Wedded Bliss

Happy Anniversary to the best man I know! I did really well in marrying you. Thanks for accepting me with all my flaws and even loving them. I couldn't be happier in going through this life with you. You have been my best friend from the beginning and it is so fun being married to you. Thanks for an amazing four years and for being an amazing father! One day soon, I hope to write a post about how we met, became friends and fell in love because I think Mary Beth and our future kids would get a kick out of reading that. You are my favorite and I am so excited about our trip this week! These are some of my favorite photos from that surprisingly cold Easter weekend. Dancing at the party on Friday night. I love that my dad is smiling and enjoying himself in the background. He reluctantly took dance lessons with my mom because she loves to dance and those lessons paid off! A beautiful picture of my grandparents shortly before their 60th anniversary. My paw paw passed away later that summer and I am so glad they were there for that day. We had two rookie preachers and close friends marry us. My dad joked that he just hoped we were legally married! Joe had yet to graduate from seminary and Marc had been out for about a month. They did great and we loved having two people who knew us really well be the ones to marry us and it made the ceremony really personal for us. It was fun being their first too. I think this picture was either right before or after Marc dropped the ring. It was a much needed laugh, we thought it was great. Some of our most favorite people in the world, all of our interns and their spouses. Many of these people knew we would get married long before we had a clue. My father-in-law built that awesome arbor in the background and when we have a more permanent home, it will be up in our yard for sure.

Leaving the church on our way to the reception and so excited to be hitched.

So happy to get on the road to our honeymoon.

I don't think they will allow a pregnant woman to zip line through the jungle this time around but maybe we can ask them nicely. Note to self, use all of these pictures for encouragement to loose this baby weight next fall! And this is the infamous picture I took moments before I thought not only the honeymoon, but life in general was over. Dan assured me that we did not need a guide to take us out on the hobie cat because he had done this once before. I agreed because how bad can it be, surely my new husband would not lead me astray? Well, a few moments later, we were heading out to sea as fast as we could possibly go and our resort was getting smaller and smaller, I started panicking big time. We had passed everyone else that was out enjoying their leisurely ride and the other boats with guides started blowing their whistles and beckoning us to turn around. If only that were possible. I started freaking out and screaming at Dan to turn the boat around because we were way out there and going over huge ocean waves. I was gripping that little plastic tarp with my life. After what seemed like an eternity but probably was only seconds, Dan was able to get the thing turned around and we headed back to land wide open with no control. We almost decapitated another honeymooning couple naively swimming in our path before we ran the boat up on shore yelling at people to get out of the way. It was a horrifying and hilarious experience that we often laugh about. Dan did not have the same experience that I did, he thought everything was totally under control the entire time and really enjoyed the outing. Imagine that. I have told Dan never again and he has been trying to talk me into it for the past four years. I hope I can stick to my guns this time because he is excited we will access have to the hobie cats again on this next anniversary/baby moon trip. No. Thank. You. (drafted on 4/5/11)

Mini Vacay

I am on a layover in the airport and am getting caught up on blogging.... Dan had to work in Charleston a few weeks ago and MB and I took off a few days to meet him there. We stayed on the Isle of Palms and had such a great time. While poor Dan had to work, we hit the beach, walked the pier and took naps. What could be better? We enjoyed hanging out with Dan at night and eating some good seafood. It was my first trip to Charleston and we will definitely go back. He will be renovating banks there for a little while so we are hoping for another little family getaway some time soon.

Getting reaquainted with the sand, she loved it! Checking out her sand toys.

She really liked the dry sticks that were washed up and drew lines in the sand.

Chasing birds was one of her favorite things to do while we were there.

She is about to make a run towards that poor little bird.

Making a few mud pies after I begged her to get out of the water, it was freezing cold!

Ditching the hat.

Cheese!

Mwah!

Prayers, ABCs and Eggs

Here are a few random videos from the past week:

Getting a head start on egg hunting. She was all over it!



She has the hardest time with L and N for some reason but she is doing great with pronouncing her letters.



A few weeks ago, MB started praying in the middle of supper for family members. It is so sweet. I had to prompt her a little, when I pulled the camera out, but this is a sample of some of her prayers.

Do they favor?

I could totally be making this up but I really think the little fella looks a lot like MB already. There is something about his mouth and nose that reminds me of her. This is our 20 week ultrasound picture that was taken last week. I can't believe I am half way through! Time flies by when you have a toddler to entertain you and wear you out! He looks great and is growing well at a whopping 13 ounces. I am also pleased to report that I only gained two pounds in the last month. Since I am adding that to the update and haven't added any other weight gains, you know that must be my record low so far. Somehow I don't think our all inclusive beach trip that is coming up is going to help much with my next weigh in. Oh well....on to the pictures.


And just because big sister is too cute not to include a photo, here she is blowing bubbles at the park.

Love those pouty lips!

Good-Bye Old Friend

Yesterday was a big day in the Milam house. We had a good-bye ceremony for the nah nahs (pacifiers) and she threw them all in the trash. I have been dreading this day for months because MB loves the nah nah better than anything else in this world. She talks about it all the time and would ask for it whenever we mentioned a nap or riding in the car. It has been our saving grace in many sticky situations and has soothed her better than anything else. Lately, she has been driving us crazy wanting it more often so we decided it was time to give it up. I was really worried that she was going to have melt down after melt down and wondered how she would ever ride in the car or sleep in peace again. Well, the little lady has surprised us and has done really well. She asked for it once before her nap yesterday and we reminded her of the speech she heard at the start of the trashing ceremony that since she is a big girl now, she doesn't need the nah nah anymore. Those are only for babies and we reminded her that she had thrown them in the trash that morning. She asked for it a few more times yesterday but never cried or pitched a fit over it. We are still amazed at how well she is handling it and extremely thankful that it has gone as well as it has. I have been really sad because I feel like she truly is growing up and is no longer a baby. I am not in a rush for her to grow up which probably is why I haven't made her give up the nah nah before now. I want to let her be a little girl for as long as possible. To reward her big girl transformation, we finger painted for the first time. But don't worry, the paint was clear and only shows up on the special paper so I haven't completely lost my mind. She loved it!

The nah nahs in all their glory. We have loved you but it is time to say good-bye.

The procession to the trash can begins.

Three of five going in. I later pulled them out and washed them just in case we needed them (I'm a chicken, I know) but it looks like it is safe to put them up for good.

Enjoying the reward and her first introduction to finger painting.

I hope the paints are safe for kids to eat...

She seems okay to me!

Not too happy about modeling the apron that I made for her. Well, I didn't make the entire apron but I sewed on the M to jazz it up.

Finished masterpiece

New Yankee Workshop vs. Young Southern Garage

Eat your heart out Norm Abrams, you have nothing on Dan Milam!

A few months ago Dan decided he wanted to build a chest since he has not attempted that in the past. A few months later....tah dah! A new piece of furniture! I think it is going to be the new baby's chest and diaper changing station. My pictures do not do the chest justice so you will have to come over and see it for yourself. Love it!

Notice the dove tailed drawer corners, extra points for character and technical difficulty.

It will be perfect for the little fella!

It's a......

BOY!!! Are y'all as shocked as we are? We are soooooo excited to be having a little fella!!! MB is going to be a great big sister but she has no clue how her world is going to change. It's still sinking in that we are pregnant and having this news definitely is going to help make it more real. We couldn't be happier! The best news is that he is growing really well (as am I) and all of his stats look great. I am sixteen weeks and am enjoying checking each week off as the days are flying by. Our pediatrician is awesome and we are so thankful he offered to do an early ultrasound so we didn't have to wait until I was twenty weeks. So fun! We do not have a name finalized but I'm sure we will be sharing once we have one picked out. Until then, I will continue to share stories of the little lady. She needs to enjoy the spotlight as much as she can before the little fella arrives!

She doesn't like to have her picture taken but if we insist, she prefers the squat pose....