I Met My Imaginary Friends

My local friends and the husb always give me crap that I spend a lot of time with people who probably don't really exist.  Well, this weekend I got to prove that I'm not totally insane and at least some of them actually are real people.  When I was pregnant with Ev, I got addicted to the forums on thebump.com.  I went back to their pregnancy and baby boards with Callum and kept up with some of the girls from there on a break off board and eventually a facebook group.  Now I'm never on thebump anymore, but communicate with these girls on facebook daily.  They are a hilarious and loving bunch.  I do love my real life friends too, but there's something special about my online "imaginary" friends.  This weekend, we went down and stayed in the cities and I got to meet three of these friends and their four awesome kiddos (plus meet up with two college buddies).

First, I got to see Britt and her boys!  You know, Britt.

Our boys had fun playing in the McDonalds playland (except Luther, he's a bit young for that).

I also got to see Mel, who I pretty much haven't seen in ages and ages.  It was awesome!

Then there was the imaginary friend get together.  So many babies!

   

And sorry to B for this picture, but the husb isn't great at taking a zillion shots so I can pick the best....

You might recognize these girls as the amazing tot-schooler and mom of adorable little Henry, Nicole, and mommy of the sassiest and cutest little girl ever, Buffy.

I failed to get a whole group, but our lovely host for the get together was the hilarious mom of two boys with the most gorgeous eyes ever, Jaymi.  Here she is waving to Henry and holding I think the cutest baby I've ever seen, her little Sam:

Phew!  And in addition to all that, we stayed at a fantastic hotel (Best Western Plus in Bloomington) where they were nothing but welcoming and awesome and had the best toddler pool area.  The boys enjoyed that.

And we did the mall, including rides, and ikea while there.

And now we're a day behind on our routine plan, but should be able to catch up this week.  6 miles today, 2 miles tomorrow and we'll be back on track.  :)

Toddle Along Tuesday : Mommy and Me

This week's Toddle Along Tuesday is Mommy and Me pictures.  Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Callum's 18 Months Old

My teensy baby officially turned 18 months old on the 25th.  That's a full year and a half, people.  A year.  And a half.  sigh.

It's incredible how much of a baby he still seems to me while I remember thinking Everett was so grown up at this age.  It's not that they're developmentally different, it's just that I think I've learned to cherish the baby days more.  When Everett was 18 months old, I got pregnant with Callum, for goodness' sake.  That's not happening.  lol.

Our little guy is growing up faster than I'd prefer, but he's darn cute while doing it at least.  He  has at least one new word per day right now.  Apple, baby, plane, bird, Catie, Abigail, donkey, hungry, etc.
He runs, he jumps, he rides his scoot bike (but not on the seat, little nut job), he climbs ladders and slides down slides, he walks up and down stairs on two feet, and tackles his brother.  He loves to pick every flower he sees and give it to me, saying "pretty!"  He finally just started to really enjoy reading books even if it is only for a few minutes.  He is still completely obsessed with tractors, but has also added trains to his list of acceptable items to calm him down.

He still likes his nuks, but not if he's upset.  He uses them to sleep and doesn't like to get rid of them when he wakes up, but we're working on it.  Since they have no effect to calm him when he's upset, he doesn't ever have them during the day in public.  And I'm ok with him still having them for sleeping.  He's still a baby who still sleeps in a crib and doesn't have any verbal delays or attachment issues, so we're going with the flow.

He's just the sweetest, funniest little boy who loves his daddy and brother more than anything (he's pretty keen on his mama too) and we cherish him so much.

My Week in Instagram (from last week)

While Callum and I were home alone, I maaaay have taken a few instagram shots.

Callum riding his "bah!"...Eating oatmeal and quite happy about it...Just me and my little guy 

 Watching the rain...riding on Rody...hanging with uncles

 Callum's new soft "trac-t00!"...18 month old riding a bike...watching The Lorax

The boys and their e-toys...Watching tv while standing is the only way to go

Just Callum