Caleb Video

This is my first attempt at uploading a video. I'm still trying to figure out how to get video off the video camera. This one is from my digital camera.

Ice Skating!

Who's bright idea was it to take a 3 year old ice skating? Oh ya, it was ours. We took Ethan to the Galleria last week to go ice skating. It sounded like a good idea at the time. He was all excited and was walking around great in the skates...until he got on the ice. He clung to the wall the whole time saying, "It's too slippery!" Yes Ethan, that's why it's called ice skating. Mondo managed to get him out in the middle of the ice a few times against his will. He never cried, just whined. I tried to go out with him but he only wanted Daddy. We stayed for about 30-45 minutes then had dinner at the Grand Luxe Cafe in the mall. Ethan chowed down on some "cheesy getti" (pasta with butter & cheese) and then he ate a huge piece of chocolate cake.

When he got into the shower that night he started crying because his toe was hurting. I looked down and he had a huge popped blister on the top of his big toe. He screamed through a super fast shower and then got a Spiderman bandaid. I guess the skates were rubbing his toe and he never said a word about it all day. I felt so bad for him!

After all was said and done he said he loved ice skating and he wanted to go again. We won't go back for a while...maybe roller skating would be better.

Ok, so he doesn't look excited but he was! This was before we got on the ice. Look at those little skates...too cute.

There's Mondo pulling him away from the wall. They were both a little wobbly at first. It provided some good laughs.

There he is back on the wall.

Coming to take a little break. He was sweating.

Here he is clinging to the wall. That's where he "skated" most of the time.

Caleb and I entertained ourselved by taking some pics.

He was talking to me.

Here's Ethan's giant chocolate cake.

He tore it up! He usually only eats the icing but that cake was awesome.

Sunday Lunch at Aunt Ree's

So I'm a little behind in posting this. We had Sunday lunch at my sister's last Sunday. She lives on Lake Granbury. We had a funfilled day planned of boating and swimming. Too bad mother nature didn't agree. It was pretty cold and super windy. Ethan went fishing on their boat while it was parked at the dock. They tried to take it out but it wouldn't start...and it was a brand new boat. Turns out, while Ethan was "driving" it he pushed some button that made it not start. I don't really know much about boats to know what that button was. Anywho, we took the kids to the park in her neighborhood so they could play for a while outside. Then we went to Pizza Hut on the way home...one of Ethan's fav's. It was a nice day. We'll have to go back again soon when it is nice and warm!

Caitlin and Caleb playing together.

Hailey had to join in too...with her chocolate chip cookie. See Caleb eyeing up that cookie?

Ethan on the boat...too bad his eyes were closed.

Ethan driving the boat...refusing to look at the camera.

Here he is fishing on the edge of the boat. He said he caught an octopus.

Nana introduced Caleb to some tea. Next she'll have a coke bottle in his mouth!

Fun at Katie's

Tuesday night we went to Katie's (a former co-worker) for a playdate for the kids and adults. The kids ran themselves ragged. They were so cute. Ethan immediately went for the swingset. Someday my poor child will have one. Ethan, Ali, and Mia pretty much played on it the whole time. Ethan was actually jumping off the back of the fort. I don't think Katie's girls had thought of doing that. That's a difference with boys and girls! They didn't stop until we made them eat. Ethan's face was so red and he was dripping sweat. They picked at their food then it was more playing until dark. They played chase, hide and seek, and soccer. Ali wanted Ethan to play dress up but he wasn't really into that even though she did have some boy dress up stuff. The adults had a good time too. Most of the time was spent rangling kids. It was nice to chat with Katie since I hadn't seen her in a while. I'm sad that they live so far away (Keller? Watagua?)...somewhere over there. It was worth the drive to get the kids together. She works weekend nights too so it's hard to get together unless it's in the evening during the week.

This was pretty much the scene the whole night.

Ali and Mia checking out Caleb.

He was so good. I've decided that he is a good baby afterall...as long as you hold him! He was awake the whole time and never fussed. I was so proud.

Don't let the lack of meat on Ethan's plate fool you...Mommy ate it after he was freaking out and saying, "Get it off!"

This is my pizza cookie. I can't take too much credit. I got it from a kid's cookbook that I bought last year. It was actually pretty good. It was a peanut butter cookie with melted white chocolate topped with Rolo's, twizzler's and some green "fruit" candy. I thought it would be fun for the kids.

Family Fun Night

Since I've been working weekends, we've lost our family time that we used to have on Saturday. So Mondo decided that we needed to have a family night at least once a week. This week we went to Chuck E. Cheese. It's one of Ethan's favorite places. I could live without going there but that's a sacrifice I make for my kid. :-) As soon as we got there he ran to the stage and was yelling "Chucky!" His only goal for the night was to give Chucky a hug...or as he says, "I need to hug the mouse." Luckily he did get to hug the mouse twice. The second time Chucky picked him up and spun him around. He got a big kick out of that. We stayed for about two hours. It was pretty fun since it wasn't too busy.

Caleb was actually awake the whole time. Here he is enjoying the carousel.

Ethan "riding" a rollercoaster.

Playing air hockey with Daddy.

Mini bowling...not too good at it.

He loves to play ski ball but he doesn't have the strength to get the ball into the goal. It usually ends up on someone else's lane.

Going Fishing

We took Ethan to go fishing a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to post the pics! We went to Bass Pro and bought him a Spiderman fishing pole and gear. It was a little late in the day to go somewhere fun so we went to our local park for a short fishing excursion. He had fun and didn't want to leave. His favorite part was reeling in the line. Of course he didn't catch anything. I don't think it was in the water long enough for something to take a bite. Plus, it was really windy so it was hard to see if something was nibbling or if it was just the wind blowing the bobber. We'll have to go out to a lake sometime and let him do some real fishing.

Ok, so he doesn't look excited but he was!
He's thinking "Wow, it takes a long time to catch a fish!"

Getting a little sleepy...can't even hold the pole anymore. Good thing nothing bit it and took off!
He made Mommy very nervous standing so close to the edge.
Probably not too many fish right at the edge. ;-)

Four Months Old!

The big boy can sit in the high chair now.

Of course Ethan has to check things out.

He still enjoys the sling.

Holding a bunny that Nana got him for Easter.

You can actually see the love for his Daddy in his eyes...melts my heart.

This butterfly is his favorite toy. He fell asleep holding it.

Such a happy baby...as long as Mommy or Daddy is holding him and no one else.

He wants to crawl so bad.

I don't think he'll be in the swing much longer. He's already trying to escape.

Caleb went to the pedi today for his four month check-up. All was well. He weighs 15-8 which is the 90th%, that's up from 50% at his 2 month. His height was 26in. which is the 97th% (that means only 3% of babies his age are taller than him)! Maybe he's going to be tall like his Uncle Abel. I know he's been in a major growth spurt because he eats all the time! He still eats every 3 hours during the day and is still waking up at night to eat. She said he is old enough that he shouldn't be waking up at night to eat anymore. He used to go to bed around 8pm and sleep until 4am, eat, then go back to sleep till about 7:30am. The last few nights he has been up almost every 3 hours to eat! The pedi said I could try to give him a little water or just a pacifier to get him back to sleep so he's not training himself to wake up to eat. But he really is hungry when he wakes up! He drains a whole bottle. Mondo and I have tried to just rock him back to sleep and sometimes it works but then he's up again in about 30 minutes to eat. She said I could give him cereal 3x a day and then move on to food if he does ok with the cereal. He's eating me out of house and home already and he's only 4 months old!


Overall, she said he is doing excellent. He has great muscle tone and is doing everything he is supposed to be doing. He put on a good show for her. He was smiling and laughing and rolling all over the table. She could hardly keep him still to examine him! That is so opposite of how Ethan was at that age. He was like a limp noodle for his first year. He was content to let us do everything for him. Not Caleb. He is a mover and a shaker. He wants to sit up so bad. When he's in his car seat or the swing it looks like he is doing crunches because he is trying to sit up. He can roll over from tummy to back and he's really trying to go back to tummy. He is changing so fast it's making me sad. He'll probably be potty trained next month!


He has had the sniffles the past few days. A tiny little cough and a little runny nose off and on. I wasn't sure if he had a cold or was trying to cut a tooth. She said his gums looked "bumpy" but she didn't think anything was close to cutting through. She thought it was probably just a little cold. It doesn't seem to be bothering him too much.

He got 4 shots again. Poor thing. He did really well. He didn't cry with the first one but he did with all the rest. He was fine as soon as the bandaid was on...and he got the bottle back in his mouth. :-)

Mother/Son Day at the Zoo

I think I'm going to change the name of this blog to Wendy's Daily Disasters! I took the kids to the zoo today for a little mother/son bonding. I was looking forward to going without any friends and just enjoying the kids and spending the whole day there. I realized when I was waiting in the parking line that I didn't have my zoo pass (that gets you free parking) because it was in my wallet that was stolen. I guess I looked pitiful enough and didn't have any cash so the lady let me in. There were only about 30 yellow school buses in the parking lot...no joke! Every time I go to the zoo during the week there are about 30 cars total in the whole lot. The ticket line was all the way to the parking lot. We had to wait for 30 minutes to get my new pass and Ethan's new pass. That's me waiting with two kids all alone. As you might imagine, Ethan started wandering around and behind the counter and Caleb was screaming by the time we got out of there. We had some new person who had no idea what she was doing trying to help us. Once we got inside, it didn't get much better. There were so many kids that I was overwhelmed. I had Caleb in the stroller and Ethan was walking. There were a million kids at every exhibit pushing little Ethan out of the way. He looked so tiny next to those heithens. I asked him if he wanted to leave and we would go do something else super fun and we could come back next week but he said no...of course. I ended up taking Caleb off-roading down some stairs to get away from those kids and closer to the exit. Ethan didn't realize that he missed half of the zoo. I wanted to get him a shirt but the sizes were weird and were scattered all over the store. I ended up getting him an animal and waited for 10 minutes to check out. Yes, the stupid zoo people had one person running the gift shop during this super busy day. Once we got to the car Caleb had had enough so I fed him while Ethan "drove" the car. (He sat in the driver's seat and played with the windshield wipers, blinkers, any knobs that he could push or turn.) At that point, I really didn't care. Luckily both kids slept the whole way home while I tried to calm myself and de-stress! So much for my wonderful day!

A Day of Fun With Colton

Ethan went to Colton's house last week for a play date. They hadn't seen each other in a while and were so happy to play together. I'll let the picture show their day.

They actually posed themselves for this picture. Look how red Ethan's face is. They had been chasing each other around the house.

The hug was spontaneous too. So cute.

I think they were playing dead in this picture. Weird.

Yes, there will be a broken bone in our future! This child has no fear.

It's hard to tell but he was almost on the floor in this pic.

We went to McDonald's for lunch. They really didn't eat. They just wanted to play in this monstrosity. They kept saying they were stuck and Traci or I would have to go in after them. It is not parent friendly!

There's Ethan at the bottom of the slide.

This is Ethan showing peer pressure already. He's yelling at Colton, "Jump, jump, jump....." Colton didn't give in. To Ethan's disappointment, he climbed down carefully and chose not to jump.

Blessed

I have been keeping up with a blog about a little boy named Ethan Powell for the last year (www.ethanpowell.com). He was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was two months old. He has been in and out of the hospital (mainly in) since then. He just died today. He was a little over a year old. His parents had such huge faith and believed in the power of prayer. It truely was miraculous that he lived this long. It just really puts life in perspective. I am so blessed to have two healthy boys. I am blessed to have my four month old wake me up several times in the night. I am blessed that my 3 year old can run, and make me laugh like no one else. I am blessed to feel my two kids snuggle with me every night before bed. I am blessed when my child gets mad and throws a fit because at least he is here on this earth with me. I cherish every moment with my children. The thought of something happening to them is the worst possible feeling in the world. Life is so fragile and can be taken away so easily. I can't even write anymore through my tears. Basically this depressing entry was just to say that I love my kids and am grateful for every moment I have with them.

Getting Lighter

I haven't done an update about my weight since going on my diet. Well, I wouldn't call it a diet...just trying to eat better. It's been about 6 weeks and I've lost 13 pounds. Only 6 more to go to reach my goal (pre-pregnancy) weight. I think that's pretty good considering I'm doing no exercise. I just can't fit it into my lifestyle right now. I'm sure those last 6 pounds would already be gone if I could exercise and I would be a lot more toned. Maybe some day. I guess those daily chocolate malts really were pretty bad for me. I've probably had one or two in the last 6 weeks. So sad.....

Oh to Be Three

Just thought I'd write a blog about life with a 3 year old. I'm sure you could guess there is never a dull moment. Here are a few funny things he's said over the last week or two:

-He was playing out in the sprinkler and said that water was too cold and he wanted me to turn it warmer.


E: "The water's cold! Turn it warmer."

W: "I can't. The water outside is only cold today."

E: "Turn it warmer...you know...the knob (he pretends to turn one)...hot...warm...cold."

W: "The knob outside is only cold Ethan. I can't make it warmer."

E: "But my pee pee is warm." (he looks puzzled)

W: "Yes, that's true. But I still can't make the water warmer." What are you supposed to say
to that?!



-He was walking through the living room the other night and said "I'm distinguished." I asked
him where he got that and he said "Emily from Little Bear."


-He dropped the soap in the bathroom and said "What the hell!" Again, I asked him where he got that. He said "Marty." I asked him who Marty was and he said "You know, the zebra." (from Madagascar) I actually think he says what the heck but it's interesting that he got that from a kid movie. He also got some other choice words from The Sandlot and "Rookie of the Year". Who makes these kid movies???


-Every time he knocks on the door he says "It's the pizza man!" He said he got that from Alex. I said "Alex from school?" He said, "No, Alex the lion." (again, from Madagascar)



Here's the top 5 reasons not to leave a 3 year old alone:



#1. He might wake up his baby brother who had been fighting a nap. His excuse: "I just feel like bein' loud."

#2. He might sneak out in the back yard to pee.

#3. He might lock the dogs in a bedroom just to hear them bark while he laughs uncontrollably on the other side of the door.

#4. He might answer the phone and have a nice long conversation with whoever is calling.

#5. He might have been doing something but you will never know because you walk in just in time to ask "what are you doing?" His reply, "Nuttin" (nothing). That's the scariest one of all!

*And yes, all of those things listed above happened in one morning.

Enjoying ice cream on a hot day.

Chocolate goatee.