sanity restored!

I couldn't have picked a better blog post to go out on then "on staying sane".  Little did I know I'd be diving into my first trimester right after that post.

I've replaced my computer time with nap time for the last three months and it has been so good.  This pregnancy has been awesome and strange.  I've been nauseous but with very specific cravings.  I went from Chick-fil-a ploynesian sauce... to mini bagels with cream cheese and imitation bacon bits... to just the bacon bits, please... to sucking on limes... to mass quantities of salsa... and it continues.  I still throw up some, but it's usually just when I bend over, drink water on an empty stomach, or clear my throat.  Seriously.  Strange, right?  Weirdest part... I have not been able to stomach dark chocolate. And that has been a serious problem.  Until today.  Which may be why I decided to jump back into the blog-o-sphere; ahhhhh, chocolate high!

Well, enough pregnancy ramblings.  Although I should mention that baby #3 (let's call him/her "tres") is due Christmas Eve and we have decided to wait to find out the gender and let God surprise us on that special day.  We may or may not name the baby Jesús de Maria Emmanuel Mills.  ;) 

I am celebrating a year with my camera!  I got my gently-loved Canon 20D for my birthday last year and I have had so much fun with it.  I've even been second shooting/assisting with my good friend and awesome photographer, Heather Funk, on some weddings.  That has been an awesome experience and I have learned a ton from her.  I'm processing my wedding photos so I can put them on a website.  I'll keep you posted.

On that note, here is a few pictures of life the last three months.  

Acacia making herself and Jackson a goldfish sandwich for lunch on a day that I was feeling super sick:

Dressed up and on our way to a wedding:

 A very good daily reminder:

Building class at Home Depot.  The first Saturday of each month.  The kid's have loved it!  Best to bring your own hammer and wood glue as there are never enough to go around.

Another Home Depot class creation.  I let Jackson plant some Rye grain and it did wonderful.  Acacia planted some beautiful velvet flower seeds that didn't quite make it.

How we've been spending alot of our time lately.  The playhouse remains unfinished, but the kids don't seem to mind and I certainly don't either.

an update in pictures.

yup, still swimming :: fearless with floaties 

- I was about to take this picture of them looking out at the ocean when a seagull squaked right behind them.- 

CCMB student ministries event :: thrift store prom & concert 

  

:: Braj with tat sleeves for a night::

  

a first haircut ::  long layers

  

:: many, many, many neighborhood walks :: 

charity walk :: to stop child trafficking 

a miracle :: the honor of witnessing Cade's birth 

 more about Cade's birth  on June's blog.

Peter Rabbit & other news

We've been into anything Beatrix Potter lately.  Acacia just loves audio books and spent her daily quiet time listening to them until she poured water into the CD player.  The Beatrix Potter collection was her newest favorite.  We don't own any of the series but we've borrowed The Tale of Peter Rabbit from the library.

This is how much of an auditory learner she is:
1.  She corrected me when I was reading to her.  In the audiobook version, the reader has a beautiful, strong English accent.  She reads, "Mr. McGregor went back to work."  Are you reading it with an accent?

When I read it, minus the cool accent, Acacia said, "No... Mr. McGregor went back to WALK."

2.  She figured out by listening to a Veggietales music CD that the voice of Bob the Tomato is done by the same person as Mr. Lunt, the Mexican squash.

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On a totally unrelated topic, I have exciting news!  We have officially decided that we will all be going on the trip to Peru this June.  I cannot wait to get back and catch up with old friends and introduce our ragamuffins.   In order to earn a little extra money for airfare, I have decided to set up my Etsy shop and see if I can sell a few handmade items.

The kid's global fashion line is called BRAJAkids.  For now BRAJAkids has only two styles.  pint-sized gaucho / samurai/ culotte pants and a select few gaucho pillowcase rompers.  I have been working hard to organize my fabric stash and make sure I have everything I need to crank out many many pants while Brandon's parents are visiting.  (Thanks Mimi and Pops.... you didn't know what you were getting in to, I guess!) 

You will see the Etsy button below our family pictures on the left side of the page.  That's the link to my shop.  I'll let you know when we are up and running!

make a simple advent calendar this year!

By simple I mean ridiculously easy, very cheap, and at least mostly natural materials.  Oh, and I have one hour to do it while my three year old helps.  Can I get an Amen?

You'll need:
1.  Small muslin bags.  You can order them online here.  Tip- order more than 25 because your toddler will want to help and you'll probably mess up at least one.
2.  1 inch number stencils and spouncers.  Unless you have awesome handwriting like Kaite, in which case you can just use a paint brush.
3.  Acrylic paint.  Before going out for the perfect Christmas Red, check your stash.  I used brown and silver because I love the way they look together and I had them on hand.  Warning- this does not wash out of clothes but it does wash off the face and hands.
4.  Some kind of string or twine or ribbon.  I always keep a roll of twine handy so that's what I used.
5.  Small suction cup hooks to hang the whole strand on a glass surface.  If you don't have enough glass, try those command removable sticky hooks.  No need to put a hole in the wall just for a Christmas decoration.

The process:
Just lay out your bags and get to stenciling.  I use cleaned out baby food plastic containers for the paint but you can use anything.

Once they are dry, string one side of the drawstring through and hang on any flat surface.

Done!  Now some candy canes and some scripture verses or any trinkets you want go inside and you have a gift-a-day advent calendar. 

Now go get your baby because naptime is over and your preschooler has paint on her hands and face and needs to use the potty.

Acacia made flowers from coffee filters white I painted.  After the paint is dry, poke a hole in the middle and stick a pipe cleaner in.  Instant centerpiece:

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Here are some resources for more information on advent calendars, background and ideas.

jackson's first steps and other less exciting updates

JACKSON:
This boy is strong as an ox.  Brandon joked that instead of a walker, we should see if they make Defensive Line Sleds for kids.  It's a pretty good idea.

This video was taken about a week ago.  These are Jackson's very first steps.  Now that he's a pro, he's trying to walk everywhere.  Today, he pushed Acacia around in the laundry basket.  He walks while holding just my thumbs.  It's crazy.  But fun.

MOMMY:
This new walking excitement comes at a very good time.  I began to notice a lingering pain in my pelvis after carrying Jackson in the Ergo for long periods of time... which I did very often because he slept so well that way.  Turns out I basically sprained part of my pelvis while carrying/delivering him, so I need to be cautious how much I bear his full 20 lbs on my hips.  Needless to say, we are spending more time at home these days.  Although I am not at all a homebody, doctor's orders have been very refreshing.  Getting into a little routine with the kids and slowing down some is good for all of us.  Now I just need to find a good pilates workout video to strengthen my abs and other core muscles.  Suggestions welcomed!

ACACIA:
 Is loving learning her letters and sounds.  She's always pointing out letters on things and saying things like, "MMMommy starts with an M.  J-J-J-June starts with a J."   Here she is reading to Mono, who is wearing a swimsuit.

She has developed a strange habit, though.  Well, she has many strange habits, but one particularly curious.  She phrases everything in a question that begins with "what". 
- For example: Instead of "Can I have some milk?"  She'll say, "What can I have?"  And make me guess. 
- Or if she has a particular thing she wants to do (go outside), she'll ask, "What can I do?"  If I respond with something other than what she had in mind, "You can look at a book." She'll whine and say, "Nooooo."  I have to keep guessing until I figure it out.

This goes on all day.  If I try to get out of it, and throw the question back at her, she just repeats it again.  She doesn't realize it's a very exhausting game... in fact, I don't know if she realizes what she's doing at all.  Strange, huh?  I guess she'll grow out of it.  She's had other language curiosities.  When she was just learning to talk she called herself "Tita" and always spoke about herself in the 3rd person. 

jackson: 9 months

He's doing great. He's sort of a big guy, but normal as far as percentile goes. He weighs 20 lbs and he's starting to stretch out a little. He eats 3 meals of baby food a day and still nurses, but his pediatrician said I can start weaning him. He hasn't been sleeping very well for the last two weeks. I don't know if it's teething or what. To his credit, he did a little better yesterday and today.

He is a very active crawler, and he likes to stand up alot. I've caught him standing on his own before and sometimes see him creep along the side of the couch, but if I point it out he gives me this huge grin and then crawls over to me and wants me to pick him up. He LOVES being held and snuggling; although he's not into unfamiliar faces these days. He chases Acacia around the house and when he finally catches her he tackles her and snuggles. It's awesome. They both crack up.

I told someone today that I was ready for Jackson to walk; she reminded me that once he learns, he'll probably start running; which means I'll be chasing him. I guess I should remember to enjoy each stage as it comes. I remember that once Acacia learned how to walk she wanted less and less snuggle time. I dug up an old shot of Acacia from when she was 9 months; do you think they look alike?

Sukkot! and other Mills happenings

Last Friday at sundown began my favorite Jewish holiday... Sukkot, which is sometimes referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Ingathering. It's a little like our Thanksgiving but oh so much more!

Anyway, we built our sukkah (hut) this year for the first time. Well, we sort of built one... we used our carport and decorated it. We had an awesome time munching on homemade pizza (every Friday night is homemade pizza night at the Mills' house) and sharing what we are thankful for and marvelling at how God has provided for us. We got most of our information from the book "The Feasts of the Lord", if you're interested.

Here's some brief points of interest:
There is obviously the symbolism of God dwelling with us as the people would dwell in tents in and around Jerusalem for the week.

During Sukkot there is a water drawing ceremony (water poured onto the altar as a sacrifice) and a lighting ceremony (temple light up with torches). It was during those ceremonies that Jesus proclaimed that He Himself is "Living Water" and if anyone is thirsty they can come to Him. He also said that He is the "Light of the World".

Sukkot was often referred to as THE feast. The big one. Kind of like how we see Christmas. And you know what we do at Christmas, right? Spend ourselves into a frenzy of gift buying and decorating and all sorts of wild activity and indulge. Nothing new under the sun... this is the holiday when Jesus cleared the temple of all the vendors camped out in the courtyard that was meant for non-Jews to come and pray to God.
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In other news, parts of the house are shaping up, thankfully. Here's the sort-of finished dining room/ multi-purpose family room.


My favorite parts are:

1. The grey walls, of course. And they way the grey and brown and white go together!!!

2. The awesome white metal pendant light fixture I scored at the ghetto thrift store for next to nothing.

3. The magnetic chalkboard with my huge calendar. Be warned, though. If you are planning on painting a chalkboard make sure the surface is smooth (yes, like a real chalkboard) or the chalk won't write very well. Imagine writing on a sidewalk versus writing on a real chalkboard.

4. Having space for all the leaves of our table.

5. Another major thrift score. That perfect fold tray wooden high chair that matches our dining chairs perfectly. It's great because Acacia can climb up and down easily but won't fall out if she's squirming. And, I can stick Jackson in it while I'm cooking and let him hang in the kitchen with me to make sure he doesn't stick his tongue in the outlet or try to get in the toilet... both of which I've seen him try.

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And finally... Jackson is making the cutest scrunched face smile these days.

fish in a pickle dish

Acacia poured my vinegar mixture into her bath water tonight and drank a sip of my baking soda "shampoo"; then asked, "Ewww... what's in my mouth?" Don't worry, I haven't given up. Just a minor set back.

Phyllis, the saying has become true... she is a fish in a pickle dish now.

conversation

... over dinner tonight:

acacia: I need a napkin.
papa: Here you go, honey.
(acacia wipes hands and mouth and gives used napkin back to papa)
papa: Hmm, I don't know why you're giving it back to me...
acacia: Because I'm kind.

in the bathtub (to her koi bath fish):
acacia: Now listen, it's very important that you drink this water. Okay? Do you understand? Okay! (fish swims) Are you making a good choice? Good job!

these are the days

Princess Tea Party:
We had some friends over for a no-specific-reason princess tea party (thanks Chels! Great idea!) A huge cookie with rainbow sprinkles, pink milk, ballet clothes and Acacia's new set of "butterfly wings" given to her by the 10 & 12 year old brothers that do our lawn.

Poor Jackson, totally outnumbered.
He wound up just sucking his toes for awhile and finally decided he'd rather take a nap. Which brings me to #2:

Sleep Training:
Jackson's sleep habits we're totally out of control. He wouldn't nap at all, he wanted to stay up until 11 at night. Then he'd crash every time we were in the car or if I was carrying him in the ergo at the market. He and Acacia were sharing a room and keeping each other up. It was awful. So, I borrowed a friend's Pack N Play and set it up in our extra large closet and that is Jackson's new home. He's napping pretty good and sleeping much better at night now. We did have to Ferberize though. Poor, sweet, precious kid. I hated hearing him cry but it was over after 2 nights and he's much happier now.

We're leaving super early in the morning to go with a group of teenagers from the church to a big Christian concert in Orlando. Should be fun. We've got the coolest group of kids going; I'm so excited to spend some time with them, a few sibling groups and a few solo teens. I think there will be about 8-10 total.

saturday morning

Just another beautiful Saturday morning at the Mills' house:

more snippets

1. Jackson sleeps!

Acacia didn't sleep through the night until she was fully weaned at about 15 months. Jackson sleeps through the night (8-9pm until 6-7am) nearly every night now that the kids share a room. Sometimes, like this morning, he woke up at 6am to nurse and fell back asleep for another hour. I got some good, quality time with God on my sorry-excuse-for-a-deck again. What a HUGE blessing sleep is. If you get some... don't don't take it for granted.


2. Acacia, my friend.
She zips around the room on her ladybug with Jackson crawling around after her as she squeals, "He's chasing me! He's coming to get me!" She loves to share her wooden birthday cake with him and sing him the birthday song, he likes to chew on the wooden candles. If Jackson tries to take something she is playing with, she will redirect him to something else, or get him a new toy. She is a dream.

In a "big sister" outfit I just finished for her friend, Mae,
who just became a big sister to baby Grace; born yesterday at 4lb.s 8 oz! A miracle baby.

She knows now to be quiet if Jackson is asleep, but sometimes she has trouble with that. Last night was one of those times. I explained to her that if she is loud after Jackson is in his crib, I will have to come back in and spank her bottom. Well, she was loud, and Jackson woke up screaming. I went in to comfort Jackson and tell her to quiet down. While I was rocking Jack, she repeated over and over, "spank my bottom, spank my bottom" in kind of a sing-song voice. So, I put Jack down and went over and asked if she needed me to spank her and she said, "YES, I was tooooo loud." Ummmm... okay... I guess I'll have to follow through. So I spanked her and she was so sad, she just wanted to be held for awhile. So I held her and told her how much I love her and how special she is and what a great daughter and sister she is. She even let me rock her in my lap for awhile. She is so precious. I just love that girl.

3. Almost done packing, can't wait for Saturday!

snippets

Things have been wild here; here's a quick look:

1. We're moving!
We found a darling rental house that is an extra 600 square feet + a huge backyard + $300 less per month + we're not sharing it with anyone (a first in many years). Done deal. Bonus... the yard has a mango tree, plumeria tree, key lime tree, lemon tree, and shares an avocado tree with the neighbors. We move on Saturday. Packing is underway.

2. Jackson is crawling!
This house comes at the PERFECT time since we have a very active crawler. We can let him loose on the wood floors and in the huge grassy yard without too much concern.

Two nights ago we were putting the kids to sleep; I set Jackson in his crib and Braj was reading to Acacia. I turned around for a minute and Jackson pulled himself up to standing in the crib (which was still at the baby height). Braj set his book down and said, "I'll get my tools." He lowered it right away, thanks babe!

3. Another summer trip!
We got to spend a few days in Orlando with my little bro and their awesome family along with my parents and grandparents. It was a doozy of a few days, even without Disney, but it was fun. All this travel is finally beginning to loosen me up with the kids. They have been very good travellers and I am so proud of how flexible they are.

4. WWDD? What Would Dave Do?
Still drinking the Dave Ramsey juice. Just finished paying off our student loan; it only took about 3 months. Gonna tackle the credit card next. We watched the documentary Maxed Out last night. There's one quick snip with some language, but I would recommend it if you want to get a glimpse into the credit card companies and collection agencies. Stay away from those guys!



That's it...
I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing this week, but I'll try to at least get some before/after pics up.

evicted!

Not us... just Jackson.

He's been living rent free in our bedroom since we was born, 6 months ago, and we took the plunge last night. We moved him into big sister Acacia's room, which was always the plan.

We still have to work some kinks out of bedtime and naps, but I think it's going to be just fine. Last night was successful, Jackson only woke up twice and Acacia once. Both times I nursed Jackson and he went right back to sleep and Acacia just said, "covers"... I guess we had the ac blasting! Naptime was a different story. I had Jackson asleep in the kids' room and tried to nap Acacia in mine; but Jackson woke up and Acacia was making too much noise so I ended up putting Acacia back in her bed and Jackson napped in ours while I quietly read on the floor to make sure he didn't roll off. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

The best part of having Jackson out of our room is that I can open the windows and sit out on my sorry-excuse-for-a-deck while reading my Bible and greeting the sun. I got a whole hour this morning. Glorious!

what a relief!!

I dragged myself into the doctor's office this morning for both kids' checkups. It was supposed to be routine well visits, but Acacia had a 101 fever and I was soooooo relieved to find out that Jackson had an ear infection. He has been rather difficult lately, not sleeping AT ALL... and he has this high pitched squeal that has peeled the paint off our house and broken all the neighbor's windows. So, tylenol for both kids, antibiotics for Jack... and some hot chai for mommy. We should all be better by this weekend. Then we'll go back for a true well visit in two weeks.

I mentioned a month or so ago that my stud hubby scored a Dyson DC14... well, I ordered the missing part and it still wasn't working properly. I finally had it repaired by the vacuum genius, Steve, at All Brand Vacuum (off 186th and Biscayne). I just had the most magical vacuuming experience of my life. It's 10:30 and I'm up vacuuming, and blogging about it; it was that good. After the first run, maybe 5 minutes, I emptied one canister full of yucko. Second run, another canister full. Third run, different rug this time, yup... another canister full. It was so rewarding. I think I'll hit the stairs tomorrow; and the fans (it has a telescoping reach!)

rocky mountian high... just acacia

I have too many amazing pictures of this sweetie. She deserves her own blog post.

Ringing the huge antique bell calling everyone in for dinner. But the real thing I love about this picture is the fleece with jeans and flip flops... you can't make that up.

Holding her "big noon" (fig newton) and posing by a lovely columbine, the colorado state flower.

Riding Nutmeg, Acacia's first full size horse. Man, I love this picture.

She was literally saying, "I am walking through a field of wildflowers!"
I think she thought it was the Sound of Music set... and she was the star.

Best part of vacation? SNACKS!