Sneak Peek

We recently had some family pictures taken...here's a little sneak peek. More to come!

So cute!!

Hey ya’all. I am writing this blog piece to share the story of the awesomely awkward adventure that went wrong this weekend. Katie and I went camping thinking it would be a good getaway since I have been unemployed for six weeks and life has been on the stressful side. Unfortunately when I booked our camp site I thought the weather would drop down a bit but I was wrong with my hopeful assumption, it was bloody hot! It was around 106 when we got to Lake Pleasant, AZ (North of PHX) and the temp dropped to a whopping 93 at night just the right formula for an awful night’s sleep. Some unfortunate things happened like a skunk spraying our dog KC after he and I tried to defend our territory for over an hour in the dark, the wind picked up at 1 am and woke up Chasers, KC stunk up the tent so we all were hot boxing skunk-weed, our air mattress had a slow leak and I stuck to it since it had a suede top but since Katie was sporting her silk garments she was all good but my cotton was stuck in its tracks so no matter the movement it was tight and bunched. The good news is the next morning KC learned how to swim, he has always loved water but would never fully submerse himself. I was such a proud father of our first born. haha. I seriously got happy tears when he did a lap around a tree in the lake. He got good in a matter of an hour and decide to not only show off his two doggy style strokes but also was able to pull me on an inner tube! Good times! I also found out on this wonderful day that I was hired as an adolescent trauma therapist; which has been a dream of mine since I was 22 and has been a long time coming!

Chase is rockin' his sleeveless shirt and has his camping treats with him!

The picture of the lake was taken at 530 am from our campsite. I only was up since it was so hot and stunk in our tent. On the website it showed the lake being about 600 ft higher so it was a good little trek to go swimming and fishing. I had envisioned the water being only 25 ft from our camp site. If only we would of arrived 3 years earlier. lol. So Katie was just starting to warm up to camping after 2 years and now I'll probably have to prep her for another 2 years before we go again! JK. She is a trooper and we are going again on October 7th!!! Yeah!

Better late then never, right?

I know, I know. I have been VERY absent from the blogging world. SO much has happened since I last posted. Chase turns 8 months old next week. I love having an 8 month old- he is SO funny! He's got such spunk. He DOES NOT like to play by himself anymore and will let me know (very loud screams) when he sees me watching TV or doing something on the computer and I am not paying attention to him.

He is getting more teeth on the top (it's all white and swollen) so I think he'll get some more teeth soon. He whines all day. Poor little guy. He likes his food cold because it feels good on his teethers and hey, I don't have to warm anything up! Yay!

He now puts consonants in front of his babblings so it sounds like he's saying "gaga" and "dada" (yes, Chad was VERY proud of this one.) He loves being swung around high and then low in his Daddy's arms and squeals with delight. He absolutely loves KC's wet slobbery kisses and adores his dog book. When I read books to him, he lets me know if he likes it or not. When he likes a book, he'll slam his pudgy little hands on the book with delight and if not, he will reach to his bookshelf and give a squeal as if to say, "not this one, THAT one, mom.." So cute. We went to a gently used children's store and I showed him lots of toys but the one he reached for and wanted was a little electronic book! My little boy loves books! My job here is done. :)

Let's see...what else is new with Chasers...he sleeps on his tummy now and loves his dinosaur blankie from his Auntie Marnie. He eats solids 3 times a day and liquid feedings for the rest. He goes to bed at 6--I know, super early but I guess I'll keep counting my blessings because he sleeps through the night and doesn't get up till 7. He rolls all over the floor and reaches for all sorts of toys. He likes to sit sometimes but would rather roll. He LOVES baths, especially his rubber duckie toys (he has FOUR. Sheesh.). He is still pretty small but now fits into 6-9 month clothes and I kinda like it because he gets to wear his outfits for a long time before I have to pack them up. I also packed away his baby vibrator chair and swing.. sniff sniff. Super sad!

Today we went for a walk and he loved it. He gets SUPER quiet and looks around at everything. He really loves to be outside! (Just like his Daddy)

Here are some pictures but I am too lazy to put them in order. Sorry....

Summer Adventures

Well, I only have one more week until I begin "school". I say "school" because the students don't arrive until August 10th, but I have to report for duting on August 3rd. Lots of long, boring meetings to attend to!! I really love the fact that all of my bulletin boards are already up and I don't have to do a lot of work to my classroom. This is the first time that's happened! I have been at 3 previous schools and each year had to set up and take down all of my decorations. Yay for staying in one place! I really do love the start of school...the paper, pencils, back-to-school clothes, all of it (I'm such a nerd!). BUT, I sure will miss my little Chase. We have had a FANTASTIC summer together and here's some recent pictures of our very first family vacation together!

Chase with his beautiful blue eyes!

Chase and his Grandpa Metz
Anyone recognize this? (Full House, baby!)

Chase was "Property of Alcatraz"

Chase loved hearing his Great-Grandpa Green sing to him

And here's one more just cuz it's the cutest thing in the whole world:

Five Things

THIS little man turned 5 months old today....

I love his mischievous face in this picture.
This was taken a month ago (obviously) but I just love his little smile in it!

He looks so pensive in his picture...he usually looks like his concentrating or worried about something.

Here's FIVE things about this FIVE month old:

1) SLEEP- Chase has been sleeping through the night for a while now which is fabulous! He sleeps in his own crib, too, which makes me nervous (still) and I check on him multiple times in the night. When I was working, he woke up at 630. Now that it's summer, he sleeps in till 830 (just like his mommy!)

2) EATS- Chase still breastfeeds and loves rice cereal. He ate carrots for the first time today and ate the whole thing in one sitting! I guess those are a HIT!

3) LOVES- Chase loves his toys, especially his bouncer/saucer chair that Aunt Megan lets us use! He is getting better at holding his head up to play in it...I usually have to prop him up with towels!

4) TALENTS- Chase recently has become a pro at rolling from front to back. He also "scoots" a little when he's on his tummy.

5) OUTINGS- Chase went swimming for the first time on Memorial Day with Daddy. He was pretty indifferent about the whole thing. Unfortunately, the chlorine made his eczema worse for a few days :(

Well, there you go! Chase is crying for me right now, so I better go. I sure love being Chase's mommy!!

Private?

Ever since Chase was born, I have been thinking about going private. Any comments or suggests why/why not I should/shouldn't go private? I do have a fear that if I do, NO ONE will email me and watch my blog!! Anyone's comments would be great!!

Um....YES PLEASE!

A House Anniversary

That's right--I am celebrating ONE year we have been in our house. Why? Because I don't think I've lived anywhere this long since high school. In college, I moved every year to a new apartment full of new friends and new experiences. Then I moved to AZ and lived in my rented house for 9 months till I got married. (That is such a blessing how I found Jessika and lived in that house so I could meet CHAD!) Then we lived in our first little apartment for a year till our contract was up. Then we lived at my parents' house for 2 months till we bought our first house. Needless to say, I am PUMPED to live in a place for longer than a year. It makes me feel settled. It feels like home. We bought a fixer-upper in a beautiful neighborhood. Here's what we've done so far:

-Put in sinks & faucets
-Put in lights and fans
-Put on electrical outlet covers (for some reason, they were all missing. Weird.)
-Fixed a broken window
-Put up curtains and blinds
-Put in every. single. appliance.
-Grew grass and planted plants
-Painted gate
-Cleaned out garage and attic (the previous tenants decided to leave a bunch of garbage)
-Sold a TON on craig's list
-Painted
-Fixed locks
-Caulked
-Scrubbed. the. house. (bankowned homes are DIRTY)
-Grouted tile
-Fixed sprinklers
-Put chair rail up in Chase's room
-Decorated little bit at a time (install media center, couches, beds, dressers, etc etc!)
-Painted baseboards and refinished front door
-Refinished computer desk
-Put in pavers in the backyard
-Fixed the dryer hookup so the air would go OUTSIDE not in our laundry room :)
-Got a new roof and AC unit
WHEW!!!! (All this done while Chad works two jobs and I was working and had a baby!)

When I get down on myself for all the things we STILL need to do, I just think about all that we have accomplished. We've done so much and I am so thankful to have a husband who loves to take ownership in our home and work on it every spare moment. He is so wonderful!!

Chase Smiles

He smiles just at the very beginning so if you blink, you might miss it!

A plethera of pictures

So I am still learning that when I put pictures onto blogger, they like to turn out BACKWARDS! Grr. They always take so long to download anyway so by the time they have FINALLY downloaded, I don't have the time or patience to do it "right" all over again. So here you go--some backward pictures.

We went to the Phoenix Zoo with my sisters and their kids plus some cousins and their kids. It was very fun but Chase slept through his first visit at the zoo! He is such a good baby.

Chase's room is by far my favorite in the whole house. You can't see everything in detail, but here's a quick snapshot (with an air mattress..haha). The picture makes the room look kinda small and you can't see the framed hospital onsie and hat that Chase wore (super cute!), but that's ok.

Chase loves to put his hand around his bottle! It is the cutest thing! This is one of those lazy Saturday morning pictures when we bring Chase into bed with us and just hang out. It is the BEST. I don't like the little balls of light in this pic, but I LOVE how Chase looks with his Daddy. So cute.

Here is Chase at 2 months (the one month is at the bottom...darn these backward pictures). We decided to have him next to his Aunt Maya's teddy bear! He is very long but not very chubby. A tall, skinny boy?? He might not be ours afterall....haha

How CUTE is this face?!

Chase LOVES being swaddled and won't go to sleep unless he is. He also loves spitting out his binky and making his Mommy come put it back in his mouth during naptime.

He also escapes from his swaddle sometimes...with cute froggy mittens on to keep from scratching his face!

Our first hike together. This little snuggie carrier sure comes in handy!

Here's the one month old picture! (I accidently cut the "1" off when I took the picture). He was super red when he came home. We called him "our little red man".

There are so many pictures that we have taken because we are so in love. I really want to start a scrapbook for him but am really intimidated by the cost and time it takes. Does anyone scrapbook that has ideas for me to start? And also would motivate me to start??

How did I get here?

How did I go from here:

To here:

To here:

To here? I really don't know how it happened. It goes so quickly and I am so blessed beyond belief. What a happy, wonderful life I have. My days are filled with diapers, bottles, rubber duckies, binkies, naps, bedtime stories, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Promised Pictures

Here's a few pictures we took about a month ago..he already looks so different! I've decided that 8 weeks is SUCH a cute age. He's 4 weeks in these pictures but at 8 weeks he's opened his eyes more, has chubby cheeks, and smiles at me!

A little update

So for an anniversary present to each other, we got a new computer! We've been using Chad's laptop and that thing finally died on us. (Sad) But we got an awesome desktop (Glad)! Because it's new and Chad is not here, I don't know how to put pictures on this thing yet (I know, I kinda feel like a senior citizen...help!) but I'll just let you know how things have been going in our neck of the woods and hopefully I'll put some pics up soon.

-Chase will be turning 8 weeks on Friday (I know, CRAZY)
-He recently learned to smile (only at me...sorry Daddy!)
-I think he is around 11 lbs..we'll see next week at his appointment
-He loves lights, mobiles, pacifiers, being held, songs, and his mommy (had to sneak that one in there)
-When he turned 6 weeks our world turned upside down. He no longer took long naps, he woke up more in the night, he hated nursing and only wanted bottles, and it drove me CRAZY!! Luckily this week has been MUCH better. :)
-THIS week he takes at least 1-2 hour naps, wakes up only once in the night, and nurses for every feeding except in the evening because that's his fussiest time. (**knock on wood**)

Things I have learned so far:
-Having a new baby is all about time management. When he's asleep, I try to get as much done as possible and when he's awake, I still try to! Last night I was feeding him, while folding laundry, while cooking dinner. Whew!
-Every day is going to be different. I don't expect a schedule anymore--I just fly by the seat of my pants!
-Soak up every moment. Already I know that these moments won't last forever so most of the time I just hold Chase and kiss him and tell him how much I love him.
-Let him be my guide...I've learned to trust that he'll tell me when he's hungry, sleepy, or wants to be held. It's stressful trying to figuring everything out in the beginning!
-Take some time just for ME. As sad as this sounds, I actually liked running errands last night because it was just me and I got to relax while Daddy put Chase to bed at home!
-I am doing something very special. Heavenly Father is letting me take care of one of his sweet children and I find that an honor, as well as a huge responsibility. I've made mistakes. Everyone does. But I know that tomorrow is brand new day full of wonderful possibilities! I know motherhood has stretched me in ways I never thought possible (and it's only been 2 months!) but I am excited for each new step in the journey.

(Sorry about all the cheesiness...I watched the Bachelor last night and it must be getting to me!)

I will try to put pictures up of our little guy soon! He gets bigger every day!

This one time, I had a baby.

What a handsome little devil! Enjoy. :)

Love Day

I simply love Valentine's Day. A whole day dedicated to the sole purpose of expressing love- for your sweetie, your family, your friends. The hopeless romantic inside of me flutters at the very thought. Her heart also flutters for these two:

Happy Love Day, for the two loves of my life.

Momma-Katie

There's my Proud Momma! I love how Katie is trying so hard
to get baby Chase on a feeding scheldule. You go momma! I still
can't believe we are co-creators; it's such an amazing feeling. I am
still working on wrapping my head around the pure miracle of it all!