bliggity blog

hi! I have been SO bad about blogging lately.  ugh.  Whoops.  Eddie has been traveling a bunch the past two weeks and he had to take the laptop with him when he went...and I do all of my picture uploading and blogging from there. 

Here's what's been going on around here...

*we went to the beach last weekend.  It was sporadic and super casual-- we threw everyone in the car and headed down Friday after the boys had camp.  It was a really awesome weekend.  It was so low key, but that's what made it so awesome...

*the boys did camp last week at our country club.  They went Monday-Friday from 9-noon and they both loved it! I picked them up on Friday and Cal was full on football tackling one of the counselors there.  They were both sweaty and happy and exhausted.  Can't ask for much more!

*I posted before about Cal passing the swim test.  Well, we put a mask on that kid, and he is like a fish in the water.  He spends more time under the water than above it.  I am seriously impressed with his swimming! I think he will be on the swim team next year for sure.

*Andy, not one to be left behind, is trying to get his swim on too.  He is completely fearless at the pool-- no shock there, right? He walks in to where the water is to about his chest and then jumps up and goes under...and sits with his bottom on the pool-- and stares up with big blue eyes from under water.  And he can hold his breath a while too! It's wild! I am working with him on swimming (and not just sinking) and when I hold him on his belly and tell him to put his face in, he fully submerges his head-- eyes open and all-- while kicking along.  He doesn't want to be left out!

*Cal had a date with my mom yesterday to Chuck-e-cheese.  Last year, my mom would take one grandkid a week and spend a special day with them.  Cal told me randomly that he missed those days with grandma (how sweet is that?!?!) and when I told my mom, she immediately made plans with him! She even took him to Target (the boy loves some target!) and got him a batmobile.  He is in heaven.  What a good grandma.

*Andy has started kissing girls on the lips.  And when I say girls, I do not mean family members.  And when I say girls, I mean adults.  He and Cal hug the manager at the gym everyday.  She squats down, they run to her and throw their arms around her neck.  Well, today, Andy leaned in with his mouth for a kiss.  She turned her head and he screamed, "no. LIPS!" Then they went to the child care room and when I picked them up, Andy hugged Alyssa, the childcare worker.  He then asked for a kiss and she turned her cheek to him and he reached around with his face in hers and went after her lips.  I think we have a girl crazy one on our hands. 

And this is random, but it's been on my mind lately...

Things I never want to take for granted:

-the health of my family
-my health
-my relationship with my mom

*And finally-- this could go on the above list, but it seems silly to add this to that stuff-- I will never take for granted a good babysitter.  I think the really really good ones are hard to find and impossible to replace.  Our go-to girl is leaving for college in a few weeks and I am sad.  I am actually really really sad.  I trust her to feed/bathe/and get my kids to bed.  I trust her to take both kids to the pool by herself.  I would leave my kids with her over the weekend if I needed to.  I had another babysitter come when my regular couldn't and this girl, bless her heart, put Andy's diaper on backwards (that MUST be soooo hard to do, right??) and the house was a mess when I got home.  I do NOT expect babysitters to pick up my house--at all! But it wouldn't hurt to take their dirty plates from dinner and just toss them in the sink...would it?? The clothes the boys wore were strewn down the hallway-- I mean, can't you just throw them in the general direction of the laundry room? Or maybe even-gasp-in the hamper?!?! So, I do not take my fabulous babysitter for granted one bit.  I am just going to have to groom these other ones a little bit :)

*Also, we leave for Mexico on Sunday with the kids.  Can't wait for a vacation-- not sure how Andy will do flying.... this will be his first time with his own seat on the plane.  Let's hope we leave his terrible twos at home.

And I will leave you with this picture my brother in law sent me...

Adios!


 

little swimmer

At the beach over the 4th, I wrote about Cal swimming further and further each day in the pool.  At our pool at home, in order to go off of the diving board or down the slide, you have to pass the swim test-- swimming, unassisted, across the deep end of the pool.  They do not allow parents to ride down with kids and they do not allow flotation devices in the deep end (however, I am the most anti-flotation device parent ever...but that's a whole different story! ha!)

We came home from the beach on Sunday and went to the pool Monday afternoon with the hopes of passing the swim test.  We started in the deep end and I jumped in so Cal could swim to me as we went across the pool.  He was ALL about getting it done! He jumped in without hesitating and the current from the water slide pushed him up against the rope that divides the deep end from the regular pool.  The rope (which is really rough) got up around his neck and he panicked.  I grabbed him and we tried again, but he was so worried about the rope that he panicked immediately.  We tried moving over to the swim lane and just swimming the equivalent of the deep end, but he immediately went to the rope/lane lines.  I told him that if he didn't pass the test, he would have to stay in the baby pool.... to which he responded: "I really like the baby pool!"

I texted Eddie that the first attempt was a total fail and he came over to the pool after work.  We decided to try again-- this time, we started Cal off on the other side-- the diving board side-- with me on the "finish" side and Eddie in the water.  Cal jumped right in and swam all the way across without issue!!! He was grinning ear to ear the entire time he was swimming towards me.

As soon as he reached the wall, he said "I can do the slide now!!" hahaha

He got out of the water (as we were all screaming and cheering) and he ran right to the steps of the slide.  Eddie wanted to go over the rules of the slide with Cal.  I finally just said, "Cal! Wait you turn! Sit on your bottom! GO!" Eddie went with him up to the top and helped him get seated-- and he FLEW down the slide! He was starting feet first and then shooting out the bottom of the slide head first.  It was terrifying and hilarious!

He loved it and was having a ball... the lifeguards came over to remind him to go feet first... and he was trying hard to go feet first-- but there was a bump that turned him all around!

Well, he did the slide about 10 times and on the 10th time, we heard a loud thud while he was going down-- he came up crying after that.  He said he bumped his head when he got flipped around

So, we took a break from the slide (and he hasn't done it since!) and headed to the diving board.  Eddie, again, was very cautious with him and got in the water, ready to catch him if he needed help.  Cal walked right to the end of the board and jumped in like it was no big deal.  He swam to the ladder smiling the whole way. 

He loves going off of the board and wants to do it every day! We are so proud of our little guy for trying so hard and for being so brave!

Sorry for the long post... had to document this.... felt like a big milestone!!!

Now we have to keep Andy out of the deep end.... he stands there saying, "I wanna slide. I wanna slide. I wanna slide." I imagine we will be working on Andy swimming across soon!
 

 

MONSTERS...U.

showing me their monster faces...scary, right??

 
The weather has been less than lovely here lately and we've been getting a TON of rain.  Today, after the gym, I decided to take the boys to the 11:00 showing of Monsters U.  I was planning on getting a sitter one afternoon for Andy and just taking Cal, but I figured I would just give it a shot. 

All in all, they did great-- I am not surprised Cal did great-- he can sit still without problem! Andy, on the other hand, is well... let's just say full of energy!

As we were walking into the theater, I got a popcorn for us and a diet coke for me, and then I carried in two of the kid seats that velcro onto the regular seats... we were in the back hallway area walking in and the previews were on and they were LOUD.  Andy froze in his place and started crying.  I panicked thinking we weren't going to last long AT ALL if I couldn't even get him IN the theater! Cal carried the seats for me and I picked up Andy and tried to calm him down. 

He wanted nothing to do with any seat other than my lap, which was fine by me! I had each boy's sippy cup and we shared the popcorn together.  It made me happy to get to do that with both of them.

sitting on my lap

The previews were long.  Like, reallllllly realllllllly long.   The movie was scheduled to start at 11:00 and I'm guessing it was around 11:35 when it actually started.  I was worried Andy would be over it about 10 minutes into the movie since it got a late start. 

He did GREAT until about halfway through-- then he wanted to stand up.  There was only one other family in the theater, and they were 20 rows back, so I wasn't worried about them.  We were in the front of our section, so Andy had room to stand up.  He would drop his flip flop down a level and then go to retrieve it (yes, my kid was barefoot in the movie theater-- cringe).  He was super quiet though so we were able to stay longer...

Then, as momma finished off the last of her DC, she had to peepee...badly.  I tried not thinking about it.  Then I said something to Cal about it being almost time to go.  Andy over heard that and started saying "time to go? time to go?" in his usual loud voice!

So we headed out to the lobby for some arcade games-- they love pretending to play!

A few sweet things during the movie-- Andy is into repeating everything.  One of the monsters "roared" at a kid in training camp, and Andy ROARED back as loud as his little voice would let him.  It was hilarious and I could hear the family behind us laughing.  Another time, a monster walked into a room and said, "hello?" to which Andy replied: "HELLLOOOOOOO!!!!!" hahahaha! Never a dull moment with this guy around!
And, at one point, Andy reached over and took Cal's hand and they held hands for a while.  Cal leaned over and said "you don't need to be scared, ahndy." I wanted to cry.  I couldn't kiss on them both enough!

 I am excited to be getting closer to being able to take them on "adventures" like this by myself.  Now, leaving the theater and the fountain out front was a WHOLE different story.  It wasn't pretty.  At all.  I had several people give me the "oh, poor lady has her hands full!" look.  Yes, I do! But it's getting better and better....!

 

Week of the 4th

We had a great time at the beach over the 4th of July! I headed down the Saturday before the 4th with the boys and stayed until the Sunday after the 4th-- 8 days at the beach! It was awesome and I wasn't ready to come home!

Eddie came down Monday night and Eddie's mom, dad and sister all came in on Tuesday.  It was SO GREAT to have everyone down there.  My brother and his family were there too, so we had lots of people and lots of fun!

The first part of the week was rainy, rainy, rainy! Thankfully, Eddie's family brought the sunshine with them when they came-- the rest of the week was perfect weather-wise!

When it rained we...

 baked cookies:

 ran outside every single time there was a break in the clouds:

snuggled on Baby Margaret (my children were OBSESSED with her)

 (Cal asked to hold her daily)

we went to the NC Aquarium one morning:

Snuggled Baby Marga (as Andy called her) a little more)

and...... here was the radar.... nice, right??

And then, the clouds parted...and it was a nice afternoon-- not sunny, but not raining, so we booked it over to the beach so the kids could release some energy!

this kid loves a boogie board!

Cal's crack was showing, but I still love this picture of the cousins

 Tuesday afternoon, Eddie's parents arrived and the boys were SO excited to show them around the neighborhood.  They had the best view...

The next day, the weather could not have been better.  Blue skies, warm, but not too warm, and just perfect!!! CB got in the night before so we were all together and really-- it was just great.

My parents took their boat out for a little ride, and the rest of us headed over to the beach for some play time.  

 The boys matched...

In fact, there were quite a few stripes on this beach day:

That night, after dinner, we went over to the gazebo-- actually.... the boys were sharing a room and they weren't asleep yet, so after dinner, I ran upstairs and got them out of bed, and we loaded the golf cart for a little "special trip." The boys felt like they were breaking rules and they were so giggly and happy.  It was awesome.  And, hopefully, those are the kinds of memories they will remember...

Any way, we went to the gazebo and I got this picture of CB and the boys...and I kind of love it...

The next day was the 4th of July! We went back to our old neighborhood for the parade.  It was pure CRAZINESS getting everyone ready to go, but we did it! Here are the older cousins, dressed and ready to go:

Cal is all about bike riding right now.  He borrowed our neighbor's strider bike (a bike without pedals) and cruised along for most of the parade.

 Nug was styling for the parade... he rode in the wagon with Catherine some and then walked some...and then he made my poor mother carry him the rest of the way.  And it was SO SO hot.  And sticky.  He was beyond obsessed with my mom this week.... and he was awful.  Just awful for the majority of the week.  The terribly twos are kicking all of us in the rear-- but he was ALL about my mom.  And if she could keep him from screaming, then so be it! ha!

Ready to work it!

These two love playing together-- Cal is so happy when Jackson is around!

 Most days, we would go to the beach until about an hour before naps, and then go to the pool on our way home and swim off all of the sand.  It was the perfect way to spend the day!

The little guy in the above picture was SUCH a fish this week! I think he grew brave having everyone there cheering for him.  He was swimming to everyone and jumping in.  He would swim further and further each time and finally he was swimming the length of the pool by himself-- it was awesome!!! We talked about him passing the swim test at our pool when we got home (swimming across the deep end) so that he could do down the slide and off the diving board.  He took the test on Monday and passed! More on that later... it was just awesome to watch him swim around like crazy!


And, all of Andy's craziness wore him out on the way home...

 It was seriously a great week... despite Andy's awful-ness, the boys were great and had a ton of fun with both sets of grandparents and CB too.  Speaking of-- it makes me SO SO SO happy to have both of my families together-- it it like the best of both worlds all wrapped up in one. 

I drove home on Sunday feeling like such a blessed girl.  There was a story on the news about the mother who lost her legs due to that flesh eating bacteria... it got me thinking how LUCKY I am that I am able to run around on the beach with my kids, that I am able to play duck duck goose with them, that I can help Cal swim in the water.... I just don't ever want to take any of this for granted.  I am blessed.  And I am grateful. 

(was that too deep to end this post?? sorry!)

 

Captain Black Tooth

Sigh. I know this what life with kids--especially boys-- is all about.  Booboos are going to happen.  I know, I know. 

A few weeks ago, we were at the pool in the shallow end playing.  Andy was having a ball holding on to the wall, while standing in the water and jumping around.  I said, "Andy- be careful or you will hit your mouth on the wall!" And he immediately proceeded to do so (reminded me of the time Chris and I were running through the house to race to the bath tub and he grabbed the back of my shirt-- my mom said "someone is going to get hurt!" and then Chris let go, sending me flying into a door for my first set of stitches...).

Anyway.... Andy cried for all of 4 seconds, I looked in his mouth, nothing was loose, nothing was bleeding, so we continued on playing and I didn't think much more of it. 

Eddie came home that day and immediately noticed a little chip in the bottom of Andy's tooth.  I did not notice it when I looked in the pool, but there did appear to be a slight unevenness to his front teeth.  Oh well.  Chalk it up to being a kid.

Then, about 10 days after all of this, Eddie walked in the door from work and looked at Andy and said, "his tooth is turning black." Sometimes Eddie can sort of over exaggerate (I am saying this lovingly), so I thought it was just a shadow-- and also, I had spent the entire day with the kid-- I think I would have noticed his tooth turning black. 

Apparently not.  Because it sure was turning a nice shade of grey and I sure did not notice it the entire day together. 

Since then, it has turned a few shades darker, which is really attractive.  Did I mention it's his front tooth.  Like, front and center? Yeah. 

The above picture doesn't really do it justice.  I will try to get some other ones of him showing it off.  A friend of ours is an orthodontist and he happened to be at the beach this weekend.  I asked him about it during a cookout/get together and he laughed and said it definitely wasn't going to go back to white-- if anything it would just get darker.  YES!!!

Just the first of many more booboos to come (sigh...again).

It just adds to Andy's personality!!!