As usual, blogging has taken a backseat to life. But life during the holidays brings with it the typical holiday horror stories, pictures, and amusing videos. So enjoy! I do have to warn you, it is a long one. If pressed for time, I would just scroll down to the videos and pictures.

I must start with the pre-Christmas goodies. Milo discovered Santa Claus, and surprised us with his recognition of the character everywhere we went. He started saying “ho, ho, ho” every time we drove down our street past a house with a blow-up Santa on the roof. He also took a liking to a Christmas card sent by our friends in Minnesota, Katherina and Jason (see below picture in which yes, Milo is standing in a pot admiring the card). In fact, he is still carrying it around the house with him a week later.
But his Christmas spirit doesn’t end with Santa. Milo ensured that we turned on the Christmas tree first thing every morning, and every time we walked in the door from being out and about. He would point to it and say “light?” until we turned it on, then stand before it in all its Christmas-y glory and say like only a 15-month-old can, “Wow.” I had no idea how much more fun Christmas would be with Milo this year. I wasn’t sure he would be that into it yet, and was a little worried about the whole Christmas tree/ornaments/breakable things/lights issue. But after a few mishaps, Milo learned to leave the tree alone… for the most part.

Before we left for Ohio to visit our families and friends, Milo got to open a couple presents sent from afar. His first present was a wooden train sent from Gram and Bub… and this turned out to be a real winner.
Milo immediately started playing with it, and saying “choo-choo” while running around the house with various train parts. He still hasn’t figured out how to keep them all linked together, but as soon as he stops lifting the whole thing off the ground, he’ll get it. The couple of days after we let Milo open this gift, it was “choo-choo” this and “choo-choo” that. “Choo-choo” were the words I was greeted with every time I walked into Milo’s room to fetch him after a nap or a night’s sleep. No more excited “Hi!.” Milo was relieved to find his train exactly where he left it when we returned from Ohio. So… thank you Gram and Bub, for a real winner!

Now for the 5 days of Christmas. They are somewhat of a blur to me now, as I have blocked out some of the more traumatic memories. But I will do my best.

Day 1: December 23, Departure and Torture.
We leave the house two hours later than intended, even though we still manage to be on the road by 6:30am. Milo is a wreck due to an insufficient night of sleep (what’s new). We figure he will fall asleep due to the darkness and pleasant lull of the car rushing down a nearly empty highway, but we are wrong, as we often are. Milo is cranky and has an extremely low threshold for toys, music, entertainment, and food. He proceeds to cry for the majority of the trip. After 5 hours on the road and a few pit-stops, Milo falls asleep. For 45 minutes. We arrive at Bill, Annie, and Reina’s house (Andrew’s brother’s family) and attempt to put Milo down for a nap before the Christmas party at Andrew’s uncle Anthony’s house. No nap, but Milo is cheerful and somewhat normal as we stuff the six of us into Bill’s car and head over to the party. The normally 20-minute drive takes 2 1/2 hours due to icy conditions. This car ride is what I imagine Hell to be, if I believed in a Hell. I am not exaggerating. Imagine being trapped in a car with one screaming (I mean SCREAMING) little boy and his whining, crying cousin for 2 1/2 hours, unable to move in either direction. It was the most frustrating, mind-numbing torture you can imagine.
This picture was taken before the screaming ensued. At least Reina was kind enough to share her baby with Milo. Notice the party beads on Cousin Reina. She’s so stylish.

Once we arrived at Anthony’s, we had a wonderful time. Milo was so dead tired he zombied his way through the house, still charming the pants off of uncles, aunts, and cousins. We enjoyed delicious food, playing in the basement with cousins, and warming ourselves by the fire. Milo’s obsession with fire was apparent, as he pointed to each candle in the house, as well as the fire in the fireplace, repeating, “hot” at each stop. Milo was also reunited with his Aunt Katie, who prefers not to be called “Aunt Katie.”

Look at my child. Exhausted is not even the word.

After the fun and games, we leave the party, all exhausted. Milo falls asleep in the car but awakens as soon as we get home, well over two hours past his bedtime. Beyond all reason, Milo stays up screaming most of the night, despite the fact that I even bring him into bed with us at some point.Day 2: December 24, Christmas Eve Party
The next day, Andrew and I trek to my mom’s house in Waynesville to spend Christmas Eve with my family. We finally get Milo down for a nap, but he is awakened by the four evil dogs who live with my mother. Still no sleep. Jeff, my stepfather, orders some dog tranquilizers for the night. Thank God.
We enjoy the most delicious feast prepared by my mother that evening. We are joined by my brother Jon and his wife Kelly, plus their baby Jack; my sister Krista, her husband Eric, and their Charlie; and Jeff’s parents. I should have gotten a picture of the dinner table. It was gorgeous, and the food amazing as usual. I have big shoes to fill due to my mother’s cooking. After dinner, we snap a great family photo in front of the fireplace (sans mustaches this time… kind of) and the boys open presents from each other and my mom and Jeff. Check out the awesome cars they got the boys!

The whole gang

A sweet kissDon’t be fooled… despite what Andrew claims, sharing doesn’t “feel good”

Another deceptive photo… Milo ate basically nothing. Baby Jack, on the other hand… let’s just say he’s that big for a reason. He managed to smuggle some food from Milo’s tray while we weren’t looking!

Trying out the new cars

After another eventful, fun night, Milo manages to sleep better at my mom’s, thanks to the doggie tranq’s and utter exhaustion. However, he proceeds to wake up several times and demand to be rocked back to sleep while I chant to myself “don’t kill the baby… don’t kill the baby.” Because his screams will awaken a housefull of people and dogs, Milo wins this battle.

Day 3: December 25, Christmas in the Country/Guitar Hero Fun
After allowing our son to take a 2-hour nap at my mom’s house, we head over to Andrew’s mom’s house (also uniquely known as Ginamom) and enjoy Christmas day with Andrew’s fam. We wear out Milo running around the farm, playing music, jumping on the trampoline, and exploring the barn. Oh… and Bill bought Michaeldad (Andrew’s stepdad) Guitar Hero, the Wii game where you play along to a song and get points based on each note you hit correctly. Much of the afternoon is spent watching the adults play and the kids watch.

This picture reminds me of a picture of Andrew as a child… like father, like son

Enjoying a beautiful day at Ginamom’s farm

The findings in the barn: Uncle Ryan’s old wrestling trophy collection.
Glad to see he hung onto those gems.

Christmas dinner rivals even my mother’s cooking. We enjoy another delicious feast, open presents, and enjoy another lovely fire in the wood-stove. Much cookie-eating occurs thanks to Katie’s delicious baking skills… who knew? Another rough night of sleep, but we survive. Andrew and I almost kill each other because of lack of sleep and delirium. We survive the night, and Ginamom takes Milo for us so we can sleep/rest for a few hours the next day. Milo has a blast and finally lets his guard down with Ginamom. I feel sad that we have to leave and Milo is so far away from both sets of grandmoms.Day 4: December 26, Day of Rest and Peace.
We do pretty much nothing.
See Dave and Anna at Bill and Annie’s house after Milo has gone to sleep. Milo sleeps 10 hours straight, not a peep from him. Congratulations to Dave and Anna on their recent engagement!

Day 5: December 27, Get the Heck Out.
We head home, car filled to the brim with Christmas loot. Sad to go, but desperate to get Milo back into some normalcy. Drive home is much better, as we have new toys to distract Milo with since he won’t fall asleep in the car. Milo watches a record number of hours of Elmo on the laptop. Oh, well. Better than listening to the screaming.

Now we are home, and Milo misses everybody. He is enjoying all his new toys, especially the scooter my brother and Kelly got for him. Now please enjoy the following random videos, in the following order: Milo taking a bath with Reina (sure way to embarrass the cousins in the near future); Milo and Katie on the trampoline; Milo dancing and acting like a weirdo in a pot in our kitchen before leaving for Ohio; and my personal favorite, “Techno Milo” dancing to Katie’s I-Dog. Yes, he is saying “please.” How long can this go on? As long as the dog keeps playing.

Other news? We are realizing that Milo’s verbal skills are improving at a rapid rate. He now says about 30 words, but most of them sound a lot alike. Our favorites? Tickle-tickle, please, Proudie (sounds more like dow-dee), and cracker. He also attempts to say “guitar,” which sounds more like “ga-da” and says “did it!” when he climbs up onto the couch by himself. Okay, I know it’s probably totally normal and boring, but I am amazed by our little guy. Yesterday morning he started saying “no,” but not in a defiant way. In fact, he says “no,” then busts out laughing. And when he pinched me and I said “no,” he stopped, looked up at me, and said “no, no!” “no,” and started laughing. So of course, I started laughing too. Great. Here we go. At least he understands how serious I am when it comes to discipline.

I promise it won’t be too long before the next post…

Happy Holidays!