Thanksgiving 2009

Well, Thanksgiving was another big holiday without my Dad and I can't say that I didn't miss him, especially as we all sat around the table. There was definitely a big something missing this year. It was great to be surrounded by family and the distraction of the newest member, Meredith, was great but didn't completely fill the void.

We had a group effort when it came to dinner. Mom was responsible for the turkey, stuffing and sweet potato casserole. Jennifer had the ham and corn casserole. I brought green bean casserole, rolls, pies and the all-important wine! The day was great and we had Jason's mom, Cathy, with us as well which was nice. I have to admit that it was really nice to drive 15 minutes to Matt and Jennifer's house, enjoy our food, spend some time together and then drive 15 minutes home at the end of it all. I could get used to not having to travel for the holidays!

We took some pictures since we were all 'cleaned up'. The kids were adorable and posed they best that an almost 4 year old, 16 month old and 2 month old can! Enjoy!

Halloween and family fun

Well, another month has come and gone. We have had visits from Mom-mom and Pop-pop to witness the birth of our new cousin/niece, Meredith, Nana has been to visit twice, Popi has ventured this way and Uncle Marc and Aunt Sabrina came as well.

I guess I should start early in the month. With the birth of Baby Meredith, we got to spend some time with Mom-mom and Pop-pop. Chase didn't meet her right away because of a cold so we didn't get any group shots until Halloween night.

Nana came to visit and we went to a local pumpkin patch because the weather was beautiful and we couldn't stand to be inside the house on such a wonderful fall afternoon.

We took Chase to his first NHL game of the season to watch the Hurricane's. It was a night game in the middle of the week but he was a rock star. I was honestly a little surprised how well he did.

Then it was Popi's turn for a visit. He drove down one Friday afternoon and spent the night before heading back to Winston.

Then Nana and Uncle Marc and Aunt Sabrina joined us for Halloween. All in all it has been a busy month for us and we haven't even gotten into the 'real' holiday season yet!

New tricks? Let's see, Chase has learned to climb stairs by himself, but can't get down alone...or I won't let him! He is getting more and more verbal every day, although his favorite word is still "Uh-Oh", although in a close second right now is "Melmo?" (Elmo - his new favorite character!) He is into everything he can get his hands on and cracks me up daily. He still only has 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom) is weighing in at a little under 25 pounds and is just shy of 30 inches tall. We are gearing up for the holiday season and I am looking forward to some hard earned time off from work and some fun time with my boys....all of them!

Playing Catch up

I can't believe how fast time passes. I tell myself that I am going to be better about posting on the blog and them I look at it and realize that months have gone by. Starting my New Year's resolution a little early..try to post at least once a month - pictures and everything!

Where to start? The return of school 6 weeks ago is taking its' toll on every one in the family. Chase and I have both been sick - he is currently battling a stomach bug (fun times for all!) Jason and I are finally home on the weekends instead of traveling and visiting people. While we love to see everyone, it is nice to be home on the weekend so that we can try to get some of our own things done. We are trying to get our little home projects started and finished - waiting for others to be done by the pros!

Chase LOVES football season! He cheers as hard for Notre Dame and we do and it is hilarious to watch him yell "GOAL" and throw his arms in the air when we score. (Yeah, so he is a little confused with soccer and football but we don't really care.) It doesn't help that ND has decided that their games should go down to the wire lately but as we keep saying, a win is a win!

Jason is busy with his new (although not that new anymore) position with SciQuest. He is enjoying the new challenges, but they are keeping him busy day and night (literally). He has lots of travel for work coming up in the next few weeks so we are all trying to figure out how to make it work for everyone. Normally, Jason takes Chase to daycare in the morning because I can't get him there and make it to school on time. Lucky for me, I have amazing co-workers who help get my kids started for the first few minutes until I can be there myself.

On a happy note, Matt and Jennifer welcomed their second child last week, a little girl, Meredith Lee-Ann. (Her middle name is a combination of my dad's middle name - Lee, and Jennifer's mom's middle name, Ann -- which we all thought was a great fit!).

Chase is growing by the day and full of new tricks that keep us on our toes and make us laugh so hard we cry. The dogs aren't too amused with his mobility but he loves them dearly. Every day driving home he asks about his "dog-dog" and we race inside to let them in the house and he just cackles.

Enjoy some of the new pictures from the last few weeks.... We took Chase to a Hurricane's Hockey game this week and he loved it - as you can tell by the cheering and dancing shots! We also went to a local pumpkin patch and all he kept saying was 'ball'! A family shot from the pumpkin patch and Chase relaxing on his pillow in front of the TV after a long weekend of fun and play!

Dumptruck Impersonation

Chase's newest trick...an impersonation of a dump truck!!!
Make sure to turn your sound on for the true effect.

Step by Step

After a 2 week hiatus, Chase has decided that maybe this walking thing isn't so bad after all. He definitely needs an audience we have learned. He took his next 'real' steps while we were in Savannah visiting some family friends. With his audience in full attention, he decided that he would be happy to walk all around their living room...as long as his steps were followed immediately with applause. Since then, he has 'performed' for the Nana and Popi, Mimi, Aunt Lindsey, cousins Olivia and Addison on Skype....his audience doesn't have to be in person apparently! He is now gaining confidence with every step and is more willing to walk instead of crawl in some instances.

I have 2 weeks left of my summer vacation and I have to admit that it went by way too fast. I am not that excited about going back and leaving Chase. While he has been going to daycare 3 days a week during the summer so that I can take care of errands and household chores, it has been fun to hang out with him on his 'off' days. We have been going to the library for Rhyme Time, visiting with Grandma (my mom - who recently moved here) and catching up with friends. We know that the adjustment back to full-time work and full-time daycare won't be easy on any of us but the time has come!

Hopefully, once I go back to work, I can try to keep up with the blog but I don't know how often. I will definitely post when new and exciting things happen. Other than that, no promises being made! Hope everyone is enjoying the posts. I know it has been a fun way for me to keep up with Chase's progress over the last year. I am not the decorative, scrapbooking type so this is the best baby book option for me!

Chase's first birthday - Mom's Reflection

As I sat rocking him while he took his bed time bottle, I had a chance to think back over the last year. On one hand, I can't believe how long ago that seems but on the other, it feels like yesterday. My mother-in-law commented this morning as we were getting ready for his party that I looked much more rested than I did at the same time last year. Gotta admit, she was probably right! I can't begin to think about how we survived those first weeks with no sleep, but I do remember wondering if we would! (For all those new parents, you too will survive!) Now, he is taking his first steps without assistance, laughing, trying to talk, eating table food and getting ready to transition off the bottle.

While this last year hasn't always been easy, I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Chase is an amazing boy and I am lucky to be his mom. His party today was just the beginning in another series of milestones that I have to look forward to. While I know that Chase will never remember today, nor any of the fun that the rest of us had celebrating for him, he will be able to look back at the pictures and the video clips and see that he was loved. Right now, that is the most important gift that I can give him. I want to make sure the he never doubts how much I love him, even when he is driving me crazy. (See Chase, it is written down forever as evidence when you are a teenager!)

Thanks to all our family and friends who have supported us in whatever way you could over this last year. There is no way that we would have survived without you!

Chase's 1st Birthday (and 1st steps)

Today is Chase's 1st birthday. We had a relatively small birthday party for him with just family.
After opening presents, Chase tried a few times to walk between me and my cousin Liz. We captured a good clip of him taking about 5 steps on his own. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's walking yet, but he did take he first few steps today. Here's the clip!

Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad!

So, today is our 2nd anniversary. An amazing two years for sure!!

Chase has continued to figure out all kinds of new things. He is still not walking on his own, but he will stand on his own for 30 seconds or so (or until he realizes that he's not being helped) and then he just sits down. He definitely loves to walk with some assistant, either one of us or his walk along toy.
Grandma and Nana kept Chase while Melissa and I went on a cruise last week to Cozumel (from Tampa). It was very relaxing and a great time, but we were ready to see Chase when we got home. They tried hard to get Chase walking on his own. They were even told to take video if he made his first steps while we were gone. They didn't succeed, but got some good video of him walking behind his toy (see video below).

I'll try to post some more videos soon!

Captain & Chase

Here is another...Chase is trying to blow kisses to Mommy when Captain rudely slaps him in the back of the head! Kinda funny though.

A Child's Laugh...

So, we finally got the video uplink working. This one is a 45 second clip of Chase playing with Dad. Chase's laugh is so cute!!

The last 6 months....

I am finally finding a few minutes to try and update the blog since I just realized I haven't written anything in months! Let me try to get a quick recap of where Chase is now.....10 1/2 months old, crawling (if that is what you can call it--I'll explain that in a minute), has 2 teeth breaking through, can show you his nose and his belly, says "uh-oh" when he drops something, is still infatuated with the dogs, eats solid foods with a vengance, sleeps through the night and is still the light of my life (sorry Jason!)

Now for the explanations -- Chase is 10 1/2 months old now and I can't believe that his first birthday is this close! Let me try remember all that has happened. He has been sleeping through the night pretty consistently for about 3-4 months now. He doesn't have a 'set' time to go to sleep but usually it is between 8-9 and he will sleep until at least 7 am but on the weekends he is known to sleep until 8:30-9:00 which I love! He has traveled to Savannah, Georgia twice. Once for a wedding and then again for over a week when we buried my Dad. Let me just say that I am blessed with a child who travels well and doesn't mind being in a different environment. He loves meeting all the new people and is a complete ham.

He started his own version of crawling about 2 weeks ago....and I say his own version because it isn't the traditional form. From the very beginning, Chase has hated to be on his stomach so traditional crawling wasn't going to work for him. He would much rather be sitting up. So, to get form point to point, he puts his hands on the floor, one foot on the floor and then drags his other leg across the ground. He doesn't have a leg preference, either one will do, as the callouses on both shins will prove. Basically, he can still get where he wants too but when he gets there, it is a simply leg swing and he is now in a seated position where he can lean or spin in a circle to get what he wants.

He cut his first tooth about the same time he started to crawl. We got very lucky again because he didn't fuss, cry or stop sleeping during this process and we have heard some horror stories related to teething. While there are 2 teeth showing, neither one of them is completely in so we still are limited in the types of solid foods that we can eat.

Speaking of food...the boy LOVES to eat. He will eat all day long if we let him. He eats everything from pasta ravioli to yogurt to bread to limes (yes I said limes!) to the traditional baby foods. He is drinking juice from a sippy cup but not from a bottle. We think he is so used to having only milk in his bottle that he won't accept anything else in it....might make getting rid of the bottle a little easier (at least we hope).

He is pulling himself up on anything that he can find although he isn't quite comfortable trying to move from place to place like that just yet. He will walk with someone holding his hands or arms but doesn't have the balance to do any of this on his own. We have had to install the baby gates at the stairs and the dogs are constantly under 'attack'. You would think that after all this time, the novelty of the dogs would wear off and he would leave them alone but much to their dismay, he still thinks that they are the greatest thing. We are currently baby-proofing the house but it is an on-going process. Every time we have one stage completed, Chase reminds us that there is one more.

He is verbal, to an extent. He can say 'Da' which means dad, mom, dog, food, toy, light, fan...basically anything that he can see or point to. He has expanded to saying Uh-oh (which he got from me when he drops something), he has started to say 'Ba' and just recently started to say 'Mmm" which I am hoping means that I can get Mama to be said very soon. His laugh is contagious and absolutely cracks me up when I hear it and he starts to dance anytime he hears the theme songs to "Handy Manny" or "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (especially the 'hot dog dance' - which any parent can sing I'm sure!)

All in all, things have been great. I am ready for the end of the school year so that I can spend some time with him other than just weekends and nights. We have a busy June planned already. A trip to California to see Nana Lee (my grandmother, Chase's great-grandmother) and all the West Coast relatives on my Dad's side of the family. My mom and I are taking Chase and Bise (my nephew) for a visit. Should be quite interesting. Will try to update again after that one. We are also trying to figure out how to upload video from our camcorder so everyone can witness Chase in action. Hopefully it will happen soon. Until then, I will try to remember to update more often. That's it from the Liner house.