Get well Nana

I haven't posted in a while because Lee's mom (Nana), who we just saw a few weeks ago at Miller's baby dedication, is very sick. She went to the hospital with a leg infection, but since being admitted has developed fluid in her lungs. She's been in intensive care for about 4 days and is now on a respirator. We are hoping and praying for her recovery.

I'm not in the mood to say much, so I thought I'd just post some pictures of the past week.

Preschool ended last week, and Colby had a really great year overall. This was his end of the year picture...


And his class picture.

Don't they look thrilled? There were only 6 kids in his class and one was absent for the picture. His best buddy was Charlotte, who is on the far left. They often embraced upon seeing each other in the morning, and his teacher said she was sure a wedding is eminent. They are going to summer camp together in 3 weeks.

We spent last weekend at our town carnival, and Colby had a blast riding all the rides. He loved them all and wanted to ride them again and again and again. He would get off and say "I was smiling!" only it sounded like "smia-win".

He loved the giant slide (which was kind of scary)


I squeezed myself onto many of the rides with him.


This is what happens when you tell Colby to stay seated.


Miller took it all in from the stroller.

Potty training, sleep, swimming and other stuff

No, we're not potty training yet, but I'm starting to think about it. All of Colby's girl friends (his age) are potty trained, but the boys are not. I'm thinking we'll need to do it some time this summer after Colby turns 3. I've got some great materials that friends have sent me, so I'm well prepared with tons of information.

I was looking through one of the booklets today, reading about "signs of readiness" (which Colby does not show since he still wants to- TMI- sit in his poo-poo) and I came across this little quote:

"If your child is easy going, you will probably have an easy time potty training. However, if you've got a child that basically questions your authority on everything, well, guess what? They will be like that about potty training, too. As a matter of fact, you will probably have a more difficult time because you are trying to get them to do something they do not want to do. If you've got a fighter on your hands, now you've got a boxer."

Ummm.....considering we cannot get Colby to do anything other than eat M&Ms without a struggle, I'm not sure we're ready to take this on. He's not even ready to be out of the crib yet. Well, he might be ready, but we surely are not. Lee used to say we should move him to the bed, but I haven't heard a peep from him about that in months...he knows we have a good thing going. The last thing we need to add to our life is a nightly fight to keep Colby in the bed, and the naps would be totally over. Right now, the crib is our saving grace and I plan to keep him in there until his toes are peeking through the slats and he's the laughing stock of first grade.

Colby already has a million excuses for getting out of the crib (my leg hurts, I need to move my animals, I need to put book back, I want fan on, I want to move the cd, I want to turn giggle box on, I want to put the tissues down, I need a hug, I need a back rub, I want a book, I want my mommy) and I don't want to add "I need to pee-pee" to that list anytime soon.

On another note, Colby had his first swim class this past weekend. He developed a fear of the pool around one year of age, when someone decided it would be a good idea for Colby to be the first person in the water and the last person out of the water, even though he screamed and cried and turned blue through the whole class...because pain is weakness leaving the body. I'm not going to name names or blame anyone, but lets just say a lesson was learned by all. Last summer, Colby would not go near the water and cried at the pool, so I was really hoping we could start fresh this year.

Unfortunately, when we got to the pool, Colby saw it and immediately started crying and clinging to me. He was truly scared and probably thought we were going to force him to do something he didn't want to do. All the kids (most younger than him) jumped into the water to their parent, but Colby definitely wasn't going in. We went to the beach area and just sat in about one inch of water, and after about 5 minutes he wanted to leave. Not wanting to force him, we packed our bags and headed out. Of course, when Colby realized we weren't making him get in, he wanted to go back. We slowly (over about 20 minutes) eased our way into the water inch by inch. By the end of the class, Colby and I had joined the others and I was tossing him up in the air. Hurray! It was a huge milestone for him and Colby was really having a great time. The class we're taking is really just getting him comfortable in the water, so I think we'll just focus on having fun and leave the real swim lessons for next year.

The outdoor concerts have started again this year, and just like last year, Colby took his guitar right to the front of the stage. We keep forgetting to bring our camcorder, but he was pretty much up there with the band the entire time. One very important difference is that Lee didn't have to chase him around the lawn after he lost interest, so we can actually sit and relax.

And last, but not least...Miller is waving bye-bye! She is such a happy and sweet little girl, and she loves crawling and exploring the house. She also loves books and being read to, which is new for me because Colby didn't want to sit still.
When I got her from her nap this afternoon, she was sitting up in her crib, she had turned her music box on (just like Colby) and she waved hi. I love this age!!!

A few minutes ago....

Lee: Colby, in 5 minutes we're going to go upstairs.
Colby: Yes

*Blank stare between me and Lee*

Lee: Maybe he didn't hear me?

Lee: Colby, in 5 minutes we're going to go upstairs.
Colby: Yes

Lee: Who are you and what have you done with Colby?

5 minutes later...

Lee: Colby, are you ready to go up?
Colby: Nooooo!!!!

Whew, he had us worried for a second.

Mother's Day weekend

Miller had her baby dedication over the weekend, so we packed up the car and headed to Nan and Pop's house. I was a bit nervous about how Miller would react in church because her personality is much more reserved with strangers than Colby's was at this age. The story of his baby dedication is here. At the same age, Colby smiled with delight at anyone who looked his way, and was actually offended if someone did not stop to ogle him at the grocery store. When strangers talk to Miller, she usually just gives them a blank stare....and if they keep on pushing for a smile, she will cry.

While I was worried about how she would react in church, what I did not predict was her reaction to scary old Pop. The minute Miller laid eyes on him, she thought that something just didn't seem right about him. Every time he came into a room, she burst into tears. I think Pop kind of enjoyed the reaction, and he made sure to make eye contact with her every chance he could get.

However, after a couple days of seeing him in the room and realizing he wasn't out to get her, she sort of warmed up to him. Sort of.


Miller enjoyed visiting with Miller #1...


and Nana...


Granddaddy (or Grandducky as Colby calls him) fed Miller while trying to catch some flies for himself.


On Sunday morning, we snapped a few pictures before heading off to church (most of these were taken while Miller squeezed in a last minute nap)









Just as predicted, Miller did cry when the minister took her from me. However, Lee was a quick thinker and put a Cheerio in her mouth when she was turned away from the congregation. That perked her right up, and it was pretty smooth sailing after that. Well, smooth sailing with Miller. Our mistake was not preparing Colby for the fact that his mommy and daddy would be walking to the front of the church with his nemesis....the adorable baby sissa. As soon as we walked in, I started to hear "Mommy...I want Mommy...MOMMY....I WANT MOMMY.....I WAAANT MYYY MOMMMMYYY!!!!!" Chip quickly whisked him away and ran out of the church. I felt terrible because we really should have prepared him better for what was going to happen. Oh well, I'm still kind of new at this whole thing.

The absolute highlight of Colby's weekend was playing with his 3 older cousins. It was so fun to watch them play together, and I was amazed at how patient the boys were with him. They ran around outside for much of the weekend, and they really included Colby and made him feel like he was one of the big boys.


Nana and Granddaddy gave Miller a special gift to remember the occasion: Nana's juice cup from 1948, and a new silver spoon. Miller wanted to do a taste test to see which she preferred.

The spoon was mighty tasty....


but the cup was also quite flavorful...


The verdict...

It's a tie! They are both equally delicious!


To top off the weekend, Miller perfected her crawling skills on the morning of her dedication. She is officially a crawler!


Thank you Nana and Granddaddy for making the long trip up from South Carolina. And thanks Nan and Pop for hosting all of us, cooking all the great food, and putting up with all the noise, spit up, poop, muddy dog mess, and chaos.
We had a wonderful weekend!