Chase Eats Cereal!

After weeks of watching Chase stare longingly at us while we eat, I figured it was time to give him the opportunity to try it out for himself. I made him a bowl of rice cereal, set him up in his high chair and, of course, grabbed my FLIP video recorder and camera. I'm attaching a video and a couple of photos of Chase's first bites. He wasn't all that thrilled with it. Perhaps he would have preferred Filet Mignon? Shortly after I finished feeding him, he spit up all over me. Oh joy!

If you have trouble with the video, here's the link to watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm46TkwK_rQ

Chase's House

Charlie and I got such a kick out of listening to him say "Chase's House," that I had to catch it on video. We sat together and watched this video over and over again and laughed until we were both crying. It may not be funny if you "weren't there," but just know that he and I were giggling so hard when we were doing this.

Remember that Charlie calls Chase "Hi Dace." (Charlie thinks his name is actually "Hi Chase.")

Enjoy!

P.S. If for some reason you can't view the video, here's the link to watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx6rZjwSfkY

Daddy's Car

Charlie has finally started talking and even putting words together to make short sentences. His favorite thing to say is "Daddy's car," "Mama's car," and (usually) "Oma's car." He has to really focus and concentrate to say it correctly, which is so funny! I managed to get a short video of him doing so. Enjoy!

P.S. If you can't view this video for some reason, check it out on YouTube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEGarxCj9so

It's Been a Busy Week!

Time flies when you have two kids. First of all, I don't know what happened to the off-season. I can't believe we're already past Daytona and heading into the second race of the season. I got spoiled having Mike home so much, so it's been challenging gettingused to being by myself on the weekend. God bless all of the single mothers out there!

The days absolutely fly by too. We get up around 7:30a and the next thing I know, it's 11a and almost time for Charlie's nap. The next time I look at the clock, it's usually mid-afternoon, then when I blink, it's 5p and time to start making dinner. Once both boys are bathed and in bed, it's time for me to veg out on the couch and get ready to do it all again. It's exhausting, but it's so fun. I'm trying to soak it all in because I know the Spring and Summer are going to fly by too. Next thing I know, we'll be celebrating Chase's first birthday!

Anyway, long story short. It's been a busy week, but I don't exactly know why. I just know that it's Thursday evening and this is the first chance I've had to update the blog all week. Here are some things that have happened thus far:

For some reason, Charlie loves wearing the apron his Grammy got him for Christmas. He's been wearing it around the house, just because it exists and he can. He looks so cute in it though.

Charlie loves to "cook" when Mama cooks dinner (and he wears his apron, of course). I pull up the step stool and give him some bowls and spoons so he can pretend. I also give him noodles which he loves to separate into the different bowls. (Most of it ends up on the floor, crunched into little pieces.)

Chase is absolutely enormous. He's in 6-month clothes and he's outgrowing the jumperoo faster than I can change the settings on it. I have to bump it up to the last setting now because his feet are dragging the floor. He'll be lucky if he can play in it another month. On that note, he's completely different from Charlie in that he is not anywhere near as active. Charlie would go absolutely nuts in the jumperoo. Chase? Not so much. He just sort of sits there, fiddles with the toys and moves his feet every now and then. I'm thinking he's going to be much more laid back than Charlie.

Charlie loves to help me wash clothes. He likes to pour the detergent in the washer and watch it fill up with water. He also helps me push the clothes in the washer. He thinks it's cool to watch them get pulled under the water. If only he could fold clothes...

We're still struggling with Chase on the nap front. He just does NOT want to nap. I don't think he likes the pack-n-play that he's sleeping in right now, but since Charlie isn't ready for the big boy bed, we don't really have any other options. The only way I can get him to nap is to lay down in our bed with him and nurse him until he falls asleep. It's a terrible habit, but it works and so I do it.

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so we're looking forward to getting out of the house and playing outside. Hopefully I can take more pictures and video this weekend. We'll see how it goes! I'm going to start uploading video to YouTube in addition to this blog, so if, for some reason, you cannot view video on this blog, you should be able to see it on YouTube. (I will link from the blog to my YouTube account.)

And in summary of our week, the following pictures are of Charlie in his apron, big boy Chase, brothers hanging out, Chase in the jumperoo and Charlie washing clothes.

Have a good weekend!

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and although I am without one of my favorite Valentines (Mike - in Daytona), I was able to hang with my other two Valentines today. Charlie, Chase and I enjoyed our day. We opened cards and Valentine presents in the morning and spent the afternoon outside delivering Valentine cookies and cards to our neighbor friends. All in all, it was a great day.

What made it especially wonderful was Chase. He slept from 7:30p until 6:15a this morning and did not make a peep all night. Yahoo! AND, to beat all, Chase took an hour-and-a-half nap this afternoon. That is HUGE! He usually takes nothing but 15-30 minute catnaps, so a nap this long is extraordinary!

I don't think Mike had as nice of a day. He was in Daytona living through the longest 500 of his life. Two long red flags for track repairs made the race day super long. I'm sure he would have much preferred to spend Valentine's Day with us!

Anyway, I'm attaching a couple of pictures to this blog entry. You'll see a photo of our Valentine treats for our neighbors. You'll see a photo of Charlie enjoying one of those treats. And you'll also see a couple of pictures of Charlie eating his first-ever bowl of cereal - with milk! He LOVED it!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Enjoy the photos!

Snow! Round Two

It's snowing again today and it is absolutely beautiful outside! I can't believe we've had so much snow lately and neither can Charlie (as is evident in this picture.) And speaking of snow, Charlie calls it "HO." Makes me laugh every time he says it. And as for the talking, we've really turned a corner there. Charlie is finally starting to use more and more words AND putting words together to make short sentences. Hallelujah! Here are some of the things he says...

"Dada's car"
"More Mama"
"House"
"Eat"
"Mama, More O's" (Cheerios)
"Sit"
"Yet" (Actually, "yet" is Charlie's version of "light")
"Truck"
"Map" (This is Charlie's version of "nap")
"D Tain" (This is Dinosaur Train, his favorite show)
"Mama Help"
"Hi Dace" (This is what Charlie says when he talks about Chase. He thinks Chase's name is Hi Chase.)

He says more than this, but honestly, this is all I can think of right now. Regardless, I am SO excited because he is repeating words and making an effort to talk, whereas before, he would just stare at you (or get frustrated) when you asked him to try.

So, YEAH CHARLIE!

My Little Helper

Charlie is such a pleaser. He really wants to make Mama and Chase happy, so throughout the day, he does little things that (he thinks) help us out. For instance, today I put Chase in the swing so I could check my email. When I took a peek around the corner, I saw Charlie trying to feed Chase a bottle. (The bottle was empty, so Chase wasn't too happy about that. It's the thought that counts anyway, right?)

Later in the day, he brought a pacifier over to Chase and shoved it in his mouth. (Not sure how Chase felt about that either.)

At bath time, Charlie takes Chase's bath mat and lays it out in front of the sink for me. Then he drags the bathtub across the floor and into the kitchen so I can put it in the sink for bath time.

Charlie also likes to help with the laundry. He shoves the clothes into the washer and dumps the detergent into the basin. And when it's time to empty the dishwasher, he pulls out the dishes one at a time and hands them to me.

He's also quite the conservationist. Lately, he's fascinated with turning the lights on and off. Well, actually, it's just the "OFF" part that he's fascinated with. Al Gore would be proud....

We've Made a Bit of a Mess

Well, Charlie does a great job feeding himself, but he's not all that concerned about keeping the table, or himself, neat and tidy. Suffice it to say, by the time dinner is over, half of his food has ended up on the table and the other half has been smeared all over his clothes.

Truthfully most of this happens because he's been playing with his cars during dinner and not really paying attention to what he's doing. Most of the time I can clean him up and send him on his way, but sometimes, he's so covered in food that it's best if I just take off all of his clothes and let him run around with just his diaper on.

This was one of those days. But, those naked legs are so stinkin' cute though that I might make this a nightly habit... Just because!

Charlie & Chase Snuggle in the Crib

Today, I brought Chase with me into Charlie's room after he woke up from his nap. Charlie pointed to his bed, which meant that he wanted Chase to lay in there with him. (He LOVES his little brother.) So, I laid Chase in the crib with him and Charlie started snuggling with Chase. I couldn't believe it! I begged Charlie to stay there while I ran downstairs and grabbed my camera, and he did! So, I was able to snap a couple of pictures. Charlie even leaned over and kissed Chase a couple of times. My heart was melting! I wish you all could see how sweet Charlie is to his little brother. It makes your heart swell just watching them together.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Preschool Pandemonium

Getting Charlie into a preschool here in Charlotte is like trying to get him into an Ivy league school. It's crazy! I don't know if it's like that everywhere or just here in Charlotte. All I know is I am spending a ton of time taking tours and registering Charlie for schools that he may or may not get into. And the kicker is that everyone has different registration due dates, so I'm juggling dates on the calendar making sure I turn everything in properly and on-time.

Then, if you DO get everything in on-time, you go into a lottery system so you may or may not get to go to that school anyway! And here's an even bigger kicker... The school that I really want Charlie to go to is first come, first served. What does that mean? Well, on February 23, at 9:30 a.m., this school starts accepting registration and once all it's classes are filled up, they're filled up and registration is over. So you've got to get there early to ensure that you get your child into that school. I'm told that Moms line up as early as 4 a.m. to get into this school. What in the world? Well, I am definitely, unequivocally a suburban yuppie Mom because guess what? I'm gonna be in line by 5 a.m. Luckily Chase will probably help me wake up just in time...

Chase and the Elusive Nap

Well, my buddy Chaser is NOT a good napper. Not a good napper at all. In fact, he tries his hardest to avoid napping totally and has become quite an expert at catnapping. I don't get it. I thought babies were supposed to sleep? Babies NEED sleep! You could have set your watch by Charlie's nap schedule. He obviously needed it, but Chase? Not so much.

I am doing the exact same things with Chase that I did with Charlie, but nothing is working. He does NOT like to sleep in his bed. Occasionally I can get him to fall asleep on our bed (SUCH A BAD HABIT), but when I do, he still only naps for 30-45 minutes max. The other day he took a long nap in the swing, but he is so close to outgrowing the swing it isn't even funny. What am I going to do then?

I suppose it was inevitable. There was no way God was going to give me two perfect nappers. It isn't fair to the rest of the moms out there for me to have two perfect nappers. I have to have a struggle with one baby just to even the score, I suppose. Now I think it's funny when I chat with parents of just one kid (like I used to be.) I just want to tell them, "Wait until you have baby number two. It's totally different!"

To give Chase some credit though, he is sleeping better at night. He sleeps from 7:30p until 4a. Mind you, he's not hungry when he wakes up. He's just up and can't quite figure out how to get back to sleep. He's getting better at this though and I think in another week or so, with more and more practice, he'll be sleeping 7:30p to 7a. God willing!

But, all in all he is a great baby. Even when he doesn't nap, he's still a very laid back, happy, smiley baby, so it's hard to get upset with him. He just wants to be with his Mama, and is that so bad? I don't think so. One day I'll look back at this time and miss the hours I held him in my arms. He is quite snuggly and wonderful regardless.

Snowed in Another Day

We still have a ton of snow and ice on the ground. Schools were cancelled today, so that meant no Jazzercise for me. Mike had to work today, so it was just me and the boys. I think Charlie is coming down with a cold, so we've been using lots of hand sanitizer lately! Definitely don't want Chase to get sick or catch whatever Charlie might have. Here's hoping we can keep everyone relatively healthy.

Today was a good day though. Pretty low key with nap schedules working out so I could spend some one-on-one time with Charlie, then Chase. I even had some down time to get a couple of things done for myself! It's never ending though. There is always so much to do. Sometimes it's too overwhelming if I think about it. I just try to cross one thing off my list at a time. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

I am dreading tomorrow. It's MIke's last day at home before he leaves for Daytona. The NASCAR off-season is WAY too short. There's no time to miss NASCAR racing because they race practically year round! I can't believe it's already time to send Mike on the road. I feel like we just had Christmas vacation last week. Time is absolutely flying. It's been so nice having help on the weekends. I've been spoiled. I already miss him! Ugh.

In happier news, I just got an iPhone. It came in the mail today, so I've been playing, trying to learn what it can and can't do. I know it can take pictures and video, so look out! More content for the blog! :)