A week with no day care

This is crazy!  I bow down to all you stay at home parents.  Seriously.  This is some crazy sh*t to stay home with a toddler and a newborn all day!!

Ben's day care is closed this week for vacation.  Thank goodness I have the help of family and friends, because it has been a HARD week for the Cali family.  Ben was JUST getting into the swing of things with day care and his new little brother before this vacation.  I hope he bounces back quickly.  Tommy is not allowing us to sleep too much, but loves to snooze all day.  Somebody needs to help him sort out his day time from night time!  Chris is working his tail off as usual, and I am fulfilling my role as the Bovine Goddess.  I nurse this baby ALL.  DAY.  LONG.  Like I said - crazy times around here!

Besides Monday, I've had helping hands from family and friends. We visited Papa and Chrissy on Tuesday, Cousin Emily came to visit us on Wednesday and played outside with Ben for nearly two hours! And then went to the playground.  We were all pooped!  Today Emily and Papa helped out again and Cousin Libby came to help as well.  YES!  We all went to the Aquarium and Ben had a blast.  And, mission accomplished - he was so tired afterwards that he had a great nap and fell asleep tonight very easily.  Nice!  Tomorrow we will take an adventure to the pool.  Of course Ben thinks he is Michael Phelps even though he doesn't know how to swim at all so that should be fun.

Honestly, the hardest part is packing the car and getting the two of them IN the car by myself.  And, that ever present fear you have while driving with an infant that he or she will start screaming their face off for no apparent reason and you'll go completely grey by the time you get home, upon which he or she will stop crying and fall asleep.  : )

Tommy napping in the yard.  Loving that Hendrix onesie!

Napping with Dada

Almost diving in the tank with the sting rays and sharks!

Touch tank with Papa and Emily

Another touch tank with Libby

Ben rockin' his apron and hanging with Suzy

Cutest boy in the world got a hair cut!

Tired is the new black

Oh Tommy how we love you.  Even though you only allow us to sleep for no more than 2 hours at a time...

So Thankful

The first week after a baby is born is TOUGH.  Seriously, not for the faint of heart.  Especially when it involves a 2 year old toddler who has had ALL of the attention of every family member for two years and now has to share that. 

We couldn't have made it through this week without the help of family and friends. 
Special shout out to Mimi for coming to help me through the long nights and early mornings and keeping my house spotless at the same time.  I appreciate it more than you know!!

Thank you to Meggie, Papa and Cory for taking such good care of Ben over last weekend and coming to visit him this week. 

Thank you to Dana for bringing me an awesome dinner.  It was so yummy!!

And thank you to all of those family members and friends who I will call on in the future to "stop by" after work and then put you to work with one of my children!

I can't believe we have children.  Plural.  More than one.  The boys.  It's beyond so crazy and amazing at the same time.  We are truly blessed.  And tired.  ; )

Boom! Did you hear that? Our world just exploded!

Baby Tommy is here! We are all doing our best to adjust and sleep when we can.
The birth was amazing. I won't share details, but it was definitely the hardest and most amazing thing I've ever been through.
Ben is off to a great start as a big brother even though he's probably going through the most transitions. He is a super star.
We are lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who are ready and willing to help out. We simply couldn't have made it through the weekend without them!!

Here are some of the first pics:

What's been going on?

So much and so little has been going on here.

I'm 38 weeks into this pregnancy and never thought I'd make it this far. We are ready to meet this baby!! Everyday is just more and more uncomfortable for me, but baby doesn't seem to be in a rush. I'm sure one day I'll forget all of this and want to do it all over again.  But until then, we just wait and wait and wait and wait...

In other news, Ben has made the switch to behind the driver's seat in Mom's car in order to make room for the baby's seat behind the passenger.  He is excited to have a new point of view on the world and to be in his "big boy" seat.

I got to spend a few hours at the beach on Thursday and it was just what I needed.  No toddler, no baby, just me and some girlfriends.  Ahhh.... It could possibly be the last chance I get to do that for a long time, so it was nice to take advantage of the invitation.

We've been having some good summer weather here, and Ben is loving his new sprinkler.  He was so excited the other day to come home to it, he ran straight from the car to the patio - no time for a bathing suit!  So, diaper and sandals was the outfit of choice.  Pure sprinkler happiness ensued. 

So here we are, playing the waiting game and unable to do much as far as making plans go.  But, in two weeks or less we'll have a new baby in our arms and there is nothing better than that.  : )

Ben and Mama in the car - enjoying his new spot

How is it humanly possible to get 2 weeks bigger than this?!

Ahhhhh.... relaxing at the beach in the shady grass

Yeah sprinkler!!

My new life with two car seats.  Adios back seat!