The Logbook: Confessions of a Bad Blogger

*Sigh*
I promised 3.5 months ago that I'd do a better job of keeping you up-to-date with our King Khaos.

I haven't done a very good job, have I?

Not that I haven't thought about it--I literally think about it every day. But then something happens, and I get caught up in life, and then when I think about posting again, I just don't have the energy.

And this isn't the only thing I've abandoned, either. Chloe has a beautiful scrapbook to commemorate her first year of life. I have all the materials to put one together for Calvin, even up-to-date pictures ready to go on each page. But do you think I have even started? Nope. It sits in a pile on the ottoman in our room, mocking me every time I walk by it.

But one thing at a time; let's get you caught up on what's been going on around here:

In the past three months, we've watched my brother marry his beautiful wife, Krista, traveled home to mom and dad's three times, traveled to see B's family once, we've started rebuilding our garage (it's almost done!), Chloe has moved up to the 3&4 y/o classroom (more on that in a minute), Calvin has started sleeping through the night and sitting up (much more on that in a bit), we lost the cat for two days (but she came back, thankfully), and so many of our friends have had babies or are about to that I can't keep them all straight. Whew.

You can see pictures from Clint and Krista's shower and the month of March here,
for rehearsal dinner and wedding pics, click here (and you'll also see pics from our April travels and Easter :) )

You can see pictures of the Red Shed Rebuild here

And you can see pictures of our May fun here

I would love to post all those pictures here on the blog, but it would take me foreeeeevvvvverrrrr.

So here's the news about the kiddos:

Chloe
So Chloe is now 2.5 and is just a trip. She is very into dressing-up, playing with her princess dolls (i.e., Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, and Tiana), and having tea parties. She also LOVES anything do with Toy Story or and of the Disney princesses--books, games, toys, ANYthing that has those characters' faces on it, she is into it.
She talks like crazy, literally non-stop from the time she wakes up until the time she falls asleep. I am her translator; I understand about 99% of what she says. Everyone else, it's about 80%. She has some consonant sounds she doesn't use, like "t" is a big one. Instead of "toy story," it comes out "coy cory." But we are working on it. :)
I think we've hit the arc of the "terrible 2's," thankfully. We were smooth sailing until about two months ago, and then some really weird phobias turned up (she was terrified of any insect, especially bees, for no reason; and she would absolutely freak out if she had to get in an elevator), then came the defiance and just a general touch of nastiness. There were several spankings, multiple time-outs, and a lot of going hungry because she refused (and sometimes still does!) to eat what we served her. But, like I said, I feel like it's starting to get better--there have been far fewer time-outs and butt swats--and the phobias are all but gone.
Chloe's also doing pretty well with her potty-training. Going #2 is still elusive, but #1 is pretty consistent. She only wears pull-ups for nap and bed time.
That is part of the reason why her teacher felt like she could handle moving up to the 3&4 y/o room even though she's not their age yet: 1) she's definitely (size-wise) big enough to hold her own, 2) she communicates very well, 3) she follows the teacher's directions, and 4) she's pretty well potty-trained. She's been running with the big dogs for almost 3 weeks now, and she seems to enjoy it. I think she likes being with kids who are active and talkative, just like her, lol.

So what about my sweet little Nugget?

Calvin
Well, he ain't so little anymore.
I had to take him to the doctor this past Monday (he had a runny nose and low-grade temp all weekend, which turned out to just be a simple cold, thankfully), and he weighed, drum roll....
21.11lbs!!
That boy likes to eat, for sure.
His reflux is still pretty bad, lots of spitting up still, so for a long time now he's taken rice in his formula (per dr.'s orders) to thicken it and fight against gravity. We started solids a little bit before four months, and have increased that to three times a day, all thickened with oatmeal, again to combat gravity. All in all, Calvin gets five bottles a day and three solids a day. Much of the time, I feel like all he does is eat and sleep, with about 45min of play in between. But it definitely seems to be working--he's thriving and that's all that matters!
As for new party tricks, he can roll any which way and can spin himself around in a circle while on his belly. He's also started to do just a bit of an army crawl--a little bit forward, and a little bit backwards--but I am not sure he exactly means to do it, it's just that he's so strong he can really push himself around. Another great trick (ha) is that he is finally sitting up unassisted. It felt like that took forever to happen--he was such a sloucher, even in his highchair. I think a lot of that came from the fact that every time we tried to prop him up to sit, he would just puke everywhere, so Brandon and I both were hesitant to have him sit up because we knew what was coming. Finally, we just had to let the spit-up happen, otherwise he was never going to get strong enough to learn how to do it! So even though we go through a ton of bibs and burp cloths every day, it's fun to see him sitting up and reaching around.
He's even started to pull up in his crib. Eeeek! Not quite to a sitting position, but when you go in there to get him after a nap, he's got a hand on the rail and his little (big) head is peeking up, looking at you and smiling.

Both of the kids are just so much fun, and their dynamic together is hilarious to watch. Calvin follows Chloe's every move, babbles to her, smiles at her, just wants to be right with her. Chloe, on the other hand, is fine with him as long as he's not playing with some toy she perceives to be hers. I know we are in for an, er, "adjustment," when Calvin finally gets mobile.

As for Brandon and I, we are just looking forward to the summer and enjoying our new neighborhood pool, going to the Bahamas in July (for my 30th bday, wow), and then doing the big family trip to Ft. Morgan in August. I'm also taking a (much-needed, much-deserved) girls' trip to Gulf Shores in June.
The new siding should be on the garage by next week, meaning that the outside will be completely done. Now all B has to do is decide where he wants to put his cabinets and counter tops on the inside and the very last of the last home-improvement projects will be complete. Hallejuah!!!

We hope all of you are doing well and that the world doesn't end on Saturday.
Love,
BCCC

Here are some pictures we had taken right before Easter from our friends at Life in Bloom Studios.