Who does G love more?

I think the pics speak for themselves!

;)

Our New Place

So, people have been asking for pictures of our new place. Honestly, it's usually not clean enough to take pictures of-- judge if you will. Gideon can dump out all his toys, pull all of the dvds/books of the bookcases, and empty out the end table drawers before I can even turn the camera on...see???

kind of depressing, really. Although I am sad to be living in a complex, (as opposed to a neighborhood) it is SOOO nice to have, you know, a bedroom. Yes, we gave Gideon our room in our old place, and it was totally worth it. BUUUUUT it's nice to have more rooms! Space wise, our new place is only 150 square feet bigger. But instead of one giant room and a bedroom, there are many rooms. It's a cute little 2 bed/2 bath condo in Oakton, Virginia. And yes, having 2 bathrooms is just as amazing as I dreamed it would be!

Here is our living room. It's nice and spacious, and I LOVE having a "sunroom" which you can see in the pic (between the 2 sets of sliding glass doors) to keep our jogging stroller, bike, etc. instead of having them in our living room.

This is our kitchen and breakfast nook. I love it! Off to the left is our washer/dryer, a utility/storage closet, and a pantry. I love having a pantry! The oven, fridge, sink, microwave, and tile are all brand new. Oh, and the carpet is brand new. Honestly, the things that AREN'T brand new, are pretty old, but at least some stuff is new!

Here is our "dining room," which as you can see, is not being used for that purpose. You can also see a utility/storage closet, as well as "Gideon's" bathroom. My friend came over the other day and asked if she could use "his Majesty's bathroom." haha. There is a linen closet across from the utility/storage closet.

Here you can see the... wait.... what is that? A HALLWAY!?!?! yes, I was very excited excited to have a hallway! (Again, in case you forgot, our last place was like a studio with a bedroom.) The bedroom you can see in to at the end of the hall is our room.

Here is Gideon's room. I got Alphabet wall stickers and I absolutely love them!!!

A close up-- kind of washed out, but you can see the cute letters!

Here is our room-- it's quite large, although you can't really tell. Also crazy about this picture is that our super expensive and classy curtains just look like a sheet tucked into the blinds-- weird..... We also have a walk-in closet and a bathroom. I LOVE having a bathroom in our room! (For those of you who know me well, you can see why having a bathroom so close is very convenient for me!)

I'm also happy to say that Neal's HIDEOUS gnome has been banished to the patio. (I was hoping it would get "lost" in the move, but I was out of town, and Neal's movers weren't easily bribed on this front.)

We have plenty of room for guests-- come on out and see it for yourselves! And now, I shall leave you with another reason to come out to the DC area:

GORGEOUS! Wish you were here!!!

Luck o' the Irish-- Irish Sprint 10k

Okay readers, I know that 10k isn't that far to most of you, but humor me....

In January, my friend Dani posted on facebook, asking if anyone wanted to do a St. Patrick's day 10k with her. I have always been good about working out, and run 2.5-3 miles almost every day for the last couple of years (taking time off before and after G, of course), but I've never been good at pushing myself. If I felt extra tired, I would just start walking because, you know, at least I'm still getting exercise. So when I saw this post about a 10k, I thought that might motivate me to push myself. I decided that I would do it, and also that I wouldn't walk at all, and I registered. My crazy hardcore runner friend Amylee created a training schedule for me, and I didn't miss a single training run-- even when I was on vacation. I started to feel proud of myself almost immediately--I was now running at least 3.5 miles a day, pushing Gideon, and it didn't feel any harder that when I would go 2.5-3. I went on my long runs on Saturdays, and although my longest scheduled run was 5.5 miles, I ended up running 6.2 (10k) on my last training run just because I felt so good! In a sense I was slightly disappointed that the race day wouldn't be THE farthest I'd ever run, but on the other hand, I was glad to know that I could for sure do it.

The day before the race, I realized I could look at the course description, and when I did, I grew slightly concerned to see words like "long uphill", "trail", and "uphill to cross the finish line"-- there aren't a lot of hills by us, and even less trails. I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to run the entire time-- which I know isn't a huge deal, but to me, it would have been a fail! Oh, and sorry that this is TMI, but I also happened to start my first period in 20 months the day before the race as well... thaaaaaaaaanks for that, body.

Now, on to the race. We all drove down to Prince William Forest Park together in the wee hours of the morning. I was feeling ready at this point, and pretty excited! Dani and I donned our Shamrock headbands, and got ready to rock. Dani was in an earlier wave than I, which I was pretty okay with, since I know she's about twice as fast as I am anyway. I started out feeling great-- the race energy is super fun! Suddenly, I realized we were starting the "long uphill" trail running portion of the race, which got old quickly and lasted a MILE!!! I was positive that I had simply missed the 3 mile marker, because surely, I had gone three miles! I was sure I would see a mile marker 4 at any second--even telling myself the race people probably deliberately didn't put out the 3 mile marker, so you would be extra relieved to see mile 4 marker. Unfortunately, around a bend I saw the 3 mile marker. My heart sank to see it-- I was struggling at three miles!!! Luckily, the course flattened out and before I knew it, I saw the 4 mile marker. I felt great again until about 5.7 miles because the last half mile was steep trail incline again. I was tired, but there was NO way I was gonna wimp out so close to the end. I was praying to finish strong, and indeed I did! My friend Dani was waiting for me at the finish, which was encouraging. Neal couldn't make his way down to the actual finish line with the stroller because it was too steep and rocky, which made me a little sad (okay, okay, and annoyed), but I was still glad he was there to support me and cheer me on, even if I was already done with the race by the time I saw him and baby G.

My official time was 1:17:05 which is slooooooow, I know, but I am very pleased with it because when I ran the 10k a couple of weeks ago, it took me 1:15-- so if steep, mile long hills and trail running only adds 2 minutes, that's fine by me! My new goal is to run 10 miles by my birthday (May 11th) and now I want to run another 10k faster! It was so much fun to race, and I really do feel proud of myself!!! It's so nice to set a goal and achieve it! Plus, when I called my sister Cali to ask her if she thought I could run a 10k that was 6 weeks away, she assured me I could "run/walk it", so I'm glad I was able to prove her wrong!!! ;)

Okay, thank you for humoring me and letting me feel like 10k is a long enough distance to blog about.... you are all great!

G's nine month stats

Weight: 21 pounds (65%)

Length: 29.25 inches (85%)

Cuteness: OFF THE CHARTS!!!!!

Teeth: 2 bottom and his top left one is just starting to poke through

Sleep: is starting to sleep through the night again (woot!) goes to bed at 7 and usually makes it at least until 5:30. He'll often go until 7 without waking up and it's blissful.

Signs: More (clapping) He gets very excited when we sign "milk" and claps about that too.

Words: Dada. He definitely babbles it a lot, but often calls out to Neal with it too. It's so cute!

Skills: nunchuck, bow hunting, computer hacking, army crawling, getting himself into the sitting position (especially during sleep time) standing up against a support, feeding himself, and being adorable.

Neal and I were just talking about how much joy little Gideon brings into our life. Even something as simple as watching Gideon feed himself, or using his head to get into the sitting position. . . these things bring us great joy and satisfaction. Being a mother has brought me more joy than I could have possibly imagined, and I love it more than I could have possibly imagined. Motherhood is the most special thing in the world, and I love love LOVE it! Enough to have another one? We'll see.... ;)

Sunny AZ!

Hello blogging world. First of all, we moved and are in a cute little 2 bed/2 bath condo. It is marvelous! As some of you know, Gideon and I just *happened* to be out of town during aforementioned move. That was also marvelous, I'm not gonna lie. :)

One of my best friends Rachel just up and moved across the country a few months after I had Gideon. Thanks a lot, right??? sheesh. but she was moving for a good cause-- getting married and whatnot, so I GUESS it's okay. She moved to Tucson, where I just so happen to have a lovely Aunt, Uncle and cousin, with other family in Phoenix. I started looking at tickets, and found a screaming deal, so I bought it. I spent a week in AZ, dividing my time between Phoenix and Tucson, and it was an absolutely WONDERFUL trip!!!!

The planeride was rooooouuuuuugh. I flew alone with G when he was 3 months old, and just happened to have the entire row to myself, so I erroneously believed that I could travel alone with him just fine. Yeah.... he spent the entire flight trying to grab everyone's everything, kick everyone within reach, and arching his back. It was pretty exhausting, but although busy, he wasn't fussy, so it was mostly okay for the other passengers. By the way, he's too big to nurse without kicking those around him, so that was a little awkward. Luckily the people around me were extremely tolerant.

I spent the first couple of days with Jeanni and Megan. I've been really close to them growing up, and it was so nice to get to spend some time with them. We went to the Zoo, swimming, and ate delicious food.

Favorite cousin!

We got to pet stingrays and feed them (I was too scared until I saw Meg's 4 year old do it)

G loves Aunt Jeanni!

Then Meg and Jeanni graciously drove me up to Tucson, where I was reunited with Rachel. It was SOOO GOOD to see her and spend time with her darling kids.

We didn't see much of her husband John, as he's finishing up his medical residency. Rachel and I had a blast together-- just catching up and of course, eating Rachel's delicious cookies that cannot be duplicated as she doesn't measure anything.

Gideon loved watching Jonas play

Vera loved baby Gideon. She liked to pretend his name was Jesus. "But not Jesus Christ" she told me.

We went on walks, went to the park, and even had a girls night out, as my Aunt Jayne very thoughtfully offered to watch G. I stayed with my Aunt Jayne and Uncle David, which was incredible because a) they have a gorgeous house, b) they had enough room for G and me to sleep in different rooms (YES!) so that was really nice, and c) they lived about 4 minutes from Rachel. Oh and d) Jayne let me take her car over there so I could come and go as I pleased-- so nice!!! Also I got to see my cousin Alison and her family-- she has a darling one year old so that was so much fun! Jayne and David hosted a dinner for everyone (again, SO NICE!) so we all hung out over there eating delicious food and visiting.

My awesome Uncle David and Aunt Jayne

My cute cousin Alison and her darling baby

Gideon was an absolute angel the entire trip-- I couldn't even believe it. He went immediately down every single nap/night. I couldn't even believe it! (He made up for it later, but I'm glad he was such an angel baby on vacation!!!) GREAT VACATION! Oh, and if you're wondering if Neal is the best, he is. He even sent me gorgeous tulips to Aunt Jayne's while we were gone! :)

Florida

The day after Christmas, we flew to Florida for the McMillan biennial get together. My father in law rented a beach house (bless him!) so we could be in the same place and it was a wonderful time! The house itself was absolutely amazing-- we're talking grand piano, elevator, showers with multiple shower heads-- it was truly luxurious. Gideon even had his very own walk in closet room with a window! It was, of course, nice to be living large, but more importantly, we all got to spend quality time together all day and after the kids went to bed. 4 out of 5 of Neal's siblings were there with their families, and the house with filled with a constant joyful noise (there are 13 grandchildren!) I am so blessed to have such delightful, welcoming, and loving in-laws. The only hard thing was the McMillans are all night owls--while I am NOT, especially since baby G wakes up at 7 at the latest. I was pretty consistently the first one to call it a night, but I'm pretty sure they still love me. Anyway, it was a week of delightful company, DELICIOUS food, and lots of relaxation.

As much as G loves water, he didn't enjoy having his tootsies dunked in the frigid ocean, as seen here:

Yeah, he didn't trust me after this, as seen here:

Maybe because I thought it was hilarious. He hung out with Papa after that, as seen here:

Okay, so obviously G didn't love the actual ocean part of the trip. He did, however, love hanging out with his cousins:

Doesn't he just look enthralled?? Clearly these babies loved hanging out. G also loved his Grandma:

And eating my flip flop. I know, gross.

I really wish I would have gotten a picture of G's face after he had his first bite of sugar cookie-- oh man, he grinned and grinned! He's already got his Mama's sweet tooth, I can tell.

Thanks again to my wonderfully generous father in law for making this trip possible!!!!

Christmas 2011

Happy New Year! This Christmas was one of my favorites, I think. It was a very different celebration, since this was the first Christmas of my life that I didn't go to Utah. While I missed my family, it was so nice to be here with my own little family! On Christmas Adam, we went out to dinner and went to the DC temple to see the lights. It was gorgeous!

Christmas Eve we had clam chowder for dinner (I made it myself-- it was delicious!!!!) We went to a Julbord celebration with our friends Thad and Erika (delicious swedish food!) and then came home and opened our Christmas Eve books.

I gave Neal "As a Man Thinketh" (watch out, he judges you if you haven't heard of it) He gave me a gorgeous picture book called "Wherever you are, my love will find you," and we got Gideon this book: ( it's a personalized childrens book-- so cute!)

Christmas morning we had a DELICIOUS breakfast-- homemade cinnamon rolls and egg casserole, and opened presents.

Now, I told myself "Gideon is 7 months old, he's not going to be excited about his presents" so I was prepared for total indifference. However, he was EXCITED about them!

It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! He would triumphantly remove the toy from the giftbag, and then smile really big and show his new toy to Neal. It was DARLING!!!! I was pretty surprised.

Then again, I guess it goes to show what a good Mom I am, and what great toys I picked out. (uh huh...) We attended about 20 minutes of Sacrament Meeting, but left early to hang out with this guy for a few minutes:

I felt kind of bad leaving early on Christmas Day, but I really, REALLY wanted to make sure I got to Skype with Matthias. It was so good to talk to him and see him and have him see Gideon. In the afternoon, we had a delicious Christmas dinner with Cali, Josh, Bastian and Piper. It was a little sad because poor Bastian was quarantined away from us since he had RSV, but it was so nice to be with family on Christmas.

Plus Bastian didn't seem to mind:

The food was delicious, the company delightful, and our first Christmas alone was a huge success!