Pregnancy #2

I can't believe this pregnancy is almost at an end.  Except that it feels like it will NEVER end.  Whatever.  You know how the days can go SO SLOWLY sometimes but then the time period has rushed by?  I guess that's how it feels.  I guess that's how I feel about most of the meaningful time periods of my life, actually.

This pregnancy has been SOO much harder than my pregnancy with Callum.  With Callum it wasn't easy: I had nausea, vomiting, backache, heartburn that required a prescription medication, and, oh yeah, an unintentional natural labor that was the worst thing EVER.  But it didn't really slow me down or stop me from living my life.  This one sure has!  I hesitate to complain, because I do realize that pregnancy is an unbelievable privilege and a true gift and blessing from God.  It is one of those trials that is also the greatest blessing ever.  I know my sister would give anything to feel a baby kicking so hard that it feels like it is bruising her ribs from within, and I know that I cried and waited and mourned for two years waiting to get pregnant with this little gal who is now making me CRAZY.  It's a great sacrifice and a great blessing.  It's weird.  :)

For the sake of my records, here's a brief synopsis of my pregnancy.  I know most of you don't care, but, frankly, I'm not writing it for you.  I'm writing it for myself, and possibly for my future daughters.  When I was pregnant with Callum I would call my dad and ask, "Did Mom get stretch marks?  Did mom swell up a lot?  Did mom have heartburn?" etc.  Every time he would answer as follows: "I don't know.  I think so.  Don't all women?"  Helpful, right?  I would love to have a record of what she went through, even though I know it wouldn't be exactly what I was going through.

The first trimester was MISERABLE.  I was unimaginably tired, but also unimaginably nauseous.  There was hardly any vomiting this pregnancy, which is nice, but I just felt like I NEEDED to vomit (or curl up and die) but couldn't, which is not fun either.  I am not sure whether this and everything else seemed harder because I am older, because I am now keeping up with a child, or because I was significantly heavier and more out of shape to start with this time around, but for whatever reason (or a combo of the three) it has been a struggle.  Second trimester brought nausea relief, but I had to go right back on those prescription heartburn medications.  It was stressful also because of my car accident and because at the gender ultrasound the baby was small enough (12th percentile....um, look at me.....how can that be?!?!) that they were worried about her and ordered a special ultrasound to happen later on.  That ultrasound was actually cool because she was more developed in it and they did a 3D one (a poorly scanned version of one of the amazing photos is above) which was incredible to see.  I also got a very unpleasant surprise in the form of a vaginal infection.  Sorry if that is TMI, but it has caused the bulk of my discomfort, so it must be mentioned.  It is common enough, but can lead to pre-term labor, and when I first got it I was WAY too early in the process for her to be born safely, so I had to take it quite seriously.  Well, it has been about four months now, not to mention three rounds of antibiotics, and we have finally given up on treating it since I'm so far along and it's not dangerous to the delivery.  That means I've been feeling icky and having to "take it easy" or deal with constant contractions for FOUR MONTHS now.  We're talking I stand up from a chair and get a contraction.  Not my favorite.  Of course, now that we have "stopped preventing" contractions I am wondering why we bothered, because THEY DON'T SEEM TO BE DOING ANYTHING!!!  (Can you tell I'm eager to deliver?  I am at 38 1/2 weeks, after all!)  Last, but definitely not least, is insomnia.  I didn't sleep GREAT with Callum, because, you know, I had to pee 20 times a night, but with this baby it has been awful.  The other night I got five hours of sleep (after lying in bed for a total of 10) and felt like a million bucks because it was the best night of sleep I'd had in months.  Everyone keeps saying, "Why are you so eager to get that baby out?  You know you're going to be more tired afterward...."  Yeah, I don't think that's possible.  Right now I am so exhausted I want to collapse, and yet I can't fall asleep.  After she's here at least I'll only be awake at night when she's eating.  Hopefully I can be ASLEEP in between!  Really looking forward to that!

Alright, I'm done whining.  The doctor told me this week that I'm dilated to a 3 and that my cervix is soft and ready (sorry, TMI again), and I have had SOO many contractions since then, but every time they seem to get into a pattern they stop.  SO ANNOYING!  But at least I have had time to finish most of the little tasks and errands that I was hoping to do before she arrived.  (Including writing this blog post.)  And hopefully this little lady will make her debut soon---maybe tonight.....hey a girl can dream, right?!---and then I can stop whining about pregnancy and start whining about breastfeeding and weight loss.  :)  Just being realistic.

In all seriousness, I am so excited to meet this little girl.  I know that she is going to enhance our lives immeasurably, and I have had a lot of fun going a little bit nuts with making and buying things.  I must admit, I am nervous.  I love the life and the rhythm that Callum and I have.  He is in such a magical stage of life and he is so grown up and helpful and easy to be around.  Things are about to change BIG TIME.  Back to diapers, crying, and spit up.  Back to rocking and bouncing and not being able to run quick errands.  Back to babies.  Yikes.  I am also nervous that he will feel neglected and have a difficult time adjusting, as every child on the planet does.  I just adore him and want him to know that will never change, but this is just an adjustment that we are all going to have to make.  It is going to be hard.

I am also nervous to raise a girl.  What if she is like ME?!?!?!  I know what I put my parents through, and I know that I don't want her to make the mistakes that I made and face the challenges and struggles that I have faced.  But I also know that I can't truly stop any of those things from happening.  I will do my best, just as my parents did, but if MY PARENTS couldn't save me from myself then why should I be able to do any better for a feisty little girl with my blood running through her veins?  It was pretty heartening to me, however, when I said to my dad, "I can't do it!  I can't raise a girl!  What if she's like ME?!?"  He looked at me quite seriously and immediately responded, "Well, let's hope she is.  That would be wonderful."  I was quite shocked and also touched.  He may have a selective memory.  :)  Despite my dad's encouraging words, let's all say a little (or HUGE) prayer that she inherits Logan's disposition.  And let's all say another prayer that she will arrive SOON!  I am READY!  And I must LOOK ready, because today when I walked into JoAnn's Fabrics a strange old lady yelled ACROSS THE STORE, "WHEN ARE YOU DUE...TODAY?!?!?!"  I smiled, "Well....in a week and a half."  She called back, "Well we don't have boiling water here, so you better hurry with your shopping!"  Ooookaaaayyyy.....awkward.  Let's get this done.

The Big 3-0.

Two days after Callum turned 3 his mother turned the big 3-0.  30.  I can't believe I am no longer in my twenties.  I am not any different than I was a few weeks ago, but I kindof hate that I can no longer say, "I'm in my twenties...." or read an article about skincare and read, "If you are in your twenties you don't need to worry about this yet..." and think, "PHEW!"  :)  Silly, I know.  I was feeling surprisingly melancholy about my birthday, partly because I was entering a new era of my life, and partly because Logan's sister Taren was getting married the day after my birthday, so not only was I not allowed to fly to the wedding (per doctor's orders), but my men would be flying off for a special family event without me....on my 30th birthday.  Boo.  Enter Rachel and Dad.

Rachel put a little bug in Dad's ear and they plotted to make my weekend amazing, which it was.  How, you may ask, did they do that?  First of all, Dad flew in Laura for the weekend.  I knew that was happening and was super pumped for a sisters' weekend.  What I DIDN'T know was that Rachel had also convinced him to fly in one of my all time BFFs in the whole wide world to surprise me: Jessica Haslam.  He spoils me ROTTEN, it's true.  I am so amazingly lucky.

I thought he and Logan may be up to something (which, I must say, shocked me to my core....not at all surprised to discover it was RACHEL who was the brains behind the operation) because I heard them whispering on the baby monitor.  I ran up and unplugged it because I didn't want a rare surprise from those two to be spoiled, but I thought I heard something about someone coming on Thursday.  So I thought maybe Laura was coming a day early.  And then I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, "Maybe it's Jessica or Morgan....."  But Thursday night came and went and I despaired when nothing fun happened.  I even told Logan how I had suspected and how bummed I was and he played it off beautifully.  BUT.......the next morning when I brought Callum home from preschool (on my actual 30th but before the airport drop-off of the men) Jessica was sitting at my kitchen table grinning.  I screamed so loud from excitement that Callum ran and hid because he thought we were in danger.  :)

Needless to say, it was a thrilling weekend.  I still wish I could have been at the wedding, but since I was stuck at home with my massive belly I'm glad I could be distracted by my girls.  We went to a fabulous dessert place called D Bar Desserts on Friday, then my sisters threw me a small baby shower on Saturday to help me collect some girly clothes for this little lady, and on Saturday Dad took us all to an amazing Indian food restaurant and then the girls did pedicures while watching 13 Going on 30.  It was an exhausting but perfect weekend.  Kid-free and surrounded by lively, hilarious women that I love, all while getting gifts galore, some for my birthday and some for the baby!  It doesn't get much better.  In fact, I had so much fun that I forgot to be melancholy.  Clearly 30 can be just as fun as 29!!  :)

Check out this Janie & Jack swimsuit....with matching swim cap.  KILLER!

A MASSIVE thank you to my amazingly generous Dad, Rachel who cooked up the whole special event AND a beautiful, meaningful book of letters from my dearest friends and family to me on my 30th birthday, and to Andrew Haslam who took time off of work so his wife could come party with me!  :)  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

A Spoiled Little Wild Thing!

There's that little tongue again . . .

This little boy is incredibly loved....and, let's face it: incredibly spoiled.  It's the natural consequence of being the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  My dad gives me money to buy him things, so usually I pick one big item for him with it.  This year it was a wagon, which you will see later.  Grandma Paulette, on the McKenna side, loves to shop for Callum and always showers him with lots of smaller toys and games and activities.  He is so lucky.  Between the two of them I feel like it's just ridiculous to buy him more gifts.  In fact, this Christmas was the first year that we'd really bought him any gifts at all.  So, for his birthday I wanted to figure out something unique that I could do for him that would be more special than just another truck or car.  (Which, incidentally, were his favorite gifts....again.  Go figure.  Another score for Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Reed!)  So I decided to try my hand at sewing for him again.

Last year I got a sewing machine from my MIL Paulette and made Callum a little chef's hat and apron.  A bit later I made him and his stuffed Grover capes when he was going through a Super Grover obsession.  (I haven't posted any pics of that yet....I believe I took them in September.  Which means you may never see them.  Oy.)  Each project that I dream up for him keeps getting more and more ambitious, which is actually a bit of a problem since I really haven't practiced enough to be improving my skills at the same speed as my desires.  And I must say that it is incredibly annoying to think, "I will make him one and it will be cheaper and more meaningful...."  Yeah, well, it may be more meaningful, but it is NEVER cheaper.  The costs always add up so quickly.  For instance, the stupid super magnets I had to buy for one of these projects after I'd spent hours on it just to realize the cheap magnets didn't work.  $18 later the stupid fish stuck together.  Oh well.

So, without further ado, here are my special gifts for Callum this year: a "fishing hole" and a Max costume inspired by the book Where the Wild Things Are.  Both turned out to be incredibly time consuming, and the wolf costume was especially frustrating and imperfect (How do you like those "wolf" ears that make him look like a mad rabbit instead?!), but he loves them both, which is extremely gratifying.  I don't have a ton of patience for sewing, which is why I really won't ever be able to compare to the sewing skills of either of Callum's grandmothers, but I do like to do it occasionally, and I always feel like my mom must be pleased when I do.  She tried so hard to teach us all how to sew, but none of us took the bait.  In our old age two of the three of us have taken it up on our own (Laura and I), and now I really wish she was here to help and tutor me, but between Paulette and my friend Marie helping me quilt and my friend Jessica helping me learn to read and sew a complicated clothing pattern last year I think I have the basic skills to get by pretty well now.

For the fishing pond I searched for an idea on a wonderfully addicting and ridiculous little site called Pinterest.  Callum was always taking random strings and sticks and pretending to fish, so I thought he would get a kick out of this, and I was right.  Yea!  Naturally, I had to pick the cutest and most complicated tutorial that I could find.  Hand stitched faces on the fish and worms?!  REALLY, Sarah?!  I have a problem.  When I showed the tutorial to Laura she gently warned, "Now, Sarah, you realize that this is going to take a lot longer than you think and that yours probably won't look like hers...."  Not mean, just the truth.  And I did realize that.  But I still had grand dreams in my head.  And guess what?  They came true.  I am THRILLED with the way it turned out.  I spent way, way too long on it, and it looks great.  I am also thrilled to death that he continues to want to fish every day.  Totally worth the effort in my book, although I didn't feel that way when I was seam-ripping open the stupid fish to replace the lame magnets with the expensive, mega-magnets.

Rolled up and portable!

Enjoying it with Aunt Rachel.....I think.  :)

For the Max wolf suit I found a simple animal PJ-ish Halloween costume pattern at Walmart and modified it.  It didn't have feet because it assumed the kid would be wearing sneakers to trick-or-treat, and the headpiece was unattached, but Max's suit is a hood, so I wanted to attach it to make it more authentic, not to mention harder to misplace.  I found a tutorial online for adding feet to jammies (again, thanks Pinterest) and just guessed as to how to add claws.  I was too tired to care by that point in the frantic sewing the night before his birthday.  The pattern had rabbit and cat ear options.  I tried to go in between, but clearly we are leaning toward rabbit here.  The ears DRIVE ME CRAZY, but, once again, once I hand stitched them in (too thick to go through the machine) I was too tired and frustrated to rip them out and start over.  Maybe someday.  Or maybe not.  Luckily Callum is unaware of such things and just got excited to put it on.

As you can see, he also got other gifts that night.  He is SUPER into puzzles right now, and his Great Granny has always been into puzzles, so she gave him some and they had fun doing them together.  And, as I mentioned, he also got a wagon.  He is fascinated with them and insisted he wanted a "huge one for my monster trucks" so we went big and got this kind.  He was highly amused that tiny Granny fit in there with him, but the cutest thing ever is when both he and Baby Noah (Rachel and Ryan's son) get strapped into the two seats and we go on a walk around the neighborhood.

What a birthday!  Love this boy!  But MAN do I wish that I could look in Time's big yellow eyes and, like Max, command it to "BE STILL!!!!"  He is growing up too fast!!!

Did you know that MY birthday came two days later?  My THIRTIETH birthday?  Yep.  Stay tuned.

(How did this post end up being so long?  I was just going to post pictures.  I have a problem.)

Birthday Festivities

I wanted to do something to make Callum's birthday special and fun, but he doesn't have a lot of little friends here (my fault), and I really can't compete with the Mommy Bloggers and their sickeningly perfect and [I'm quite sure] amazingly time consuming parties, so I decided on the most obviously appropriate theme for Callum---Disney's Cars, of course---and went for it in the best way that a person can "go for it" in a single shopping trip at Walmart. :) It came together wonderfully and ended up looking much more impressive than I had anticipated, which was fun. His party was with family---Aunt Rachel, Uncle Ryan, Baby Noah, Bapa, Great Granny, and Great Grampy---but I decided that I should try to get some kids together as well. So the night before his birthday I texted a couple of girls from church and we spent a chilly Wednesday morning bouncing at a bouncy castle place near our home as an impromptu birthday celebration. Callum loved it, and so did his friends. I swear. :) Aunt Rachel and Baby Noah came along to help in case Callum got stuck in a bouncy maze or something, in which case his massively pregnant Mama wouldn't be of much help to him.

Garret and Cami partied with Cal. They had fun. I swear! :)

Baby Noah hung out in a Little Tykes car.

Whee!

Now on to the main event: the family party. I could have used my Cricut and a whole lot of time to create perfect invites, but, frankly, why bother? I spent five minutes creating a few fun invites on the computer with Word and clip art and then I let Callum color them. He was very excited to be part of the process and to choose which invitation would go to which relative. As you can tell by that little tongue sticking out, he took his job very seriously. Subconsciously sticking out his tongue when he is concentrating intensely is a genetic quirk that he inherited from his Bapa.

On to the dinner! I can't seem to master homemade pizza without a doughy center, but Callum said he wanted pizza and french fries (which I got him at McDonald's for lunch) for his birthday, so I decided to give it a go. I decided maybe it was my recipe, so I read up on making pizza and agonized over which recipe to use for FAR too long before I settled on one. (It's a pregnancy thing.....it turns me into a ridiculously stressed person, which I usually am not.) The big day came....and it seemed like my dough wasn't going to rise at all. I was quite frustrated and discouraged, but Rachel and Logan snapped me out of it and Logan went to Papa Murphy's and just bought some pizzas. Of course, by the time he came back my dough was rising beautifully, but I was so annoyed that I just tossed it and we ate the pizzas we had bought. That should have been the plan all along anyway! Luckily, the cake turned out a little better. My husband is a food snob, so I made both the cake and frosting from scratch (he helped with the frosting), which was a lot of work. Unfortunately, I used PINK food coloring absentmindedly instead of red. I ended up adding an entire jar of it waiting and waiting for it to turn red before I realized that it was PINK dye. Oh well. It's sortof reddish . . . right? Sadly, it was so potent at that point that a bit of frosting dropped onto my pretty new lavender shirt and stained it forever. Oh well, at least I got it on clearance! I am not a cake decorator, as is obvious, but the cake looks pretty cute and Callum was thrilled with it, so that's what counts. I did have to use Mater instead of Lightning McQueen, though, because McQueen's true red color really accentuated the fact that it was a pink cake. :)

My favorite parts of the night were playing "Pin the Lightning Bolt on Lightning McQueen" as a family and opening presents. Uncle Ryan was kind enough to draw McQueen on a poster board for me in order to spare us all from my artistic deficiencies, and Callum and Aunt Rachel colored it together. (Can you tell?) :) I also love the way the table came together. Thank you for the tablecloth idea, Pinterest! I took a plastic tablecloth, yellow duct tape, and a whole bunch of cars gathered from around the house and VOILA! A table Callum was thrilled about. He was also thrilled to put a sticker on each cup to make it more festive. I worked extremely hard on two gifts for Callum, but this post is getting a bit lengthy, so I am going to post pictures of them in the next post. Let's just say I am slowly becoming more like my own mother, at least in the area of developing one skill. Yea!

Everyone else was blindfolded, but Callum was a bit hesitant.

Happy birthday, precious boy! We love you dearly!!

Three Years Old

This big boy is three.  I can't believe it.  (Do you love his new "nice" camera smile.  Oh boy.)  :)  Time is flying so fast, as every parent always tells me it will.  But it  feels very different when you are living it instead of listening to people say it about their own children.  I absolutely adore the stage of life that Callum is in right now, but it still makes me sad that he isn't really my baby anymore.  He is my big boy.  It is thrilling to watch him grow, but it also makes me hopelessly melancholy to see it all fly by so quickly.  Sigh.

I took him to the pediatrician for his yearly well visit and he is 38 1/4 inches tall and weighs 33.7 pounds, both of which are in the 75th percentile for his age.  I was not surprised to hear that he was tall, but he looks so lanky that I was a little bit surprised that his weight was perfectly proportional to his height.  At the end of the visit the pediatrician said, and I quote, "Well, he is about as perfect as you could hope for!"  I couldn't agree more.

I saw the idea for this little interview on my friend's blog and decided to interview Callum on the morning of his third birthday.  Here is a glimpse into Callum's life, as told by himself over a birthday pancake breakfast:

Birthday Interview

3/7/12, 9:00 a.m.

Callum, Age 3

What is your name?

Callum

How old are you?

FREE!  (3)  J

What color is your hair?

Gray (He stood in front of the mirror agonizing over this answer for quite some time.)

What color are your eyes?

Brown (Not really true.)

What is your favorite food?

Pancakes

What is your favorite song?

ABCs

What is your favorite treat?

Suckers

What is your favorite color?

Orange and Green

What is your favorite animal?

Giraffes and Dinosaurs

What is your favorite store?

The toy one.

What do you like to do with Daddy?

I like to watch a movies like Speed Racer with Daddy.  I like to walk in the snow with Daddy.  I like to watch He-Man with Daddy.    

What do you like to do with Mommy?

 I like to snuggle with Mommy.

What is your favorite movie?

“The King Lion” (Lion King) and “The Lightning McQueen Movie” (Cars) and “The Finn McMissile Movie” (Cars 2)

What is your favorite TV show?

Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street and Cat in the Hat

Who are your friends?

Garrett and Cami  (I was pretty heartbroken that he didn't think to name his little buddies from St. Louis, all of whom he spent half of the year seeing almost daily on outings and play dates.  I so miss St. Louis......)

What is your favorite thing to do outside?

Play with big trucks and ride my tricycle.

What is your favorite thing to play inside?

Airplane, cars, and “fighting bad mans.”

February's Cute and Clever Moments

I have been keeping track of the cute and clever things Callum says and does.  Of course, by posting February's now---when he's almost 3 years old---you aren't going to be nearly as amused or impressed by the ones from last spring---when he'd just turned two---when and if I ever catch up.  Oh well, so be it.  I hope I don't seem like one of those obnoxious moms who is bragging about her kid constantly, but he's at such a freaking cute age that I just don't want to forget these precious moments, and our family blog seems like a perfect place to immortalize them.  So, without further ado, here is a modpodge list of random cute and clever things that my little buddy said and did in February.  Prepare yourself, because it's quite a list.  He was pretty adorable this month.  :)

*Lately Callum has been asking me to make up random songs about things.  I used to say, "But I don't know a song about that window..." until I realized he was content with a horrible, incredibly short ditty about the window.  So I just throw out some nonsensical song with no discernible tune and he is thrilled and requests the next song about a different strange topic.  Well, one day I was in the bathroom and he was putting on his socks in the next room and I heard him creating a little song of his own.  It went a little something like this: "Skinny jeans are not your friend....."  Hmmm.....I think a rebellion against my fashion choices for him may be coming!  :)

*Often my sister Rachel babysits Callum while I go to the OBGYN, but occassionally I will bring him with me for my short visits.  For Christmas he got a doctor kit from his great grandparents, so he has been "taking care" of us a lot and learning what each of the tools are called.  The doctor had me sit on the table and Callum came over and said very seriously, "Are you going to get your blood pressure now, Mom?  You can be brave, Mom."  When she finished and I got down and he patted my leg and said, "Good job, Mom.  You were very brave."

*Logan decided to show Callum the movie Speed Racer, which Callum loved, naturally, since he's obsessed with race cars thanks to Cars and Cars 2.  However, he was very concerned about the villains in the movie.  He was watching and announced to us, "I don't like bad mans.  I only like good mans."  He has been running around the house since then ferociously fighting the invisible "bad mans."

*Thanks to Speed Racer Callum has made a huge breakthrough in his car thinking.  He has always felt that cars drove themselves thanks to the Disney Cars movies, both of which he has practically memorized.  I'm not sure why watching ME drive a car daily didn't tip him off, but for whatever reason it didn't.  One day a couple of weeks ago he held up one of his Cars 2 toys, a brave spy car named Torque, and said, "This is Racer X." (A Speed Racer character.)  I replied, "No, that's Torque."  He patiently explained, "No, Racer X is inside of Torque."

*He has picked up some funny phrases from us and often uses them against us.  For instance, he now regularly grins at me and says, "Don't be a pill, Mom!" when I'm getting annoyed.  (Which is a phrase I picked up from my own mother.)  It's both annoying and funny.  He has also picked up some funny phrases from watching the Charlie Brown Valentine's Day special over and over, including, "Good grief!" and "I can't stand it!"  He cracks me up.

*Callum has some basic shape sewing cards.  He attached one of the shoelace/strings to the stop sign card so it made a handle like a purse.  He showed it to me proudly and we had a conversation that went something like this:

"Look, Mom, I made a bag!"
"Yes you did!  Good job!  But now we need to clean it up...."
(Sigh from Cal) "Ok....I will just make another hexagon bag tomorrow."

Wrong shape, but I was quite pleased and amused that he was trying to use the correct term.  Thank you Sesame Street!  :)

*My dad gets on kicks.  To say the least.  His latest kick is green smoothies, so he got a Vitamix blender and makes us all green smoothies at least a few days a week.  Callum has happily been drinking them from day one.  He is a healthy eater, which I love.  Much healthier than his mother, if the truth is to be told.  One day Callum said to my sister, "This is the precious juice, Aunt Rachel."  Ooookkkkaaayyyy........  He is such a character.  Now we all refer to the smoothies as "Precious Juice."

*Callum has become a great little negotiator, or should I say manipulator.  We always try to give him choices and "make deals" with him.  But he has gotten a little bit too good at it.  I will tell him it is time for naps and he will say, "How about if I play for a few minutes first and sleep second?"  We will go back and forth until we settle on an arrangement that is suitable to both of us and he will say, "Ok!  That's a deal!"  Rascal.  The other day we were in the car and I asked him what food he wanted.  He said pizza and then changed his mind to french fries a few minutes later.  I said, "I'm sorry honey, but you said pizza, so I drove past the french fry place and now it is too late."  He replied, "Hmmmm....how can we get some french fries???"  It made me laugh so hard that I found him some french fries.  I couldn't help myself.

*Like many kids of his generation, Callum is amazing at working his daddy's iPad and my phone.  The other day when I was pulling up a show on the DVR for him he ran over to the television and tried to control the DVR like a touchscreen.  I suspect it will only be a matter of time before that is a real possibility!

*Callum and I were watching the movie Tangled and the song "I Have a Dream" was playing when Callum suddenly said to me, "I have a dream to drive in a really fast race car."  He does have a one track mind....

*Speaking of which, Callum has become quite the backseat driver, but only to Logan.  He tells him what each and every stoplight means.  "Red means stop, Dad."  "Green means go, Dad."  In fact, he gets VERY upset with Logan when he turns right on red.  He freaks out and lectures him, "No! No!  Daddy, red means STOP!"  It is HIL-A-RIOUS!  Also hilarious . . . when we are driving and I am thinking, "I wish Logan would slow down a little bit, " and Callum pipes up from the backseat with, "Daddy is driving too fast like Lightning McQueen."  Haha!  (Don't worry, he's not a reckless driver at all . . . I just hate paying for speeding tickets.)

*Callum loves pretending lately.  Logan was pretending to be a cat one day and then I crawled into the room a few minutes later also pretending to be a cat and Callum said, "WHOA!  That's a HUGE cat!"  What the?!?! Daddy is a cat but Mommy is a "HUGE cat"?!  I think it's time for this baby to be born.  :)

I just love this kid.  I am more than a little bit obsessed.  Can you tell?  :)

Cousins

Callum loves his cousin "Baby Noah," which is good since he is the only cousin that Callum will ever have who is even remotely close to his age, even though he is 2 1/2 years older than Noah!  I hope they will be good buddies anyway.  I love my cousins so much, from those very close in age to me to those very far in age from me.  I hope Callum will eventually have lots of cousins to play and laugh with the way we have always been able to with ours!  But, naturally, Callum and Noah aren't exactly "buddies" at this stage.  They have a very cute but funny relationship.  Callum really wants to take care of Noah and make him happy, but he doesn't seem to understand that what makes him feel better won't necessarily make Noah feel better.

Up until six months of age Noah was quite colicky, so he cried.  A LOT.  Callum was very flustered by it and figured that he knew how to fix it.  For instance, when Noah was an infant he was swinging in an infant swing at our house and crying while Rachel and I were frantically trying to throw together dinner so one of us could pick him up.  He started crying louder and louder and when we eventually got over to him we realized why.  Callum had been stacking his cars and trucks on top of him.  He seemed to be trying to offer him each one, convinced that eventually Noah would see how awesome one of them was and calm down.  A few weeks later Noah was in the laundry room fussing instead of sleeping in his car seat while I was babysitting him.  Callum kept quietly walking in and out of the family room where I was doing things.  When I went into the laundry room to make sure Noah had his pacifier I tripped on a pile of toys.  Callum had been quietly opening the laundry room door and sliding toys into the dark room hoping that a glimpse of them may cheer Noah up.  Such a funny, sweet boy!  Now Noah is old enough to actually BE fascinated with Callum and his trucks, so it is fun to watch him as he stares raptly at Callum as Cal runs all over the room around him.  Callum still offers Noah toys when he's sad, and now it occasionally works to make him happy, at least temporarily.

Callum seems to have decided that he can define Noah's identity by one trait, and it's not crying: it's spit up.  Yep, I said spit up.  You see, Noah's colic probably had something to do with his major reflux.  I have never been around a kid who soaked me so consistently.  I must say, as much as I love that little fatso, it was quite hazardous to hold him for awhile there.  Luckily it FINALLY seems to be slowing down.  One day several months ago Callum had a bad cold and coughed up some phlem.  He looked over at me in distress and said, "I spit up like Baby Noah, Mom!"  :)  Last week we were driving in the car and Callum suddenly moaned pathetically and said, "Oh no, my coat is all wet.  Who spit up on my coat?? . . . . huge, dramatic sigh . . . . it was probably Baby Noah."  I laughed and laughed.

For now it's all about spit up and solving distress with trucks, but I am confident that someday these two will have a great, real relationship.  I look forward to watching all of the funny stages that it will go through as they grow up together!