We're baaaaaaack!

Ahhh, it feels good to be home!  Eddie and I had a wonderful trip out to Utah, and really enjoyed spending time together, sans baby.

 It's snowing!

It's funny-- this trip was unlike other Jones trips that we have been on where you meet a bunch of people to hang out with during the week.  I guess that's because everyone skis on different levels and does their own thing during the day.  That being said, Eddie and I did not get ONE picture together (other than the self portrait above) this trip!  HA!  The last night, we had someone take our picture, but she was kinda short, and we are both looking down at her (since, apparently we are giants!), so we both have about 30 chins...and it's out of focus to boot.  I deleted it.  HA! No reason to keep it.  :)

We had a rental car while we were there, so while Eddie was out skiing, I was able to go out exploring.  It was a really neat place...and it's a good thing I'm pregnant, because I could have done some damage shopping! 

It snowed A LOT while we were there.  Like over 3 feet, which is a LOT to someone from NC!

Mr. Cal had the BEST time staying with his Grandma and Grandpa.  I made my mom promise to send me daily pictures and she actually did it!  It was so fun to talk to them and hear about their daily activities and what they were up to.  Cal had such a fun time-- I honestly do not think he knew we were gone or missed us one bit!  I can not tell you how great it is to be away from your baby and not be worrying about him.  I missed him like crazy, of course, but it was so great knowing he was so happy with my parents.  Yes, I realize how unbelievably lucky I am to have parents like mine who are willing and able to take care of a VERY busy almost 18 month old.  I can not thank God enough for my parents...

Mr. Hank went to the best camp EVER.  For those of you in the triangle with a pet, you have got to try this woman.  She runs the "camp" at her house and the dogs all sleep inside.  Hank usually ends up in her bed...!  He has so much fun when he goes there and usually sleeps for a solid week after we get him.  She is cheaper than any kennel we've ever been to, and he never goes into a cage!  LOVE it!  This woman's 3 year old niece came over to visit and she loooooves dogs.  She was pretending to be a doggie doctor and was checking out Hank and another pup.  After the examination, she rewarded them for being so good:

I LOVE this picture.  That is the epitome of a good boy... it gave me a huge belly laugh when she emailed it to me.

Here are some pictures from our trip, if you are bored enough to want to look!

Me at 29 weeks pregnant!  Wanted proof that I took this baby on a trip!

smiling at all the SNOW!

walking through the resort-- it was reallllly coming down this day

there's eddie!  I was up in the room and saw him getting into his skis.  I was excited :)

this is the resort-- I took this picture from the gondola ride up to the midway point of the mountain.  The area with the fence around it is the bunny slope.  I have never seen anything so cute as these little nuggets learning to ski in there! 

So, it was a great trip and I got to do a LOT of relaxing.  I read a ton, played some Words With Friends (hello, addicting), and got a fabulous prenatal massage.  It would have been nice to go to a tropical resort and sit by a pool all day long working on my tan, but this was something Eddie has always wanted to do...and hey, he earned it!  I was happy to let him pick a trip and I was just thrilled to get to go along for the ride. 

me = hot mess

I am not one of those moms that drops off their kid when they go on vacation and skips away happily.  Things would be easier if it was like that....

Eddie and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Utah.  I am calling it our Babymoon.  Cal spent some time over at my parents' house today since we had a showing and I went over when he work up from his nap.  I was all weepy starting from when he went down for his nap, and it's been downhill since. 

I put him to bed in their crib (and let me tell you-- he LOVES being over there. LOVES it), and started bawling.  It hasn't stopped yet.  I am such a baby.

My sweet little Cal Boy is going to have the best time over at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and I know he will, I am not worried about him....I am worried about me!!!!  The last time we left him we were headed to a tropical island where the rum drinks were flowing, and every time I started to miss him, I would order another drink (makes me sound pretty bad, huh?).  This time, Eddie will be skiing all day and I will be.....??   Resting?  Sleeping?  Walking around?  NOT drinking!  And NOT thinking about Cal....right?!?!

So anyway, I am going to take my blubbering self upstairs to finish packing and then I am going to bed early.  I am going to need lots of rest to make these puffy eyes go down :)  I am such a drama queen-- don't you love me??

PS-- I would love it if any of you reading this that can sympathize would comment telling me that I am not alone....thank you :)

Sunday Funday!

Eddie was out of town this past weekend and by the time Sunday morning rolled in, I was ready for him to get his booty back home.  He was working, so I can't really complain, but it did make me appreciate him even more.  It may not seem like husbands do a whole lot when they are home (at least in our case), but when they are gone for a few days, it really makes you realize how much their help HELPS! Cal and I both were missing Eddie.

 Going through dad's sock drawer.  Just giving it a good cleaning out.

Getting a better view of things...it's a much better view from on top of the tractor!

Anyway, by Sunday morning, Cal was sick of me saying NO and I was getting sick of his tantrums :)
My brother was over at my parents house with Jackson.  Chris was helping my dad with something on the computer and my mom and Jackson were playing.  I was originally going over to my parent's neighborhood to walk (like I do every other day), but when we pulled into the driveway, Jackson greeted us and started climbing up on the running boards screaming "HI, CAL!!!!"  I am telling you, these boys love each other!  I couldn't get Cal out of the car seat fast enough.  He was tearing the straps off of him, and Jackson was climbing up to see him and "help" me expedite the process.  :)

After i free Cal, he and Jackson ran down into my parents side yard.  They were chasing each other and playing with the balls in the yard and throwing them at each other-- so sweet.  My mom has this big creek that is next to her house and she was taking the boys down to throw rocks in the water and "look for turtles."  It was the sweetest thing to see my mom with a grandson on each side, holding her hand and following her wherever she went. 

After doing some exploring in the yard, the boys went to the treehouse/swingset:


Cal was scoping it out (notice grandma's hands ready to catch...Cal is pretty fearless): 

 I LOVE THE NEXT TWO PICTURES:

 (trouble)

 Just the boys hanging out

 After they played so hard, I tried to take Cal's under shirt off.  To do this, I had to remove both of his shirts.  Jackson decided he wanted his shirt off too. so the boys kept on playing with their shirts off!  It was 78 degrees out, so if they wanted to be shirtless, that was the day to do it!

 Having a little snack with Grandma...these boys love each other, and the each LOVE their grandma! Look at how Cal is looking at her in this picture.  He is crazy about her.

 And, not sure if you could see it in the above pictures from the treehouse, but Cal got super muddy playing so hard outside.  He was head to toe dirty!  He had a great bath and we were having some snuggle time on my bed before Eddie got home.  One of my favorite things about Cal are his sweet eyelashes...especially after bath time.  I tried to get a picture of them here, but I don't think the picture does them justice. 

Hope everyone else was able to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend...Sunday especially!

I am 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow, by the way.... ;)

BOOTS

Mr. Cal is obsessed with boots. I've written about it before, but it has gone to a whole new level. Eddie's parents watched a video of Cal attempting to walk in the baby cowboy boots they bought for him before he was born.  They now sit on a shelf in his room because they are so so so cute, but they do not fit AT ALL!  After watching the video, they decided he needed a new pair of cowboy boots that actually fit him!  Patty (my MIL) went shopping and sent Cal the cutest pair of boots.  He LOVES them:

 As you can sort of see in the above picture, they are John Deer boots.  These fit better than his big rain boots (his other obsession) and actually stay on like they should.  He has a hat that he loves now too, see below:

 Below, he is riding his "pony" with his new boots on.  He is a cowboy, after all.  (note: the boots are VERY difficult to fit on with jammies on and someone gets VERY angry if his momma takes too long to get them on--it is NOT easy!):

 The boots are not limited to wearing with jeans and jammies.  My little Cal-boy wears them with shorts too.  And I must say, he is rocking this look:

We went out yesterday afternoon and I tried to put "real" shoes on him.  He. FREAKED. Out.  We were in the mall parking lot and people were staring at me like i was abusing my child.  It was that bad of a freak out.  So I let him wear his rain "bug boots."  The are green with bugs all over them.  He was in the stroller and was great for what I needed him to be great for, so I let him out.  He walked around like he OWNED the place.  I can not tell you how many stopped us to talk to Cal.  He was being SO good.  He walked right beside me with his big ol' boots on, his khaki shorts, and a long sleeved polo shirt.  He was so proud of himself and was just clomping along!

I guess that was a battle that I lost, but seeing him so happy, it was a battle that was won in the long run. 

He's ALLLLLL Boy!!!

Before swim class this week, I grabbed the camera and took a picture before we got in the water.  I just think he is so darn cute in his bathing suit and bare legs/arms/belly:

17 months old

My little guy is turning into SUCH a little boy!  He's always been all boy and it is so much fun to watch him explore and learn...

 He flipped his shopping cart onto its side and loves to climb up on top!

Cal spent last night at my parent's house.  Eddie and I are getting ready to go out of town and we are leaving Cal with my parents.  I wanted him to have one night over there before the trip to get used to their crib, etc.  He did great.  He went down at 7 and woke up at 7:30 the next morning!  He loves his grandma and grandpa so much....and we love having them so close!!!

Last weekend

I am wayyyyy behind in my blog postings...I've been taking a ton of pictures, but lacking the time/energy to post them into the blog!

This past weekend, Eddie's sister, Carrie came down from DC for a little visit. She is the best house guest EVER. She is SUPER helpful with Cal and keeps her room neater than it ever would be if she weren't here!  We had a showing on Saturday so she kept Cal entertained while I cleaned and then helped me get everything out that needed to be out.  I wish she could be here for every showing!

I'll start with Thursday... we had our swim class again and Eddie took some pictures of us swimming.  Cal is still loving the class and we have fun playing in the water together.

this is the "dig dig dig" that we are supposed to do to get his arms moving...he was cracking up

 During the showing on Saturday, we went for a walk:

And we had a little bit more time to kill so we went to Target where Cal spotted some wellies that look like Fireman boots.  He started shrieking and pointing at them.  Carrie Beth said we had to get them...I agreed.  They were a size too big, but he was CRAZY about them!  We put them on him in the store and when we took them off to pay for them, he started crying.  He loves these boots!  After the showings, we came back home and he walked around in his boots and played with Carrie's purse:

 And then, he was just getting plain silly.  He was running around the room in circles and falling on the floor.  He thought this was just too funny and was cracking up.  He was actually hitting the ground pretty hard, but it never bothered him!

 Saturday was also Carrie's Birthday!  We went to dinner at Kanki Japanese Steak House and Cal was VERY entertained by the chef!  He was a little unsure of him (the chef had a BIG personality!), so he leaned over to me and rested his head on my arm, and linked his little arm through mine (I seriously thought I was going to melt), and he never took his eyes off of the table.  Everyone at our table was watching Cal and his reaction.  It was pretty funny-- every time the chef did something, the table would react to Cal, not the chef.  The chef soon learned that to get a reaction from the table, he needed to get a reaction from CAL! haha!

After kanki, we came home stuffed for some birthday cake.  It was late, but Carrie Beth really wanted Cal to share in her cake with her (she's a good aunt), so they enjoyed a slice together!  Cal made a total mess of himself, so it was off to the tub.

 The next morning, we were playing around in Cal's room and he discovered how nicely he fit into a tote bag.  Carrie picked him up and swung him around and carried him over her shoulder (haha!).  We joked that he could be her carry on luggage from now on!

Now Cal goes over to the bag and tries to climb in (seriously, every time he sees the bag he does this), and whines until he is picked up and "carried" in the bag.  He is a mess, I swear!

I took Carrie by the new house on Sunday and she loved it too.  Our fingers are still crossed for that one...

We have had several other showings since the one above, and we just got some good feedback (like, really good) that we are trying not to get too excited over.  Who am I kidding?  I am totally holding my breath.  Eddie told me to not get too excited, but again, who am I kidding?  I am totally getting excited that it could potentially be something good.....

I'll keep you posted!

A MUST READ....hilarious!

This is a blog post that a friend of a friend sent out. I can only wish to be this funny. I am not. I find humor in my child's head getting stuck in things. Her humor is great...and so true. She is not anyone famous; she just writes it like it is! Enjoy!

Girls Night Out: The Revolution

As a kid, I remember my parents going out and leaving me with a babysitter. I also remember times that they would ship us to our grandparents so they could spend the weekend alone. And of course there were many times when my dad would go on fishing trips or leave to play golf with his friends. What I can’t seem to recall is a night where my mom would throw on her tightest jeans, a low cut shirt and 6-inch stilettos, and head out the door to party with her friends.

But that was then, and this is now. These days a Girls Night Out is a very common event. So common that it has earned itself an acronym… “GNO”. Personally, I hate acronyms, especially this one. It gives me chills when I see people write it, but due to my journalistic responsibility, I thought you should know. I needed to share this because it stresses how important this night is for our generation. These days, you can easily text a friend and say, “Hi BFF, I need a GNO badly. WTF is wrong with my husband? He makes me crazy, LOL.” Everyone would know exactly what you are talking about.

I believe that these nights have become so important to women because sadly, many of us are on the brink of depression, debilitating anxiety, and seemingly unmanageable stress. Therefore we each need a place to unload, compare, complain, and commiserate. What better place to do that than in some random Mexican restaurant, dressed up like we are going to the Prom, and slamming Margaritas as we try to relive our youth and find a way to remember what it was like before it all got so crazy.

This past Saturday night I went out with some girlfriends. I blew dry my hair, threw on some eyeliner and searched through my closet for something that didn’t scream ‘Ann Taylor’ or ‘Spring Break 1995’ (my closet seems to have only those two categories.) As I was getting ready my kids came in and said “Mommy, are you going on a date with daddy?” I looked at those sweet faces, those precious faces that I was literally racing to get away from, and said, “Not tonight little ones. Do you think I would be taking this much time to get ready to go out with Dad?”

See, the thing about going out with your girlfriends is that it makes you feel young and happy. Going out with your husband can be fun too, but at times, it can also make you feel old and tired. The problem is that when you go out with your husband, the expectations are extremely high. In about three hours you have to accomplish many things. You somehow have to find a way to reconnect with your husband, fall in love all over again, and successfully plan out your next ten years. It can be exhausting. And the best part is that in order to do this, you have to pay some teenager $18 an hour to check Facebook while your kids are asleep. How can that not be fun?

None of this is an issue when you go out with your girlfriends. Instead, all you have to do is hug your kids, kiss your husband, and head out the door. The drinking and driving issue is easily settled because some poor girl in the group is always pregnant. She has been forced into driving everyone to the bar and watching her girlfriends make fools of themselves. She stands there yawning, while holding her pregnant belly, and daydreaming about how much weight she will lose and what cocktail she will slam as soon as that kid is out.

I went out Saturday night and it was just what I needed. It wasn’t the craziest night I have ever had, but it made me laugh. These days, that is about as good as it gets. We started by rushing to the bar and ordering drinks, so quickly that you may have thought we were dying of thirst. For the next four hours we talked about three main topics…our husbands, our kids, and our sex life. Near death child experiences were shared, past boyfriends were remembered, and martial problems were solved. At the end of the night, a midget (this is not a lie, a real midget) came up to our table and told us we were beautiful and wished he could go home with us all. Does it get any better?

By 10:30 everyone was yawning and the waiter came over to give us the bad news. We needed to vacate our table because our two-hour time limit was up and another group of younger, hotter girls were waiting to be seated for dinner. Once I got home, I took off my painfully high shoes and snuck quietly into my house. I felt refreshed, content and grateful to be alive. I peered in at my two sleeping kids and lay down next to my sweet, snoring husband and smiled. Sometimes you just need three hours, a group of girlfriends, a margarita and a midget to realize that these may just be the best days of our life.

Have a great day!
xoxo,

Happenings...

I am feeling a little discouraged this week.  We put our house on the market last Thursday (2 weeks from tomorrow) and right away we had a rush of showings.  6 showings in 7 days!  Then, this past weekend, we did not have one showing.  NOT ONE.  Our last showing was last Friday.  I guess it's normal for home showings to ebb and flow, but it was hard because I was getting used to living "show ready" which is a total pain, but it made getting out of the house at the last minute a lot easier.   Yesterday, our Realtors did a "home tour" where they bring all of the local realtors through a bunch of the houses that are newly listed.  They brought around 50 through our house, so we are hoping that maybe one of them will know of just the right family to show our house to!  We will get feedback from yesterday hopefully today or tomorrow.

But, other than having our house on the market, life does go on!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  We went to the best little restaurant that did a 5 course meal-- I was in heaven!  It was so nice to go out, spend some quality time with my sweet sweet husband (and be reminded that he is, in fact, a sweet sweet man!).  I think often times, we grab a quick dinner, or we eat with friends or go out in a group and we don't get the chance to really reconnect.  We were able to on Valentine's Day, and I was so appreciative of it. 

Cal helped me get ready for my Valentine's date...

I really wanted to get a picture of me and Eddie before we went to dinner,  but our sitter was running late because of traffic and she came from the same way we were going, so we knew we'd be late too, so we skipped the picture and ran out the door.  Oh well... we'll just have to get all dressed up and go out again!

As for the pregnancy, I am 26 weeks today!  Woohoo!  This time is FLYING by (I know, I keep saying that....).  I have officially POPPED.  People are now noticing I'm pregnant and asking me about it.  Before, I think people were just thinking I was getting chubby :) but now it actually looks like there is a baby growing in there!  He is kicking more and more and it gets me excited to meet him...not any time soon though!

Cal started a swim class again this year.  We had our first class last night and he LOVED it!  We took this same class last year and really enjoyed it then too.  It's much harder to do this time though because Cal isn't used to being held...he wanted to get down and go!  Eddie came and watched which was so fun.  Every time Cal did something, he would turn and look at Eddie and yell "DAH-DAH!!!" to make sure he was watching.  SO cute and sweet.  He shot a short video, but it's not very good....Cal is "digging" with his arms, kicking with his legs and blowing some bubbles:

Little did I know, Cal took a massive "bathroom break" on the way to the pool.  He had a HUGE one when he woke up from his nap, so I thought he was all cleared out, but he must have saved a little for the class.  After we were done jumping up and down, bouncing, kicking, etc etc, I took him to the locker room to change him and let out the biggest GASP ever when I saw what I saw in his diaper.... guess the swim diapers work better than I thought they did!  PHEW!  Next class, I will be checking him (and double checking him!) before we get into the water!  How awful could that have been?!?!

After class, we came home and ate some dinner and got a quick bath.  He was still pruney from the pool, but I wanted to get the chlorine (and, let's be honest, the doodoo) all the way off of him.  He was having a great time!

We were singing and started howling like dogs.  Not sure why, but it was reallllllly funny at the time! Here's a video of it:

After bath time, we got jammies on and were playing in his room.  He was WILD by this point.  I think he was exhausted and was hyper and his body didn't know how to handle both at the same time!  He kept running in circles and then falling to the ground.

The sweetest thing ever though, Eddie was able to catch on camera.  I have watched this a million times, and I will continue watching it over and over and over again as the boys get older. 

And finally, one last picture for today.  I updated the "Stuck" post, in case you needed to see more pictures of my child's large head stuck in things.  But, this last picture happened just a few minutes ago.  I was in the kitchen cooking (I am trying to prep dinner now, so I can actually eat dinner at night with the fam), and I could hear him laughing.  It wasn't a happy go lucky laugh....more like a I can't believe I did this again laugh.  Yup.  You guessed it.  For all of those people that said "you can bet he'll never do that again!"  Well...

Sigh.  Gotta love this kid!

Valentine's Day LOVE!

Poker Face

Dance party: