Chase Baby is 5 Months Old!

Last year at this time I was just trying to wrap my head around the thought of having another baby and now I can't imagine life without my little (or I guess, not so little) Chase baby! Here is an update on what is new in his world...

Motor Skills

Chase is now rolling from front to back and back to front. I am not used to a rolly poly baby! I lay a blanket down on the floor for him and within seconds he's off of it. He's rolling himself under tables too. I just can't believe he is so mobile. It is hard for me to get used to since Colby was over 6 months old when he rolled from tummy to back (something Chase did when he was a little over 4 months old) and waited until he was well past 9 months to roll the other way! Chase can sit unsupported for a few moments at a time too. He loves to play with his toes and can grab objects near him and bring them to him (his hand eye coordination is really good for such a young little fellow). Everything that he can get his hands on goes immediately in his mouth (another thing that's new for me since Colby never put anything in his mouth). He has perfected the jump in the jump-a-roo and is a wild man in that thing.

Likes

He loves to be held, he loves to be tickled (he's extra ticklish) and really enjoys kisses. He's started 'kissing' back this month which is really special. He can occupy himself quite nicely with a wash cloth and nothing else. He likes the paci but soothes mostly with nursing (if I'm available). He loves to sleep in the swing (a habit I am determined to break!). He loves to watch Colby and Colby was even making him giggle the other night. He loves bath time and even has splashing wars with his brother in the tub.

Dislikes

When he is put down to sleep in his crib, when he's hungry and not being fed fast enough. When he's done in the exersaucer or jumparoo and isn't picked up promptly.

Sleep

He is still the king of micronaps. He will sleep for longer periods of time when he's in the swing. We will put him down around 8 or so and than he cries at 8:30 so I feed him again and put him down again and he'll usually stay down until 1 or so and than he's in bed with us, tossing and turning until I finally give up on sleep and get up with him. I sware he's the only baby in the world that only requires 5 hours of sleep a day.

Size

Wears mostly 9 month clothes and 6 month onsies. He weighs 19.8 pounds completely naked!

Colby is 18 months old!

Time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe Colby is already 18 months old. Here is an update on what is new in his world...

Motor Skills

He is now walking easily and has started to run. He hasn't perfected stopping yet so he'll usually run into walls but he thinks it is great fun. He has been able to climb up steps but just recently he's become brave enough to climb up all of the stairs. He hasn't figured out how to get to a standing position from sitting without using something to pull himself up with. He sometimes uses a fork to eat. He loves to draw with pens and does a really good job of keeping the ink on the paper and hasn't drawn on himself yet.

Speech

Colby still uses a few signs to get by (milk, eat, drink, please, thank you, more, all done, baby and play) but his speech has really taken off the past month. Here is a list of the words he's saying these days: Mom mom, Da da, Bob Bob, Poppa, Ka Ka (for Suska), Dan Dan, Dandi (for Sandi), cracker (he uses this for animal crackers and crasins), nana (banana), nang (for hanger) and broom (yup...he likes hangers and brooms so much he even has a word for them), charger (because he loves playing with the cell phone charger in the car), vroom (for anything with wheels), and of course animal noises (duck, cow, horse, sheep, pig, bear)

Likes

Pointing out body parts. Anything with buttons especially TV's and computers. The love affair with cell phones lives on. But his most favorite thing in the world are books. He will sit and read by himself for as long as an hour at a time but he loves it most when someone is reading to him (which we do often). His favorite books are, Shapes (by Mercer Mayer) and Chopper (a story about a rescue helicopter that I have memorized!). He doesn't love eating as much as he used to but he has discovered the glory of chocolate when he got into the M&M's one day (guess I know what I'll be using for potty training rewards!). He loves bath time, his favorite thing to do is fill up travel sized shampoo bottles and dump them into each other. Lately he's been very into helping with brother, putting the paci in his mouth, sharing toys with him, giving him kisses and feeding him (sometimes he'll hold the bottle for Chase, othertimes he'll share the food he's eating with Chase!)

Finding his button

Reading with brother and DandiGiving brother his paci

Dislikes

Nursery and any other activity that requires him to be away from his family.

Sleep

He usually goes down for a nap around 10:30 and will sleep anywhere from 2-4 hours. I put him down for bed at 6:30 and he's usually up by 7:30am!

Size

He weighs 30.5 pounds (with clothes on and all). He wears size 5 diapers and clothes in sizes 18-24 months. He is still getting some mileage out of his 12 month onsies (amazingly!). He wears size 5 shoes.

He is such a fun kid to be around, sometimes I will not put him down for naps just so we can have a little extra time together. He has a very inventive and creative personality. I am excited to see what next month brings!

Reading Stories

Boys in a Box...

Here is a little boy in a big box...

Chase's expression in this picture just kills me...

And here is a little boy in a little box

(I have no idea how I was able to fit his round little body in this little box)Clearly Colby did not think it was as novel as I was to put Chase into a little box,
he didn't even notice!
The only thing better than a boy in a box is two boys in a box!!!
Poor Colby and Chase!

Sweet Dreams

Nothing beats pictures of sleeping babies, here are a few for your pleasure...

Colby just loves his soft blankies and his Pooh bear

Chase absolutely loves the jumparoo, it appears he's worn himself completely out on it!

I think it's so precious how his little arms are crossed...

It feels like just yesterday that I found Colby asleep in the jumparoo...it really was almost yesterday, this picture was taken February 6, 2008. Boy how a lot changes in a year!

Hats!

I came across a bunch of hats and played dress up with the boys, what a blast!!!

Colby wasn't as willing of a participant as Chase so this was the only picture I could snap of him, toddlers are hard to capture on film!

Chase Baby Pics...

Chase is growing and changing by the day. He is getting so much personality....

I just had to include this picture. I am very thankful that I've been able to nurse my kids. There is something so special about the way that your child looks at you while you're feeding him, words can't even describe. Here is a special note to you Jana...just look at what you get to look forward to! Being a mom is such a blessing!

Favorite things...

Colby finds such weird objects that interest him. He dug these out of Bob's kitchen drawer and has played with them for weeks. It's a little wooden spoon, a tea thing and a measuring cup and he only likes to play with them together. What would have made him think to put those things together? Who knows! I love to watch the way a toddler's mind works.

Adventures in Nursery...

Since we've been home our weekends have been really hectic, between working and getting over colds we have missed a lot of church. We went to church with Bob a few weeks ago and Colby did fine in nursery but I wasn't brave enough to leave Chase in nursery. Needless to say, we didn't learn a whole lot at church that day because Chase had so much to do and say during the service. This week I decided to drop them both off in nursery. Chase didn't seem to mind one bit, it was definitely harder on me than it was on him! Here are a few pictures from when we picked him up...

I missed that little boy so much! I had to give him lots of kisses when I picked him up.

Colby on the other hand...

didn't much care for nursery at all. Poor little guy, he is so shy and timid I should have known it would go this way. Apparently he was upset the whole time. The took him for a stroller ride, which he enjoyed, but as the service was about to end they brought him back to the room and this was the result.

You can see he was still holding on to his cracker despite his obvious state of distress...
ahhhh, priorities!

Where it all began...

I was the first one out of my family to attend Chaparral and since I've been there, my cousin on my dad's side (Brittany) and my cousins on my mom's side (Sandi and Nikki) have gone there too. Now my cousin Nikki is finishing up her senior year and I couldn't be more proud of her. She had a cheerleading performance before her team headed of to nationals and I was lucky enough to get to see it. It was so weird to watch her perform, it feels like just yesterday that I was cheering at Chaparral and she was one of my 'students' at our mini-cheer camp.
Time sure does fly!

Me, Chase baby and Nikki

Nikki doing a backhandspring so I could test out my camera's shutter speed...I just love this picture of her. Her hair looks so cute! What an action shot!
Jason also went to Chaparral. We knew each other throughout but didn't start dating until our senior year. At homecoming we both went with other people but ended up dancing together (in the same place this picture was taken), who would have thought those moments would lead up to this one...and now we're a family of four!
Colby had to show off his walking skills to all the pretty cheerleaders...

House Hunting...

The house hunting has been going on since we moved back in December but now that Jason has a job we have really picked up the pace. It has been frustrating and exciting. Here are a few of the highlights...

Here is my favorite house...

View from family room

Amazing kitchen!

Back patio, needs some stain but the covered deck is nice

The spectacular family room, the windows overlook Castlewood Canyon

Lots of brick! (something a mason's granddaughter can really appreciate!)

The only drawback to this house is it backs up to power lines... :(
We love this floorplan but Jason did not like the quality of construction on this particular house. We found the same model in Parker and wrote an offer but it was too late because it was already under contract. The search continues!

Here is Jason's favorite house...


My favorite feature of this home is the incredible laundry room...

Built in shelving

laundry room continued, complete with a window and a sink!

The upstairs bathroom, two sinks for two boys!

The upstairs...

The master bath

The family room (the only part of the house I'm not crazy about)

The gourmet kitchen, with a double oven, gas burning stove and granite countertops

The mainfloor study

Here are the boys reactions to the homes...

Colby running around like a wild man...

Being a goofball...

Cool dude, Chase
Chase checking out the handsome house hunting dude

Colby and Sandi (she helped with the boys while we were looking)

We wrote an offer on Jason's favorite house. We probably won't hear anything until next week. House hunting is such an emotional roller coaster ride! I'll keep you posted!