Fun weekend

Mom...how many more pictures are you going to take? (he really did like it!)
Swinging at the park

Gavin swinging (the daredevil!)

Hi mom!

Chase and Gavin

We had some beautiful weather this weekend and took advantage of it on Saturday. We met Jim, Beth and Gavin at Memorial Park for some playtime with the kids. They seemed to have a good time. Chase liked the swings a little better this time too! Saturday evening, we BBQ'd and I got Chase's Little Tikes swing up too and he really liked just hanging out in it! We must have really wore him out cause he napped for 5 hours total on Sunday and slept til after 7 this morning.

What's Chase up to these days?....so hard to remember everything cause it seems like something new he discovers or does every day. He loves reading books and having them read to him. You will find him just sitting on the floor turning the pages. He still loves to dance and bop around. He likes to try and help with things like emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, putting away (and taking out) pots and pans, throwing away stuff in the trash can, getting diapers, etc. Not always an advantage yet, cause you never know what you will find in the trash can and there might be 10 diapers pulled out of his basket when you only asked for 1! He is just so dang smart, he gets his socks and shoes when you ask for them, he knows what his milk is and likes to put his cup on the table when he is done. You give him his comb and he tries to comb his hair. Last night he wanted some of the Qtips and he put them up to his ear to clean it out (then to his mouth!). He knows what bath time is and where he needs to go, then tries to climb into the tub. You just wonder how exactly they know this stuff...it is fascinating to see him pick it all up!

Twins

What would we do if there were two of them???? :)

Just a quick pic from this morning....I broke out the shorts, which incidentally are only a few inches shorter than his pants. I am so ready for this nice weather!

We are here!

Driving - notice the head down!
Big Boy!

Helping....with dinner!

Serious boy at the park

I'm gonna get you!

Just barely, but we are here! Last week was a week from heck, as far as work was concerned. On the road several days and just too much to do. Friday we had a board meeting that ended early and we got to leave afterward. It was such a nice day too. I went and picked up Chase early and went to the park with Granny Stokes. He enjoyed the park but does not like the swing at all. Not sure what's up with that, but he never did like his baby swing either. Hopefully he just needs to get used to it. We got a Little Tikes swing for the house and need to get that up and see how he does with it. The weekend went downhill from Friday, but oh well!

Chase is really getting into his independence and shopping is not so easy anymore. He doesn't want to ride in the cart or be held, he wants to be walking and pushing the cart too. Little turkey, he is so strong willed and stubborn. Saturday we went to lunch and then Best Buy and Lowes, but they were short trips, cause he was being a stinker. He was really out of sorts this weekend, so much so that I thought he might have an ear infection. He was really irritable and clingy and just no his happy self. Sunday, Famous woke up feeling bad and spent most of the day on the couch. Chase wasn't doing any better, poor guy! And I had a friends baby shower to boot. So I had to leave the boys home and return as quickly as possible.

Monday, I took him to the doctor and he is fine. Actually, 99% of the fluid on his ears was gone, so I will chalk up his behavior to teething. At least, I hope this is a passing phase!! He is just generally such a happy baby, so I hope that it is just teeth. It is way to early for the terrible twos! He is really getting very independent and wants to do stuff on his own. He is getting pretty daring (like Gavin, but no busted lips yet! ). He is babbling like crazy, but not a ton of true words yet. I am getting him to say "more" and he repeats a lot of sounds, but not so many words.

Back from Chicago

Views from the hotel
John Hancock building right out side our window

Chase having breakfast with Granny

Self portrait!

We are home and back into the swing of things. Chicago was fun, not too long, but long enough away from Chase. I had a work conference to attend and Famous came along for some R&R. We stayed in the Ritz Carlton (right across from the ADA building), so it was a very nice room, to say the least. We had a nice time, enjoyed some good food and drink and got a little sightseeing done. While sitting in the Ritz bar, we saw one semi-famous person...Chris Douglas Roberts from the NJ Nets but that was it...no Oprah or Vince Vaughn though! Darn....

I can't believe how much we missed him in such a short time! He seemed to have grown an inch or two! He had a good time staying with Granny and Grampa Stokes, especially after getting a new wagon to ride around in. He loved it, so we are now on the hunt for one of our own. Chase is on the go constantly and into everything he is not supposed to be in! He is starting to get a little finicky with his eating here and there. He has one molar in and is working on the other three. He is learning and picking up on lots of new things....blowing kisses, mimicking sneezes and such. He is quite the busy boy and always has the biggest grins and smiles for us. He is such a happy baby!

Sweet boy
Chunky legs!

Just a couple of cute pics to post. We had a good weekend, despite nasty weather on Saturday. Didn't do to much, just piddled and cleaned the house, Famous was not feeling well on Sunday at all. Chase is doing good, I think he might be getting an ear infection or possibly fluid on his ears. The last three mornings, he wakes up and it takes about 30 minutes to for him to get his balance in check. We have an appt on Wed to check that out. Famous and I leave Thursday morning and head to St Louis to fly to Chicago. I have a work conference and he is going to tag along for some relaxation and a little fun. This will be our first time completely away from Chase, so I am sure we will shed a few tears.

Walking, teething, etc

My laundry helper
Chase's version of helping!

Chase and Daddy snoozing

Hello everyone...time just seems to get away from me and it is getting harder and harder to get back here each week. Chase is doing good and just walking away. He is getting more and more stable and walking longer and longer lengths, from the living room to kitchen, living room to bedroom, etc. He seems to like to walk too, but when he falls he just crawls from there. He is into everything these days. Toys are no longer interesting, he would rather play with trash cans, cat bowls, cat food containers, cabinets, you name it and he wants it. He is cutting his two bottom molars and has been a bear for the last couple of days. It makes me appreciate what a really good and happy baby he normally is. Sunday, he just was not happy and nothing we could do would appease him, at least for more than a few minutes. Then we discovered why....four sharp points on the bottom gum and another four coming in on the other side. Poor guy, he just was miserable. We haven't had to deal with teething for a while. Otherwise, he loves dancing and bopping around to music especially on the Sirius TV channels. Whenever a toy plays music, he raises both hands and bops around. He is still eating really well and always wants to have a taste of what we are having.

We are walking!

Looking outside
Mommy and me

Daddy aggravating Chase

Open wide (while shutting his eyes)

Chase is officially a walker!! Sunday night, he was taking 5-6 steps but only did that a couple of times and only when he wanted too. I knew it was around the corner! When I picked him up at the sitter's Monday night, Grandma Stokes was over there and I could tell by the gleam in her eye that he was walking. She stood him up and he walked across the living room to me. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it now!! Of course, he really prefers to crawl still and you really can't bribe him much to walk, he does it more when he is not thinking about it. We got him to do it a couple times last night but nothing on video yet. Little turkey is just getting to big!

On Saturday, we had Gavin's birthday party. I can't believe how grown up these boys are getting. Gavin did great with his cake, really tore it apart!! Got lots of fun toys, which Chase was eyeing!! Chase was pooped when we left and was asleep before we got out of Wardsville. Later, we met James and Jaime for dinner at Madisons and Amanda and Kagan came in a little after we got there. Dinner was very good and Chase did so good for being in a highchair for 2 hours and Kagan kept him entertained too.

Sunday, the boys stayed in their pj's most of the day. I had stamp club and then Chase and I went to the store in the evening. He was too cute, we were shopping and he had a box of Cheerios in the cart that he just kept giving to me. Normally, he just drops everything out of the cart onto the floor. But he did not want to hold the cheerios, he didn't drop them and he kept pulling them out of the cart, all while he was getting very irritated with me... It finally dawned on me yesterday when telling Grandma about it, that he knew they were cheerios and he wanted me to give him some.

Little things like that just hit you like a ton of bricks and you don't even realize how smart they are. He knows where his belly button is, he knows what his socks and shoes are when you ask him for them. He definitely knows what NO means but completely ignores us, smiles mischieviously and goes back to doing what we said not to. I am pretty sure we are in for it!!