Big Boy Bed!

 Miller slept in his big boy bed for the first time on Saturday night! I know, this milestone is way past due, but we have had SO much going on and he seemed to love his crib. I intended on setting his bed up at our old house, but I kept waiting on his bedding to get finished. And honestly, it took me forever to pick it out. Then the move came and we decided that the apartment would be the best place for him to sleep in his big boy bed for the first time because the rooms are so close to each other. His bedding is still not ready yet- I am having a head board, duvet, bed skirt, etc. made and it seems to be taking forever! But, Miller doesn't mind-he loves it anyway!
We had a pretty good routine when he was sleeping in his crib, so we decided we would stick with it, minus the rocking chair. (yes this means no more rocking my baby :(...) Casey and I both lay down with Miller, read one book, say our prayers, cut on his music and noise machine, say goodnight and close the door. The first night Miller woke up several times and Casey and I took turns going to check on him. The second night was more of the same, but last night he did great!
Miller is so proud of his big boy bed. All day Saturday and Sunday all he wanted to do was play on his bed. He would tell me "You can come sit on my bed" ha! It was so cute!

129

See sweet Bella sitting in the window?

Yesterday was our last day at 129. 129 was my first house. Sure, I lived in a dorm, an apartment and a really nice house in Auburn, but 129 was mine. With a little help from my Dad and Uncle Craig, I designed everything myself-colors, floors, layout, everything. Miller and I moved in 129 on October 9, 2009. I had his first birthday party there the very next day on October 10. Miller loved 129. He had complete free reign in the backyard. I had windows placed so I could see every point of the backyard from everywhere in the house. We had 2 family Christmases, celebrated birthdays, celebrated new jobs, new friends, new school, graduating from college-everything in 129. Last year 129 was nominated for the Gadsden Beautification Award and won 2nd place. This year we were nominated again, and won 1st place! (Casey says it's all because of my yard man...which would be him, ha!)  Casey and I were talking Wednesday night, and I got a little teary (of course) realizing that that was our last night in my house. Casey reminded me that this was MY house, and that our new house (308) was OUR house. He reminded me that we will be doing everything together. Nothing will be your house, my house, your stuff, my stuff- it will all be ours. He reminded me of all the new memories we will make TOGETHER in the new house. And he is so right. I am so excited about this new step for our family, but I can't help but have a few bittersweet feelings.
We knew when we got engaged that we would need a larger house to grow our family. We looked at several houses, did a lot of talking and praying, and decided that 308 would be the perfect house for us. We finally agreed on a price with the previous owners. We were so excited! We had a home inspection done, and realized that it was not exactly what we were hoping for. At the point, we decided to step back from the situation, and take our time in finding a house. Not a week later, a friend of ours called and asked if he could come look at my house. We said sure. Not thinking anything would really come of it. Well that night they let us know they wanted the house- and they needed us to be out in 2 weeks. We were a little hesitant, but knew that with today's market we better accept. So we did. Casey and I decided that with the sale of my house, we could rethink 308 and handle some large items that needed to be taken care of from the home inspection. We informed the owners that we were ready. So we planned, packed and slowly started the moving process. We closed on our new house on Wednesday, June 15 2011! On Thursday, we got a call from the people buying my house. They were letting us know that things were not going to work out with the bank on their side. Me, Casey and my parents were not happy to say the least. We stopped packing, planning and moving. That Thursday and Friday seemed like they lasted an entire month rather than 48 hours. Word spread that my house was back on the market (well not the actual market, but available again). We had several calls and showed it to a couple on Sunday. On Monday, we got a call from a realtor that she had a prospective client who is very interested in my house. Long story short, they bought our house on Thursday the 23rd and we had to be out on Thursday the 30th.
I was able to get off work early yesterday and the day before to pack and move, thank goodness! Yesterday we started moving around 2p.m. and finished at 2 a.m....We are completely exhausted! If it weren't for my sweet parents, my wonderful Aunt Becky, our sweet friend Ann and our other friends Amy and Jared, we could not have done it. My parents have been such troopers. Not only were they there all day yesterday and this morning till 2 a.m., but my mom was back at our apartment at 8 this morning so Miller could sleep late while we went to work. 
We have been telling Miller that we were moving. And explaining to him why we were packing, but as any 2 yr old- he just doesn't get it. This morning I asked him what he wanted to do today and he told me he wanted to go home and ride his gator. That just broke my heart! I know he will adjust just fine, but it bothers me that he doesn't understand.
So now, we are semi-unpacking and organizing and getting ready for a long weekend! Happy 4th of July!

308

Casey and I closed on our first house together last week!! We are SO excited about this new step together. 308 needs major renovation....It's a good thing we have an inside connection with a construction company, ha! We closed 308 on Wednesday, and had the pool and a major tree cut down by Friday. People keep asking why did we fill in the pool? Well, it was so close to the house. Like, 4 steps out of the back door close. Every time we went to look at the house with Miller, we were a nervous wreck watching him around the pool. We may add a pool a little farther from the house in the future, but not any time soon.
We also sold my house, 129, for the second time (I'll do another post about that) last week. We have one week to be out...yep, one week. Actually, from today, we have 3 days to be out. Yes, we have lost our minds!
In the mean time while 308 is being remodeled, we will be living in an apartment (thank goodness we have a connection there too!). Apartment living won't be easy....at all. Luckily, my dad gave us 2 apartments right next to each other: one for storage and one to live in. 
Craig Roberts, an architect (and also my cousin) from Mobile, will be helping us with plans for 308. Right now, we are planning to do some changes to the front, the kitchen, baths, floors, back patio and garage.

Father's Day 2011

We had a wonderful Father's Day! We spent our afternoon in Douglas visiting with Casey's family. Jada always cooks a feast for lunch. We stuffed our faces, and spent the afternoon catching up outside and letting Miller run around with his cousins and play with the horses and cows. Casey's daddy has a baby cow who lost his mother, so they are having to bottle feed it. Miller was so excited to get to pet the baby cow. I am so sad that I don't have any pictures from this day :(....definitely losing mommy points. We left Douglas and spent the remainder of the afternoon at my parents house. We watched the last of the US Open and helped my dad put his boat in the water. We had a wonderful day relaxing with family.
That whole day I could not help, but realize how lucky I am to have such amazing daddies in my life. I have always been a daddy's girl. I don't know why, but my dad and I have this special bond. My mom always says that he and I are exactly alike. That's ok with me. Over the years my daddy has taught be to "be tuff", that's what he always says. He has also taught me the importance of hard work and finishing what you start. Now that I have a child of my own, I get to see my daddy be a granddaddy. He is just as much (truthfully, probably more) in love with my child as he is with me! The other wonderful daddy in my life is Casey. Casey is honestly the BEST daddy and has been since the day Miller was born. I have no doubt that if something were to happen to me today, Miller would be perfectly taken care of with his daddy. Casey understands the importance of a close family and the relationship between a father and his son. I tell Casey all the time that i am thankful for his strength and energy. He keeps going when I am too exhausted. I am so, so proud that Miller has this wonderful man to look up to.

Last hug before he's a Pop and I'm a Mommy

Showing off his pride and joy

Day 2 in the hospital with our new baby

Watching his first of many more Auburn games to come with Daddy

Miller and his Great Granddaddy

Swimming with Pop

My boys - 2 1/2 years later

Miller and his Boppa

A Weekend of Firsts

This was a weekend of exciting firsts for Miller. On Friday after work, we went to the GCC pool. This was our first time to go this season. Miller was already used to swimming, since we had just been to the beach and he had swam in my parents' pool. He was so excited to see all of his other friends swimming too. The only thing different about this pool, was that it had a diving board! Once Miller found out what it was, he had to jump. Casey and I were a little nervous about this (me more so than him), but we decided not to share those feelings with Miller and let him jump.

First time jumping off of a diving board....He LOVED it!

 On Saturday, my mom and I went to a wedding in Birmingham, and Casey and Miller stayed home and did yard work. Pam's, a long time friend of my mom, daughter, Katie, was getting married and we couldn't miss it! Katie looked beautiful, and the wedding a reception were perfect! My planner, Neillie Butler, also planned Katie's. I was so excited to see all of Neillie's wonderful ideas put to work. Mom and I didn't stay long because all of the boys were at home. It was so nice to spend some alone time with Mom. We used to shop and do little fun things together all the time, and now it seems we never get to have just girls time.
On Sunday, we missed church because we had so much packing and laundry to catch up on since we were out of town the previous weekend. We got up early and got so much accomplished. We need more weekends at home....Sunday afternoon we were back to the GCC pool for more swimming and jumping. Miller jumped of the diving board over and over again. I am so excited that he loves the water and is not afraid. This may be a little ambitious of me, but I am thinking by the end of the summer he may be able to swim more without his shark float.
After the pool, we went by my parents' house. Casey has been dying to take Miller for a ride on our jet ski this year. I finally gave in (my little boy is growing too fast!) and we loaded up on the jet ski.

Miller's first time to ride the jet ski....Here we go!

On our way out...

On our way back in...We moved Miller to the middle because he didn't like the wind in his eyes. He rode the whole way with his hands over his eyes, until we moved him :)

This little boy has my heart.

We had a wonderful weekend of firsts! We are so excited about Miller's life. I know that sounds (or reads) silly, but that is really the only way we can put it into words. Sometimes Casey and I just talk about different scenarios that may possibly happen in his life.  We laugh about the different ways we will react...mostly Casey just laughs at me because he knows I'll be crying!

The Zoo

We took Miller to The Birmingham Zoo a few weeks ago. He had been once last year, but was too young to remember anything. We have been reading a lot of books about animals lately, and Miller seems to love anything to do with animals...so we decided this would be a perfect thing to do on a Saturday.  He loved it this year! Casey and I were pretty excited because the new safari exhibit had recently opened. We were actually very impressed. Everything was clean and all of the exhibits were open.

Loving the zoo!

Oh, yes! We even rode a camel....

That night when we got home, we were talking to Miller about what he saw at the zoo. I asked him what his favorite thing he saw was and he said, "The elephant went poo poo..." Casey and i laughed and laughed. We reminded him that he also saw monkeys, tigers, snakes, etc. and he still said "the elephant went poo poo." Oh the little things....

Much Needed Family Vacay

Casey and I have been so busy with work, wedding planning and packing we decided we needed a break. We loaded up and went to Destin for the long weekend. We were so excited to see Miller's reaction to the sand, ocean, pool, etc. Casey and I talked up the beach to Miller for the whole week prior to leaving. We were really looking forward to spending this time off together and relaxing.

Luckily, the damage was not nearly as bad as it looks!

We decided to leave Thursday after work in hopes that Miller would sleep the entire way. The weather had been horrible in Gadsden on Thursday, and around 4:30 that afternoon my Aunt Becky called me at work to inform me that a large limb had fallen on Casey's truck in our driveway....Needless to say he was NOT happy!
By the time I got home from work, Casey, my dad's workers and Alabama Power were all on our street. Surprisingly, they quickly cleaned up the mess.
Finally, we were headed south!
We arrived in Destin late Thursday night. First thing Friday morning, Casey was off to Krispy Kreme....this is a tradition that he started on our first beach trip. It sure is a yummy tradition, but not one of my favorites seeing that I am scarfing down donuts and then wearing a bathing suit the rest of the week! After a quick trip to Target to buy Miller some new beach toys, we made our way to the pool/beach. We decided that we would leave our towels at the pool and walk down to the beach and rent chairs. Miller was so excited about seeing the sand and the ocean! Until....we put him down.....

 Needless to say, we spent the majority of our trip at the pool! We had the best time, though. Miller absolutely loved the pool. Casey and I loved seeing him become more brave each day. We did make a trip to the beach every day to see if Miller would have a change of heart- no such luck. We had a wonderful family vacation filled will swimming, shopping and eating!

Loving the pool!

Jumping on the trampoline in Baytowne

Dinner at Ocean Club...one of our favorites!

Swimming with Pop

My Boys!