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I've been coloring my hair for almost 20 years.  It's been every color under the rainbow- black, blonde, brown, and red- but I've never been bold enough to try a shade that doesn't naturally occur on someone's head.  My daughter, on the other hand, has more confidence than I ever could.  In true Victoria fashion when given the option to go pink, she jumped at the chance.  And this is what rainy day boredom becomes...And no, Grandma, it's not permanent.

 I'm finally putting my Christmas gift from Wesley to good use- torturing my 1-year-old.  Actually it's her father doing the torturing.  Apparently she's so sensitive, her feelings get hurt when he tells her "no."  She's in for a rough ride.

That is, if he weren't dead.  He died when I was 5- a little older than Victoria and a little younger than Trevor.  Today would have been his 65th birthday- officially an old man according to the Federal government.  I can't imagine him at this age, but he would have been an awesome grandpa.  He knew the best magic tricks, the funniest jokes, and played the best games.  There are so many times when I've missed him, but no more than now when I have kids.  I wish he were here to see my kids grow up and to see me be a mom.  I think he would be proud.  He would have encouraged Trevor's artistic tendencies, adored Sophie's sweet temperment, and howled at Victoria's defiance.   In a way, though, I still see him every day in Trevor's intelligence, Victoria's blue eyes, and Sophie's laughter. I think he's out there watching and guiding just as a great director would.

So Trevor got his report card yesterday, and I have only one question- what's up with the Math grade?  I mean, was he even trying at all.  That's barely an A.  In all seriousness, the kid's a genius- way smarter than I was, or still am, for that matter.

Victoria never did this at this age.  I'm just saying...

The last year has been marked by numerous "last firsts"- last first laugh, last first crawl, last first Christmas- but this is the hardest of them all. Even after all of the begging, pleading, and stern discussions, Sophie directly disobeyed my orders and flew past her infancy into an official toddler today.  This is unacceptable behavior, and I won't tolerate it.  It was only a year ago today that she came into my life with her false projection of a calm and peacefullness that was much needed in this house. 

The labor was a breeze- induction beginning at 5 am, labor progressing quickly and painlessly (thanks to an epidural), and only 3 pushes total.  She slept great for the first few weeks, so well, in fact, that I remember asking the doctor on a few occassions if there was something wrong with her, because I wasn't accustomed to such a peaceful child.

A few short months later, she began to be fascinated by her siblings and then started to emulate their behavior.  Cut to the present, and she's one of the gang.  They adore her, and she them.  I watch them together, and my heart melts.  Then I realize that one day, they will co-conspire to take over the household once they realize they outnumber us.  Soon after, they won't have any need for us at all.  I'm terrified of this day, which is one reason I try with all my might to slow time down.  But despite my best efforts, time marches on, and the little baby I held in my arms for the first time a year ago celebrated her birthday today.

I'm finally getting around to my new year's post.  I guess one of my resolutions should be punctuality, but who has time for that?  New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful, much like our entire weekend.  I came home, exhausted from work and was bombarded with questions regarding fireworks- if and when we were going to shoot them- since it was cloudy and drizzling.   First, we had to eat dinner, and Wesley let the children plan the menu.  This meant we feasted on popcorn, little smokies, chocolate donuts, and cheese cubes.  I had a salad. 

Then it was time for fireworks.   Victoria was helping Wesley light them as Trevor watched from inside the car.  Sophie, meanwhile was cradled in my arms, shaking from fear.  I had to take her inside and put her to bed.  Finally after much time spent convincing Trevor that a sparkler would not catch him on fire, he agreed to hold one. Then, Trevor and Victoria proceeded to chase one another around the yard using the sparklers as weapons. 

At this point, there were still about 4 hours until midnight, and we had foolishly promised the kids they could stay up.  I was fading quickly, since I had worked a full day, and the kids were already insane.  Somehow we survived those hours without killing anyone, and about 10 minutes before the ball dropped, we pried the kids away from the tv in the bedroom, so we could ring in 2010 as a family.  There was some griping an moaning involved, but we kissed and hugged as the new year rang in.

This sweet scenario was followed by the ever present battle of the bedtime.  Even though the kids had been allowed to stay up 4 hours past their regular bed time, they still fought and whined when we told them to hit the sack at approximately 12:05.  So, we rang in the new year in the typical Seigler family manner- with lots of yelling and screaming.

Despite waking up on Christmas with a God awful infection accompanied by a fever, the holiday went off without a hitch.  5 adults and 3 kids were crammed into our very tiny house, forcing us to have 3 sessions of gift opening in order to have room for all of the presents.  I snuck in a nap between the 2nd and 3rd rounds.  All in all, it was a wonderful 1st Christmas for the baby, and I think everyone got what they wanted.  As relieved as I am that we made it through, I am always a little sad when it's over.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Round 1...

 Final Round...