Visitors

rachael reading to camden and austin

all the kids

callan and austin

second cousins

due to cold weather we had to improvise with indoor projects. carter was begging to play with glue.

look mom, i can fit my whole fist in

some *advanced* reading

cheese!

all 4 kids again

sorry for the late post. we have been extremely busy the last two weeks and it doesn't seem to be slowing down any. last weekend we had my cousin rachael and her son austin come stay with us. they live in rhode island but will be moving back to kentucky soon. we had a blast while she was here and the boys *loved* austin. they still talk about him every day and keep asking when he is coming back. austin is about 5 weeks younger than callan so it was fun to see them together. i also had a great time catching up with rachael. it has been a long time since we have seen each other. thanks to facebook we reconnected before our last boys were born and have been keeping in touch ever since. rachael and i got to spend some time chatting and reminiscing about our childhood as well. it was a lot of fun and i hope we get to do it again soon. we also got to attend the baptism of our newest nephew, mason and aunalie's birthday this past weekend. the boys have been busy, soaking up anytime they can outside. callan has had some major and wonderful things happen the last few weeks.
he learned how to find his binky in his crib and put it in his mouth. (i mentioned this on the last update but he has mastered it now) i know this sounds like such a dumb thing but it is amazing. i will hear him fuss and then nothing. when i check on him later he is fast asleep with his binky in his mouth. i am not sure our other boys did that or cared to. i am a huge fan of this milestone! another great thing is that he is sleeping 7pm to 7am most nights now. he has the occasional 5am or 6am wake up but for the most part it is 12 hours! i feel like a normal human being now getting decent sleep. he is also sitting unassisted for short periods of time. i don't think it will be that much longer before he is a full time sitter. he has also been able to try squash, sweet potato and peas. the only other food i made that he hasn't tried is the green beans, but they don't look that great so i have been holding off. on the hive front we haven't had any major issues. he still gets a random hive or two but for no rhyme or reason. we are still praying that this is a non-issue and just some stupid phase. he still takes about 3 naps a day about 2 hours apart. that is about all the longer he can be awake before needing to sleep. but every day still seems to be different.
camden is reminding us every day what it is like to be two. our house is filled with whines and tears on a regular basis. the drama that oozes from that child is amazing. he thinks his life is pretty rough and he lets us know that. he is still pretty clingy to me when we are out doing things and is the most stubborn when it comes to picking up toys or eating his food. he has missed many meals for refusing to even try the food. he also likes to dilly dally when it comes to picking up the toys. this leads me to his latest shenanigan. two weekends ago while rachael was here the triplets came over and had a sleep over (for a few hours) in the boys bedroom. although we knew there would be some talking i warned our boys (mainly camden) that if they got out of their beds that they would have to sleep in our room all alone. after about ten minutes camden got out of his bed and went up to carters. so i took him out and put him in our room. needless to say he was not at all happy about this and threw the biggest fit i have ever seen him throw. he was screaming and crying as loud as he could. this went on for quite awhile until he worked himself into such a fit that he starting coughing. this of course led to my child throwing up in my bed. awesome!he did eventually calm down and go to sleep but it was a lot more work than we bargained for. when camden is not under the influence of his older brother you can usually find him playing quietly by himself or sweetly asking your to read or sing with him. i get some alone time with him on mondays and wednesdays while carter is at swimming and callan is asleep and i really cherish that time. he really is a sweet boy underneath the terrible twos.
we had carters parent/teacher conferences last week and they went well. his teacher said he is doing really well and has the social part down. she said the class is unusual because they all play together and they are all friends. i guess they usually pair off and find one or two people they gravitate to. she said he is polite and uses good manners and is a good role model. this is the kind of stuff that makes us as parents feel good and makes us feel like all the hard work we put in during the day is paying off some where, even if it isn't always like this at home. :) it was also fun because we got to see things like the drawing of himself at the beginning of the year (which was just a bunch of scribbles) and now (which is more like a person with arms, legs and a face. even if the arms and legs are sticking out of the head) :) we also got to see how well he did writing and tracing letters at the beginning of the year and how much that has improved. i love watching his academic skills improve and seeing how he puts all of things he learns together. he has been learning a lot about 911 and fires and has been very vocal to us about these subjects. i look forward to hearing all the stories he has to tell me about what he learned at preschool. even though sometimes they are hard to come by. sorry for the really long post. it has been hard to find time to sit down and write.