A Change in Plans

(I really need a scanner...this is a bad picture of a picture).

As some of you know, Mondo and I "celebrated" our 7 year wedding anniversary yesterday (the 23rd). Both kids and I are sick so things didn't go quite as planned. Here's the rundown.

Anniversary plans before kids:

-get a manicure and pedicure from a day spa

-have a nice juicy steak for dinner and talk for hours

-stay overnight in a nice hotel complete with a room service order of cheesecake and coffee

-sleep in then have brunch

-spend the rest of the day shopping and going to a movie

Actual Anniversary with kids:

-got flowers and donuts (not a bad start)

-Ethan and I had fever and sinus issues

-had McDonald's for lunch (Ethan's request)

-had Taco Bueno for dinner (Mondo's request)

-spent the whole day at home with sick, whiney kids

-Ethan fell asleep at 7:15p

-we attempted to watch a movie

-Ethan woke up at 9:30p with 101.7 and needed meds; wanted Daddy to sleep with him

-finally finished our movie around 11p

-we were up and down with both kids all night

Do I wish I could've gone back to the old days? Not on your life.

Happy Anniversary Mondie! Here's to 7 more years!....and hopefully Caleb will be sleeping through the night by then!! :-)

My Little Caleb-Poo

I haven't done a post about Caleb in a while. He is 14 months old now. I can't believe how fast he is growing!!! He is still so busy and such a little love bug. We weaned him off of his bottle a few weeks ago. By weaned, I mean cold turkey! He wasn't too happy about it for the first few days but he's over it now. I think he falls in love with his paci more and more each day...we'll save that battle for later.


He still doesn't sleep through the night. He wakes up 1 or 2 times. I've realized that if I take him straight to my bed he'll fall right back to sleep...bad habit, I know!! I'm pretty sure that's why he wakes up in the night now. He's looking for me and my bed. We'll work on breaking that habit after we get back from our ski trip. We'll all be sleeping in one bed during that time so it would be silly to break the habit before we go.


He is a great eater. He wants a bite of whatever we're eating. If I take something to the couch to snack on he'll run over, take his paci out of his mouth, and whine until I give him a bite. Works every time. He'll eat pretty much anything we give him. Now if only we could get Ethan to do that....(Look at his feet in this pic. He keeps his feet pushed against the tray almost the whole time he eats.)


Caleb is still into everything!!! Just today I left him in his room to take a diaper outside. I came back in to hear him screaming. I ran to his room and found him beside his dresser with his lamp and piggy bank on the floor next to him. His dresser is about 5 feet tall. He unplugged the lamp (I didn't realize he could reach the plug), then pulled on the cord which pulled the lamp off of the dresser taking the full piggy bank with it. I'm not sure if anything actually hit him or if he just got scared. If he's in the bathroom, he goes straight for the toilet. If he's in the kitchen, he goes straight for the trash or dog food. If he's in the living room, he goes straight for the remotes or DVD/VCR/TV. He's so busy!!!

And boy does he love his mommy! This is the position you will find him in if I put him down in a strange place. This picture was taken at church. He was clinging to me for dear life!

Here's a good picture of his toofers. Those things are trauma!!! You can see the molars in the back. I think they're all finally through. Now it's on to the canines. They are trying to cut now. Geeze teeth, give the poor kid (and his parents) a break!!!

He loves to be outside. He can be so cranky inside but the second he goes outside he's fine. Thank goodness for the good weather lately! Here he is helping out Daddy with the lawn. He pushes this lawnmower around all over the yard. Ethan got it for his second birthday.

He is into singing now. Ok, it's more like humming since he doesn't talk. This video is quite entertaining since he's covered with pasta. I was singing Twinkle Twinkle while cleaning him up and he was "singing" along and doing the hand motions. Please excuse my silly singing. :-)

He recently taught himself how to use a bazooka. It's so cute! He walks around the house with it hanging out of his mouth just humming away.

I think he's going to be a little soccer player. He will kick the ball all over the backyard. Pretty coordinated for such a little critter.

Muscle Weighs More Than Fat

Ethan had his dreaded 4 year check up yesterday. I had been dreading it for weeks. I left Caleb with my mom and brought Mondo along for support. Ethan didn't know we were going until that morning. He didn't want to go because he didn't want the "stick in his mouth". I think he remembered back to when he had a strep culture done.

He weighed 40 pounds, and was 40 inches tall. His weight was in the 75th percentile. The doctor said, "He's always been on the stocky side...and muscle weighs more than fat." Mondo and I have actually been thinking that he looks taller and skinnier...just has a little rootbeer belly. ;-) His height was in the 50th percentile. He can now go to a booster seat for the car. Luckily his carseat is a 3-in-1 so it goes up to 100 pounds.

She tested his strength which he thought was pretty fun. He had to make strong muscles while she pushed against them. He had his vision and hearing tested. Both were fine.

I told her he was worried about the "stick" in his mouth. She told him that he was old enough to open wide so he wouldn't have to do that. He was thrilled.

Then came the bad part...4 shots...2 in each leg...and a TB test. Of course he was crying and pleading for the nurse to stop. Then on the fourth shot he cried out, "that's enough!" SO SAD!!! Then it was off to the lab for a blood draw. He was still traumatized when we got there so I wasn't too worried about the blood draw...then the lady came out and said, "it will be a 30 minute wait or you can bring him back tomorrow. The lab tech who does kids just went to lunch." We were thinking...'seriously, you just have ONE person to draw blood on kids???' So, we went next door to the hospital and had some onion rings. Of course in 30 minutes he was fine again and ready to go home...then we walked back to the lab and the tears and begging started again. He used to not be bad with needles until his ordeal with pneumonia last summer. Now he's traumatized for life. The blood draw was just a finger stick but he still cried the whole time. Poor little critter. He'll never want to go to the doctor again.

We bought him a small toy when it was all over. Poor baby needed it. :-) He's doing fine now. I told him he didn't have to go to school today if he didn't want to but he wanted to go. He was even riding his tricycle in the driveway before school. I'm just glad it's all over...until next year...or until he gets sick again. The doctor said he won't gets shots again until he's 14. Yea!!!

Snow White & the Two Dwarfs

I took the boys to the zoo this week. It was such a beatuiful day and we hadn't been in a long time. We had lots of fun and met some new animal friends. I know you're thinking 'how many pictures can you have from the zoo?' Here are just a few from our latest trip.

This is my attempt to get a group photo while holding both kids and the camera. Two out of three looking isn't bad.

This is the typical picture lately. Ethan trying to hold Caleb in place for a picture and Caleb is not having it! We were riding the train...and no, they didn't sit alone.

Deep in thought...what a cute kid.

There's a monkey on the train! Oh wait, it's just Ethan.

This was the highlight of the day. This squirrel came up to us and wanted Ethan's M&M's! He climbed up on the stroller looking for food.

Then he ran over to Ethan and was literally crawling up his leg to get to the M&M's. We didn't give him any. Ethan was literally dragging the squirrel on his jeans when we walked away. It was the coolest thing ever.

I named this little bird Stingy. He wouldn't get off my food stick. I was literally trying to shake him off so some other birds could have a taste and he was holding on for dear life.

It worked out for photo ops! And no, Caleb didn't actually touch him. I wouldn't let him get that close...he might have lost a finger!

My Wedding Day

1) When was your wedding day? 2/23/02

2) What day of the week was it? Saturday

3) Did you get married in a church? Turnpike Church of Christ

4) How many in your wedding party? 5 bridesmaides, 5 groomsmen, 3 flowergirls, 1 ringbearer

5) Where was your reception? Turnpike Church of Christ

6) How many guests were invited to your wedding? I think it was around 300

7) How long did you wait to Tie The Knot after your proposal? 4 months...I didn't want to wait any longer since we had already been together for 7 years!

8) Who did you hire as your photographer & videographer? Southern Flair (photography); Studio One (video)

9) Did you have a DJ or a band? Neither...CD's.

10) Did your father walk you down the aisle? Yes

11) What color were the bridesmaid dresses & groomsmen vests? black & silver

12) Who was your Maid Of Honor/Best Man? Maid of Honor was my sister, Best Man was Scott Brown (Mondo's best friend).

13) Did you have a Bridal Shower? yes

14) What type of limo did you get? white stretch Hummer limo

15) Where did you go for your Bachelorette/Bachelor Party? downtown Dallas

16) What type of wedding gown/tux did you two wear? wedding gown: white, sequins, pearls, slightly off the shoulder, scoop neck, long train, back length vail; tux: black, white vest, white bow tie

17) How was the weather? 70 degrees, beautiful

18) Where did you go on your Honeymoon? Mauii for 7 days...wish I could go back!!!

19) What was your favorite part of your wedding day? looking up at Mondo as I walked down the aisle and watching him try to hold it together and not cry...didn't work ;-)

20) How long have you been married? 7 years this month

Pump it Up!

Poor little Ethan finally got to have his birthday party this week at Pump it Up. I think he was beginning to wonder if he would ever get to have his party...poor little critter. He had so much fun! I think he could have jumped all day. We've definitely reached the age to have parties out of the house. I don't think Mondo and I could handle a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds running wild through the house! There are TONS of pics so I'll get to it!

Here he is waiting for his friends to arrive. I had to get one picture before he got all hot and sweaty. How big is he?!

Climbing through the obstacle course.

Ethan and his cousin Hailey playing Superman. They only broke two rules...don't go head first and only one person on the slide at a time...oops.Ethan and his fellow super hero enthusiast Liam about to take the plunge.

Caleb had to get in on the action too.

Here's a close-up. He loves to slide...or "side" as he calls it.

He started crying and getting overwhelmed with all the people. A little momma time fixed him right up.

He got some one on one jumping time with mommy. He thought that was pretty fun. He was running from one end to the other and slamming himself into the wall like a crazy person. Here's an attempted group photo. They were all on the run. I think we got most of them in this pic. I like how Colton has his arms back and he's just chilling. Then there's Ethan with a death grip on Caleb so he wouldn't run away.

All the kiddos enjoying pizza. I think they all sucked down the juice boxes before they ate the pizza.He ate 3 pieces!

Here's his new cake...WAY better than the first one. When I saw this one I knew he had to have it. It even had "Venom" (the black guy) on it which is what he requested.
It was hard to find a place to put the candles on the cake!
He said he just wanted one bite...and that's all he ate.

Now Caleb on the other hand had several bites...and three slices of pizza.

Thanks for taking care of me Papa!

He got to sit in the special inflated chair to open his presents.
He loved the Spiderman blanket.
This was later at home. He was boxing with his Spiderman gloves on.

Flying with the Batman cape.

This was one of his favorite things. It's a super hero play station with some of the little guys. He's also wearing a new super hero shirt and hat.

Look What My Sister Can Do!

This is Caleb's "church bag." My sister hand painted it. Cute, huh? Ethan has one too but the paint is just a bit faded and beat up.