Make it stop!

Time is flying by WAY too fast as far as Miller is concerned. (Colby seems to be making improvements in the behavior department as he gets closer to 3, so this does not apply to him...at the moment.) Every time we turn around, Miller is doing something new. Whether it's doing motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider or climbing up stairs, she's always surprising us. When Colby was this age, I was reading about each month as it came and learning about all the developmental milestones. With Miller, I turn my head and then realize she's another month older and I didn't even realize it.

At 11 months, Miller is just pure joy. She is so happy, playful, funny, and loves to engage strangers. She is extrememly independent and can entertain herself with toys for about an hour- Colby did not do that!

Now that Miller is 11 months old, she has decided it's time to stand alone.

It takes a lot of concentration...and sometimes a monkey face.


Wooahhh....still a bit wobbly.


TA-DA!!!!!


We're still working on the graceful landing.

Bikes and music

Colby and I found ourselves in REI the other day needing to kill an hour, and Colby made a bee line for the "big boy bikes". He does not know how to pedal a tricycle because when we try to teach him, he says "I DO IT BY SELF!" and proceeds to use his feet to push off the floor. This was no different, of course. For about 30 minutes, I was running up and down the isle with him trying desperately to get him to pedal. (getting all kinds of looks, I'm sure) Somewhere between "I do it by self" and "I don't need help", something started to click. After another half hour, we were walking out of the store with a new big boy bike in hand. Colby is officially riding it all BY SELF.





Friday night, we went to the town green concert, and I snapped a few videos of Colby and Miller rocking out in their own special way.



Please excuse the diaper flash in the background...

Confession

If you are easily grossed out, or easily offended, I suggest skipping this post. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I have a very serious and very real confession to make. I've never pretended that my kids are perfect, or that I'm a perfect mother. But I do my best to keep everyone somewhat civilized and decently groomed....at least in public.

This is payback for all the times I've looked at a child in public doing a certain thing and thought "Gross! Why does your mother let you do that??? I will NEVER let my child do that. EVER."

Karma. Karma has come back to bite me.

Hi, my name is Laura. And I'm the parent of a nose picker.



I wish I were kidding. I wish this were just a funny picture I happened to catch. But no. Sadly, this is quite common. Miller does this many times a day, and often in public.

But wait. It gets worse. Much worse. Because after that....

She does this.



Oh yes. It's true. Don't worry, I'm just as offended and grossed out as you are. How can anyone so sweet do something so gross? I will do everything in my power to get this to stop as soon as possible.

Hopefully, she'll start to understand what "NO" means....right now, she'll clap her hands and laugh. It's a good thing God makes them cute.

Nana update

Lee's mom, Nana, is still in the hospital, and we are still saying our prayers hoping for a full recovery. She has been on a ventilator and feeding tube for about 3 weeks, and the doctors are trying some new antibiotics to fight the infection that is now in her heart. Please keep Nana in your thoughts and prayers.

Things are moving along as normally as they can be for us. We are still going to the outdoor concerts on Fridays and Sundays, and last night we saw the bluegrass band that was Colby's favorite from last year. Only this time, it was Miller who really expressed her excitement about it. For an hour and a half, she clapped, squealed, danced, and shook a maraca. And she didn't spend the whole time crawling away from us....that was new!



Oh, and Miller now has 5 words: Mama, Dada, Colby, uh-oh, and hi, which she will say first thing in the morning when we go in to get her. So cute!!

Nap Strike

Colby is in the midst of a one-week (and counting) nap strike, and I am really hoping that's all it is. The minute he gets in his bed for nap, he cries and screams until I get him out. (I usually give him a good 45 minutes) I know he's tired because he's yawning and rubbing his eyes, but he's determined not to sleep. Lee even ran Colby around to make sure he was extra tired, but he's up there screaming as we speak. (or as I type this)

On another note, Miller is pulling on anything and everything she can get her chubby little fingers on. In a span of about 4 weeks, she went from steam rolling around the room to fast crawling and pulling up.

She is quite pleased with herself.


She's doing the I'm-so-happy-I-almost-look-mean face again.


Yowzers.

Uh-oh

Miller has been saying "mamamama" for quite a while, but I haven't been absolutely sure she knows what she's saying. But yesterday, she definitely started repeating the word "uh-oh". She said it probably 10 times, and I finally caught it on video today. (I had to actually drop something to get her to say it) Here she is in her first uh-oh debut. (she wanted to show off one of her other new talents as well)