Monday, March 19, 2012

MEXICO!!

We are back!!

We had such a wonderful time on our vacation to Mexico... the hotel was amazing, the weather incredible, and the kids did really well too!

On the way there, we flew through Atlanta.  The kids played hard in the ATL airport with hopes of wearing them out prior to the 3.5 hours flight down there.  Andy fell asleep prior to take off and woke up about 20 minutes in.  Cal fell asleep right when Andy woke up.  Andy did not go back to sleep and he was suuuuper busy the rest of the flight!  He wanted to jump, lean, stretch, etc etc... Cal was asleep on Eddie so I was wrestling with Mr. Squirmy pants for most of the flight.  We landed and it felt like I had been lifting weights for 3 hours- ha!  Other than that, though, the kids were both great flyers.

The resort where we stayed was all-inclusive and SUPER nice.  We lucked out and got a suite so we could put Andy in one of the bathrooms, and then there was a huge living room area and then a bedroom with two beds.  We also had a great balcony.  It really was the best layout we could have hoped for. 

The boys had so much fun there and we are really glad we took them.  It is such a family-friendly resort; I know we would have been really missing them if they weren't there!
Cal walked around saying Hola! to everyone we saw, and then he would say gracias! to the wait staff.  He was timid in the water for about the first 5 minutes and then he loved it.  There was a little pool which came to about his chest, and there was a little ledge that went around the pool.  Cal stayed in that pool most of the time.  He would hang on to the side and go under over and over and over again. 
Andy also had fun, but he wasn't feeling great.  About the third day there, he woke up burning up-- like hot to the touch.  I think his teeth coming in were just really upsetting him.  I brought some ibproufren, but it wasn't touching this fever, unfortunately.  Thankfully, the friends we knew on the trip had some tylenol as well and told us to rotate giving advil and tylenol every 2 hours, and that brought the fever down.  It was pretty bad for two days-- it was like Andy couldn't stay awake.  I knew he was hurting so bad and I hated being so far away from his bed and home.

Anyway.... other than the fever, we had SUCH a great time! Eddie's friend from Baylor, and his sweet wife, Allyson, were also on this trip.  They brought two of their kids...they have TRIPLETS!!! So they brought their oldest son, whom Cal adored, and one of the triplets, who is about a month older than Andy.  This family is one of those that you just love to travel with.  They are super fun and easy going...and they were totally understanding when my boys hit a wall at dinner every night!
 I took 545 pictures while we were there.  In sane, I know.  I will spare you all of them, but I will share some (okay, a lot) here...

POOLSIDE:
Harper and Cal.  Cal loooooved watching Harper and wanted to be JUST like him!





they had water aerobics every day at noon.  Allyson and I participated the first day-- it was actually really fun! haha!

getting comfortable in the water, sticking his face in...

Andy has the life....

post-swim relaxation in the stroller

having a ball

the "kiddie" pool where Cal loved to play


Allyson and Hampton with me and Andy! Hampton is one month older than Andy

I love Andy's excitement here

chewing on a pineapple...maybe it will help with the teething...?

best buddies

getting so brave

all the way under!

this was the day Andy didn't feel well... he had just woken up from a nap and stayed awake for about 30 minutes before he was back out again...



snuggling my baby...

hahaha- not sure what he is doing here...

he literally did this over and over and over again!

me and my boys (and my mimosa!) poolside!



CAL:

































ANDY:
we were trying to get ready for dinner and he was into EVERYTHING! So we contained him in his crib- ha!

at dinner one night munching on some cheese


he is pulling up on everything possible

dinner buddies with Hampton

these boys could crush some puffs

surf's up



he wasn't feeling well at this point-- you can see in his eyes how awful he felt

and yet, I still tried to take pictures.... poor guy.  The sunset was just too pretty to miss out!

i love this little nugget

really not feeling well here...at least woody was there to keep him company!


THE BOYS:

"I hold AH-NDY"


"no more, please!"





looks like such a sweet picture...until you look closely and Cal is about to bite Andy's nose...







THE FAMILY:







PHEW!  That was a LOT of pictures!!!  

We really had a ball and it wasn't even too crazy taking the kids with us.  Getting back home and back to a routine, on the other hand, is out of control crazy.  We had to lay down with Cal each night and at nap time in the hotel to get him to go to sleep... now he won't go to bed at home... I will write another post on our "adjustments" to getting back to the real world later.

Until then.... good to be home!!!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Adios, amigos!

Seeeeee ya later! We are heading south of border tomorrow morning for a week of relaxation circus time in the sun! The alarm is set for 3:16 in the morning (can't do the well rounded numbers- what fun would that be?) for our 6am flight.  If you get a chance to send some positive thoughts/patience pills my way, that'd be fabulous.  I need some serious help!

Be back in a week with lots of fun stories....hopefully NONE involving poop :) HA!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

What's going on!

Time for a little updating on life over here in crazytown the circus our world!

I have been having issues downloading the pictures off of my iPhone so I am behind in posting those pictures... it's all figured out now, so here come the pictures!

We are leaving this Saturday for Mexico.  The boys are going with us... before you think I am crazy loco, trust me, part of me agrees with you, but the other part of me is super excited to get to go AND be with the kids!  We are going to a super nice all inclusive resort (thank you, Edward Jones!) and it is really geared towards families, so there are tons of things for the kiddos to do.  Plus, in all honesty, when we booked this trip, I was NO where near ready to leave Andy, and I have not been away from Cal for more than 1 night (when I was in the hospital having Andy, I wasn't with him, but he came to see me every day) in over a year, so I knew it was going to be reallly hard for me to leave them.  So, we decided to take them along!

Lucky for us, some friends of ours are also going on this trip and they are taking two of their boys.  The have triplets that are about a month older than Andy, and a 4 year old little boy.  They are taking the 4 year old and one of the triplets.  We will be in good company with the chaos! They are such a fun couple and we are really looking forward to seeing them and letting the boys all play.  Cal is going to LOVE their little guy, Harper, since he is really into bigger kids lately. 

ANYWAY... my life this week is in preparation mode.  I am making lists like nobodies business.  Pack list for Andy, Pack list for Cal, pack list for me, do not forget list, to do this week list, carry on bag list, buy at Target list.... you get my point!

Andy is still eating baby food, so I have to bring all of that with me (yikes).  He eats on average 2-3 containers of food at lunch at dinner.  That is about 6 a day for 7 days.... you do the math!  Thank goodness Cal is potty trained now so we don't have to pack diapers for him too. The problem is, you can't just hop in a cab and head to Walmart to pick up whatever is forgotten.  Once you get to the resort, you do not leave.  So I am going to over pack on food and diapers!

Andy is not sleeping through the night, as I last posted.  Part of me really thought he would have this whole concept down pat before the trip.  Welllll.... looks like it will be all four of us in a hotel room with a kid not sleeping through the night.  Our goal is to wear out Cal so much during the day that he could sleep through anything at night. 

he's sleeping hard here... notice the foot tucked under his belly?
 Last night was a really rough night.  Little man has his two bottom teeth (finally!) breaking through and I think they were really hurting him.  He was up for hours last night.  Normally, I can change, feed and burp in about 30 minutes and he's back down.  Not last night!  I am worn out today! Praying for no nights like that in Mexico...

Andy is crawling like a mad man now.  He can get anywhere he wants to go and he gets there fast.  I LOVE watching him crawl.  It is one of my most favorite things.  His little booty shakes and he gets really excited as he gets closer to whatever objects he's trying to obtain. 

He is also pulling up on EVERYTHING! The refrigerator, my legs, the dresser, Cal... you name it, he will stand up with it. 

please ignore Cal in the background hanging out on the potty. 
He was standing holding my hands a few nights ago and let go and just stood there, not hanging on to anything, for like 6 seconds.  As soon as he realized he wasn't hanging on, he dropped to the ground.  I freaked out.  Eddie was sitting right there and we both were stunned.  How can he be old enough for this?

Cal is still loving his role as Big Brother.  He loves running into Andy's room to get him.  He loves giving him kisses and he loves taking away whatever Andy is playing with at the moment.  It's brotherly love, I guess.




pulling up on Hank
Cal has been a really good boy lately.  He only naps about once a week, which is frustrating, but he still goes in his room for "quiet time" from 1:00 until 3:00.  I refuse to let him out of there until after 3. During quiet time, the lights are off, he stays on his bed, and the music is playing, just in case he decides to give in.  He takes a few cars to bed with him, and normally, I can hear him in there chatting nonstop with the cars.  It's pretty cute.

When he first started not napping, I was SUPER frustrated with him just trying to get him to nap.  Once I came to accept that he isn't going to nap every day, things have gotten easier.  Not sure why just accepting it would make it easier, but it has.  It's like I don't feel the need to struggle with him as much.

Also, it's pretty wild, but once Cal decides it's time for something, there is no looking back.  When Cal decided he was going in the big boy bed, he never gave the crib a second look.  When Cal decided he was done with diapers, he started peeing on the potty.  Well, last week, I was tucking Cal in for bed one night and I handed him his paci (used only for bed time and "nap" time).  He took it from me and then quickly handed it back and said "no paci, mommy" and my God, that kid has not used a paci since! Are you kidding me?  I leave one in his bed for him, just in case he wakes up and decides he needs it, but I have not seen him put one in his mouth in over a week.  Go figure! I imagine every single one of those things will be a challenge with Andy. He doesn't take a paci, but I can't take his fingers away from him!!! haha

We have had some amazing weather lately.  One day last week it reached around 80*.  The boys and I played on the back deck and had the best time out there! Cal rediscovered all of the toys we don't keep out and he loved showing them all to Andy.  He insisted on Andy wearing a fireman's hat:


Andy cracks me up when he pulls himself up on the coffee table.  First you see this little meaty hand smack down, and then you see the tip of his head, and then all of a sudden, you see his huge eyes as he raises himself up-- as soon as he makes eye contact, he start laughing hysterically.  It's pretty awesome.  

Cal wanted Andy to play trains with him the other afternoon.  That was great until Andy decided to actually touch a train.  He ripped up some track and Cal had a fit.  But they were cute playing together for a while!!!


Andy looks confused/concerned...

all 3 of my boys
 Carolina played dook last night in an INCREDIBLE game.  Cal and I took a picture to send to Eddie, who was out of town this weekend:

he is seriously SUCH a snuggler lately.
 Oh, one last funny thing... Now that Cal is out of diapers, his pants fall right off of him.  The child has no read end (unlike his momma!).  He will be running and playing so hard and then his pants are around his ankles and you see Lightning McQueen across his bum- ha!  We went to visit my grandma at the nursing home yesterday and he was running down the hall hiking up his pants every 4th step.  I have put belts on him before, but they take a while to undo when he has to potty, and I don't want to cause him to have an accident because I can't get the belt off quick enough.  All of his shorts fit fine in the waist, so we won't have to worry about these jeans for much longer!

After spending the morning hiking his pants up, he got annoyed with them and took them off.  He found another home for them:


Hope y'all have had a great weekend!  Eddie took the red eye home last night and landed this morning around 8 on the east coast.  Needless to say, everyone is pretty exhausted over here...well, except for Cal.  He seems to have endless energy....

 
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