Our Snowy Day

Chronologically, with mostly pictures.  A lot of them.

 Miller thought we should be responsible and do some cleaning before we went to play. 

He's probably right, but nah.

We opted for footie pajamas under his clothes since he doesn't have long underwear.  I must say, it seemed to work pretty well and made transitioning to naps a breeze.  Highly recommended.

 So excited he can hardly stand it!!!!!  Can't you tell?

 

Yes, that is a pool raft.  We live in Alabama.  We do not buy and store a sled to use once a millennium {although I really wish we had one today!}.  Pool floats, however,  are in abundance and did the trick.

 Aww.  They match.  How cute.

 Not a fan of coming in.

 

 

 

 Once again, no sled and our float got a hole in it.

 Macy and Morgan came to visit.

 Back inside for nap #2...

 

and a little of this...

Only one thing left to do now... duck hunting.  War Eagle!!!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Miller has definitely entered toddler-hood.  Yesterday he climbed on to the coffee table for the first time ever, left me this little surprise while I was drying my hair...

{I'm just glad it wasn't my toothbrush}, and when I made the bathroom off limits he entertained himself in other ways...

 Busted.  I decided since those tissues were already a lost cause it at least might keep him out of other trouble until I could finish drying my hair.

Worked like a charm!  I feel it is noteworthy to mention that all of these events took place within about thirty minutes of each other.  I guess I better stay on my toes!

Seventeen Months

I realized too little too late that I didn't do a post when Miller turned sixteen months old.  I thought then that I might wait until eighteen months to start spacing them out some.  After all, if the doctor doesn't need to see him between fifteen and eighteen months, there must not be too many changes.   Right?  Wrong.  I am shocked by how much Miller has learned and changed in these past two months and I want to remember him for how he is right now.  He'll probably be in college next month at the rate that he changes.  You can read about him at fifteen months here to see what I mean.  I have no idea how much Miller weighs since we haven't been to the doctor since his last appointment, but my arms and back can attest to the fact that he is growing just fine.  We've had a lot of PJ days around here as I try to get the house back in order from Christmas and it's too cold to play outside.

We hit a major bump in the road in regards to naps back around Thanksgiving.  As in, he refused to nap.  At all.  Thankfully, those days are in the past and he is returning to his normal not-so-bad-at-napping self.  He never has been, and I fear never will be, a great napper, but after those few weeks of no naps I'll take what I can get.  He just about always cries when I leave his room at nap time, but it only lasts a few minutes.  After defeating his blanket and lovie in a few WWE matches he drifts off to sleep and stays that way for an hour and fifteen minutes max.  It doesn't matter if it's his only nap of the day or he is taking two, it is always no longer than one hour and fifteen minutes and it's usually that exact amount of time.  I think it's weird.  Does he have an internal alarm clock?  How does he know?  Due to this fact Miller is still taking two naps a day and may continue in this fashion until he drops naps completely.  {On days when that's possible of course.  Sometimes one nap is inevitable.}  I do not ever envision him taking one long afternoon nap.  Hopefully I'm wrong, but we'll see.

His vocabulary is also growing by the day and his favorite word of the moment is "off".  This can mean "off", "on", "get me out of this bed", "come play with me", "I don't want you to sit there" etc., etc, etc...

Some of his other new "words":
"nana" - banana {You'd think he could use this in reference to his actual Nana, but for some unknown reason he calls her "Ball"}
"yoks" - socks
"choo choo" - train
"bee" - blanket
"bee" - bread
"wa wa" - water
"doe" - door
"me me" - meow meow{In response to, "What does  a cat say?}
"wuf" - ruff {"What does a dog say?"}
"iss" - kiss
"trutch" - truck
"kay" - kate
"cot" - scott
"bup" - up
"peas" - please
"ot" - hot


I am also amazed at Miller's language comprehension.  Even though he can only say about 25-30 words, he understands countless objects and action verbs.  If I ask him to bring me a specific book, he can pick it out from about thirty other books quickly and bring me the one I asked for based on its cover.  It is the same way with toys and common household objects.  Pretty incredible.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that my specific child is an incredible prodigy.  I am pointing to the fact that our Lord created us in a pretty incredible fashion and I am in awe of Him as I watch Miller grow and develop.

Here's another cute "trick" he's learned.  If he can't find someone or something he'll put up his hands like this and say their name {or the object} over and over again as if to say "Where is it?"


His favorite person is still...
As if that's really an update.  :)

His favorite books at the moment are Chicka Chicka ABC, Brown Bear, and Moo Baa La La La. It's hard to say what his favorite toy is right now since he has so many new ones.  I think he is still in the mode of figuring them all out and hasn't really landed on one yet.  He does however have a new fascination with getting all of his "bees" out of his crib and carrying them around with him for a while.  Then they are dropped and forgotten wherever they land until it's time for him to go to sleep.  At that point we MUST find them.
Just thinking to myself, at what point is it a ridiculous to continue a monthly post?  I mean, will I stalk him in his college dorm room at eighteen years and six months??? 

New Year's Eve & Miracle Babies

Thank you for the sweet comments and suggestions regarding my struggle with Christmas.  I hope that I didn't come across as ungrateful for all that Miller received.  I certainly know how much Miller is loved and appreciate all of you who wanted to do something special for him this Christmas!  I will just have to continue to pray and seek the Lord before next year...

Moving on.  We had a wild nice New Year's Eve at home.  It was a quiet night spent with a few friends and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  We actually rang in the new year with the east coast, everyone went on their way, and then Bryant and I had our own CST countdown before dozing off.  While it might sound boring to some, it was perfect to us!

The next day we went to celebrate the one year birthday of these little miracles...

So many prayed with Kendall and Will as they struggled with infertility and then had two precious blessings seven weeks early.  Amazingly, Hays and Hunter are both completely healthy and growing every day!  I for one am so thankful to share so many of our days with them and their birthday party was no exception.  I don't have many pictures on my camera since I was in charge of getting pictures for Kendall with hers, but I did get a few.  We tried to get one of Miller, Hays, and Hunter...

 

 
without much success.  Better luck next year.  Miller LOVED the balloons and had a ball walking around tangled up in them all.  It was hysterical. 

Today is actually the boys' birthday so let me take this time to give them a quick shout out.  Happy birthday sweet boys!  All of our lives are fuller because of each of you!

LAST Christmas post & a heartfelt confession

So it's taken me much longer than I expected to wrap up all of our Christmas posts, but better late than never I guess.  I really want to have it all documented for our family so please bear with me for one more; I promise it is the last!

Christmas day we drove through the "blizzard" {that's a few inches in these parts in case any yankees are reading} to Gran and Pop's house.  We got to celebrate with them through Monday and were once again all spoiled with way too many gifts, ate like gluttons, and enjoyed lazy days in front of the fire.

 Miller checking out his stocking.  We were all out of clean Christmas jammies by this point.

Cozied up in his cute new chair.  We decided to take the legs off for now so that it's easier for him to get in and out of.  It looks so cute in his playroom!  Unfortunately Oreo has also taken a liking to it...

Brad and Lauren got him this fun drum set full of other noise-making-instruments.  They neglected to get Bryant and I any Advil though...  It really is cute and Miller loves it.  I can't ask for more than that.

And of ALL the presents Miller received, his favorite was {cue the drum roll - literally}.....

 

 spoons and forks!!!  He carried these with him everywhere and played with them the entire time we were there.  Mom is probably still finding them tucked in places.

Well, that about wraps up our holidays!  It is always so sad to me when Christmas is over.  I put away all of our indoor decorations on Sunday {with a few Lifetime movies to help the time pass by- thanks, Blair!!} and our house feels so empty now.  All I have to do is step in the playroom to see the remnants of the holiday and feel a bit overwhelmed.  Can I just be honest for a minute?  Part of me feels like I'll have to give away half of Miller's toys before his next birthday.  How do you parents do it?  Where do you put all of this stuff?  Really, it makes me a little sick to think of how completely blessed we are.  We have such an overflowing abundance while some are just struggling to eat.  I also wrestle with fears that we are spoiling Miller and creating a monster.  Is this really what we want him to learn about Christmas?  I don't know how to balance it all and I'm sorry to be such a Debbie Downer, but my soul is uneasy.  I feel as though the Holy Spirit is working in me, but I'm just not sure of what the Lord wants me to actually do about it.  Will I really not give my child a gift for Christmas?  Would I ask others that love him so to not give him anything if they desire?  Of course not.  I don't think I can go that far.  But I can feel the Lord asking me, "Will you ignore this conviction I've given you?"  Of course not.  I know I can't go that far.

So, blog reading friends, would you pray for me?  Pray that I will understand God's will and what he is trying to say to me.  Most importantly, pray that I will have the strength to do whatever it is he asks, no matter how difficult or against the "norm" it may be.  After all, He sent His son to this earth to die for you and for me.  You can't get much more out of the "norm" than that.