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!

Our Week

This week feels like it flew by, and here it is Friday already!  I am NOT complaining!  I'm looking forward to a weekend with the family.  Eddie was out of town last weekend (Thurs-Saturday night at midnight), and I always look forward to the weekends when he is home. 

It hasn't been a particularly tough week, but I still feel pretty drained. 
Cal is not really in his terrible two phase any more, which is nice, but he has discovered his voice and he loooooooves to talk.  I realize I should be so thankful to have a healthy little guy who likes to talk, and I hate myself for ever for being exhausted by it.  I AM thankful for his words!  It's just sometimes, when he follows me right on my heels saying, "what are you doing? what's that? your shirt? you put on a shirt now? cal wears a shirt too.  what is there? where are we going? why you do that? where andy? where daddy go? he working? oh, daddy working. see my car? see it?  see it, mommy? where are we going? you get dressed now.  we go to gym? no, we go to park. okay?  okay, mom?  okay?  you see?" that is wears me out! That trail came out of Cal's mouth in one breath the other morning. 

but then....

I finished getting dressed and he got real quiet so I looked over at him (since it was silent for the first time in 25 minutes), and he goes: "oh, mommy, you look so pretty."  and my heart melted.  and I hated myself for even thinking he was slightly annoying.  AND, I was just in workout clothes. 

And, it's not like Cal has been needy, really, but he has been asking for a little more parent time than usual.  He woke up from naps before Andy the other day and he just wanted to snuggle.  He loves taking pictures with my phone so we did a few all snuggled together:

I can't get mad that he wants to spend a little one-on-one time with us... it just makes it a little difficult to cook dinner!

Potty training is going great.  We finally had a #2 in the potty and we did all kinds of things to celebrate it.  I wanted to make it a big deal so he wouldn't be afraid of it.  He didn't really nap on Tuesday because I think he knew this was coming and he didn't want to go in his pants.  I let him get up early (no break there) in hopes of him going. 
On Wednesday, we went to the park in the morning after going on a quick walk with the dog.  I asked him after the walk if he needed to pee, but he was so focused on going to the park that he refused to go.  We got to the park and played hard for a while, and I knew he had to go, so I asked if he wanted to go, and he said "I need to go potty."  I wasn't really thinking he would take me up on it, so I didn't have a plan for what to do with Andy.  I couldn't just set him down in the middle of the sand since he would surely eat it all, so I did what any well-educated, level headed woman would do: I turned around in about 7 circles talking to myself while holding Andy out in front of me thinking of a place to put him while my child pooped himself.  Yup.  He tried to tell me.  He was trying to hold it.  But it just happened.  In his big boy underwear.  bummmmmeerrrrrrr.  Oh, and also a bummer?  I wasn't prepared.  No back up pants.  I had to strip him down in the parking lot and clean him up to go home.  He was so sad to have to leave the park.  I felt terrible because it was my fault for not having a plan for what to do with Andy.  Well, also, really, where was he going to poop at the park?  There aren't port-a-potties around there...did I expect my kid to squat in the woods?  Poor planning all around. 

He had school Thursday and kept his pull up dry the whole day.  He went on the potty great and had zero problems.  woohoo!

going up the stairs for nap time to get his pull ups on

Today we went to the gym and then to Target.  He did great again!  He is only wearing pull ups to school and for nap time; it's big boy pants the rest of the time. 

One thing I can't figure out is he has been leaking/wetting the bed every night...but he is in an overnight diaper... the SAME brand/size as before potty training and big boy bed.  And he used to never have leakage problems- maybe once every 2 weeks, but never like this.  I have changed the sheets on his new bed a TON!  This week alone I have changed them 5 times (just between Monday and Thursday), and twice yesterday.  I am not sure if he is holding it all during the day and letting it go at night?  Or if I need to start cutting off his liquid intake earlier in the day.  He was taking a sippy cup of water to bed with him, but after changing his sheets twice in one day, I banned that.  It is HARD to change the sheets on the bed with a bed rail!  I break a sweat every time!  

So, not only has Cal been a little needier/chattier, but Hank has been too.  It's one thing to have a two year old following you around talking non-stop, but it's another to have a 95 pound dog as a shadow.  This morning, I was trying to get dressed (a common theme for me), and I had to take some pictures...

I turned around and ran into this:

I squatted to tie my shoe and he shoved his head on my lap:

I sat down with Cal and Hank came barreling in and decided he wanted to sit on my lap too:

That was a span of about 15 minutes.  I love love love my dog.  Seriously, I call him my first born.  But I trip over that big guy 99 times a day.  He is seriously my shadow.  He might be telling me he needs more attention....

No real big updates to report on Andy.  He is still about an inch from crawling at all times.  Actually, if I wanted to be technical, he is crawling.  He gets up on all fours and inches forward... but I am not calling it crawling until he crosses the room. :)  That makes me feel better! HA! He is happy as can be, but is starting to get a little panicked when he can't see me.  (are you noticing a trend here?  There doesn't appear to be enough momma to go around.)  He is happy 99% of the time, so that makes me happy.  He isn't sleeping through the night, but oh well.  I'll get him there one of these days.  He has been getting up around 5ish.  I tried letting him cry it out the other night and Eddie begged me to go get him after 5 minutes.   He couldn't stand it.  I might have to wait for him to be out of town again to try it!
Also, Andy is able to get into the sitting position on his own now.  I went in to get him the other night and he was sitting up like a big boy in his crib!  He will be rolling across the floor one minute, then sitting up sucking his fingers the next!
Here are some pictures from him this week...

WHAT is this thing??

he looooooves bath time!

all set to go night night!

In my last post, I wrote about the boys really having fun together.  I tried to get a few pictures of them...

Okay, so maybe after reading this post, it's a little more clear why I am worn out.  But I wouldn't trade these two three for anything in the whole world.  I love being their mom and I love listening to Cal talk his head off, and I love watching Andy crack himself up, and I love snuggling with Andy in the middle of the night, and I love when Cal wants me to hold him, and I love kisses from my big, hairy first born!


My gracious, I am long winded!!!  I got Andy down for his nap today and Cal decided to fight his, so he banged on the wall and sang some songs, which woke Andy up after only 45 minutes of sleep.  Cal then went to sleep, leaving Andy a hot mess.  He is sitting here with me right now... snuggle time for me!  Showering can wait, I guess!

(sorry for the long post...)