Happy Birthday Miller

On Saturday Miller officially turned 3.  Although I knew it was coming, it was still a little hard to believe.  It seems like he was born so recently, but then I think about it and realize that in fact time does fly and he is actually 3 years old.

He had pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles for breakfast.  Allen is the best pancake maker!

 

He opened his presents!

Jackson helped Miller open his present from him.

Because Jackson knows his brother really well, he got Miller a bag of Cheetos for his birthday.  It may have been Miller’s favorite gift!

A Playmobil Boat…

 

that can go in the pool.

After the pool, he wanted to go to “the pizza place”, so we went and got some really good pizza.

Then home for some cake!

He had to lick the frosting off the candles…

Then he wanted us to sing to him again, so we did!

So excited!

Then he had to lick the frosting off the candles, again!

Allen says “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!”  Just because I bought a #2 candle to go on top of his cake.  The when I realized that I should have bought a #3 and went to go get single birthday candles from upstairs, I only brought down 2 candles.  Yes, he is three, but it might take my mind a while to get there.

Now I have to tell you what this guy is up to as he turns three years old.

• He can Swim!  This was a big deal because he’s been able to swim for a while, but he wouldn’t do it.  He’s realized he can and he IS!  Also gives me more peace of mind since we live on a canal.
• He loves playing with cars, but is crazy about Monster Trucks, especially Grave Digger.
• Miller is still incredibly strong and tough as nails.
• He is fiercely protective of his brother.
• When he wants to be, he is a total rhinoceros.  If he gets peeved about something he will put his head down and charge you.  Better watch out too because he will knock you down if he can.
• He still occasionally bites.  I know!
• When he plays with his cars or toys he makes them talk in a really high voice and has them all ask each other if they want to go to Chic-Fil-A.  If you have seen him recently, you know he is serious about Chic-Fil-A.  There is no Chic-Fil-A in the Bahamas!
• He stopped drinking milk in July.  He now says it is nasty.
• He also stopped taking naps in July.  Miller has so much energy that even now he needs about an hour and a half less sleep than Jackson does.
• Miller knows all of his letters and never forgets anything.  Unless you want him to remember something.  Oh, but he still doesn’t know his colors.  Might have to get that checked out.
• He’s still not pooping in the potty.  He HAS to be potty trained for school in 2 weeks.  He’s totally messing with me, because he goes and hides when he needs to go.
• Speaking of school, Miller is starting half days this year.  I’m a bit lot sad, but I know it is what’s best for him.
• Miller has an awesome raspy voice and still has the most engaging smile and personality.  Everyone loves him. 
• It doesn’t hurt that he a lady charmer, too!  When he sees ladies he always greets them with a “Hello ladies.”  or “Goodbye ladies”.

So in rereading this it looks like I have an energetic, stubborn, tough kid who sometimes still bites, but is cute and smart as a whip.  Sounds like there are many more fun years to come!!

Party in the USA

You know that Miley Cyrus song Party in the USA    ?  It’s a catchy little song and I don’t pretend not to like that kind of thing.  I embrace my diverse musical tastes.

Anyway, we had a total blast in “America”, as Jackson calls it.  I could do a bunch of posts on all the things we did while we were there, but I will try to put it all in to one really long post.  This blog is for my memory, so you get to read what we did every day.

Due to my photographic woes, I have few pictures to show for it.

My sister picked us up from Atlanta and we drove to Greenville and went straight to Target.  The boys and I soaked in all the retail goodness that is Target that we could.  We began a ridiculously large collection of Cars 2 cars.

The next day we went to my mom’s house for some family time and swimming.  She has recently had her pool and deck re-done and we loved breaking it in.  I wish I had pictures, but they are on my mom’s camera.

Afterwards we visited Kelly and AnnaKate.  AnnaKate is always so easygoing and puts up with all the energy we bring into the house.  Their poor dog, Beau, however may never be the same!

The next day we met up at a park with Kelly, AnnaKate our friend Cathy and her daughter Emerson.  There is nothing better than seeing my boys with my friend’s children. 

 

Nice pictures, right.  Kelly took them, then I shamelessly stole them off of Facebook.  Our visit was too short, but we can never get enough time these days!

We got a little mall shopping done that afternoon before we went back to mom’s for another swim.

Saturday, I had my sister and I embarked on a massive shopping trip.  We managed to do Costco, Old Navy, Party City, Homegoods (how I love thee), Marshall’s, Ulta and Bed, Bath & Beyond.  There is no way I could have done it on my own, but we powered through the melt down and let them play Angry Birds and Talking Tomcat a few times.  As a reward, Michele took us to see Cars 2!

By that night Jackson started running fever.  Sunday I couldn’t get it down, even with Ibuprofen, so off we went to Target.  He really didn’t want to take the Tylenol I gave him as we pulled out of the parking lot.  I realized I had made an error in making him take the Tylenol about 50 yards away when he threw it all up.  Cleaning up puke from a carseat is one of those things that you pray, every time it happens, that this will be the last time.

Monday afternoon he told me that his throat was hurting so I took him to an urgent care center, and he was diagnosed with Strep.  His fever went away as soon as he started the antibiotics!  I had to keep him in the house for another day to make sure he wasn’t contagious anymore.

By the way, I’ve still got another week to go, so be warned you’re only half way done!

Wednesday, my sister took the day off and we went to a water park.  The boys loved it.  Jackson even worked up the nerve to  to go on the FlowRider.  He did FANTASTIC!  He was really proud of himself too!  Unfortunately, it was really crowded (and the hottest day on record for SC) my nerves could only take a few hours of that.  We went to the calm of my mom’s pool.  Around that time Miller seemed to be really mellow, and by that night he was burning up with fever.

Thursday I was back at the urgent care center.  Surprisingly, Miller didn’t have strep, but another kind of virus.  He kept a fever, even with Ibuprofen, and I had to keep bathing him to keep his fever down.  Thankfully I didn’t have to clean any of his vomit out of the carseat!  He did manage a nice projectile vomit that went all over me.  Motherhood is not for sissies!

His fever broke that night, and even though i should have kept him at the house for a full 24 hours to make sure he wasn’t contagious, I lived on the wild side and took us out to lunch with Kelly.

Friday night my sister Sharon came down to see the boys and have dinner with Michele and I.  It was great to catch up with her.

Saturday we ran more errands in Greenville, had lunch at Corona’s with my mom and Mimi,  Then we somehow squeezed in three different toy stores, where the boys looked for things that they wanted for their upcoming birthdays.  Needless to say their ideas keep changing on a daily basis!

Sunday we ate (for the 3rd time during the trip) at Waffle House with my brother K.C.  Miller loves it!  (Wapple House is how he says it), went to Wal-Mart and then headed back to Michele’s house.  That evening, she was kind enough to babysit for me, so I could go out for a grown up dinner with Kelly and Susanne.  P.F. Chang’s didn’t disappoint.

Monday morning,  I decided that the boys needed some Krispy Kreme Donuts to round out their trip to SC.  It didn’t disappoint.  I do have to say that the Cheerwine flavored donut was not my favorite.  I love donuts and I love Cheerwine, but UNLIKE Reece’s Cups, two great tastes don’t always taste great together.

Afterwards we went to play at another one of my old friend’s houses.  Susanne and I were friends in college, lived together after college and have somehow managed to stay close friends.  Her older son was at a day camp, but her younger son is aged right in between J and M, so they had a big time playing with him!  We even managed to take 3 boys 4 and under out to lunch.  Yeah!

As if that wasn’t enough, Allen came to Greenville that day and we took the boys to get a haircut, then picked up Mom, Michele, K.C., and my niece Braedyn and went to a Greenville Drive game.  Jackson loved it and was thrilled when he said, “I want this guy to hit it all the way over the fence”  and sure enough the next batter hit it right over.  Even more than the game, I think he liked the ball game food he consumed.  Peanuts, popcorn, pretzel, and cotton candy.  It was a hot one, and all the adults thought we were going to melt, but it was a really good time!

      

Miller made us work really hard for him.  Fortunately, we had enough people who were willing to walk around with him.

Tuesday was our last day and boy was it a full one.  We were lucky enough to have Michele with us again, and Braedyn too (Jackson loves his cousin Braedyn).  We went to Costco, Wal-Mart, Allen’s dentist appointment, Macy’s, out to lunch and then to a grocery store.  We then headed to mom’s for a last dip in the pool before all heading back to Michele’s house for a cookout.  Braedyn entertained the boys while Allen and I packed our suitcases with all the things we had bought on the trip.

We finished up the night with a really fun cookout with K.C., Braedyn, Sharon, Michele and my mom.

The next morning we were somewhat stumped as to how to put everything into our rental car.  Michele and Allen managed to get it figured out.  We have embraced our inner Beverly Hillbillies previously, so this was just another example of our packing prowess!  Too bad I don’t have a picture of the HUGE suitcase wedged in between the 2 carseats!

The boys had dentists appointments that morning.  So sorry I didn’t take pictures, but they did GREAT!  We were really happy to get some good news with Jackson’s x rays.  We finished up our time in Greenville with a trip through the Chic-Fil-A drive thru, and headed to the Mountains to visit Allen’s family!

Dream Come True

My sister lives out in the middle of the country.  The boys love it there because they can run free and do all kinds of stuff they can’t do at home.

They catch frogs, minnow and some other assorted creatures that the torture admire for a few minutes before letting them go.

This time, Michele was having some grading done on her property.  She made sure to have this parked on the hill just for the boys.

It was dream come true for them.

Next time we may get to see them in action.

Again

I’m back, sort of…

No less than 3 times, I’ve sat down to write blog posts, only to be interrupted.  I leave the computer, intending to come back soon.  Then the power goes off and nothing is saved and I lose the blog posts.

There are a million things I want to write down about the summer, but it is slipping away way too quickly.

Since it has been over a month since you’ve seen a picture of the boys, here you go!

They L.O.V.E. playing with boxes and watching TV.    Sometimes a mom has to do what a mom has to do.

Now for the bad news.

Earlier this summer my camera broke.  Conveniently, I had already ordered a camera for Father’s Day that could go underwater.  Then my sweet sister got me a nice new camera for my birthday.  Shortly after we got home from our trip I had my big DSLR camera on the counter and Miller accidentally knocked it off, shattering my favorite lens.  A few days later, the great underwater camera, got water inside it.  2 days after the 30 day return policy expired.    We still have the nice new one that my sister gave me for my birthday, but I can’t help but think that it days may be living on borrowed time!

So with all my camera woes I’ve still got some pictures, but the wind has been taken out of my photography sails.

Bear with me, this too shall pass!