Snow Days

All bundled up for my first snow!

Mommy is clearly more excited than me

Schools were closed for three days this past week. We finally got our first real snow in MD! The first round brought a few inches, then it turned to freezing rain, then back to a "thundersnow" storm. All in all I think we ended up with over a foot, but we only took Chase out for a little bit after the first few inches. Jas also had a ton of shoveling to do, and photo ops require a lot of bundling up. It was wicked cold last week, and Chase still doesn't know what to make of his big bear pram.

Since we were stuck inside for a few days Chase also had lots of time to practice some of his new skills! Besides grabbing everything within arms reach(glasses are a personal favorite), he practiced sitting without support, working himself to his knees to almost crawl, rolling from back to front, feeding himself, jumping while someone holds his hands, and exploring some more of the toys he got for Christmas. We were very busy! In regards to the matter of sitting, I think we'll need to write an age range for that one in his baby book. He still slides from side to side occasionally, but is getting much better. About the crawl/scoot thing-just yesterday was the first time he got up to his knees for a few seconds. Normally he moves all over and spins himself totally around on his belly, but he did manage a few moments up on his knees before face planting into the sofa cushion! We can't wait for more snow days to hang out and watch Chase discover new things he can do:)

Can you believe he's going to be 8 months old this week?

Our Little Foodie

I always said when I was pregnant that I hoped Chase wasn't a picky eater. Jas and I consider ourselves pretty big foodies, and we generally don't hesitate to try new things. So we are thrilled to report that although Chase has just started trying new foods over the past two months, and we haven't tried any "grownup" food yet, he so far will eat pretty much anything! Sweet Potatoes, squash, green beans, apples, bananas, regular and brown rice cereal, and oatmeal have all gone well. He isn't a fan of carrots, but neither am I. The only problem now is that feeding Chase is becoming more and more messy, because he now enjoys being an active participant. He enjoys trying to feed himself, and the tip I read about giving him his own spoon to hold, while you use another one, was disastrous. The little man is extremely impatient if you get distracted during meal times, and he just started trying to grab food off of our plates. While we won't be trying table foods just yet, our little peanut is growing up and eating Mommy and Daddy's food is right around the corner!

Wordless Wednesday

Isn't my bib awesome?

Sleepy

A Few Last Christmas Pics

Every year we try to squeeze everyone in for a giant family photo at my cousin's house for our annual Christmas Eve party. Getting everyone to look at the camera is nearly impossible of course. This isn't even everyone! Unfortunately not everyone was able to make it this year.

Christmas Eve 2010

Final shot once we rounded up the stragglers from the basement.

Bad Mommy Blogger

Sorry it's been a week since I've posted! Now that I'm back to work full time our evening routine usually consists eating, watching a little t.v., bath time and going to bed. Chase continues to sleep well through the night, but our evenings are usually restless because he is such a squirmer in his crib. We still use the angel monitor under his mattress and since he likes to move off the monitor the alarm occasionally goes off. Actually I think it went off four times last night...so I run in, move him back to the center of the crib(all while he still sleeps) and then we try to get back to sleep. I think the positioning may be off from his last sheet change because normally we only have to get up once. I know we probably don't need to use the motion part of the monitor anymore, but it just gives us peace of mind. At least he's still not getting up to eat every few hours!!

In the pics below he is supporting some Philly teams-and since the Eagles blew it last weekend, we've moved on to cheering for the Ravens. Despite living down here for over a decade we don't own any Ravens gear(I did wear purple yesterday, and we are watching the game as I type this however:) We'll get around to getting him some Baltimore gear one of these days!! GO RAVENS!

Jumping in my crib

Toss me up again!!

The only pic mommy could get where I wasn't slobbering all over the gadgets on my exersaucer

Recovered!

Jas finally had time to retrieve the missing photos from the SD card!! Here are a few, who cares if they are from before the holidays! In no particular order...

Getting ready to see Santa

It didn't go so well...

With Uncle Kyle and "Aunt" LJ

Before I try to grab that necklace!

Yay!! My first cereal pic!

Talking in my crib

Talking in my crib after bathtime. These were from my phone, not great but still cute!

Chase's new favorite thing to do is "talk" to himself, his sheets, and the sides of his crib. This morning he woke up spent a while chatting before falling back to sleep. He was pretty loud over the monitor, and we couldn't help but laugh at how animated he was!

Wordless Wednesday

7 mos. 1 day-So Big!!!

Oh What a Year!

Rockin' my AC/DC shirt for New Year's Eve!

Standing is hard work. I stick out my tongue when I'm concentrating.

Dancing in my crib!

2010 was full of adventure for our family. If you think about it, I suppose that's putting it lightly! According to this morning's trusty news report we amassed 58.7 inches of snow, had 58 days of 90+ degree weather, and 7 days over 100 degrees. All of those stats however pale in comparison to our whirlwind journey through my abbreviated pregnancy and Chase's very early arrival. The birth of our first child, and our families' first grandchild marked one of the most important milestones anyone can experience. Albeit an emotional roller coaster at times, we wouldn't trade the past 7 months for anything. Chase's unconventional arrival and our ensuing journey still ring vivid in our hearts and minds, and I imagine will for years to come.

We've shared so many of his firsts with everyone and look forward to sooo many more in 2011:) Thank you for all of your support during 2010! Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy New Year!!