Munchkin is almost 1!!!!!

It's been awhile since my last post so I thought it's about time for an update!  Chase is going to be one year old in 2 days, WOW!  Whenever I mention to people that it is almost Chase's birthday they say, "Oh my gosh, where did the time go?  Can you believe it's been a year already?"  Most people say they don't know how a year came and went, and I understand that, but when I stop and think back to when Chase was an itty bitty newborn at the hospital, that seems like forever ago to me!  Chase has transformed so much since then.  When he was a newborn he was a very fussy baby who had to be held and walked all the time.  I had friends who could go out to lunch with their babies and they would lay there in their seats like little angels.  I never had that with Chase.  Unless he was sleeping, he was not happy to be sitting in his pumpkin seat just chilling.  He has come such a long way since then.  He is now the happiest baby who wants to be 100% independent.  He runs around playing with what we call his "non toys" (vacuum cleaner, remote control, lotion bottles, anything he can get his hands on in the pantry, etc) and is content.  I am amazed everyday by the things he has learned.  Chase is so fearless as well!  My mom tells me stories of the crazy things I would do as a child, and I've heard it from Joe's mom as well, so I know where he gets it, and it cracks me up.  He thinks it's funny to climb out of the bathtub, face plant off the couch, try to go down the steps headfirst, and climb into everything imaginable.  Watching this little man grow, there is never a dull day in our house.

Joe and I are so excited for Chase's birthday on Tuesday.  We have both taken off work to take him to the zoo for the first time (weather permitting) or The Magic House.  We just want to spend the whole day celebrating Chase and how lucky we are to be able to call him our own.  Being a parent is such an amazing thing.  I have always loved children, I work with kids, and I have friends who have had babies before me, but you really don't understand how much children add to your lives until you have one of your own.  Now that I am a parent I am that much more excited for some of my close friends to have children.  I can't wait for them to join the mommy club and experience all of the amazing things I have over the past year with Chase.  

I know a lot of people feel sad when their babies turn one, but I haven't had that feeling at all.  I can't honestly say I miss when he was a newborn or before he could sit, etc. because as Chase has gotten older I have enjoyed each stage of his life a little more than the one before.  It has just been so much fun watching him grow and observing the many new things he has learned to do.  I won't feel sad and miss his first year, but I am anxiously awaiting all of the new and amazing things he will do as a one year old!

I was sick this week...being sick is no fun :(

Cuddling with Bambi in mommy and daddy's bed!

Ahhh how I love bath time!

Fun Times!

This week I am off for spring break and have tried to take Chase around the town as much as possible.  Yesterday, we had THE BEST time at The Magic House.  I was a little hesitant to take him because I figured he would be too little for almost everything there, but I was pleasently suprised!  We had SO MUCH FUN!  There is a special area for babies aged 0-2 at The Magic House, where Chase had a ton of fun.  He also LOVED the water table, the Children's Hospital Nursery, and anything with a mirror.  My mom and I were laughing so hard when Chase discovered "the mirror." He was transfixed, captivated, fascinated!!!!   We had to sit around for almost 25 minutes while Chase gazed at himself in the mirror, giggling and smiling at himself.  We kept wondering, does he know that's him?  Does he think it's another baby?  I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that we need to put a full length mirror in Chase's new playroom and he will be occupied for hours!

Some pics from our fun day!

Just got to the Magic House!

The Water Table is FUN!  So many things to play with...and try to put in my mouth!

Who is that handsome boy???

IT'S ME!!!!

4 Chase's...what will mommy do????

Let go of me Grandma!  I've got lives to save!!!

This is serious work here, people.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but my hair was CRAZY!!!!  Mommy thought it was much funnier than I did!

We lived through our first stomach bug!!

We have been SO lucky when it comes to sicknesses (knock on wood).  Chase has had a slight cold once or twice, but nothing that ever really amounted to anything.  I have so many friends whose babies have had multiple ear infections and all kinds of nasty stuff, but somehow Chase has managed to avoid everything.  I know the main reason for this is that he is not in daycare.  We are SO lucky to have both of Chase's grandma's take turns watching him while we go to work.  They spoil him rotten and give him so much love and attention.  We couldn't have a better set up.  But I still bring home germs everyday, so part of me worried that he would be one of those babies who got sick all the time, thanks to mom bringing home kindergarten germs on a daily basis.  Thankfully he has proven me wrong!

My friend and co-worker and I were just talking at lunch the other day.  Her little girl had a stomach virus that had her throwing up all night long.  We were talking about how sad it is when little kids throw up for the first time.  Throwing up sucks!  It's a disgusting and painful feeling, and when you are that small and don't understand what's happening or how to handle it, I can imagine how scary it must be.  Well, it was about a week or so later that Chase caught the bug!  When he inititally got sick, I knew something wasn't right.  In fact I was walking him when he woke up at 11:15 (never happens) and I told Joe for some reason I had a feeling he was going to throw up, this was about 2 minutes before he did....all over himself and me.  Poor little thing.  We felt so terrible for him.  It took him a good 4 or 5 times to get it all out of his system, but we are lucky that that's all it took, and that he didn't do it again later in the night.  It is such a terrible feeling to be so helpless.  There wasn't much we could do for him but wash him off, hold him, and spoil him for the rest of the night, but he was just so so sad.  Right after he threw up and we had him washed off, we were holding him and walking him and he was just moaning and crying.  It reminded me of when he came out of anesthesia after having his surgery at 5 months.  This wasn't nearly as bad as that for many reaons, but it was the same sad cry that makes you feel helpless.  Usually Chase stops crying within a minute or two of being picked up, so not being able to comfort him is not a very good feeling.

  Anyone that knows Chase well knows that he does not sit still for longer than 3 seconds.  Typically he dives off your lap before you can sit down.  Well the night he was sick he layed in my arms for 3 hours and watched Baby Einstein.  He just stared at the TV, not moving a muscle.  That is when we knew just how bad he was feeling.  It took him a good 2 days to return to his normal happy self, and his sleep is still a little off; but he is happy and that's all I care about!  He did manage to give me whatever he had (minus the throwing up thank goodness!) but I felt like death for a day so I imagine how much worse it was for him (being a munchkin and all.)  Today was the first day I can say he is completely back to normal, although he still has a bit of a runny nose.  It's so nice to have my happy baby back!

That first night Chase was sick I didn't sleep at all.  I don't mean I didn't sleep well, I actually didn't sleep at all.  The second night I slept maybe 3 hours.  My back still hurts from holding Chase so much and letting him sleep on me.  This brought me back to the days when he was having all of his sleep issues and nights with 4 or 5 hours of sleep were normal.  This also made me realize I am NOT ready for another baby anytime soon!  I knew I wasn't ready and we have no plans for that for atleast another year, but this just confirmed it!  I love our little family right now.  We have so much fun.  I want to spend ALL of my time with Chase for awhile before he has to share our attention one day.  One day......

In other updates, Chase is a walking fool now.  He is so funny to watch.  We call him little frankenstein because he gets really stiff sometimes and raises his hands in the air.  I still can't get over how quickly he went from taking steps to walking around the room.  I thought it would take weeks for that to happen but I was way off!    That's all for now, I'll have more to share soon I'm sure!

This was me watching Baby Einstein at 3 am when I was sick :(

I love my bath time

I'm feeling better now :)



Look mom, no hands!

It's been awhile since my last post.  Things have been busy and I haven't had anything too terribly exciting to blog about, but it's time for an update.  My little man is growing so fast!  On Friday, 2/18, less than a week after he turned 10 months old, Chase took his first steps, yay!  I unfortunately didn't get to see them as I was walking down the steps when I heard Joe yell out what sounded half like, "HE'S WALKING!!!" and half like "FDJFLLDSFJSDFKLDS!!!"  He was a little excited to say the least!  It was 3 quick steps, going from the sofa to his toy box, but he did it!  Later that night he took a few more steps that I got to see with my own eyes.  It's still a little crazy to me that he is actually attempting to walk!  Chase has always been a climber and a daredevil, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, but I still feel like he is growing up very quickly.

Since this past Friday Chase has definitely become more confident in his walking.  For the past few weeks he had been standing up in the middle of the room, testing his balance, but hadn't attempted any steps yet.  Now, he is becoming more and more daring about it.  What's really neat is that over these 4 short days he has gone from quick, almost running (and trying not to fall down before he gets to his destination) steps, to slow steps where I can see him using his body to balance himself.  Tonight Chase slowly walked from the middle of the room to Joe, and from Joe to the toy box.  He is getting so good!!  I think he will definitely be using walking as his main means of getting around by his 1st birthday.  I wish I had some pictures or videos of Chase walking, but I haven't been lucky enough yet.  Maybe I'll have it for my next post...

Not much else is going on around here.  Chase still only has 2 teeth, but he is getting SO much better about table food.  Currently he loves mandarin oranges, black olives, puffs, and cheese.  We are still working on using a sippy cup though, he understands how to suck to get the water out, but doesn't seem to understand that he needs to tip it for it the water to come out...but he is FINALLY holding his own bottle!!  He has also become a crazy man in the bath tub.  He splashes and plays like a maniac, stands up, slides down the back of the tub, makes crazy baby noises, and attacks his toys.  My sweet little baby is definitely turning into a BOY!

Some recent pictures of my munchkin.......

 

9 Months and Growing!

The munchkin is 9 months old....still can't believe it, but I guess all new moms say that!  We had his well baby check up on Monday and he is growing strong!  20 pounds 5 ounces and 28.25 inches long.  My little boy is 50th percentile all around, which is a little amusing to me judging by the comments I receive all the time.  I swear, everytime we go out shopping or running errands with Chase people smile at him and ask how old he is.  I tell them he is about 9 months and they ALWAYS say, "Wow.....he's BBBIIIIIGGGG!!!"  I really don't get it!  I have NEVER once thought of Chase as being a big baby.  He is pretty much dead on with the sizes he wears matching his age in months (with a few exceptions).  Who knows, people are funny I guess!  He does have some chunky little thighs though (see photo below) which I love! 

Chase's appointment went great, we love our new doctor!  Joe and I decided to switch to a new practice after a few bad experiences with our original pedi, and we are so glad we did!  This doc is so much more thorough and the office is even closer which is always a plus!  Doc says Chase is ready for meat....I will admit I have been putting this off as Joe and I are vegetarians.  We have always planned on giving Chase turkey and chicken, but I have been dragging my feet.  We know it will be too difficult to raise Chase on a vegetarian diet and know we are giving him the protein and other nutrients he needs.   Plus, we made the decision to go meatless as adults-something Chase can decide ON HIS OWN one day if he wants to.  So it looks like Chase will start trying some meat over the next few weeks... now the only challenge is finding meat that I feel comfortable giving him!

Chase is doing great with his milestones and has decided he wants to climb everything-just like I did as a baby.  Not only is he pulling up and cruising around on everything (sometimes one handed) but he taught himself how to climb the steps and was up the whole flight in less than 2 minutes....on his FIRST try!  Of course I was right there behind him with my hands out, if he needed me, but he sure didn't....time to block off the steps, my baby is fast!  He is into everything now!  Today I had a big storage container full of books to take to my classroom and he was standing over it pulling each and every one of them out as fast as he could, making a giant mess!  I could go on and on about Chase and his mischief!  I LOVE THIS AGE!  I don't care if I have to follow him around all day long, in my eyes it beats the newborn stage hands down!  

With Chase being so busy these days, he needs his playroom more than ever.  In just 2 short weeks the basement has transformed.  Joe and his dad have been busy working on the weekends.  The sub floor is in and framing is complete.  The electric will be finished in a day or two and then we wait for the drywall man to come.  I think we will be finished in a matter of weeks and I cannot wait to decorate and organize our new family room and playroom!

That's all for now...I'll leave you with a few recent photos...

I told you he had some little chunkers.....this was Chase pre-bath doing his best ballerina pose.

Just a little reading....

I am a very happy baby!!!

Can someone find me a money tree please?

After two fun weeks at home with Chase, I had to go back to work today...boo hoo!  Don't get me wrong, I like my job and the people I work with a lot, but it doesn't compare to being at home with my munchkin.  I had such a good time waking up every morning and being able to lounge around and play with him...without getting ready for work at the same time!  I am feeling a little envious of all of my stay at home mom friends right now.  I know that in a week or so I will be back in the swing of things, but right now I just feel kind of sad :/.  I wish I had a money tree so I didn't have to work and could spend all of my time with Chase.  How many days until summer break.....????

In other news, Chase is growing too quickly!  All he wants to do these days is pull up on everything and stand there looking around.  He lets go and balances for a few seconds before plopping down onto his butt and getting up to do it all over again.  He holds onto his alphabet train and walks along with that too, always going for something inappropriate like the vacuum, a cord, the dogs' water bowl, or a piece of paper (which he tries to eat).  Chase is definitely at a very exhausting (for Joe and I) age!  He needs a place to play where he can crawl around safely....which is why we are finishing our basement-yay!  Tomorrow afternoon Lowe's will drop off our entire order so we can get to work!  I cannot wait until it is done and we have a playroom for Chase.  Our goal is to have it done for his birthday in April, which may sound easy, but we both work full time so everything will be done on weekends for the most part.  I'll be sure to post pictures along the way! 

Nighty night from the Chase monster!

A long time coming...

I have been wanting to start a blog for over a year now and it has taken me this long to actually get it up and running...Y I K E S!  Better late than never, right?  I hope to use this space to write about lots of different things, but it will mostly focus on Chase and all the adventures that Joe and I come across as new parents.  Hopefully some of you that are scattered across the country will have the opportunity to watch Chase grow and take a peek at life with our own little munchkin!