Cal funnies and other cute things he's said about the baby...

Yes, it's true, I'm pregnant AGAIN...we're done after this one so this should be the last announcement of its kind. Cal is VERY excited about the baby and has already had lots to say about "her" and lots to ask. I'll be calling the baby a SHE until I know otherwise. I need all the good karma I can get to have a girl!! We should be able to find out the gender sometime in April so stay tuned. I'm super paranoid about having twins so I convinced my OB to give me an ultrasound on Tuesday :) If there is more than one in there, you'll all be sure to hear about it. Cal can't wait to see the baby on the "TV". So anyways, without further delay, here are some of the things Cal has been uttering lately:

1. He has decided that the baby will be named "Dinoco" (from the movie Cars). Now if it's a girl then it's "Chick" and if it's a boy it's "Lightening McQueen" but if it's a baby, still "Dinoco". haha...all the names are from Cars.

2. Oh, he's also said that if it's a boy we should call him "Other Ben"...to explain, Cal has two yellow blankets, one we call "yellow" and his favorite one we call "other yellow" - so I guess "Other Ben" would be the favorite!

3. When asked how he feels about mommy having another baby...he said, "No, we don't need another baby, we just gotta get a sister!!!" haha...maybe mommy has been pushing the idea of a sister a little too much?!

4. When asked if we have enough room for the baby and where Ben will sleep when the baby needs the crib, Cal replied, "Mommy, I want Ben to come sleep with me in MY bed". Aaawww...that's sweet. He's since reiterated several times that he'd really like Ben to be in his room. Mommy is NOT down with that idea. We did not buy a four bedroom house for nothing!

5. Cal has asked, "How does the baby get out of your tummy? Does it crawl out?" Yeah, Cal, something like that!

6. Funny story: So a couple months ago we were at Barnes and Nobles where there was a very small baby who was crying. There wasn't really any mention of the baby or anything specific about it. But literally a week or so after this baby siting, totally random, Cal says to me, "Mom, 'member that at B&N that was crying? I like that baby. I want to bring it home!". Totally strange, I know...I guess he's very anxious for our baby to come soon.

PS. Here's an EYE-OPENING FACT for you (well, for me anyways): For 3 1/2 months I can say I have THREE children THREE years old and UNDER!!!! Scary, I know.

Ben is WALKING!?!?!!?!!!!!!!

Ben gave me an early birthday surprise and made the decision to take off on his own yesterday. Halle-freakin'-lujah! At 15 months it's about time!! Cal and Grammy Pat witnessed the event. Cal was overjoyed for his brother - clapping, screaming, and hugging ensued. Despite his latest sickness, bronchiolitis, Ben has had a big week with the walking AND blowing bubbles in the bath. Bubble-blowing came at a good time since we're about to sign the boys up for March swim lessons. Cal has next week off from preschool so Mom is trying to plan fun outings to keep both the boys busy and entertained. Before getting sick Ben was transitioning well to one nap a day, but we had to go back to two naps for a bit so he could get some more rest while sick. We're back to one now though so it gives us more options for morning activities!

In other less exciting news, we finally bought some furniture today - a dining room set! Hooray! Slowly but surely making progress.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hmm...I think I like V-day?!I'm a playboy...
I think Valentine Potatohead needs to shoot me with a love arrow!
Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day! Until next year...

Valentine Bloom!

So we've been waiting and waiting for this amarylis to bloom. My grandmother gave it to me for Hanukkah so it's taken 2 1/2 months to grow this tall and it finally bloomed today on Valentine's day - What good timing!!

Portland Retreat

We just got back from our weekend getaway to Portland, ME and are now back to the regular routine but thoroughly refreshed! We arrived Friday night to the executive suite complete with champagne and chocolates. Yum! The room was huge and had way more than we needed for a weekend - microwave, fridge, dining table with four chairs! The best part about the hotel was its lovely mint soaps, lotion, and shampoo which I definitely took with me :) The first night we stayed in and ate at the hotel restaurant. Not the best meal but at least we didn't have to go anywhere and it was free so what can you do? The next day I awoke early much to my annoyance and couldn't go back to sleep so we were out the door and having breakfast by 7am. Later in the morning we dressed for the cold and headed out to explore downtown Portland. We went in shops and then ate lunch which took us to our movie matinee. Other than a girls' night out a couple months ago I hadn't been to the movies in ages. So we were excited to see "There Will Be Blood". If you haven't seen this movie yet, DON'T. It was no good and LONG too. Later we got some Indian food for dinner - again, not the best - but still ok and then went to a little cafe for coffee and dessert. Other than that we relaxed the rest of the time - hung out, read, watched TV, slept...I'm happy to report I was able to sleep longer the second morning! We headed back Sunday afternoon and were here when the boys woke up from their naps. Ben gave me a nice smile when I went to get him but then sobbed through his snack and put his head in my lap as if he'd held all his sadness in while we were gone and was now pouring out his little heart to me. After about a half hour he was over it and glad to have us back. Cal woke up happy to see me and as always a little tentative about Eric being back but that didn't take too long to change. So everyone is happy to be back doing what we do daily/weekly and we'll just dream about our next little getaway :)

I'm watching you...

Thanks to a new couple we met and had dinner with recently I've learned that I can put a site counter on my blog AND find out exactly who has visited, when, and for how long. So BEWARE, I know if you have or have not seen the cute pictures of my kids and read my delirious rants!

Snow days?! Walking?!

So if you're wondering what I mean by "snow days" slowing my workout schedule, well let me tell you. Apparently, they're wimps in NH. If there's a 1/2 inch of slush on the ground then there's a 2 hour delay which means no preschool. This happened on Tuesday and who showed up to preschool...Cal. Eric calls and says, "It's 8am and no one is here and all the lights are off". Oh boy! Cal cried the whole car ride home. He said he "missed his friends". We braved the now 1 foot of slush in the mall parking lot to pick up our Sears pictures and happened to run into Sara from preschool. This is the break I was looking for! They ran around the playplace and wore each other. Good naps that day. We also saw Meg from the neighborhood and Logan from music. Guess everyone needed to get out.

Lo and behold, today it is again snowing a TEENSY bit. So I don't take ANY chances and actually watch the news. Everywhere except Portsmouth has a 2 hour delay. I think this is strange BUT I checked two different stations and Portsmouth didn't appear. Ok, so off they go, only to find out yet again...no preschool. WHAT?!!? You people are insane! We've now got the correct way to look for cancellations and delays. So Cal got to go to Ben's Music Together class with us today and all was well.

Ben, Ben, Ben...well, all I can say is he's at least TRYING to walk these days. He tortures me often by grabbing my hands so that I can lead him around the playroom. If I ask him if he wants to walk, he'll immediately grab my hands so we're making progress. He's much more interested in the walking realm now. He can also climb up and down stairs now by himself so that's good. He's also VERY into books now, constantly throwing them (yes throwing) at me to read over and over and over again. He prefers the Sandra Boynton ones, of course. Who doesn't?! They're the best books out there. I'd personally go on Oprah to promote her books and I'm not even kidding.

I did it! Updates on resolutions again.

Finally I've finished that sorry excuse for a book, Cold Mountain. Hooray for me! I've moved on to my next book club book "Eat, Pray, Love" and so far so good. It has an interesting perspective on meditation - makes me want to try it. Maybe in another life when I have more time. Also has great descriptions of the food in Italy...makes me hungry to eat and to travel. Again, maybe in about 15 years we'll get there!

I'm back on a work out schedule too. This has been a tough feat. I WANT to get to 6 days a week but so far due to illness, snow days, etc I've only been able to do 4 or 5.

I bought a freezer chest for the basement (thanks dad!) and my OAMC (once a month cooking) should begin shortly. I actually just received a bunch of cookbooks in the mail that I bought on the subject. So I have to read up, figure out what I need, and then I'll schedule a day to do it! I'm very excited. I'm REALLY hoping this is the time saver that I've been looking for and NEED. I don't want to be disappointed.