Happenings lately

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately... I am a bit of a hot mess on wheels, but I wanted to take a minute to document everything that's been going on around this crazy place!

I wrote about the little bug that Cal had-- after 8 (EIGHT) days of the nastiness (that would be 8 days of changing crib sheets, etc...!), he woke up clean on Saturday morning.  Phew!  I called the doctor to make sure he was not contagious and we went to a birthday party Saturday morning.  It was my good friend's daughter's 4th birthday and she had a reindeer themed party.  It was super cute and Cal had fun making the crafts and eating a doughnut.

Sunday, we had another busy day, but we kept our eyes on ESPN for most of the day.  Due to a crazy turn of events, there was a chance TCU was going to be invited to play in the Sugar Bowl.  They had to be ranked 16th in the BCS poll to get the bid.  Two other polls came out and we were ranked 15th and 16th, so our fingers were crossed... unfortunately, we were a little short of 16th, but we were invited to the Poinsettia Bowl out in San Diego.
I didn't think we would be making the trek across country to attend this bowl game, but Eddie really wanted the whole family to go, so we will be jingling all the way there next week!  ha!  I have been feeling a little bit of a time crunch since we will be gone the week before Christmas...all of my gifts have to be ordered/assembled/wrapped and ready to go for Christmas....yikes!  I am going to head out tonight when the kids are in bed and just knock out the rest of my list...well, that's the hope at least!
ANYWAY-- we are getting really excited to go to the bowl.  I wish we could just snap our fingers and be there (skip the flight all together)!  We are going to go to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.  We went to the bowl there the year before Cal was born and had a lot of fun.
Now, I am focusing my thoughts on car seats, strollers, packing, etc....ack!!! Soooo much to think about with two bambinos...! It was much easier the last time we went there! haha

Eddie and the boys on Sunday before Eddie went to play golf

Knowing that I have lots to get done, I have been kicking it into high gear like no other.

Monday, Cal had a case of the terrible twos like nothing I've ever seen.  HAHA!  He had about 7 meltdowns before 8:00.  I really wanted to take a class at the gym, so we loaded up the car to get there by 8:30.  He fell apart when I was trying to get him in the car "no gym. no gym no gym!!!" We got to the gym and he refused to get out of the car.  I carried him in and he started crying when he walked into the play room.  The "teacher" there said she had never seen him cry before... I think she felt bad for him!  Well, he stopped immediately and was totally fine.  After the class, I went in to pick him up and as we were leaving, we were right in front of all of the cardio equipment and he decided he didn't want to leave.  Homie THREW himself on the floor in front of everyone and started kicking his feet and flailing his arms like a wild man.  Add his scream into the mix and you have quite the scene.  The girls at the front desk didn't even know what to say as I walked by with Cal (still in mid-fit) thrown over my shoulder while attempting to push Andy in the stroller out of the heavy-as-hell door.  Oh, and the class I took totally kicked my rear so my muscles were shot and were shaking before adding Cal.
We left the gym and went to the grocery store where yet another meltdown occurred (are you noticing a trend?).  By this point, Andy was a little over Cal, so he was getting upset every time Cal would get upset.  We then went to the park so he could burn off his energy and he had the BEST time running wild!  He was SO happy to be running around...like a wild horse, that one is. :)

Tuesday, Cal had school in the morning-- woooohoooo!  First time back since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...it was TIME! He was happy to go back too.  I know he loves it and really does miss it.  As soon as I dropped him off, I had to run and pick up Hank's records from our old vet since we were transferring to a new vet.  Andy and I took Hank to the new vet (have you ever tried to take your large dog to the vet while also taking a baby?  It's hard.).  Hank was excited to smell all of the new scents and was trying his hardest to drag me and Andy all over the place.  After his weigh in (95 pounds!), it was determined that he needs to shed about 20 pounds-- you and me both, buddy. 
After the vet, I took Andy to get his passport picture taken.  We are taking both kids to Mexico in March and I needed to get Andy's process started since it can take a while to get it back. 
I wrote before that Andy sucks his fingers.  He does it all the time.  It is super sweet, but unfortunately, this will not pass for a passport picture:

Although, technically, it should count because, chances are, he will have his fingers in his mouth when we go through customs anyway...hahaha!

Wednesday was CRAZY busy-- running around like crazy.  I took a friend dinner so I had to get it cooking while the boys napped.  I also had a girls' night dinner that night with the girls in Cal's play group.  I LOVE these girls.  I feel so lucky to have these people in my life and even luckier that they all have kids who are the same age as mine.  We had a blast out sans kiddos.  Makes me want to do it all the time!

such a blurry picture...one of the girls sent it and I tried to download it, but it came out not very clear

 Thursday, Andy had a play group with his buddies.  We missed out on the last one so we were excited to get back with everyone!  We were celebrating Presley's first birthday at this playdate.  I just love all of these sweet kids!

Andy, Charlie, Lee, Ann Carter, Alston, Presley, Eliza

My sweet mom offered to pick up Cal from school on Thursday since I've been feeling slightly overwhelmed. He was SO excited to see her!!!  They came home and Cal immediately went down for a nap.  When he woke up, he started asking "is gramma here?" over and over and over again.  Literally.  It was non-stop.  I even took a video of him having a meltdown once he realized she was gone:

I felt like I was on Hidden Video last night.  Eddie had a late appointment so it was just me and the boys in the kitchen.  We have had to cut back on Hank's food (see above re: 95 pounds), so he has become ravenous any time food is present.  I was cleaning up from dinner and had Andy laying on the floor on his play mate and Cal was still in the high chair.  I was loading the dishwasher and Hank started doing the "pre-wash" by licking all of the plates on the bottom shelf.  Well, his collar got hooked on the shelf and scared him, so he jumped back and pulled out the entire bottom shelf.. he tried running from it, dragging it behind him.  It startled Cal, who immediately asked: "wha happened??" then I told him it was okay, but I think it scared him too badly so he started sobbing.  Not screaming, but sobbing.  That got Andy upset, so he started screaming crying.  Just so you can keep track-- that would be one 95 pound dog stuck to the dishwasher, one 2 year old hysterical, and one 6 month hold screaming his head off.  I just had to laugh...and look for that damn hidden camera....

Some other thoughts from the week.....

Mr. Andy is now sitting up for longer stretches!  He was doing great for about 15 seconds at a time, but now can hold it for a while.  He likes to sit up and watch what's going on, but he will topple over and roll to the action. 

working on sitting... the boppy was there as a *just in case*, but he never needed it... so I knew he was ready to do it on his own!

 Oh, also, I lowered Andy's crib last night to the lowest setting.  He isn't standing up, obviously, but he was rolling over to the side and picking his head way up high, which just made me nervous, so we lowered it last night. 

he is such a ham

 My two little schemers... I am soooo in trouble!

We adopted a needy family in the community and went shopping for them today.  It felt so great to help someone else have a great Christmas.  When we were given the with list, the little boy in the family really wanted "Cars" underwear.  Now, that will melt your heart right there. 

Another long post!  I have to knock them out while I can... Hope y'all are having great weeks!!

Cal said whaaa? 2

Cal: "Oh, football on? Okay. GOOOOO!  Run run run! Go NOW! (screaming) Oh, man! Try again! Try again!" (then he walked into the kitchen to get his drink and sigh.)

Getting his haircut this past week, we were telling him what a great job he was doing sitting still like a big boy, etc... Donna, the hair lady, and I said repeatedly "we are sooo proud of you, great job..."

After the haircut, she was brushing off his neck and Cal said "I get pop pop now?" and Donna took him to get a pop pop while I paid.  I told Cal to go tell Donna thank you and he walked over to her and said "thank you, Donna.  I soooo proud of you."  The whole place started cracking up!

We left the haircut place and got in the car.  Cal immediately said "McQueen Mater not working!" so I reached back to turn the screen on and Cal said "there you go, Momma! Great job! There you go!"

The bug that won't leave

I can honestly say I am ready for this week to be OVER!

Thanksgiving week, Cal decided to go number two on the potty-- woohoo!  He was going to the potty every single time he had to go- it was AWESOME.  He was still peeing in his diaper, but he was getting to the bathroom for the other stuff, so we were thrilled.

On Friday after Thanksgiving, he ran to the bathroom to go potty and had pretty bad diarrhea.  My niece and nephew had a stomach bug the week before Thanksgiving so I was praying that wasn't what Cal got... well, the next day, he woke up with a bed FULL of... 'ria.  (ugh, I know).

I will spare you the details, but I will say that today is day 7 of this "Bug" and I am OVER IT.  I am giving Cal around 3 baths a day (it is so bad that it goes allll over his body every time) and changing his sheets every day (i have even had to scrub the carpeting from the time it happened in the playroom and he came waddling down the hall to the bedroom to tell me about it...little poopy footprints all down the hall...).  My washing machine is getting a full workout this week.  The kicker is, he has one massive blowout in the morning, and then is fine pretty much the rest of the day.  He seems to feel fine, has no fever, and his energy levels are still the same...but the messes he has in his diaper are UNBELIEVABLE.  So, no school for Mr. Cal this week and no gym for momma since I can't put him in the play room there.  We are both crawling the walls. 

I mentioned at the start of this post about the potty because he was really being good about going on the potty for "that stuff" and I think this just sneaks up on him before he knows it.  After he goes and I am changing him in the bathtub with plastic bags everywhere, he always goes "aww, man. I poopied in my pants. Aw man."  I think he really doesn't like to go in his pants-- can you blame him??

Since Cal didn't go to school on Tuesday, I had both boys with me at my appointment to get my stitches out-- far from ideal, but it went really well.  The nurse sat down to remove the stitches and Cal came over and put his little hand on my leg while watching her.  Before she cut the first stitch, she looked up at him and Cal said, "Careful! That's Momma's boo boo."  It was the sweetest thing ever and melted my heart.  He didn't take his hand off of my leg until she was done.  Now that's some sweetness!

Andy is still spitting up a lot...that has remained pretty constant no matter what I eat/don't eat.  The other day, I was holding Andy and he spit up ALL over me, and as I was trying to wipe myself off, Cal had his explosion.  It was one of those days where you just wonder why you even bother to get dressed. Pretty positive I cried this day... yup... pretty sure of it...

I had a million errands to run this week, but they are difficult to accomplish with both kids in tow (especially when one is two with an *opinion* about things!). 

Now, with all of the above said, my sister-in-law posted last night about a friend of her's from Savannah who lost their son at 14 days old.  I read the girl's blog last night and she wrote a post about how happy she was to be "allowed" to change his diaper in the hospital.  She would probably KILL to have a healthy two year old with strong opinions and nasty diapers and a baby spitting up all over her.  How dare I complain?  I read the blog last night as I was rocking Andy-- he fell sound asleep long before I was ready to put him down.  I held him tightly in my arms and cried at how lucky I am. 

Here are some picture from the phone of what we have done this week...

right before getting the stitches out

little nugget striking a pose in his sleep

Andy is a rolling machine!  he can travel the length of the room now- watch out!

we were playing over at grandma's house to get out a little bit- Andy wanted to ride McQueen too

sweet boy getting a haircut!

Hope this bug avoids your house...!

xoxo,

Grandma's Turkeys

My mom, AKA Martha, made each of her grandbabies (as she calls them) a little turkey shirt for Thanksgiving.  Actually, it's pretty funny... I showed her a shirt that I found online with a little turkey applique on it and she immediately said "well, I can make that!" and literally that day she was off to the craft store to make these shirts... she is amazing, seriously. 

Here are Grandma's turkeys after eating Thanksgiving dinner-- they are wild and messy and couldn't be happier!

pretty sure Cal was trying to count the turkeys...

I know these cousins are very THANKFUL to have each other all living so close.  They love being around each other and really have a blast together. 

I am so thankful.

Cal said whaaa? 1

Me: Cal, it's time to go night night,

Cal: Nah...I'm gonna need 5 more minutes.

6 month update

This morning was Andy's 6 month well visit!  Andy has really become SUCH a good little baby.  He very rarely cries and when he does cry, he starts laughing in the middle of it.  He smiles constantly and just goes with the flow! 

I find myself unable to kiss him enough every day.  I just want to sit and smooch him all day long, as in sane as that sounds.

Here are Andy's stats from today:

Weight: 18 pounds 11 ounces---> 75th percentile
Height: 27.75 inches---> 90th percentile
Head Circumference: 45 cm---> 75th percentile
(I am looking for Cal's 6 month post and can't find it anywhere... I will update to compare when I can find it!)

Andy is a big boy...I think he is going to be a giant.  He is wearing a shirt today that Cal is wearing in the 17 month picture on the side of the blog:

The shirt is big on him, but it isn't huge at all... I was cursing myself before for not timing these births better for re-using clothing (not really...but kinda), but the way Andy is going, he will be able to wear Cal's clothes in the right seasons!

As you can see from the above picture, Andy loves to suck his fingers.  He isn't much of a paci guy, but I am just now getting him to take one every now and then.  He prefers his fingers!

Andy is a strong little guy.  The other night, Cal and Andy were laying on a blanket on the floor, and Andy reached up and grabbed a handful of Cal's hair and pulled...HARD!  Cal was screaming like crazy and I couldn't pry Andy's hand open- ha!  Here he is grabbing Cal's shirt...as you can see, Cal is thrilled: 

Andy loves his big brother and watches him constantly.  He laughs at just about everything Cal does, which isn't always a good thing!  Cal can be misbehaving, and when he sees that Andy thinks it is funny, he thinks he should continue on "entertaining" his brother!  I am going to be in so much trouble when these two can gang up on me....

i am so in love with these two

HAHA- everything about this picture is funny-- Andy latching on to Cal's nose, etc etc...

Eating:
Andy loves to eat!  He is still nursing, but we are also doing lots of foods and oatmeal.  At the check up today, the doctor told us to start feeding him cereal twice a day, so he will get some at lunch and at dinner.  He likes sweet potatoes, squash, pears, bananas, and peaches.  He has eaten green beans, but only a couple of times.  I don't think they are his favorite, but he doesn't turn them away!  I've been pumping every day to have milk to mix with the oatmeal.  She said today I can mix it with water or even prune juice if he is "in need" of some. 

Sleeping:
Wellll...after the 4 month visit, with the doctor's coaching, we let him cry it out and it worked great-- he was sleeping through the night great.  Then we went to Texas and he was a HORRIBLE sleeper-- up multiple times (for multiple hours each time).  We have been trying to let him cry it out since coming home, but it isn't really working.  He will cry for over an hour, fall asleep, and then 30 minutes later wake up screaming again,  It's hard for me because I know if I just go in there and feed him for 20 minutes, he will go back down and sleep through the night.  Should I let him sit in there and scream like crazy?  Or should I just go in?  My pediatrician says to let him cry.  She thinks if I feed him in the night, he will start to think that it's routine to eat in the night and he will expect it.  Which I do agree with her on that...but now that he's 6 months, his little lungs are LOUD!  I am worried he will wake up Cal.  I think we just need to suck it up one night and let him go.  The problem is, when he's screaming, there is no way I can sleep listening to him (Eddie, on the other hand, never hears him! We always wake up in the morning and laugh about it-- he has no idea! ha), so I lay there awake just listening to him... and knowing that if I just went in there, he would crash in 10 minutes... the doc says I have to get right in my head first-- ha!
Napping is still going really well... he is very consistent with his afternoon nap-- both kids are down by one every day and they both sleep about 3 hours.  His morning nap is much more on the fly.  He will nap in his crib if we are home, but it isn't usually for very long.  If we are in the car or out running errands, he will sleep longer.  I don't mind having him take a morning nap like this as long as he continues to go down when Cal does.  I need that time in the afternoon!!!

Tricks:
Andy can roll back to front and front to back.  He is working on sitting up and is getting better and better at it.  He can't hold it for very long, but we are working on that.  The problem with him sitting is he gets excited and jolts back, causing him to fly backwards.... I am always scared he is going to bonk his head, so I surround him with pillows!


Likes:
Andy really likes books and likes to "read" them with me and Cal.  He likes laying on the floor playing with his little station that has lights and fun things to hit and play with (blanking on word).  He likes anyone talking to him and will light up if you even look his way.  He likes my mom a lot...I think he thinks she is me since we look alike. 


He is not crawling yet, but when he rolls over to his tummy, he will kick his legs and reach with his arms... it seriously looks like he's about to take off.  I am not ready to have a crawler yet!  YIKES! I think we still have a ways for that. 

Teeth- no teeth yet!  He is drooling quite a bit, so I think they will be coming in the next month, maybe?  I don't see any buds forming yet, but we will see....


Andy makes me so happy and I love him more and more every day.  Like I said before, I seriously can not kiss his little cheeks enough!!!



And here is a last picture of my favorite guys... how lucky am I to have them call me momma?

Recent STUFF

I am finding it harder and harder to actually sit down and write a good blog post.  I am trying to play catch up today so there will probably be several posts done during nap time (in between switching/folding laundry, making grocery lists, picking up the house, etc etc...).

Things have been good in the Williamson household!  CalBoy seems to be taking a slight break from his terrible twos... he will still have some meltdowns, but they are fewer and farther between.  He still says NO very adamantly, but he can shake a meltdown faster than he use to-- phew!  Or, maybe Eddie and I are just getting better at handling them??

This past Thursday, I had a little girls' night out with some friends and it was WONDERFUL!  I had been looking forward to it for SO long, but I was also nervous.  We were going to see the Rockettes at the DPAC and we wanted to grab dinner before.  Since we were crunched on time, we were meeting at 5:15 to ride to the restaurant.  Well, Andy has been resisting the bottle and I felt terrible leaving him to Eddie.  I left milk for him to try the bottle, but I had a feeling he would fight it.

This was Eddie's first time doing dinner, bath and bed with both boys.  He has done this with Cal a bunch, but this was the first time with both...so, add in two kids, one who is screaming because he's hungry and won't take a bottle, and you have me nervous!

WELL, I was totally nervous over nothing!  Eddie did GREAT, the boys had a blast grilling out and Andy did not cry once.  Sweet Eddie knew I was nervous about leaving them, so he sent me this video (and he also posted it on facebook, which I thought was pretty darn sweet too-ha!).  I love these boys... all of them!

Friday morning, I had the wrist surgery I mentioned in one of my last posts.  I had a cyst on the back of my left wrist and I went to the doctor to look at it a few weeks ago... when I bent my wrist down, I could see a lump and it was hurting a lot.  I couldn't put any weight on that hand, and since I spend 90% of my day on the floor with the kids, this was becoming a problem.  Also, I've been working out more and more and it has realllly been hurting me while lifting weights or doing push-ups (not like I do that many....come on).  SO, anyway... I saw a doctor, he said the type of cyst is super common and it's a simple surgery to remove it.

Since we have already met our deductible this year with my c-section, we decided to go ahead and get it done. 
I had to be at the surgery center at 9:30 on Friday morning, so I fed Andy at 9 and Eddie and I took off.  I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the night before...and if you know me, you know I like to eat.  A lot.  I also need a Diet Coke first thing in the morning (I don't drink coffee-- don't judge).  Well, we got there right at 9:30 and by 11:30 we were still waiting and I was turning into something fierce.  I was grump-tastic and about ready to scream at everyone in the waiting room.  ESPECIALLY the woman who showed up at noon with a BIG ol' bucket of some Bojangles chicken and a large drink.  I really think Eddie thought I was going to attack her.

Finally they took me back at 12:30 (grrr) and the nurse asked me if I had to pee...I kindly replied that I had not eaten or had anything to drink since midnight and that I didn't have anything to pee out.  Gotta love a smart ass.

I was under the impression this surgery would be hardly a "surgery" at all and I would just push my sleeve up and get my arm numbed.  Nope!  I had to put on the surgical gown and then a surgical cap, and then the nurse came in and put in the IV.  Hmmmm.

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me and then he chatted with the doctor some and came back to tell me they would be using a general anesthesia to put me to sleep for the surgery.  They would knock me out, then numb the area of the cyst, then cut it out, and then on the way out of the OR, they would wake me back up.

Let me tell you-- that was quite fun!  HA!  They gave me a little dose of something as I was wheeled to the OR and that made me feel all kinds of tingly (haha) and then when I woke up, I was in the recovery room with Eddie next to me.  When I had my wisdom teeth out, they gave me some laughing gas and it made me suuuuper chatty (is anyone surprised that I become chatty??), and I was the same way this time.  I could NOT shut up.

The nurse came in and was checking my vitals and I kept saying "you are reallllllly pretty.  I think it's your teeth.  They are reallllly pretty.  Do people tell you that all the time?  Eddie, isn't she really pretty??"  HAHAHAHA  The poor nurse could not wheel me out of there fast enough!

I was quite loopy for the next few hours and quite chatty the rest of the day.  hehe.

My wrist has a super cool wrap/brace thing on it and I am suuuuuper excited to get this thing off tomorrow!  I can't get it wet, so I have to bathe with plastic bags on my arm.  Eddie has to do baths every night (not complaining there...).  It is still pretty sore and there is still a bit of swelling/bruising, but it is getting better.  I am looking forward to being able to crawl around on the floor pain free again!

We thought we would be home by 1, but since everything was so backed up, we didn't get home until way after 3:00.  Poor Andy ate a little thing of fruit, but nothing else...he won't take the bottle!  My mom had the boys and said that Andy did not cry once...woohoo!!  Maybe he's learning that he doesn't need to cry-- I will come back to him sometime, he just has to wait!  He was hungry when I got home.. I fed him and he crashed and took a great nap!

On Saturday morning, my whole family loaded up the cars and we went to the Raleigh Christmas Parade.  We weren't really sure how it would go.  It was supposed to be in the 30s and we just didn't know if it would be too cold for the kiddos.  We got there and found a little sunny spot on the route and the kids LOVED it.  Cal was pointing everything out to everyone and I think he thought all of the people were waving to him.  He was waving like crazy back to everyone.  SO cute!

ready for the parade!

grandma with 3 of the grandkids... andy was getting strapped to me in the background

cal, my mom, my aunt with jackson on her shoulders and my sister in law holding catherine

family shot

cal preferred the view from up there

andy fell asleep right as we were leaving!

Where we were standing, there was a ton of sunshine so it actually felt great out there.  It was a beautiful day and everyone had a blast at the parade.  We left downtown Raleigh and went to a restaurant for some lunch.  We took over a corner of the place and had a few pitchers of beer :) and a great lunch.  Jackson and Cal sat next to each other and cracked up the entire meal.  It was cute seeing them play together. 

Sunday, we were together again... this time we were going to see the Rockettes as a family!  Before we could go see them, we tried to get a good family Christmas Card picture... you want chaos?  Try getting everyone (including 4 kids) to look at the camera, have eyes open, and smile...all at the same time! Here were some of the attempts:

FAIL

We left Andy with a sitter on Sunday since he is too little to enjoy the show and we took off for the DPAC!  Cal LOVED the show-- he sat just mesmerized by it all.  Towards the end, he was exhausted and couldn't figure out how to get comfortable...he wanted to put his head down on my shoulder, but watch the show at the same time and couldn't do it... but he was still really good the whole time-- surprisingly!  He loved every time Santa would come out and he would announce it each time. 

It was great seeing the show twice-- once with girls (and wine!), and once with my family (and chaos!). 

Sunday night, we all laid low.  Both boys took long afternoon naps so they were up a little later than usual.  I was getting ready to put Cal in the crib when I heard Cal hysterically laughing in the other room.  I went into see what was going on and this is what I saw:

It was such a great weekend and I am in the holiday spirit now!  I don't care that it isn't even Thanksgiving yet...or that it is 75 out today... I am listening to Christmas music!  I can't wait for Thanksgiving with the family and I can NOT wait to decorate my new house for Christmas!  Call me a loser...I don't care! ha!

If you have read this whole post, I am very impressed.  It was a long one!

xoxo,

Bundled Boys

Cal at 4 months old during a snow storm

Andy at 6 months old at the Raleigh Christmas Parade

Bluebell Icecream

My father-in-law LOOOOOVES Bluebell Icecream. It is made in Texas and it is one of his most favorite things.  He went to the Bluebell store a while back and bought the boys some Bluebell shirts.  In honor of the one year heart attack-aversary, I dressed the boys in the shirts and took some pictures to send him... thankful he's alive to see them wear them!