A strong-willed little Milligan

A quick dip in the sink

This is fun!!

Bradley is a very funny little boy! He has a very strong will and desire to get what he wants. And, he'll let us know if we're not meeting his needs. He's also smart enough to know how to sneak something. Today, I was in the shower and Bradley wandered into the bathroom. He opened Nick's bathroom drawer and started rummaging through things. I was watching him through the open crack of the shower door to make sure he didn't get something dangerous. (Real relaxing shower!) He found Nick's chapstick and immediately pulled it out of the drawer and looked at me to see if I had seen him get it. I said, "Bradley, put that back." He grinned and came over to the shower door. He actually closed the shower door. Then, I saw his image through the glass, running out of the bathroom. It was really funny. I knew what he wanted to do was put the chapstick in his mouth and eat it. He's done this before with Rachel's chapstick and papa's chapstick. He's obsessed with the stuff and we don't let him have it...he always finds it, somehow! Anyway, when I got out of the shower, I found him and chased him around the den a few times in order to get the chapstick. He wasn't happy that I had gotten it, and let me know it for a good couple of minutes. You would have thought I had just taken his prized love object, Bay, away from him or something! Bradley just has a one-track mind (like most men!) and once he has decided he wants things one way, there's no convincing him otherwise! I'd like to blame Nick and the Milligan side for this behavior, but I know some of it is the mommy/Duke side too! Anyway, I love him like crazy even though we sometimes battle for control of the situation!

Nostalgic Evening

Nick's childhood home

Nick's parent's 1st house & his great-grandparent's house

Nick's grandparent's house

The granite slab steps that led to gramma's pump house

gramma's house

Tonight we finished getting my heirlooms from Gramma's house. It was so nostalgic walking through and around the house where I spent so much of my youth. We used to play in the backyard and around the huge boxwood bushes. We used to love playing on the granite slab steps that led to the pump house. Gramma cooked awesome meals. We spent many Sunday afternoons after church eating homemade fried chicken, cornbread, zipper peas, home grown tomatoes and other yummy veggies. She also made delicious peanut butter sandwiches. She always bought Peter Pan peanut butter on fresh white bread with cheddar and sour cream chips and milk. I remember eating salted peanuts from papa's special peanut dispenser. I also remember eating peppermints and drinking coke. I loved the hot/cold combination of those two things. I remember watching the forbidden "Dallas" and "Falconcrest" (which we were NOT allowed to watch!). I remember papa sitting in his chair with his oxygen tank. I remember love and attention and adoration from my precious grandparents. I have such happy memories of that home.

After we left gramma's, we decided to take a trip down Milligan family memory lane. So, we went to Nick's great-grandparent's graves and his grandparent's graves and homes. He really enjoyed seeing those old family homes on Mink Livsey Road. He remembered going to his granny's house and eating breakfast with her. He also has really fond memories for the house that he was born in and lived in until he was an adolescent. It sure was fun driving around and reminiscing about old times and family members. Life has changed alot and we have been blessed with our own family now. It's funny thinking about how our kids might do this very thing one day when they're 30 years old!

Imagination at Work

Rachel has an extremely creative imagination. I really get a kick out of the games and stories and things that she wants to do. Yesterday, she wanted me to play doll house with her while Bradley was napping. (Santa gave her the Loving Family Doll House by Fisher Price for Christmas.) She told me I could be the daddy and she would be the mommy. The first thing she does is bring in an animal that doesn't belong (scale-wise or product wise) into the dollhouse. Usually, it's a "Littlest Petshop" animal. The animals, one at a time, usually come to the front door and ring the pretend doorbell and want to come in for a birthday party. Usually "mommy" will say some really funny things like, "I'm tired...I'm going to sit down," which really makes me wonder how often I say that since she's repeating it during her playtime! (Scary!) Then, all the members of the house get out of control. Yesterday, both babies and all 4 animals (one at a time) jumped on top of the doll house grill. As daddy, I kept exclaiming, "ouch, get down or you'll burn your feet," which kept the crazy behavior going for several minutes. Rachel giggled the whole time. She loves making the characters do crazy things. And, she LOVES to make them misbehave. She always makes the babies act ugly and talk back to "mommy" and "daddy". It's funny, and I try to measure my words as to how "mommy and daddy" resond to the inappropriate behavior. It's funny how she mimics what she perceives in her role play.

Tonight, she got the idea to play "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears." So, she was Goldilocks and daddy was Papa Bear. She wanted 3 bowls that were 3 different sizes on the table and she came in, ate each one and then "went to sleep" in her/baby bear's bed. She and Nick did this for at least 30 minutes. And, while it seems boring to me, it sure was cute watching her get such a kick out of acting out this story. I can't get over how wonderful her imagination works!

Bradley definitely enjoys watching Rachel and all of her games. He usually observes and sometimes follows her around. Tonight, he found one of my bracelets and walked around with that on while Goldilocks and papa bear were playing. Then, he ended up at the dishwasher where I was loading dirty dishes, and played with the sippy cup valves that were in the silverware basket. I guess he's just too easily distracted and also entertained by less action at his age! :)

Visiting Gramma

Gramma's Room

Lovin' on bub

Peek-a-boo! (on the jungle gym/walker)

Gram & Rachel

Today we got up and went to see Gramma. We were really excited since she's recently moved into her new Assisted Living apartment. Rachel made her a homemade card and we made some cheesecake cupcakes (Jell-o No Bake) for her. We could hardly get up to her room because of all the attention the other residents gave us. It was so cute, residents actually left their activities to come see us. I felt a little bit like a celebrity. :) Rachel and Bradley did great...taking it all in stride and not even acting scared of these strangers with walkers and canes. We finally made it to Gramma's room and couldn't believe how nice her room looked. Nana has done a fabulous job of decorating! Everything looked very comfy and homey and there were pieces of Gramma's past to make things seem familiar. We visited for about an hour and a half until Bradley had a meltdown because he was hungry, so we packed up and left. Gramma wasn't feeling that great today, but was so happy to see us and so sweet about everything...even Bradley's 5 minute crying fit. But, I'm sure she (and the other residents) were ready for some peace and quiet! While we were there, the kids played on Gramma's walker (like it was a jungle gym) and played inside her closet. You would have thought they had never seen bi-fold closet doors and shoes! They stayed in the closet for most of the visit...opening and closing the door repeatedly. Rachel also put on some of Gramma's pumps. They looked great with her jeans and t-shirt. :) Gramma insisted on walking us to the elevator when we were leaving and we promised to be back soon. It was a really nice morning!

We ended up at a really cool McDonald's and played on their indoor playground. It had a treehouse and all sorts of things to climb up. So, I guess we'll have to make that a ritual when we visit Gramma!

Repeat Nighttime Issues & Shopping

Well, today we went to Commerce with GeGe to get the kids some new summer clothes. It was very fun picking out cute little clothes for both kids and made me ready for the summer! I'm tired of the cold weather and the constant ups and downs! Just give me a consistent weather pattern, please! The kids acted remarkably well and were real troopers, so we ended up at Chick-fil-a and let them play on the playground. We had a great time!

Tonight wasn't as easy putting Rachel to bed. She decided to come to her door again and again and again. Nick's approach is a little different...he's sweet at first and then gets frustrated and she kinda picks up on that. I've decided that the best thing is to try not to be emotional...happy, sad or mad. So, the next time, I went to the door and she needed several things, which I did not indulge. She cried and begged me to come in her room, rock her and sing her a song. I told her that she could do it by herself and she didn't need me. She begged and begged and cried and cried. She told me she couldn't walk. When I told her to hop, skip, jump, dance or run herself back to her bed, she started laughing. So, I knew she wasn't too serious. I think she just wanted to see if she could get some more mommy lovin' and I wouldn't do it. I still felt a little sad about it, but not as bad as the other night. I know she's precious and I LOVE spending time with her. I love hugging her, singing to her, reading to her and every other wonderful thing. But, I feel strongly that at bedtime, I just have to cut it off when it's clear that she doesn't really NEED anything. Otherwise, Nick and I won't get our time together without the kids and we don't get a break! So, I guess we'll have to continue being tough parents! It's not one of the perks of parenting! :)

boo-boos and a better night

I am so tired of my kids getting boo-boos. I feel like I'm constantly saying, "no," "get down," "don't do that..." etc... Sometimes I feel like a really boring, mean mommy! But, when one of my kids gets a new, horrible boo-boo, I remember why it's important for me to be so "mean." We had a relatively boo-boo free morning with the exception of Bradley almost toppling down the stairs. Thankfully, I was upstairs with him and saw that he was heading for the stairs. With the time change, our time schedule was off all day long. So, we rode around this afternoon and missed Bradley's nap (sorta on purpose so he would be extra sleepy tonight). Of course, he was really tired as the day wore on so we went outside this evening to perk up both kids. We had a great time playing for an hour or so and were just about to head in. Poor Bradley was running on the driveway and having fun, when he tripped (over nothing) and hit his head on the concrete. We heard the thud where his little head collided with the ground. Of course, he immediately started crying and I picked him up to examine him. He definitely bopped his forehead HARD, but he also scraped his nose and cheek. Poor baby was in lots of pain and I took him inside and gave him a cookie to try to distract him. Then, I put in his favorite movie, "Toy Story 2." He eventually calmed down and sat in my lap for awhile...holding his cookie and letting it melt in his hand, because he wasn't ready to eat it. I wanted to give him some Baby Motrin, but I had to wait awhile, since he was in no mood to take any medicine. Rachel was very concerned about him since she knew he had really hurt himself. She said she felt sorry for him and immediately asked if he was "blooding". (She doesn't ever call it "bleeding".) Thankfully, he was fine this evening, although he was really tired, but he seemed to feel okay. Nick did get some Motrin in him and he enjoyed his bath and was ready for bed at 8:00 (the old 7:00). I guess he'll have a mark on his baby head for awhile...as usual!!

By the way, Rachel did wonderfully tonight at bedtime. She actually fell asleep while I was singing to her (which was what she used to do with her pa-pa). So, whether it was a result of my "tough mom" approach last night or not, who knows!? But, I'll take what I can get. It's just nice to not have to sit here and feel sad all evening from worrying about your baby girl!

I hope they both sleep well and feel better in the morning!!!

Tugging at my heart strings

Poor Rachel is going through a needy stage at night. I think it has to do with recently giving up her pa-pa. She's been having trouble putting herself to sleep. Instead of falling asleep automatically, she's coming to her door and calling for us and begging for us to rock her, sing her a song, lay in bed with her, sit with her, etc... When we won't do any of these things, she'll say her feet are cold and she needs socks or she needs to go pee pee or she needs some medicine. So, trying to be tough parents, we won't even enter her room. We make her bring socks to the door and we put them on her feet there and we deny her other requests. Well, tonight was an especially difficult night. I was feeling much more vulnerable and she was definitely tugging at my heartstrings. She stood at the door, crying, asking for me to come into her room and put her in bed. But, I wouldn't do it. I was afraid if I came in her room and put her into bed that this would lead to more things she needed and more nights of this very same thing. (We've already been having issues with this for a little over a week.) Nick and I have been trying to be nice and comforting, but at some point, we figure we just have to be tough. But, boy, it doesn't feel good to be tough. It just makes me feel sad. After I finally got Rachel to walk herself back to her bed and tuck herself in...crying the whole time, I blew her a kiss, told her I loved her and closed the door. I stood at her door and listened for a few minutes and she was so sad, saying things like, "no one wants to rock me" or "why no one will tuck me in?" or other extremely dramatic and SAD things. So, I feel like a piece of "poo" and wish I had just given in and taken that poor baby to her bed, tucked her in and stayed with her until she fell asleep. But, since I didn't, I hope this will end the cycle and my sweet little Rachel can put herself to bed now and neither one of us has to feel sad. I really hope I did the right thing! I love my sweet little girl sooooooooooooo much!!!!