The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

On this blog, I try to portray all aspects of being a Momma.  Being a mom is so so so amazing.  Being a mom is also so so so hard.  While I do like to focus on the more positive moments of mommyhood, I think I would be remiss to leave out the *other* stuff too.  Because someday, when my kids are grown, I am going to look back at this post and wish to have more of those days filled with *other* stuff. 

Eddie was out of town this weekend, so it was me and my boys holding down the fort.  Here is the breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly....

The Good:

CalBoy is doing REALLY well potty training.  Hardly any accidents (very rare!), he's in big boy underpants during the day (pull up at "nap" time and a diaper overnight), and he has started pooping on the potty! 
Cal has also decided that he looooooves to snuggle with momma.  On Saturday, he came over to me and scooted about as close as he could get and then put his arm around my neck and said, "momma, I wanna snuggle." My heart melted. 

notice the car in his hand

This morning, he climbed up on my bed after we got dressed for the day and again asked to snuggle.

  I got out my camera to attempt another picture and he grabbed my face for a kiss.  I might frame this one... I mean..... come on....

Another "good" is how well the boys are starting to play together.  Cal still takes things from Andy (on purpose) and Andy still screams when he does it, but they seriously have so much fun together.  Here Cal was showing Andy how the trains work. 

The Bad:

With the good comes the bad.  Saturday night, we were eating dinner and Cal was Facetiming with Eddie's sister, Tricia. They were having a great time talking until Cal got really quiet and then got a HUGE smile on his face and said, "Shosh! I peepeed in my pants!!!"  Seriously?  He has been accident free for a while now and he choose right then to relieve himself?  So, I stripped down his bottom half until I was done feeding Andy.

Fireman Barebottom

The Ugly:

This sweet moment above was captured about 4 minutes before Andy took the biggest dump of his life.  In the tub.  And he was sitting, so instead of it floating up so I could scoop it up, it was mashed into the tub.  Did I mention Eddie was out of town? 

Silhouettes

I love the classic look of a silhouette.  There is just something so sweet and innocent (and CLEAN-- you can't see how messy their clothes are!). 

Anyway, The Children's Store had a silhouette artist in this weekend so I made an appointment to take the boys.  Not knowing what to expect, I was blown away by the process.  The artist takes a piece of black paper and then free-style cuts out your kids silhouette.  And let's be honest, my munchkins were not sitting perfectly still... in fact, Cal was pretending the chair was a horse and "riding" it.  Andy was crawling over to a display rack to take it apart while I was reigning in Cal's "horse (you like that pun?).  It was chaos, but so easy and quick!  I really like they way they turned out...  I scanned them into the computer and they don't look too good scanned, but you can get an idea of them:

Pretty sweet little nuggets, huh?  And you can't even see the stains....

Flashback Friday

Cal 8/11/2010

"nap time" photoshoot

What does one do with one's son when one's son doesn't nap??

(sigh)

A few videos

I take videos every single day, but rarely get around to posting them on here.

Here are three of my favorites right now. 

In the first one, after bath time, I was trying my hardest to get Cal dressed for bed.  He popped up and shouted "SHAKE YOUR BOTTOM!" while, well, shaking his bottom. He thought this was absolutely hilarious.  I have NO idea where he has heard that before-- I can promise you I do not walk around the house telling people to shake their bottoms.  I do, however, do some crazy zumba moves while cooking dinner... but I am usually fully clothed during those episodes.  After this video, he ripped off his diaper and did a MUCH longer, much more elaborate dance, which I am not going to post on the internet.  Just trust me when I say it's about the funniest thing I've ever seen. 

The second video is sweet Andy playing peek-a-boo with a blanket.  He does this every night after baths and it startles him each and every time he does it.  And it cracks him up.  This is the perfect example of the sweet nature of this little boy! He is so content hiding from himself and then finding himself again! haha!

And the third video just shows you how the technology works in our house.  Cal can work the iPad better than most adults.  He can navigate youtube, facebook (grrr), and all of the apps.  But put him in front of a computer and he is lost....

Boys will be boys!

By the end of the day, the boys are pretty sick of me and pretty ready to see their daddy.  Daddy plays a whole different way (usually it scares me to death, but whatever-- the boys love it).  I had my camera out the other night for a little play time:

Can't you just see the love they all have for each other?  I'm so glad I had my camera out to capture this little impromptu wrestle match!

Andy: NINE month update!

Preface: I have found it VERY difficult to update a blog with a certain 2 year old who is refusing to nap. Hence the absence...

Andy turned NINE months old this week and once again, I can not believe he is already that old!  My mom and I were chatting about his first birthday last night-- it will be here before we know it!

Andy is changing every day, it seems-- and this last one was a big month for him!  He started crawling..slowly at first, but now he loooooves this new freedom and he will take off if he sees something he wants.  It's really cute-- he will spot something he wants and then he gets so excited to go after it, he starts sort of "revving" up like a car would and then he takes off after it!  It is ADORABLE to watch.

It did not take him long to start pulling up, either.  He will pull up on anything now!  If we are laying on the floor, he will come right over and start pulling up on us.  We had to remove everything from the coffee table, since that is his new spot to pull up.  I have a silver tray that sits on the bottom shelf of the table which normally holds some of the boys' books.  Andy grabs hold of that thing and flings it across the floor.  I have since baby proofed a bit more.  He is also fascinated by electrical outlets...seriously.  Loves to go over to them and inspect them.  Lovely!

Speaking of pulling up, I went in to get Andy from his nap the other day and he was standing in his crib peering out at me.  That night, when he woke up for his nightly visit (sigh), he was standing up in his crib SO excited to see me come in.  He is just so proud of himself!

Andy is still a really happy baby and he smiles constantly.  He LOVES his big brother and Cal can really get a good belly laugh out of him.  He is always looking for Cal and will start cracking up when he sees him.

We had his nine month well visit a few days ago. It was a well visit, but she heard a little rattle in his chest so we ended up doing a nebulizer breathing treatment while we were there.  He just has a nasty cold...  Here are his stats at 9 months:



Stats:
Weight- 21 pounds, 2 ounces (50th percentile)

Height- 29 inches (75th percentile)

Head circumference- 46.5 cm (75-90th percentile)

Eating:
I have been holding off on feeding Andy any real foods lately since he still does not have any pearly whites.  He has been crushing the baby food and eats at least 2 jars for lunch and again at dinner.  I have not found a kind he doesn't like!  He gets mad if you take too long feeding him-- he will let you know you need to hurry it up!
A friend of mind suggested a few little things to try with him since he is eating so much baby food.  I started him on puffs and he reallllly likes those!  He grabs them by the handful and shovels them into his mouth using the two fingers he normally sucks on. hahaha! I also gave him some ground beef, since that was a favorite of Cal's.  I was nervous about him eating without teeth, but the boy will chow down!  He doesn't care one bit that he is gumming everything! He literally shovels food into his mouth.

I am down to nursing 3-4 times a day (plus once during our nightly visit....).  I am about ready to start weaning down, but we are going to Mexico soon and we are taking the boys-- we figured we would continue to nurse until we got home... that way we didn't have to worry about him eating/drinking something bad while we were there.  Also, that way we can wean to whole milk.

Favorite Toys:
Andy likes most toys and is easily entertained by lots of things.  However, that sweet little nugget will flap his arms and fly across the floor for a basketball!  We have several balls around the house, and he likes a football, but there is a basketball that he just loves chasing around the house.

Sleeping:
Andy take a short morning nap (usually around 45 mins- an hour) and then takes a great afternoon nap (usually 1:00-4:30 ish).  I usually wake him up from his morning nap... if he sleeps too long in the morning, I have a hard time getting him down in the afternoon, and I need the boys to nap at the same time so I can get things done (do you hear that, Cal?!?!?!?!).  He goes down right at 7 and usually will wake up around 3 or 4 for a little visit.  Once I change and feed him, he goes back down great.  Last night, he woke up around midnight and then slept until 7 this morning.   Last week, when he had the cold, he was waking up several times a night and would NOT fall back asleep!  I was getting up with him several times a night.
I know.... you are thinking I am in sane right?  I was such an advocate for crying it out and now here I am getting up every night with my little buddy.... he has just gotten SO loud when he's crying... when he wakes up Cal from screaming, then I have BOTH of my little friends to deal with.... it's just easier to go snuggle with Andy for 30 minutes. 

(side note: I wrote this yesterday and last night he slept from 7 pm until 6 am and then went back down until 7:30...not to jinx myself....)

Sippy Cup:
I have been trying to give Andy a sippy cup with water in it.  I am not sure he fully understands how it works.  I can't figure out if he is actually getting any or if he is just drooling it down the front of him.  At any rate, he loves gnawing on it!

That's about all going on right now!  We are crazy in love with this little nugget and he makes me incredibly happy every single day.  He is SUCH a sweet boy and I am blessed to call him my son :)  Happy nine months, Andy!  

I am trying...

there is a *certain* someone who is refusing naps lately. If I let him get up, he wants me to hold him, play with him, entertain him (no break for mom). If I make him stay in his room, he screams his head off, waking up his brother. I have tried to write a post several times, but it is VERY difficult....

they are coming.  I promise.  I have so much to blog about.....

but for now...I am going to keep calm and carry on...........................

MIA: a massive catch up

Holy cow....have I really not posted in over 10 days?? Whoops!  I have no real excuse for being so absent; we've just been really busy around here!

Last weekend (Feb. 4th), we had a birthday party on Saturday morning for Harrison, who is my good friend Ashley's son.  He was turning 4 and the party was at Frankie's Fun Park.  We've never been there before, but it was CRAZY how much stuff there was to do there!  Cal walked around in amazement for most of the time and it was during Andy's nap time, so he snuggled in in the stroller and was happy as could be!

playing ski ball

Cal loved sitting in the race car...until it turned on and started shaking and rocking back and forth.  Then he was done!

in a trance by all the lights!

riding a motorcycle

daddy felt he needed to help him drive

rocking back and forth "driving"

daddy got realllly into it

love this sweet child

pizza time!

me and CalBoy!

Saturday night was wild and crazy, as we often are around here.  I got Andy dressed in his jammies and Cal HAD to wear the same ones (see? WILD and CRAZY!)

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday.  The game falls at the lovely bewitching hour where the kids are ready for dinner and bed, which makes going to a party very difficult.  This year, we went to the club, just the four of us, and watched the first quarter on the big screen while eating yummy food.  Then I came home with the kids, and Eddie went over to a friend's house to watch some of the game.  The boys were REALLY good at dinner and we had a lot of fun just spending time the four of us. 

 Andy played with a straw the majority of the time and thought it was the funniest/best tasting/most entertaining thing EVER.  (also, he won't wear a bib...ever....please ignore the messy shirt front)

The week following the super bowl was good, and felt very busy. 

hard at work on the iPad

waking up from a nap, happy!

Andy is getting teeth so he's been getting super fussy.  I am trying hard to not overload him with Tylenol/Advil, but bless his heart, you can tell he's really in pain! I can pretty much see a bottom tooth about to pop through, so maybe once it gets through, his pain will lessen. 

I wanted to get a picture of the boys together to make a Valentine's Day card to send out to our families.  One night after baths, Cal reallllly wanted to hold Andy.  Eddie was there to keep their attention, so we ran with it.  I just wish the monster truck jammies were "dirty" that night...

our winner!

 Here are some pictures from my iPhone from the week...

see my legs?  this is how I go to the bathroom these days: with an audience

hankers chasing the sun

so cute...and naughty for not napping

who me??  naughty??

my three sons.

hank is a giant.

cal wanted to "help" me with the laundry.  He brought his chair into the laundry area (not so much a room) and took out a play cell phone.  He said he was busy working.

a trip to the grocery store.  Cal insisted on holding Andy the ENTIRE trip.  Would not take his arm from around Andy's shoulders. He also insisted on speaking to everyone in the store...

still holding on

We had friends in from out of town this past weekend.  They used to live here, but now live in Maryland so they came back for a little visit.  It was wonderful seeing them and catching up!  I was excited for their visit and spent most of my free time last week getting ready for them-- hence the lack of blog posts!

On Saturday, our friends went to visit other friends and we took Cal to the circus!  My parents offered to keep Andy, thankfully, so we could enjoy a little CalBoy time.  I still think it's really important for him to have some alonne time with his parents.  He liked the circus a lot and loved all of the animals.  He was scared at some parts, but kept saying he had fun, so that's all the matters.  We went with Brad and his parents (hi, sally!), so it made it EXTRA fun!

Saturday night, we had a little cookout and had some friends over so everyone could see Peter and Tiffani.  It was pure chaos, but really fun.  There was a LOT going on, so I wasn't able to get very many pictures...

Cal and Miller riding the Plasma car around the house together.  These two have never played together before, but acted like they were the best of friends.  It was pretty awesome.

love their faces in this one

 Side note: if you need a gift for your kid, the plasma car is AMAZING.

And finally...

Cal was watching Hank have a little treat... and why not be in your big boy underwear??  We are peepeeing on the potty 100% of the time around here (yahooooo) and number two is still an issue, but I think we are making some progress there.  He is either asking for a diaper or waits until nap time to go in his pull up...hmmmm....

Also, in BIG Andy news, he started crawling this week...but more about the in his update tomorrow after his visit to the doctor for his 9 month well check!

I actually have a lot more to write right now, but this post is already the longest thing ever and I need a shower desperately before these wild things wake up.  They both have nasty colds right now and I feel like I live in a snot factory.  Both boys managed to have snot in their eyebrows this morning at the same time-- how gross/impressive is that?? 

I wish each of you a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  I do not really like this holiday... but whatever, if you do, good for you!  I will be spending an evening with my boys- all of them! - and relaxing in.  Sounds good to me!

More updating tomorrow.... I swear, I am back on it!