San Antonio Vacation!

We had our first vacation as a family of four this past week. We left for San Antonio on Sunday after Easter festivities. The trip really couldn't have gone any better. I think Mondo and I are both in shock about how great the kids were. Don't get me wrong, they both had their moments, but overall they were awesome. We went to Sea World (Ethan's most favorite place in the world), the zoo (his second favorite place), Malibu Speed Zone, and the River Walk...and lots of eating out. I'll let the thousand pictures below tell the tale.

Daddy had his hands full. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to take a family pic of the four of us.

He's getting so big!

"Seriously mom, could you stop with all the pictures???"

"Ok, maybe one more."

The entrance of the San Antonio zoo...the worst zoo on Earth.

At least it had a petting zoo. Ethan enjoyed chasing around the goats.

At Malibu Speed Zone. He liked driving the motorcycle...a scary thought for the future!

Here's Caleb enjoying himself at Malibu.

Future Tiger Woods? Unfortunatly, I don't think so. Golf is not is forte' but he had fun anyway.

The dolphin show. They had some acrobats jumping off those ladder things on the roof.

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin show.

The seal show. Ethan's question during this show: "Where's Shamu?" Mondo's question: "Why do sharks like to eat seals? They look like they're all fat and no meat."

Outside the "stinky penguin" exhibit. Mondo stayed outside with Caleb for that one.

Ethan and Daddy swimming in the heated pool at the hotel. Ethan calls it a "cool". I don't know why since he can pronounce his "P's".

"Uh, where's Shamu?"

Ethan was so into the show we weren't allowed to talk to him or hold him. He LOVES Shamu.

Caleb really loved Shamu too!

Delicious and nutritious lunch at Sea World.

Ethan wore those tiger glasses the whole day.

He was awake for a little while.
Riding the ferris wheel with Mommy.

Picture with Shamu.

Inside the hotel.
Look how tiny he looks on that big bed! We all slept in the same bed. Initially Mondo and I were looking forward to having our little family all in one bed. That quickly went away. I was scared to move too much and wake up Caleb and was scared that he was going to smother himself. And Ethan only moves all over the bed about a thousand times a night!

I think this is the only picture of them together. This is at the entrance of Sea World.

Mondo and Ethan rode the Shamu roller coaster. Ethan loved it.

Ethan could have spent hours in this play area at Sea World. Mondo said it was quite the workout climbing in all that stuff. That's them at the top left.

Bad Luck Continues

Turns out yesterday was worse than I thought. I packed up the kids today to go to the pet store. I was in the driveway and checked my purse for my wallet. Yep, it wasn't there. I frantically dumped out my purse in the front seat and couldn't find it. I went inside and checked...not there. I called NorthEast Mall...it wasn't there. Then it occured to me what happened. Yesterday when I was trying to get out the door at Macy's with the double stroller, with Caleb screaming, with Ethan running out the door, and then my purse fell out of the stroller, I thought nothing fell out. I was wrong. I guess someone picked it up and kept it for themselves for a little shopping spree. I checked my credit card account online and found some charges. I've made all the calls to stop payment on the accounts. It's all such a hassle and it happened right before we are supposed to go out of town. Why are there such mean people out there?!? I thought surely they would have opened my wallet and saw my beautiful children smiling back at them and feel to guilty to steal it. I was wrong. Pray for a better day for me tomorrow. :-(

Mondo Saves the Day!

Yes, this entire blog is about this picture. (This is actually a picture of the picture so the quality isn't that great.)

I was brave and decided to take both kids alone to NorthEast Mall to get pictures with the Easter bunny. There wasn't going to be a time to do it with Mondo so I braved it alone. I took the double stroller because Ethan said he wanted to ride with Caleb (mistake #1). It barely fit through the door and the handicap button was broken as usual. Once inside Macy's, I realized I was on the first floor and the actual mall was on the second floor (mistake #2). Now I have to search for an elevator. I find it after making almost a complete circle. We ride up and Ethan wants out of the stroller already. I told him to wait till we got to the bunny then he could get out...suprise...he listened! We only waited in line for about 5 minutes then took our picture. It went off without a hitch. Ethan was a little upset that he forgot to give the bunny a "high five" but he got over it quickly once he found the water fountain behind the bunny set up. So we go back down the elevator to head out, but I forgot what door we came in. Ethan is running ahead of me talking to every stanger possible and I am holding Caleb who is now screaming while I'm pushing this ginormous double stroller with no kids in it. We find the door, but how am I going to get out by myself? I know, I'll have Ethan hold the door for me! (mistake #3). He walks right through the door and is on to the next one while his poor mother is sweating and dropping the entire contents of her purse on the floor trying to get through the door. Luckily a man walks in and has pity on me and holds the doors open so I can sqeeze through. I'm not even to the good part of the story yet! We get to the car and I get Caleb in. Now guess who has to pee? Luckily we are parked up against the wall of the parking garage so I let him go in front of the car. I swear it was the longest pee of his life. So, he gets done and I get everything loaded in. As soon as I start driving off something feels wrong. I pull back into the garage to inspect. Yep, flat tire, completely flat and I'm driving on the rim. I call Mondo who is quickly on the way. Oh, I forgot to mention that Caleb is still screaming. I take him out of the carseat, wrap him up, and get him to sleep. I fed Ethan a nutritious lunch of gummy fruit snacks, peanut butter crackers, and apple juice. Mondo gets there with jet like speed and we literally spend 20 minutes trying to find the spare tire. I had to get out the owner's manual to find it. (It was under the middle of the car...don't get me started.) So, the tire is changed (in his nice work clothes), he follows me home while both kids sleep in the car, and all is well. Except for the fact that Mondo had to spend almost 3 hours at Toyota getting a new tire and getting the other ones checked out too. I'm so glad that my daily drama gives you such laughter. :-)

Just Hanging Out

Ethan had made a new discovery. It's super fun to get into Caleb's bed and play with his toys! Of course, I had to help him get into the bed. He can't get in there by himself. He throws all of the toys in and then says, "Put me in there." They're so cute laying together. It keeps them both occupied...but I still can't get anything done because I won't leave them alone together. Remember that story with the big guy and the mouse..."I want to hug him and squeeze him and make him mine!" That's how Ethan hugs Caleb. He's got a little too much love to give.

Ethan showing Caleb the mobile and Caleb thinking, "I've looked at this thing for hours, what new thing do you have to say about it?!"

Winding the mobile for him...almost squishing Caleb and not even realizing it. That's why I don't trust them alone.

Ethan enjoys Caleb's toys more than Caleb does.

Fake sleeping.

Kissing Caleb's hand....if he only knew where that hand has been!

Fake sleeping again. Look at Caleb's face, "Get me out of here!"

I found him lapping up his melting ice cream like a dog!

He says "Mmmm, I love ice cream!"

Cause and Effect...He Still Doesn't Get It

Well, I've been waiting for it to happen and it finally did. Ethan burned his finger yesterday on the spaghetti pan. I was boiling the spaghetti for lunch and went to put Caleb in his swing. Ethan ran up to me, not crying, and said he burned his finger. I didn't think it was too bad because he didn't seem too upset. The tip of his right index finger was a little white. I ran it under cold water and that's when he started screaming...for 20 minutes straight. I sprayed it with Solarcaine (or as he calls it "cold spray") but it didn't help at all. I tried cold running water again to no avail. By this time Caleb is screaming in his swing and wants out. Too bad for him, Ethan was injured. At this point the whole pad of his finger is a giant blister. I made an ice bath in a tupperware dish and put his finger in it then gave him some Ibuprofin. After a few minutes the screaming finally stopped. He wanted to sit on the couch and watch Richie Rich and soak his finger. Remember, he hasn't had lunch yet. I finished up his spaghetti (which I'm suprised hadn't caught on fire). I sat on the couch and fed it to him while he soaked his finger. Luckily Caleb has fallen asleep in the swing. I held Ethan on the couch and he fell asleep with his finger in the water. I held him for 2 hours while he slept. Poor little critter. Today he still has a giant blister but he said "it's feelin' better". He told everyone at school about his ordeal. He's playing like nothing is wrong. I hope the blister doesn't pop. That will be screamfest 2008 all over again. Here's a picture after the incident of him listening to daddy's MP3 player (Blink 182). Excuse the spaghetti on his face, there was too much trauma that day for a clean face.

Doesn't he look so sad?

3 Months!

Still a little too small for the Bumbo but he's pretty good at sitting in it.

He found his foot for a second.

He occassionally reaches a toy on the exersaucer.

Another month has flown by in Caleb's life. He is really changing all the time. He has a cute little laugh now. He laughs a lot at Ethan (I couldn't imagine why?!) and he laughs when we tickle him under his neck. He even laughs in the bathtub when I pour the water over him. That's a welcomed change from the screaming. Speaking of screaming...boy, he can. If you are one second late with that bottle he lets you know! He also screams when you try to put him to sleep and he's not sleepy. That one cracks me up. I'll lay him down or start rocking him and he'll start screaming so I smile and talk to him and then he'll give me the biggest grin. Little turkey. He's still not sleeping through the night. He wakes up at 2 and 5 to eat. I tried cereal a few times but he's not very good at eating it yet and it really didn't make a difference. He slept in his room last night for the first time and he did great. I slept better too. I decided that he would probably sleep better if he didn't hear us every time we roll over or get out of the bed. I'm also tired of griping to Ethan to be quiet and not wake him up when he's right next to the bed in the bassinet. That's really all that's going on with him right now. I'm just ready for more consecutive sleep. I actually look forward to Saturdays now because I can sleep for 7- 8 hours in a row without having to feed someone!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I could tell when I woke up today (Friday) that it was going to be one of those days. Ethan was up at 0645 and of course Caleb was still asleep. Ethan managed to wake him up by 0730 after talking incessantly even though I told him to lay down and be quiet. I was feeling extra crabby and getting on to Ethan for things I normally let him get away with like wanting to change his clothes a hundred times and wanting to wear his shoes in the house and asking who I was talking to every time I was on the phone and then wanting to talk to them (no matter who it was). Luckily Caleb was being good. I needed to go to the store and against my better judgement I decided to go...with both kids. Now I have done this before but I was already in a bad mood and Ethan wasn't really into listening. Once we were at the store I gave Ethan the speech that he had to stay by Mommy or he would have to go in the basket (the worst punishment ever for him). As soon as we walked into the store, he was off. He kept running about 5 feet ahead of me and I was yelling his name to come back. I had to remind him about "the basket". After we were at the store for about 5 minutes he decided he had to pee. Super. #1. We're at Walmart...gross. #2. We're at the very back of the store and the bathroom is at the front. So, to the bathroom we go. I have to leave the cart outside and take my purse and Caleb (asleep in the carseat)inside. After he goes and flushes the toilet, Caleb wakes up. We're almost done with out shopping and after we had a near miss with Ethan almost dropping an 18 pack of eggs, he manages to drop an entire large jar of pickles that shatters on the ground (after I repeatedly told him NOT to touch them!). He looked up at me in terror and I grabbed him and threw him in the cart and didn't say anything. Luckily there was a worker on that aisle who I apologized to and then walked away holding back tears. Ethan didn't say anything to me for about 3 minutes. Then he looked up at me really sad and said he needed me to hold him. Just looking at his face and seeing how sad he looked made me want to pick him up and tell him it was ok...but I didn't, I told him he was staying in the basket until we got to the car. By this time Caleb is getting quite mad that he is still strapped in his carseat. I made a mad dash for a few more items then checked out. But did my bad day end there? No, of course not. I drove through a construction area (where is there NOT one in Grand Prairie?!) that only had a little lane getting by with houses on one side and barricades on the other. I noticed a mailbox open right as I was passing it but had no where to go to dodge it so, yes, I hit it with my side mirror. It was so loud that I thought I took out the whole side of the car. I cried all the way home...and so did Caleb...and so did Ethan because he wanted me to take his shoes off. When I got out of the car it wasn't quite as bad as I thought. There is a good sized gash on the side mirror but at least I didn't scrape up the whole side of the car like I thought I did. Anyway, the day got a little better after that. Caleb and I napped off and on...Caleb for 2 hours and me in 2-3 minute increments. Then Ethan took a nap right as Caleb woke up. That was just par for the day!

Yes, I Realize I'm Crazy

So, Caleb went to sleep at 9pm last night and I went to bed at 11:30. The next time I opened my eyes it was 7:30am. That's right, he slept all night. You would think I would be elated, but no, I was terrified! I thought for sure he was dead. I immediatly looked at him and he was pink but he was breathing really shallow. Mondo put his hand on his chest to make sure he really was breathing. Of course, he was. I then decided he must be sick or his blood sugar was so low that he was comatose. Remember, this is a baby that wakes up every 3 hours in the night to eat...he has now just slept for almost 12 hours without making a peep. He finally woke up at 8am with a big smile on his face, ate a bottle, and is now playing like all is fine with the world. Now that I know he is ok I'm excited that he slept...maybe it will happen again soon!

I'm Lovin' It

This past weekend was my first weekend back to work. Overall it went really well. Luckily both nights were pretty slow with no deliveries. I didn't have to be in charge and I just took care of three easy babies. It was a nice transition.

Both kids woke up at 6am on Friday morning and didn't nap all day. Well, Caleb napped in the afternoon but Ethan didn't so neither did I. I went into work at 6:45pm and was wide awake until about 3am. From 3-4am it was pretty rough and I had to get up and walk around to keep the blood flowing and my brain awake. I made it to 7am with two Diet DP's and a cup of coffee (throughout the shift). I felt intoxicated on my drive home. I was dizzy, nauseated, headache, eyes heavy. I crashed in the bed around 7:50am and slept until 2pm. I made myself get up so I could see the kids and told Mondo to go work out so he could get a little alone time before I went back to work.

Then it was back to work at 6:45pm. Ethan cried and Caleb could have cared less. Saturday night was about the same as Friday night. Two Diet DP's and a cup of coffee. Fatigue at 3am. I really got a second wind at 6am because one of my babies started getting sick. I couldn't put my finger on it but he didn't seem right and started breathing fast and dropping his oxygen so I called the NNP and ran some tests. This was a baby who was born at 32 weeks and was now nippling all of his feeds and about to go home. I've been wondering about him this week. Anywho, I got home a little late (8am) since I was dealing with him. I decided to just stay awake and go to church since it was my mom's birthday. So I showered and had some coffee. I was ok at church, just felt weird. Then I went to my mom's for birthday lunch. By the end of lunch I really needed some sleep. I went home and slept from 2pm-6pm. Then it was time to get up and shower to go see Michael Buble in concert! I know, bad weekend to go to a concert but this was planned way in advance. He put on a great show! He blew Josh Groban and Kenny G out of the water. (Wow, did I just say that?!) Even if you're not a fan of his music you would enjoy his concert. He is a great entertainer and really gets involved with the audience. Anyway, you probably don't want to hear about all of that. I got to bed around 12:30am after getting home and getting Ethan to bed (yes, he was still up and had some fries and coke from Whataburger with us). What can I say, we are lenient parents! He's actually never done that before. But it all worked out because he slept in until 10am on Monday! We probably could've slept longer but you know that little Caleb just had to eat. ;-) J/K.

I'm sure everyone is wondering how poor little Mondo faired in all of this. It was his first time alone with both kids for a long period of time. He got off easy. Both kids were in bed by 9pm both nights. Caleb woke up at his usual times, ate, then went back to sleep. He did a good job of keeping the kids quiet while I slept too. Either that or I was just too tired to hear them! I think it is really good for Mondo and the kids to get some quality alone time together.

So, I think this weekend thing is going to work out. I realize it's only been one weekend but I really enjoy the people I work with and they will be the same people every weekend. The atmosphere is so different at night. There isn't all the extra people walking the halls, the phone hardly rings, parents hardly visit. It's just very laid back and gives you a sense of independence. I'm actually looking forward to going back this weekend. It is my little get-a-way!

Random Pics

This is what happens when Spiderman climbs the fence. It was quite the bloody mess when it happened and he didn' even cry.

I can't believe he's already in the exersaucer! We have to wedge him in with blankets for now.

This picture was just too cute so I had to post it too!

First taste of cereal. He actually doesn't look too impressed but he ate the whole thing! I'm hoping it might bring me some more sleep at night. It didn't work last night. He was still up at 2am and then again at 5am.

Of course the big brother had to help feed him too. Notice Ethan's tongue! Also note the outfit Ethan has on. That's when it was snowing outside...he picked it out. I guess I had the house nice and warm. Mom told me a cute story about Ethan from Sunday. He was in the closet in the playroom with one of his cousins and they were covered in blankets. When mom asked them what they were doing he said "We're playing tomato!" He meant "tornado". Too cute!