Halloween!

I'm BACK!!!  I have not posted in FOREVER it feels like!  (I have a theory that when people who blog are first pregnant they neglect their blog, either out of fear of writing something that will give it away, or they just plain don't feel up to it.  Don't worry, my friends: I am NOT with child!  I have just been crazy busy.)

Eddie and I were really looking forward to Halloween this year...okay, maybe Eddie wasn't really looking forward to it, but I certainly was (and he humored me!).  We have been telling Cal all about dressing up and trick-or-treating and now that he's at such a talkative stage, we thought it'd be fun taking him out.

I had a feeling, however, that getting him into a costume would prove to be challenging.

He wore a Lightning McQueen costume at school one time while playing dress up, so I found it online and ordered it for him to wear for Halloween.  It came and he looked at it and refused to let me put it on him.  Okkaayyyyyy.  He put it half way on by himself once, but when he saw me looking, took it off and refused to put it back on. 

My mom saw an airplane costume in Target and knowing how much Cal loves airplanes, she bought it for him.  He wanted nothing to do with it!  I put it on myself (start laughing now), and that made him want to wear it, but he only wore it for about 2 minutes and then was done with it.

Cal is really into animals these days and after seeing The Lion King, I thought he might want to be a lion.  I found the costume and brought it home.  He immediately grabbed it and put it on....but quickly took it off and didn't want to wear it again.

Are you seeing a trend of my little strong-willed man??

WELL, on Sunday, we had a birthday party for two of Cal's friends.  It was a Halloween themed party and kids were to wear costumes.  We had just gotten in from Texas, and we had to wake up Cal, so he was a little crank-tastic.  I laid out both the Lightning McQueen costume and the lion costume and asked him what he wanted to wear.  He said "no lion. I want McQueen" so we grabbed the costume and headed out.

He wore the car without a fuss, thankfully, and Andy was more than happy to be a pumpkin!!

getting ready to leave the house

my little McQueen at the party

Brad Mickey arrived the same time we did-- the boys were sooo excited!

off roading

Andy was worn out from a long day of travel!

Before we went to Texas, Andy's playgroup was getting together for the little ones to wear their costumes.  A bunch of people had last minute conflicts/sickness, so the play group was really small, but it was SO cute to see these little ones in costume!!!

Andy the zebra!

Andy and Charlie...our own little safari

how freaking cute is this watermelon?  (and andy is saying: "excuse me... there seems to be something on my head...")

they all look a tad panicked... ha!

Halloween Night:

It rained on Halloween and we were pretty disappointed.  We had plans to go to a little neighborhood get together loaded with kids, but outside....but that got rained out, so some friends of ours stepped up to the plate and invited everyone over to just hang out (with fingers crossed that the rain would cease).  We ended up having a GREAT time!

Before we could leave the house, we had to get in costume.  Eddie and I decided that since we spent the money on the lion, we were going to have ourselves a lion!  We wrestled that squirming two year old into the costume...

And Mr. Andy was just as happy as can be to be a zebra... he's just waiting it out in the carseat:

the kid loves his fingers!

I offered Cal a treat once the costume was on (total bribery....worst mother ever, I know.  Whatever.).  He took the treat and all of a sudden, he was the happiest little lion ever!

see the treats? 

 Once we arrived at the get together, Cal did not want to take off his hood.  He was having a great time playing in costume!

with Owen, the train

trying to get some of the kids...we couldn't get all of them!

my loves

 We left our friends' house just before 7:00 and the rain had stopped.  We decided we needed to take him to a few houses for some trick-or-treating.  We were already in the best neighborhood for it, so we parked down the street and let Cal run the cul-de-sac.  

This is super cheesy, but it was honestly one of my favorite memories so far in parenting.  I had Andy in the Bjorn on me, just laughing non-stop, and Cal was in between me and Eddie holding our hands, chatting up a storm and just SO happy.  We were all just SO happy-- it was great.  It was one of those nights that just made me smile...(see? cheesy.)

he is asking to hold my hand here....love

momma looks like she has her hands full, but she's one happy lady :)

After hitting about 10 houses, Cal thought trick-or-treating was the greatest.  He would walk right up to a house, hold out his bag and say "trick-or-treat!" and then they would give him candy and his eyes would get real big and he would say "thank youuuuuu!" and then turn around to show me.  It. was. awesome.

We got home around 8:00 and got the kids bathed and in bed fairly quickly.  We finally sat down to eat some dinner around 9 and had off all of the lights outside the house, and the only lights on in the house were in the kitchen...and the doorbell rang.  Some stupid teenagers were wanting candy after 9.  I mean, come on. AND our lights were off! The dog was barking too....but the boys were so tired they didn't wake up....those teenagers are lucky! ha!

On Tuesday, the kids wore their costumes to school for a little parade and some games.  Eddie had an early meeting this day so I was on my own to get Cal in the costume- ha! He got to pick out his jammies the night before because he was so tired, and he picked out some crazy mismatched top and bottom-- like the most pattern filled top you can imagine against the most pattern-filled pants... normally, who cares, they are pajamas, right? well...

Cal REALLY did not want to take off these awesome jammies that he picked out, so I told him he could keep them on under his lion costume-- he was fine with that!  Got him in the costume without much fight at all!

running into school-- so excited!

with Hunter  (who was obsessed with his mom's camera)

some of Cal's class

Once the kids came down the hall, there were games set up in the great room.  They went "fishing" for treats (Cal thought this was AMAZING-- he spent the rest of the day telling me "I went fisheeeeng!"), pinned the nose on the pumpkin, played musical chairs, and lots more.  Cal had a great time.

fishing!

no, Cal....the nose does NOT go over the eye...hmmmm

I just love this one of Cal and Tatum...so sweet!

I came back after drop off to see the parade and help out with games, etc, as the teachers requested some extra hands.  When I left, there was still 2 hours left in the day, and Cal was super upset I was leaving for whatever reason.  His teacher hugged him to calm him down, and as I walked out the door, I heard her say, "okay, Cal, let's just get you out of this costume..."  I spun around and said "WHAT?" I thought they were leaving the costumes on all day (hence allowing for the crazy mismatched pjs!).  So my child was "that kid" in preschool, running around in some construction zone shirt, bicycle pants and some sneakers.... but he was grinning ear to ear.  And that's all that matters!

Safe to say Halloween was a success!

With how much fun we had this year, I can only imagine next year!

I deeeed it!

(the title is said in my best Cal voice)

**this was written on the Monday after Eddie got home (the 24th), I just forgot to hit publish....duh**

I survived the solo week: phew!  It is a lot to have your husband gone from Sunday to Sunday... I realize that many spouses travel for work or are abroad serving overseas.   I have a HUGE appreciation to the spouses that are left at home with the kids!

My parents were super helpful for the first part of the week before they left to go out of town, so that was great, and I have got to say- I am blessed with some incredible friends.

The day to day stuff is easy... it gets tricky around dinner time.  The dinner/bath/bed time gets challenging because I just do not have enough hands to go around.  I would be feeding Andy, cooking Cal's dinner and the dog would be sitting at his water bowl crying because it was empty and then Cal would start screaming because his food wasn't ready, which would startle Andy and make him start crying and then spitting his food out, etc etc etc.  And bath time, I would bathe them both together, with Andy in his whale tub.  When the bath was done, I would get Andy out and wrapped in a towel and snuggled up in a little seat, then I would finish Cal quickly and then get him out and dried off and then he would take off running (naked) while I would dress Andy.  Then I would tackle Cal into his jammies.  Once they were both dressed, Cal would want to run around a bit more, but Andy was ready to nurse and go to bed...so I would have to find something for Cal to do to keep him out of Andy's room where he would inevitably end up coming in a yelling...because he can...! Again, I say PHEW!

For the most part, the week went really well.  Thursday was a TOUGH day (I sat in my closet and cried.  Literally.), but I had a sitter come Thursday night and I threw my arms around her neck when she showed up--ha! 


Highs and Lows from the week:

HIGHS:

-- we had some amazingly gorgeous weather this week (I think it only rained once) so we got to play outside a lot

-- INCREDIBLE friends:
         -a sweet friend brought me a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar to get me through the week (thanks, ange!)
         -other friends came over for a playdate...with WINE!
         -the same friend as above had us over for a playdate...with WINE! (thanks, sall)
         - another friend offered to come over and pick up Cal to go over to their house.  We ended up all going over there to play since they have a baby Andy's age.  It was great to just let everyone play.

-- Friday was the absolute perfect day.  We went to the gym, went to the park, and then went to this cute little place for lunch: a hotdog and some ice cream!  They have a really cool train table there so Cal was in heaven!

-- The gym! I joined a gym that has a great little childcare room and it was so nice to go and have a workout while the kids got to play.  It just gave us all a break from each other, and it gave me time to workout!  I went just about every day while Eddie was gone.

-- Taking the boys to visit my grandmother in the nursing home.  She got to hold both of them and loved listening to Cal chat up a storm!

LOWS:

--Thursday kicked my rear.  Cal had school, Andy didn't take his morning nap, we picked Cal up from school and he was cranky.  He didn't take a nap, and was screaming so loudly it kept waking up Andy, who was hysterically crying because he was so exhausted.  I would go in and get Andy calm and asleep and then Cal would start screaming again and wake up Andy.  Each time it happened, Andy became more and more hysterical and it took longer and longer to get him back down again. Cal got naked a few times and kept asking to go on the potty. I took him, and he peed, but then refused to let me put the diaper back on him.  He kicked me really hard when I tried, so I pinned down his legs and explained (very calmly, surprisingly) that we do not kick.  While I was explaining this to him, he hauled off and slapped me across the face.  I put him in his crib and walked to my closet where I sat down to cry.  It was classic.

-- The terrible twos: Cal is at a difficult age, there is no denying it.  If you ask him to do something, he almost always replies NO.  To everything.  It's exhausting.  It's trying. It's NO fun (pun intended)

--Andy started NOT sleeping through the night for whatever reason...! ACK.  This was when I  needed the sleep the most!  He would wake up around 5 or so and not want to go back down...odd...

SO anyway, I DEEEEED it.  I survived and it was fine.  For those of you who read this who are single parents, you can roll your eyes at me and think I am crazy.  Or for those of you who do it on your own day in, day out anyway, high five to you.  Now I know I can do it... if I have to!

FIVE months old!

WOW! Sweet little Andy is now 5 months old.  Once again, I will say that time is flying by.  I can't get over it!

Andy continues to be THE sweetest kid-- he is constantly happy.  He very rarely cries... if he's wet or tired, he'll let you know, but otherwise, he's just kind of happy as can be!

I seriously can not get enough of him... I know that sounds so stupid, but I just want to kiss and hug and snuggle and kiss some more.  I LOVE THIS KID!  It's crazy to think you can love another kid as much as your first, but you really do!  Your heart just kinda grows, I guess!
 

 Mr. Andy is HUGE.  People do not believe me when I say that he is 5 months old.  He isn't fat at all (he sort of looks chunky in pictures, but he really isn't--well, he does have a few chins....), he's just really long.  His legs are incredibly long-- and they are constantly in motion.  He is kicking his legs non-stop! 

I thought maybe earlier this week he was having a growth spurt because he wasn't sleeping through the night any more (waking up around 5--STARVING), and he was kicking his legs all the time.  I thought maybe be was doing that because of leg cramps.  Growing up, I had horrible leg cramps- they were awful-- when I hit my growth spurts, so I just didn't know. 
He looks HUGE to me, especially lately.  Clothes that Cal wore for a while, Andy has blown through.  (my heart just started hurting as I was typing this... why do they have to grown up so fast?).  Andy wears mainly 9 month clothes now, but he's pushing his way out of those too.  I went ahead and put him in a size 3 diaper, which seems HUGE to me-- can he really be in a size 3 diaper???  Yup, he sure can.  

In order to try to get him back sleeping through the night, I have added some food to his diet.  He was has been eating oatmeal for almost a month now, and he likes it, but I think it was getting a bit bland for him. 

I started with sweet potatoes, which is what I started with with Cal.  Andy wasn't really a huge fan.  I tried giving him a spoonful of just the potatoes, and he automatically spit them out-- well, they kind of seeped out of his mouth.  So I took a spoonful of the oatmeal and dipped it in the potatoes and he didn't better like that, but he still wasn't devouring it like I thought he would. 

I wanted to start him out with veggies because I've heard that if you start them with fruit, you will have a really hard time getting them to eat veggies at all (any of y'all heard this??).  I am tempted to try pears, a favorite of Cal's, to see if that gets him going. 

Right now, Andy just eats food at dinner time.  I am about ready to start giving him some food at lunch time as well.  He will typically eat about 4-6 ounces of breastmilk-mixed oatmeal at a feeding.
 

Andy has been enjoying the jumper more and more and I am hoping to get him in the door jumper that Cal loved so much soon... I have to be careful though because every time I put Andy in it, Cal thinks he should push him like it's a swing.  There is NO unattended play going on over here, I can promise you that!

And finally, here is a picture of Cal when he was 5 months old...

I will survive...

RIGHT??

Obviously, I can do it, but I would love some positive and energetic (and patient) thoughts sent my way. 
Apparently, I am trying to win the Wife of the Year award... I kissed Eddie goodbye this morning as he left with a friend for Napa.  Since I am nursing, I told him to take the trip and I would stay home with the munchkins.  This is another one of those amazing Jones trips (where Eddie works) where you stay in the nicest of the nicest hotels, and it is really just top notch. That's right.  Eddie is currently on his way to Napa Valley while I stay here in (beautiful!) Chapel Hill...with two kids...


In order to prepare for the solo week, I have done the following:

--hung black out curtains in Cal's room (oh, he WILL be napping this week!!!)
--caught up on ALL laundry
--changed all sheets on every bed/crib in the house (this just made me feel like it was a fresh start)
--restocked all diapers, wipes, toilet paper, etc etc... (I can't holler down the hall for Eddie to bring me TP- haha!)

Okay,  I am being a tad facetious about all of this (well, not the curtains-- I was TOTALLY serious about homie napping this week).  It is going to be a great week and we are all going to be fine.  Just, if you get a chance, shoot me some positive energy and a whole lot of patience pills... I will need them!

Kind of funny-- Andy has been sleeping like a champ lately- 13+ hours a night (from 7pm until 8am) and Cal has been sleeping in until 7:30.  I can handle anything on a good night's sleep... well, Eddie left this morning at 5.  Andy was up at 3 and would NOT go back to sleep!  Finally at 4:45 I went in and fed him (he chowed down-- he was starving!), I got him back to sleep and then I couldn't fall asleep.  Cal woke up at 6 and was calling out: "Mommmmma! I neeeeed youuuuuu!" hahah  I went in his room and he was wide awake pointing at his diaper saying "poopoo potty, momma!" I knew he wasn't going to poop on the potty, but I took him anyway and changed his diaper, etc.  Well, he had NO desire to get back in his crib.  I brought him in bed with me, but there was no sleep coming. 

These boys better get back to their regular sleeping habits while daddy is gone! 

And, I have to admit I am not doing thise totally on my own.  My parents live all of 6 minutes away so they will be helping me out as much as possible.  Cal is even going to have a slumber party over there one night (how fun are my parents??).  My mom is leaving on Thursday for the 3 day walk for breast cancer (go mom go!), so next weekend will be a BIG kick in my rear. 

Thanks for listening to me pump myself up.  I am going to try to post this week when I can... I imagine we will be doing all kinds of activities....anything to keep us occupied (and out of trouble!).

My little nuggets.  Bring on the week!

Andy's Baptism

On Sunday, October 9th, we had Andy baptized.  It was a beautiful day and Andy did GREAT!

As I have written previously, Cal has been a bit of a handful lately, so there was just no telling how he would be during the service.  We put him in the nursery for most of the service, and then went and got him for the baptism.  We were also a little nervous that Andy would have a major blowout in his little white outfit that my mom made him (thanks, Momma!).  When we tried the outfit on 2 days before, he had a HUGE blowout in the clothes he wore over to their house, so I was terrified it would happen again (because he hadn't gone number 2 since the massive blowout....), but, all was fine!  No blowouts!

It is actually pretty amazing that everything went as well as it did with all of the factors we had going on!

Cal has become EXTREMELY opinionated on what he wears every day and it has been an ongoing battle with us.  I was worried that the morning of the baptism he would only want to wear his firetruck jammies or his God awful sweatpants (Lord help us all), but to my surprise, he saw the outfit I had for him laid out on the bed and he was SO excited to wear it!  He thought the tie looked like Daddy (even though Eddie has never worn a bowtie), and he thought the shoes were just like my dad's, so he kept saying Poppa's shoes! He could hardly wait to get dressed-- thank you, LORD!

He woke up and his hair was all kinds of a mess so he took a shower with Eddie-- a special treat for Cal!  he loves to take a big boy shower... while he was waiting to get in the shower, he was just so excited about everything-- it was hilarious.  He was ripping off his clothes and then he decided he wanted to put on Poppa's shoes right then.  So he was completely naked except for Poppa's shoes, while running to get in the shower.  It was like all the excitement was just too much for him.  I took a video of this, but I am going to save Cal's embarrassment and not post it on the blog. 

Here are some pictures from the day....

you see?  up to NO good!!! 

My mom made the perfect little outfit for Andy-- I just loved it!  It was the same outfit that she made for Cal, but each one has their monogram on it.  The boys both looked so sweet in them when we baptized them...

this was before the service.  He wore the bib to catch the spit up/drool, but the bib came off for the service

Cal was SO excited when my dad got there and was wearing the same shoes that he was! It was impossible to get a picture of them because Cal kept staring at their shoes side by side

 Before church started, we tried to get a family shot of the 4 of us.  SUCH a challenge!  We could get a picture that was great of the kids, but my eyes were closed.  Or Eddie and I were talking and the kids were staring off in the distance.  This was about the best we could get, and poor Andy is eating his bib! Oh well-- I'll take what I can get!

 And I just love this one of me and my little sweet potato french fry..... he is making a face like "just wait mom... if you think Cal is naughty......." hahaha

 My sweet momma-- she is so amazing.... I am LUCKY to be so close with her. Andy loves her too-- see how he is looking up at her? 

So, before the baptism is the sermon.  Then there is a song and then the baptism starts.  When the sermon was wrapping up, Eddie went to the nursery to get Cal.  They walked back into the sanctuary right as the minister was making his final point.  He did one of those pauses for dramatic effect, and Eddie opened the door, and Cal walked in and said "HI!" suuuuper loudly-- like he was so pleased to see all of these people here just to see him!  It was hilarious!  Everyone started chuckling and I thought Eddie was going to crawl through the floor with embarrassment.  

My mom had a few little cars and trucks in her purse, as all grandmothers do, and Cal found a few.  He decided to take them up on the alter with us during the baptism. 

 During the ceremony, Cal just wanted to squat down.  We didn't know why, but he was being really good, so we let him squat.  He was holding his cars and was being still, so we were pleased. 

Eddie and I decided to ask two amazing people to be Andy's Godmothers. Cal didn't have Godparents.  There wasn't a real reason behind that decision; we just decided that he didn't really need them. Andy doesn't really need them either, but I am blessed enough to have these incredible women in my life and I really wanted to honor them and let them know how much they mean to me and my boys.  Here is Andy with his Godmothers: Andrea and Julie.  I get teary eyed thinking about how much these two mean to me.  love love love y'all!

 After church, we went over to my mom's house for brunch.  We sat out on the patio and it was beautiful out!  Not too hot, a nice breeze....it was just perfect!  I got this picture of Andy, and sadly, it is the only picture I got of him in his baptism outfit!

And, just for comparison's sake.... here are two pictures from Cal's baptism...

We feel super blessed and loved having the family together in church to celebrate Andy!