The spread for Milly's first birthday party

Actually, most of the family members who came showed up a little early.  My crew arrived at about a quarter of, and I was shocked to see Aunt Robbie with them.  I remembered after talking to her that she had planned on being around a little before Milly’s party, but she was supposed to have gone back before today.  It was really great to see her.  Not that seeing Mom, Dad, Erin and Aunt Reggie (who all rode together) wasn’t great, but I totally didn’t expect Aunt Robbie.

Amanda’s dad, Phil, came early and helped go get some thing.  Adam and Renee came, and Michael and Jenn, the whole Frazelle quartet, Amanda’s grandparents and David and Oxana all came.  As far as friends go, we had the Warkentiens plus Nick’s sister’s boyfriend; Charles, Deanna and their girls from across the street; Bonnie (also from across the street) made an appearance, then we had the Nowaks, the Clarks and the Boscaljons.  I got a call from Seth saying that Gavin was being pretty fussy so they and Dana didn’t make it.  I think (I hope!) I listed everybody.

It was a pretty good crowd.  When my family got here Milly had just gotten up and was a little upset by all the commotion, so she went upstairs with the ladies and they put her hair in pigtails and got her dressed.  She wore a little pink tutu that Amanda had picked out special for the day and a shirt she decorated with puffy paint.

Milly's first birthday cupcake

After a little mingling we dove into the cupcakes, or at least Milly did.  Actually, she didn’t even dive in like we thought she would.  Amanda made a giant cupcake just for Milly and put lots of cream cheese icing on it, but she mostly just daintily picked at it with her thumb and forefinger for a while.  Eventually she started open-palming it.  Amanda put a speck of icing on Milly’s nose and Erin gave her two little pink dots on her cheeks.  She looked a little like a clown.

When she’d had enough cupcake  I went to rinse her off in the sink, but it was too difficult so we just ended up stripping her down to her diaper and she and Eli got in the pool.  I was amazed at how much moisture a diaper can soak up.

We never got around to the finger painting, but maybe we will next year.  Or something.  We did move on to the presents though, and I think Milly has already learned how awesome birthdays can be.  I’m not going to list everything she got and who she got them from because I’m terrible at remembering that sort of thing and I know some things will be left out, but she did get quite a bit- lots of new toys and clothes.  Andra, who wasn’t able to make it, even sent something via Mom and Dad.

Milly's first birthday presents

Milly wasn’t really that into opening the presents herself, but she did enjoy playing with them as we opened them, as did Eli, Kenzie and Kimber.  When we brought out the gift from my parents, which was in the largest box, she did take the opportunity to climb on it.  She got up on the box all by herself and sat on it.  I’m telling you, that child is a climbing fool.

Everyone trickled out after the gifts were all opened, with the exception of David and Oxana who were staying with us tonight.  David wanted to treat us to dinner, so we made arrangements to meet Adam and Renee at Elijah’s.  We went early so we wouldn’t have to worry about a crowd or Milly’s feeding schedule.  We sat outside where it wasn’t too hot, ate some good food, drank a few drinks, went for a short walk on the river after dinner and just had a really nice time hanging out with my cousin and his wife.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had real quality time with Dave.

David and Oxana rode in the back on the way to and from Elijah’s and fed Milly on the way there.  It was funny listening to them interact with her.  Milly had a good time at Elijah’s too.  She ate pretty much the whole time, whether it was pieces of a cornbread muffin, fruits or mashed potatoes.  She didn’t drink much of her bottle in her last feeding of the night later on.

Adam and Renee came over to our place after dinner and after David read Goodnight, Moon to Milly and we put her to bed, we all played a game of Puerto Rico.  It’s a five-player game so Adam and Renee were on a team together.  Amanda beat me by one point but Oxana, in her Puerto Rico debut, killed it while Adanee or Renadam came in fourth with David in last.  Poor guy kept getting screwed when it came time to ship goods.

Zach Dotsey

It turned out that the Nowaks were going out there too, which I found out from Sarah while we were both picking up our babies from Grow Zone.  Milly was standing at the gate when I got there, and Lauren was right next to her.  Seeing them together makes it easy for me to picture them growing up as friends.

Anyway, Amanda, Milly and I stopped by Target after church to get a few things, grabbed some breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts and went on out to Wrightsville Beach.  The Boscaljons were only a minute behind us.  When we all got out there after talking to Barry and Hannah for a few minutes, Amanda, Milly and I walked on down to the other side of Crystal Pier to say hi to the Nowaks.  We saw Henry first, but I don’t think he recognized us in bathing suits because he didn’t say hi back to us when we greeted him, and that kid normally loves me.

We hung out with the Nowaks for a bit.  Milly sat next to Lauren and intercepted the craisens Mile was feeding her.  She loved those things, but then again she loves most food.

After we got back to Lars and Kaitlyn, I went back to get my board and a top from Barry.  I have my own top, of course, but I was expecting to have to wear my full wetsuit.  The water was pretty daggone cold everywhere below my navel when I first got in, but it didn’t take long to get used to.

I had a great time surfing with Lars.  We used to be out there all the time together, at least once or twice a week.  He hadn’t been surfing since, was it September or October that he said?  But he did fine.  Surfing is like riding a bike in that you don’t forget how to do it, but unlike riding a bike your paddling endurance goes to crap if unused.  At any rate, we both caught plenty of waves.  It was small out, but it was pretty steady and there were a few waves of decent size that would come along now and then.  It was a lot of fun, and it was good to catch up with such a good friend.

Amanda made some salad for dinner.  She makes the best salad, and it really hit the spot after being out on the hot beach.  I think between our late lunch and dinner I ended up eating three bowls of it.  We spent the rest of the night relaxing, catching up on things on the DVR.

Zach Dotsey

Almost every analyst said that West Virginia was going to beat Duke.  They’re too long and too athletic.  Duke won 78-57 with Jordan Davidson hitting the last bucket of the game, a three that put the Devils up over 20 points.

That’s right- the Duke Blue Devils are going to the 2010 NCAA Championship game, and I couldn’t be more excited!

On the other side of the bracket, Butler beat Michigan State 52-50.   It was a low scoring affair with scoring droughts for both teams.  Duke should win the game Monday, especially if both teams play the way they played tonight.

I’m so excited!  Bring home championship #4, Blue Devils!

In other news, Milly slept through the night.  Amanda started feeling sick last night though, and Milly’s snot thickened up and turned yellow so I took her to the doctor this morning just to make sure there was nothing to worry about.  Our usual place wasn’t open so we went to another one.  One of the doctors there is a comic book nerd and has framed and autographed comics and posters on the walls in the waiting room.  Milly and I went around and looked at them all while we were waiting.

On a side note, I heard the ladies at the reception desk talk about how cute Milly was when we were leaving.

Anyway, Milly’s snotty, but she seems to be feeling much better.  The doctor who checked her out said a virus has been going around and that’s probably what she and Amanda both have.

We went to church at 4:00 and sat with the Boscaljons and Amy.  The service was great and the music was awesome.  We saw Justin and Lisa afterwards and I asked what they were doing there.  Lisa’s been having contractions, but the baby isn’t quite ready to get here yet.

As I said, Amanda and I watched basketball tonight, and Amy and Eli joined us.  Since he works at the church, Nick was busy.  Amy did me a solid and ran out to pick up some dog food for us so I could watch the Butler-Michigan State game.  I’d run out earlier to pick up some baby food and really didn’t want to go back out again.  Harvey and Max had fun playing outside in the backyard most of the night.

Amy seemed to enjoy watching the game with us.  More than anything I think she was amused watching me get pumped up every time Duke made a good play.  Amanda was happy about Duke progressing to the title game, but she was also exhausted.  This was a lot better than the last Final Four game we watched together, back in 2004.

Zach Dotsey

This really opens things up for Duke, though I’m nervous about Baylor, and of course they’d have to win two more games after that for the NCAA championship.  The remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament are those two, Michigan State and Tennessee, who are also facing off tomorrow to see who will go to the Final Four then West Virginia and Butler, who have already made it there.

Exciting and tense times.

Speaking of tense, I’m thinking maybe I pulled something in my neck/upper back.  Maybe it’s from some time when I was tossing Milly around.

So, last night Amanda and I didn’t sleep well.  Bruce kept getting up again and Milly started crying at about 5:30 then did it again every half hour until about 6:30.  She was nice enough to let us sleep in until 9:20 to help make up for it though.

Karen treated us, as she often does when she comes for a visit, to a breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  After that she got us a membership to Costco.  In part it was so she could use it, though the closest one to where she lives is here.  Other than just being really nice, I’m not sure what other reason there is.

By the time that was all taken care of Milly was in need of a nap, so she and I were dropped off at the house while Amanda and Karen went back out to buy some new pajamas for Milly.  She’s starting to outgrow all of them that she’s got.  In that time, Adam came over to show off his new car.  Really he was just looking for an excuse to get out and drive it, so after Amanda and Karen got back he and I went to Costco so he could get a few things.

Once I was back home and Adam left (Karen had taken off while I was gone) I dozed on the couch while Amanda watched some TV.  Once I woke up I watched Butler play and beat Kansas State.  Actually, I didn’t get to see the end of the game because we were heading over to Justin and Lisa Hauenstein’s baby shower, but we did listen to it on the radio.

We didn’t get to see them much as we had to leave when to get Milly in bed, but we did meet a few new people and caught up with Mike and Kaitlyn Boscaljon, who we haven’t seen much of in a while.  I’d been thinking of them lately.

I’d set the Kentucky game to record, but I cheated and checked the score on the way home and called Seth to talk about the game since I figured he’d been watching the whole thing.  Once we got  home I just paused it where it was while Amanda and I put Milly to bed and we caught up right at the end of the game.

Zach Dotsey

There’s not much I can add to it, except that I was a little stressed out with work towards the end of the day.  The phone seemed to ring incessantly for the last hour.  I’m planning on putting in a little work tomorrow.

Amanda’s grandpa, Earl Lemons, called me today with a pretty big surprise, which Amanda may or may not have figured out.  (She did.)  It’ll be here Monday.  I felt bad because he wanted to talk to me about it, but it was during the absolute most stressful time of my day.  I’m extremely grateful for what he’s doing, and I hope my stress didn’t keep him from realizing it.

It was really great catching up with the old small group, though I wish Elliot could have been there.  Melissa and Lisa are pregnant, so from what I could tell, a lot of the girls’ conversation centered around that.  Mike, Justin and I mostly talked sports.  How stereotypical is all that?

Everyone seemed to really enjoy holding Milly, and aside from making some screeching noises before she was fed, she was very well behaved.

Zach Dotsey

So, today started out with me sleeping in for a bit while Zach fed Milly.  He often lets me sleep until he starts work at 9:00 since I have to get up at 6:30 for work Mon thru Thur.  Mills and I just hung out in the living room for the morning while Zach did some work.  She was very talkative today.

At about 11:30, after getting Milly all prettied up, us girls headed for the mall to meet GG and Granddaddy and the Frazelles.  After I was done, I let Milly lick some chicken salad off my finger.  She liked it much better than the applesauce.  Kirsten held Milly for a bit (I love all the attention she’s shown Mills lately).  She was so happy just sitting there talking to Kirsten and Hannah.  After sitting there for a while, it was time for the shopping spree to begin.

We started out at Baby Gap.  They have the cutest little clothes!  My favorite was a pair of jeans with a little elephant on the back pocket.  Then we headed to adult Gap to meet back up with the Frazelles.  We found a $7 shirt for Zach.  He wore it tonight and I have to say he looks quite handsome in it.  Next we headed to Ann Taylor Loft.  Yeah, I know this is supposed to be a shopping spree for Milly, but GG had a coupon.  I came out with three tops.  Then we continued shopping for Milly at Children’s Place and then at JC Penny’s.

While we were in Penny’s, Anna called.  Granddaddy had been trying to get up with us on my cell, but couldn’t get thru.  He had left us pretty early on to go to a doctor’s appointment.  He’s been having some trouble with his hands, which is a big deal for a carpenter.  They think it may be trigger finger, but they aren’t totally sure.  They gave him three shots (I’m guessing Cortisone).  If that doesn’t help, he’ll come back so they can try something else.

Anyway, Granddaddy met up with us at Penny’s.  I told him to give me his cell so I could see if the number was in there wrong since he said he couldn’t get the call to go thru.  He had left off the last digit.  I fixed it, so he should be good now.  Old people and technology.

After Penny’s we met up with Anna and Kirsten again.  Kirsten was just dying to see Milly one more time.  Then I grabbed Zach some Starbucks lemon pound cake (He’s looked, thanks to Barry) and a mocha for myself and headed home.

After Zach finished up work, we headed to Mike and Kaitlyn Boscaljon’s for dinner with most of our old Small Group.  It was nice to catch up with everyone.  We stayed until a little after 9:00 and then headed home.  It’s amazing how awesome Milly is.  She went to sleep in the guest room with no problem at all.  Then we got her up, came home and put her in her crib.  She fell back asleep in no time at all.  I know we’ve said it a gazillion times, but we are so blessed to have such an easy going baby.

That pretty much leads us up to now.  I’m getting ready to head to bed.  Guess Zach will stay up for a bit to play PS3.  Then he’ll probably check behind me to make sure I did a good job on the post.  I’m sure something didn’t meet his great blogging standards.

Goodnight.

Amanda Mercer Dotsey  :O)

My dad invited everyone to go to church with him, but he didn’t have any takers.  I felt kind of bad about that, but Amanda and I were already planning on going this evening anyway.

Not too much to tell about this morning.  We packed up, showered and all that stuff.  Aside from Erin we were the last to take off.  We left right after feeding Milly and got home at exactly 3:10.  We ran in to the house where I changed Milly’s diaper and Amanda changed her shirt.  We were back in the car at exactly 3:20 and arrived at Port City Community Church at 3:30.  Milly wasn’t happy about these events.  She had been fussy the last few miles on I-40 and really did not appreciate being put back in the car so soon.

The church service was great and it was a lot of fun.  It was PC3′s ten year birthday and featured a look back and a look ahead.  Lots of music and videos plus a special guest sermon from Pastor Jackson, who came here from Kenya with his wife for the occasion.  At the end they had people hold up signs, sort of a before and after thing.  It was touching by itself, but a friend of ours whose story we know well was up there, and that, to me was even more moving.

It was Amanda’s week for Grow Zoning Milly, and Matt Davis went in just ahead of her, so Melissa Davis and I walked to the Grow Zone exit to wait on spouses and daughters.  Matt went on ahead so he could say something to Pastor Jackson once he got out, but Melissa stuck around a minute to see Milly.  She said she’d seen how cute she was from Facebook stalking, but this was the first time she’d gotten to see her in person.

We also ran into Blake and Stephanie Konny, Mike (Lars) and Kaitlyn Boscaljon and Kristen Barriner.  This was our first time attending and evening service, and I guess evening services are where everyone we know hangs out, but we really like going in the mornings and having a full day ahead of us.

Zach Dotsey

I did go to sleep early though, like I said, and I ended up getting up just a little before 8:00 this morning.  I was planning on getting Milly’s breakfast ready and getting her up at 8:15, but Amanda told me from upstairs at 8:14 that Milly was up and crying.  I fixed the bottle and went upstairs, where Amanda was going into the nursery.  She doesn’t get to get Milly up often in the morning, so she was kind of excited going into the room.

We fed Milly and watched House.  After that Amanda showered and we walked to the store to pick up a few things with Milly in her stroller.  A lady at the store told us that we had a beautiful baby.  When we were in the checkout lane Justin Hauenstein walked up to us.  Justin lives on the south side of town, but he was up this way doing some work for Time Warner.  He said that he said to himself when he walked into the store that he thought he’d see me.  We talked for a few minutes.  He and Lisa are expecting a baby, and Lisa’s had a rough first trimester.  They find out the sex in about a month.

Most of the rest of the day was spent taking care of Milly and cooking.  Well, Amanda cooked.  We were going to Blake and Stephanie Konny’s tonight and she made chocolate chip and toffee cookies and macaroni and cheese to take there.  The house smelled good.

Amanda’s brother, Michael Mercer, and his girlfriend, Jenn Greenawalt, came over at 4:00 to babysit Milly for us.  Amanda gave Michael a crash course in feeding and diaper changing (which Michael was not pleased to learn) and showed Jenn what to do when putting Milly to bed.  After that we headed over to Blake and Stephanie’s.

Blake and Stephanie, as long as we’ve known them, lived in a one-room (well, two if you include the bathroom) garage apartment behind Stephanie’s sister’s family’s house.  They moved into a rental house not too long ago, and this was the first time we got to see it.  Mike (Lars) and Kaitlyn Boscaljon were there when we got there.  We haven’t seen them in quite some time.

We had a good time there.  Chris and Katy Davis were there, and even though Chris had to leave early I talked to him a bit.  I also spent a good bit of time talking to Stephanie’s brother-in-law.  Amanda and I both thought that his and her sister’s younger daughter, Sophia, looked a bit like we imagine Milly will look like in about a year.

Later on we played The Blake Game.  Guys versus girls, as usual, and also as usual, us guys won.

Early on when we were at Blake and Stephanie’s I got a call from Michael.  Milly was screaming in the background and he was wanting some advice on calming her down.  He called again a little later and she was quieter.  Eventually they took her for a walk and she fell asleep, and I think things were fine from then on.

When we got home we looked in on our sleeping daughter then talked to Michael and Jenn for a bit before they borrowed a few DVDs and took off.  A few minutes later Amanda and I heard Milly crying upstairs, and to be honest we were a little glad since it gave us an excuse to interact with her.  We changed her diaper, gave her her sweetmaker and put her back in bed.  She gave us a smile before rolling over on her side and falling right back to sleep.  Amanda pointed out before that she sleeps like me.

The only real regret I have about going out tonight is that Duke played NC State tonight, kickoff being at 4:00.  Duke versus State was the game I went to last year, and the Wolfpack beat the Blue Devils.  They got some revenge tonight though, and how!  The score was 49-28.  I wish I had DVR’ed it.

Zach Dotsey

I spent about half an hour this morning after eating my cereal and reading in the Bible playing with Milly.  She was in a good mood and was so cute.  I didn’t want to leave her when I did, but I had work to get to.

I talked to Scott first thing.  I guess he likes the way things are going right now.  Though I’m doing a lot more work, I’m liking it too because the work I’m doing is more interesting plus I am getting significantly higher commissions.  We’re going to keep trying it and see if it keeps working.

There was nothing to eat at the house today so I decided I’d walk to the store (and pick up some Chef Boyardee) and Amanda decided she’d go too and we’d bring Milly along.  I like walking to the store and prefer to do that as long as I’m not on a serious time crunch or I’m not picking up a bunch of stuff from the store.

We hit a snag with Milly’s insurance, but I’ve got to say I’m really impressed with how it all shook out.  I don’t want to go into details, but I’m thankful for the help we got to make it all come together.  The situation isn’t ideal (we’re having to get temporary insurance to cover August), but it’ll work out and Milly will be covered.

Twitter.  I thought it was a pretty silly and pointless thing at first, but then Nick Warkentien suggested I check out TweetDeck, and I’ve since found it much more useful.  Not only can I keep up with what friends are up to, I can check and update Facebook statuses, get local news, see what some Duke basketball players are up to, hear about recruiting buzz, get news of deals at local stores and all kinds of other things.

A while back someone who works for (or maybe is) another web design company here in Wilmington started following me, and when I saw that we knew a lot of the same people I started following him.  We chatted a bit today and I remarked that it was odd that we work in the same field and know so many of the same people, but we’d never met.  He suggested lunch, so I suppose I’ll be meeting with him next week.

Mike (Lars) and Kaitlyn Boscaljon came over and brought dinner from Subway tonight.  The main purpose was to discuss a t-shirt company they want to start and talk about what I can do to help them with a website.  I’m looking forward to playing an integral part in helping get their site going.

Amanda’s been very sweet lately.  I told her I love her even more now that we’ve made a child together.

Zach Dotsey
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Amanda continued reading to Milly today, working through The Lorax today.  Amanda mentioned how you don’t know how to pronounce some of the words until you see what they rhyme with, and I couldn’t help but think that that would eventually change.  At one point today Milly was sitting against Amanda’s legs, facing her momma, just smiling at her Press Frog, a stuffed frog that musics Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (or the alphabet song or Mary Had a Little Lamb, whatever your preference to that tune is).  It was so cute and she was so entertained!  It wasn’t doing anything and she wasn’t doing anything, but she was just so excited by it!

We also set up the pack & play in the living room today.  We’ll have to do some rearranging soon, because it’s taking up a fair amount of space.

In my last bit of baby news, we also put some batteries in the mobile Adam got us for Milly’s baby shower, so now Milly has something to engage her while she’s lying in the crib.

I met a client at 4:00 today, and since they are near Wrightville Beach I thought I’d go out surfing afterwards.  I met up with Jeaneal Guy at the park and we rode over to la Casa Frazelle.  Michael was busy hanging out with some girls downtown and Lars got there right as we were leaving.

The waves were pretty big today, but for a large chunk of the time we were out there they just mushed out.  Despite that I had a lot of fun and caught some pretty big waves.  I’d say they were about shoulder high.  I had some really fun drops.  I remember a particular one where I caught a nice left and watched the wave contunuously break as I rode along it.  Not quite a barrel, but at this point it’s probably the closest I’ve come to riding one.  So yeah, it was lots of fun when it was good.  And it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be.

Both Lars and Michael said something about going out really early in the morning tomorrow.  Barry said they’d be the best waves of the year, which may or may not be hyperbole.  Either way, I’m strongly considering it.  Really just depends on Milly I suppose.  I’ll likely be awake anyway.

I talked to my dad this evening.  He and my mom have a busy time coming up.  First off, there’s a concert at the DAP (Durham Athletic Park) with Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and… somebody else, though I can’t remember who right now.  I was surprised at the quality of the show to have it just being at the DAP, but he said apparently these guys have been touring around for a while doing this.

Then this weekend Andra’s family is going to visit.  That’s actually the main reason he called, was to let us know and see if we wanted to visit the Rouge, but I don’t know if we’re up to it yet.  We could, but we’re still trying to get the Millster into a schedule.  We really should visit my parents soon- I think the last time we were there was THanksgiving.

Anyway, then next week they’re going to Lexington to get some leftover flooring from Baba (The family pitched in and redid her kitchen floor a few weeks back when everyone was in town for the previously-scheduled vacation.)  After they pick that up they’re going to go spend some time at a lakehouse with their friends, Pat and Peggy Paine.  I told him they should think about making a trip down here next month sometime.

Zach Dotsey