Baby Chase is SIX MONTHS!

Happy half birthday Chase! You are continuing to grow and change so much and we are enjoying every minute of it. Here is what is going on with you these days.


You weigh about 16 pounds and are 26 1/2 inches in length.


You are wearing size 9 month clothing.


You wear a size 3 diaper.


You eat 6 - 7 ounces every 3 - 4 hours.







You are still sleeping great. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and those two fingers on your right hand immediately go in the mouth. You will sleep as late as 8:30 on days I don't have to get you up to take Wy to school.


You don't take a paci! I thought you would as you seemed to like them early on. But once you found those fingers you won't have anything to do with a paci. It is nice because I don't have to keep up with them and I won't have to break you of them.


You still give smiles to whoever gives you one. You haven't met a stranger - yet. I have a feeling that may start soon but so far so good.


You are eating lots of fruits mixed with either rice or oatmeal. You seem to like them all. You like sweet potatoes and carrots. But I have had to "hide" your squash and green beans by mixing them in with a fruit. I am feeding you food at breakfast and dinner but I think you would be more than happy to eat at noon time too.


Still no teeth - just drool and lots of chewing.


You roll every where, scoot around, and are even starting to rise up on all fours. But you don't know what to do from there so back down you go.


We got you a couple new developmental toys. If I set your ball between your legs and put your hands on it, you can balance and sit up on your own.







You have changed so much in the past 6 months and I know you will do more of that in the months to come. Check out how little you were at 1 month! Can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring.


 

Crickets Chirping

Blogging has been a challenge for me recently. Every time I try to think up something to write about, I just hear the crickets chirping and nothing else comes to mind. So, in lieu of something interesting to share, here are a few of my fav (albeit random) pics from this summer so far.


















This is Miss Addison...




And yes, she is naked as a jaybird...





because that is how she rolls.

Life, Cake, and a Naked Booty!

I thought that title might attract a few readers!

I can't believe it is already the middle of July! The summer is flying by - actually this whole year seems to be flying by. So what have we been up to?

Wyatt completed his swim lessons and it was so nice to NOT have to go to Winchester every night. So there has been plenty of us just hanging out around the house...




Then I celebrated a birthday on Monday. Jeremy and Wyatt made me the MOST delicious strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. He got the recipe from a family friend we call Granny E so you know it was good.




You take a vanilla cake mix, add flour, eggs, oil, strawberry jello, and puréed strawberries which makes the batter.




The frosting was made from a BOX of powdered sugar, a stick of margarine, and more puréed strawberries. We added pecans as well. Believe me - it was DIVINE.




While we were busy in the kitchen, I thought Chase was playing on his ocean play mat - NOT. He is a scootin baby these days. I have got to get that Baby Condo ordered.




I had a great birthday. Jeremy came home early to watch the boys for me. I went "to town" with my MIL and we went to Hobby Lobby, Kirklands, and Reflections the furniture store. It was so nice to shop without kids in tow and without being in a rush. We must have spent at least an hour in Hobby Lobby and I got all kinds of home decor type things that I never have time to look for. My next house project is to get a table for my foyer and my pictures hung up in there as well. I will take some before shots and hopefully I will have some after shots soon.


And just because he is super cute, I added some pics of a certain little naked baby.




Don't you just love those rolls?!?!

Music To My Ears - Times Two

I wanted to share a quick video of Chase laughing. Wyatt was "swiping" and telling his dad that he'd "never see it again" and it went from there.





We have had a fun and busy 4th of July weekend. I actually do not have a single picture to share but I do have a sweet story.

Wyatt's cousin Jackson, who is almost 6, spent the night with us on Friday night. Saturday we all went over to my IL's so the boys could go swimming. They finally took a break to eat a quick lunch. We just gave them hot dogs and chips. They sat down at the table outside of the pool house and we were going back and forth bringing them napkins and drinks.

All of a sudden I heard these 2 sweet little voices singing "God our Father, God our Father, We give thanks, We give thanks. For our many blessings, For our many blessings. Ah-ahmen. Ah-ahmen," Those sweet boys took it upon themselves to give thanks before they ate. I would like to think that I would have reminded them but I hadn't at that point as we were still in the process of getting them everything they needed. I was very proud of both of them and hope they always feel that it is important to pause and give thanks.

Happy 5 Months Chunky Monkey!

Today you turned 5 months old. The time is going by so fast and I wish I had a pause button because you are at such a great age. For one thing, you think I am ALL THAT and a bag of chips. It is nice to be greeted by that big toothless grin anytime I come into your line of vision. And you let me kiss you as much as I want unlike another little boy that lives here.





You weigh 15 pounds and are 26 inches in length. You are long and "lean" according to the percentiles although that second chin makes me think otherwise.


You are wearing size 6 month clothing but the 9 month outfits are fitting well too.


You wear a size 2 diaper.


You eat 7 ounces every 3 hours.


Sleeping great - no complaints there.


You are still all smiles unless you are tired or hungry.




(Outfit changes are frequent if I don't keep a bib on you.)


So what is new?


You have been eating rice cereal for the past few weeks. You seem happy enough to eat it and are doing well with getting more in your mouth than on your face. We are going to start fruits this week.


You are in the early stages of teething. Drooling all the time as you can see from the drool marks on that blue outfit. You are constantly chewing on those fingers or anything else you can find. Nothing has broken through yet but Dr. C said you were budding.


You can now roll from your back to your tummy - you had already mastered from your tummy to back last month.


You are doing well with self play - grabbing at the links hanging from your mat, scooting on your belly towards a toy, or just laying there taking everything in.





You can hold your head up when I am carrying you. Yea! That makes getting around easier although I still have to be careful because if that noggin gets going a certain way, the rest of you is going too.


You are starting to squeal and laugh when you are really happy or you think something is funny.


Wy thinks you are pretty great too. I made the mistake of not taking you with me when I picked Wy up from school the other day and he was reduced to tears. Yeah, he isn't as excited to see just me like you are. I think he has definitely adjusted to you being a part of our family and loves being your big brother.

Tiger Claws and Windmill Arms

Those are two of the things that Wyatt has learned so far in his swimming lessons. He started Monday night and will go every week night from 5:00 - 5:45 for two weeks.

The class is for 3 year olds to 6 year olds and they split the children up by ages. The parents do not get in the pool. The lifeguards are their teachers. There are only two other 4 year olds which is great. The kids sit on the side while his teacher takes each of them into the pool one at a time to practice a skill. She also had them practice skills while holding on to the side.





These pics are from the first night of class. He went up front when his age group was called and went off with the teacher. Then he sat on the edge like a little statue and waited until it was his turn to get in and practice. I could tell he was listening to everything she was telling him and took it very seriously.





He would turn around and wave at us almost every time he got back to the wall. It was pretty cute.





Then I took him the second night and it was a different child. I could tell that he wasn't as interested in practicing those same core skills that he had learned the night before. He was ready for a challenge. Instead of sitting still when it wasn't his turn, he was telling me to "watch this Mama" and would get off the side and disappear. Apparently he wanted to show me how he could go underwater but it was making me nervous because he was all over the place. Finally I called him over and told him to sit still and LISTEN.





I am so glad I waited until he was 4 to take the lessons. It is amazing how much difference a year makes. I think he would have been intimidated last summer and I don't think he would have gotten in without me. He is definitely ready and I think I will have a swimmer at the end of this class - maybe at the end of this week if he gets his way!

Toy Story 3

In case you missed it, Toy Story 3 hit theaters last Friday the 18th. My SIL and I decided to take our kids and a couple of the cousins to see it. My brother Aaron met us on his lunch break so he could see it with his kids too.

Being the smarty pants Mamas that we are, we bought our tickets online ahead of time so that we didn't have to wait in line that day. The movie was scheduled to start at 11:40 so we decided to meet a few minutes after 11 in order to get 9 seats all together.

You know - because it was the opening day and all the other mamas and their children would be there vying for our seats.

Here are the kiddos that we took - Aaron, Emma, Clara YouMei, Carter, Jack, and Wy




Well, apparently we didn't get the memo that the Hollywood Theater on the Parkway isn't the cool theater to go to because this is what the theater looked like just a few minutes before the big premiere began...




At least we didn't have to worry about keeping the kids quiet so we didn't disturb other people.

Here are the cuties waiting for the movie to start modeling their 3-D glasses...




Unfortunately, due to us being such smarties, the kids were subjected to about 45 minutes of commercials and previews before the actual movie began. I think Wyatt was about ready to call it a day when it finally began - at 12:00.

The movie was SO GOOD - the Ken and Barbie story line was my favorite. So find out where the cool theater is in your area and go out and see it today!