Christmas Program

It took a while, but I finally figured out I had to put the videos on YouTube to share them. Hope you enjoy, I sure did!

True Christmas Story


Rudolph, We Wish you a Merry Christmas, Where is Santa

Christmas Program

There's always one. You know, the sheep that kind of stands out. The one who draws everyone attention. The one who...has to be heard (excuse the pun). I am thinking she did not have a chance from the start to even blend in with the rest of the flock. Her class were all sheep, easy enough. They had cute little fuzzy ears that were supposed to hang down, but Millie's must have been on upside down because hers pointed up and out. She was the one in the flock that just had to be noticed. And she was noticed. She may not have known all the words but boy...the ones she did know she made sure were loud and proud.

Even before the singing started, the pastor was reading the Christmas story and as she mentioned a person or animal, they came up front and stood...quietly. When the sheep were walking up the aisle, you could hear one little sheep (with upright ears) going bah, bah, bah. Not real loud, just kind of quiet and a little spooky. I am not sure if they were all supposed to be doing it or not, but Millie made sure she performed her role to the best of her ability and if she was going to be a sheep, she was going to make sounds!

Reed is 5 Months and Other Exciting Stuff

Both of my little ones are impressing me today. Reed is 5 months old now and thinks he is tough stuff standing up all the time. He can be crying and when we stand him up, he just starts this little chuckle. You can tell he is so very proud of himself but at the same time thinking "This can really help me in the future..." He really cracks me up when he does it, especially with the constant string of drool that is hanging from his mouth like our old Basset Hound, Rosie, always had. At least Reed does not have bits of colored dog biscuit chunks hanging in it...I sure miss Rosie, drool and all. Mom really loved it when Rosie would come up behind her after work and rub the dog biscuit infused drool on the back of her dress pants, she may not admit it but I am sure she did. If none of you know what a basset looks like, here is one that looks just like Rosie, his name is Charlie.

On to my other little one. Millie has been loving to learn her letters, she has known them all for some time now. She is constantly saying a word and sounding it out telling me what letter it starts with. The other night we were spelling some words for her and she remembered how to spell them all when she sent her Grandmas and God Parents an e-mail today. She typed, all by herself, the words MOM, DAD, MILLIE, MAMMY, REED, GG, and JJ. Granted the last 2 were kind of easy but I am counting them.

Just a Quick Note

We are getting ready to head to Indiana for a few days and I had to tell a little story first. I was going to get Millie from school today but Reed was sound asleep and I had to wake him up. Well, lets just say I learned a lesson there. From now on, I will allow Reed a few minutes to wake up before I change his diaper. Not only did he pee all over everything (he has done that many times) but this is the first time he actually got it right in his mouth! Yes folks, nice solid stream into his happy little smiling open mouth. He moved his head a little then the rest shot right in his eye. I am guessing this is not good hygiene for either the mouth or the eye but I guess we will see what happens. He did manage to stop the flow (good control) and I covered...it...with a wipe. While changing his clothes, he unloaded again until his changing pad was soaked and he was swimming in it. Good thing I had...it...covered so it did not shoot all over everything again!

Millie's Stats and a Lucky Drive

Millie had her 3 year checkup last week. Somehow we fell behind and because of insurance stuff, we will never catch up if we want them to pay. So, a few months late but Millie is doing great. She is 34 1/2 pounds (80%), 40 inches tall (97%) and her body mass index is 25% (not sure if that is the actual BMI or if that is her %). Anyway, they had a handout to track your child's progress. For those of you who know Millie well, you will find this very funny...

DEVELOPMENT-YOUR 3 YEAR OLD SHOULD BE DOING THIS
Can name a picture in a book...she reads books to us from memory
Names at least one color...how about 30
Knows her own name...yep-her full name, address and phone number and can spell her name
Begins to use pronouns...come on people, are you serious?
Put on her own shirt...check
May be able to ride a tricycle...does riding her bike with no training wheels count?
Can jump in one place and stand on one foot...yes for over a year now
Can open doors...who came up with this list?

Seriously, I think the teacher of the special class came up with these "Guidelines". I have been around many 3 year olds and they are far past this list.


Now, about the odd photos. Yes, that is Millie asleep in her car seat while placed in the middle of a parking lot. Driving to Indiana over Thanksgiving, we drove for 5 hours, made 3 stops and in the driveway of Rick's parent's house, the tie rod on the front axle came apart and Rick had no stearing. Now imagine if this had happened on the interstate while driving 75 MPH with all of us in the truck...not good. We are so blessed that God was with us and we made it safely home before this happened. The photos were taken after Rick's mom took us to Jasper to get his truck and Millie fell asleep in the Explorer on the way there. We were curious if Millie would stay asleep while moving the car seats around...she did. I could not resist taking a photo of her asleep in the car seat, it was pretty cold too and she did not wake up. If you look close, she also has her spider man sunglasses on.

The Results Are In

Reed had his 4 month check up today. He is 17 pounds 3 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches long with a head circumference of 44 1/2 cm. This is 90%, 55%, and 95% respectively. So basically, he is normally long but rather heavy and large brained. The Doctor was surprised that he is sleeping 12 hours at night and said he looks great. Reed was chuckling at him the entire checkup and as soon as the Dr. left the room he fell asleep. Then...the nurse came in, mean old lady. He got 2 shots and an oral vaccine. Needless to say, he was not sleeping anymore. But, he calmed down very quickly and was asleep before we got home. We were told we could start giving him rice cereal if we wanted but it was up to us since he is now just getting the minimum amount of formula he needs a day and his growth is great.




Here are his 1 week, 1 month, 2 month and 3 month photos with Mr. Giraffe.

Time to Baby-Proof

Reed is now 4 months old, he has his checkup on Thursday so I will give his stats then. He is now rolling from his back to his stomach so he is officially mobile. Rick weighed him this morning and the unofficial number is 17 pounds. For those of you not familiar with babies, this is very large. He is wearing 6-9 month tops now and all his sleep sacks are too short. We got out the exersaucer today and Reed was a big fan...Millie too. He was pushing the buttons and chewing on the little toys. He was not able to spin himself around but I am sure it will not be too much longer.

Last night our church had their annual Hoe Down and Millie was very excited. She has been the past 2 years and when she heard them announce it in church last week, she yelled "Hoe Down? I need a hat!". Rick took her out yesterday while I was at a baby shower and got her one. He said he decided against the $800 ones in the glass case and settled on a lesser priced pink one that Millie liked. She had a blast dancing with Lindsey and Maddy and I think her new favorite dance is the Chicken Dance. She also really enjoyed the 2 little girls who did a clogging routine while we were eating. She wanted to go out in the car and get her tap shoes but I convinced her that those girls had been practicing longer than she had so they were allowed to have their 'tap' shoes on.

Chair to Crib

Rocking a baby to sleep is easy. Getting said baby from chair to crib should be an Olympic event. There are about 100 maneuvers that one must make for this seemingly easy task to be successful.

Move arms as to not drop baby
Stand up
Stop and bounce
Step
Bounce
Step
Bounce
Begin to rotate baby
Step
Bounce
Rotate
Bounce
Rotate a little more
Lift baby slightly to clear bed rail
Rotate
Bounce
Lower Baby
Stop
Lower Baby
Lay Baby down
Stop
Remove hands one finger at a time
Release arms
Stand up
Cover baby quickly so they don't feel temperature change
Baby moves!
Crap!
Place hand on Baby's back
Remove hand 1 finger at a time
Step away from crib
Walk across room
Slowly close door

All of this is done while praying the baby stays asleep long enough for you to use the bathroom and blog. However, I hear crying so I must go and repeat the above steps again and add a few more bounces I guess.

Playing Catch Up

I have been gone for a few days due to the election but I am back now and ready to get blogging again. Rick had fun with the kids for 5 days by himself and I got a nice break while I was in Indiana. I have decided Rick is super dad or else he is just trying to make me feel really bad. When I came back, he had the house spotless, a bunch of errands done and the fridge stocked with groceries and leftovers, he even cooked. And, the kids were happy and seemed to be well cared for. I never clean, cook or go to the grocery when I am here with the kids but now he has made me realize it is possible so maybe I should try a little harder. So today I had a major goal...I made the bed. Baby steps!

On to other things, I got Millie a Christmas present while I was in Indiana, but after I was back for about an hour, I had to give it to her, I was just too excited. I found the perfect gift. Perfect in every way: it was cheap (only $10), it was not a toy, it would help her sleep all night, and she would think it was the most wonderful thing she has ever seen. She is now asking to take naps in her bed and even went to bed at 7pm the other night (she usually does not go to bed until 9pm).


A tent for her bed, not just any tent, but a Lighting McQueen tent. She loves Lighting McQueen right now and was very happy with this gift. I always wanted one of these when I was a kid. My cousin Danny had one and I was very jealous of him and his tent, what a punk. But now I had the chance to give Millie the gift I had always wanted and I was so happy she liked it because I don't think Rick would have appreciated me putting it on our bed.

Kickboxing

Reed has been working on his kickboxing skills lately. His loves to lay on his back and just kick, he does it probably 5 hours a day.