2 years old

This post is a bit delayed because poor Caleb got strep.  I didn't even realize he was sick, it was discovered during his 2 year appointment. 

I thought I would share some fun facts about Caleb and some reminiscing pictures.

Weight:  25 lbs (15% ) - he dropped from 25% at the last appointment
Height:  34 in (50 %)

~  today I asked him where Percy (the small green train from Thomas and Friends) was and he responded "I don't know".  What?  My boy responded with the correct multiple words phrase.  He is growing up

~ He is very into directional phrases currently, such as: right there, over there, that way, this way, etc

~ He runs everywhere and climbs everything

~ Is such a sweet big brother.  Constantly kisses and hugs his brother, lays down next to him and imitates him

~ still loves trains, cars, construction vehicles, chainsaws,

~ He talks constantly in the car.  He can spot a train or a dump truck or a bucket truck or a school bus or a digger before I can.

~ he is a picky eater, which is so frustrating but will always eat Pizza.

~  He is stubborn and strong willed, always has been.

~ Lately he enjoys hugging Max and if he can catch him lying down he likes to sit on him and bounce.  Max doesn't so much like this so he runs away as soon as he gets a chance.

~ When he finds something funny he does it over and over and over again.  Or if you do something he thinks is funny he wants you to do it over and over again.  He will try to recreate the same thing again the next day. He has a joke he thinks is so funny, he takes his napkin and hides it then asks you where his napkin is after a while of searching he pulls it out and declares "Nackuk"!  Or at the doctors office the other day we were reading a book about baby faces and I acted out the surprised face.  So now when he taps you on the shoulder he is hoping for a big surprise face.

~ He has learned about tickling.  He will walk up to you and say tickle tickle and laugh so hard.  He even does it to Micah.  Oh and he loves being tickled the most during diaper changes. Silly boy.

~ He says a lot of words, more and more each day.  Lately, he has been repeating what he hears on tv.  This is why we only watch cartoons on PBS when he is awake, but I try to limit this to times when I need him to occupied such as I'm fixing dinner or he woke up really early and I'm exhausted.  Okay back to the vocabulary he says a lot but I am the only one that understands him.  This is because he does not pronounce things correctly.  Here is a list of commonly mispronounced words.

water - "riter" (used to sound like bottle but this week he decided to change it up)
napkin - "nakuk"
lay down - "yay yown"
nutrigrain bar - "nuti badidididid"
light - "yight"

i have run out of steam for comments. enjoy the pis from the last 2 years

Orlando part 4

Did you like my cliff hanger?

So I go back to the boat and no luck, it's not there.  One of Chris' clients gave him their ticket so he has an extra one but it's not good until 2 and he just sat down with work buddies to eat lunch.  So I have another 2 hours to kill before we can do anything.  Are you noticing a theme to my day?  Next to the docks is a big empty amphitheater.  The weather is kind of muggy and looks like rain is imminent so it is was very empty.  I feel bad for keeping Caleb cooped up so I park the stroller with sleeping Micah and let Caleb out to run and play.  But what do you know the boy finds a hill and starts climbing it.  On the fourth climb up the hill he climbs over the top and onto the street of City Walk and runs away.  I have to leave sweet Micah, praying no one takes him while I'm not looking and chase after my crazy sprinter.  That was the last time I let him out of arms reach for the day (while I was alone).  So we go walk around and find some lunch to kill more time.

I realize I have now said the phrase "kill time" a lot.  Looking back on those times when we were in between activities, those are some of the precious moments of the day.  But they are also some of the moments that cause the most stress.

Finally Chris arrives and I nurse Micah while the boys run around. 

Trying to get a smile out of him.

Caleb is saying No picture, No picture.  We think this is a funny phase

Watching the boats in the water (just below them)

Caleb is getting a bit sleepy by this point, and we finally get to enter Islands of Adventure.  Caleb falls asleep in the stroller and we head over to the Harry Potter section to ride the rides (solo sadly as someone must watch our precious cargo, but the line was super fast for the solo riders).  Caleb slept for about an hour or so.  Sweet Micah slept for about three hours.

Welcome to Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Castle.  The sky was perfect for the overall effect.

Train, Train, Train.

Platform 9 3/4

Then off to Seuss Land.  It was magical and my boy is adventurous. I had an inkling that he was kind of fearless given all the running away into strange places, but he did really well on all the rides.  Since he is still small he could only ride three rides, the One Fish Two Fish ride, the Caro-Seuss, and the Cat in the Hat ride.  All of which were a bit faster than I had imagined and he loved them all.  I think he rode most of them three times, then ran around in the playground for a bit before heading home.

He was a bit frightened by the large cat

Do you love my hair?  Just wanted to prove that we were both there

We went back to the hotel packed the car and began our drive home.  The boys slept for most of the car ride with only a few small peeps.  Hopefully our adventures are over for a bit as I need some rest now.  But all in all it was a fun vacation.

Orlando part 3

Our last and final day in Orlando (I know the beginning is quite redundant but that is exactly how I would say it if I were telling you a story) was not disappointing.  It started off so simple and easy, went a bit crazy, got crazier than finished quietly.

So the boys woke up kind of early, seemed to be the norm for not sleeping at home.  Chris got ready went off to work and I had the day ahead of me.  The plan was to go to Universal's Islands of Adventure for the day.  I had an all day pass that his Uncle had given me and Chris had a half day pass (enter after 2) from his work.  His conference was over at 12 so he had 2 hours to kill before we could all enter the park together.  That morning I called the front desk for a late check out and no go, too many people had already tried, but they would hold onto our luggage for us.  Check out was at 11 and my only activity for the morning was breakfast.  Lots of time to kill.

Lil Chubster getting dressed for the day. Love that smile

And this one too. 

I started packing up the hotel room (which was a disaster) and sweet Caleb played with his cars for almost an hour by himself.  My goal was to nurse in the hotel room twice before heading out into the world for the remainder of the day.  After Micah ate for the second time we went to the hotel dining room and had the kids room all to ourselves.  Caleb got to eat for free 'cause he is so young, awesome.  I got refills on coffee and was in heaven.  This trip I started eating really really fast.  With two little ones it seems that one or both of them needs my attention at any second, so two free hands is a luxury.  Okay back to the awesome breakfast in a room filled with toys and no one to bother us or judge me.  It was heavenly.  Caleb ate a good bit of breakfast while I scarfed down my omelet. He wanted down to play with the toys so I obliged.  I sat back in my chair to savor my coffee.  Glorious coffee. And what do you know, the little guy takes off running.  I blink and he is three rooms down.  This little process happens, not once, not twice, not three times, but four separate times.  The waitress felt bad for me and tried to stop him once but he made it all the way out to the lobby and got distracted by some rocks.  Everyone kept saying how fast he is.  Don't worry he ran away a couple more times during the day. You would think that i would have learned by now, but no.

So breakfast is over and we head back to the room for the final packing and asking some kind gentleman to take our bags away for us. Then off we go to Universal.  It is now 11:15 ish.  We take the boat from the hotel to City Walk and Caleb is in love while Micah falls asleep in the stroller.   I still have so much time to kill so we ride the boat round trip an extra time, then hop onto another boat to go to a different  hotel and back.  I'm so proud of my expert time wasting skills (by this point it is 12:15 ish).  Now off to Islands of Adventure.  We get to the front gate and what do you know, I can't find my ticket.  Yep  I did it again, I lost something.  I lost the ticket and have no idea what to do now.

Orlando part 2

The weather people were saying for a week that we were going to have rain on Tuesday so I tried to find things to do indoors and I decided we would go to the Orlando Science Museum.  Small problem the place doesn't open until 10.  So when the boys were both awake at 6:30 I decided we would go out to eat breakfast.  Caleb was wonderful at IHOP.  He ate almost all of his food and was playful with the servers.  Micah had fallen asleep but was still dozing when we stopped at the restaurant and woke up quickly after we got there angry that we wasn't sleeping.  I discretely feed him while we ate our breakfast of champions.  And off to the science museum we went.  This place is big but only has three sections that are appropriate for Caleb's age and is not so stroller friendly (found this out after venturing there with my double stroller).  But there was enough for us to do to keep busy until nap time.

The first section was Kidz town. 

playing with the boats in the current

Caleb got so frustrated playing with this activity. He wanted one boat of every color and when I made him share with the other kids he stiffened up his whole body, turned bright red and said NO.  This is kind of normal and didn't phase me until another mom said "wow he is really upset, that is something".  Yeah my son is passionate about everything.

Next up was some other section where we got run over by a group of middle schoolers on a fieldtrip.  This is when I decided we would stick to the recommended age guide.  And then I had to use the bathroom and Caleb took this opportunity to run away from me.  And I couldn't find a diaper changing station until after I had made space on the floor in a quiet corner.  I was not loving the science center at this point.

Until we found the All Aboard room.  Filled with trains and planes and cars.  Just the room for a little boy.

I loved these little cars.  Perfect size

I failed to get a picture of it.  But there were 4 of these cars and Caleb drove all of them to the same spot where he lined them all up.  He still loves to line cares up.

Until he found this tunnel and thought the car needed to go through the tunnel.

Playing on the train.  Can see Micah and I in the reflection?

See we really were there.

Still playing on the train.

And enjoyed the airplane, for a brief moment

Nap time existed but was a struggle to get everyone asleep.  The second I got one asleep the other one started crying. It was a bit rough.  But after nap time we met up with Chris' cousin's sister for pictures in a pumpkin patch.  They are so very adorable and I will share later.

After the pumpkin patch we headed to dinner at Chris' aunt's house.  His Aunt and cousins (his uncle was out of town) were all able to meet up with us last minute for dinner.  It is always nice to spend time with family.  Sadly I forgot to get some pictures of the family.

Orlando part 1

Chris' company is having a conference in Orlando and we decided to join him.  His company hosts a users conference every year and a half and this year the conference has about 500 people in attendance.  Which was too big for atlanta where the company is based so we came to one of the hotels on the Universal properties.  The boys would absolutely love it if they were a bit older.  Luckily they will be doing this again.

So while Chris is busy during the day with the conference, the boys and I get to find something to do (and try not to spend all or money).  The first day was filled with lots of highs and lows.  

Low:  everyone woke up too early

High:  the boys entertained themselves with out hurting anyone or damaging anything while I took a shower.  Chris had to be at the conference super early so he left as the boys were waking up

Low:  It turns out the zoo is 30 minutes away and on the way to the zoo we hit rush hour traffic through down town Orlando

High:  We arrived at the perfect time with few people there.

Low:  Due to our late arrival it is now time for Micah to eat

High:  Since there are so few people there I find the perfect spot to nurse in public, next to the crocodiles.  Not kidding.  There was a bench in the middle of a long walkway, under an umbrella just outside the reptile house. There was plenty of space for Caleb to run (his favorite activity lately) and I could see him without fear of someone taking him.  He was about 20 feet from me and I say "hey Caleb look at the squirrel in the tree above you". At this moment the squirrel  knocks a leaf down which hits C in the head and scares him.  As he is walking towards me some long grass rubs up against his leg and he is freaked out.  So he calmly sat next to me on the bench until Micah finished eating. 

Low: Muggy weather and just hot.

High:  So few people Caleb can run from animal exhibit to animal exhibit.  When he would get tired he would let me push him. 

at the butterfly exhibit

I'm 3 months old.

The snakes were his favorite, but in this picture he is yelling No b/c he didn't want me to take his picture. This makes me laugh since it is a face I see often.

Low: The snack bar does not have pizza so we go to leave the park

High: we ride the little train (Caleb is obsessed with Thomas) and it goes through a tunnel.  I realize it is getting late and the zoo is in the middle of no where so we had better eat there before we leave. 

So this isn't the train but was his one of his favorite spots just outside the snack bar

Look at me, I'm a boy and I climb everything

Low:  It is really close to nap time and we need to be back at the hotel now, but I can't find my keys.  Panic is starting to set in.  I retrace our steps and nothing.  No luck.

High:  Chris' keys are back at the hotel and one of his coworkers loans him a car to come rescue us.

Low:  Micah is starving and super cranky at this point

This is me looking rough after a long day (and it is only 2)

High:  the zoo has a high ropes coarse at the beginning with a bunch of picnic tables beneath so we find a quiet spot to feed and Caleb can play.  Plus I remembered to bring some of his cars with me, so the boy is happy as a clam.  Chris comes to get us and low and behold I had locked my keys in the trunk, must have put them down when I went to get the stroller out.   (side bar: double strollers are way heavier than single strollers and much harder to get in and out of the car)

Low: Caleb fell asleep on the way home.  You may think that is a high, but it means that he refused to back to sleep once we got to the hotel room.

High: Caleb kindly played by himself and let me finish watching the most recent episode of Project Runway online.  Then we all got ready to go to a reception for the conference and meet some of Chris work friends and clients.

Low: But we had to stop to eat dinner before hand and we were running super late.  And Caleb is not a fast eater nor can you rush him.  I am typically just thankful that he will eat.

High: The hotel dining room has a kids room and we are the only people there.  So Caleb could play with all the toys without any fighting.  He doesn't actually play with them but instead rearranges all of them, either lining them up or stacking them.  Oh and he ate some of his pizza and a bunch of fruit. 

Low:  Chris phone died so we have to walk in to a large ballroom filled with business people all dressed up cute, and here I am lucky to have clothes that fit that are not yoga pants with two little kids.  I'm feeling awesome

High:  Chris looks super handsome and is in work shmoozing mode.  Kind of fun to watch him put on the charm.

Low: Caleb is nuts and wants to run. He also starts demanding to go outside the second we walk into the ballroom.  After ten maybe fifteen minutes we decide it is time to get out of there.  But Chris has to stay and keep mingling.

High:  I let Caleb play in the sand outside the pool for a while and Micah sweetly naps away.  Caleb worked off some extra energy and was sweet and laughing during bath time.   Both boys went to bed without a hitch.  Then Chris comes back early (he skipped dinner with some clients) and he brought me some fabulous desert.

Traveling with two little ones is always an adventure.  More to come in parts 2, and 3.

Chris' sweet words

Chris has a blog that he posts to occasionally.  Yesterday he decided to post the what he said at his mom's memorial service.  His words are precious and heart felt.  I cry every time I read them.

Chris' words

My sweet mother in law Linda

I have wanted to blog for the last few weeks but didn't know what to say. I knew I had to blog about the biggest thing happening in my families life, and that was Linda's health.  And then it was too late.

This is what I wrote on Saturday, as I was by myself  for the first time in a week:

It has been a long week filled with great joy and sadness, laughter and tears.  A week ago today my mother in law went to be with the Lord.  I cry even as I type this for my husband, for myself, for my boys.  We will miss her dearly, but for Linda I rejoice.  She has been sick for some time now, with COPD.  These last few months were very difficult for her.  When Micah was born she was too weak to visit.  I told here I would bring the boys to her, because she came weekly to see Caleb and give me a break while I was on maternity leave.  Shortly after Micah was born she went to the hospital because she could not breath.  She was at the hospital for a long time, she was very weak and in a lot of pain.  While at the hospital she caught an infection and had emergency surgery removing her large intestine. Linda passed away from complications with the surgery and her COPD.

This week has been very hard, harder than I thought as she was very sick and I knew this day was coming sooner rather than later.  I grieve as a mom, more deeply than I thought possible.  I grieve for my children, and my twin nieces arriving in march.  I grieve for Linda's children. I grieve as a wife for her husband of 42 years and 3 months.

We were all at the hospital.  With her during those last few moments.  Even now I cry.  But then I remember that she is no longer in pain, no longer slowed by her breather. Gigi is with Jesus.  That is what we told Caleb and what he sweetly repeats when pray with him.  Back when Caleb was born she used to say, I can't walk and talk and breath at the same time.  Now she can do all three.  I am not sad for Linda.  For Linda I rejoice.  For my family I cry.

I will remember her.  Those are the words Chris spoke at her memorial service.  Surrounded by lots of  family and friends.  He is much better with words than I am.  He spoke about his mom teaching him to pray as a boy.  What a precious gift she gave him.  I am forever thankful to her for raising a godly man.

 It is now Wednesday and at this moment the pain is not so raw.  I can speak about the last few weeks factually and get through the words.  The pain and emotions are still there but life with two little ones goes on. 

This is one of my favorite pictures.  It's Linda holding Caleb on the day he was born.