Go Flyers!!

These pics are from the other night-hence the Pronger shirt over pjs. We're watching the game right now and wanted to show our support!!!

Happy Easter!!

Our holiday actually started on Friday with a visit to the Easter Bunny and lunch with Janice our favorite nurse from the NICU! She last saw Chase in December, so she was shocked to see how big he had gotten. He was dressed in his Easter finest even down to the boat shoes! As you can see our trip to see the Easter Bunny went much better than our Santa visit. He didn't scream until the very end when he turned around and looked up. Can you blame him? That giant rabbit would scare anyone:)

This picture is adorable. We Love You Janice! For almost three months you took care of our little one and became like family to us!

Pooped after a long day of shopping

EASTER MORNING

The loot. No candy yet!

Score! Mommy forgot how terribly annoying that grass is, and how it gets everywhere.

Since we didn't think coloring easter eggs was a great idea we(well I) decided we would introduce Chase to finger paint for his first craft project. As you can see he was a big fan!

Paint was all over daddy too!

After brunch we wanted to set up an easter egg hunt for Chase. Yesterday when Jas mowed the lawn I had him keep a tall patch to make the hunt more fun for Chase.

He was not a fan...
I think he was itchy and sticky and hot. And he didn't understand what he was supposed to be doing. We had practiced inside on the carpet in the morning, but that time it required little effort.
Uncle Pat and Aunt Jenna joined us for brunch.

Cool Dude

Not a fan of this hat

Oops, out of order-actually a picture from yesterday. The shirt is of course appropriate for the holiday weekend. Thanks Aunt Zandy! It finally fits:)

Okay for the grand finale....let me preface it with the fact that Chase had a very active day today. And spent lots of time crawling and getting into everything. After we ate he was chilling on Jas' shoulders. You can probably guess what happened, but scroll down to see:)

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY, NO MATTER HOW MESSY!!

Wonderment

A ribbon attached to a balloon, a feather lightly swept across his nose, and an old wind chime have all recently created a look of wonderment on my little one's face. My favorite thing to do as he marvels in these new things is simply watch and grin from ear to ear. So often in our fast paced lives we overlook so many small moments, and unfortunately some days I'm so busy that I know I don't take the time to appreciate things. Over the past few weeks however, Chase has thoroughly enjoyed exploring his environment, and he has forced me to slow down and soak it all in as well. His problem solving skills, hand-eye coordination, and ability to quickly learn cause and effect is amazing to me.

The other night we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and eat dinner on the deck. Chase and Jason were hanging out outside while I finished getting everything together, and as I went to throw something away I caught a glimpse of the two of them watching our wind chime whirling around in the breeze. When the wind died down Jas reached over and tapped the chime to show Chase how it made noise. As he reached over to mimic his daddy, Chase's expression was priceless. At that moment the wind chime was the coolest thing in the world. I couldn't help but just stand there and watch the two of them through the door for a while. Chase takes in everything new in the same exact way, and these moments make me cherish being a parent each and every day.

A little note to my dear friend Angela...I will never ever make fun of you again for getting teary eyed when you see a boy or man do something for the first time. Now I understand...

Lock down

Yep we finally put a gate up....

"Momma what is this thing?"

I think this picture is hilarious because it looks like the gate is super tall. He sat there for ten minutes just trying to figure out what to do. Not once did he even try to stand up. Tonight's trick was putting his hand through the bars and dropping his toys down the steps:)

Crazy Hair

We've been trying to give Chase a mohawk recently. No product, just using his crazy hair. It's just about long enough, but its so fine that you can't really tell from the pictures.

Spiky side shot

Now my hair is just sticking up all over because Mommy used the blow dryer!

Boxes, Straps, and Cords-Oh My!

Playing with the crazy ball that Uncle Pat and Aunt Jenna got me for Christmas. It's awesome and I love to crawl all over the place following it. It does however make some crazy sounds that mommy and daddy think make it sound possessed!

Can you guess what this is a close-up photo of?

Yep, I made those. Mmmmm wood! Mommy needs to get bite guards for my crib rails.

A good shot of all four teeth!

Its seems like just the other day I was posting about how Chase was starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. Gone are the days where we can put him down on a blanket to play with his toys and walk to the other side of the room. We even used to be able to buy a few extra seconds by putting him on his back because he wasn't always fast to roll to his belly. Oh how mommy and daddy miss those days!

Now Chase is into everything. As you can see from the title of this post, his new favorite things aren't age appropriate toys or even the dog most days. He absolutely loves boxes, bags, straps, cell phones, laptops, and anything that looks like a string or cord. It is truly amazing to see how quickly he can crawl to an item when he wants it. Since the house is still not really baby proofed and we've moved to doing some renovations on the 1st floor, we usually try to limit his space. He still has a few moments where he can't quite figure out how to maneuver over an item, and instead of going around it he will get stuck half on and half off. Its hilarious and he obviously gets pretty annoyed when we won't help him!

Besides getting into everything, his morning routine, and as a matter of fact anytime he's awake in the crib is standing up and peering over the end so he can see out the door to his bedroom. Thank goodness we dropped his mattress down again! I'm not so sure how I feel about this recent milestone. He hasn't quite learned that he needs to hold on with two hands, and since his balance is still lousy he does at times bumps his head. Even when he isn't standing he will crawl around in the crib and knock his head like a battering ram some days. Usually if I don't hear him babbling over the monitor in the morning, the sound of him knocking into the side of the crib wakes me up. I'll go in to get him and he'll have little pink blotches all over his head, but be as happy as a clam. For some reason I always think of the scene from Austin Powers when he is driving the cart and trying to turn around, but keeps bumping back and forth against the wall in narrow hallway. If Jas wasn't sleeping right now I'd have him insert a movie quote here, but I'm terrible at that game-so in reference to Chase's new skills "Yeah Baby, Yeah" Sorry for the cheesy end-its been a long week. Spring break here we come:)

Catching up!!!

Sorry its been so long!

I'm going to try to attempt and combine all of the events from the past few weeks into this one post. Don't worry I won't give a full rundown with lots of details, but I will post lots of pics. Since the last week in March we've gone to two 1st birthday parties, watched the first F1 race of the season, celebrated an engagement, welcomed our family from Wales, and Chase has become a crawling machine! Obviously I've fallen behind on my posting duties.

Howdy!

Congratulations on your engagement Pat and Jenna!

Happy 89th Birthday Great Grandma!

A group shot (sans Chris who was fashionably late for the party)with our family from Wales. We all got together to celebrate Tim and Fay's wedding from October. This was the first time they got to meet Chase, and the first time most of our extended family got to meet Fay.

The cake with their actual wedding photo

I didn't realize until the end of the weekend that I didn't get a picture of Tim, Chris, Pat, and I. I was pretty bummed since the last time we were all together for a photo was at my wedding. Timmy has pretty much lived abroad since then. Now I guess we need to head to Europe for a family trip! I also didn't have my camera the first night we all got together, but once I get more photos I'll definitely post them.

Not an event pic, but a newer development I wanted to throw in. Here Chase is with the sippy cup. He proficiently holds his bottle and doesn't really care for the cup, but we figured its a good time to practice. This was actually one of the first times he'd had juice/water combo. He wasn't a fan!

RACE DAY-AUSTRALIA!

Last time Chase posed with Daddy's Lego Ferrari he wasn't mobile. This time you can see Jas in the background keeping an eye on his toy. I'm pretty sure it took him 3+hours to put it together a few years ago! Chase's expression is priceless. He was trying to yank the wheels off.

Got my Ferrari onesie on(Thanks Adam and Cindy), and I'm ready to drive with the big boys. I can't wait til Daddy sets up the race simulator again so I can sit in it with him!

JULIA'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

This was by far the biggest kid's birthday party we've ever been to. I think there were 90+ people, a candy bar, Elmo, tons of games, wardrobe changes, and hand painted party favors. I already know I won't be able to be able to compete with this for Chase's 1st birthday party, heck we don't even know where we'll be...my best friend however, never fails to amaze me with what she can pull off. Julia is one loved and lucky little girl!

Chase wasn't so sure about the big red fuzzy thing. I, on the other hand, got the idea that if I bought an Elmo costume, loaded some kids' tunes on my iPod, and moved to the NY area I could easily change careers.

Trying to pose for another college roommate pic. The little ones weren't that cooperative.

Taking advantage of the continued fact that Chase doesn't mind hats:)

Whew!

10 months old!

We have a bunch of pics and updates from the past two party-filled weekends, but I'm not going to get a chance to get the posts done tonight. I did however want to mention that today Chase is 10 months old! He experienced another two milestones today(he must have known it was a special day:) With a little coaxing and nearby support he pulled himself to a stand from crawling(not sure if we are excited about this one yet), and he had his first mini temper tantrum. The standing piece came after an evening full of crawling and exploring. He ventured under the coffee table and under his exersaucer. He also found a spoon to bang and it was cute because at one point he looked like he was trying to use it as a screwdriver on the leg of the exersaucer. Sorry I don't have pics-we don't have a gate upstairs yet so he requires lots of supervision!! He started to get tired but kept trying to grab at the side of the couch. This was a losing battle that soon frustrated him so we moved him to the front of the couch so he could have a fighting chance to pull himself up. After a few attempts I offered my arm for a sturdier surface and he pulled himself to his knees and then his feet! We celebrated thoroughly:)

On to the tantrum...Chase's schedule was quite disrupted this weekend and Summer kept most of the house up last night due to her fear of storms(this has gotten so much worse as she's gotten older) so we're all a little sleep deprived. Since Chase is super mobile now he doesn't like staying still anywhere, and the changing table is of course no exception! Until recently he would simply arch his back to try to grab things or try to eat his feet during changing times. Relatively manageable. He now however has figured out that in less than a second he can flip to his belly and try to crawl on the changing table to reach the wipes, diapers, and anything else within arms length. This only really started in the past two days and today I think the exhaustion compounded his crankiness when I tried to prevent him from rolling to his belly when it was time for pjs. He started screaming bloody murder, rolling all of the place, and chomping on his arm. I had to put him in the crib because there was no way I was going to safely be able to get lotion on his back without him squirming out of my hands. He was so crabby it ended up taking the two of us to get him ready for bed. Hopefully he was just exhausted, he's generally a pretty laid back little one-we better not be entering a new phase!

A boy and his dog

Chase has become mobile and has discovered he can crawl over to Summer. For some reason he thinks she is hilarious and Summer is very patient and tolerant then loving.

Sorry for the video being slightly out of focus, its difficult tracking a child, dog and making sure he doesn't get into everything.