Happy 3rd birthday Chase

Dear 3 year old Chase,
   What an exciting year! This year you became a big brother!!!! You love your brothers so much. You are always giving them kisses and saying, "Hi guys!". They love you too. I knew you would be a great big brother. I look forward to seeing your relationships with them grow. I hope you always light up like you do now when you see them. We wanted you to have people to spend your life with.
   Besides getting new little brothers you got a cousin, Maddisen. You adore Maddi like a sister. You have a huge heart and adore everyone in our family. You have a special relationship with each of your grandparents. You often talk about Papa, Nana, Grandma, and Grandpa (or Papa) Marty.
   You think all kids are your friends. Today when I asked you who your best friend was you said Carter. You and Carter have been buddies since a couple months old. You like playing with your cousin Caelan and Conner and Holden when we see them. You love Zephyr and Brynna. You and your new buddy Ryder have some good times together. This year you made a friend in our neighborhood, Cole. His younger siblings are twins too! When you go for bike rides on your BIG bike you stop at Cole's house and ask if he is home. You love your neighbor buddy Joey across the street.
  We went on some trips this year to Yosemite and Monterey. You loved the waterfalls and beaches.
   You sleep in a queen bed in a new room now. I can't believe how big you are getting. Seriously, you are super tall!
   You speak so clearly. You have a few things you say funny and I love it. Like the word love is more wuv. Hamburger is a tough one for ya. Cement mixer sounds more like ment mixer.
   This spring you have been playing t-ball and love it. Last week you had a hit that made all the parents say, "Woah!"
   You like to pick out your own outfits. You love your Dusty shirt and neon socks.
   You are obsessed with the tv show P.A.W. patrol. You beg me to watch it every day. You just crack up at it.
   You usually order mac and cheese when we go to restaurants. For your birthday meals this year you wanted eggs for breakfast, roast beef for lunch, and steak for dinner. Tonight you said your favorite food was bread. You love cheese. You said your favorite drink was milk. You are a big orange juice fan too. You like red peppers. You like all fruit. Bananas might be your favorite. You LOVE cookies. You get one every time we go to the grocery store. Speaking of the grocery store, everyone knows you there and you especially like the checker Stacy.
   You have learned some new songs recently. I like to eat apples and bananas is a fave and skinamirarinky dink a dink.
   I think your shoes are size 11 now. Your clothes are 5t. Still in size 6 diapers. Your pjs and kids size 5. You've had too many haircuts to count now. We just got clippers and Dada gave you your first at home haircut and you did great. You have all your teeth for awhile. I think you get more at age 6.
   Since I was hugely pregnant and now busy with your brothers, you've gone to the pool twice with Papa. We are thinking about doing swim lessons this summer.
   When I went to the hospital to have your brothers we spent our first night apart. You did so awesome without Mama and Dada. A few weeks before I had your brothers Dada got some special books with you at the book store.

First week of school

Chase,
   You are snoozing on the floor in the family room in a "camping ship" aka fort after your first week of school.
   After two days of school you are still working on learning your teacher's name. Today when we ask you what your teacher's name is you say, "Teacher or Miss Harriet". That's Daniel Tiger's teacher's name. You like to watch the TV show Daniel Tiger. I just introduced you to Barney this week and you told me today you didn't want to turn it off because you needed to learn.
   From what you have told me about your day it sounds like you keep lining up when the kids are lining up to go to the other teacher's class.
   You have said a couple times you only want to make two or three friends. Today you said you had four friends. You said someone asked you how old you are.
   Day 1 you painted scales on a fish with celery and put rice on a starfish.

  I can't tell you how much I love your very first school art projects! You said you made two jellyfish on the second day. I think we might have to give one to Grandma.
   On day 2 you said you played with dinosaurs and one boy had a lot and didn't want to share with you but a girl shared with you and there were two triceratops. You said you waited patiently and eventually they went to play with something else and you got to play with the dinos. You said you looked at books in your classroom and there was a shark book like yours and a dolphin book. You said you sang songs that you didn't know. One about a train.
   You love school. You said you want to go every day. In the morning 30 minutes before we had to leave you said you were ready to go to school. In the car on the way to school you said you missed your school.
   Your teacher says you are doing great and that makes us so proud! Love you buddy! Keep up the great work!

Starting school soon...

   Today is your 5th father's day. You are downstairs laying in a fort not sleeping. I was scrolling through facebook and instagram and remembered that I should use this time to write down everything I want to remember about this time in our lives.

   You were so excited to give Daddy his presents this morning and go mini golfing. Your first time mini golfing was in May for Holden's birthday and you have been hooked ever since. We have gone with your bff Zeph. The next person you wanted to go with was Nana and Papa. I searched the calendar for a free weekend day and thought Father's day would be perfect! They surprised you by showing up today. We had a blast! One of my balls hit Daddy and he said it hit him in his "twig and berries" and you said "twig and berries!" and were cracking up!
   You've been really excited the last few days because you start school Tuesday! You keep asking me if it is school day. It is also motivating me to write a few things down because this is a huge change for us! And here come the tears.
   I asked Papa to drive with us for emotional support. Last night I told Daddy I might be ok dropping you off by myself. Its just been you and me for four years. I know we added those two crazy monster, Kyle and Austin. There were also the days I went to work and you stayed with Papa. But the majority of our time is you and me buddy.
   I had a moms night out the other day and you helped me pick out my outfit and accessories. I've also discussed my upcoming hair color change with you. When you look in my eyes and reach for me and pucker those lips, that is my most favorite thing in the world.
   The things that you think of now are so funny. Last night you said you wanted to buy Daddy a car for Father's Day!
   You love your whole family so good. Recently I could tell you were feeling a little off so I asked you if you could go on a date with anyone, who would you want to go with. You said your whole family. So the five of us headed to red robin! You had so much fun and thought the corn dog and milkshake were so yummy! You have talked about it for awhile. Wanted to hold my hand in the picture. I'll treasure that forever!

   You try to be sweet to your brothers and it melts my heart when you are. You've started helping me sing to them when I put them to sleep. You also like to help change their diapers. You like to help me with a lot of stuff. You are so cute with all babies. You will make a great daddy some day even though you say now you don't want to get married or go to college and just want to be a stay at home son.

   You have some crazy dance moves. Always saying mommy watch! Tackling your brothers is another favorite thing to do. We went swimming at Papa's and you used water wings for the first time and loved them! You were jumping in and swimming all over.
   You have been really in to board and card games lately. It has been fun playing games with you!

   Daddy and I were talking about how much you are going to love school. I'm so excited for you to learn and make new friends. I hope you continue to make good choices and make us proud. Love you always!

Chase's 4th birthday carnival party

Almost 3

Oh my almost threenager. K&A took a nap today and we got to play outside. I wanted to do a 3 year photo shoot with him. I took my camera out with us to play and got some really great pictures. I need to be doing a million other things besides editing pictures and writing blog posts so I edited these two really quick.

Chase's phrases at 2.5 years old

   It's been about 9 months since I did a Chase's words post. I honestly wouldn't be able to do a post with all the words he can say now. He is such a little parrot and can repeat just about anything. Which is super fun, most of the time.
   My in-laws were visiting this weekend and my mother-in-law and I were laughing about all of Chase's little sayings. Last night I was thinking I really need to write these down because even though I can't imagine forgetting the things he says to me 100 times a day the truth of the matter is I may forget.
   This summer Chase learned the phrase, "What are you doing?". Oh my goodness. He had to know what everyone was doing, even inanimate objects. It made our four hour car ride to Monterey super fun. Remember when you could put the kid in the car and they would fall asleep instantly? Yeah, not any more. This summer he asked us what we were doing every 2 seconds for four hours! If you were in the room with him he would ask you what you were doing. If you moved he asked you what you were doing.
   Shortly after he picked up the phrase, "I miss it!". He now misses a lot of things. His super ball? "I miss it!" This weekend he said, "I want my milk! I miss it!" So dramatic and stinkin' cute!
   Last week he saw his friend and said, "I haven't seen you all day!". Now he'll spend the day with me and still say, "Mama, I haven't seen you all day".
   His latest fun phrase is, "What happened?". So now he says, "What are you doing?" Then after you answer him he says, "What happened?". It was tough coming up with responses to what are you doing. Sometimes I was just sitting. Now I have to come up with what happened. Kid really makes you think!
   He has also picked up the lovely word stupid. Everyone warned me there would be a word he picked up that I would not enjoy hearing come out of his sweet face and yep it happened. I am trying to pretend I think he is saying super. I'm hoping maybe he will just start saying super instead. It is kind of funny but I don't laugh because I want it to go away! It's funny that it comes out when he is playing ball. If he misses the ball he'll say stupid. He even said, "Come on, stupid". To me one time. Oh, toddlers!
   He is pretty into football now. He knows Sunday is football day. He loves to watch football and often asks to watch baseball and the Dodgers. I had to tell him last night that the Dodgers won't be on until next spring! He is so funny when he is watching the games he repeats everything we say and lately has just been yelling, "Come on!" or "Yeah, baby!" at the tv randomly.
   We laugh every day at the things he says. I can't believe how he can have conversations with people now. Especially phone conversations. He used to just listen when people talked to him. He now answers their questions. I was talking to my mom the other day and told Chase to say hi Nana and she couldn't believe it was him he sounded so old. He's growing up so fast!
   I guess I should include some of the funny things he says to the babies. From the very beginning of my pregnancy he has said I love you to the baby (and babies when we found out there were two) and given kisses. He of course also uses his favorite phrases with the babies. "Babies, I haven't seen you all day!" "I miss you babies". One time he asked the babies if they helped Dada. We are working on him calling them by name. If I tell him one of their names he knows the other one. He knows where in my belly each one is and tells them he loves them and gives them kisses. I love that he already has such a strong bond with them.

The light of our life

It's Sunday morning and we just finished a lovely big breakfast made by my amazing husband. Before I start the dishes I just wanted to write down how much joy my big boy has been bringing me. A tweet or facebook status update just wouldn't do it justice.

While Hubby was making breakfast Chase said, "I'll help you." This is one of his favorite phrases and it just makes my heart smile every time he says it. He always wants to help and I try to encourage it as much as possible.

Yesterday afternoon Chase woke up from his nap and Hubby was outside and he kept saying, "See Daddy?". So I took him outside. He helped pull a few weeds, another favorite activity silly kid. Then he want to mow the lawn. Hubby needed to mow the lawn so they mowed together. Chase even puts his play shoes on for mowing. He followed right behind Hubby the whole time. The cute about killed me. In the moment when he stopped to spit in the grass I was overwhelmed by the amount he wants to be like his Daddy. The mowing, the spitting, the peeing standing up. Such a Daddy's boy.

I love our weekends together and Chase continues to bring us so much joy. Just trying to soak them all up before things get crazy when the twins arrive!

To my 2 year old

Oh baby boy,
   Your mama is having a tough time with you turning 2. Hopefully this whole birthday thing will get easier. I think turning 2 is kind of huge because you aren't a baby any more. Here are some of the notes I wrote down when I started thinking about writing this post on March 11th:

Shoes 9.5
Pants 2t but almost 3t. Shorts are 4t I think
Tops 3t
Diapers 5 (now in size 6)
Pjs 4t

The beginning of your 2nd year

Had 3 haircuts (you are getting your 4th one on your birthday)

All teeth but 2 year molars

You are such a lucky boy that you get to go to the park almost every day. At the park you love climbing, going down slides, swings, digging, playing with balls. You love playing with boys and girls of any age. I just taught you to say hi to people instead of "ello!" and you love it.

At home you love to play with blocks, puzzles, color, play doh, balls. Hitting them off tee with bat. Mowing or riding trike in front or back. Dance parties. Reading. Your favorite book is little blue truck. Driving your cozy coupe or fire truck. Playing with cars. Kicking balls. You are a pro at going up and down the stairs. We have had to baby proof even more now that you are opening sliders and you have figured out how to take off the door baby proof things.

You are such a helper, you vacuum, helps with dishes and laundry. Watering.

Favorite foods: veggie-zucchini fruit-banana (nana) pasta, Mac and cheese, cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, ham, spanish rice. You still have great behavior at restaurants. You know good food.

You are still my little fishy. We went to the indoor pool a few times this winter and you and dada have already jumped in the pool in our backyard.

Loves choo choos.

Favorite animals: dog dogs, meow meow, monkeys.

Loves making animal noises. Does meow, oooh oooh aahh aahh, does hand by nose for elephant. Makes funny clomping/chomping noise for animals you don't know.

You are so polite saying please and thank you unprompted often.

You are such a lover. Always hugging and giving kisses and say "wuv you".

You are still our tall boy. We have an appointment on the 2nd but I'm sure you'll still be in the 90th percentile for height.

You started out pretty coordinated but lately you have become pretty accident prone. You have had a skinned knee for a few weeks. That same leg got all skinned up at your aunt and uncle's and the next day you got a big fat lip. I'm hoping the random scratch on your forehead is better for your party this weekend.

This year you have got to spend two days a week with Papa (Baba) while mama goes to work. The two of you have a great time together and are two peas in a pod. Papa calls himself your bff.

You have gotten better at sleeping but it is still one of your struggles. Dada and Papa put you down for naps now too. But bedtime is still our special time.

When you wake up in the morning you call for mama, dada, or papa. I don't know how you decide each day. If mama or dada come to get you your routine is to grab your bear and just recently your boung boung (bunny), your baby (blankie), your wawa (water), and your seahorse and bring them all into mama and dada's bed. As soon as you are in our bed you want to play with mama's hone (phone).

You are quite the little apple products addict. You love mama's iphone and papa's ipad.

You are obsessed with the gangnam style song. Your favorite tv shows are "melmo" sesame street, "bubble" bubble guppies, and george.

I adore when you say you want to go "out hide" or you want something and point to yourself and say me!

You are still our comedian always being silly or goofy. You have the silliest cheese face and you say cheese any time mama points her phone or camera at you. I guess you have gotten used to posing for a picture since I take about 50 a day.

When I was reading over your 1 year post I mentioned how we are always getting compliments on your eyes and your smile and I thought to myself that people haven't been saying these things as often lately. Then we were at Hobby Lobby today and a lady just walking by says, "Oh, isn't he just the cutest little boy!" You still got it babe ;)

Mama and Dada love you more than you will ever know. We are so proud of the little man you are turning out to be. We know you are going to do amazing things and we are thrilled to help and encourage you along the way. These past 2 years have been the best years of our lives and we know every day we get to spend with you will be one of the best days of our lives. Happy Birthday to our little monkey!

Deprived

   I posted a picture last night of Chase licking the beater from Hubby's cookie dough. This was the first time he has ever gotten to lick the beater. He is almost 22 months old. I pretty much licked all the dough off before I gave it to him. Yes, my son is deprived. But it gets worse.

   He's never had peanut butter. Our doctor suggested we avoid it until age two even though there are no allergies in our family. We made it to 18 months and asked her again if we could give it to him. At 18 months she said yes but Hubby thought we've made it this long let's just wait until he's 2. Deprived! I eat peanut butter every day!
   He is only allowed to drink milk or water. He doesn't need these things so why give them to him?
   We were playing out front this morning and my mom was telling him how they used to tell me I needed to get my disneyland legs. I thought to myself, poor kid has only seen a few disney movies. Disneyland definitely wouldn't be as exciting as it would be for some other disney movie lovers. I think the only disney movies he has seen are cars 1 and 2 once. He's seen the toy story trilogy once.
   As far as food and drinks go, right now we are helping him make healthy choices because he doesn't know any better. We don't plan to be weird about food or drinks. But we will continue to mostly offer healthy choices in our home.
   I definitely look forward to movie nights and disneyland but right now we do dinner and bath and bed. He doesn't sit still for 2 hours.

Chase words almost 21 months

Chase is at that age where he picks up a new word every day. I love it! I wanted to jot down some of the words he says on a regular basis for my memory. If you have a child around the same age that is saying less words just remember every child is different and I don't do this to compare our kids. If you already know your child is slower with speech then don't even read this :) I kind of counted and I think he is at about 55-60 words but like I said gets a few words every day!

Chase’s words almost 21 months old

A

All done/all gone

B

ball, baby, bat, bubble, bike, bag, box, bee

C

Cheese, color

D

Dada, dog, duck, dance, down

E

Excuse me

F

G

Grandpa (sounds like dada), go

H

Hello or hi, I think he can still point to his head, he might point to his head for hat too

I

I did it! (or did it)

J

Jump (I think)

K

keys

L

M

More (signs says it sometimes I think), Mama (love it!), milk, meow, mow mow (lawn mower), moon

N

Nana, no, nose

O

Oh no , on, off

P

Poo poo, pee pee, p.u., please (sometimes)

Q

R

Roar (I think he still says it)

S

Splash, shoes, sticker, stool, spoon, stuck

T

This, that, toes (points to), touch down, thank you

U

V

W

Wawa, wet, where’d it go?

X

Y

Z

zip

Chase's words 16.5 months old

I wanted to post this list of words Chase is saying. It is not to brag or make anyone feel like their child is behind. This blog is where I post my memories. I think I might want to look back some day and remember what words he started saying first. So don't read it if it will make you feel bad. I know I avoid monthly update posts lately because I don't want to stress about it.

 

 

Chase’s words 16.5 months old

A

B

Baa, baby

C

D

Dada, dog, duck, down

E

F

G

Gobble

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

nana

O

Oh, on, off, oink

P

Q

R

S

Splash, shoes

T

This, that

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

 

16 months!

Chase is 16 months old! I haven't really been doing monthly updates since he turned 1 for a few reasons. But I wanted to do an update since he is at such a fun age!

We went on our first camping trip. It was only one night and thank goodness because Chase was getting his molars and did not sleep well. He looks like such a big boy in all the pictures from that trip.

Speaking of my little giant, he is so tall! His 15 month appointment was a few weeks ago and he was 33 inches tall! We go to the park and he is taller than some 2 year olds!

 I love taking him to the park. Today, he was so cute! We went with his friend, Carter, that he has known since he was born and they started figuring out throwing the ball to each other. He was throwing the ball with another little boy and then ran over to Carter to throw the ball to him.

A little girl went down the slide in front of him and he clapped for her.

We brought his buckets and shovels to play with in the sand and he did such a good job sharing. I can see that "I want that toy I'm going to grab it" motion and I tell him to share and I can see him hesitate. So hard to have self control! Makes me so proud!



He loves books and his daddy. The other day he grabbed his hand and dragged him over to something. So cute. When he hears the garage door go up when Hubby gets home he runs over to me and wants me to pick him up and take him to see his daddy.

 

The weather has been pretty nice lately so we can spend a little time outside after dinner doing Chase's favorite thing, watering the plants. He's seriously obsessed. He constantly wants to be outside playing with the hose.

 

 

 

 

 



Last night a woman probably in her 80's walked by using a walker and Chase was just beaming at her. I'm sure I've said it before, but I truly pray he continues to have such a sweet heart and continues to share his smile with everyone he meets.

Chase has been spending lots of time with his Grandpa when I go to work. I am so relieved that it has been a pretty easy transition. Makes me glad I trusted my gut and the timing worked out that we could wait this long for me to return back to work. Chase has been awesome at taking naps for Grandpa which was my big concern. They have always had a special bond but I see that bond growing. So sweet!

 

We started working on night weaning and getting him to sleep through the night in his crib recently. I know, a little late but it is the right timing for us. It was hard the first time he woke up the first night but has been getting better. I'm hopeful that he will be sleeping through the night soon.

 

He loves to point to things and say "this". His favorite word is still Dada. He tries to say bye, bye but it kind of sounds like dada but he waves. Sometimes he will say duck or dog. It is crazy how much he understands. He surprised me when I said, "let's go in the back yard" and he walked over to the gate. Or when I was singing a song I rarely sing, "little bunny foo foo" and I said, "bopping 'em on the head" and he pointed to his head. We sing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" a lot and he has the head and toes part figured out. Precious.

 

He has started using a fork. I have to get the door knob baby proof things because he has started opening doors. He climbs on everything! He pretends everything is a phone. He loves to brush his hair. He likes to color.

 

He is such a little helper around the house. He loves to vacuum. I saw his friend, Carter (again), wipe up a spill and had to teach Chase how to do that right away.

 

I'm just a very proud mama. When his Daddy gives him kisses before bed he pushes our heads together so we kiss. It is so cute! I am so blessed to have such an adorable little guy!

The little details from Chase's party

As many of you know, I started planning Chase's birthday party when he was about 6 months old. I worked my booty off for several weeks before the party. I wanted to do a post and share the little details.

This banner says "CONCESSIONS" and is above the food table.

The cracker jacks were the party favor for the adults. The baseballs say "Thank you for celebrating Chase's rookie year".

We had a t ball and bases set up for the kids.

Grandma made a cake and I made baseball cupcakes.

I decorated Chase's high chair.

The party was at a park and we brought tons of balls for the kids and adults to play with. The party favor for the kids was baseball bats and balls. 

1 year old!

My little man you are 1 year old! I wrote you a sappy letter already. That's not what this post is about. This is to finish off the year of monthly posts I have done. Your 11th month was a perfect way to end a wonderful year! We started off the month with your first Easter!

You got to dye eggs for the first time. You got to hunt for them. The Easter bunny brought you a basket full of goodies! Of course you had to spend time with your very own personal Easter bunny, Blue.

We also had a lot of birthday parties this month! You had so much fun at your buddy Carter's party. Grandpa wanted to celebrate his birthday by hanging out by the pool with you. Then at the end of the month was YOUR birthday party!

Everyone warned us to watch out once you start walking. We have had so much fun with you now that you are walking. You are beding over and picking up toys. You push and pull toys while walking. You turn the pages of your books before you start to chew them. Any time music comes one you do a cute little shake/dance.

Dear 1 year old Chase,

Dear Chase,
   Your daddy and I have wanted to be parents for a very long time. We love kids. I don't think either of us ever expected how much we would love you. On May 1st, 2011 at 1:01pm when you were placed in my arms the tears started streaming down my face like they are now. I kept saying over and over, "he's so cute!". It is on video luckily.
   Every day I am amazed that your dad and I created something so perfect. We are so blessed that you have been such a healthy, happy, adorable little boy.
   You got your height from both of your parents. People always tell me how tall you are!
   People always tell us how beautiful your eyes are. You got them from your daddy. Last week when we were at Target with Grandpa Tom he said, "You have the prettiest blue eyes. You keep those until high school and I'll teach you how to get all the girls". I don't think you will have any problem with that. You are already a total flirt and know how adorable you are.
   Your smile is another favorite of ours. The other day when I was buying your birthday card the woman at the store said, "his whole face lights up when he smiles". I love that you smile at everyone. I hope you continue to do this.
   We love your laugh. You think everything daddy does it hilarious!
   You are our little comedian. You will do anything for a laugh. If you do get a laugh you will do it over and over again. Go crazy!
   It has been decided you get your coordination from me. You shocked us all when you started crawling at 8 months. After that you were quickly trying to pull yourself up and walk. Everyone warned us that once you were walking we were in trouble. For us the hard part was when you were pulling yourself up and falling down. We love that you are able to get around on your own now.
   I'm sure you are well aware that you are not the best sleeper. I'm not ever going to let your forget these last 12 months of no sleep! You are lucky that your daddy works so hard so mommy can stay home with you. In the beginning, I think you were awake a lot because you were a big hungry boy. Now, I think your poor teeth are hurting you. You are also lucky you are so cute!
   Learning to eat food has been an adventure this year. At first you loved anything made by Gerber. I wanted to make your food for you and you eventually got used to it. Then you decided you didn't want me to feed you any more. You started out only liking snack foods and bread. Then you ate pears and mandarins. Lately you have been trying more foods. You love zucchini!
   I feel so lucky that you are such a good baby. I love that we are still able to take you to restaurants.
   Right now your persistance and determination can sometimes be a struggle. I like that you know what you want and you go for it but you need to listen when we tell you no. I promise I will only tell you no if it is something dangerous!
   I have been the only one that has put you to sleep this year. At times it has been hard but now I'm soaking up every minute of it!
  We have had a lot of adventures this year. I know you won't remember anything from this year, but I hope when you look back at pictures you see how much you were loved. You are a lucky boy that has a lot of people that love you.

Picture of Chase right when they placed him in my arms.

Picture of Chase and I at his birthday party.

Celebrating Chase's 1st birthday!

Well, we survived Chase's 1st birthday party! Our friends and family that love Chase joined us at a local park to play, eat, and celebrate our precious boy.

I wanted to do a post for all my friends that have parties coming up.

Does everyone know Dollar Tree sells helium balloons? They can be $4-6 at the grocery store or party city.

Another one of my good ideas was putting everything in old diaper boxes. It made transporting things to and from the park a lot easier.

Some mistakes I made: thinking Hubby and my Dad could do the set up and decorate part of the party. I stayed home with Chase which was good but when I got there not much had been done and all the guests had arrived.

I wanted the bbq started at 11:30 but apparently someone else had a better idea. It ended up ok because I was able to take Chase around and try and get a picture of him with everyone. I thought it was a good idea to get pictures before he ate.

We didn't hire a photographer. I had my sil and friend bring their nice cameras and had to kind of beg them to take pictures for me.

Chase loved his cake that Grandma made.

I think he had fun and looked pretty cute. That's all the matters right?

Let me know if you have any other bday party questions!

4/23/2011

This is a picture of me on 4/29/2011. 2 days after my due date. The day I had a hysterical breakdown when Hubs called me on his lunch break saying the baby was never going to come out! 2 days later my world was flipped upside down and the most adorable little man entered my life!

One year ago today I posted this about my get the baby out progress. I can't believe it has been a year already!

I thought I would take a couple minutes to write about what's been going on, for me. Maybe some day I'll want to look back and remember this time. Probably not. Maybe it will help some other pregnant girl to know someone else went through this.

My due date is April 27th. I was born a few days after my due date. My husband was born a week after his due date. I was prepared for this baby to be late. I wasn't prepared for the doctor to tell me I was 2 cm dilated at my 38 week appointment on April 13th. I got all excited that he was going to come early! My mom told my dad he would have a grandson within 7 days. Then I started having contractions that night and the next morning. Everyone got all excited. My dad thought he was going to have his grandson on Thursday the 14th!

Then, I made it to my 39 week appointment on the 20th. I told them I had kind of been having contractions on and off and my dr checked me to see what kind of progress those contractions were causing. The baby's head had moved down a lot and I was dilated to 3-4 cm and 70% effaced. I was glad that I had made progress but knew not to get excited about it this time. Thursday, the 21st I had some contractions but didn't want to wake my husband up. Friday, the 22nd he got up to get ready for work and I got up too since I hadn't been sleeping. I ate breakfast and watched some tv and decided to try and lay down and get some sleep.

When I was laying down I started noticing I was having stronger contractions than I had ever felt. I thought to myself maybe I should start timing them just to see how frequent they were. I was surprised that they were about 5 minutes apart. I called my mom thinking she might not have left for work yet and she could tell me if I needed to call my husband or someone else nearby to take me to the hospital. My doctor has told me if my contractions are 3 to 5 minutes apart and intense enough that I can't walk or talk during them that I should go to the hospital. Well mom and I determined that they probably weren't strong enough yet and I should see how things progressed.

I continued to time them throughout the day. My dad came over for lunch and I was able to hang out with him and he didn't notice me being in too much pain. My parents were thinking I would continue to progress and that maybe my husband should come home a little early. When I talked to him at lunch we kind of decided that I would tell him to come home if the contractions got back to 10 mins or so apart. After my dad left I timed my contractions for about an hour and they were about 10 mins apart and I thought about texting my husband but I tried to take a nap first. I was able to sleep for an hour so I knew it wasn't time to go to the hospital yet.

Saturday, the 23rd, at about 4am I was having contractions that were way more intense than I had ever felt. I would say they were about a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1-10. I decided to wake my husband up and we started timing the contractions. We timed them for an hour or two and they were pretty frequent and intense. I really thought it was about time to go to the hospital. Then after awhile I was able to fall asleep and woke up disappointed.

I guess this is pretty common, but its pretty frustrating and confusing. I keep saying it would be so much easier if my water broke! I'm trying to look at the bright side and think at least I won't be in labor for a long time at the hospital since my body is slowly dilating. I will let you guys know on twitter most likely when we finally do end up at the hospital! Keep sending "get that baby out" thoughts my way!

only 1 month from 1!!!!

We had such a fun month with Chase. I swear he was teething the whole month and we didn't get much sleep, but oh well! We celebrated our first St. Patrick's Day, played with Grandpa, and played at the park with friends!

The most exciting thing for us this month was Chase WALKING! He started off taking a few steps at the beginning of the month and now he can walk across a room! He gets the biggest smile on his face and it is so cute! He also tried opening the doors a few times. He stoops from a standing position. My mother-in-law decided he must get his coordination from me because her boys crawled and walked later.

Wherever he gets it, his strength and motivation never cease to surprise me. This month I realized he is intrinsically motivated, which I love. I can tell you no one is telling him pick up the heaviest toy you have and try and walk. That's all him! We also saw his persistence and determination. Right now he is usually determined to get other kid's sippy cups or something he isn't supposed to do but I say some day that persistence will get him a job!

I say Chase is the strong silent type because where he is advanced in his gross motor skills he seems a little behind in his verbal. He babbles all day long and every once in awhile he makes sounds that sound like words we say but the only word he consistently says is dada. We've heard dog and cat but I think it is just a coincidence. I swear he thinks my name is Ed.

No one can make Chase giggle like his Daddy. No one can rock Chase to sleep but his Mommy. He cried for the first time in a store this month. It was a combination of seperation anxiety, being tired, and I took something away from him. People probably thought it was crazy that I didn't know what to do, but my baby never cries!

Everyone tells me how tall he is. He's in size 4 diapers. We think he's probably 24-25 pounds. The sleeves on his 12 month shirts are too short.

Just in the last few days Chase has decided he doesn't want to be spoon fed. He still isn't eating very many finger foods but we tried the pouch things last night and he loves them! We are still trying to get him to drink from the sippy cups we have been given. I think I might try a straw one soon.

I can't believe how fast time has flown by!

Another collage of my almost 1 year old!

I'm back with another collage of my almost 1 year old! This one really almost makes me cry!

Thanks for sticking around. We've been busy! Out of town last weekend, trying to keep the house clean, trying to get birthday invitations sent out, etc.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you all! I hope to be back soon with all kinds of posts! I have to work on Chase's 11 month post! I also want to share with you all more mommy money saving tips!

He's such a smiley boy!!!