18 Months

Chase turned 18 months old on Monday, wow how time flies.  He has grown up sooo much.  He had his last immunization until preschool on Wednesday.  He weighed in at 25 lbs 5 oz which is in the 50th percentile and was 33 1/2 inches long. Doc said he had a growth spurt b/c he is now in the 75th percentile on height.  He definitely has big feet, now in a size 7 and wearing his cool new kicks, some new Nikes found on sale at Feltner's.  He loves showing those off.  Other loves right now:

Loves Daddy's hats; hates having one on that actually fits!

• Veggitales before going to bed
• Fav food is Lasagna now; can't get enough.  Still loves little clementines and applesauce with his dinner.  
• Swimming...he really has gotten the hang of floating around in the pool without having to be held on to.  He can spend a couple of hours in the pool at a time.

We started a Mommy & Me Gymnastics class today.  He had a good time, especially sprinting down the long trampoline.  I was afraid he would run to the edge, but he didn't.  He spent about 30 minutes in the gym and cried when we had to leave.  I think it will be good for him to get him more comfortable around others.  Day care says he's afraid to go in the playroom; not sure why, but he seems to be scared of the TV there too.  I forgot to take my camera in at the gym but hopefully will have pictures of his gym class next week.

ANO Family Day

Last Thursday we got to go the Nuclear Plant to see Dad at work.  We could go into the training center and watch a drill.  They don't allow anyone else into the plant since 9/11 so this was the next best thing.  We saw the simulator with all it's buttons.  All I can say is I'm glad I don't have to know what all those buttons do.  We have a new appreciation for what a stressful job he can have at times.  

Helping Daddy at work.

Uh Oh....the lights and horns are going off!!

Maybe we should press this flashy button!

Maybe we should call for help!

Making sure all his ducks are in a row!

Just Cheesin'

Mummmm.. Corn!

Loves Brushing his teeth!  Hopefully we won't have to see the dentist so much.

Slice of Summer

Many of those who know me, know I love scrapbooking. I haven't done much though since Chase was born, but I had done a Slice of Summer layout a couple of years ago and finally took some pics of Chase to go on it.  I took one of the pictures and put it in a collage frame on the wall.  He will now point to the picture and sign please if he wants some watermelon.  It's definitely an outdoor snack as he is a mess with it.

I've been running a few months now, and my friend Jennifer and I are up to 5 miles.  It's been so hot lately, it's been hard to get motivated.  We went out to Bona Dea Saturday morning.  I came across my first snake there.  I stepped over thinking it was just a stick, and she thought it was a snake.  We went back to look and it was a COPPERHEAD!  Needless to say, I was a bit jumpy after that, even a butterfly scared me:)  I think we may find a new route next time.  Then, on the same day, my husband found a black widow outside on the back patio.  I hope that's all the creepy critters we see for a while. 

I need to learn more about snake identification when we move out to the land.  I'm sure to find some there at some point.  Speaking of the new house, we will meet with our builder this Friday to get started with the building process.  It's exciting but I feel like I have a lot to do...picking out everything will be hard.  I'm a little indecisive at times.

July 2010

July 2-5

We went to Jacksonville on Friday night to eat at our favorite catfish restaurant growing up, the Crooked Hook. Cousin Mary came into town and we wanted to see her and MiMi, Poppa, Julie, Lillie, and G Aunt Linda. We woke up the next morning and headed to Cotter, AR where the Bradford’s gathered. It was a long trip, but we were to Lake Norfork by lunch time. It was hot there too, but Chase got some good swimming and kick boarding time in. When then headed back to the camper on the White River to do some trout fishing.Chase stayed on the bank, while Robert, Clay and I took our nephew and nieces out to catch some fish. We were pretty successful with some corn on catching some smaller trout.Didn’t keep any; no one really likes to clean and eat trout in the family. Uncle Josh, Aunt Heather and Little cousin Riley brought some great food and fixins out for dinner. The next day, we went out to Bull Shoals Lake. Talk about a change in weather. We were actually cold on July 4. It was pretty windy and overcast so we didn’t stay out too long. Chase had fun on the slide (over and over and over again). We went out to one cove and swam a little; the water was actually warmer than the air.

July 9

I spent the second night away from Chase when we went up to Fayetteville again for Bethany’s wedding reception. We stayed at a neat place: Inn at the Mill. We hear it has a great restaurant, but didn’t get a chance to eat there. We went to the Promenade to a couple of stores, found some things at Pottery Barn for our new house, and bought some PJ’s for Chase.Can’t believe his 18 month clothes are getting too small!

July 17

What? No traveling?Ahhhh, relax at home and at Maw-maw and Paw-paw's pool.

July 20

Chase came home early today with a fever of 102 and a little spotted rash all over his body today. Mimi came down so she could stay with him on Wednesday. Chase woke up at 3 am with a fever again and I gave him some Tylenol. He just wanted to be held. He finally slept a couple of hours in our bed, but I sure didn’t get any more sleep. He never ran a fever again but Robert took him to the Dr. anyway. The doc said he had a virus and if the fever didn’t come back in 12-24 hours, he would be fine. He also looked at his teeth. He has several teeth trying to come in and even has a blood blister on the gums around one of his molars. I know that has to hurt!

The next morning, Mimi went home and Chase went back to daycare.

HFMD! What’s that?

I got a call about 9:30 am from day care saying there was a confirmed case of Hand, foot and mouth disease and Chase had a rash so he had to go home. It caused a mess with child care situations so I just stayed home the rest of the day with him. They said another girl, who had a pacifier, had a rash around her mouth so they said she had HFMD. I researched the virus a lot and it stated they had blisters inside the mouth and on the hands and feet. I think they all had a virus, but not HFMD. I think the moisture around the passy caused her rash to be more prominent around the mouth, but I guess I’m not the doctor! We ended up having to get a doctor’s note, and Chase did get to stay all day at school on Friday, Water Day!

July 23

Chase is 17 months old today!!

Loves: Playing outside, swimming, giving kisses, chasing and being chased by momma, cheese, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Favorite Movie is Toy Story. Fav book: Hello, Big Red!

Dislikes: Not eating as many veggies, leaving momma (having A LOT of separation anxiety at this stage which is really hard for me); Not liking his high chair, he wants to sit in a regular chair at dinner like a Big Boy

Learning: What time-out means – stays in his spot until we get him up (pretty surprising to us how good it has worked)

Signs: Please, more, go, thank you, all done

Says: Momma, dada, go, juice, dog, duck, bear, cheese, outside, I love you (well maybe), shoes, jump. Loves to chant: Da,DA,Da GGGOOOO!! (trying to say 1,2,3,Go!)

We think he’s starting to be a little advanced for his age – he’s experiencing the “Terrible Two’s” at 17 months! Haha

Not so Lazy Days of Summer

This summer has been one of the busiest summers in a long time. We’ve been to 5 lakes and 1 river in 5 weeks, 3 weddings/receptions, and have done quite of bit of swimming.

May 25, 2010

15 Month Well Baby Visit

Chase had his well baby visit which included shots and a weigh in. Everything looked good; especially his ears (Praise the Lord!). He weighed 24 lbs. and was 30 1/4 inches long. He is starting to wonder about that place, I think he’s remembering the shots.

He Loves playing outside!! His little car rolls down the end of the driveway, with him laughing all the way. (Don’t worry, MiMi, we watch for cars first)

June 4

We had a shower at Myra’s for newlyweds Drew and Stacie. Chase had a great time in the pool once Daddy got in. Guess momma wasn’t letting him swim and jump as good as Daddy. He sure didn’t want to get out of the pool.

June 5

We went out to Piney Bay with some friends from church. Chase had his first boat ride and tube ride. He loved the boat, but wasn’t too sure about tubing. I guess it will be a little while before he enjoys getting thrown off the tube and end up with a couple of dozen bruises like his momma.

June 12

We went up to Rogers for my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was a small wedding for immediate family at St. Vincent de Paul Church and then we went out to Beaver Lake on the HUGE party barge. Luckily, the roar of the motor put Chase to sleep for a couple of hours, because it was a while before we could get out and swim. He had fun swimming with his cousins and then hanging out with the family for a post-wedding cookout.

June 17

Chase took his first long road trip with Momma, Aunt Julie, Cousin Lillie, Mimi, and G.Aunt Linda. He did pretty well on the road, especially with the portable DVD player. We went to a baby shower for my cousin Justin and his wife Tabitha who are expecting their first child, a boy, due in August. We went to a beautiful home North of Dallas for a pool party/shower, spent the night at a hotel, and drove back the next day.I just needed to have a couple of days off work and it was nice to go visit family.

June 19

Just as we got back home, Robert and I took another road trip to Rogers for a friend’s wedding.It was the first night I have ever spent without Chase. Mimi, Julie and Lillie came and he did just fine. Momma did fine, too.We came back early the next day, since most of the stores didn’t open until noon anyway.

June 26

Third lake of the summer was Lake DeGray. It sure was hot! We went down for a family reunion on Robert’s side. We swam a while in the swimming area, but we are sure to spend more time down there in the future since Chase’s great Pa-paw lives really close. Can’t wait til he gets old enough to do a little fishing with his Daddy and Pa-paw.We even got to swing through Uncle Bob’s for Hamburger night, a Barrett family tradition, on the way home.

June 27

Maw-maw and Paw-paw got a new blow up pool and Chase loved playing in it while it started to fill up.He’ll get a lot more chances to swim this summer!

Well, that about wraps up June. I wish I had posted this sooner so I could write a little more about what was going on, but oh well.  The summer post turned out longer than I thought so I will try to wrap up month by month until I catch up, which will probably be never...

Catching Up!

Well, it has been For-ev-er since I blogged about anything.  I guess it's not because there is nothing to blog about, I just can't seem to find the time.  I don't have much of a theme to my blogging, well, except for my pride and joy, Chase!!  He's growing so fast.  I try to write down the new things he is doing, but that gets so hard, too.

                                        Spring Recital at Daycare in the Bye-Bye Buggy                                          

                                             In the hall for the Tornado Warning during the recital

He'll be 15 months old on Sunday.  Just a few of the wonderful things he is up to these days:  

* Signs "please" and "more"

* Blows the sweetest kisses

*Can say: bubbles, thank you, dog, duck, quack,quack, and Dad's favorite "Touchdown" (well I think that is what he says with the football, it's pretty close)

*Eats with a spoon, but very,very messy

*Favorite food is still bananas, but a close second is mac and cheese

*Loves playing outside and in the dirt (all boy)

                                                                 At Old Post Park

                                                                Eating with his Spoon

                                                                    Enjoying a Ride

                                                     Let's see what this baby can do!!

Chase still has trouble with his ears even though he has tubes.  We've had to put drops in a lot in the past few weeks after he runs a fever, but it seems to clear up.  However, today he had drainage and his right ear looks yucky.  We'll have to take him to the pediatrician tomorrow.  Looks like he is in store for some suctioning.  Sounds like fun :(  On the bright side, he's not running a fever yet.

Other highlights of the past few months:

Our new niece Ryleigh was born on April 1st.  I had the chance to take some pictures when she was about a week and a half old.  She did so well; she's a beautiful baby.  I did get peed on, though.  But it's just cute when a little newborn does it.

I also jogged my first 5K on May 8th.  I have walked many 5Ks before, but this is the first I jogged the whole time.  I'm pretty slow, since I never really ran much in my entire life, but a friend helped me A LOT along the way.  Without her encouragement, I would have never made it.  I had a sinus infection the week before and didn't get to run any, so it seemed especially hard, but we FINISHED.  We plan on continuing to do more 5Ks and who knows how far we'll eventually go.  We also went to a wedding for a coworker that day.  Chase was sick and I could hardly move, but it was nice to see them tie the knot.

 

Mother's Day 2010: Motherhood keeps getting better and better.  I'm so proud of our little boy.  He is sweet, lovable, and fun.  His laugh just melts the heart.  I don't know what occupied my time before he came along, but now my time is just sweeter spent with him and my husband. 

We've been visiting a new church, Fellowship Bible Church, a non-demoninational here in Russellville.  My running buddy invited me, and we've felt very welcome.  My husband and I already know several people in the church.  It has been so hard to find somewhere to belong, especially when I am not from here and I'm Catholic and Robert is Protestant.  Chase has also done well in the nursery there.
 
I would also like to lift up some prayers this week: for my Uncle Bob who underwent surgery for colon cancer today, that he has a speedy recovery and that the Cancer is GONE! I pray that Chase gets better soon and can have a happy and healthy summer.  I pray that some special friends also get some healing power from God to help their recovery.  

Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for his mercy endures forever.
Psalms 106:1