ouch! That stings!

I promise very soon I will have birthday highlights, video and pictures. Today is just not the day. Apparently I was more exhausted than I thought on Sunday. I excused myself from lunch at my in-laws (which I was falling asleep in the middle of) to go take a "quick" three hour nap on their basement couch. Then I was careless about my caffeine intake and didn't fall asleep until 7 AM this morning (I have email correspondence to prove it). But more than that....
What do you do when someone who is your elder-who you look up to, wounds you seriously.
This is what I am dealing with. I want to be careful, but I have to speak. This person is someone who has kids my age-I have known her for a long time. I have been in ministry together with her, I look up to her as a mentor and sister in Christ. That being said--without going into details, she behaved (in my opinion) like an immature high school queen bee. She intentionally used sneaky tactics to manipulate a certain situation to get her way- and leave me on the outs.
Which has had me thinking all day.
1. Since middle school I have gone to great lengths to surround myself with low drama people. I never had any major roommate drama in college. I had/have good, solid, stable, loving friends. Quite frankly I don't have the stomach for 90210 drama. This instance really knocked me off my feet-it came out of nowhere, and from the least likely person. So what do I do? I'll tell you what I'd like to do. I have an earful swirling around in my head-waiting to get dumped.
2. It is way more hurtful coming from the source it did. If it was someone my age I think I could deal. I think I have continued to live in this generation gap. I am a grown-up yes, but those people my parents age are"more" grown-up than me. Or so I assumed. What do you do when your role model doesn't behave like a role model. Welcome to adult hood... the giant multi-generational cess pool. People stink. and sometimes church people really stink.

God has been reminding me that "all fall short of the glory of God." ALL of us, and all of us ALL the time. I know that in all honesty I have been guilty of far worse, and I cannot stand in judgement. But I would like to think that my juvenile manipulative, high school behavior was over in high school. Where I'd hoped others had left theirs too.
I am sure these wounds will heal and I hope I can forgive. But right now, I am really cheesed, and I little piece of whatever was left of my innocence has sadly fallen away.


On a much brigher note... Bethany, I hope that you read this. I was thinking of you in the grocery store today when I was sad and then I was a little happier ( I don't know if you are aware of this-but as far as I know it is impossible to think of you and be sad!)... Jonathan had his new outfit on today. I looked for yellow puma's at Meijer-no such luck.
However-the icing on the cake, as I was putting the pants on him, I noticed the washing instructions tag simply said "wash whenever this get's dirty"
This is not a joke :)

Hilarious video

As promised, here is the adorably hilarious video. Everette caught this on Wednesday while I was out at Bible Study. I had seen Jonathan with his hand stretched out while Max was licking it, and I had suspected such an activity. But never before was it so obvious and so obviously delightful. Everette told me to mention that his mouth at the time was full of peas. Just before this he was eating one then sharing one.
Also-- tomorrow is the big day-I have been pretty sad today. Hopefully I will be in a better mood tomorrow.

A break in my total self-absorption

So I realized that I should mention some rather serious things that are going on in other people's lives. Everette's uncle, Everette, was in a rather serious car accident involving another car and a school bus. He was the last car in the row, but he ended up with the most serious injuries. All the kiddies on the bus were fine-they barely felt it. The other driver was treated and released, but Everette's shoulder harness failed and he smashed into the steering wheel pretty hard (he has a big circle on his chest). They are keeping him at St E overnight. They have ruled out any internal injuries, but he has a large hematoma on his chest that they are concerned may cause blood clots. They seem pretty optimistic that he will be released tomorrow.
I also have a friend that is going through a pretty rough time right now-you know who you are. I love ya and I am praying for ya.
ok. that's enough caring... back to me :)
(this is a joke-just so we are clear)

A brand new day

So today, was a new day, a better day. Jonathan was nearly his old self again, which leads me to believe that it was either-teeth (another tooth broke through) or upset tummy(gigantic--I mean gigantic poop this morning--I mean chuck it all and take a bath poop). At anyrate, he seems back to normal. I had some precious mommy time-I so love those girls and that time. We are quickly approaching Jonathan's big one year b-day. Truthfully I am trying not to think about it. Currently it seems like this huge life-changing event, but I am guessing it will pass like almost any other birthday. The differences from one day to the next will probably be relatively minute. The growing up happens in between the birthdays. And that has already happened.
Oh FYI-I have an adorably hysterical video to post. It is currently on our video camera-which requires a few extra steps to upload (verses our digital camera) but it is so worth it. If you don't see it in a few days, start bugging me about it!

It takes a Village

This is a phrase frequently thrown around what has recently become known as Wild Wednesdays. My impromptu playgroup. We say it as we wipe random runny noses, change any diapers within arms reach and run after any kid about to jump into the deep water. It is so true. Today was a rough day at the Mills household. My sweet, good-natured, flexible, easy-going, adorable, happy little boy was kidnapped and replaced with a cranky, whiny, clingy, screaming, teething (I hope that's what it is), sleep deprived monster. It was only 10 AM and I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it all day and night. Everette had three different meetings this evening starting at 4:30 and ending at 9 PM so he wasn't going to be around in the evening, and on these days-he is usually in a crunch all day trying to get his regular work done. So, I called my mom. I knew this was her day off and I was hoping for some backup. I would have been happy just to have her come over and stay awhile so that someone else could pick up and hold Jonathan. You know.. to not have to be "on". My mom, bless her heart, offered to keep jonathan at her house for a few hours in the evening so that I could run some errands alone. Sweet aloneness. It was glorious.
The very best part is, she was only the first call, I had a list of several other people I knew I could call if things got bad. So thank you to all of you friends and family members who so willingly lend emotional and moral support-and even babysitting. My little village!

Sweet moments

Thankfully Jonathan was a pretty good sleeper in his early months. Believe me I am not complaining. However I feel that I was slighted in the late night rocking and lullaby singing department (I am sure there is still time). Admit it... every parent out there may complain about their kid not sleeping and all the crazy things they do to get them to drift off (and believe me when I say CRAZY!!!) but secretly they love the fact that they are needed. If you notice the time on this post-it is late. The rest of my family is asleep-including the dog. Jonathan woke up about 45 mins ago and I just got him back to sleep. He currently has a bit of a runny/stuffy nose, and he is cutting some serious teeth. Can't blame the little guy for having a rough time sleeping. I went in in the dark-felt around desperately for the pacifier-was unsuccessful-turned on the night light (something I was hoping to avoid) and found the pacifier where I am certain I had passed my hand over multiple times. I grabbed a blanket and brought Jonathan over to the rocking chair. We snuggled up and I began to sing. It was so magical-he was awake, but he was completely still as I rocked and sang. One of those moments you remember forever. I was singing a song written by Fernando Ortega. It is short and sweet and a great lullaby because it spends a lot of time resonating in the lower register-where your chest rattles and babies find it so soothing. I highly recommend it(please excuse the Narnia clips-it isn't from the movie). The other reason I love this song is that it was one of the inspirations for Jonathan's nursery. This verse is written on his walls.
I have a philosophy on lullabies. It isn't spiritual doctrine, but I just figure, if your kid is awake in the middle of the night-for whatever reason-fear, sickness, or just plain belligerence-you and your kid need some prayer and divine intervention. I don't see much point or comfort in singing about mockingbirds or breaking tree branches in these moments. So I try to remember the words to as many old hymns as I can. It is probably because I can still remember my mom on the rarest of occasions sitting down at the piano and playing these old songs. I could hear the music drifting up through the vents to my room and I always loved those moments. But why not speak/sing scripture over your sleepless child. It isn't a magic pill to make your kid go to sleep, but it definitely can't hurt. Plus it puts me in a better mood--and I really do believe that it can affect your kid. Anyway-that's just my two cents. It appears that Jonathan is really asleep so it is safe to lay down. (I am sure he will be up as soon as I do-he has some kind of radar)

A dilemna

I recently found myself in a quandary. I love meat just as much as the next girl (unless that girl is Dana and then I like it a whole lot more!), but I have not been able to bring myself to feed Jonathan that nasty ground up meat in a jar-nor have I been able to stomach making it myself. It is just gross.
He can eat cheese and little chunks of meat from my plate but they are difficult and exhausting to chew with only two lower teeth. So I found myself concerned about the protein intake of my son. Then it dawned on me! Beans!!! Black beans and red beans. Full of protein, full of fiber... easy and fast to mash-buy organic canned beans and have them ready in a flash. (Rhyming was completely unintended-simply a bonus). Problem solved.

***************Since we were speaking about teeth, I thought I should mention Jonathan has been working for several weeks now on four upper teeth. A few days ago two broke through and hopefully the rest will follow shortly.

Updates

So I thought I would give you a few updates on life as it happens. We are gearing up for Jonathan's first birthday--this is a mixed bag. Happy-that we have a healthy, happy, growing boy. Sad-that he is definitely no longer a baby and I am desperately trying to savor the last few remaining days. Anticipating-the big carseat "turn around".
Somehow I have gotten it in my mind that as soon as he turns one he will be grown up. I know this sounds silly, but I have just decided that he will be a little boy and on his way to kindergarten. I realize this is a stretch, but it will be the end of baby bottles, the end of formula (woohoo!) the beginning of talking, eating grown-up food, walking, and exploring. I feel the days of holding and rocking him are slipping through my fingers and I am on one hand urging them ahead while trying desperately to keep them from slipping through my fingers.

Ok enough of that... we are crawling all over the place. He can wave and his babbling is getting much more intentional.

Everette is currently out of town until tomorrow. Imagine my surprise when I came home this afternoon to a large beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on my front porch. That's right my practical, pragmatic husband sent me flowers. They are gorgeous and I love them!!! and I love him!

Thanks honey!!! I miss you!

Happy Baby

Here is a fun video of Everette playing with Jonathan. The game was daddy sets the pacifier up on the edge of the crib and Jonathan knocks it down and squeals with delight while jumping up and down. He was REALLY into it but of course as soon as the camera turned on he toned it down, but you can still get the idea.

Mass Chaos

So recently some women in our church have started an impromptu unofficial playgroup. We all get together once a week and chaos ensues. I videoed a few seconds so you can see the hilariousness of the situation.

My Mr. Fix-it

One thing I love about Everette is that he is absolutely not afraid of things. He is very smart and very cautious, thus making him a good risk assessor. He is also very stubborn and will not leave a problem until he can fix it or at the very least diagnose exactly what the problem is and research a solution.
Wednesday evening as Everette attempted to get a delicious meal from Taco Bell on his way to a Young Life meeting his window broke. Of course, if you remember, Wednesday marked the end of a LONG dry spell for most of Indiana (this is irony people). He managed-with my help and after it sat in the rain for several hours--to get the window back up.
After discussing it with my dad-our resident auto expert-we planned to take it to the dealers next week when Everette was out of town and our need for two cars would be unnecessary (dad said it wasn't worth ripping apart the door). However Friday evening we decided to stop at Sonic for a limeade, forgetting about our ghetto window. It made it halfway down and would not go up or down. Even once we got home and spent some time wiggling, and banging and finagling the window, it refused to budge. SO we put Jonathan to bed and here is how our evening progresses.
Everette, I don't think, ever intends to begin a project of massive undertaking. It always starts out small. Remember at this point we are just trying to get the window up.
He pops the plate off around the door handle, hoping to get a peek inside to see if there is something jamming the actual window; unable to see anything he begins to pull back around the window seal; noticing that the plastic covering for the door is snapped onto a track in the door he begins to slide it off the track at the top-simply to get a better view. Still unable to see the window he begins to wiggle the entire case off of the door. Progress is stop and go. Each pull reveals more wires or plates connecting the plastic to the metal door. After removing the handle, the lock, the inside door light, the power lock wires, the power window wires (not a big deal since they weren't working anyway), the power mirrors and two screw we successfully removed the door. At this point we were pretty much committed. The view of the window is still limited and he briefly considers trying to remove the inner metal frame. Thankfully he quickly abandoned this idea once he realized that it was welded to the outer metal frame. Using a flashlight and a dental mouth mirror he peers through the frame and discovers glass shards in the bottom of the door (explains the crackling glass sounds we hear when we were banging on the door earlier). Momentarily our breath gets caught as we consider the possibility that the window might be busted. After more flashlight searching we discover that it is still in one complete piece, leading us to realize that a Carfax report doesn't tell you everything. Everette then discovers two things. 1. the cable that moves the window carts up and down has frayed and jammed the track. (he also realizes that it will most likely mean replacing the entire track since the cable is threaded through both sides and a tube in the middle). and 2. the LCD on the camera makes for a laproscopic camera of sorts and this paired with a flashlight makes for a better view than the tiny mirror. He is quite proud of himself, and I am sure we will use this technique later--you know whenever we need to perform surgery.
We also take comfort in the fact that at this point even if we can't fix it ourselves-we have significantly reduced the cost of having the dealer fix it.
For now we are stuck. Everette heads up to the computer for the research phase of the project. He finds that the track is in stock at Auto Zone and Lafayette Auto Supply and cost $100. Not the cheapest part-but if he can fix we come out at least $3o0 ahead.
Cut to Saturday: Everette gets up at 7:15 and heads to the store. Returns by8:30with the part. Installs the track and reassembles the door by 9:30 and we sit down to a breakfast of bicuits and gravy.
I am impressed and quite proud, this was actually once of the shorter and more successful projects!


Smart and sensible Everette had me take pictures of the wires we were removing so that we could put them back-this is the power windows, locks, and mirrors panel.

Everette, was considerate enough to remove his brand new Lands End polo before he got in too deep. This is the inside of the truck door.

This is the only point we could see up inside the door where the window was.. here is a picture of the track.

This is the point that Everette realized he could use the digital camera as a video and screen. This is down inside the door and here you can see the busted/frayed wire that was jamming the whole thing up.

Off to the Races

Jonathan is definately moving. There is no more sitting still. Here is an adorable video (I think) of his track around our kitchen. This recent video is even out of date--he is much faster now. Hope you enjoy!

Don't Judge a Facebook by its Cover

So I think of the best posts while I am mowing the lawn. Ear plugs and the roar of our ghetto mower (there is no cover for the engine) pretty much puts you exclusively inside your head.
Disclaimer*****This is not an antifacebook rant. I think it is a great tool for keeping in touch with old friends, and I am on us almost every day.

I recently came across an old, we'll say acquaintance's, as we were definitely not the best of friends, profile on facebook. I perused her flair, her bumper stickers and her pictures. It appeared, from her profile, that her life was great. She is beautiful, married, seems to have lots of friends (in the pictures... not just on facebook), a job she loved and a close family.
Let me first say that I found it interesting that looking at her profile pained me somewhat. She was not the nicest person when I knew her, and I was surprised that I was not jealous of her, nor was I secretly judging myself superior to her. My heart actually ached for her. I wasn't sure why. There was nothing on her facebook that would necessarily make me feel sorry for her. She "looked" happy. I did notice that she had a LOT of pictures of herself on her facebook page. But other than that mild form of self-obsession I couldn't explain this strange and unexpected sorrow.
A few days later I found myself in a conversation with a friend of mine who is good friends with her mom. I learned that this girl was actually miserable. Her mom told my friend "I wish she and (her husband) would move away and learn how to be married instead of being selfish babies." Those are harsh words from your own mom. But it seemed to confirm my suspicion that she was not infact as happy as her facebook portrayed.
This led me to ponder as I turned in endless circles across our hopelessly uneven lawn, how our growing up experiences shape us into who we are. And how, when it seems that God is not working in our best interest often times he is extending staggering acts of mercy. My middle school years are not years that I look back on fondly. I was most definitely an easy target. Just coming into an understanding of who God really was and what He had done for me, I certainly did not see him rescue me from my circumstances. I was frustrated and angry that I was constantly picked on. Yet, as I reconnect with people from my past, people who inflicted much of my pain, I realize how their hurtful acts have made me the person that I am and have made them the people that they are. And I can't help but think that I have come out ahead. I am surrounded now by amazing people-who love me, and who I love. It seems that the persecution (on whatever mild scale-and it was mild in retrospect) that I endured and the pain that I felt, shaped my character into one that other people seem to appreciate. I am not trying to brag about myself, but it does seem that I am able to bring others joy on some small level.
As I continued to mow I found my "mom" self trying explain to my "kid" self where God was in all of my experiences. Which made me realize that I should remember this perspective when my kids are experiencing persecution. It is easy to want to remove any trouble your kids experience, but where will God work if you do. What I have realized is that the troubles I faced as an awkward teenager pale to the troubles I could experience as an adult. And given the choice I would not trade them in.