Will

A couple weeks ago Kevin and I met with an attorney to do our will and also select both a healthcare power of attorney and power of attorney.

We had been discussing doing this since Molly Anne was born and the HR girl sent our company an email that said we had a benefit that this was a free process.  It was kind of odd timing because we had talked about it the week prior anyway.  May as well take advantage of them providing an attorney to get it done.  

When I contacted the attorney, he said the first step was to fill out an information sheet listing all of our contact information and who we want to be named for everything.  We obviously chose each other for both power of attorney's and my back up is my Dad.  

We had already decided that if something happened to both of us, my brother and my SIL would get Molly Anne.  We had asked them back in November when we were there.  We felt that she would be taken care of like she was their own and Kevin and I know they parent the same way we will.  I have learned a lot from watching my sister in law with my nieces over the years and she is an awesome mom to them.  There are lots of good moms in the world but I think my sister in law is extra amazing.  

I hope this urges you all to go get a will done and make sure it will hold up in court.  We still aren't finished with ours but it's being drafted now. Go get it done!  It's a hard conversation but an important one.  

High Chair Debacle

Well, I finally caved and got THE high chair.  The one from IKEA that everyone talks about and is $19.99.  Yeah I have no clue why I waited so long.  Truth be told, I did not want to drive up there and I also thought we were fine with our Fisher Price Space Saver chair. 

So I paid $10 to have IKEA ship it to me (worth every penny) and it took me literally less than three minutes to put it together.

Someone told me when we were registering to get the space saver chair that goes onto your dining room chair if you are going to eat as a family at the table or get a regular high chair if you feed the child in your kitchen while you cook.

Well after 4 months of eating real food, it was obvious that we did a little of both depending on when Kevin got home from work or what we were doing on the weekends.  So now we use both and they sit less than 10' from each other.  It was just getting old sliding a chair with a high chair back and forth on our hardwoods, plus that bad boy was heavy.

This IKEA chair is super light but sturdy and easy to clean.  I will say, this chair probably wouldn't have worked when she was like 5-6 months because she couldn't sit up straight.  The space saver was good that she could kind lounge back a tiny bit instead of having to hold herself straight up for 30 minutes.

I keep her in it when I make dinner for us and she has some toys on there that she plays with.  She'll also gnaw on her frozen grapes in her mesh pouch too.  It's really helped me get things done in the kitchen if I need to before Kevin gets home.

$20 IKEA high chair...done.

Easter Weekend - Lots of Firsts and Crawling

Yesterday I posted about Easter Sunday. Today is about the rest of the weekend.  

Missy learned how to drink out of a straw on Thursday night!  Ms. Becky gave her this cute cup!

I don't even know what we did all day on Friday. My office was closed but I still worked while I had MA. Maybe between that, playing and naps we filled our time. Oh we went to a make up swim class at 3:30 that day too.  After we got home we went for a walk for happy hour with a couple neighbors. 

Kathryn came over and put MA to bed and we went out with another couple. First Kevin and I went to Treehouse for a drink by ourselves then we had 8:30pm reservations at Baku in Southpark with Benjy and Jessica.  

We ate some exotic food and all tried everything.  

Back at Treehouse afterward.  I don't think we got home until 1:30am.  Yep, 6:30am came EARLY this next morning.  Kevin took her and I went back to sleep for two more hours.  Yesssss.  

Molly Anne and I met up with Sarah, April and the girls for pictures with the EB at Blacklion.  

Camille was too cute with Molly Anne.  April and I were talking and we looked over and saw her playing with MA.  Adorable.  

When we got home, this one did an army crawl!

First time in a toy store.  She took home her first teddy bear! ;)

Afternoon nap on the go.

And Saturday night she was ready for the EB to come.  Mills was on lookout all night long! ;)

There you have it, our Easter weekend.  

Molly Anne's First Easter

We had a nice Easter and hope you all did too!  I'm going to break it down so today I'm only sharing about Easter Sunday and tomorrow I'll post about the rest of our weekend. 

The EB came to our house!

Molly Anne had so much fun looking at her basket!  This was her first reaction. 

Then this!

Mills is never forgotten in this house! ;)

Nannie and Poppa had already sent her a package with a bunch of goodies in it but couldn't help not sending a card with piggy bank money!  Tradition in our fam!  The card was the first thing she pulled out. 

Last time I was at my parents, I brought back the plastic eggs and purple bunny that mom has used in my basket for 30+ years so those were in MA's basket this year!

It quickly turned into all of this. Mills is a saint. You know he was next to her the whole time she was looking in her basket. Then this yellow box got shoved in his face. He doesn't care.  

Kevin had this good idea to put her in her basket. How cute is this?!!

All up in her biz at all times!

We had planned to go to church but it just didn't work with her nap and eating schedule.  We decided to let her sleep so she'd be rested for brunch at Kevin's parents club!  

With cousin Kendall

Prim and proper ;)

She brought her fancy rattle!

With her Uncle Joe. 

The whole crowd.  Kevin gave the EB bunny ears!

Family picture!

The rest of the day we just hung at home!

Five on Friday - MA Easter Egg Hunt, Dinner out

Thank you all for all your sweet comments on my post yesterday.  We are SO excited!!!

1.  Molly Anne giggles at mills and mills licks her hands.  They are constantly playing.  Maybe MA needs a real sibling ha!  One day I hope. 

2.  This week I bought Essie nail polish and Seche Vite top coat on Amazon Prime.  I thought I had hit a new low in my Amazon obsession but really the Seche Vite was much cheaper!  Two bottles for the price of one!

3.  One day was national puppy day.  Flashback to baby Mills.  

So I took him to get groomed and to play at Camp. He loved it....well the playing part.  And the riding with his head out the sunroof!

4.  Yesterday Molly Anne had swim class then her Easter Egg hunt at school.  

5.  Last night Kevin's parents came over to stay with MA and we zipped up to dinner at The Palm. Kevin has had a certificate that expires on March 31st so since we hadn't used it in the 8 months he's had it, we HAD to use it this week.  It was a nice treat out. 

He got sea bass and I got double tuna appetizer. I have leftovers which will be a treat again today!  

Hope you all have a nice Easter weekend with your families!

Big News!

Well, Kevin and I have big news....

We are building a house!  We got approved for the loan last week and also met with the architect last Thursday and yesterday to do rough drafts on the plans.  This actual deal has been in the works for about a month now but I wanted to wait until things were a bit more final before we announced!  

Actually...I guess this whole idea has been in the works for years.  Kevin and I have always wanted to build a house but we LOVE the house we are in now so we really wanted to make it work.  We have had architects and general contractors to our house to have them look at some things we wanted to do to it.  Pool, another garage, patio out back, opening the kitchen to den, creating more of an office for Kevin to work, a playroom for Molly Anne....we looked at adding two bedrooms and a bath to our walk in attic upstairs. We went through A LOT of options to try to make our current home work.  We love it and our neighborhood and our neighbors so much.  

What it came down to is that this house is awesome and wonderful but it doesn't have some things that we really want for our family.  By the time we spent the amount of money it would take to do all of this, it doesn't make financial sense.  This house is very special to us for many reasons including who sold it to us, that we got married while living here, brought Molly Anne home to it, it's little Mills' only home and so many memories have been made.  We are hoping to keep it and if this new house doesn't work out and we hate it, we will be right back where are now.  

Soooo....unfortunately we couldn't get a lot in our current neighborhood so that's the bad news.  There are only a few and none are for sale.  We've been watching them for awhile and know a couple stories behind them and they won't sell.  We were forced to look elsewhere.  We will be in a similar neighborhood and fortunately already know a few families that live in that hood.  I've already met our new next door neighbors and they are our age and Molly Anne is in the middle of their two girls age-wise.  (So excited about this!!!)  Every time we go drive around the new neighborhood, elementary age kids are all over the place playing and having fun after school and on the weekends.  I LOVE it.  

Get ready for lots of house posts....we will have lots of things to pick out along the way so I'm excited to come to you all for advice!!!!

April's Sprinkle

We had the very best time sprinkling our dear friend April!  As most of you know, she is the very sweetest and we wanted to make her baby sprinkle special for her and right up her alley!

We thought about having it at one of our homes but then decided it would be best to have it at a nearby restaurant that serves brunch!

We made a reservation at Dogwood Southern Table for noon on a Sunday...noon because in North Carolina, they don't serve alcohol until then on Sundays.  And mimosas for the guests (specifically the honeysuckle mimosa) and a specialty mocktail for the guest of honor were a must!

We picked up cupcakes from Publix (because they're truly the best), flowers from Trader Joes and April's friend Lindsay brought the cutest favors for everyone!

We had little wish cards for everyone to fill out for the baby.  They said "I hope you love...." and the guest filled in the blank for each wish.  At the end we tied a ribbon through the hole punch and slipped it in one of the gift bags for April to take home with her. 

Everyone just ordered whatever they wanted off the menu!  Easy!

April is radiant isn't she?!

We can't wait until this sweet baby (boy or girl?!!) joins our crowd of babies and friends!!!