Top 5 Questions

Here are the top 5 questions we've gotten since announcing our pregnancy:

Q: Was it planned?

A: Yes. Rudy and I have talked a lot in the past 3 years about whether or not we wanted to have another child. We decided this winter that we did (do) even though we are concerned about the financial toll, fitting everything/everyone in our house, having a child still at home when we are in our 50's and going through it all again (diapers, sleepless nights, potty training, daycare, ear infections, etc) just as we're feeling like we have all of that behind us - or close to it. Rudy has 2 wonderful brothers and I'm an only child. We weighed the pros and cons of each and we came to the decision that we are made to be a 4 person family. Caleb is made to be a big brother. We will face those other things as they come...just like we always do.

Q: Do you want a boy or a girl?

A: EITHER ONE. If you asked me before I found out I was pregnant, I would've said without hesitation: a boy - 100% absolutely, without a doubt. (After all, we already have all of that boy stuff - it's all blue and it all has baseballs, footballs, dinosaurs and trucks on it. I've mastered changing boy diapers and then taking a boy to the bathroom. I've realized how very much baby boys love their Mamas and how much their Mamas love them.) Now, I want whatever God grants us. Of course, I hope and pray for a healthy baby. Doesn't everyone? However - if we are given a baby with challenges, we'll work through it and somehow thank God for the opportunity. If we are given a boy or a girl, we'll be overjoyed. Whatever He gives us, we'll be grateful - as we already are. BUT...I still don't like pink and I don't think I'll ever be able to do the frou-frou girl stuff like oversized flower headbands, tutus and pink pink pink everything.

Q: How is Caleb feeling about it? OR How do you think Caleb will handle it?

A: Honestly, he doesn't "get it." He'll tell you "I'm gonna be a big brother" with a big smile on his face. He'll say "Mama's gonna have a baby." But, really - he has no idea what that means. His reality for the past 3 years (the only 3 years) has been Mama, Daddy and Caleb. He's not going to understand that we're getting a real live baby in our house until we bring it home. He's not going to realize that it's staying here until we just don't take it back. His world is about to be rocked upside down and he has no idea. We'll get him some books about babies and being a big brother and all of that, but until it really happens, he won't get it...and we won't know how he's going to react until he reacts. He'll be a great big brother once the initial shock and jealousy wear off. He'll be a brother - loving and mean, cruel and kind, protective and punishing. That's what brothers do - right?
Q: Do you have a name picked out? A: Yes and no. We have names that we are considering. We knew before we ever thought about having Caleb that we loved the name Caleb Michael and if we ever had a boy that would be his name. When we found out we were pregnant the first time, we loved the name Amelia Delaney for a girl. If we had had a girl and named her that, we would still love it. However, we now know a few other people who have used Amelia, so we're leaning away from it. Here are the names we like right this minute (they change frequently):
Girls - Camille, Nola, Mae (middle name), Emily, Lauren
Boys - Daniel, Henry (middle name), Nathan, Nate, Alex, Joshua, Jacob
Whatever we name him/her is what he/she will be called. So if we go with Daniel, his name won't be Dan or Danny. If we go with Camille, she won't be called Cami. This is just one of my quirks and YES I see the irony in the fact that I call my husband by a name other than his given name. It's how he introduced himself to me - not my fault. :)

Q: How are you feeling?

A: Okay, so it's not as bad as the cartoon shows...yet. Actually, I can sleep anywhere and I can still walk...if I have the energy to get out of my chair.

Anyway - Thanks for asking. :) I feel okay most of the time. I'm "parking lot tired" (could lay down in a parking lot and go to sleep at any moment) all the time. I have waves of nausea - mostly when I'm hungry or if I get hot. Yes, summer is going to be tough if that keeps up, but at least I'm not "big pregnant" in the summer. That would be miserable for everyone involved. Trust me. Right now, I have a cold that I can't take medicine for. That has added to the exhaustion and has made me feel pretty bad, but it'll pass. I realized last night that my jeans were fitting just a little snug in the waist already. I haven't gained any weight, but everyone assures me that I'll be "popping" much earlier with the second child. I certainly didn't expect that to start already. Thank goodness for the Bella Band and the new version at Target that's much cheaper! Looks like I'll be getting those down from the attic sooner than later.

Sniffle, Ah-Choo, Cough...and a Little Bit of Fever

Our week has been great - to say the least. Sharing the news that we are expecting another child has been so much fun. Everyone has offered heartfelt congratulations and the sincerity of excitement that we have felt from everyone has been almost overwhelming. It has been a great start to this new journey, for sure.

Friday night, we had dinner at Grandma Voise's house. Jan and her friend, Bill, came to join us. We decided that Caleb is a little jealous of Bill. He isn't really sure that he likes having to share his Grandma with this new person. We enjoyed our dinner and our visit despite my nausea and exhaustion. When we got home, Caleb and I went straight to bed. My throat was feeling a little scratchy and my nose was starting to get stopped up, but I didn't think much of it. I woke up in the middle of the night completely unable to breathe through my nose and felt like my throat had sandpaper in it. I tossed and turned and dozed off and on through the night and most of the morning. When I got up, Caleb and Rudy had gone to the park, so I enjoyed some quiet time by myself. The rest of the day I was back and forth from the bed to the washing machine to the couch. I tried to be productive but just didn't feel like it. I can't take cold medicine since I'm pregnant and I really just wanted to sleep, but couldn't because I couldn't breathe!

I met Stacy at SSD at 4:00 to scrapbook. I debated all afternoon whether I would go or not and finally decided that I would because I wanted to spend time with my friend and maybe it would take my mind off of how I felt. Stacy and I took a break for dinner and enjoyed visiting while we ate and while we worked. I was feeling horrible and even wondered if I had fever, but Stacy said she didn't think I did. I finished the album I was working on (caught up through December!) and packed it all in to come home around 11:15.

I got in bed exhausted and hoped to get some good sleep. I laid there for almost an hour before I gave up. I grabbed a book and a box of Kleenex and went to the guest room. When I got in there, I started feeling chilled, so I took my temperature and sure enough, I had a fever of almost 100 degrees. I popped some Tylenol and got online to check on what to do if you're pregnant and running a fever. Everything I read said that a low-grade temp isn't much to be worried about, so I read a little more before finally getting to sleep around 4:00 AM. I slept off and on until almost 11:00 this morning. I'm still feeling congested and have a scratchy throat, but at least the fever hasn't come back.

As usual, Rudy has been a SAINT this weekend. He has taken care of Caleb and everything else around here. They went to the park, the pool and a baseball game yesterday while I sniffled and coughed around here and then sniffled and coughed around SSD. I'm not sure what in the world I would do without Rudy. He's definitely my knight in shining armor. :)

TWO more days of school with kids (for me) and then one work day and I'm out for summer! Rudy has kids until Wednesday, then band stuff on Thursday and half of Friday. We are so ready for summer!

Rudy's FB Status

Rudy's current Facebook status:

Scott Villines had a great day with Caleb.
Morning - playing in the park....$0.
Afternoon - swimming in the pool......$0.
Evening - NWA Naturals Game.....$6.
Bedtime - "Daddy, you my best buddy in the whole world"..... Priceless

SUPER BIG NEWS

We found out this morning that I am pregnant!


Rudy and I started talking about having another baby this past winter. We looked at the calendar and decided that (God willing), we'd like to have our second child around the time that Caleb turns 4 next spring. (I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that we wanted to make sure not to have a baby in the fall because of football season and deer season. Yes - we're those people. We just didn't want to have to worry about jostling schedules for birthdays for the next 18 years...plus, I really enjoy going to football games.)


When we decided to have Caleb it took us 6 months to get pregnant. This time, it only took 2 months, so we're a little shocked. According to the online calculator, the due date is February 4th, 2010. I go in to my doctor's office for a "pregnancy confirmation" on June 8th. (see the Calebism story below) Basically, I'll take another pregnancy test at that time. I likely won't even see the doctor. I go back on June 23rd for my first OB appointment.


Since we've been trying to get pregnant, I've been hyperaware of every single sensation in my body. It didn't take much awareness to realize that I am dead-dog tired and tilt-a-whirl nauseous these days. I tried not to get my hopes up and even told myself I was making it all up, but felt so gross yesterday that I decided to stop at Walgreen's and get a test. I took it out of the package and put it in the bathroom last night so that I wouldn't let myself put off taking it this morning. Sure enough...

Rudy knew what I was doing, so he waited to wake Caleb up until the results were in. He was in the living room when I came out of the bathroom with a big grin on my face. We hugged and laughed and had an "oh my gosh" moment before that nagging clock on the wall made me head for the shower and him go get Caleb ready for school.


I had a hard time concentrating at school today. I had so much work to do and so little focus to do it! I texted Monica: "Are you available to hold a leg in February?" since she was the one in the delivery room with us the first time. My phone started ringing immediately and I was greeted with "SHUT UP!!!!!" That's my Mon!


I managed to get some stuff done and made it through 3 IEP meetings. I called Linda, the SLP supervisor for my district. She said she'll forgive me for missing preschool transitions next year. I told a couple of people at school who I knew would be excited for me and I hung around after school until I get a moment alone with my principal to tell her. She was also excited and has already shared the news with the whole staff via her morning e-mail for tomorrow. Rudy has told a couple of people at work. We both announced it on Facebook tonight. I have already gotten 36 comments and 6 wall posts offering congratulations.


After school, I made a marathon trek through WalMart since our pantry and fridge were pretty bare. When I got home, Rudy had taught Caleb to say, "I'm gonna be a big brother!" and "Mama's gonna' have a baby." After deliberating over how to tell our parents/families, we decided to just let Caleb do it. We called Mom and Mr. L. and I told them to both get on the phone because Caleb had something to tell them. He said, "I'm gonna' be a big brother!" Mom said, "You're in deep water?" After Caleb said it again, they got it. They were both so excited and asked about when we found out, when we were due, etc. After dinner, we called Jan and went through the same routine. This was followed by phone calls to all of the grandparents. By the time we were finished, Caleb didn't want to talk about it anymore. :) Interestingly enough, he changed his story almost every time we asked him if the baby would be his sister or his brother.


Caleb wants to name the baby "Jan." This is his answer for everything that he has to name: the classroom goldfish, his stuffed animals, frogs, etc. As much as we love Rudy's mom, Jan, we probably won't be giving that name to the baby. We really don't have names picked out for sure yet. We really like the name Nola Mae for a girl, but that's not set in stone yet. We're stumped on boy names, though. I like Nate and Nathan. Rudy hasn't said what he really likes yet. We used our favorite boy name already. I guess we'll have to think on it. Fortunately, we have some time.


What would this momentous day be without a Calebism to top it all off?

We were sitting at the bar, eating dinner and I was telling Rudy about my doctor appointments.
Me: June 8th is the confirmation appointment. Basically, I'll just do another pee-on-a-stick test and won't even see the doctor.
Caleb: That's not a good choice.
Me: What?
Caleb: It's not a good choice to pee on a stick.

Ten Years of Marriage

As of Friday, Rudy and I have been married for 10 years. TEN. YEARS. That's so hard to believe. It's almost a 3rd of my life...and I can't imagine my life any other way. We've done a lot of stuff and been a lot of places in our 10 years. We feel like we owe everyone a new address book after all of the moving we've done. We decided not to have a big celebration this year since we were going to my parents' on our anniversary weekend and we're going to Florida and St. Louis this summer. We'll just celebrate by hanging in there for another 10...and then some.

October 1996 - Rudy and I met at the U of A.

May 22, 1998 - Rudy proposed to me at my parents' house in Hot Springs. I was in grad school in Conway. He was finishing undergrad in Fayetteville.

May 22, 1999 - We got married and lived in Conway. Rudy worked in Pulaski County. We moved to Sherwood in November.

2000 - We moved to Fayetteville and bought our first home. Rudy went back to school and was a GA for the Razorback band. I started my first job in Rogers.

2002 - Rudy graduated from the UofA with his Master's. We moved to St. Louis and bought our second home. I started my job in Rockwood. Rudy was the asst. band director at Eureka.

2003 - Rudy started his first head band director job.

2004 - Rudy's 2nd head band director job. We moved across St. Louis county and bought our 3rd home on our favorite street ever.

2005 - We found out we were pregnant in August.

2006 - Caleb was born! We quickly realized that we needed to move home to Arkansas.

2007 - We moved home. We bought our 4th home. Rudy worked for Fayetteville and I worked for Bentonville.

2008 - I changed jobs and now work for Rogers. Rudy continues to love his job in Fayetteville.

2009 - Ten years of marriage.

What a great ride it has been. Only time will tell what's next. I can't wait to find out with my best friend by my side.

Memorial Day Weekend

Caleb woke up Monday morning with a fever. Rudy stayed home with him and by Monday afternoon he was fine. He had a lingering cough that ended up with a visit to the pediatrician on Thursday afternoon. He had bronchitis. A good strong round of antibiotics and some cough medicine and he's back to normal. Thank the Good Lord for modern medicine!

We spent the week counting down the days until the 3 day weekend! We were looking forward to our trip to Hot Springs. We left on Friday afternoon and got to Mom and Mr. L's house around 8:30. Caleb was an absolute angel all the way down there! It was wonderful!!! When we got there, we let him play for a little while and he and Rudy fished off the dock for a few minutes. Caleb ended up sleeping with Mom and Mr. L. which worked out great for Rudy and I because he won't sleep alone at their house and that meant neither of us had to sleep with him. They have a king-sized bed so they never knew he was there. Rudy and I would've had to wrestle with him all night in a much smaller bed.

When I got up Saturday morning, the house was already bustling. The boys were in and out from the house to the shop and getting ready for a boat ride. Mom and Mr. L took Caleb out on the boat while Rudy and I got showered and dressed for the day. Caleb loves to go on Pops' boat! He wants to go SUPERFAST, but Pops is careful! Caleb wears his Lightning McQueen lifejacket and absolutely loves every minute of it. After lunch, Mom and I went to Hobby Lobby to get stuff to make a summer wreath for me and then came home to put it together. A little later, we all went out on the boat together. It was sure nice to get a little sunshine and so relaxing to lay back and ride the waves. We came home in time for Mr.L. to fry up some fish and frog legs and Pepapa and Anna Joyce came over to join us. We all ate WAY too much and then topped it off with Anna Joyce's lemon ice box pie. Caleb had a hard time staying on his feet this weekend. He fell countless times and ended up really scraping up his knees on one fall. It was (surprisingly) my first time to kiss boo-boos and put band-aids on his knees...and it definitely won't be the last. He was completely exhausted that night and when he climbed into bed with Pops, he was asleep within minutes.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain and lots of it. It rained all day and all night. Our boating plans were scrapped so we went to see Aunt Harolyn for a little while then went to the mall. Everyone else in Hot Springs apparently had the same idea! The mall was packed!!! We got out of there pretty quickly and headed for the house. Mom tried to entertain Caleb any way she could. She pulled out popsicle sticks to make a road/railroad track. She even gave him a deck of cards, which he loves for some reason - even though he has no idea what to do with them. I find cards all over the place from the last time she gave him a deck here at our house! We all rode together to Lowe's so Mr.L. could get something he needed and then we came home to eat pizza. After we ate, Caleb helped Pops and Daddy make homemade ice cream. He was pretty fascinated by that, but he was even more fascinated by eating it. The massive amount of sugar went straight to his head and he put on a show for us that night! When I went to bed, he was wallering around with Pops and acting all kinds of silly. I wished them luck and closed the door behind me.

We got up this morning and headed for home. We stopped in Ft. Smith to have lunch with Jan and her friend, Bill. We got home and unpacked, then Rudy took Caleb to the pool to burn off some energy from being in the car. I got some laundry done and spent a lot of time on the computer. Now it's time to head for bed and get ready for this crazy 4 day week. Only SIX more days of school for me! (7 more days of work for me, 9 more for Rudy)

We leave for Florida in 17 days!!!!!

That's Rudy...He's My Daddy

A Calebism for your entertainment...

Rudy took Caleb to the neighborhood playground Thursday night while I was packing for Hot Springs. Caleb found a friend. He went up to her and said, "Hi, I'm Caleb. That's Rudy. He's my Daddy."

The best part is that he pronounces "Rudy" as "woo-dee".

May 16, 2009

Touch-A-Truck

Last weekend was a busy one for us. We had a low-key Friday night in anticipation of a busy Saturday. I had to be at the Promenade at 8:30 to start my shift volunteering at the Children's Museum station at Touch-A-Truck. Under the threat of storms, we got all set up for Sand Stories (our exhibit) and started welcoming kids to create stories in the sand at 10:00. Caleb and Rudy showed up at about 10:45 and I enjoyed watching Caleb create and play in the sand while I finished my shift. After that, we toured T-A-T. Caleb was less enthused by it than last year. For some reason, he has decided that everything is too loud and he doesn't want anything to do with things that are loud. Therefore, he didn't want to go near the trucks, motorcycles or pretty much anything else. He did enjoy sitting in a fire truck, though...and putting a traffic cone on his head.

We Went Out Last Night... (Kenny Chesney Concert)

As soon as we were finished at T-A-T, we came home for lunch and I rushed to get ready to pick up Stacy for our quick trip to Little Rock. We were so excited to have a mom's night out to go see Kenny Chesney! We hit the road and stopped for an early dinner in Russellville at Whattaburger. It was Stacy's first Whattaburger experience and I felt so proud to share it with her. :) After that, we made our way to check in at our hotel (courtesy of Mom...THANK YOU!) and then had a great time getting ready for the concert with 20,000 of our closest friends. The show was awesome as always and our seats were absolutely perfect. We were close enough to really be able to see and we were far enough away to be able to take it all in. After the show, we made our way back to the hotel and collapsed. It was an amazing night! Sunday morning came a little too quickly, especially since we were woken up during the night because some idiot pulled the fire alarm. The drive home was nearly as much fun as the drive down there, but we made it and fell right back into our realities. I could not ask for a better friend than Stacy to share that crazy fun night with!

The ABC's of Me ~ Caleb Edition

I'll give this a shot. I'd say I know him well enough to answer for him...

A - Age: 3
B - Bed size: Toddler
C - Chore you hate: cleaning up my toys
D - Dog's name: My mom and dad gave my dog away. Someday I'll need therapy.
E - Essential start your day item: milk - and I want it warm
F - Favorite color: red (but I like to say my favorite color is playing...no one knows what that means)
G - Gold or Silver or platinum: plastic
H - Height: not much
I - Instruments you play: pots & pans, spoon on table, toy recorder
J - Job title: 3-year-old
K - Kid(s): Yes.
L - Living arrangements: I still live with my parents. Don't tell the girls.
M - Mom's name: Haley
N - Nicknames: CalebBug, Bub, Monkey
O - Overnight hospital stay other than your birth: not yet
P - Pet Peeve: bedtime
Q - Quote from a movie: KaChow (Lightning McQueen)
R - Right or left handed: probably right
S - Siblings: none
T - Time you wake up: whenever the mood strikes me. Sometimes it's 12:30 AM, sometimes it's 4:30 AM, some times Daddy has to drag me out of bed for school
U- Underwear: Buzz Lightyear, Mickey Mouse or Elmo
V - Vegetable you dislike: everything but corn
W - Ways you run late: I just can't make up my mind if I want Lightning McQueen fruit snacks or Nemo fruit snacks to eat in the car
X - X-rays you've had: I think I did that with my toy doctor kit.
Y - Yummy food you make: mudpies and the combination of applesauce, hot dogs and bread that I sometimes put in my juice cup when Mama's not looking
Z - Zoo favorite: the train and the carousel

The ABC's of Me ~ Haley Edition

This is another one of those Facebook things. Why can't I pass these up???

A - Age:...32
B - Bed size:...Queen Pillow Top
C - Chore you hate:..vacuuming (Thank Heavens for Diana!)
D - Dog's name:...no dogs
E - Essential start your day item:...TIGI Curls Rock
F - Favorite color:...Razorback Red
G - Gold or Silver or platinum:...all of the above
H - Height: ...5'5" (on a good day)
I - Instruments you play:..iPod :)
J - Job title:...Speech-Language Pathologist
K - Kid(s): ....Caleb
L - Living arrangements:...House in Rogers, AR with Rudy and Caleb
M - Mom's name:..LaDell
N - Nicknames:....HayHay, HalleyHo
O - Overnight hospital stay other than your birth:...Gall Bladder removal
P - Pet Peeve: .... arrogance
Q - Quote from a movie: "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" (Steel Magnolias)
R - Right or left handed:...left
S - Siblings:..NONE!
T - Time you wake up:...wake up: 6:00
U- Underwear:..boring
V - Vegetable you dislike:..most of them, but especially lettuce
W - Ways you run late:..Egg McMuffin cravings, too many snooze buttons and/or Caleb throws a fit
X - X-rays you've had:...chest for pneumonia
Y - Yummy food you make:...EZ chicken pot pie
Z - Zoo favorite:...giraffes

Calebism of the Day

We are sitting at the bar eating dinner. Caleb is pulling up his pants leg and scratching his leg.

Me: What's wrong?
Caleb: There's a witch on my leg.
Me: A witch?
Caleb: Yeah...I scratchin' it.
Me: Oh, there's an itch on your leg.
Caleb: Yeah, a witch.

3 Priceless Calebisms

Calebism #1: "You say you love me too?"
Caleb (giving a wonderfully big hug): "I love you, Mama!"
Me: "I love you, Caleb."
Caleb: "You say you love me too?"
We're not sure what it means, but he says it all the time. Rudy and I have actually started saying it to each other.

Calebism #2: "I'm not a baseball."
At dinner tonight, we were trying out a sticker chart to get Caleb to eat his dinner without playing so much. He started asking for stickers.
Me: No, Caleb. You'll get a sticker when I catch you making good choices.
Caleb: I'm not a baseball or a football. You not catch me.
Me: Oh...then you'll get a sticker when I SEE you making good choices.
Caleb: Okay, Mama.

Calebism #3: "I can't know dessert."
The sticker chart is full after dinner.
Me: Yeah, Buddy! You did it! What do you want for dessert?
Caleb looks at me excitedly, then suddenly furrows his brow.
Caleb: I can't know dessert.
I start laughing. Rudy offers him choices, he makes one and is perfectly content.
I guess I should've given him the dessert menu.

Mother's Day Blessings

On this Mother's Day, I have so much to be thankful for. I count among my many blessings my mom who has taught me what it means to be a mother and what it means to love unconditionally. I count my grandmothers who are with me - Memmie and Anna Joyce, and those who have gone before me - Memama and Mama Mae. These women who know so much and have seen so much and never fail to share their wisdom with love. I count my friends who weather the storm of motherhood with me every single day. I count Rudy who gave me the opportunity to be a mother and I count Caleb who teaches me what motherhood is all about every moment of every day. He shows me the best and worst parts of myself and I love deeper with each experience.

This is what makes me the mother I am at this very moment...

I cannot help but smile inside and out when I look at these chubby little fingers with their dimpled knuckles. I know they won't stay that way for much longer. I'll hold onto them as long as I can...

And the beauty of a boy with playing with a stick in the dirt. It doesn't get any better than this...

Mother's Day Weekend 2009

Greetings from soggy Rogers, Arkansas! I am not exaggerating when I say that it has rained at least a little bit almost every day for the past 2 weeks - and some days have been complete washouts. Yesterday was an exception to the rule around here, though. It was beautiful and cool and the sun was actually shining! So, what did I do? I took a nap.

Rudy had plans with some old friends on Friday night, so Caleb and I stayed home and watched the Bee Movie. My plan was for him to go to bed at his normal time and I was going to enjoy some quiet time reading. He had other plans. I could not keep him in his bed and finally gave up at 9:30 and we slept in my bed together. Rudy came home shortly after that only to find Caleb and I sacked out in the bed. He ended up sleeping on the couch. Saturday afternoon (after my nap), we all got ready and went over to Grandma Voise's for Mother's Day dinner. Ken and Dennis were in town from Ft. Worth and Jan came up from Fort Smith. We had a great time visiting and had a wonderful dinner. Jan spent the night with us last night and got up with Caleb this morning so that Rudy and I could sleep in. Rudy let me sleep until I woke up on my own, which ended up being 11:00! Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE to sleep??? Really...I rate it up there with pedicures, roller coasters, chocolate pie, cheese dip, scrapbooking and having my hair washed at the salon. (Now I can't quit singing, "These are a few of my favorite things...") When I woke up, I was greeted with two sweet boys saying, "Happy Mother's Day!" and a bouquet of flowers, plus a very sweet card from Rudy. After lolling about most of the day, I decided to make something of my day and went to Home Depot to get flowers for the front of the house. When I got home, Rudy helped me plant some of the flowers and I did the smaller ones on my own. Now, I just have to hope that they take and make things pretty like they are supposed to! I'm trying out some plants that I've never planted before - including the new Sunpatiens, so here's hoping! It's supposed to rain every day this week as well, so I'm not worried about them drying out - that's for sure. Rudy treated me to a fabulous dinner of steaks and baked potatoes and even took me out for Andy's frozen custard afterward! It has truly been a great Mother's Day!

Calebism with Attitude

7:25 PM - We are all in the living room. Caleb and Rudy are playing with some dinosaur-shaped sponges...the kind that come in a capsule and you put them in warm water. The dinosaurs are fighting with each other.

Rudy: "I'm gonna' EAT your dinosaur!"
Caleb begins to get upset.
Rudy: "I'm just playing."
Caleb: "No, Daddy! It's not playtime. It's bedtime."
Rudy and I burst into laughter.
Caleb turns his back to us.
Caleb: "I'm not talking to you."

We got told off by a 3-year-old. Only the first time - definitely not the last.

THREE years old!

Caleb officially turned 3 on Saturday. Wow. It's impossible to believe that he's actually three years old. When he was born, I worked with 3 year olds. I thought it would be forever before he was that big. Forever came awfully fast. We've celebrated all weekend...

I was in a professional development training in Springdale on Thursday and Friday. Thursday afternoon, I left as soon as I could and went to Hobby Lobby to get the last of the party supplies. Then I headed to WalMart to get a snack for Caleb to take to school on Friday as well as a few other things...like a birthday present from Rudy and me. When I got home, Caleb had a couple of birthday cards waiting for him. One was from Pepapa and Anna Joyce and had a savings bond in it and the other one was from Memmie and Poppie and had a check in it! Wow! We called both sets of grandparents and thanked them for being so generous.

On Friday, we took Caleb's snack to school to share with his friends. It absolutely killed me to not be there for his "party" so I sent my camera (no, not my new one) to his teacher and asked her to take some pictures. She was very sweet to do so. When I picked Caleb up from school, he was rip-roarin' ready to go. He was so excited about his birthday party at school. I think we could've stopped there and he would've been fine. But, no - we had lots more partying to do! When we got home, we noticed that our new neighbors were moving in across the street. We decided that we would take some of Caleb's leftover rice krispie treat surprise over to them. It was pouring down rain, so Caleb took his umbrella and I put on my raincoat and we splashed all the way there. When we got home, we were so wet that we had to take off our pants in the garage before coming in the house. We both thought it was fun to play in the rain! Rudy got home just as we were getting ourselves re-dressed. We all hopped in the car and went to get the info on unlocking the clubhouse for the party on Saturday before going out for our 4th annual May 1st BBQ dinner. This is a tradition that started the night before Caleb was born. Rudy and I had dinner at Bandana's BBQ in St. Louis. Now, we always have BBQ for dinner on May 1st! After dinner, we came home and opened a package that had come for Caleb. It was a Hungry Hungry Hippo game from the Brixeys. He loved it! We've played HHH now about 1000 times. We just have to get Caleb to stop cheating...he likes to "feed" the hippos with his fingers. :) Before bed, Caleb got to take the last ball off of his countdown ribbon in his room. He was super-excited about that!

Saturday morning, Rudy got up with Caleb and let me sleep for just a little while before I got up and hit the ground running. Caleb came in to the bedroom and I said, "Happy birthday, Caleb!" He said, "Happy birthday, too, Mama." He never did quite figure out what to say when people said that to him. It was confusing all day long! He also never did quite figure out that he was three. He still says "2" when you ask him how old he is. We're working on it.

When I got up on Saturday, Rudy and I straightened up the house before I got a shower and headed out to pick up cake and balloons. While I was gone, Rudy got Caleb down for a nap. Shortly after I got back, Mom and Aunt Harolyn showed up at the house. It wasn't long after that that Jimmy, Kim and Kim's nephew, Alex, got there. I woke Caleb up from his nap to get ready for his party. He was a little shy with all of those people in his house, but he certainly warmed up when he got to open his present from Jimmy and Kim. He got a couple of water guns, a frisbee and some pool toys! I don't know about Caleb, but I'm certainly ready for it to get warm enough to use them. Just as Jimmy, Kim and Alex were getting ready to leave, Jan got to our house. Shortly after that, we all left to go up to the clubhouse to get ready for the big event!

The birthday party was a great success! We had 6 kids and 11 adults. The party was supposed to be outside on the playground, but it rained like crazy all day long and it was cold! We moved the party indoors and I (having seen the forecast) had planned some activities for the kids. First, I assigned all of them a color. They had to find all 3 of the cutout number 3's of their color that were hidden around the room to get their goody bags. There were crayons, bubbles, echo mics, prism viewers and stickers in each bag. After they all got their bags, we played "pass the present." It's sort of like a cakewalk, but the kids were sitting down and passing a present around the circle. When the music stopped, the person holding the present got to open it. I had gotten a small gift for each child and marked the bags so that we would know where to stop the music. I got space food (freeze-dried ice cream) for Aurick and Jackson, a wooden cutout princess with markers for Alivia, a princess mirror for Grace, a ball and glove set for Kaleb and a Lightning McQueen tin box for Caleb. Everyone loved their surprises and I thought it was a fun party game. After the games, we had cake. Caleb was shy about everyone singing to him, but he loved blowing out the candles! After the cake, Caleb opened his presents. He made quite a haul:

• an air launched rocket and a big playground ball from Jackson and Grace Lyons
• a story reader from Aurick and Alivia Schmidt
• a remote control tractor from Kaleb Tucker
• a kickboard, a T-ball set and the game Elefun from Grandma and Nana
• some summer PJ's, a Memory game and the Bee Movie from LaLa and Pops

Just when he thought he had opened all of the presents, we had one more. Mom and Mr. L. got him a Lightning McQueen bike with training wheels! He was so excited and wanted to get on it right away! Fortunately, the rain stopped for a little while, so the kids went out on the playground for a while and Rudy took Caleb out to practice riding his bike. After a while, we cleaned everything up and headed for home. When we got home, Caleb opened his present from Rudy and me. We got him the V.Smile V-Motion game system and a couple of games for it. The games are all educational and at his level so he doesn't get frustrated like he does when we play with the Wii. He also got to open his present from Jimmy, Becca and Maddox. It was a race track with loops and even had a car with it. After he played with that for a while, we all went to dinner at Carrabba's. The waiter was really nice and brought a surprise mini-dessert for Caleb and he got to blow out another candle...twice. He was so excited. We came home to play for a little while and then Caleb crashed in the bed after a little coaxing. He was so wired from his big day!

This morning, Mom and Aunt Harolyn left to go home. Rudy and I spent the day barely tolerating the antics of a now-3-year-old who had too much excitement over the weekend and was a combination of tired, excited and out of routine. We decided that if 3 doesn't get better, we want to go back to 2. So far, 3 has been one tantrum after another. Fortunately, Caleb did take a nap and we managed to get a lot done around here. We packed up some of the toys that he seldom plays with anymore. I was a little emotional as I put the Little People and their house, barn, school bus and airplane into boxes. Rudy put all of that stuff up in the attic, along with a few other toys and we replaced them with all of the stuff that Caleb got for his birthday. He hasn't missed them yet! I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening writing thank you notes, paying bills and uploading pictures. Now, we're getting ready for another busy week at school. But...we only have 4 more before summer break! What will summer bring with a three-year-old?