Easter Day

"Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Raise your voice and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!"

I had that song in my head all day on Easter. What a wonderful and amazing thing it is that we celebrate on Easter Sunday! This Easter was particularly meaningful, as we were able to talk to Perry about the Resurrection story. He was especially intrigued at how the rock outside Jesus' tomb was moved away and how Mary was so surprised to find Jesus alive. I look forward to sharing more about the meaning of Easter in the years to come. 

On Sunday morning the boys were excited to find their baskets filled with goodies. Perry has been obsessed with playing the guitar with any object he could find, so I set out to find him the perfect toy guitar. It was a big hit! That guitar has not left his sight for the past couple days.

We got the boys dressed in their church clothes and headed outside for some pictures. I love dressing up for Easter! Perry looked SO sweet and handsome.

Millsie looked precious too...

And we actually got some pictures of them together. Seeing my two little loves together makes my heart nearly explode!

We had a delicious lunch at my mom's house. After Perry's nap, he got more presents and hunted for eggs at Mae Mae's house. When he found the first egg, he said "Yum Yum". I had to explain that these eggs didn't have candy in them; they had money. As he continued to find eggs, he would shake them and if he heard coins, he would say "No Yum Yum". I know one day he will be excited to get money, but for now, nothing makes him happier than the thought of a candy treat.

Beach Trip

Alex and I (and Mills) went to Destin, FL a couple weeks ago for a special trip with some of our closest friends. It was our First Annual Fab Four and Family beach trip! We kept this one adults only (except for the 2 nursing babies). It was a wonderful time of hanging out in the condo, lounging at the beach, eating yummy food, drinking fun cocktails, staying up way too late, and simply enjoying each other. We feel so blessed to have these friends in our lives. They may live hundreds of miles away from us, but they are very near and dear to our hearts!

Fab Four

The whole group (clockwise top left)-- Brad and Virginia Jackson, Phelps and Katharine Anderson, Burkes, Matt and Ashley Donald

 We celebrated our 30th birthdays!

 Mills' first time at the beach

 Hotties

We stayed in an awesome condo on the beach. Such a nice view!

The following pictures are from our night out at Red Bar. We had a babysitter for the 2 little ones, so we were able to stay out late partying like the good ole' days. These pictures are from our phones, so the quality isn't great.

 me and V

 KK and Ash

Phelps and Brad were cracking us up...Katharine wasn't so amused :-)

Proof that Katharine and I also acted like responsible mothers....

Bath time with little Phelps and Mills. Such Cuties!

6 months old

How is it possible that my baby is 6 months old? This past month was busy for all of us, but especially Mills, as he was busy growing up and accomplishing many new milestones. I'll start with the most exciting news...he started sleeping through the night with out a dream feed! I had been contemplating dropping this feeding, but wasn't sure if he was ready. Well, one night (around 5 1/2 months) I decided not to wake him and he slept all night until 7:30. He did it the following nights as well. I love that I can crawl into bed a little earlier now. He also dropped his 4th nap. Our schedule has shifted around a little bit because of that. We are nursing 5 times/day--approximate times are 7:30, 10:45, 2:00, 5:00, and 7:00. I just introduced solids a few days ago. He has really liked his rice cereal and banana mixture. We will be testing out other new foods in the coming weeks. Another big milestone is that Mills rolled from his back to tummy for the first time this past month. I was excited that I saw him do it for the very first time. It really is bittersweet though. I just keep thinking, "How is this possible?" We went to the doctor last week and he weighed 15 lbs 14 oz and was 25 3/4 inches. Mills took his first beach trip this month. We confirmed that he definitely doesn't sleep well in his car seat...not the best scenario for a 9.5 hour drive :-) but while we were there, he was an absolute angel. He is getting very jumpy and squirmy when sitting in my lap. It won't be long before he becomes mobile...I'm definitely not ready for that! I know I say this all the time, but Mills is such a sweet boy! I think I kiss him 100 times a day!

 Right after he rolled over for the first time

 What do you do when you're bored and tired after being in the car 9 hours? Chew your toes, of course!

We got to see "H" this month!

Thursday Fun

Last Thursday was a fun-filled day. Perry's Mother's Day Out program put on a pizza picnic that Alex and I both attended. Perry was so excited to see us, but I could tell he was a little confused as to why we were there. We ate our lunch and then ran around with Perry on the playground for a little while. It was so fun for us to see him in his element at "school". I hope Perry felt like it was a special time too!   

 We LOVE Perry's teachers!

 Perry and Ms. Kate

 Perry and a friend with his other teacher, Ms. Erin

That afternoon, we went to the LaBorde's house for a visit. Carol had set up an Easter Egg Hunt for Perry in the back yard. He was a little slow to warm up, but once he realized there was candy involved, he was set on finding all the eggs! 

 We LOVE Jack and Carol!

 Perry was not interested in taking pictures

5 Months

There was NO WAY that I could eliminate any of the above pictures--they were all too adorable in my opinion! I really don't know where the past month has gone. I guess with the boys being sick off and on, all the days just blended together. Mills is 5 months old now and just as cute and sweet as ever! He is starting to giggle a good bit, which is so fun for us to hear. He loves socializing with us and smiles so big when one of us looks at him or talks to him. He is mesmerized by Perry and I really appreciate the entertainment this provides him. Mills is sleeping great at night--from 7ish-730ish with no more crying. I'm still doing a dream feed. We haven't tried any cereal yet, but it's been on my mind...I might get around to it this month...maybe. He can be a little toot with some of his naps. Sometimes he doesn't fall asleep right away and will flip over several times, requiring me to go flip him back; and sometimes he wakes up earlier than he should. It's not a big problem though. I just let him hang out in his crib. He has started to talk and play while he's in his bed. A lot of times I will go in there to get him and he's laying on his back, playing with his feet. He's consistently rolling from tummy to back (mainly while in his crib), but I've actually never seen him do it! I don't give him much tummy time while he's awake because he gets so much of it in his bed. I can tell he's developing the coordination and strength to roll from back to tummy, but he hasn't done it yet. He's starting to show signs of sitting up alone. If I prop him up in a chair, he likes to lean forward in order to sit unassisted. He is grabbing for anything within reach, but his favorite thing to do is to touch our faces with his slobbery hands. I just can't get enough of my Millsie boy, slobber and all!

Sitting like a big boy!

Big Boy Bed

We are soooo proud of Perry! He has been sleeping in his big boy bed for over a week now and is doing great! I wasn't planning to move him out of the crib quite yet, but he had started throwing lovie and paci out at all hours of the night in order to get our attention and if we left him to cry, he was starting to climb out of his crib. I'm not one to tolerate that kind of behavior, so I decided it was time for a change! It took about 2 days for Perry to get the hang of sleeping in his new bed. He no longer throws lovie and paci out and he has learned not to get out of bed until Mama or Dada comes to get him. That rule was very important to me because I didn't want him crawling out of bed to wander around the house or play with toys. We will eventually give him that freedom, but I wanted to establish some firm boundaries at first. He has quietly slipped out of bed a couple times in the past week, but he has at least stayed in his room during that time. Overall, I couldn't be more pleased and impressed with how he has handled this big change. Alex and I have both enjoyed crawling up in bed with him to read books, cuddle or horse around. I really can't believe our little Perry is growing up so fast!