Chase Update

On February 8th, Chase was 2 1/4 years old. I had most of this post written on that day, but never finished it. Blogging has not been my thing lately. However, here is the update. There is very little about him that seems babyish anymore. The three things I can think of are his use of his pacifier and blanket and his need for 2 naps most of the time. Other than that he talks and moves like a big kid.



The past month or two has been rough. With me not feeling the best and a busy schedule, we saw a decline in Chase's behavior. This can also be attributed to his age. We definitely experienced what people call the terrible twos. He is a highly independent child. He thinks he knows what is best. If we cross his will, there is quite a scene. We are constantly reminding him of who is in charge. He experienced some of the worst temper tantrums. They had him and me in tears. We have been making a conscious effort of training him to obey us the first time we tell him to do something. He would wait until we would tell him the 5th time to obey and we would raise our voices. After reading a book on child training, we learned that we had "taught" him to wait to obey until we had told him 5 times and raised our voices. We are working on keeping a calm tone and making him obey after we tell him 1 time. It has been about a week and we have seen much improvement. Yay!



In general, Chase is a fun little boy. He says and does such funny things. He can talk up a storm. My days are filled with many conversations. One thing that is so helpful is that he can communicate his needs. There are very few times we are left guessing what is that he wants. He can communicate his needs almost too well :)



He has started to pretend. He talks to his stuffed animals. He tells them to open their mouths, so he can give them water out of his sippy. He is very aware of what is "pretend" and what is "real life." I am not really sure where he learned the difference, but somewhere along the line he picked that concept up.



He has also started to be interested in playing with other kids. He loves to play with Bridgie which is a huge milestone. He had almost no interest in playing with her for many months. This change has made such a huge improvement in our daily lives. Much less fighting between the two kiddos. Ahhh! As far as playing with kids closer to his age, he needs to develop in that area. He is a very possessive kid (as are 99% of 2 year olds), and has a hard time sharing. This makes playing with other 2 year olds a little sketchy. It will all come in time though.

We are slowly easing him into the idea of having a sibling. We tell him that he is going to be a big brother. Last week I was talking to him about buying the baby new pacifiers and blankets and that he needed to help me pick them out. He thought that was a good idea. If you ask Chase if he is going to have a brother or a sister, he will say "not a sister." He really wanted a sister, but the Lord had other plans. That is in the next post :)

We love our little boy so much. He is a challenge, but we can't imagine our lives without him.

My Wonderful Husband!

Abe and I and have been married for 3 years (October 2005). During the first year we had a lot of adjustments to get used to. Living with each other and getting to know each other on a whole different level had its ups and downs. Throw pregnancy and a newborn into the mix and at some points it wasn't pretty. We have some of our best and worst memories from that first year.

As time has gone on, it has been so fun to see our marriage grow and develop. We still have our ups and downs, but honestly we are having more ups and than downs. For me, watching my husband with our son has created a whole new level of respect that I have towards Abe. He is a fabulous father. One of the best in my opinion. He comes home happy every night. He walks in the door, and greets us with an excited "hi guys!" He comes home ready to play and interact with Chase. This is probably Chase's favorite time of day. :) He never acts like playing with Chase is a bother. He does the bedtime routine most of the time. If I leave them at home, I can fully trust that Abe will take perfect care of Chase and never worry. It is just such a blessing to have such a, capable, loving and kind husband.

He has also been simply amazing the last three months with me being pregnant and feeling less than stellar. He comes home ready to help with Chase, dinner, errands, or whatever the need is at the moment. On the weekends he takes Chase to the park, so I can get a good nap. The list could go on.

Parenthood has brought about some challenges and it still is. However, I think it has helped us in our marriage to grow closer to one another and to God. You can't ask for more than that. I wanted to take the time to acknowledge the gift that God has given to me, Chase, the baby to come. God is good!

Sunday School Party

About twice a year our church has a party that includes pizza, rootbeer floats, and fun games. This year Chase was old enough to go and participate a little. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Chase's favorite church hangout-the piano!

Chase's cousin Katie.

Christmas Tree Hunt

We got our tree a little later than normal this year. Thanksgiving was later, and we wait until after Christmas to get our tree. We had a very cold and foggy December this year. We had trouble finding trees that were dry enough to bring in and start decorating. We have yet to brave going and cutting a tree down since we have been married, so we go to a local Christmas tree lot. We have gotten our tree there for the past 3 years. They have pretty nice trees, and we can't beat the ease of going right down the street.

Chase had lots of fun running around the lot and hiding in the trees. It was fun to chase him around. We found the smallest tree we could find, and were on our way to decorate. Here are some pictures that we took. We were also able to try out our new Canon Xsi. Lots of fun :)

Here is the winner!

Long time, no post!

Between the holidays, pregnancy related yuckiness, and a busy schedule the blog has been neglected.

I am hoping to do a couple big updates including Christmas, Disneyland, New Year's, baby #2 update, and a Chaser update.

We are doing well though! Check back soon for some updates.

Yummy Recipe!

Here is a really good recipe that I made for dinner tonight:

Light Alfredo Sauce
-1 cup cream cheese
-2 cups 0-2% milk
-1 cup parmesean cheese
-5 cloves garlic
-1.5 tsp. pepper
-1 tsp. salt
-5 tbs. dried parsley or1 cup fresh parsley
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a sauce pan (over medium heat), add the parsley. Cook for about 10 minutes. Pour over your favorite pasta and toss. (I used 1 lb of pasta, but the sauce is super heavy. Probably could use over 2 pounds of pasta and be ok)

We all got it!

Well, we all got the flu. Thankfully, it was pretty minor. Chase had a minor case. Mine was a little worse, but thanks to my wonderful husband and my mom I was able to survive. After about 24 hours on the couch and a good night sleep, it seems to have left! Chase and I both had the flu shot. So much for that working :(

On a side note, Chase ran some errands with Abe last night. As he was getting in the car seat he said, "Daddy, I am a smart cookie." Haha! He has heard us call him that before, and he is now repeating it. Abe thought that was hilarious!

Hope everyone is having fun decorating and getting ready for Christmas :)