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....