Chasey Chase and Big O in the baby pool

Chase loves the water!

This picture will haunt him for years, but we couldn't help but take it!

Oliver spent some time scowling at Ryan. I think it is adorable.

They are each grabbing for what the other one has. Classic.

Who is this little boy and what has he done with my baby?

Who is this other little boy? Heart crushing.


On Sunday, we finally got Chase a baby pool. First, a little back story. In May for Memorial Day we went to visit Ryan's parents. We had a great time. We just hung out and relaxed for the weekend. Ryan's mom had bought this little floatey raft for Chase to go into their pool. We put him in it and at first, he was quite nervous, but over the next few days, he got to the point where he didn't even need us to hold on to it. He would just float by himself in the pool watching everyone else float as well. When we took him out of the floaty and Ryan held him on his stomach, he would move his arms and legs in doggy paddle fashion. He loved it! Not only that, but he was completely worn out after each swimming event. We had found a gold mine.

Since that trip, I've taken him to our former nanny Gabi's apartment pool for swimming and he continued to love it. Thus, the three pool trips on our two day Chicago trip, and playing in Oma's big tub, and the purchase of a baby pool! This kid is a water bug.

On Father's day, we invited Chase's and my best buddies Oliver and Chelsea over to play in the pool. Chelsea and I have been taking Oliver and Chase on walks frequently, but it has been so hot that a dip in the pool seemed more appropriate. So, here was the scene: three adults, two cameras, and two babies. I'm pretty sure that Chelsea and Ryan took 100 pictures between the two of them, but, alas, these two are so darn cute! Looking forward to more play dates in our backyard pool.

June in Chicago

Perks to naming your son after a large corporation...plenty of photo ops for kid + name!

My favorite pic that Ryan took of the downtown scenery. He's quite talented if I do say so myself.

Chase and I in Millenium park. Note the foot on the stroller. He rode through downtown like that all day. I couldn't help myself from saying, "chillaxing". Embarassing, I know.

Chase amongst the pillows on our king-sized bed. His first hotel stay was at a 4-star establishment. I told him not to get used to it. This was before he launched himself off the bed.

Chase's first taste of Ryan's ice cream. I have this thing about no refined sugars for our busy boy. That's out the window...

Chase visiting with a 12 month old little girl. They reached out and touched eachother, so cute!

Chase in the fountain, Millenium Park

Chase as a full-on crawler (!) in Millenium Park fountain

Ryan and Chase, happy as clams. Note Chase's scrunched up nose face.

He loves splashing!

Chase turned 9 months a week (or so) ago. 9 months is a hard number to get my mind around. 9 months means that he has been in the world as long, well, a little longer, than he was inside of me. Getting to know him as an outside being has been fun, but part of me misses the little nudges and movements that were so familiar when he was an inside being.

We took Chase to Dr. Franklin (the best pediatrician in the entire world, hands down.) last Monday for his check-up. He is 17 lbs 2 oz, 28.5 inches long, and his head is big (I already forget how big). He falls between the 10th and 50th percentile for his measurements. She said, "he's a busy boy, isn't he?" That statement couldn't be further from the truth! He is 11.5 months developmentally, which makes sense, because he never stops moving, talking, and/or gesturing.

Chase makes plenty of sounds these days. He says bbbb sounds, da da da da, sometimes ffff or llll sounds, and often says what sounds exactly like, "hi dad" in a whisper voice. Speaking of whispering, he talks to himself in a whisper voice while he's on the move, which is incredibly cute (in my opinion) but concerning that he's already started talking to himself like his mother (in Ryan's opinion). Chase also squeals, clicks and buzzes, depending on his mood.

Chase (as the picture above demonstrates) is a full-on crawler now. No more inch-worming to get from dangerous object A to dangerous object B. He likes to crawl till he finds something and then pull up, which may or may not result in a tumble. Thank goodness for hard heads; I have an internal count of the number of brain cells he has killed, but I suspect it will only get worse for awhile. Here's hoping he has Ryan's coordination!

Chase was a very pleasant traveler on our recent unexpected trip to Chicago. I had plans to go and do field work at my new field site in Chicago sans Ryan and Chase. The trip fell through, but I had made a non-refundable hotel reservation, so we all went to Chicago together instead. We had a great time. Chase swam in the hotel pool several times and we all had the most fun playing at Millenium Park downtown. Chase didn't mind being pushed all day in his fancy stroller and Ryan estimates that we walked 9 miles that day. I realized something about vacationing with a child while on the trip. We all had the most fun when we were doing something that Chase enjoyed, like playing in water or swimming. It was another reminder that the pace of life has changed and that we need to embrace that. There's nothing like being a part of something that makes your little one smile to send sunshine into your heart!

Chase continues to be a joy. He is a very silly kid who loves laughing and smiling. Hardly anything gets him down (except being told 'no') and I find his happiness contagious. I was talking with someone the other day and reflecting that, yeah, parenting is a lot of work, and yeah, we were tired a lot, but I laugh and smile more on a daily basis since Chase has arrived, and that is what makes him worth it.

Happy June to you all!

May

Chase and I on Mother's Day

Chase taking flight with Ryan

He loves soaring through the air!

Smiley (and drooly boy); 8.5 months

Look at those stripes!?!

Loving the shoelaces

Noodles and parmesan. Delicious. Messy.



May was a hectic month for us. After one job prospect for me left, another presented itself, which meant more prep for interviewing, more time away from Chase and Ryan, and more whatif-ing until we all about fell over. I was offered a job, but decided to turn it down, after receiving notice that a grant I co-wrote was funded. This grant has me working in Chicago (downtown on the lakeshore), but here in Bloomington most of the year. So, big sigh of relief for all, we are staying put...for now. May in Chase's world brought the introduction of chicken, noodles, egg, and yogurt. We are getting closer to him eating meals that look more like something Ryan and I would eat, which is exciting. May was not a good month for sleeping, but as evidenced by the shoelace chewing, Chase was teething. May began with a lot of questions about where we were going to move and ended with the answer to stay put for now.

Life is full, but Chase remains hungry

We've been having lots of fun over here at Chambers Drive. So much that it has been hard to take moments away from playing and trying to sleep that we've fallen a bit behind.

Chase is 7 months old today. He has two bottom teeth, is close to crawling, eating solids and feeding himself a bottle. He's been a busy growing boy! We have enjoyed getting to know him. He has a sunny personality and loves to laugh. The hardest part seems to be getting him to slow down enough to sleep!

We often remind ourselves that we would rather have a happy healthy boy than a naturally good sleeper (lucky are those who have kids that are all three!).

I had a much longer post planned out, but, well, it got deleted. So, we're still here and trying to enjoy each day on little, little sleep.

Happy spring to all!

Life is full but Chase remains hungry (pictures to accompany post)

If I had to choose this blog business all over again, I would never have picked blogger. It has the most unfriendly photo uploading process I know of. Grr. Here are the pictures I would have liked to have put into the text.
Hello! Shout out to Oma and other IUPUI Jaguars.

Chase at Little 500 Quals. We were cheering Aunt Kayla's friend JT on.

Chase: an avid consumer of fine literature

"I'd like to feed myself. Thank you very much."

Chase is very curious about the world. His profile just kills me. He looks less like a baby and more like a boy every day.

Chase on hands and knees. 7 months (4/11/10)

Pivoting to get is very favorite blue elephant




Foot tracker. This kid's foot is huge!

Snow time is better than baby time!

It is snowing here as if mother nature is unaware that we are nearing the end of February and not Decemeber. Rather than curse the mother of all nature, I should be cursing our nemesis of prolonged winter; the groundhog! You can see the dissaproval in the faces of the two here:

Regardless of weather, we were able to gather as a family and the two cousins (Chase and Gwendolyn) were able to meet up and have some fun time while the grown ups enjoyed some quiet time and needed conversations (sarcasm). The melt down from the picture above happened much later in the day. This picture is more indicative of what the afternoon looked like as we celebrated Chase's Aunt Christy's birthday. They were faily subdued in the playtime approach, but we enjoy that kind of style from the two.

Their personalities are starting to uncover and this was apparent throughout the afternoon. The parents and relatives are already assigning roles for each. This is what has been delegated to both:

Gwen is the brains behind the operation. She sits back and watches the scenario and quietly studies her surroundings. She may make sublte moves but, unlike Chase, she would rather figure it all out in her head before she reacts.

Chase is a go getter! He is grabbing after objects and trying to find a way to get them if they are not in reach. He saw a plug in the wall and his eyes widened. Completing a quick Plus/Delta in my head - the delta outweighed the positives that could come out of this scenario. We are both pleased that he is developing, but it becomes a reminder that our house is in need of a serious overhaul of most, if not all, objects! You can see this through his misheivous look here -

Overall, Chase and cousin Gwen are doing well. We are always looking for ways to get the young boy to sleep at night, but we might as well understand that he is and will always be a work in progress. We will always be pushing him to be the best that he can be in all endeavors he takes on. (That was not an Army reference). If it is not sleep, then it will be something else we are all working on to give him what we feel is the best life.

Here are a few more pictures of the weekend and to show his ability to sit up and be active:

Finding sunshine in the midst of darkness

I know; it's been awfully quiet on the Chambers Log for quite some time. We've had an adventurous little while. I started writing this post chronicalling all of the hard stuff, but I want to look forward instead of behind. So, I'll just report it all quickly and get to some pics of Chase, who is 5 months on Wednesday!

January saw a death in Ryan's family, strep throat for me, RSV bronchiolitis for Chase, a bad head cold for me, and extreme exhaustion for all.

sleeping when we can where we can...

In the midst of all the chaos, there was plenty of kindness. My mom helped us immensely when I got strep and Chase first had RSV. Then, when Chase was recovering and I got sick Ryan's mom came to stay and help for a week. We all couldn't have survived without their compassion and care.

we survived!

In the midst of illness, Chase learned how to roll over and is working REALLY hard at sitting up on his own.

Loves his play gym and staring at the other baby in the mirror!

We've also started giving him little tastes of food. So far, he's tried sweet potatoes, avocado, bananna, and applesauce. None of them seem to strike his fancy; I'm told compared to breastmilk even banana is not that sweet. So we've been trying rice cereal and breastmilk, which he LOVES. We cannot shovel it into his mouth fast enough!

I'll smile as long as you keep that stuff coming, lady!

What felt like a very dark month has given way to a shiny and hopeful February. We have hired someone to care for Chase in our home. She is sweet and I think will take excellent care of Chase. I am happy to say goodbye to his daycare, hopefully forever.
Chase is proving to be an engaging and sweet-natured little cuddler. While nursing, he pushes away, makes eye contact with me and gives his biggest grin possible. That, or he begins laughing so hard his little body shakes. There truly is nothing better than those moments of smiling and laughing. All of the hard stuff fades away and my heart is continually renewed by our sweet boy.

doesn't he already look like a little boy? Heartbreaking and exciting at the same time.