Making the McMillan Family: Almost 11 weeks already!

Where does the time go? Seriously!? It is FLYING by! This summer has gone by so fast!

Looking back on it, even the time waiting for Tenley to COME when all my family was here seems like it went by way too fast as well. I know I was huge-gantic and all, but I wish I'd had more energy to hang out and enjoy my fam being here! I shoulda made Becca make me a copy of her amazing cookbook she's compiling! And I shoulda had her show me how to make that delicious bread of hers! Shoulda gotten in more sister time and more mommy time! That's one thing I love about my relationships is that, even though we're all far away, when we do get together, it's like we've never been apart. We can just relax and do LIFE together, without it being a big hassle. I LIKE that about my and Bec's relationship and my family's relationships, BUT at the same time, looking back on it, I wish I'd been up for the challenge of making sure they all know how much it meant to me that they were here!!! I wish I'd been able to make it more QUALITY time as opposed to just 'hanging out'. I guess I just thought we'd have more time once Tenley arrived, but then everyone had to go so quickly after being here waiting for so long... LUCKILY we get to go to Dallas tomorrow to see Becca and Stephen!!! I'm so excited about that! It'll be WAY too quick of a trip, but at least we get to go!

Guess I'm just feeling sentimental that it's already been two and a half months! Sweet Tenley is growing like a weed! She's smiling huge smiles that will MELT YOUR HEART!!! And she's thisclose to laughing! We've heard a few sounds that I'm pretty sure were sweet little laughs, but not a 100% full out laugh yet. I can't wait for that though! She is almost 12 pounds now, she's such a good eater! I'm still exclusively breastfeeding and T has never had a bottle. I kinda wonder if she'd even take one if I tried, after not having much success with the pacifier!!! Sooner or later, I'll get around to trying out the pump, but I love nursing. It is such a special experience, one I wouldn't give up for the world!! I love the way she stares in to my eyes, and I love when she takes a break from sucking and she gives me this huge smile and milk runs out of her mouth! I even love burping her and hearing these HUGE manly burps come out of this tiny body! I'm so glad I had the loving support from Luke to encourage our breastfeeding relationship. Even though he can't help me ACTUALLY feed her, he has been WONDERFUL and creating a successful breastfeeding environment. From getting me water to actually FEEDING me my dinner while I fed T, to finding the boppy/My Breastfriend pillow, to handing me my phone and the TV remotes to burping T for me, to picking her up to hand her to me, alllll kinds of things, he has just been such an incredible help. Always sweet and pleasant, even after the millionth time I asked him for a drink of water! I'm so lucky God picked out Luke for me! He is an amazing husband and father! We are the Luckiest girls alive!

Today, Luke came home around noon, and he played with Ten while I showered and got ready. Then the three of us went to the hair salon to get my hair done.

Added some red, chopped about 6 inches off!

Not many men love their wives enough to accompany them to the hair salon to babysit while mommy gets pretty! Tenley is such a daddy's girl! And who could blame her? T was an angel the whole time we were there! I was so proud of her! She even took a nap in her carseat and she was sprawled out in the CUTEST position! Wish I'd been able to get a picture! It was precious. Daddy had to leave at about 3:30 to head up to the High School for Band practice.

Afterwards, we went to get a sonic drink and Tenley got REAAAAALLLLY mad for some reason! I HATE when she cries in the car and there is nothing I can do about it! It was Happy Hour at Sonic and they were really backed up and taking forever, so after I paid, I pulled into a stall and crawled in the back seat to get T out of her carseat! She was crying big crocodile tears and I felt soo sorry for her! She wouldn't even nurse at first, she was THAT mad! Poor baby! What are you supposed to do when they get upset but you're in the CAR??? I need to find that chapter in an Attachment Parenting book and see if there is some advice! It's not always feasible to pull over/stop and get her out of the carseat! But my goal as a Mom is to be so tuned in to my children's needs that they never need to cry for long. Just to let me know there's an issue, and then it's up to me to solve it! I NEVER want to hear them cry like that and I'll certainly never let them cry it out!! It KILLS me to hear her cry like that! Hate. IT!

After I finally got her calmed back down, we headed up to the High School to hear the last part of Daddy's rehearsal! The band is playing an original show that Luke wrote and it is AWESOME! All the kids were so excited to see Tenley! We're keeping them from all wanting to hold her by insisting they wash their hands first. Surprisingly, thats enough to deter most of them from really wanting to hold her. One young guy, probably a freshman, came up to see her while she was sitting in her carseat and he put his hand out and waved at her. I dunno, maybe you had to see it, but I just thought it was hilarious that this young kid who clearly knows nothing about babies, wanted to come see her and say hi. It was cute. Oh and High School kids are awkward. lol

I've been working on ordering some Birth Announcements.....

Since we didn't exactly get the shot we needed during our Newborn shoot to do the Announcement we picked out way back in like, April, trying to be 'ahead of the game' and all.... I just got mad and decided not to do any announcements.... but then I got an email from a family member asking about them, so I decided to go ahead and make some. The one we had picked out was this one:

We both loved the fonts, as I like the curly one and Luke likes the plain ones, so this was a good compromise for us. We loved the simplicity and the black background, but we just didn't get a shot like this since our newborn photoshoot was pretty much a disaster! so instead.... I found this one from tinyprints.com :

Here's just a sneak peek at what they will look like! (Obviously, not actually Tenley!) They're pretty stinkin' expensive, but that's why I didn't do Christmas cards this year, knowing we'd be spending lots of money on Announcements, so hey! It'll be alright!

Let's see... what else is going on. I haven't blogged in forever, even though it's been on my list!
Never have two hands to type and I am WAY too verbose to try typing one handed! lol

Ten has been going to sleep about 10pm the last few nights, so right now, she's sleeping in ther cosleeper next to our bed, and I'm sitting in bed trying to catch up on the blog! I finally decided to just start where I am, as opposed to trying to catch up the past 11 weeks b/c that's such a daunting task that I was just getting farther and farther behind! Hopefully I'll be able to catch up those missed weeks eventually!

Tomorrow we're packing up and heading to Dallas! We're going to stay with Jeremy and Marti and their darling kiddos, which will be a blast! Going to have sushi with some friends on Saturday, hopefully get in a Babies R Us trip to try on the Ergo Baby carrier, and then SUNDAY we will go to Justin, TX to see Becca and hang out at her friend Sarah's house for Sarah's daughter Ava's 5th birthday! We'll have to leave mid-afternoon, which will NOT be long enough with Becca, but it IS the day before school starts for Luke, so this is the best we can do. I'm just happy we're getting to go at all! We're also taking Charry, my girl kitty:

so that Bec can take her back to AR to give her to an old college (boy)friend of mine. She was his originally, so that seems like the best choice! Hopefully he'll be able to give her the love and attention she needs that I haven't been able to give her! I will miss her though! I've had her since 2004, so that's a long time! Indy will miss her most of all! They play together like crazy!

Hope that video works... not sure if it will or not?? OK well, I'm sure this is enough "catching up" for one post! Hopefully I'll be able to get on here more regularly and keep you updated! ;-)