Tummy Time!

Chase has become quite the fan of tummy time these days. Maybe because I've been forcing it upon him, since letting him sleep on his stomach at night. I want to make sure his neck muscles are getting good and strong and that he can easily move his head from side to side, which he can pretty well. For about the past week, Chase has slept in the pack-n-play in our room so that I could keep a close eye on his tummy sleeping. (And he's had a cold with lots of congestion, so he's been waking frequently.) Well, today I scored my Angelcare monitor on Craigslist from a very nice teacher in Frisco. I paid 30% of what Babies R' Us sells it for, and she had it all in the original packaging with the instruction booklet. So, tonight Chase is back in his own bed, and I can hear the 'tic' on the monitor with every breath he takes; definitely puts my mind at ease as he sleeps on his tummy.
And as you can see in the above pic, his eyes are still an irresistible shade of blue! I'm starting to think that they may stay this way and not change to brown/hazel like the rest of the fam. :)

Our Little Sports Star!

It looks like our money is paying off! We have Austin enrolled in the 'Amazing Athletes' program at his daycare where an outside group comes in once a week to work with them on various sports drills and athletic activities. And he has his own personal baseball coach, Uncle LoLo, so he's bound for athletic greatness! :)

Here he is mid-pitch; he already has quite the arm on him!

Practicing on his t-ball set!

Playing some hoops with the family!

I don't know where he gets it from.....

But Austin has been in a phase recently where he likes to remove his pants and diaper in his crib at night. This is what I found when I went to tuck him in before I went to bed tonight. He obviously gets this from Jordan's genes, not mine!

Brothers Forever!

Austin seems to love Chase more and more each day! And he loves to help Mommy out! The other night, Jordan had to work late, so I was solo with the boys. Austin helped me mix up Chase's bottle, helped me give him a bath, and helped calm him down by rubbing his hand while I was trying to get him dressed. I truly am so surprised at how well he has adapted to having a sibling that needs Mommy's attention as well. Now, I'm sure in 6 months when Chase is trying to play with his toys, it may be a different story. But in the meantime, I will cherish these sweet moments. :)Austin looks so much older these days as far as his appearance goes, and is acting more grown up as well. He refuses to sit in his high chair anymore, or the booster seat on the chair. So, we have brought a bar stool to the table that is perfect height and he loves it. On Valentine's night, I had wine glasses out for me and Jordan to partake in some wine. Austin wanted some, so I found a small plastic wine glass and filled it with apple juice. We then taught him how to 'Cheers!' and he thought it was the greatest thing drinking out of that glass. He looks so big in his bed these days, and I'm debating on when I want to convert his crib. He doesn't really try to climb out of it yet, so I'm hesitant to change it. I can just imagine him getting out of his toddler bed at night and wandering around his room.

As for Chase, he is nearly 6 weeks old now. In fact, I have my 6 week post-partum check-up at the Dr.'s office tomorrow to see if my blood pressure issues have finally resolved, check on my c-section incision healing, and to make sure my 'lady parts' have gone back to normal. :) Anyways, I can't believe how big Chase has gotten. I think he's approaching 10lbs. now and is finally outgrowing some of his newborn-sized clothes. As for his sleep situation, the kid just hates to sleep on his back. That's all there is to it. He loves to nap in his swing, bouncy seat, or while being held, but not so much flat on his back in his crib. Last night, I thought I had planned on finally laying down the law with the back-sleeping. But after going in there 10 times in a 2-hour time span, I was exhausted. So, I finally gave in and brought him into our room. He fell asleep in my arms and then I laid him in the bed in between us on his tummy and he slept 8 hours! He sleeps so soundly when on his tummy. And I swore up and down I would never put a kid in the bed with us; we never did with Austin. But at some point, Momma's got to sleep! Since Jordan's working right now and I'm not, I bear the burden of having to get up at night.But the tummy sleeping has me a little stressed. I know the APA recommends that you put babies to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS and all. But when I was little, they recommended you put kids on their tummies, and I turned out okay. Chase has been doing pretty good with lifting his head and stuff, so I feel a little bit better about putting him on his stomach. But just to ease my mind, I've decided to get one of the Angelcare monitors that has a sensor pad under the baby to detect the baby's movements. If there is no movement for 20 seconds, an alarm sounds. In the meantime before I get it, I've set-up the pack-n-play in our room for him to sleep on his tummy. That way I can keep a close eye on him. Ultimately, every parent has to do what they think is best for them and their baby, so that's what we're doing. :)

And I finally got my birth announcements mailed out. Yay!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Happy Valentine's Day!! Jordan and I had our Valentine's date on Friday night. Our daycare was doing a 'Parents' Night Out', so we took advantage of it for both our boys. That's right, they watched Chase as well, even though he's not even going there yet. We were pretty excited! Definitely worth the $25 each to keep them until midnight. :) I thought I would have been nervous to leave Chase, but I wasn't. I think it's because I know the women up there now, trust them, and have seen what a great job they have done with Austin.

Anyways, Jordan had some beautiful tulips delivered to the house for me on Friday afternoon. Then we got all gussied up for our date night! We enjoyed a delicious hibachi dinner at Kyoto and then checked out a movie ('Just Go With It'). We had a great time having some rare Mommy & Daddy alone time. We picked up the boys at 11:30, and what do you know, Austin was still awake playing! And Chase did great up there too.

Hope everyone has a terrific Valentine's Day with the one you love! I know I am thankful for all my boys! Love Love!

One Month Old Already!

Happy 1 month to our little peanut, Chase! I know I said this before, but time is truly flying by so fast! I can't believe it's been a month already. I weighed him this weekend and he is nearly 9lbs. now. I know I've been bragging about what a good sleeper he's been, but now it's coming back to bite me in the ass! He's had his days & nights mixed up a little lately, so at 3am, he's wide awake. Not crying, but definitely not wanting to lay down and go to sleep. But I'm dealing with it. :) Other than that, he is doing wonderful, and eating 6 oz. about every 4 hours now.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

What is going on with this weather?! I was pretty sure I lived in Texas, so this is just ridiculous! I am so ready for summer (I'd say Spring, but TX doesn't really have one) to get here. Today is day 4 of this terrible ice/snow storm that is crippling half of the country. And in Texas, we just don't handle this stuff very well, so everything pretty much just shuts down and people freak out. Since I'm on maternity leave, I'm not really affected by our office shutting down for four days in a row (which is kind of a record, I think). It's busy season, and the work still has to get done, so I guess everyone is just working from home and being thankful for our new eAudit world. :) Most school districts have been closed for four days as well, which usually means that our daycare shuts down as well. Needless to say, I have had plenty of Mommy-time with my boys all week. :) We have played with every toy in the house, watched a few movies, and just laid around! I can't bring myself to take Austin out in the snow to play today. It's like 20 degrees and really windy, and I just don't want him to get sick.

My sis is a teacher in Frisco and her school was canceled too, so her and Logan came out Tuesday night and stayed with us until Thursday at lunch. I welcomed them with open arms; I am getting so stir crazy in this house! On Wednesday afternoon, we were going to go to Chuck E. Cheese to let Austin run off some energy. However, they closed early because of the weather. Hmmmm.....what to do now. We ventured up the road to Shenaniganz, which is kinda like a Main Event. We all played games in the arcade, did some bowling, and had dinner. It was a blast, and Austin enjoyed himself alot!The cold weather has obviously brought Austin and Chase closer. Austin is being a great big brother! His favorite tasks include: shaking up the water & formula in a bottle for me, putting the dirty bottles in the sink, bringing me diapers to change Chase, giving Chase kisses, and putting his blankets on Chase to keep him warm. Watching the two of them just absolutely warms my heart! I can't wait til Chase can actually interact with Austin. And I can't believe that Chase is four weeks old today! Time is flying by too fast. :(On a side note, Jordan and I are getting to go out on a date tomorrow night! Our nephew's 5th birthday party is tomorrow afternoon, and then Jordan's parents are watching Austin and Chase for a few hours for us to go to Studio Movie Grill to see 'No Strings Attached'. So excited for some Mommy & Daddy time! :)