My Punk Rock Kid

I decided to mess with Christopher's hair last night after his bath. I have often heard from others that he has the perfect hair for a "faux-hawk." Turns out that this is an accurate statement. He looked super cute. Now if I can just get him a tattoo...

The Big SC Snow of '09

This was our giant snow storm. Don't be jealous, maybe you all will get this type of blizzard someday! Colin even had to shut his eyes it was coming down so hard.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

Colin got a great gift from Uncle Bill for Christmas. A genuine Tonka truck, sharp metal edges and all. He loves it and pushes it all over the house, usually while running madly and driving Sophie crazy. I was looking at it the other day and found that it was the perfect size for a certain Miller boy's butt. Here are the pictures of the trucker and his driver.

Have you ever seen such true admiration before? He loves his big brother!!!

Aging gracefully?

I was washing my face the other day and my mind started to wander (as if often does these days). I have started using Cetaphil on my face because the Clean and Clear now makes me break out worse. Exciting, right?

This got me to thinking about the fact that I am using a grown up facial cleanser and seem to have graduated out of the teenage brands that I have used since, well, since I was a teenager. This then led me to the thought of how Clean and Clear cream cleanser was a staple in our dorm in college. Then I got to thinking of one of the most hilarious face washing moments that has ever occurred in my life. We were all getting ready for bed on 5th floor Frazier (yep, 6 girls in one bathroom). Some were brushing teeth, Amanda was probably asking me to get something off of the top shelf in her closet, but everyone was getting ready for the next day. Next thing I know, I hear "AAAAAAAAH!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! HOLY ****!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!" Amy strikes again. (I am laughing hysterically as I write this.) Amy had been washing her face and decided that the tingly feeling that the Clean and Clear offers for your face would feel good in her eyes. Apparently her eyes disagreed!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! It was so funny.

That is my aging story...I have graduated from kid style face wash to adult style. I will do my best not to get it in my eyes. Thanks for the lesson in face washing, Amy!!!

Rising early is for suckers

Colin is in a new stage. He likes to wake up before the sun comes up...lately around 5:30 am. He is convinced that as soon as his eyes pop open, he is ready to begin the day. This is SO not the case. Every morning he gets up, turns on his bedroom light, goes in his bathroom (which he shares with his brother--it connects their rooms) and turns on that light, goes to the bathroom, and returns to his room. Usually, he leaves the bathroom light on, which wakes up Christopher. Then he proceeds downstairs where it seems he turns on every light in the house. That is when we wake up.

This inevitably brings on the "Colin, turn off those lights, get upstairs and get back in bed."

"No. I don't want to go to bed."

"Get up here now or I am taking your trains."

"Don't take my trains!!!!!" Waaaaaaaaah! (lights going off, pitter patter of running feet)

"Colin, you know you are not allowed to leave your room until 7-0-0. Go back to sleep."

Then we all go back to bed.

Then in 15 minutes, he decides it's time to get up and turn on his light. It all happens again.

During the week he even waits until Roger leaves for work and then sneaks out of his room again. Except that his sneaking consists of turning all the lights on again...so it's not really a very stealthy operation.

My friend Amy has been having "early riser" problems with her baby. I just want to assure her that it doesn't end there. Have fun, Amy, have fun.

Sibling rivalry already?

World War III anyone?

As Christopher becomes more and more mobile, I think Colin becomes more and more stubborn about letting him touch his things. You would think that Christopher was taking his trains or cars or blocks or train tracks or uh, EVERYTHING, and trying to claim them as his own. Granted, he is spitting all over them, which is gross, but it's not the end of the world, right? Well, according to Colin it is.

"MOMMY!!!!! HE'S GETTING MY TRAINS! COME GET HIM! WAAAAAAAH!!!"

He then proceeds to grab him by the ankles and drag him away or he simply pushes him out of the vicinity of his toys. Christopher does not take to this very well, as he has inevitably gone to great pains to get to these toys so that he could chew on them. It usually entails him making a 6 foot crawl, staring longingly at Colin and his toys through the gate, sneaking out of the gate (that should be closed), and then the final lunge to get to whatever it is that he is reaching for. It's quite the workout, I'm sure. So when Colin gets upset, grabs his toy back and pushes Christopher over, I get the wailing cry from Christopher that says, "MOMMY!!! HE WON'T LET ME EAT HIS TOYS AND THAT MAKES ME MAD!!!!" (He doesn't sound very clear, but I swear that's what I hear coming from his mouth.)

We have our living room sectioned off at the moment to try and prevent some of this. The largest area is devoted to Christopher's baby toys (which, incidentally, Colin feels that even though Christopher is not allowed to play with HIS toys, that the same rule doesn't apply to him with the baby toys--he owns those, too) and plenty of room to crawl and play. Then there is a smaller section that Colin uses to build his masterpieces. It doesn't work. Ever. I don't know why we still bother. Maybe I secretly like watching the fights unfold and envisioning our future of fist fights and wrestling matches. Or, I just truly love seeing the adoration of a big brother by his little brother. Christopher absolutely lights up when Colin comes in the room and he will do anything (even fighting the gate) to play with him. It's a beautiful thing. I also think that Colin secretly enjoys knowing that his baby brother loves him so much. This is why he will "allow" Christopher to chase him around the living room giggling the whole time. I know this is just a precursor to the wild life with two boys. Bring it on, boys, bring it on. Momma's gonna win.

Ugh

I am infinitely tired of hearing about this "historical inauguration." Good God. If this was any other person, if it was (dare I say) a white republican, would the fanfare be so grand? Oh, and according to foxnews.com, $150 million dollars for an inaugural party doesn't seem excessive to Obama's crew. DOESN'T SEEM EXCESSIVE???? What the hell? Isn't this the same guy who vowed to "share the wealth?" I guess having a big party is WAY more important than using that money to say, bail out the financial and auto industries for making bad business decisions---oh wait...that was already done. Economic crisis my ass. I will not be watching or taking part in any of these inaugural festivities. I will be too busy trying to figure out how to work and pay my bills.

Yep, 2 in one day!

I can now go on to tell about what has been happening around here lately.

As soon as we got back to South Carolina, it was back to reality. Roger traveled the next week to Salemburg and it was just me and the boys for a few days. Those weeks are alway rough. Colin is at the age now where he really feels his dad's absence. It's quite hard for me to watch and know that nothing I do will help.

This leads me into my experiences with Colin as a 3 1/2-year-old. This poor boy is trying so hard to figure out this world. Usually at the expense of my sanity. Leave behind the memories of eaten earrings, swallowed vitamins, and torn up advent calendars. Now we are into the stage of talking back, getting in trouble at preschool, and bolting away from me in stores. Where did my little sweet baby boy go? I had forgotten during all of my babysitting days what this stage was...oh wait, I wasn't entirely responsible for those kids. Now, every single decision affects his life. Wasn't I just a carefree college student yesterday? When did this life of responsibility hit me? Phew. I am assured that this is normal and will pass. Boy oh boy I hope it goes soon. The bonus is that he is also extremely affectionate. We are getting lots of cuddle time and extra "I love you, Mommy" moments. So I must be doing something right.

Playing catch up

Ok, it's been forever, I know. Get off my back (AMY). I finally got around to getting the Christmas pictures off my camera. So here is the corresponding post.

We spent 2 weeks in Stafford with our family. We had a great time! Not living near family really starts to take its toll on us sometimes, so the 2 weeks was well needed. It was so great to see everyone and to watch the boys with their cousin, Danielle. Colin just adores her and copied her every move. Even the cheerleading ones! It was so funny watching him jump around with pom poms. Of course that led to many jokes from Roger's brother, but hey, he's 3. Get a grip!

Roger's Aunt Rita and Aunt Nancy from Indianapolis joined us for a few days which is always a great time. We are so blessed to have them in our lives!

We had lots of fun hanging out with my parents as well. We got to see my brothers and their families one day and we were able to spend some time with my Grandma, Aunt and Uncle from Florida, and 2 of my cousins.

As usual, the kids got WAY TOO MUCH. We told ourselves we weren't going to do that, but everytime we saw something it was like, "Oh, he would LOVE that!" What economic crisis??

Anyway, we had a fantastic time. Here are some pictures of the kids.