Rockabye Sweet Baby James

John Marshall is going to have a little brother! Sweet baby James looked great on the sonogram. Beth is a perfect momma for her boys. Now time to do some monogramming....

The View

This was my view last night on my run. Praise the Lord for the beautiful things He creates to remind us of His love.

Sweet Summer Time

I have never looked forward to summer time so much in my life! Not even when I was teaching. As of Friday, we officially said goodbye to Taylor's second year of residency. Not. sad. at. all. I am so super proud of him and all the others who have worked their tails off. It was hard on us not having him here, but I also know it's 100% harder on them.

Somewhere in that chaos, I decided to start running. I have NEVER been a runner in my life. I was active and played sports, but never a runner. I'm not really sure what got me into this. Actually, I do know. It was the extra twenty pounds I've been carrying around since having Millie. I started walking more, then ran some, and eventually kind of got addicted to the running. So what does a rookie runner do? I signed myself up for a half marathon! Go big or go home, right? It's the St. Jude half in December and I'm pretty excited about it. I've got my little training schedule and so far it has been fun. People keep asking when in the world I have time to run with work, kiddos, and Taylor's crazy schedule. It's pretty much been first thing in the morning on my treadmill before the girls wake up, or late at night if Taylor gets home in time to put them down for me. I will give him another big pat on the back for being super supportive of my running. Sweet thing let me get a new pair running shoes and gave me a gift card to get some cute running clothes for Mother's Day. I may not finish the race, but at least I'll look the part.  I recruited my cousin Carrie and made her run my first 5K with me this weekend. We had fun and did quite well for rookies I must say!

We find out this month if I will have another nephew or a niece in November! I will not be sad either way BUT... I really need Beth to have a girl. The eight storage boxes of girl clothing (not counting what's in their closets and drawers) are begging her to have a girl. Her doctor says girl, and I'm hoping he's right. 

I'll leave you with a few sneak peeks from our Gatlinburg vacation. I meant to do an entire post on that but I really don't feel like loading up all of the pictures. Sorry. Hope you all have a great week! 

My little dumplings on Mother's Day.

Gatlinburg

How in the world?

Oh Millie...she is definitely our little firecracker. At only nine months of age, I'm pretty sure she accounts for 95% of my gray hair. Yes, I have them. As a baby, she hated the car. Hated it. She would cry SCREAM the entire way home from work. It was all I could do to just put on soft music, go to my happy place, and not run my car off of a bridge. Yes, sometimes even this sweet face made me want to drive off of a bridge.

85% of the time she is happy. The other 15% the girl can get an attitude. It mainly comes when she is hungry (I can relate), wants to keep up with Morgan but can't, or when you're simply doing something she doesn't care to do (i.e. changing a diaper). She can throw her back out so far it makes a "U" shape. Limber little thing.

Little momma has found her appetite and loves to eat. If anything comes within arms length, it is going in the mouth. This includes bright blue play-doh. It's made of flour, right? Nothing like walking in the room and seeing your child drooling blueness. She didn't seem to mind. This past week we went to Gatlinburg and I'm pretty sure she ate more than anyone. Keep in mind we just started giving her some table food and she only has two teeth. On this trip alone, chubalicious ate pancakes, fries, ice cream, mac and cheese, crackers, goldfish, bread, rotisserie chicken, crab (good thing we don't seem to have an allergy to shellfish), cinnamon rolls, and scrambled eggs. The child was choking on the food once but steadily shoving in more. Of course she also covered the usual baby foods and baby puff snacks. I'm sure she'll be bored with those soon. I'm just hoping she keeps her daddy's metabolism and not her momma's.

Just a girl and her snacks. 

All cuteness aside, sweet girl gave us the scare of our life this morning. I heard her talking on the monitor. I looked but couldn't really see her in the bed. This isn't completely unusual if she is scrunched up in the closest corner. I sent Taylor in to get her while I made her breakfast. Soon after he brings her to me and tells me she was crawling around the floor when he went in there. Huh?!? It took several seconds for this to process in my brain. Wait, she fell out of her bed???!! Yes, my nine month old plunged over the side and FELL OUT OF HER BED!! How in the world did this happen? The crib wasn't too high for her. There's no way she climbed out on her own. I cannot for the life of my figure out how she did it. My second thought...I didn't even hear a cry! I'm thinking it may have knocked the breath out of her and by the time she got it back maybe she was ok?!? All day long I keep thinking about the different scenarios that may have played out and it makes me want to throw up. Not to be dramatic, but I very much realize this could have been a very fatal accident. Taylor says my face went white when he told me. I made him check her over head to toe and toe to head about 90 times. All seems to be ok and she has been a happy girl the rest of the day. I was super paranoid to let her sleep during her morning nap for fear of a concussion. I know, I'm dramatic. Deal with it. Needless to say, her crib has been lowered as far as it will go. We skipped every other height it could be, and went straight for the bottom. If baby doll gets out of this crib now, I will check her into the circus. She does like to toss her paci out of the bed for some reason, and I'm guessing she just dove over to get it back. I guess. I don't know. I'm just very very very thankful that the Lord was watching over her and protected her. I would like to think of His hand just gently placing her on the ground. Taylor did say she was smiling and laughing when he opened the door to get her.

I'm guessing I will only the check the monitor four hundred and fifty-nine times before midnight.

He's back!!!

Hooray, Daddy is back!! Taylor just finished up a six week rotation of working nights. Translation: he leaves for work Sunday morning and we see him again Friday afternoon. We spend Saturday with him and then it's back to work on Sunday. This is actually a twelve week ordeal broken up into two six week blocks. Let me just say the day before he started his second block, I'm pretty sure I cried all day. It. was. hard. Because I work, we were leaving the house in the a.m. before he would be home and he would be gone in the p.m. by the time we got home. Stinks. So pretty much it was the girls and me all day, every day. I gained mountains of respect for single mothers and military wives. I feel terrible even complaining about my twelve weeks.

For those that don't know, I work and have my kiddos with me. This is a perk for working for and with your family. Mo does go to preschool 3 days a week for 1/2 a day and my mom keeps her the other two. Sweet Mills is my little work sidekick and stays with me all day. Somehow I pull off working and having my girls with me. I see it as a HUGE blessing. However, when Daddy can't be there to help in the evenings, this does make for one tired mommy.

I will say we did get in a good little routine. Morgan was a very big helper when Mills would have her meltdowns in the late afternoons. Dora and Team Umizoomi helped as well. The person I felt the saddest for was Morgan. The girl missed her daddy!! I remember one day she asked where Taylor was and of course my answer was work. She replied, "Mommy, why does Daddy work so much?" I just stuck with my go to: helping the sick people.

Sunday was always the hardest for me. He would leave just before the girls got up and I knew it was the beginning of another long week. So the three of us packed up and headed to church. I am a big family person and Sundays are just my thing. I want to come home from church, eat a good lunch, nap, and hang out with Taylor and the girls. For six long weeks, that didn't happen. My prayer life definitely increased and there were many a scriptures I had to cling to most days just to get through it. I am thankful for the quiet time I would have at night though after the girls were down and the house was silent.

HOWEVER, the boy is done and we have him back! Well, sort of. He's still back on trauma which is busy, but at least I know he'll be home at some point at night. And then there will be a free weekend or two here and there. He is taking vacation next week and I. CAN'T WAIT.!!!!!!!

We are headed to Gatlinburg and then wrapping the week up in Corinth to see John perform in his senior follies. Hurry up Saturday!!!

We celebrated this weekend by taking my aunt's boat out for a ride. The girls of course loved it.

These were all taken when Taylor was working nights...

He did come home one morning to find us still there because momma had a flat tire!

(and flat spare...just what a sleep deprived person wants to deal with)

Can you tell she missed him?

In the middle of all of this, Millie turned nine months old!! Sweet thing finally hit the 50% for weight at her check up. Atta girl! She LOVES to eat. Mo was pretty picky, but Millie will consume whatever comes near her mouth. She's crawling more with her knees instead of the crazy army crawl. She's also pulling up. This scares me. They're just so clumsy at this age but have no fear. Taylor will be stitching her up soon.

Look what I found!

This is how we rolled while daddy was away.

Happy Monday folks!

Exciting News

I once again can't keep up with the blog. Soon I will tell you why. In the mean time here's a little peak into our lives:

Me and the girls Easter Sunday. No, Taylor wasn't there. Again, I will fill you in on this later.

And second, I'm getting a new niece or nephew in November!!! Woo hoo! My sister is expecting her second on exactly Thanksgiving Day. In the beginning, I was thinking she would have another boy. However, one very detailed dream and a wave of nausea for her and I'm going with girl. Final answer.

Just one of those

It's definitely just one of those days. I'm still in my pj's but not by choice. I did manage to throw my hair in a ponytail, but I just realized I need to brush my teeth. Don't judge. I'm a super clean person, but today it's just one of those days. I am thankful I got to eat a bowl of cereal this morning. Maybe lunch and dinner will just be combined.

However, currently I'm rocking my sweet Mills and loving it. She doesn't care that I'm cringing to put on clean clothes and brush my pearly whites. All she knows is she feels like crud but mommy's lap is amazing. I promise our next post will be a little more upbeat. Maybe. We do have two fun weekends ahead!

My favorite part of the day...

What Is Normal?

We have had a series of comical events in our house lately. It seems we take one step forward and three steps back. Let's think this through...
*Taylor started back on the not so desirable schedule. I'm counting down the days.
*Both girls get some sort of fever virus a few weeks ago. (Not completely sold that I believe in fever virus, but we can discuss this later.)
*Both girls got pink eye (I can say that I officially know what "pink eye" looks like. It. Is. Awful.)
*I drop the treadmill on foot and crack it. Still feel so dumb about this.
*I pick Mo up and pull something in my back. I think I'm falling apart.
*Now both girls have another virus of some sort and Millie has an ear infection. Did I mention she's getting teeth in as well? Fun times. Neither child slept worth a darn last night and I fear tonight is more of the same. Millie keeps choking on mucus. (I know...gross) Therefore, I'm sleeping on the couch four feet from her room with the monitor by my head. Literally as I type, Mo is coughing and Millie is trying to soothe herself back to sleep.
I have a feeling Mills and I will be cuddled up in the big chair soon.

I told a friend today that I was ready for this household to be back to normal. She quickly reminded me things will never be "normal" again. Tis true my friend!

Not sure how to comment above pics with my new app, so I will fill you in this way.
We went to a fun wedding this weekend, this is where you can find Mo these days, and Mo "caught" a fish in our living room. I promise to take more pics of Mills when she feels better!

Weekend Recap

Last weekend Taylor and I got to make a pretty quick trip to Corinth and Huntsville to visit family and friends. When I say quick, I mean Taylor got there Friday afternoon and drove back home Saturday night so he could go to work first thing Sunday. The girls and I stayed up there through Sunday. We don't really do the whole drive back and get home by 2 am kind of thing.

So Friday we hit the road as soon as Taylor made it in from the morning sign outs. We stopped in Corinth to drop off Morgan and Millie. Of course this also happen to be the day the weather was awful! (True story: We stopped in Winona to get gas. I was standing between the car and my open car door. The wind blew so hard it slammed the door shut. One small problem...I was standing in it's way and it smacked the back of my head and then made me bang the front of my head on the car. Yes, my car beat me up. Stop laughing.) We literally drove away from Taylor's parents with tornado sirens going off every two seconds, and there were already tornado's being reported from that morning. That makes you feel good. However, we decided to take our chances and Taylor and I headed out for Huntsville. We had fun just the two of us in the car. I can't remember the last time I got to take a trip without a cartoon blaring from the backseat or a sweet baby crying because they're tired or hungry. It was nice to just drive and ride in peace. Well, that was until I got the iPod going and made Taylor jam to old school *NSYNC with me. Yeah, I did. He handled it like a champ I must say. I finally stopped when his knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel so tight.

Once in Huntsville, we got to hang out with our sweet friends Tyler and Mollie. Mollie and I get along so well because we feel each others pain when it comes to our teams. We are both Ole Miss girls who married State fans. It takes a lot of PATIENCE to be a house divided sometimes. Glad someone else knows where I'm coming from. (Love you, Taylor.) Anyway, Friday night we ate at a very yummy pizza/Italian restaurant. Once again the house divided thing came into play. Somehow we made it pretty complicated to order pizzas that are half and half with different toppings. In the end, all parties won and got the pizza they wanted. It was delicious!

Saturday was just a lazy morning which was nice. I love sleeping past 7 am!! For lunch we headed to an outdoor shopping place and had another fabulous meal. I literally loved every thing I put in my mouth at this restaurant. Good find Tyler and Mollie! We were sad to leave after such a short trip, but we were so glad it all worked out for us to come. (Thank you tornado's for cooperating.)

Me, Mollie, and the precious Tibby (who has Tyler wrapped)

our cute little MSU boys

Tyler is super excited to be taking so many pictures. :)

After Huntsville, we came back to Corinth to watch Taylor's little brother in his school play. Can't quite remember the name of the play exactly but it was set in the 80's and had all 80's music. My kind of play! John's role was the wingman for the most popular stud football guy in the school. I was proud of my favorite little Mathis. Minus the fact he could barely talk (from screaming at basketball refs from the night before) he did a great job!

Such a precious couple!

An Apple Kind Of Girl

Well I finally gave in and now I officially have an iPhone. Let me clear that up... I have an iPhone but wont get to use it because Mo will have it the majority of the time. It's sad that she's three and can do most things better than me on it. However, now that I have this snazzy little thing I hope to blog more. We will see how this goes. Happy weekend everyone!

Belated Birthday

I'm late blogging about Mo's third birthday. The girl is like her momma and celebrated for a week! It started with a party in Corinth when she visited Taylor's family. Next, she celebrated with her friends at school. Her third party was her actual birthday at Pump It Up and we had so much fun! I highly recommend them. They took care of EVERYTHING! It was nice to be able to enjoy the day without worrying about party details. Mo and all of her friends wore themselves out jumping and running around. Finally, we spent that Sunday afternoon with my family celebrating one more time with one more cake. The girl literally had four birthday cakes. No wonder this momma is on a diet!

Other than that, life has been busy as usual. Taylor is going back on nights this week and I literally dread it with every bone in my body. This is by far the hardest time we've had between med school and residency. Most things that get built up as "hard" have typically turned out to not be that bad. However, this semester is no joke. It is a great opportunity for mommy and kiddo time though so I can't complain about that. Deep breaths....

Speaking of my little bone doc...he got to put his knowledge to good use with me this week. I have been doing the Advocare 24 day challenge and have loved it! I've also been working out every day trying to get this post baby #2 body back in some sort of shape. Well, as my luck would have it I ended up breaking my foot with the treadmill. The darn thing was hooked together and I wasn't sure how to get it undone. While talking on the phone, I wasn't paying attention and accidentally pulled the correct lever that lets it down. It sure let down....right on top of my foot. Minus childbirth, it was the worst pain I've ever experienced. For those of you who have slammed your hand in a door or anything of the sort, I completely empathize with you. Ouch! Anyway, I'm wearing a lovely boot and it's on the mend. It just puts somewhat of a kink in the working out for now. Oh well!

Now here's what you really came for...pictures!

Birthday party #1 in Corinth

Just a sweet pic of Mills

Family pic before party #3 at Pump It Up

Mo and her fave person, Daddy

I love the look on her face! Happy birthday to my big 3 year old!

(Can you tell what her favorite color would be?)

Six Months Old

Our sweet Mills is six months old tomorrow!

Happy half birthday sweet girl!

I thought I would share our baby pics and you can decide for yourself who looks alike.

Daddy Taylor

Big Momma

Mo

Mills

Can We Move On?

How about we just call this week a done deal and move on? Sounds GREAT to me! First, both of my girls are getting over the most ridiculous cold I have ever encountered. Morgan was the first to get it. Correction...my poor dad was the first to get it and so lovingly shared it with all of us. All in all Morgan's case wasn't that bad. I did take her to the doctor and of course we come home with an antibiotic and instructions for breathing treatments. In about three days we are semi back to normal.

Well on to Millie. When I took Mo to the doctor I also had them check Mills head to toe. She had not been sleeping. NOT SLEEPING AT ALL. This wasn't like her. However, we didn't find anything wrong so I feared a few crying it out sessions were in the future. That's never a picnic for anyone. What I didn't realize is that she was obviously on her way to getting sick. Bless her little self she got it worse than anyone in our family. I honestly let hers go too long. I figured she would bounce back like Morgan, but I was so wrong. I let it ride through the new year weekend, but first thing Monday we found ourselves back at the doctor. Might I add we were there with John Marshall too (my nephew). Our appt was 1:45 and theirs was 2:00 so we just did a 2-for-1 special. Poor little Millie and JM both had double ear infections and upper respiratory issues. Mills left with a shot, an antibiotic, a steroid, and instructions for 3-4 breathing treatments a day. Let me repeat in case you missed...3-4 breathing treatments a day. Sweet little thing fought the first two treatments and then just gave up. She's a pro now. I'm happy to report that she is on the mend and I can tell such a big improvement. Yay!

Here is a little tid bit for anyone who has a sick child with coughing issues or even an adult with couching issues. Our doctor of course told me to put a humidifier in Millie's room to help her. I went to CVS and found this fabulous machine for $20.

This is the Vick's Vaporizer. Love, love, love it. You basically put water and the liquid form of the Vicks rub in there. The machine heats it to release the vapors in the air. I have this nasty junk too so I have loved sitting in her room to rock her to sleep. You kind of walk into a wall of Vicks vapor when you go in her room, but it has helped tremendously with her cough at night.

And now on to the saddest part of the week. My brother in law was playing in his high school soccer game last night in Corinth. (There are only 2 weeks left in the regular season.) He went in to score a goal and had a collision with a player from the other team. While colliding, the other player threw in a nice elbow too. Thanks to that elbow, it broke John's collarbone. He had surgery this morning to put a plate over it to hopefully heal faster. My heart is just broken for him. This is his senior year and there are only two weeks left and then playoffs. I don't know if the other guy did it intentionally or not. However, don't think that for two seconds I don't want to go find him and let him have it. I hope his elbow hurts really bad. If not, I can make it hurt. Ok sorry, I don't really want him to be hurt. (maybe) Here is the champ post surgery. (He may hurt me for posting this pic.)

This is just a pitiful week. Could be much worse, but none the less pitiful. Lets just move on. I'm ready to my girls to be 100%, John to have a miracle and be able to play, and for all the Flanagans to not hack all day long.

Happy New Year

Hello 2012! Nice to meet you. I say this every year, but I really can't believe we are beginning a new year. Where did last year go? Oh yeah, Taylor started second year of residency and we added a new addition to the family. That's where it went. At least we can look at a few highlights:

* Taylor started his second year of ortho surgery residency. Let me just say I'm not a fan. At all. Dear UMC..if you see Taylor tell him we said hello! In all seriousness, he loves it. He's learning a lot. (I hope.) I'm just a family person and I want my family together as much as possible. These days, that might happen over breakfast as he's coming in and we are going out. The bright side is we are halfway done, right??

* This doll face entered our lives.

I CANNOT believe she will be six months old on the 11th. I feel like with Morgan, getting to six months was a huge milestone. With Millie, I literally blinked and we were here. What is Mills doing these days? She is eating rice cereal twice a day, and one of those feedings comes with yummy bananas or apples. Chunky monkey cleans the bowl. As of Christmas day, she can roll from belly to back and back to belly. This translates into no more swaddling at night. Sad. She is sleeping through the night, and has been since eight weeks old. (Yes, I'm a Babywise believer.) She is a huge cuddle bug. She's trying to sit up on her own, but I just want her to slow down. I'm pretty sure we've been teething for two months. Come on teeth! So even though she cleans her bowl, she continues to measure in the 25th-50th percentile with weight. She's projected to be tall and skinny. Is this my child??

I will say this...my girls are cute and sweet. HOWEVER, they are NOT laid back at all. What I'm learning more and more is that Morgan is actually more laid back than Millie. What? I just thought Mo was non stop, but I'm pretty sure Mills will take the crown soon enough. Whoever said #2 is more laid back...you lie.

*More with Mo

(Sitting on her new swing set, Fancy Nancy pj's, sunglasses, rain boots, and an iPhone)

This girl keeps us in stitches all of the time. It's her vocabulary and comprehension that blow me away. I can't make up some of the things she says. We have to be so very careful what we say and do around our little sponge. Here are a few of her favorite things...

Purple. The girl is obsessed with the color purple. Santa was nice enough to bring her a new purple fleece that she has worn every single day. She told me she wanted a purple birthday party, purple balloons, and a purple cake. You got it! I cannot wrap my brain around the fact she will THREE on the 22nd.

She really does love her baby sister and she is such a big help. Millie is pretty obsessed with her too. Mills just gets frustrated when she can't keep up with Morgan. I can't wait to watch them play (fight) together. My sister and I are very close now and my prayer is that my girls will be as well.

Mo has a very strict nightly routine. (Poor thing has a tad of her mother's o.c.d. in her.) Don't think you are skipping a step, messing up the words, or getting away with not doing any of it. I tried. I lost. The routine is this:

two books (occasionally we do two puzzles)** five songs in this specific order: ABC's, Jesus Loves The Little Children, Jesus Loves Me, You Are My Sunshine, and then we sing the little song from the book Love You Forever**I have to make up a "Once upon a time..." story involving Morgan**and then we say her prayer. Whew.

So happy New Year from the Mathis family. No I didn't make any resolutions. I tend to not keep them so why bother. At this point, we just take life a day at a time. I know everyone gets sad after the holidays are over, but I do not. Now we are entering the best month of the year...my BIRTHDAY MONTH!! WOO HOO! :) I will leave you with a few Christmas pic favorites....