Where's your nose?

Today I took some video of jonathan being generally cute and walking like crazy. He often chooses to walk of his own volition. All of this video is such.

I must apologize for my own annoyingness. Capturing him on camera of course made me desperate to show off all of his tricks and perform like a circus clown. Jonathan of course was quite content to do his own thing.

We recently bought some video editing software. This is my first attempt. For this I apologize. But really you should thank me because I was able to cut out much of my incessant talking.

Please notice in the last clip near the piano Jonathan has his tongue out. This is a Mills family trait. Everette does it, his dad and all of his brothers have their own variation on this little idiosyncracy.

It is funny to see Jonathan do it already.

It has been scientifically proven to increase concentration.

Attempt at your own risk.

Untitled from Megan Mills on Vimeo.

Something to amuse yourself with

It's Friday. If you need a reason to smile or laugh out loud.. Read this.

Makeover

My blog got a makeover!!! It isn't anything super fancy, but it is something different. A little more me. Hopefully I will continue to change things up a bit!
my background came from
thecutestblogontheblock.com

Walking! Walking! Walking!

Jonathan is really getting the hang of this walking thing. Crawling is still his preferred method of transportation, but several times today if he was already standing he would just take off on two feet. It is very fun. I will get more pictures and video soon.
Tomorrow I am off to IKEA with my sister. It should be an adventure. Who doesn't love IKEA seriously.

Quote of the Week

I heard this on the news late last week and for some reason I just can't get it out of my head.
Last Sunday when it "huffed and puffed, and blew" some houses down, they were interviewing some people with severely damaged homes. There was a man and his wife, who may have not been THE quintessential trailer home owners, but they definitely gave off that vibe, if you know what I mean.
The man was describing the miraculous preservation of their trailer. He began with, "when the wind started blowin' we (he and his wife) just started prayin'." Then the camera followed him as he gestured with his hands, his voice was not cracked with emotion, it was strong but full of wonder. "Over here, this house, is where my brother lives, it was built by my father, and a skilled carpenter [camera cuts to a flattened house]. And over here, is my parents house, it was also built by good talented carpenters [cut to another demolished home]. And we live in a trailer home surrounded by angels."

Recreating it seems silly now, but I simply can't forget it. Something about the way he spoke struck me in such a profound way. I think I have already destroyed it enough, so I will leave well enough alone.

The O-Game

First of all, I must explain. The game (invented by Aunt Laura) is as follows. Each person makes an "o" face as gigantically as possible while staring at the other person. Who ever can do it the longest without cracking a smile wins. It is very hilarious, and Jonathan thinks so too.
Sadly, Aunt Laura wasn't here for this version.

This was Friday when Everette's family came over for his mother's birthday. After they were tired of the game, uncle Grant and Gramps moved on to more advanced tricks.
Don't forget to play "Where's Max?" It is definitely the more advanced version but he's there nonetheless.

Field Trip

Today I went to the Indy Children's museum with my friend Dana, her daughter Adelaide, and another friend's son River.
I wasn't sure if there would be much for Jonathan to do. But as it turned out there was plenty. He was kind of crabby, and overwhelmed at the large number of kids and chaotic surroundings.
Here are some pictures from the day!

Dana and River playing with the the giant knight foam peices inside the giant lego castle.
Adelaide reading to Jonathan also in the castle. Jonathan is looking adorable in his bear jacket.

This is the 3D lego baby dragon inside the castle. His Momma was gigantic right above him. I stuck my hand in her mouth. It was way cool.
River wanted to ride next to the Lego Knight!


I don't really know what this is but Jonathan seems interested in it!Jonathan found these really cool magnetic gears in the Playscape. Which he was fascinated with. I got to find them and get them. Funny story--Jonathan was finished with the gears he turned to crawl away. There was a stray gear on the floor. he picked it up, turned around and put it back on the board before he continued on his merry way.

Everybody all piled on the Indy Car.






Pardon the pacifier, I generally try not to take pictures with it, or even give it to him when during the day. But it was just that kind of day.

Get out of my face mom!

River and Adelaide--BFF.
Too much fun. I tried valiantly to keep him awake on the way home, so he would sleep for a long time in his own bed. But I was unsuccessful. He was dog tired. I was poking and tickling and he slept through it all.

p.s. i want to apologize for all the typos and odd sentences. i was typing this on the little computer while I was watching TV and I am exhausted and too tired to go back and correct them. So you must just know that I do have some education

It's Official

We have officially (I think) entered the next phase of Jonathan's life.
We have long been anticipating it (as long as you can anticipate any part of his near 18 months of existence). Now that it has arrived I admit I am meeting it with mixed emotions. Pride, exhilaration, fear, nostalgia, and sorrow. What a mixed bag. What the heck am I talking about? He started walking.
It isn't smooth or graceful or even consistent. But we have made the first step (no pun intended). The next will come quickly and easily.
Once Jonathan decides to do something, he embraces it wholeheartedly..
It happened for the first time yesterday (Tuesday). In an effort to help me close the dishwasher, he accidentally took three small steps on his own before he realized what he was doing and quickly sat down. Tonight I was at Bible Study and Everette called to ask me a completely unrelated question. While he was on the phone with me he gasped and said he just took a few more little steps.
So I told Everette he had better get the camera out.

Everette did. And made a valiant effort to stage the camera and put Jonathan on his feet and distract him into walking. A feat only before attempted by Olympic athletes. You can see it here....

JDM's First Steps from Everette Mills on Vimeo.

Everette didn't say anything more about it when I got home, but as we were relaxing in front of the TV he put it up on the computer and played it for me.

Admittedly it was pretty exciting.

Pretty amazing.

Pretty incredible.

Pretty relieving too. I thought that boy would never walk!

The Great Purge

My closet has been very sick for a long time. It was all messed up inside. Unfortunately it's illness went ignored and untreated for a long time. Then one day it vomited all over our bedroom. It was disgusting. And messy. But it's better now. All cleaned up and feeling fresh.

So I cleaned out my closet. I started a week ago, but it was so awful that I quit before it got bad. Everette, after looking at the goodwill bag for a week, asked me to finish this week. So I did it... today.

I have been having a love-hate relationship with my closet. Ok mostly hate. Two main reasons really. Before I got pregnant, I had accumulated a pretty decent wardrobe. Then I spent a year (or two) in sweatpants. Now I feel like my clothes are out of date, or don't fit right (or at all). Shopping just seems so much more difficult (now I understand why mom's get off the fashion train for a while). The other reason is, that since I can't ever find anything to wear a lot of my clothes ended up on the floor...of my closet. Thus making it more difficult to find anything.
I still have some Christmas money hanging around so I thought I would go shopping. But I told myself I had to purge my closet first. So I did. I didn't take pictures, because, well, some of you who read this, visit my house. Plus who wants to see pictures of closet puke.




On a much MUCH more pleasant note. Here are a few videos of Jonathan around the house today!


Part 2


Part 3

curious

Jonathan is in this phase currently. He loves to push his wagon and his truck around (they are large and the walk-behind-kind). They both have place for storage. He loves to put things in his bucket to push around. I find it curious to see what he likes to put in there.
See below:
I case you can't tell by this crappy camera action... it is a rechargeable flashlight and a pack of sparkly star stickers. He has turned the flashlight on.

peaceful easy feeling

No this is not a post about the Eagle's.
One of the things that I love most about our house is the people who built it did not skimp on the windows (ok at least not the quantity). Particularly in our room. Our bedroom/bathroom stretches the width of the house upstairs and there are windows on both sides. Our house also happens to be situated in a manner that seems to be most often smack dab in the crosshairs of the wind. Which means sometimes it seems like the house is going to blow down, and we almost always have to keep our doors locked because they rattle in the wind.
But most glorious is the breeze that swirls through our bedroom.
Sleeping with the windows open is one of the most fantastic ways to sleep. As long as it isn't absurdly hot (ok not even absurdly--just mildly). But in the spring and fall especially it is perfect weather for sleeping with the windows open.
Last night was the first time since fall we were able to open the windows.
It was awesome.
Even more awesome, was waking up to the sound of the rain falling gently outside. Not the panicky "oh crap, the windows are open and it's raining" feeling, not the sound of the alarm clock, or a screaming baby.
It was one of those heavenly moments when you wake up to softly falling rain, snuggled up next the one you love before the annoying alarm clock starts beeping and your child(ren) are awake.
It was wonderful.
Iced only by standing on my front porch with my husband and my baby watching the black clouds sweep across the sky in our direction later that afternoon. Feeling the wind pick up and swirl around us. Jonathan stretched out his hand to catch the drops that were already blowing under the cover of the porch.
My mom said to me once, how amazing that in all that man has been able to accomplish:curing diseases, instant communication, skyscrapers, etc. We still cannot control the weather. We can see it coming from miles away, but we are powerless to stop it.
Weather is a reminder of the awesome power of God. you cannot remained unmoved by weather. Terror or wonder, regardless your soul will not remain unprovoked. Weather can even affect your hair for cryin' outloud!!

Fresh Eyes

There are few things more refreshing than a brand-spankin' new pair of contacts. The very first time you put them on your eye balls. So clear, so light, so refreshing. This may be exacerbated by the fact that I have been wearing my previous pair about twice as long as the recommended usage.
Usually when my eyes are all of a sudden dry and gunky and I can't figure out why, I start to think about the last time I put a new pair in. Most often, I can't remember because it has been that long.

Newsflash!

Our windows are open! Glorious Spring!
I don't care if it lasts just for today or for the next few weeks. I am jsut so happy it is here now! I was burning up in our house, and I went to turn the heat down, and I realized it was set on 66 and it was 71 in our house. Oh bright and glorious sun!!!!

As if...

First of all, my apologies for my blog silence. There are three main reasons.
1. last week Everette and my mom and my in-laws were all out of town and Jonathan happen to get sick. He had Roseola (fever and a rash). It wasn't anything major, but it did make me a prisoner in my own home for four or five days. That was rough. It made me realize again, how fortunate we are to have family so close by, and even more so how fortunate I am to have parents that are semi retired. Whew!
2. last Saturday I photographed a wedding and every spare moment I have on the computer has been spent editing pictures. I promise to post some later.
3. when I haven't been editing photos. I have been addicted to this blog. Thank you Annie for hooking me up with the pioneer woman!
But now onto more exciting news! My birthday present has arrived! From Everette that is.
He won an auction on ebay for a little 10" laptop. It is white and adorable.
It is going to be down in the kitchen. Hence the post of this title. As if we needed another computer. I find it ironic sometimes that there a many families I know that only have one computer. I am pretty sure (don't test me though) that I could survive without my cell phone. But I truly couldn't imagine my life with out my computer or what is more, the internet.
We use it for everything around here.
Phone book, cookbook, maps, encyclopedia, news, tv (cable--go hulu!)
I don't even want to count how many computers we have over here. Any way, we have been thinking it would be nice to have a computer downstairs so that i could talk to everette and look up recipes and check my email (as if I couldn't do that enough). We also attend several meetings where it would be nice to have acess to the web or even to type notes.
So here we go.
It doesn't have anything fancy on it like microsoft word, but it does have a webcam so we can skype daddy when he is out of town.
Here are some pictures.
as you can see the keyboard is tiny. so I apologize for the multitude of typos to follow!


surprise I posted a few from the wedding.