Single Parent Weekend

Fred had to go to Alabama this weekend to help take care of some things due to his father passing away in August. I was left alone to parent two kids ALL BY MYSELF for a WHOLE weekend. I know that people do this all the time, but those people aren't me and I am definitely not cut out to be a single parent. When Fred got home, I told him to feel free to cheat on me or do any other horrible husband behavior he wants to for the next year, because I will definitely not leave him  until Bo is at least one! I wish I was kidding.

Needless to say, things didn't go so well over the weekend. Everything was okay until bed time Friday night. Neither kid would lay down without screaming. If one was down, the other was up for HOURS. There were several points where they were both up and crying. It's all a little hazy due to my exhaustion, but I can tell you that at some point Miller pooped in the bathroom floor. Have you had the pleasure of cleaning preschooler poop off a floor while holding a screaming baby? Well, I have.

Saturday started out fine. We had Miller's soccer game, she played with her friends across the street while Bo slept, and we had a floor picnic while we (I) watched the Carolina game. Let's not talk about that horrible display of football, by the way. So, since things were going so well, I thought we would walk up to the playground at my school. Spoiler alert: things did not go well from there.

We were all set to go when I realized I had left my phone in the house. I left the door open and ran in to get it. While my back was turned for 2 seconds, I heard, "Mommy, I'll just go ahead and push Bo down the driveway." I ran outside in slow motion yelling "NOOOOOOOO!"  It was too late. Bo's stroller (with him in it) was in the street and Miller was bawling and saying, "It wouldn't let me stop, Mommy! I tried to stop when you said no, but the stroller wouldn't let me!" Poor kid. She really didn't know she was doing anything wrong and she's lucky she didn't face plant while being dragged down the driveway. Bo is lucky we don't have much traffic on our street. Geez. I probably should have taken  that as a sign that we should have stayed home.

Instead, I got Miller sufficiently lectured and calmed down and we headed to the playground. Bo was asleep at this point. Two minutes later, he was not. He refused to go to sleep the whole time we were at the playground. I tried swaddling him, strolling him, shaking him (just kidding) and wearing him all while Miller yelled at me for not playing with her. Finally, I gave up. I stuffed that kid under my shirt and fed him. My nursing cover was conveniently at home, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?  And thank goodness I did because that put him right to sleep. For about ten minutes. Then he went back to screaming. At that point, I had to get out of there, so we walked back home with a baby screaming bloody murder and a very slow-walking, pouty Miller. It was delightful.

I decided my best plan of action for bedtime was to put Miller in front of a movie and get Bo down and just let her stay up until he was done with his night time up and down routine. She was up about 2 hours past her bedtime, but I avoided the drama of Friday night at least. That is what you call stellar parenting. You should probably be taking notes.  Oh well, I had them both down by 9:30 so  that was a success. Bo woke up about 146 times in the night, but who's counting?

Sunday, we just hung out and anxiously awaited Daddy's return home with Miller's  promised bribe of a Lite Brite for good behavior. I have never felt so relieved as I did when Fred walked in the door. I might have cried a little. He is never allowed to leave me again. Ever.

Soccer Star

So Miller started soccer a few weeks ago, and it is hilarious! She is on a little baby team with 3-5 year olds. Miller is the youngest and the tiniest on the team. Her sweet coach took one look at her and said she was going to be his "secret weapon." That't not really working out for him since baby girl hasn't so much as kicked the ball yet  in a game. She basically stands there and looks around and, if we're lucky, she will kind of run in the direction of the pack of kids huddled  around the ball.Another blogger referred to baby soccer as "magnet ball." That definitely describes it.

This week, Miller ran off the field two or three times mid-game to hug her mommy. Sweet baby!  She also thinks she scored since she kicked the ball into the net during the pre-game warm up. We'll just go with that.

While I think that Miller is probably better suited to cheerleading than soccer at this point (she says her favorite parts are watching the other kids play and saying "Go Scorpions!"), she certainly looks cute in her little uniform. And that's what it's really all about anyway, right?

 The pink socks and pigtails make her look pretty fierce, right?

She's actually running in this one!

Posing for her official soccer pictures. Bless that poor photographer.  It took about a thousand tries, because Miller couldn't balance her foot on the ball and kept falling. Ha ha ha. 

One Month Update

Bo had his one month doctor's appointment last week-you know, the  one where I traditionally get reprimanded for overfeeding my babies? Yep, that happened again. When we went to the doctor 2 days after leaving the hospital, Bo weighed 7 lbs (down from 7lbs, 8oz.) Two weeks later when we went to get his head checked (more on that later), he was up to 8lbs 6oz. So, when we went for the  one month visit, the kid was up to 10 lbs 8oz- he gained more than 2 pounds in 2 weeks! If you are doing the math on that, he should weigh about 60 pounds by the age of one if we keep this up. Ha. I told the doctor that he was waking up about every hour and a half at night. Her exact words were, "He's playing you!" It's nice to know that he can already outsmart me. She suggested that I send Fred in when he wakes up and it's not time to eat. No problem, lady! Too bad Bo stopped waking up so much immediately after that appointment, so I haven't had the chance to make Fred get up with him multiple times per night like I have been too many times. Oh, well. It's rough being the milk-making parent! Bo is working on sleeping better, and with the help of super-tight swaddling and the Mamaroo, which is a magical baby sleep machine sent down directly from heaven, we're all getting a little more sleep around here.

So, not only is Bo giant in general, his head is also growing at an alarming  rate. For those of you who haven't heard, we had a little scare with his head size about 2 weeks before he was born. At our last ultrasound, Bo's head was measuring around the 10th percentile. Anything below 10% causes the doctors to be concerned about microcephaly, which can cause all manner of horrible problems-don't Google it! They sent us to Maternal Fetal Medicine, and that doctor basically said that I have a small head too (thanks, lady) and it would probably be ok, but she couldn't really guarantee that there wasn't a problem. Needless to say, as soon as Bo was born I was hollering, "How does his head look?" Strangely, the OB did not act at all concerned about his head once it was out of me. Apparently, he becomes the pediatrician's problem the second he enters the world. Long story short, his head was still small but he appeared to be fine. At our first appointment, his head measured in the 8th percentile, but he still seemed ok otherwise. They brought us back two weeks later to check again and it measured in the 51st percentile-what? I have no idea how that happened. Then, at our one month appointment, it was up to the 60th percentile. So, either we have a case of an alarmingly fast-growing head (unlikely), or his head was just squished in my belly and got back to normal once it got a little space to grow. Sheesh! Undoubtedly, my babies just enjoy a little unnecessary medical drama.

Other than the head drama, things are going well for Baby Bo. There has been some reflux drama, but we put him on Zantac and I think it is actually doing something. I am surprised, because all it did for Miller was make her scream while spitting Zantac at us rather than just scream. Bo seems a lot more laid back than his sister at this point. He naps like a champ!  He is even taking a pacifier, which is an amazing device by the way. I had no idea how easy parenting could be when you can just shove something in the kid's mouth to make him stop crying. It's so easy that I feel like I am cheating.

All in all, Bo's a good boy. I think we'll keep him.

Bo is One Month Old!

Well, I am going to post Bo's official one month picture, even though it is really horrible. He chose to hide his super photogenic nature and save it for the pictures we took for his birth announcement this weekend. You'll have to wait to see that one, but get ready for some cuteness. Here is the best one I could get...yeah.

The only thing better than that is this one that Fred thought I should use... ha ha ha! If you ever see him make that face, you should know that he is about to spit up. That is what happened directly after this was taken. Bless my reflux-y children!

Miller's First Day of 3K

Here are some pictures from Miller's first day of 3K-aka the Bear Class. She was super excited to  be a Bear! So far, she is loving her new class and I love that it is very school-ish. Miller is going to school full time while I am home since we have to pay for it anyway and she loves it. So, while I am on maternity leave, it is just me and Bo at home most of the day, and then we pick her up in the afternoons. Judge me if you will!

Big girl all ready for school!

Obviously, you have to have the backpack shot. 

One with Brother, just for good measure. Holy moly, Bo looks tiny in there! 

He was only 9 days old. He wasn't actually going anywhere, just sleeping in his car seat.

Before Bo

Here are a bunch of bad pictures from my phone from this Spring and Summer.....

Miller started ballet and gymnastic this summer and is loving both. I am thrilled, obviously. 

Testing out Bo's crib and pacifier. 

We went to The Children's Museum approximately 5,000 times this summer. Miller's permanent  response to "What do you want to do today?" was "Go to the mooseum!"

Hanging out at the pool. Look out toddler boys!

Playing in the train fountain on Mother's Day.

New playhouse!

Rocking a jingly skirt at the Greek Festival.

Freedom Weekend Aloft (after this, Miller asked if she could ride a hot air balloon for her birthday!)

M's first baseball game. 

Well, that was totally random. You're welcome. I'm really tired. 

Miller is 3!

Two days after Bo was born, Miller turned 3. Lucky girl got a baby brother for her birthday!

Since we were still at the hospital the day before and we had planned on doing cupcakes with Uncle Blakey, Aunt Allie, and Wade that day, we had a little celebration at the hospital. We had cupcakes and opened a few gifts. Miller was exhausted and overwhelmed, but when she is a teenager she won't be able to say Bo ruined her 3rd birthday and that is what matters.

On M's actual birthday, she got to take cupcakes to school, which is all she has been talking about for months. Then, she got to enjoy another cupcake with her friends Alyssa and Jeremiah when they came over to meet Baby Bo. We opened presents (a new Scooter and the Cinderella DVD) and went outside to ride the new scooter. I just pulled up a chair on the sidewalk so that me and Bo could get in on the action.

Oh, and we also took awkward family photos by the mailbox. 

Miller has been a very lucky girl because practically everyone who has come to meet Bo has also brought her a birthday present, thus proving that she will be able to maintain her status as the rottenest kid on the planet even though she is no longer an only child. Phew!

It's Bo Time!

(Image from here:  www.yadkinvalleysports.com) 

I guess I need to change the name of the blog since it's now Miller Time and Bo Time! I'm not sure how both of our kids ended up with names that are part of an "It's Something Time" slogan. Oops. BoJangles is Fred's favorite, so I guess it's fitting.

Anyway, Baby Bo was born on Saturday, August 10th at 2:59 PM. We got to the hospital around noon, so the whole deal only lasted three hours. I am still terrified when I think that if we had waited any longer or gone to Whole Foods that morning like we were planning, I might not have had time for an epidural (or morphine) -yikes! There is not a long, drawn out birth story with this one. He just basically flew out. Can't complain about that!

Bo Bo was almost the exact same size as Miller. He weighed 7 lbs 8oz (M was 7 lbs 9 oz) and was 21.5 inches long (the same height as M.) And here he is.....

Bo looks exactly like M did when she was born, only more rugged and manly of course. It will be interesting to see if his hair turns blonde and whether they turn out to be a  matched set once he gets older!

This big sister is nothing short of obsessed with "her" baby. She has done awesome with the transition and just wants to love on  her brother all the time. So far so good....

Riverbanks Zoo

Yesterday, we took an impromptu trip to Columbia to go to the Riverbanks Zoo. We have been meaning to go for a while, and I am so glad we did. Miller had a ball despite the fact that she was about an eighth of an inch too short to ride the "ponytails." The weather was perfect and M was such a trooper considering she had no nap and had an hour and a half car ride both ways. Here are some pics....

This pretty much sums up how M felt about the zoo.

Making monkey faces on the carousel.

Hugging a monkey.

Checking out the penguins.

When you find out you are too short to ride the ponies, the only cure is ice cream!

We got to feed a giraffe, y'all! I want to do it again tomorrow!

Easter

For Easter, we went to Memama's, had an Easter egg hunt (where Cocky showed up), played with our cousins, and took awkward family photos.

M was terrified of Cocky. She is not a fan of costumed characters.

 She walked around the egg hunt with a suspicious look on her face saying,

 "I'm lookin' for that Easter Bunny."

This may have happened during a prayer....

Aforementioned awkward photo. There were about 30 and they are all at least this bad. 

20 weeks pregnant in a long purple dress=giant eggplant.

This is the second year that I have taken this same photo of M and E Baby at Easter.

 I hope I can make them recreate it until they are 36. 

Long Time No Blog

I haven't blogged since September, so I'm gonna catch this thing up to speed real quick. We're about to cover about 6 months in about 30 seconds. Ready?

Halloween- Miller was the cutest little Olivia the Pig ever. She was so cute that she got to be on the news during our neighborhood parade. Also, she got to go to Boo in the Zoo and trick-or-treat with her buddies, JJ and Alyssa. This was really her first introduction to candy-"canny"- and she has been in love ever since.

Thanksgiving- This picture has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but this is what we did that day. We played on the playground at Mommy's school and went to CC's for dinner. 

Christmas- Miller appeared in her first school Christmas performance and sang (screamed) Jingle Bells, Where is Santa, and Jesus Loves Me. She was terrified of Santa but warmed up to him later in the season. The only thing she wanted for Christmas was "chocolate cookies." She got some Oreos in her stocking to fill that request along with a princess castle, a giant bear, a cupcake set, and some big girl panties. Santa took all of her diapers to other babies and,she was potty trained. It was easy as pie. 

There you have it. All the major holidays that you've missed. Also, somewhere in there, Mommy got knocked up. Baby # 2 is a BOY, which I am still in shock about, and he'll be here around August 13th.