Over the River and Through the Woods

To Grandma's house we go. Or, went, rather. I must say that our trip to VA was EXCELLENT. A wonderful surprise, that. We planned to leave on the evening of the 14th, and drive about 3 1/2 hours, stop to sleep, and drive another 3 1/2 hours in the morning, BUT...after a full day of packing - it sounds ridiculous, but it's true - it seriously took until 6 PM to get ready to leave - with the minivan all packed up and ready to go, we exhaustedly decided to wait until the morning. We got up at about 4:30 AM and got to VA at 12:30 PM, and both kids did so great. Israel slept most of the way, with cheeks bouncing gently, and Gabe slept some and watched his DVD player. It was accomplished with only a minimum of stress, thanks to answered prayers and God's sheer compassion on our busy little stressed out family.

Gabe immediately understood where we were going, as Tim carried him outside and told him we were going to Grandma's house. "Gamma's. house?", he said. "Emmy's. house?", he said. "Smokey's. house? ( :) ) See. Gandaddy?"

Since arriving at Gamma's and Gandaddy's beloved house, Sweet Child has hardly been able to sleep. I believe he has napped perhaps 1 or 2 times in about 5 days. He has so many plans. There are slides to climb up and go down on his belly (he can do this by himself), there are stairs to climb (he drops to his belly halfway down the hall and scoots backwards to go down backwards), there are Chloe's to swat at ("Gabriel, do not hit Chloe!"), there are Moxies (Mom and Dad's cat) to chase ("Gabe, leave the cat alone!"), Emmie's to hug; there are 'Gandaddy's' to help out in the shop, there are golf carts to ride, and porches to play on, and toyboxes to raid, and pantries to loot. The list simply goes on and on. Thankfully, he does a little better than he used to when he missed his nap. He tears around happily, for the most part, with pink circles under his eyes. He will be sad to leave.

And so will we. When normal life with two babies is comparable to swimming madly to keep your head above water, life with two extra people to help out is a steady, yet mostly refreshing swim with intermittent breaks to catch your breath and maybe get a bit of a tan. Once again, I do believe these Dawdy Hause people have something goin' there.

Israel has been doing pretty good himself. Last night, he slept from about 9:30 PM until about 6:10 AM. Wow. To the sixteenth degree. You must understand that Gabriel never slept longer than 4 hours until he was about 18 months. This seems a sheer miracle of God's gracious compassion. And. My beloved mother has convinced Fussy Child to take a pacifier. Unused baby carrier: $95. Ben-Gay and heating pads for sore, aching back and arm muscles to tote child around to keep him from crying: $20. (I don't actually use Ben-Gay, but I'm just making a point, here, people.) Life chained to a couch to feed baby 47 times a day to keep him happy: $56,789 in mental stress and things undone. Baby taking a pacifier and going to sleep: Priceless. Thank you, my mama.

In other random news, I have: completed all my Christmas shopping in two days, wrapped 21 presents, had one hugely enjoyable Mary Kay party (I put my aunts and cousins to good use and practiced on them,and they were so nice and cooperative. :) ), stayed up until ridiculous hours reading just because I can, and scored some Croc's for my impending birthday. This is very exciting. (Croc's, not birthday. Birthday signals one measly little year away from 30. How in the world did that happen?)

In child news, tonight Israel started staring at his little stuffed animals hanging on his carseat. To most people, this will be an intensely boring news item, but to me it is noteworthy. Also, at the beginning of last week, we went to the doctor, and he was 15 pounds and 24 inches long. He continues to enjoy riding on my shoulder, and tolerates stretches in his bouncer. Everyone loves his cooing and smiling sessions. Baths make him happy. In Gabriel news, we have figured out a way to win the toothbrush battle. He stands at a stool at the sink and brushes his teeth with the help of his mama. We had finally had ENOUGH of toothbrush battles, and after a short learning curve, he is now a good boy toothbrusher.

And now I'm done. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

Scenes from a Busy Week

Sick boys. (Note to the germ conscious - Israel is not lying next to a nasty tissue. That is an Israel-drool tissue. Just for the record.)






















Hasn't he changed so much! He is getting so big! By the way, for a truly delightful experience, kiss the area right where his cheek and neck meet his chest and shoulder. It is all softness and sweetness.

Below: Gabe reads himself a bedtime story.














Tim often holds Israel to sleep at night.





















Chocolate smeared tub boy.

So that's us for the week.

Tidbits:
1. Israel has been smiling and cooing responsively a lot this week. He is 7 weeks old this week.
2. Israel rolled from his side to his stomach at 6 weeks. I had laid him on his side facing one way and heard a lot of grunting, and when I checked on him he was on his stomach facing the other way, with both hands free. I was very surprised! :)
3. Gabe keeps saying more and more new words, and talks in short sentences. He always refers to himself in the third person. "Gab'wl get choc'late? Gab'wl take bath?" The other day I saw him laying on the rug, with a little taxi car in his one hand running it repeatedly up to his nose and saying "Car get nose. Car get nose. Car get nose. Car get nose. Car ouchie nose. Car ouchie nose. Car ouchie nose. Car ouchie nose." :) That's how he talks. He repeats everything about 7 times. He is big on the ouchie concept. "Gab'wl ouchie? Momma ouchie? Co'e (Chloe) ouchie? Schoolbus ouchie?" Ever since he got those vaccinations the other week, he is convinced that pants are ouchie.
4. Gabe does this cute little thing when he's asking for something that he wants that he's not sure we're going to let him have. He raises his eyebrows and makes his eyes big and sort of thrusts his head forward and hunches his shoulders, and then asks his question really hopefully. It makes you smile.

Colds

We are a motley bunch of aching, sneezing, snuffling, coughing, bleary-eyed Millers today. I sound like a Sudafed commercial. The cold season has struck, and we are flattened under the wheels. While the boys were sleeping today, I lay in bed with eyes half-closed, not sleeping, but simply aching more comfortably. Hopefully we can get this out of the way so as to experience Christmas more comfortably.

So today I took (I think) my first solo journey with both of the kiddos. Saturday night after a very stressful day and week of Momma-hold-me-at-all-times-or-I'll-cry, I decided that I was going to pay the bucks to find an infant carrier that works, and doesn't hurt my back. So I researched with utmost intent, and found a store in Lexington that carried just what I was looking for. Tim is swimming madly in schoolwork (which also made last week that much more stressful - the other pair of hands in the house were frantically typing on the computer keys), so he has been at school all day. So. It took us one hour to get ready, and that included Israel crying as I washed my face, Israel crying as I got dressed, Israel crying as I got Gabriel dressed, Israel nursing madly to comfort himself, Israel crying as I tried to find the phone number for the store, Israel stopping crying as I held him, and Israel wailing his way halfway down the road. He wailed away in the store, too, with several nursing madly sessions, and the lady there nodded sympathetically when I asked if she could tell why I was desperate for something that worked. Well. So then he slept all the rest of the afternoon after I had purchased my 2 snazzy carriers, and how did he like them when he woke up? Screamed bloody murder. And I do mean bloody murder. Hmm.

So, to comfort myself at the end of a LONG HARD DAY, I made myself TWO cups of rebel mint tea. And they were very. very. tasty. I also made myself some chocolate chip cookies, some cinnamon rolls, some triscuits with spreadable cheese, and some mixed nuts, and some cheesy garlic bread. Belch.

New Skills

I have been honing some new skills over the past 7 weeks. These include:

1. Standing while eating while bouncing a fussy baby. (Somewhat similar to the old skill of patting your head while rubbing your stomach.)
2. Picking up a wide variety of items from the floor with my toes. The other day while holding Israel I picked up about 20 Tupperware lids off the kitchen floor after Gabe had whirled through with the use of my mighty piggies. Those babies can get things DONE around here!
3. Squatting repeatedly throughout the day to pick up items off the floor while balancing a 15 pound heavy weight champion against your shoulder. Good for the glutes.
4. Doing a multitude of activities one-armed. (ie. lifting Gabe in/out of crib while holding Israel, typing (slowly) with a finger while nursing Israel, putting laundry in the wash while holding Israel)

I gots mad skills, bro.

One thing I'm still trying to perfect is the skill of NOT MAKING PLANS. This is one of the hardest things for me to learn about having two small children. For instance, one would think, that when Baby 1 is asleep by 9 PM, and sleepy-eyed Baby 2 is in bed by 9:45 PM, one would have nice evening of whatever one wants to do stretching out ahead of them in long luxurious minutes. NOT SO. One should realize that approximately 30 seconds before placing Baby 2 in his crib, Baby 1 will wake up, and after having a little snack, will gaze up at you with bright little awake eyes. No sleep for him. So, you trudge back out with Baby 2 for the lengthy process of getting him back to sleep. Then, when Baby 2 enters dreamland, you realize that Baby 1 is still awake, and cranky talk is coming from his crib. It is now 10:45 PM. Precious evening is flying by. At 11:30 you give up and get Baby 1 out of his crib and sit him in front of the magically sleep-inducing Woo Woo Kie Kie Movie (otherwise known as Doggie Kitty Movie, otherwise known as Milo and Otis). (Note to the frowning concerned: I do not normally lull my child to sleep with television. But sometimes you just gotta do what works. He is sick and a little off his rocker.) Seriously. This has been one of the more frustrating aspects of having babies. Time to do your own thing is so scarce, and you sort of make plans for it, and then life happens. They just don't schedule their lives around my plans. :) Yet I keep forgetting this, for some reason...

Carrie's New Business

Well. So my news is that I am now a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant, and I am actually very excited about it. I had someone come to do a facial on me, and I absolutely loved the products she used, and since I wanted to earn some extra income, I decided to sell it too! So, if anybody is interested, they can see my website at: www.marykay.com/CarrieEMiller. I'm still learning on the makeup side, but I LOVE the skin care products - I could see a difference in my skin immediately. If you are around me at any time and would like a facial, I would absolutely love to treat you to one.

Sincerely,
Business Lady