10 Months

Hard to believe we are two months shy of Chase’s 1st birthday! Chase is such a busy little boy these days. Praise the Lord; other than a mild stomach virus that lasted for 24 hours, he’s still been very healthy. He weighed in at 20 lbs. at his last pediatrician appointment and he is already almost half of my height (2.5 feet). As you can see in the picture, he is almost as tall as his “big brother” Dexter.

Chase is going through somewhat of a clingy phase. He loves his Great Grandma Anderson since he spends the weekdays with her while “Mommy” and “Daddy” work. Of course, he loves us too and wants to be held very often, especially when he gets tired. He’s starting to cuddle with blankets, stuffed animals, and even Dexter. However, if he’s not tired and in a cuddly mood, he’s wide open and crawling all over the place to explore new territory. It’s tough for us to keep up with him at times.

Chase’s eating and sleeping habits haven’t changed much since last month. However, we are amazed at how much he’s grown and all of the new things he learns with each passing month. Can’t wait to share more adventures in the 11th month!

Teeth have Arrived!

I can't believe I forgot to mention in my last posting that Chase has teeth now! His front top left tooth was the first one to poke through the gums right around Christmas. Since then, he got his front bottom left tooth and the other top one. The right bottom tooth is just about through the gum too. So, Chase got a belated Christmas gift....."All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...."

9 Months Old

I can definitely say that Chase’s 9 months outside of my womb went by a lot faster than the 9 months of my pregnancy with him.

What is Chase up to these days?
-pulling himself up into the standing position
-taking baby steps while holding onto something for balance (i.e. the couch: he can walk the whole length of the couch while holding on)
-crawling everywhere and putting lots of miles on those little hands and knees
-vocalizing his emotions more (i.e. he sometimes likes to scream as loud as he can just for the mere entertainment of hearing his voice, but other times, it’s obvious that he’s frustrated when he screams)….we’re hearing lots of “dada’s and momma’s” these days.
-still sleeping on the 7-5 schedule….only wish we could stretch it a few hours longer on the weekends so we wouldn’t have to get up so early when we don’t have to work, but all in all, we can’t complain with his sleeping habits.
-loving his time with Grandma Anderson….he lights up whenever we first bring him to Grandma’s house in the mornings before work
-rolling toys across the floor and chasing after them….sometimes he takes laps around the house doing this
-experimenting with finger foods such as Cheerios and puffs….most of the time, they end up on the floor at home
-still drinking lots of formula….makes me miss the breastfeeding days, because formula is not cheap!
-mimicking actions such as when Tim and I are chewing food
-riding in a new car-seat now; enjoying looking out the windows during car-rides to observe new sights

Chase goes for his 9 month check-up in early February in which case I’ll pass along his latest weight, height, and any other interesting news. Hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far!

Merry 1st Christmas, Chase!

Chase after his bath on Christmas Eve....he looks like a grumpy elf...

...and a sleepy elf.

Chase's 1st visit with Santa was very short because Chase was afraid of the big guy in the red suit. He never cracked a smile for the picture.

Playing with a spatula on the floor with Daddy

This spatula is probably way more fun than any toy he'll get for Christmas....funny how that works.

It’s hard to believe Chase just hit the 8 month mark! As we celebrate our first Christmas with him, we are so thankful and humbled for all God has blessed us with this year. For one, we are grateful for our health. Chase hasn’t been sick at all during his 8 months of life and we pray he’ll continue to be healthy in 2010.

Our little rug-rat is crawling all over the place these days. It didn’t take him but a few days to master the art of crawling. Now, he is trying to pull himself up on things. He definitely knows his name when we say “Chase, don’t get into that.” He’ll turn around and look at us and usually proceed to get into whatever he’s not supposed to….guess that’s what having a boy is all about!

Chase has a hearty appetite and continues to grow with each passing day. He has outgrown most of his 9-month clothes and we’ve started him in some 12-month clothes. He’s not a chubby baby, just very long. He still doesn’t have any teeth to mash his food with….we keep on saying it will be any day now, but we’ve been saying that since he was 3 months old! His teeth have been hanging out just barely below the surface of his gums for several months. He still has his fussy moments when his gums bother him or when he gets really tired and fights sleep. However, he is a much happier baby now that he can crawl around and entertain himself. We just have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn’t get into something that could harm him….for instance, he loves tugging on electrical cords.

I am in complete awe that this year has flown by so fast. I hope everyone can slow down over the holidays and reflect on the true meaning of the season. Merry Christmas and Happy 2010! Chase will be 9 months old when I post again in January!

Thanksgiving: 7 Months Old

We have so much to be thankful for this year as we celebrate our first holiday season with Chase. Our 17-pound, 30-inch long bundle of joy is healthy and keeping us very busy with each passing day. Almost everything I mentioned in my 6-month blog update still remains true for Chase now. However, he is no longer wobbly and unstable sitting up and he officially started crawling on Thanksgiving Day. Needless to say, we’ll be chasing him around from this day forward. He’s still not a pro at crawling, but I’m sure he’ll have it refined by Christmas (just in time to keep him away from the Christmas tree).

We’re all pretty well-rested these days. Chase sleeps through the nights like clockwork now….goes to bed at about 7:30 and sleeps until 5/5:30. He’s still lacking teeth, but it’s got to be any day now! He’ll probably get a bunch of teeth all at once. Some days are tough on our little guy because his gums bother him. We give him teething tablets, Baby Orajel, and Tylenol in hopes of easing the discomfort (and easing our aggravation in having to listen to a lot of fussing). Fortunately, outside of teething, Chase is a little better at self-entertaining now and doesn't fuss quite as much.

The Christmas pictures were taken at Sears the day before Thanksgiving….some of you will be seeing these again as Christmas gifts!

Half a Year Old!

Win or lose, we still sport our team colors! Go Deadskins!

Dirty Laundry


Sitting outside in our favorite lawn chair


"Major Cutie" in Camo



Trying to crawl underneath the piano bench

I can hardly believe Chase is already 6 months old! He is growing and changing so much everyday. Here are some of the highlights and milestones from this past month:

-sitting up on his own, but still very wobbly and unstable

-rolling all over the place

-attempting to crawl, but still doesn't have the upper body strength

-fussing when he gets bored or frustrated (we hope he'll become more self-entertained with time)

-eating 3 jars of stage 1 baby food a day and drinking lots of milk (mostly formula now....my breastmilk supply is about gone, but I'm still doing what I can even if it's just a few ounces a day.....just thankful we made it to 6 months on mostly breastmilk!)

-enjoying strolls with Great Grandmother Anderson on nice Fall days

-sleeping through most nights, but occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night rolling around in the crib (will usually fall back to sleep on his own without any Mommy intervention)

-drooling and gnawing on everything (still no teeth.....thought for sure he would have had one by now!)

-reaching for everything in sight; exploring new textures

-giggling out of nowhere sometimes

-speaking "babynese," consisting of lots of "dadadadada, mamamamama, lalalalalalala" and spitting

-squealing whenever excited

-wearing mostly 9 month clothes and just graduated to size 3 diapers

-growing like a weed....don't know exact weight, but we know he's well over 16 pounds now and most pants are "high waters" on him.

-sprouting more golden blond hair (seems more of a golden blond now versus the white blond it seemed to be at birth)

-bringing Mommy and Daddy lots of joy with each passing day

Chase has a check-up with the doctor on November 3rd, so I'll be sure to fill everyone in on the latest stats.

Happy Half-Year Birthday, Chase!

20 Weeks Old

My nieces, Chase, and I are in the picture below. The picture above is of Tim and Chase catching a nap together on the couch.

Chase wasn't too happy in this picture that was taken at Laurie's baby shower on August 22nd.

If you look closely at the picture below, you'll see that Chase and I both have dimples on our right cheeks. We were sitting on the back of our boat; we named our jet boat "Chase This."

Chase will be 20 weeks old at 2:19 AM tomorrow morning. Time is flying and Chase is growing like a weed! He was 15 pounds, 1 oz. and 26 1/2 inches long at last Monday's doctor's appointment. All is healthy, praise God! He didn't like getting the shots, but he survived without any side effects. This past week has been an experimental week with trying out stage 1 baby food. I think my mom is having much better luck spoon-feeding Chase than I am. He looks at me like I'm crazy and gives these disgusted looks whenever I shovel any food in his mouth. It took us three days to finish a tiny jar of bananas, and I still think most of it ended up everywhere other than in his mouth! Oh well....I'm sure he'll get the hang of eating "big boy" food with time.

Chase is rolling over more each day. He's such a curious little guy. If he's not on the floor rolling around, he loves to be held and walked around so that he can discover new things. Nap times can turn into serious battles since he hates to surrender to sleep....guess he's afraid he'll miss out on something! Fortunately, he's always ready to go to sleep for the long stretch at nights. Otherwise, I don't know when Tim and I would catch a break. Though we enjoy spending time with our little man, we always look forward to his 8:00 bedtime.

Tim and I are off from work this week, but Chase hasn't allowed us to do much relaxing yet. Our first couple of days have been spent indoors since it's been rainy, but we hope to take Chase out and about during the latter part of the week. We still have our OBX trip to look forward to Thursday-Sunday.

Our little man is ticklish on his neck. We love to kiss him on his neck and make him giggle....it's those sweet little laughs that give us the strength to go on during the fussy periods. Nonetheless, every moment whether he is crying or laughing is still a blessing.