A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

What a big time Charlie & Chase have in the tub together!  They splish.  They splash.  They move from one end of the tub to the other.  It's nuts!  It literally takes two people to bathe these crazy monkeys!  

Doesn't Chase look so big?!  I swear he grows and inch every day!

Charlie loves to crawl all over the tub.  He tries to get as close to Chase as he can.  

Remember when I took a picture of Charlie sitting in the door of this very same toy house?  

Charlie loves to sweep.  Yes, you heard right.  Sweep.  If only he could vacuum, dust and do the dishes too...

See the trail of toys spanning all the way around the island in the kitchen?  That is what our house looks like at any given moment of the day.  Toys everywhere!

Fun at the Finish Line Festival

We spent Sunday after the All-Star race at an event called "Taylor's Finish Line Festival."  The event was a celebration for J.D. and Melissa Gibbs' youngest son (Joe Gibbs' grandson), Taylor, who just completed three years of chemotherapy for leukemia.  Thankfully, he's now in remission.  The event also raised funds for a local children's hospital.

With Joe Gibbs Racing and its sponsors involved, there were lots of fun racing-themed things to do, so Charlie was in heaven.  He got to see a dragster, several race cars (including Uncle Tony's old ride), a Monster truck and an RC car race with Kyle Busch at the wheel of one of the cars.  

We also managed to get Charlie on a couple of rides!  He rode in a train with Dad and Mom and he also rode his own motorcycle!  

Chase was there too, but... I don't think he was quite as thrilled to be there as Charlie.    

If you want to see the entire gallery of photos, click on the following link:

http://gallery.me.com/kellyearning/100204

Puzzling...

I just love how the light hits our back deck at sunset.  It's perfect for taking amazing photos!  I was able to catch the Arning brothers playing together, and I took several photos of Charlie deep in thought as he worked on a puzzle (which, by the way, he is very good at.)

To view all of the photos I took, click on the link below:
http://gallery.me.com/kellyearning/100196

Here's to more beautiful evenings on our deck!

A Big Week!

What a big week we had!  It all kicked off with Mother's Day, or as Charlie called it, "Hay Mama Day-e."  Translation: "Happy Mama Day."  Mike was in Darlington until mid-day, so it was just me and the boys in the morning.  They must have REALLY wanted to spend the day with me because they both woke up extra early.  Chase kicked off the day at 5 a.m., and Charlie woke up at 6:30 a.m.  (Keep in mind, Charlie usually sleeps until 7:30 a.m.)  By the time Mike got home, I was ready for a nap myself.

Anyway, the four of us and Oma had an early Mother's Day dinner at Maddi's Southern Bistro in Huntersville.  Our reservation was for 5 p.m.  I figured we'd be the only ones there, but actually, the place was pretty busy!  Lucky for the servers, the entire restaurant was filled with families with young kids and babies, just like us.  What a relief!  I think we were all grateful to be in the same boat.

In other exciting news, Chase is well on his way to crawling.  I'm sure you've all seen the video by now.  I'll attach a few pictures as well.  He's catching on quickly!  He really wants to chase after his big brother.  It's just a matter of time now, I'm sure.

And finally, this was a very big week for Charlie.  Today, we moved him from the crib to the big boy bed.  We decided to do it cold turkey, so that he wouldn't have an option as to where to sleep (for which, I'm sure he would have chosen his crib).  We started with his nap.  At first he was very reluctant, but after setting up the sound machine and the iPod, getting George (his monkey) in the room and bringing him his blanket, he finally laid down and tried to nap.  One-hour later, he woke up in a screaming fit.  Ugh.

At bedtime, we decided to give him a bath in his new room too - just to reinforce that this was now his room and he would not be in the other room anymore.  He absolutely did not want to bathe in the new bath tub even though it had all of the same bath toys he's played with for as long as I can remember.  I had to rock with him in the rocking chair and psych him up for it.  Eventually, I just picked him up and carried him in there.  He finally gave in and took a bath.

Mike dressed him while I put Chase down for the night.  By the time I got back into his new room, Charlie was tucked in and ready for bed.  I kissed him good night, told him how proud I was of him, then I left.  It's now 9 p.m., and he's not made a peep - yet.  I am hopeful that he'll have a good night's sleep and wake up at his normal time, 7:30 a.m.  Then again, if this is anything like Mother's Day, it'll be an early rise and shine for us all.

I'm attaching a few photos of Chase on the move and Charlie in his new room.  If you want to see the full gallery, click on the link below.  There are also pictures of Mother's Day, us playing on the deck one night this week and playing outside in the sprinklers today.

What a big week!  WHEW!

http://gallery.me.com/kellyearning/100188

A Milestone...

Well, sweet Baby Chase has taken the first step toward independence.  He can now get up on all fours.  Of course, he has absolutely no idea what to do once he gets there, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he starts crawling.

I managed to capture some video of Chase's milestone.  (I'm sure you're surprised that I had my video camera handy.  HA!)  Anyway, here's a few seconds of his big feat...

Rise and Shine with the Arning Brothers

I just love it when Charlie and Chase sit together or play together.  It does my heart good.  Yesterday morning I put Chase in the crib and Charlie immediately moved over to sit right next to his little brother.  Then, he put his thumb in this mouth which, for Charlie, is a sign of contentment.  I ran as fast as I could to grab my camera and when I got back into the room, neither one of them had moved.

Eventually Charlie started goofing around, and as you'll see, I was able to get a couple of pictures of him standing in his crib.  This is a big deal because, as of next week, Charlie will be in a big boy bed.  We're taking the plunge and moving him out of the crib next weekend when Mike is home.  This may very well be the last pictures I'll have of Charlie in his crib.  (Whimper, whimper, whimper.)

Below are some of the pictures I took.  If you'd like to see more, here's a link to the entire album of crib photos.  Enjoy!

http://gallery.me.com/kellyearning/100180

Sweet Baby Chase

This video is simple and sweet.  It's my sweet baby Chase doing a little bit of nothing at all, but I adore it.  I don't know if it's because this is my last baby or because I'm more relaxed after having done this once already, but I am so enjoying every minute of the baby stage with Chase.  I am mesmerized by him.  Sometimes I just sit and stare at him.  Other times I scoop him up and smother him with kisses.  (I have to do this with Chase because Charlie is too busy to let me smother him with kisses.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this simple little video.  It's just a moment in the life of sweet baby Chase.