snaps

Beck wanted to say hello before we kicked this thing off.

I'm pretty much sold, convinced, putting my foot down that I will never snapchat my life. One of my friends tried to talk me into it a few months ago and I was like NO, HASHTAG NO. No one (especially me) needs another vehicle for social media these days. No one. But then I secretly got an account to spy on The Bachelorette and her new fiance and it totally won me over. Well won me over enough to look at other peoples snaps. ;)

But! I do love the idea of Snapchat...a way to share basically all the junk that is too boring and basic to put on Instagram...which is what makes it brilliant. It's not polished and it's not filtered and it's so fun.

I take a decent amount of video clips on a weekly basis because I have such great memories of watching family videos every Sunday growing up. I feel like I'm building a little haphazard daily video journal of our life. And I figure now was the time to share! Which was something the internet was *clearly* missing.

Come a-freakin' board, mateys!

We'll let the video titles serve as captions as well.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy posting at it's finest. #lazy

I know.


 

WHERE HAVE U BEEN?

Chirp, chirp. Is anyone out there?

Maybe just one or two.

That's good enough.

I know what the question of the hour is.

Where have the glory posts of yore been?

I'll give you the quick recap.

Last post ---> glued to HurryandcatchuponGreysAnatomybeforethenewseasonstarts.com   ---> Fall Break ---> flooded the master bath and bedroom ---> death of a hard drive  ---> the flood aftermath and chaos containment ---> colds.

And even right as of now I sit with a cough drop in my mouth*, debating whether or not I blog, nap, finish laundry, paint our closets, unload the dishwasher, or parent. Obv which one I picked.

Because blog! You poor neglected thing. Has it really been almost a month?

I admit, it was really nice to not have blogging on the table for a while. But now that I have less than 24 hours left of Fall Break**, I am clearly seeing the foreboding gap in my schedule. And so it's back to you, blog. It's always back to you.

But all in good time. When our hard drive crashed we were able to get salvage some of our pictures and videos onto an external hard drive, but we lost a lot in the process. It's breaking my heart knowing that some videos of the boys in their early munchkin state are lost forever. I've been printing pictures almost every month for the past few years and have them all in albums, PRAISE ALL THINGS GOOD, but here's my PSA for the year.

- Back it all up and back it up good.

- Back it up like a boss.

- Back it up like you Beyonce.

- Back it up.

Posts, updates, diatribes, potty training chronicles and such coming soon to a blog near you.

Ahh it feels to good to be back.

* and ** thanks to the main subject of this blog, the childrenz, this short post took almost 24 hours to complete. so the timeline is a little off but we're rolling with it.

As resident oldest child Rhett feels it is his right, duty, obligation, gift to the world to manipulate his brother's emotions. ^^^

bad joke

So, if my title gave you anxiety that this post was going to be negative, let me just clear that up right away by assuring you that this post is, indeed, actually about bad jokes. Specifically the ones perpetuated by my hilariously unhilarious children.

It should be noted that Rhett actually tells most of the jokes, but Rad is always there to cue the requisite laughter.

It should also be noted, that Rad finds Rhett a certified comedic genius.

I'll let you be the judge. ;)

Joke #1

Rhett: Knock knock

Us: Who's there?

Rhett: Chair (or insert any other random object)

Us:....Chair who?

Rhett: Chair on my heeeeaaaad!

And then they both laugh like minions and tell the same joke about 50 times using different objects.

Another? OK.

Joke #2

Rhett: Knock knock

Me: Who’s there

Rhett: Dragon

Me: Dragon who?

Rhett: DRAGON FIRE that burns your bum!!!! (Cackles maniacally)

Me:

Seriously, people. He would keep at this winner, using the exact same wording and tone of voice, until the breath left his body if I didn’t eventually crack and hide in the bathroom after the 42nd repetition.*

Joke #3

This one is more of a story -

Rhett: Once upon a time, a man went to the moon. He took a bite out of it and he glowed FOREVER.
Rhett: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Cute the first time. Not so funny the other 9,999,999,999

But he’s not the only Knock Knock Joke Offender.

Rad's comedic contribution is to yell "JOKE!" and then laugh like this....




(If the interwebs aren't in a good mood...HERE)

It's always Saturday Night Live here.

*I have to admit that they tell their “jokes” with such enthusiasm and personality that I genuinely crack up every single time.

Rhett and Rad chat

^^^ these were taken from the night of our talent show debut and found in archives. As I remember Rad felt like he had already preformed enough for the cameras. Rhett felt otherwise.  

Overheard from the couch:

Rhett: Rad say tattoo.
Rad: Dadoo
Rhett: No. Taaaaa-tt-oooo
Rad: Daaa-d-ooooO!
Rhett: Rad. This is a really important word.
Rad:
Rhett: Cause we're getting tattoos for Christmas.

Julia: Yeah. Heck. No.

Listening to a Shakria song in the van-o-fun:

Rhett: (singing)
Rhett: I'm pretending I'm the black woman who sings this song.
Rhett: (continues serenade)
Family: (exchange looks of confusion and concern) 

In the wee hours of the morning:

Rhett: MOM
Julia: Ehhhh
Rhett: (whispering) I have magic pee.
Julia: Ehhhh?
Rhett: I peed in my underpants but none of it got on my bed.
Rhett: MAGIC.

Singing (literally) in the shower:

Rhett: “Mary had a little lamb, its fleas were white as snow.”

And now that Rhett is spending more time away from our loving home we get some quips from friends...

After school pick up:

Rhett:My Grandma Dot died when I was zero months old… I mean right after I turned 15. I think someone threw a bomb at her and it exploded. Or her house caught on fire.
Tyrell and Everett: (Laughing) 
Rhett: Guys! It's not funny. She was made of wood and burned up. It was really hot.

And also with Tyrell, his second mother:

Rhett: Hey Tyrell, you know how I got blind?
Rhett: I went for a walk and a poison branch fell on my eye. That's why I'm blind"

Annnnd from the ever expanding vocabulary of Rad:

A potty training moment:

Julia: OK, now go potty.
Rad: Tay.
Rad: One, three, four, weady!
Rad: Set...
Rad: Go pee!!!

A MDSA (Mother Desperately Seeking Affirmation) Moment:

Julia: Rad I love you.
Rad:
Julia: Do you love me?
Rad: I wuve Diego.
Rad: Go Diego go!!

navy baby {2 refinished pieces}

Once upon a pregnancy I thought maybe, just maybe one of the boys would be a potential lady baby. Well...the thought crossed my mind for about .2 seconds. BUT if we ever did have a little girl I thought Navy Jane would be cute girl's name (I can hear your deep sighs of relief that we never actually named a little girl). 

I digress. As per usual.  

My point is/was that I love the color navy blue. It's classic and modern and warm and cool. Basically the best on the color wheel. So when I picked up a 1980's orange oak dresser and very crusty secretary I thought blue. Navy baby blue.  

The power of a good paint color never ceases to amaze me. 

{the color is General Finishes Costal Blue) 

a weekend holler (with doughnuts)

Hey Julia, you know you don't have to blog about every single time you load up the Odyssey and fly the coop...right?

I know. I know. But at the tail end of Jake working Saturdays for like 5 weeks has left us (me) feeling like the circus might just swallow us (me) whole, I think it will do a Julia some good to look back and read about some times that didn't leave her feeling like the world was out to git her. Because...the world...it revolves around her, as we all know. 

When it turned out that Jake's appointment was going strong about an hour after the estimated finish time, we loaded up and well, you know where this is going...we headed to my favorite place of all time...the drive-thru. Of course. We flew through Dunkin Doughnut's gates on the way to the park and enjoyed the 93 degree temp. And park bonus!! There were other kids!! 

I have much much hesitation about just free park hoping without a planned play date because my children are the children who want you to be the lava monster for about 17 rounds. And when there are no other potential candidates for all the phun that is lava monster, that duty falls to me. Which I'm cool with for about 5 rounds. But there's a 12 round difference between my 5 and the boys wish for 17. In case you were following the mental math in this here paragraph. 

But I digress.

Back to us.

Always us...

This is thee trendiest doughnut, hipster filtered, live authentic, kinfolky picture you ever did see. Indeed.

Rad likes taking pictures with me. I swear it.

Rhett is a very enthusiastic doughnut enjoyer.

And Beckett took a selfie. He learned that in the NICU.

Some highlights:

+  Rhett fell twice and he had a bit of bleeding from his lip the second time. He stopped crying 4 seconds after the fall whereas his younger brother would still be limping around and requesting that we resurrect a memorial at the site of the fall to recognize the fact that he lived to tell the tale to any that might lend a listening and sympathetic ear.

+ Rad made besties with some older (like age 7) boys playing basketball and did a super fantastic job sharing their ball with them. Since in most cases he currently proceeds every noun with the pronoun my/mine. 

+ Jake eventually met us (duh) and the kids running across the park to greet him with their grins and shrieks didn't entirely make up for the day but...maybe 88% of my faith in humanity was restored. 

Over all the doughnut picnic was a big success and the boys want to do it again this weekend. Fist bumps.

beck: 6 months

Beckett is a big 6 month old today, but by his premie standard he is 4 months, and either way how?! Too fast! Way too fast! As Jake says, it's hard to imagine life before Beck (B.B.) 

The other day I cleaned out his dresser and moved his 0-3 month clothes to the closet and I found the premie onesie he came home from the hospital in. Usually I'm not one to mourn the baby stage passing, but I am this time. Maybe it's because we're in the throws of toddler and little boyhood, I don't want this sweet snuggle, easy to please, smiles whenever he sees you, stage to pass too quickly.  

So here's what I want to remember about Beck here and now. 

+ Beck is all about go go gadget moving and flailing about and smiling always. Boy loves to cheese. 

+ His fists or at least one finger are always in his mouth. Always. Which means he is also covered in drool. Always.

+ He's a big fan of being worn and he might be our best car baby which is SO VERY APPRECIATED. Thank you, sweet baby Beck.

+ He knows exactly when all the other kids have gone down to bed and is up and ready to party with his parental units. And we love it.

+ He's still on a sort of "sleep when I want" not-schedule during the day and the old Julia-mom of Miller babies past would be going crazy with the lack of regimentation in our day but suddenly the energy required of watching a baby seems so easy breezy compared to the energy and vigilance required to watch the older boys so I don't mind at all.

+ He wakes up once or twice at night (I like to think it's because he misses us and likes to pop in and say a quick hello) and it's not horrible because he goes back to sleep right away...but my dark circles are approaching maximum raccoon status. 

+ He is the chillest baby I've ever had the privileged experience of raising. Even though he river dances all the live long day, he's content to just be. Content to just sit on his perch (Bumbo) and watch his brothers. 

+ And Beck and his brothers. Rhett and Beck are peas in a pod. The kid loves Beck. Loves him. Rhett carries Beck whenever we can closely supervise. He climbs into the crib to unswaddle Beckett, sings to him and chats with him about everything on his mind. 6 months in and Rad is warming up to sibling who dethroned him. Truthfully, I fully expected Rad to throw more temper tantrums because the child has needs and expectations. But, so far...so wrong. He's been a little indifferent to Beck until lately and truthfully that was probably the best as far as safety goeth. Currently Rad will bestow all manner of toys on Beck's lap and will sing/count all the numbers in his repertoire (not necessarily in numerical order...) when Beck is upset. He also refers to his little brother as "my Beck" which is about the sweetest thing. 

+ He's not one to mince words and for the most part skips the coos and hmms and goes straight for screeching pterodactyl banshee. We think he's happy when he's screeching because he's grinning ear to ear. 

+ And he also grins big and hard when you swaddle him. He gets excited about food and sleep just like his momma. 

+ In general Beck is just sweet. He rarely gets upset and if he does he clams right down as soon as you hold him or talk to him. His kissable baby-ness makes me talk in baby talk and high pitched nonsense anytime I see him/think about him/talk about him/write blog posts about him.

+ He is also very smart and dictated this complicated post to me, word for word.

And now, because siblinghood is a competitive sport, let's take a look back at the others at the six month mark.

I think Beck looks MOST like present-day Rhett (from the forehead down) but after looking through these I think he looks NOTHING like baby Rhett and most like baby Rad...let's take a gander, shall we?

Or maybe they all look exactly the same. Minus Beck's clear lack of hair...baldy Beck. 

Happy 6 months Beck-a-roo! We love you like crazy.