I often get friend requests on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from blog readers and many I don't know personally.  I admit, I have a little anxiety over "friending" people I don't really know.  No matter how precious your pictures or how adorable your kids look.  Sometimes, I sit and look through Facebook photos trying to figure out if I know you from college or some other place, and maybe I just don't know your married name.  Sometimes I end up asking my sister, brother, or parents to see if you are a family friend that I haven't met.

The truth is that I share overshare on all social media.  But especially on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  So, I prefer to keep those social media outlets for real life friends and family.  I just feel a bit safer that way.  But, I also know what it's like to wish for a way to communicate with bloggers I follow.  I often have questions or need reminders about updates.

Sooooo....'Tis So Sweet is making its Facebook debut!

We now have a place for anyone who wants follow us on Facebook, and you can do so without all the TMI that comes with my personal accounts!  Feel free to head on over here and "like" the page to add me to your news feed. 

I plan to write a guest post on our Mississippi Women Bloggers site Tuesday with directions on creating your own blog Facebook page.  Keep your eye out for that.

Happy First Father's Day!

Last Sunday was Father's Day.  In case you didn't know.  Last Sunday was also Russ's very FIRST Father's Day!  I can't speak for my hubs and all the mushy gushy feelings he may or may not have felt leading up to this day, but I can speak for myself and what I think of him as a daddy. 

Russ is everything I thought he would be as a daddy.  And more!  Y'all may roll your eyes at this if you want to, but there is one friend that may remember me saying, "I'm gonna marry him one day.  He would be such a great dad too."  Yep.  I said it.  I was sitting in a computer class in A Wing right after seeing him in the hallway.  We knew each other, because you basically knew everyone where I'm from.  Plus two of his cousins were my best friends. 

I digress.

Russ is so in love with our daughter, and he shows her every day.  Every second he is with her.  He's not too cool for a tea party or reading books or anything else girly and childish.  He washes bottles, gives baths, changes diapers, carefully puts her pajamas on (praying the whole time that it doesn't go over her head...Ha!)  He tells her how much he loves her every day...multiple times. 

I'm so thankful that Millie Janalee has Russ to watch and learn from.  I'm so thankful that of all the men in the world, she can look at her Daddy to learn the kind of man she should look for.  She can look to him to see how guys should treat her.  She can look to him to see the kind of husband she should find.  (Many, many, many, many years down the road of course!)  And she can look to him and know that she is cherished and beautiful and worth it! 

Russ is and always will be Millie Janalee's first love.

Russ worked out of town on Father's Day, but Millie Janalee and I had a nice evening planned with our main squeeze.  Thanks to the Easter Bunny that comes to Susu and Pawpaw's house, we had a gift card to Bonefish.  So, Millie Janalee took her Daddy out to eat a nice dinner.  We came home for a late night of opening gifts.

Millie Janalee loved helping her Daddy open his gifts!  She made Russ a book called I Love You, Daddy!  It is a book filled with all the reasons she loves her Daddy.  It has pictures to go with each reason.  Russ and Millie Janalee read the book together.

Millie Janalee enjoyed pointing out the most important people in the book.  Notice who she's pointing at here...

Mama!  Haha!

Millie Janalee also gave Russ a children's book for him to read to her during their storytimes.  It is called Dad and Me.  She wrote on the inside so we will always remember that Millie Janalee gave that book to Russ on his very first Father's Day.

It was getting late, so Russ and Millie Janalee had a little playtime after getting ready for bed.  They giggled and played peekaboo and nearly rolled off the changing pad and all the other nerve-wracking things Daddies do with babies.

Right before bed, Russ took Millie Janalee to the mirror to play.  They like to do this pretty often.  He found his final surprise in our master bathroom.  Millie Janalee had written a message on the mirror!  She was pretty proud...

It wasn't much, but it was special.

Millie Janalee and I are so thankful to God for sending us this husband and this father.  We are so thankful that out of all the girls in the world...he chose us!

College World Series

In case you haven't heard, the College World Series is going on.  And my Mississippi State Bulldogs are undefeated in the series so far!  It's pretty exciting around here!  Even Millie Janalee can't contain her giddiness over our victories...

My mom had something special planned for my dad this Father's Day.  And since her plan involved Sunday afternoon, all the Smithites gathered at Mama and Daddy's last Friday for lunch.  And we didn't even go out to eat!  Ha!  My mom cooked a delicious lunch of minute steaks, green beans, brown rice, and banana pudding.  I feel like I'm leaving something out.  Oh, the rolls!  Regardless, it was divine!  Dustin even asked, "What's the deal here?"  Haha!

The food took a little longer than expected to cook [insert failure to turn on the oven] (in her defense, the knobs are messed up and it's hard to tell when it's on and when it's not), so we decided to go ahead and exchange gifts.  Mama gave Daddy hers first.  Pawpaw and Millie Janalee were out back swinging, so we gathered around the swing.

Yep.  That's right.  What you see there is the College World Series schedule and tickets to games 5-12!  Also in the packet were hospitality bracelets, club level seats to one of the games, hotel reservations across the street from the stadium, spending money, earplugs for Dustin (since he's rooming with Daddy), ibuprofen, sunscreen, and more!  My mother gave Daddy (and Dustin) a week long trip to the College World Series!

I was and still am so jealous!

I'd say Daddy was pretty happy too based on his Facebook status Monday morning (from Omaha):

Looking out my hotel window and immediately across the street I see TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, home of the CWS. Boy, I married well! Thank you, Susan for the best Father's Day gift ever...except of course for the gift of becoming a father three times! Looking forward to a week with my favorite son! Love you!

After the gift that kept on giving continued to sink in, the rest of us grabbed our gifts for Daddy.  Millie Janalee gave her favorite gift to give grandparents...a picture of herself.  She loves a good self portrait!  Ha!

Kristin and Lee gave Daddy a great State hat.  Perfect for those sunny afternoon baseball games.  Which just so happen to be at the COLLEGE WORLD SERIES!

I'm still jealous.  Just sayin'.

So Sunday afternoon after lunch, Daddy and Dustin packed up and headed off toward Nashville for a trip of a lifetime.  Millie Janalee was super excited about seeing the College World Series Monday night when State played Indiana! 

Then I had to tell her.  Pawpaw and Uncie Bucket went to the College World Series without us.  We had to watch it on television.  This was her response...

"Are you kidding me?!"

Eventually, I coaxed her to go ahead and cheer on our Dawgs from home.  She got into it, and she learned that our players can still hear us shout, yell, and cheer from our living rooms.  I mean, don't you all know that?  Have you never yelled at the players through your television screen?!

Getting warmed up.

"Let's GO DAWGS!  Time to rally!"

The game was a nail biter.  Ending in a WIN!  It took a good while for me to wind down and check my blood pressure.  Russ had to leave to go workout afterward.  Millie Janalee actually didn't make it to the end of the game, but I know she dreamed of a sweet victory the entire night.

So, here we are.  Game 11 tomorrow at 2:00.  Daddy and Dustin will be seated behind the dugout on row 18...even with first base.  Me?  I'll be on the floor with Millie Janalee cheering through the television.  Hoping for and believing in a victory!

And, if we win?  I'm just saying that it isn't out of the question for this whole big crew to pack our maroon, load up, and head to Nebraska for the finals!

Eleven Months

[Sigh.]

It happened.  My sweet Millie Janalee turned eleven months old yesterday.  Yesterday morning at 8:58, to be exact.  I posted on Facebook that I was having a very hard time with this "turning one" thing.  And I am.  I think I'm in a state of denial.  I have put the party planning off.  I stuck the "she'll be one next month" idea in the very back of my head.  I just can't face it.

How did it happen so fast?  See.  I'm tearing up now, so maybe I'll change the subject to something more fun.

This eleventh month has been full of fun and surprising new tricks and milestones!  First of all, our Miss Priss is mobile.  And by mobile, I mean moving at. all. times.  Millie Janalee took her first real crawling moves on May 28th.  She slowly put one knee in front of the other, falling occasionally on her face.  She was very careful and worked herself out of breath.  By the end of that day, she was crawling down the hallway and pulling up to stand on all the furniture!  Since then, it has been nonstop crawling and pulling up to stand action.  She zips through the apartment chasing Farley, following me as I put laundry away, crawls to the front door when she hears Russ come in, and pulling up on anything she can reach.  Stable or not.  She's cruising across the furniture and even moving from one piece of furniture to another.  Yesterday she pulled up using the wall! 

Everything happened so fast, and it hasn't slowed down one bit.  Which brings me to my thankfulness (for once) for our tiny home.  It hasn't been too hard to keep up with her or see where she's going.

There have been a few safety failures that we have found as this little pink busy body moves about our home.  First of all, we have found door stopper tips in her mouth on more than one occasion.  You know, those springy door stoppers that all babies love to play with?  Who knew the rubber tips come off?!  After we found her chewing on the first one, we scoured the apartment taking off all the rubber tips we found.  Well...we missed one in our bedroom.  Russ turned around to find her chewing on that one the other day.  Thankfully, we found her in time. 

But, a word to the new parents out there!  Go ahead and take those rubber tips off your door stoppers!  Babies will chew on them.

Another safety issue has been her pulling up on unstable furniture.  We have two end tables that really are not meant for stability.  My grandmother gave them to me when she moved out of her home.  They are both in our living room and both have a picture frame on the bottom shelf.  It's like a spotlight saying, "Come climb me, Millie Janalee!"  I made the decision to try and teach her not to climb it instead of putting it all away.  We'll see how that goes.  It's part of my naive discipline plan, I guess you could say.  So far, she's tested it.  The frame was knocked out once.  But, other than that...there is a bit of a mommy-made obstacle course to get to it if she really wants to climb it.  So maybe I'll catch her before she does it.  What's the worst that could happen?  Oh, just the big lamp, picture frame, and tile coaster could fall on her head and knock the poor girl out.  That's all.  No biggee.  Ha!

Millie Janalee and Farley have a love/hate "chase me if you can" relationship.  Basically, Farley gets close enough to tease Millie Janalee, and then Millie Janalee spends the rest of the time chasing him around.  Farley never stops to let her catch up, and he jumps on the backs of our furniture where she can't reach him when he's ready to stop.  He is, however, quite interested in Millie Janalee during meal times.  For example, Millie Janalee is currently in her exersaucer eating Cheerios...and Farley is sitting at her feet waiting on the fallen Cheerio.  I love how Millie Janalee giggles when she's watching Farley scratch or race around with his toys.

Which brings me to our predicament.  Farley's toys.  Have you ever smelled a dog's toys?  Oh. my. goodness!  Gross.  Yet, Millie Janalee always manages to find his toys and claim them as her own.  And when I take them away to save her life from the nastiness that is sure to come, I'm somehow the bad guy.  Crying ensues.  Until I distract her with the next greatest thing.  The remote control.

What is it with babies and stuff they shouldn't have?

Besides crawling around, pulling up, cruising furniture, chasing Farley, and Sesame Street...Millie Janalee's favorite activity is playing with her little friend in the mirror.  You know the one.  She looks just like our baby girl.  Auntie Kristin came over the other day (actually she came over yesterday too!  Ha!) and needed a mirror to do her makeup.  All I had to offer was a full length mirror.  Millie Janalee loved that mirror being in the living room.  So, I just left it there.  It has been a magical fun house around here ever since! 

Millie Janalee holds hands with her friend, dances with her friend, talks to her, and cheers for her!  Just take a look...

"Tag!  You're it!"

"Can you dance like me?  Let's do some ballet!"

"Yay!  Great job!"

"Hey!  How are you today?"

"London bridge is falling down..."

Although I'm a bit depressed about the time flying by, I do love this personality that comes out of Millie Janalee each day.  It's fun to watch! 

I should also add that we can see her fifth tooth coming in on the bottom.  She didn't sleep well the night before last, and I'm thinking it was teething related.  She ended up in our bed, which left me sleepless basically.  She enjoys doing karate in her sleep.  Add that to my paranoia that she would crawl off the bed...and you have a very sleepy mama.

Millie Janalee is still wearing 12 months in clothes and size 3 diapers.  She wears sizes 2 and 3 in shoes.  I'm still giving her two 7 ounce bottles.  One in the morning and one at night.  She's drinking some juice/water mixture. 

Prepare to gasp.  She may be almost one year old, but she still doesn't hold her own sippee cup unless she's laying in my lap.  I don't know what it is.  And she refuses to let it sit on her high chair.  She just holds it over the edge and lets go.  Every time.  Feel free to suggest things here.  I've tried the no reaction method.  I've also tried to make it part of her "obedience training."  I'll be honest though.  I haven't tried either of those for an extended length of time.  She's not big on drinking during meals anyway.  Unless I hold it up for her.  Hmmm.  Maybe I'm the guilty party here.  Ha!

Anyway.  I haven't been making her baby food lately simply because of how much we travel.  By the time I get unpacked, laundry done, packed again, and loaded for our next trip.  There's really not enough time to make that much.  And, if I'm not gonna make it full out...I'd just assume not do it.  Soooo...I've been buying Gerber or Plum brand.  Organic if I can find it.  Just because.  We have entered into table foods more this month, though, so I don't feel too bad about faux baby food.  She eats some table food with every meal.  Breakfast may be banana slices, cut up grapes, and Cheerios.  Lunch and supper have been some variation of green peas, potatoes, carrots, and kiwi.  Kiwi was very messy.  She enjoyed smushing it in her hands very much.  Ha!  I tend to go very slow with table food, because I'm a scaredy cat.  I watch her so closely to make sure she isn't swallowing things whole or choking.  We've had a few scares that made me this way.  I promise I'm trying not to be a "hovering parent." 

These eleven months have been the most fun and precious months of my life by far!  I am so far beyond blessed by this angel face each day.  I find myself wanting to be where she is at all times.  Not because I'm scared to leave her.  But, because I want to be with her.  She's my friend.  She knows lots of my secrets.  Ha!  We laugh at her Daddy together, and we love him together.  We kinda enjoy being the girls of the house.  And he loves us!

We're spoiled sweet.  I'll admit that.

Happy eleven months, sweet Millie Janalee!  I love you more than you could know!

Saying Goodbye {Leaving the Beach}

All good things must come to an end.

I don't know why, but they do.  Saturday morning, Millie Janalee woke us up in true early bird fashion.  So we began the challenging job of getting ready and packing up.  We loaded a few things the night before, and that made our morning much more organized.  It was organized chaos in our room.  But we made it.

When I came out of the room, three or four of my family members were sporting their Not So Plain Jayne t-shirts, so I grabbed mine and we headed out to the balcony for a group picture.

It has become tradition that "on our way out of town" we stop by Destin for shopping and lunch.  I use "on our way out of town" loosely, because it's not actually on our way out of town.  But, no one wants to waste a sunny beach day on shopping.  So we use our travel day as a shopping day.  We all split up (which was nice) to expedite the shopping excursion.  Then, we met back up for lunch at Buster's.  Let's just say that Millie Janalee has an entire closet full of new summer clothes from Susu.  I think we can make some last on into fall.  I would hate to think what her preferred status is at Janie and Jack now.  Me?  Oh, I spent all of Millie Janalee's spending money from her Daddy at Carter's for new pajamas in 12-18 month sizes.  Annnnnd, I may have used the leftover (and some of my own) on an Ariel doll and Disney figurines at the Disney Outlet.  Don't judge.  You didn't see her face light up when she saw the wall full of Disney princesses.  It was priceless, and I just melted!  If she could use her words, I'm sure I would have bought whatever I could afford. 

Actually, that's pretty much what I did.

After lunch, we all said our goodbyes while Dustin, Sheila, Daddy, and Mama left for home.  The rest of us finished up our shopping before leaving Destin near 5:00.  Yep.  That made for a 1:30 am arrival at home.  And a very sleepy Mama, Daddy, and baby.

Worth. Every. Mile!

Gettin' Serious About our Beach Time {Last Day}

Millie Janalee is gettin' serous about her beach style!

Everyone knows that the dreaded "last beach day" always comes way too soon.  And, when the dreaded last day does come...it's serious!  Like, get down to the beach as soon as the sun comes up and don't leave til the sun goes down and bring all the fun leftover from the week and eat all the leftover food and groceries and have the most fun you possibly can.

You got all that?

Gettin' serious about the fun...

...and serious about the sun!

We all gathered our belongings for the day and headed down.  Susu tagged along early with me, because...well...Russ was rarely ready to head down when I was.  I may or may not have been guilty of rushing him a day or two...or all five.  It was good to have a second person to hold Millie Janalee while I set up her official area. 

Susu and Millie Janalee

Once she was set up, even Millie Janalee got serious about her "last beach day."  I'm telling you.  The girl is made after my own heart!  God knew we needed each other.  She's my bestest friend for real!  I have two.  Russ is the other one.  But, since Millie Janalee is often cuter than him...she wins.

"Bring on the last day, Mama!  I'm ready!"

Millie Janalee's new beach buddy came by to visit her...and brought her the cutest gift!  A monogrammed pocket tee!  It's the cutest little thing ever!  How did she know what size we wore?  Emma Kate and Millie Janalee posed in their matching shirts for the photo-crazed mother and grandmother.  Ha!  I have visions of these pictures year after year.  They are just the cutest little beach buddies ever!

Millie Janalee was chewing on Emma Kate's toy.  We obviously need to work on sharing.

I love this picture!  Emma Kate was using Millie Janalee as a prop to stand up.  Ha!

Lucky for Emma Kate, she's able to walk away when things get a little too crazy.  Poor Millie Janalee didn't have a choice.  And since her big girl friend wasn't there to warn her, she ended up eating sand for the first time.  Ha!

She was not a fan!

"Oh. My. Word!  What have I done?!"

Mama talked with the hotel administration (as she does every year) to make sure our rooms are booked for the following year...on the correct week.  She learned that customers staying at the Landmark are second and third generation families who come year after year.  If you have never experienced a summer vacation like this, I hope you are able to soon.  It makes our summer beach trips a home away from home.  When our family goes to the beach, we feel like we're coming "home."  Seeing friends summer after summer, and watching families grow.  Creating memories that become a part of us as we grow.  The roles are changing, but the memories keep coming!  I'm so thankful Millie Janalee will get to experience the same summer fun that we did as children!

"The kids" all grown up: Clancy, Dustin, me, Kristin, and Kadie (Emma Kate's mama)

Dustin and Russ began discussing their next sand sculpture adventure as soon as they got down to the beach.  Friday was the big sand sculpture contest for The Landmark.  Russ had apparently been doing research since the day before.  [Imagine that.]  He decided he wanted to create another sea turtle.  But, he wanted it to look more realistic.  He and Dustin looked over some Google images before beginning on their SERIOUS mission.

Setting the foundation...watering the sand with Millie Janalee's little watering can.

Jack spent a few days on the beach taking Photography 101 from Dr. Russ.  He practiced his new skills as the guys worked hard on their masterpiece.

Jack getting ready to take pics of that little girl when she arrives!

I was able to spend some time with my eyes closed enjoying the sun.  Millie Janalee must've been napping with Susu, and I knew Russ was gonna be busy until the judging at 2:00.  Next thing I know...I open my eyes to see this...

Everyone chipping in!

There were always distractions.  Some welcome and some not.  The unwelcome distraction came in the form of a baseball to the mouth.  A father and son were throwing the ball back and forth very close to the sand project.  Dustin had already been watching them and wondering why they didn't choose to throw the ball behind the chairs where there were fewer people.  It wasn't long until that ball hit Russ right in the mouth.  We all just breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't hit the sea turtle!  Ha!  Russ was okay, by the way.  Just a little flustered as his concentration was broken no doubt.

Kadie and her husband stopped by to visit while Emma Kate played with Millie Janalee.

The finished product was quite pristine.  It was an accurate portrayal of a sea turtle who had laid eggs.  By the way, the eggs were created using Millie Janalee's Easter egg that Uncie Bucket may have taken directly from her little hands.  He's teaching her how to share I think.  The next challenge was waiting until judging.  And making sure no child came running through the work of art. 

And so they named guards for the sand sculpture.

The proud creators of "Crabby Tortoise" (named by Jack)

Jack and Dustin guarding the "Crabby Tortoise"

Millie Janalee even took a turn!

While we waited on the judging to commence, we kept a lookout for the official judges.  Sheila and I went on a little walk checking out the competition.  There were some pretty impressive sand sculputres: alligators, aquariums, sharks, castles, and more.  The family next to us used popcorn to decorate their starfish sculpture.  We laughed.  Wanna know why?  Because it only took a few minutes for the seagulls to find it!  And dive into the starfish grabbing popcorn every few minutes.  Seeing those women jump up running and spraying the birds with water was hilarious!

Susu, Pawpaw, and Millie Janalee

I am so happy that Millie Janalee had such a fun time on the beach!  She was just the happiest little thing.  Of course, she crashed at night (and woke up at the crack of dawn each morning), but she had a ball during her waking hours.  Splashing in clean water, playing with toys, jumping waves with Mama and Daddy, getting spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles, being the center of attention, and napping as long and as often as she wanted.

What could be better?

"I'm a happy girl!"

Millie Janalee loves She She

Bringing Millie Janalee to the beach was everything I hoped it would be and more!  My little family.  A new generation of families beginning.  New memories created and more to come! 

My little Party of Three with the winning sand sculpture!

Did I mention that the "Crabby Tortoise" won FIRST PLACE in the adult division!?  They did!  The prize was two free smoothies in a souvenir cup.  I know.  You're so jealous!  Now that I think about it, I don't even think Russ and Dustin ever redeemed their prize.

As the sun set on our "last beach day", Russ pulled our two ton wagon up to the condo one last time.  The heavy loads, meticulous packing, and time spent getting ready each morning was well worth the memories made.

Until next year...