Chase Update 4 Months

My baby boy turned 4 months on September 26. I can't exactly say that it has flown by...it's actually the exact opposite. These last four months have seemed to last forever. And while I enjoy every moment of it (ok maybe not EVERY moment...) I'm sad to say a part of me wants him to just be mobile already. Shock. I know. If you've ever had to deal with a collicky baby you understand my mixed emotions. I savor every coo, every smile, and every laugh and the motherly side of me says slow down and enjoy THESE moments!! But the part of me that's going a little nutty from all the fussing thinks it will be easier when he can sit up and play with toys or interact more with Leah and not be so dependent on me to hold him all day long.
Anyways my little (big!) guy had his 4 mos checkup this morning and weighed in at a whopping 21 lbs 10 oz. Dr. Amon said he has probably outgrown his prevacid dose for his GERD and so she increased his dose in hopes it will help him again. Other than that he is perfectly healthy and developing right on track!
He's starting to reach for things and show interest in toys, he enjoys being in his walker or jumperoo for short periods of time, he's VERY interested in the TV, he loves tummy time and is holding himself up on his arms and wants to scoot so bad! He also can roll over now (but he still gets his arm stuck under his belly). He's already wearing size 12 months clothes! Despite his fussy times, we are still absolutely in love with our little man! :)


For some reason I think he looks JUST like my Uncle Joe (mom's brother) in this picture:





Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kitchen Makeover!

New appliances! What a difference they make in my shoebox of a kitchen!

BEFORE:

AFTER:




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Leah's Lingo

Comes up to Chase with a plastic flower in her hand..."here ya go bubba!" puts it in his hand and squeezes gently so he grasps it..."it's pink! For you! I love you bubba!" kisses him on cheek.
I told her "that was very good sharing, Lea! You're such a good big sissy! It's time for Chase's bath now so ask him for your flower back..."
Takes it from his hand...looks down at it disguntingly... "eww mom! He dooled (drooled) on it!"

Leah and I painted our toenails yesterday and when we were done she looked at Chase in his jumper and looked at his feet then looked at me..."we do Chase's too?!"




"Mom! (demandingly) Put Chase in here! (points to jumperoo) Come to my room and play toys!!"




Tim was watching Smallville... Leah came in and started singing the theme song ("Somebody savvve meeee") and then said "Daddy...I love Superman!"



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Words of Wisdom

I've been kind of stressed out and bummed lately because Chase is such a grumpy baby. That sort of thing wears on you especially when you're sleep deprived and also trying to keep up with a two-and-a-half year old while holding a 20 lb crying baby. Dont get me wrong I absolutely love my kids and being able to stay home with them but I've just been feeling a little down.
Tim, bless his heart, was off the last 3 days from work. He got up with the kids each morning and took them to the park so I could sleep in a little. And last night he got up every time with Chase even though he had to work today. I'm just so lucky to have a guy who will step up to the plate when he sees me struggling a little.
With the nature of his job as a paramedic, he sees some pretty heartbreaking stuff. One of the more recent events was a little baby who has to live with a trachea tube because of some birth defects. He told me he bets that boy's parents would give everything they have to deal with a crying baby...just to hear their baby cry would be a miracle. And you know what, he's right. I am so blessed to have two beautiful and perfectly healthy babies. Today my boy's cries meant the world to me. He may be fussy but he's healthy. Leave it to husbands to bring you back down to reality when you need it! <3 xoxo

And his smiles may be few and far between but that just makes them so much more special!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I Surrender!

*warning: complaints!!

Okay okay Yuma...you win already! Enough with the unbearable heat! For those of you who have never been to Yuma in the months of July, August, or September I want u to go to your kitchen...turn your oven on to about 400• let it bake for a few minutes...get your face down really close and then open the door really fast...that's kind of what it feels like when we open our front door. Now imagine you're actually IN the oven...that's kind of what it feels like to get in your car that's been baking in the sun all day. Our seatbelts and door handles LITERALLY burn us if we are not careful. I don't know how people live here their whole lives! Hence the reason we are moving to Maryland as soon as possible (but that's another post entirely). Here is what the weather forecast generally looks like on a typical summer day...and this is when we would say "oh look! Its only supposed to be 102 on Sunday!":

Anyways my point is that when you're a stay-at-home mom with small children...there's not a whole lot to do during the summer. It's sort of like having a rainy day EVERY day.
So let's just say I have been very very creative this summer. We've done finger painting, macaroni crafts, set up a tent and went camping in the living room, lots of play doh, you name it we've tried it!






My poor Leah BEGS me to go outside almost every day. We try to take a walk each evening when the sun starts to set just so she can get outside some. I can't really take her swimming because Chase is still too young. She looks outside longingly at her swing.
I have been looking on craigslist all summer (i never buy anything new!) for some kind of small jungle gym to put inside. There's never anything good since our town is so small but today I finally found one! We called right away and went to go pick up our new playset (that i got for a STEAL)! When Leah saw it she was SO excited. We came home and put it up in the living room (it will eventually live in Chase's room and then we will take it with us when we move). Leah pushed Chase in the swing (he laughed!!) and she was just so excited the whole night. So if we can't go outside we will bring the outside to us!











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Leah's Lingo

This morning... Me: "Leah, what do you want for breakfast?"
Leah: (without skipping a beat) "Pizza bread!!"
Me: "Yea, um, we're not having pizza bread for breakfast, baby.. try again..."
Leah: "cheetos!"
Me: "Okay, how about bananas and toast?"
Leah: "Oh, okay mommy!"


Leah walking around in her high heel princess dress up shoes... we were getting ready to leave to go to a baby shower.
Me: "Lea, go get your socks and shoes baby so we can go."
Leah: "I wear these mommy" and points to her heels. I should have let her wear them haha but I knew after 5 minutes she would take them off and demand to be carried.




In other news, my grumpy gus Chase is getting worse again. I don't know if it's his GERD or what, but he is one fussy monkey. He's certainly not as bad as he was a few months ago, but I'd say for about half the day he's fussy. He's having a hard time eating. When he drinks his bottle during the day, he wriths around like he's in pain. He will only suck an ounce or two down at each feeding during the day. At night, he wakes up usually 3 times and each time he sucks down 4 ounces without a problem. So I'm not exactly sure what his deal is. We are going to try him on soy formula for a week and see if that makes any difference. Tim is lactose intolerant so I'm thinking he might be too? He goes to the doctor next week for his 4 month check up anyway so we'll see what she thinks. Suggestions, anyone?


I brought out Leah's "baby" toys from storage in the garage yesterday because Chase is starting to show interest and wanting to hold things. You would have thought it was Christmas, Leah was sooo excited! It was pretty funny watching her go "OOHHH!!! This!" and "oh! what's this?!" LOL. Chase even got a kick out of some of the toys so that was pretty cool.

Before I Forget...

I wanted to write this story down before I forget because it's so darn cute! Last night Leah woke up around 4am. Tim and I laid here listening to her on the monitor as she sang herself back to sleep! She sang for about 15 minutes...It was the most precious thing I've ever heard!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A closet and a haus!

This morning I was inspired to organize Leah's toys. Every time I walked into her room I had a mini panic attack because of all the clutter! It took awhile and I'm seriously fooling myself if I think it'll stay this way but here it is:

BEFORE:

AFTER:







And on a side note...my "little" Chase is almost 4 months now! He weighs...wait for it...20, yes TWENTY, pounds!! We call him our little haus. He's already wearing size 12 month clothes! It's a little ridiculous! He's doing really good though..he is starting to get his personality and he LOVES his mama :)












And he absolutely adores Leah. She loves him so much. When she hears him waking up in the morning she runs to his room and climbs up on his crib...she rubs his foot and says "good morning, Bubba!" and he looks up at her with the biggest gummy grin. They just melt my heart!










Xoxo



Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Always Remember

It was my senior year of high school. I was sitting in art class at Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville, MD when I got called down to the guidance office to go over my college applications. I remember walking in to sit down when I overheard the secretary telling the councelor "someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center in New York city!" My little 17-year-old naive self had no clue the severity of the situation. I never got my meeting that day. All hell broke loose. They let us go home early so everyone rushed to their cars like crazy people, because no one knew what was going on. Jenny, my carpoolee, was waiting for me at my car and cluelessly we started to drive home.
The beltway was bumper-to-bumper traffic. We couldn't get through to anyone on our cell phones. Looking around at everyone in their cars, you could see panic on their faces. We lived 4 hours from New York. I'm not sure what we were expecting to happen. A nuclear bomb to drop out of the sky perhaps. Or an attack on the World Trade Center in Baltimore, just minutes away.
I dropped Jenny off and rushed home. I was the first to get home that day. I waited anxiously for someone else to come home. My mom was a teacher and she got to come home early too, so she arrived shortly after I did. My dad was still at work and my brothers were both older and no longer living at home. My mom and I turned on the news and watched the horror. I'll never forget the images I saw that day. Men and women running in the streets of New York. The sky was filled with smoke and ashes were falling like demonic snowflakes.
Those images are burned into my brain.
For days and weeks to come, we heard stories and saw videos and pictures of the events that happened on September 11th, 2001. So many people lost their lives; families were ripped apart. I thank God for the bravery of the firefighters, police officers, and military who risked and sacrificed their lives to rescue others from the rubble that was once the Twin Towers. And for the men and women who decided to join the military to fight back. America was attacked that day, and we are still fighting back in honor of whom and what was taken from us.
Some day my kids will read about September 11th in their history books. They'll ask me about it and I'm sure I will still remember every detail of that day.
I'm so proud to be an American and proud that I can raise my children in this country, the land of the free. And no one can EVER take that from us.






And I'll leave you with this picture I saw today. It was taken at a 9/11 memorial. Notice the cross.

Acts 2:25-27
David said about him: "I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay...