Just an observation

If you look really closely....

And concentrate really hard...

You might see a slight similarity between this...


And this...

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Christmas morning

In pictures....(and video)

So excited to go downstairs and see what Santa had brought....


This is the first thing Colby saw....


And he loved it!

Almost as much as Lee loved his new hair brush.


I now leave you with a short Christmas concert, which is interrupted when Colby remembers there's a new Wiggles video he wants to watch.
Enjoy!

Christmas Eve update

It's Christmas Eve! The time this week has flown by due to lots of company and a sick kiddo. I figured I better do a quick post before all the Christmas pictures start to pile up on me.

First, I have some important news about Miller. She is finally free of the swaddle! PRAISE GOD!!!!! I have been trying to wean her from it for at least a month, and nothing was working. She was so big for her miracle blanket that I had to cut a hole in the bottom for her feet to stick out. I wish I had taken a picture....it definitely wasn't designed for a 23 pound baby. I have been working for weeks to get her used to sleeping without it....I tried one arm out, I tried the other arm, I tried legs....nothing worked. Finally, about 5 nights ago, we just went cold turkey. There was some crying at first, and she flailed around with her arms, but once she finally fell asleep, she slept until 5am! It has been pretty great ever since, and she's usually just waking just once a night to eat. This was the best Christmas present I could have asked for!!!

Over the weekend, Colby's cousins came by for a visit and brought him some pretty awesome Christmas presents. His favorite is a toy called the stomp rocket, and he had a blast playing with his older cousins. (moms of boys, go get one of these!)

Here they are setting it up for Colby to jump on...


And watching the launch.


Later that night, Nana and Granddaddy arrived from South Carolina. Both Colby and Miller enjoyed soaking up all the extra attention. We had a wonderful visit, but it was much too short.



Poor Miller's been fighting her first big nasty cold, and she's had trouble sleeping with the congestion. We've been putting her in a chair to sleep, which seems to help. However, her misery is quickly cured with a jumping session in the jumparoo. Oh, and she's 5 months old today!!


Merry Christmas to all!

To all the naysayers

Who says a 23 pound 4 month old can't move it like the rest of em'? (note the background music)

Have you ever wondered....

2 things.

#1. What Colby likes to do in the morning after breakfast? Right now, he likes to dance to music for his "baby sissa". And by music, I mean the song Feliz Navidad. Over. And over. And over. Check out the fancy footwork. (you might want to turn the volume up for full effect)


#2. What happens when a dog sneaks into the pantry, breaks into a bag and eats 5 pounds of salted cashews in about 2 minutes? I will keep you posted on that one.

Santa attempt: Take 2

Although you can't tell from the picture, Colby was thrilled to see santa and sit on his lap. (not so thrilled about the squeaking toy they were waving in front of him to make him smile) Little ol' Miller just sat there drooling and smiling away...ignorance is bliss! I imagine next year will be an entirely different story for her....kind of like Colby last year.

Santa attempt: Take 1

Lee and I tried to take Miller and Colby to see Santa this past Sunday, but it didn't work out because of the 2 hour wait. (What was I thinking? I know better than to go to our crazy mall on a weekend, especially around Christmas time!)
So, since we had them dressed up, I decided to take some pictures. (This is where I'm not telling the story about how Lee couldn't figure out how to put Miller's dress on, and actually put it on over her jacket, and then had it backwards)

Colby is still sooooo sweet to Miller, and he always wants to hold her hands.


After we changed their clothes, Miller enjoyed some time in the jumparoo. She is really jumping now, and Colby likes to cheer her on from the sidelines...

But he can only stay away for so long.

At long last...

Our hard work has paid off once again this year.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving

We had a great time spending Thanksgiving at Nan and Pop's this year. (despite the horrendous traffic getting down there)

Chip, Zach and I started off the day running the 10k turkey trot, which is one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions. Zach ran all 6 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes, which is 11 minute miles. Pretty amazing for a 9 year old! Here's Chip and Lee hanging out later in the day.


Colby had a great time hanging out with his older cousins


He kept asking Zach to "carry you", which actually means "carry me".


Nan and Pop got a great family photo with all the grandkids.


And we attempted one of our own.


We had great food and played "Cuss", the family card game.


I will always cherish this special mother daughter photo.


I finally got to catch up with my friend Mindy and her twins. I made a post about her a year ago, which you can read here. It's amazing the difference a year can make!

The very first....

picture of all four of us. It only took 4 months and a friend visiting to finally get one!

4 months

Miller had her 4 month check-up this morning, even though it's technically 6 days before she turns 4 months. Not to worry, this did not affect her numbers.

Her height is 26 inches, which is above the 100th percentile.

Her weight is 19 pounds 10 oz. WAAAAAAAAAAAAY off the charts. That is the same weight that Colby was at 5 months old, and even he was off the charts at that time.

Because of Miller's sleep issues, Lee and I thought that maybe my milk supply was too low for her. I've been pumping and trying to increase it, but apparently that's not the problem. The doctor suggested I not feed her at night, which I haven't been doing anyway. When I told him we had been concerned about my supply, he said "your milk could feed the whole neighborhood". Nice to know. Head over to our house in times of famine or crisis.

Lastly, he asked if she was rolling over. I said "no". And he said..."it could take longer for her because"....

AND I QUOTE

"She has some ass to move".

Oh. Yes. He. Did.

Stuff

Ugh, I'm behind again! Things are just soooo busy!! Miller is still up a lot at night, so we're both pretty tired. She will not sleep anywhere but in our bed! We first try the crib, but she'll keep waking up crying, even if we put her down asleep. Then she moves into the bassinet in our room, and then the chair, before finally making it right between us...where she happily snoozes until the morning. This is not an ideal situation, but we do need sleep, so we're just taking it day by day.

I don't have any big updates, so I thought I'd put together some small random facts about Colby and Miller right now. Nothing too important, but it's the little things I'll probably forget one day.

In no particular order, here they are.

Colby often puts toys away before leaving a room- without being asked! He's been known to leave a room and then panic, run back in, put something in the right spot, and then leave again.

Miller loves the exersaucer and has learned to hit a button 4 times to play music. She's a genius!

Colby can be convinced to do anything for a small juice box (which he rarely gets). He still prounounces it with a weird swallowing noise.

He says everything at least twice. "Where momma go, where momma go". More often, he will chant something over and over "I need more, I need more, I need more", etc. We're trying to tell him "just once" but it's not working.

Colby only calls Miller by the name "Baby sissa". We refer to her as "Baby sister" so much that now Lee and I find ourselves calling her Baby sister more often than Miller....even when Colby isn't around. I'm sure we've gotten some strange looks.

I found Colby this morning with my large round metal brush gently stroking the top of Miller's head....brushing her hair, of course.

Colby loves my breast pump, and when he can get his hands on the parts, he'll hold them to his chest.

Any time you change a poopy diaper on Colby, he says "no eat poo-poo". I wonder what the preschool teachers think goes on around here.

When Colby is eating something he really likes, he holds one of his index fingers up in the air the whole time he is eating.

When he needs to blow his nose, he will say "I got a boogie! I got a boogie!"

We have started time-outs on the stairs, and it's working! I am using a book called 123 magic, and I think it's really going to help. Just the threat of a time-out stops Colby in his tracks....at least for now.

Colby loooooves wearing things around his neck, especially medals, ties, and *gasp* purses. (daddy is trying to reinforce the word "satchel" rather than purse) He's getting a few ties and medals for Christmas, which he'll be thrilled about. We're also getting him a small guitar with a strap so he'll move on from the yoga mat.

When he wants to be picked up, he says "mamma carry you" but it sounds more like "mamma ceh-yoo"

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll add on to this post if I think of new things.

Last but not least, here's the most recent picture of our big baby girl.

Preschool pictures

I did not have high expectations AT ALL for Colby's school pictures. Sitting still...when someone tells him to....in the right spot....and smiling? No way. I didn't think it would happen. I'm pleasantly surprised that he isn't screaming in all 3 of them.

Take 1:


Take 2:


Take 3:


Not fabulous, but not too bad!

File this under....

What was I thinking???

I knew my thinking was a bit "off" during my pregnancy, so I tried not to make many big decisions. However, I made some small strange ones. Some of those being new clothes for Miller.

For example, this little number:


You know, because no baby layette is complete without a cable knit angora sweater dress in size 3-6 months. Did I forget what babies are like? I'm not sure. I put it on her today just to take a picture before it will be retired to the plastic bin in her closet. Oh! And the pumpkin tights. A must have. (getting her legs in there was like trying to thread a noodle)

Note to self: If you are wishing they made it in your size, do not buy it for the baby.

Victory!

Halloween far exceeded my expectations this year. However, my expectations were very very low, so that's not saying much. My one and only goal was getting Colby to actually wear his costume. Prior to Halloween, Colby screamed every time he even saw it. I tried to explain to him about Halloween, dressing up, and trick-or-treating, but I'm pretty sure it went in one ear and out the other.

Evie and her parents came over for dinner beforehand, so it helped that Evie was strutting around in her cow costume. Before too long, Colby was willing to wear his costume and actually cooperated for pictures. (I was so caught off guard by the whole thing that I didn't realize we velcroed it on crooked. Oh well)


Holding hands before leaving


Walking up to the first house


Getting the first piece of candy from Joe across the street


This is where things went downhill. Colby did not understand the idea of collecting the candy to eat it later. Oh no. He wanted it NOW. We gave him a small bite of the first piece, but at each house, he threw a mini-tantrum over each new piece of candy.

Here he is beginnning to melt down over the piece Lee is holding.


After about 5 houses, we had to call it a night.

Back at home, Colby and Evie played for a bit. As usual, Colby put on his 2 olympic medals as soon as he walked in the door. He's pretty obsessed with them, and I thought it was funny that he put them on over his lion costume.


A little hydration and then off to bed!


And that was the end of Colby's second Halloween. I still say it was victorious!

One of those....

We're just having one of those weeks around here.

Both Colby and Miller have had a fever hovering around 102 for a few days. Colby got it first, and Miller caught whatever it was 2 days ago. I guess there's no hope of keeping her from Colby's viruses when he fondles her binkies and sneezes in her face on a daily basis.

I'm sad to say that I think our days of sleeping through the night have come to an end. Colby has been waking up consistently at 5am....and crying/whining until 7. It started over the weekend when he was sick, and I guess he really enjoyed the extra special attention he got at 5am in "mama bed". He watched videos while Lee and I tried to somehow squeeze in an extra few minutes of sleep. Since then, he has been waking up and 5am and fake crying. Today was the second day we didn't let him get out of his crib, and I'm hoping he doesn't try again tomorrow. In addition, Miller has stopped sleeping through the night. Now, she wakes up about 5!! times a night, either needing a binkie or needing to eat. (I'm never sure which one) Usually, I give her a binkie until I break down around 3 or 4 and feed her. What is going on with that?? This is worse than having a newborn! So between the 2 of them, we're really pretty exhausted.

Speaking of fake crying, Colby has mastered it. Not only is he fake crying every morning, he cries and whines after his afternoon nap for about an hour. He is really feeling his terrible two's and it is not going unnoticed!

There was a Halloween parade in our town tonight, and Lee had been looking forward to taking Colby to it all week. (we decided it was best to leave Miller at home) After bundling Colby up in all his warmest winter wear, they walked there tonight after dinner. They got a late start, so Lee ran as fast as he could go (pushing Colby in the stroller)so that Colby wouldn't miss anything. No less than 30 minutes later, they came home because Colby threw tantrum after tantrum once they got there. (he's still throwing one right now at home) Apparently, Colby wanted to "Say hi" to everyone who walked by in the parade, and was furious that he could not do as he pleased. Poor Lee is so disappointed and frustrated.

Just to add icing on the cake, I went to get my hair "fixed" by adding in a few long layers. This was a new stylist recommended by 2 friends, and I even went in for a consultation beforehand. I brought in pictures and was VERY specific about what I wanted. Ten minutes into the cut, I had a knot in my stomach and knew this would be bad. Very bad. I was butchered once again, and now have very short layers up to my eyebrows! She seriously looked like Edward Scissorhands violently cutting my hair. It's short all around the front, and long in the back. And yes, that is the description of a mullet.

My friend Emily (who has a 2 year old and a newborn PLUS two older kids) reminded me today of how fast this time goes. She said that before I know it, they will be big kids, and I'll probably look back on this time and miss it. I'm sure that's true, and years from now I'll be reading this blog and wish I could go back in time. So, despite the chaos, I'm really making an effort to enjoy this time and appreciate their ages. *yawn*

Just don't look in his ears....

It's been another crazy week. It's just a month or so into the new school year, and Colby is on his second cold. He also has some sort of virus that comes with a high fever.

On Friday afternoon, I took him to the doctor to get checked out because he woke up crying with his hand over his ear. I asked him if his ear hurt, but he didn't answer. I tried to cheer him up with a treat, but he didn't want anything. (highly unusual) As we got downstairs, he said "ear hurt", and I quickly called the doctor's office to beg them to take us (it was 4:45 and they close at 5) He continued to cry unconsolably as I called Lee and told him what was going on.

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we got there, Colby stopped crying and was happily playing in the waiting room. I knew about 15 minutes into it that Colby was fine. What I learned, though, is probably a valuable lesson. I think Colby was crying so hard because he was reacting to me being stressed out. He was so upset because he was listening to me talk about him, and I'm sure I seemed worried. The whole "ear hurt" comment was just Colby repeating what I had said to him a few minutes earlier.

Even though I knew he was fine, I decided we should stay and get checked out. We had an hour wait, and we were back in the little room, so I was showing Colby all of the doctors "tools". I showed him the ear thingy that she would use to look in his ears, and we practiced being still. I told him over and over that it wouldn't hurt. And Colby would say "No make Colby cry!" and I'd say "That's right, it won't make Colby cry". Over and over.

It didn't help. As the doctor tried to look in his ears (I was holding him tightly on my lap), he was screaming bloody murder and thrashing his body around, kicking his legs and moving his head from side to side. Eventually, we had to lay him down on the table and call in a 3rd person so that we could pin his arms, legs, and head down. It did not go over very well. The boy is strong, and he sure does have a set of lungs on him. Poor thing was so traumatized after that. His daddy saved the day and took him out for pizza while I came home and had a much needed glass of wine!

On a happier note, Miller had her first sit in the jumparoo today. She is much younger than Colby was, but she is so tall that her feet hit the ground (and her knees even bend!) She is too young to jump, but she enjoys sitting in it and looking at all the colors and toys.


I wonder if she'll be a jumping machine like her big brother. Colby just couldn't get enough of it. Just for fun, here's a vintage video of Colby jumping in his jumparoo at 8 months old.

Pssssttt....

Hey Everybody. It's me...Miller! I'm just chilling on my playmate on a Sunday afternoon.


My big brother likes to lay on the playmat with me. He holds my hand and makes me laugh.


Then he gets up and plays his favorite new guitar. Forget the old wooden one. The new yoga mat/guitar has a strap and is much cooler. He plays with it all.the.time.


Well, I'm off to take a nap. (At least that's what mommy thinks....little does she know!)

Morning fun

Colby's favorite thing in the morning is for us to put Miller in the crib with him for a (short and supervised) visit.

This is always followed by music and guitar playing with daddy before finally getting dressed for the day. It's not a bad life!

The week in review

Wow, where has the time gone? It's so much harder to keep up with the blog now that my arms are tied in the evenings. I'm going to try and recap a few highlights from this week.

On Saturday, we went to an Octoberfest festival, and Colby experienced his first bounce house. At first he was a bit intimidated, but once inside, he LOVED it!! He jumped and jumped and jumped. He fell down, laughed, got back up, and jumped some more.


Unfortunately, it began to fill up with older kids, and Lee and I became very afraid. Colby was half the size of these other kids, and they were playing very rough. It was an accident waiting to happen, and we tried everything to get Colby to come out. There were promises of lollipops, chocolate treats, and candy....nothing worked.


We had no choice but to send someone in. The onlookers gasped as Lee crawled through the tiny opening and began the long journey to Colby's end of the bounce house. He said it took all his strength and concentration not to sit one someone's kid. Here he is straddling a little boy...I'm sure the mother was horrified.


Later that night, we headed to a cookout and dressed the kids in their finest Halloween garb. Colby loves Miller so much that he always wants to hold her hand.


And kiss her.


Today we headed out to a Fall festival where we had a blast. We took a long hayride through the woods, saw lots of animals, played in the hay, picked out pumpkins, had a picnic lunch...there was so much to do. There was a guitar player which thrilled Colby, and he jammed away on his cornstalk guitar.


There were lots of slides...(note Colby still clutching his cornstalk guitar)


And one GIANT slide that was actually pretty scary...(that's me and Colby coming down)


But Colby loved it! (still clutching his cornstalk)


We even ran into 2 of Colby's buddies there.


We ended the day with a long and spooky hayride through the woods.** Colby really loved it and didn't even try to jump off. It was a very fun day!

(**I'm bravely posting pictures of myself even though I HATE my short haircut and I have about 10 pounds of baby weight to lose. I keep telling myself that in 6 months all of this baby puffiness and short hair will be forgotten)