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.

Long time...so sorry...

With Mom back at work full-time and coaching swimming, it seems that the blog has been left behind. Lots has happened since early November. I am in daycare full-time and adjusting fairly well, Mom is too! I am great at holding my head up by myself and love to play in my Exersaucer as much as possible. I have survived my first plane trip, Thanksgiving, trip to see Santa and bought my first Christmas tree. I am eating rice cereal in the morning and again at night along with Sweet Potatoes for dinner. I tend to sleep for most of the night, depending on what kind of day I have. I will try to "point" at my dogs if you ask me where they are and I am very good at voicing my opinion, even if it wasn't asked for. I reach out for the dogs and if Captain isn't careful where he puts his jowls then I am going to reach out and grab a hold of them. We are planning our Christmas holiday extravaganza first a drive to Deleware to see Grandma and Grandpa, Mom-mom and Pop-pop, Uncle Matt, Aunt Jennifer and cousin Bise then we return back to North Carolina and then continue our journey the following day in Winston-Salem to visit with Poppy and Mimi, Aunt Lindsey, Cousins Olivia and Addison and get to meet Uncle Marc and Aunt Sabrina while they are over on this side of the pond for a trip home. It will be lots of hours in the car (and the dogs are coming to Deleware too!) so it could make for really good or really bad stories, depending on your outlook!

Hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving and is preparing for another great holiday season. Best wishes to all, Mom will try to update again soon!

Oh boy....what a week!

I'm not sure where to even begin so I guess I will start with the basics....Chase is now eating rice cereal once a day (usually around dinner time). He started last Wednesday at about 3 1/2 months old which is a little young in the mind of some people but he was hungry all the time and I knew that he was ready for "solid food". He would follow our forks and spoons and try to grab them when we would eat and then he would mimic our mouths and make a chewing movement. Sooooo, I called the pediatrician and talked to a nurse. I explained that I would be starting back to work and he would be in daycare in 5 days (that's another story though) and that I wanted to try him on cereal with me at home so I could really watch and see if he had a negative reaction before we threw daycare into the mix. Needless to say, he gets VERY excited when I put him in his highchair and his eyes get big, his mouth opens wide and his arms flail with joy when I walk toward him. Rice cereal, no problem!

The next big hurdle is me going back to work and him starting at daycare. We took him last Thursday for a trial run (actually, it was more a trial run for me than him) and it went well. I know that him teachers will do great with him it is more a matter of me accepting that fact. He started today (Monday) and did good. Jason and I dropped him off together so that we could finalize the login procedures and learn how to check him in and out every day. We also brought all his "stuff". I refused to leave if he was fussy so we waited a few minutes until some of his class mates were done with breakfast and could join him on the floor to distract him. I made Jason call once and check on him just for my peace of mind. He did good and took a brief nap on the way home. When we got home, he did want a little extra snuggle time with me, which I never mind, and then we played for a little bit. One day down, way too many to go! The good news is that tomorrow is another teacher workday so I have some flexibility in my schedule and will drop him off a little later than normal and pick him up after swim practice in the afternoon. The plan is for Jason to drop him off in the morning because I have to report to work before daycare even opens and then I will pick him up in the afternoon. Dad = bad guy, Mom = Good guy! I like this plan!

Will try to keep everyone posted on how I cope over the next couple of weeks.....I know there are multiple betting pools out there...I passed day 1, week 1 is still a question! Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the recent pictures that we sent out. If you aren't getting them, let me know and I will add you to the email list.

Where to begin.....

The last week has been a complete whirlwind for all of us. Like I said before, Grandma and Grandpa were here with their dogs because we were getting ready to take a big trip. So, how did it go? GREAT! I flew on my first airplane on Wednesday and was so good. Dad was shocked and Mom was relieved! We literally got off the plane, dumped our bags at the condo in Orlando and spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. My first official ride was Winnie-the-Pooh and I liked the movements and colors and songs. We spent the entire day (from park opening until closing) and I didn't want to miss a thing so I fought naps. I took a couple power naps for about 15 minutes here and there, but that was it! By the time we got home to the condo I was cranky so Mom and I took our shower and I went right to bed. I slept from 11 pm until 6 am solid! Here is what happened on Day 2:

Sea World! It was so close to the condo that we literally could have walked there however, we decided with 2 kids, great-grandparents, grandparents and 2 sets of parents, maybe we should take the free shuttle from the condo - great plan. We got there when the gates opened at 9 am and started our day again. Sea World was much less crowded than Magic Kingdom and the weather was overcast which I have to admit was kinda nice - or at least Mom thought it was nice because I actually took a couple decent naps on Thursday! Some of the group left early but Mom, Dad, Cousin Bise, Aunt Jennifer and Grandma stayed with me at the park so we could watch the Shamu show at 6:30 pm. That was cool....but we stayed away from the splash zones! End of Day 2!

Day 3: Friday morning was our chance to relax a little at the condo before the wedding. I slept in and was a happy baby when I woke up which Mom-mom and Pop-pop loved! We went to the wedding at the Wedding Pavilion in the Magic Kingdom and then rode a bus to Epcot's Living Seas for the reception. It was really cool because we could look through the windows into the aquarium and see the fish, sharks, stingrays and divers. I took a good nap while Mom and Dad ate their dinner and then we came back to the condo. Mom and I watched while Uncle Matt, Aunt Jennifer and Grandma played shuffleboard and then Mom and I headed to bed. End of Day 3!

Day 4: Character breakfast with Goofy, Minnie and Donald. I slept through the whole thing but Cousin Bise had a GREAT time and we got some good pictures of him with the characters. Then Dad went to visit with an old friend who lives in the area while Mom and I hung by the pool since the sun was shining and the weather was warm. I like the pool but only when I am actually in the water and when I am done and wet, I am NOT happy. I took a couple naps pool side and then we got cleaned up for a farewell BBQ back at Epcot. We hung on the beach and watched the sun set over the BBQ and then Mom and I drove back to the condo while Dad, Grandma and Grandpa went to a local bar with others from the BBQ to root on the Irish as they played Washington. Mom and I watched from the condo where I decided to fall asleep and Mom started to pack. End of Day 4.

Day 5: Time to leave...boo! We got packed and headed to the airport for our flight home. I slept on this entire flight. I was tired after having so much fun for 5 days! Besides, I need to rest this week and enjoy being home with Mom because this is her last week not working....another subject we don't enjoy talking about!

All in all, everyone had a great time and I proved that I am a good boy on planes so maybe Mom and Dad will let me do it again soon! Hope everyone is doing well. We are working on getting some pictures posted to snapfish and will send them out when we do. Dad is also trying to figure out how to post video to the internet from our camera since he took more video than still shots. Will keep everyone updated on our progress. Love to all!