Illness attacks again...

I keep thinking that we have beaten the bugs. Silly me. I'm starting to wonder if my poor baby is just destined to have an ear infection all the time. He has been having trouble kicking it. We go back for the recheck with the highest of hopes, just to have them dashed. This time he had to get a shot of antibiotic in his fat thigh AND go on another round of augmentin for 10 days. This of course led to the wonderful diaper rash that is par for his course. This time he will at least eat some yogurt so the diaper rash didn't last long. He's doing fine, but I won't say that I think he's beaten it because that would make it not come true. Just pray that it is going for good this time.

On another note, Colin had another migraine this weekend. This concerns me because he is just a young child and it seems to be happening about every 3 to 4 weeks. He becomes so helpless and meek. I can't stand it. I have started keeping a log so that maybe we can pinpoint what's triggering them, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern other than timing. Please pray for him...I don't want him to be plagued with this for his entire life. Actually, I don't want him to even be plagued with it for any amount of his life.

Here are some recent pictures. I am getting really lazy about taking and posting pictures. Sorry!

The boys at the park...

Colin had to do his puzzle "all by myself!!!"

While Daddy's away, the boys will play...

Another week has gone by with Roger out of town for work, and a major change in schedule for the boys. This week was admittedly much better than previous trips that Roger has taken. Colin and I seem to have reached a point in which he doesn't feel the need to fight with me the entire time Roger is gone. He is certainly growing up and proving to be a fantastic help for me around the house and with Christopher. It is very fulfilling to watch the transformation of my big boy. I can't believe that only a few months ago I was sharing with the world that my 3-year-old had lost his mind (eating earrings, tearing up his advent calendar, and getting into the vitamins), and now I am singing his praises as a maturing almost-4-year-old. I am thankful that I didn't auction him off to the highest bidder like I was tempted!

Christopher has discovered a few new things this week. He thinks it is fantastic to laugh and giggle for no reason. He'll be sitting on the floor or wherever, he'll look up and say "heh heh heh!" He is becoming more skilled at crawling with his belly off of the floor, and has learned to pull himself up to standing on pretty much everything. He is very proud of this new skill and looks for praise with a giant grin once he gets up. His smile lights up the room and as the front desk lady at the gym informed me, he could be my "cash cow" if I wanted him to. I tend to agree, as he is always ready with a smile and now a giggle. I might be a bit biased. Here is a video of the boys playing together one afternoon this week. Parts of it get long and boring, but bear with it because it shows Christopher and his newfound skill. Just ignore the voice in the background. I never realized I had a man voice until hearing it on tape. Horrible-and no one saw fit to tell me. Thanks, everyone. Thanks.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

After our snowy weekend and beginning of the past week, we are in a heat wave. It is gorgeous outside. Clear, blue skies, breezy, and supposed to get into the 70s. Yesterday was wonderful as well and after I got some cleaning done (the snow wreaked havoc with our red clay and our crazy dogs tracked it EVERYWHERE. Thank God for the Dyson!!) Colin and I went outside and cleaned up the backyard a bit. There were all kinds of old, broken (aka, dog chewed) toys around the yard as well as our pool which was kindly popped by Sophie at the end of the summer, so we got rid of them all. Now we have to get something for Colin to do outside. We need to put more sand in the sandbox and get him some fun sports equipment to play with (that the dogs can't destroy) so that he can spend as much time out there as possible. He loves to be outside but gets bored and entertains himself with the rocks--which Sophie loves, but she is too stupid to realize that eating the rocks upsets her stomach and we end up cleaning up rock vomit. Fun. Anyway, after cleaning up the yard, we headed to the front yard where Colin and I ran around the yard re-enacting the moving Wall-e. He was Wall-e and I was Eve. I must have looked so cool running around with my arms out like I was flying and yelling "WA-ALLL-EE!!" We had lots of fun, though, and I am glad that I am not pregnant this year so I can enjoy many more days like this.

Today I think we will head to a park and spend as much time outside as we can. I will take some spring style pictures of the boys and just enjoy the sunshine. Of course, Spring makes me think of all of the things I want to do around the house. I am dying to get some of the boxes out of our garage that have all of our books and stuff that we had displayed in our old house (yes, 2+ years ago). The problem is that we have no shelf to put it all on. Then this reminds me that I want to get our living room and foyer painted. This would include someone climbing a giant ladder (probably scaffolding) as our 18 ft. ceilings are a bit high up there. Neither of us is willing to do it, but hiring someone seems as though it would cost a bundle. I keep asking for this for birthdays and Christmas, but have yet to get it. Hint, hint. I also need to get into our flower bed and pull some dead weeds and trim the bushes. Something many of you might not know about me is that I LOVE pulling weeds and trimming the bushes. I may not be good at the trimming part, but there is something about the weeding that relaxes me. Weird, considering that I know nothing about gardening. I can't wait to take pictures of our beautiful flowers this year. Again, now that I'm not pregnant I can get out and do these things without getting out of breath so I am ecstatic! Anyway, look for spring pictures of the kiddos soon.

Tastefully Simple

I am just writing this blog to let those of you who don't already know that I have started a business as a Tastefully Simple Independent Consultant. I have a website available for those of you who have not heard of the company and want to learn more. For any of you who might have heard of it or know of the products, you can order them directly from the website to your door no matter where you live. The food is really great and exceptionally easy to prepare. Just thought I would shamelessly plug myself. Here is the site. http://www.tastefullysimple.com/amiller7

Babble babble babble...

Here is a short video clip of Christopher utilizing his new voice. It's amazing the things my new camera can do. It's even more amazing when I use these features!!! Enjoy.

Oooh yes, the Dyson...

I got the vacuum of my dreams, if there ever was such a thing that I dreamt about. After fighting a losing battle with a piece of garbage vacuum cleaner from Bissell in which many expletives were spoken (ok, yelled), I decided that I needed a new one. I researched and then came to the conclusion that every vacuum that seemed like what I might want compared itself to the Dyson. Now, why would I want one that is "like" the Dyson that will only last a year or so? The Dyson (which is warrantied for 5 years) is quite obviously the King of the vacuums, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay the money. I am now a vacuum dork but am LOVING the machine. It's more like a part of the family now. Christopher definitely agrees, and Colin loves the color. What more could we ask for? Kids are happy AND a family member who does the dirty work? Priceless.

An actual snow day!

Well yesterday we finally got some snow! I had pretty much given up on seeing any this year, but leave it to good old March to bring it in!

Unfortunately, I was out when it hit (my stupidity for not believing the weather report) at a Tastefully Simple get together well across town. I got in the car to drive home and was SLAMMED with the worst of it. It turned my 30 minute trip into 2 hours. Not to mention that I was sliding ALL OVER THE ROAD. About 3 miles from home, the snow on top of the Xterra slid down the front windshield and blocked the driver side wiper. I pulled over to the gas station on the corner and cleared the snow off...which did no good at all. The wiper was burnt out after struggling against the heavy snow. Great. I am now 2 miles from home in a crazy snow and have no windshield wiper on my side. I think "I can make it...I am going to get home." Again, stupidity. Not even a minute after turning out of the gas station, my car starts dovetailing like crazy...slowly, but crazily. Going, going, going, straight into the ditch on the right side of the road (luckily missing the stuck, abandoned Mustang that was sitting there). Thank God for good samaritans because a man saw me struggling with trying to get back on the road and stopped for me (while I was freaking out on the phone with Roger wondering what to do, he was trying to talk me through how to do it, but nothing was working). He pulled me out with a chain and I was able to get moving again (still with no wiper, but if I sat up and to the right a little bit I could see out the other side of the windshield; safe, right?). Luckily, I got home and shakily grabbed on to Roger as soon as I walked in. I scooped Colin up (Christopher was in bed already) and just hugged him. It was scary and I will not go out in that kind of weather purposely again.

Anyway, waking up this morning was pleasurable because Colin came in (at 7:23, not 5:30--we seem to have broken that habit finally!!!!) and said "Mommy! Mommy! Can we go outside and play in the snow????" He was so excited! I said "Yes, you can go out, but get Daddy. I was up all night with Christopher" (which is true, I think little man is getting more teeth). But no harm, we all got up and got bundled to go outside. Here are the pictures of the boys having fun. It is truly a beautiful thing as long as I am not driving in it!!!!