9 Months and Counting!

Get that thought out of your head! Nope, I'm not preggers.  My sweet Chase is 9 months old today! Another month has come and gone so quickly.  He has recovered well from his ear tube surgery on Monday and has been sleeping better already.  There's been a period of time over the past month where every night he would wake up and cry for about an hour around 10pm.  And we're not used to kids who don't sleep well! But ever since Monday, he's been sleeping like a baby.......a baby that loves his sleep. :)  Over the past two weeks, I've been letting him sample some regular table food (not purees), and he has just been double-fisting it like a mad man.  So, I officially made my last batch of baby food this past weekend and once that runs out, no more. I'm so excited!  He's also fully crawling all over the house now.  No more leaving him on the living room floor for a few minutes to play while I whip up dinner (and expecting him to stay!).  He loves to follow Austin from room to room, too.  Austin is adapting to Chase getting into all of toys now. :)

We've been taking advantage of the cooler weather lately.  Well, cooler in TX terms......87 degrees. Every night after we get home, I take the boys for a ride in the wagon around the neighborhood.  Chase just sits in his seat, props up his leg, and enjoys the ride. He is truly at a fun age right now, and I'm trying to soak it all up. I feel like before I know it, I'll be planning his 1st birthday party.  Wait, I already am planning it! (That's a whole other post though!)  We have a playset/swingset in the backyard, but we finally got a  baby swing to put on it for Chase, and he just lets out the biggest laughs when he swings.

We're just truly blessed to have such a mellow little guy! Love you Chase Chase!

Shoveling food in his mouth

Loves his new swing!

Enjoying the beautiful weather

Posing for pictures for Mommy :)

I don't know where it got them, but I LOVE those blue eyes!

Wagon ride around the neighborhood

Chillin' in his stroller

Standing up and exploring new things

Ear Tube Surgery

We had to be up super-early this morning for Chase's surgery to have tubes put in his ears.  On a usual morning, he wakes up at 7 or 7:30.  Well, he must have known something was up this morning, because he woke up at around 5am!  This is not a good thing, especially since we were under strict instructions not to give him anything to eat or drink after midnight last night.  My plan was to wait to the very last minute to get him up and put him in the car. I tried getting him back to sleep for a little bit, but soon enough it was time to head to the surgery center for our 6:30 check-in.  Our daycare doesn't open til 6:30am, so Jordan took Austin to school and I headed to the surgery center with Chase. My mom wanted to be there too, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands until Jordan arrived.

He was such a trooper, especially getting up way too early and then not being able to have his morning bottle.  Finally at 7:30, it was our turn to say good-bye.  I handed over my sweet little boy, wearing an adorable tiger hospital gown to our friendly nurse. 

Twenty five minutes later, the ENT came out to the waiting room to tell us he was done and all went well.  Dr. Antony explained that he was glad we went ahead and did the tubes now rather than waiting a few more months.  There was fluid in both his ears, and some of it was a gray, gluey substance.  Yuck! He said this could have seriously affected his hearing if not treated quickly.  He took a sample of the fluid to be tested, to make sure it wasn't a strong bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics or anything else serious.  As soon as we walked through the doors, I could hear him crying.  Poor thing was just so confused, tired, and hungry.  I quickly pulled out his bottle.  He quickly recognized his Dr. Brown bottle, grabbed it, and went to town; guzzling it in record time.  After the nurse got some more vitals signs, we were sent on our way. He was still pretty cranky on the way home and screamed most of the way.  Mommy rocked him for about 10 minutes and he drifted off to sleep. :) 

He took a good 2 1/2 hour nap and got up and ate lunch like usual.  He seems to be back to his playful self already.  Although, there is some nasty stuff draining from his ears already.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes today! They were greatly appreciated!

Coming Full Circle

There are certain parts of my life that I don't talk about very openly often, especially on my blog.  Years ago, Jordan and I decided we were ready to start trying to have a family of our own.  Of course, being a young couple, we thought it would happen right of way and be relatively easy with no stress. Boy were we wrong.  After a year of trying, we finally got pregnant that summer, the week of my birthday.  It was the best present ever.  We told everybody and anybody, almost right away.  I was too naive to know that things don't always work out how I expected them to.  In the midst of our joy, we learned that I was miscarrying, and I was absolutely devastated.  I literally just wanted to lay in bed for days and cry. But we all know, life must go on.  I was such a mess after all of that, and it was compounded by the fact that many people around me were sharing news that they were expecting.  Jordan didn't know what to do with me.  I was in a true depression.

Shortly before Christmas, I stumbled across a message board on iVillage for those TTCAM (trying to conceive after miscarriage).  There were tons of women on this board, who were going through the same pain as me. I could share my feelings, get advice on what worked for them, and also offer support to them. It was a great outlet for me to find some support.  While my friends/family in real life were there for me, it was comforting to talk about my feelings with those going through the same emotions.  Four months later, I got pregnant. It was difficult to announce my pregnancy to my friends on the board, as they were still struggling. But now I needed a different kind of support, for all the anxiety that the same thing would happen and I would be left heartbroken again. Luckily, there was a small group of us from the TTCAM board who got pregnant around the same time.  We all wanted to keep in touch and continue to be there for each other, so we started up our own private message board where only we could access it.

It's incredible the bond that women can share, especially when you haven't even met in real life.  These women are just incredible, to have to endure the things that they did.  Many had recurring miscarriages, up to five.  Some had to actually deliver their miscarried babies at nearly 5 months along. I cannot even imagine having to do that.  Some were using the help of fertility drugs, IVF, and IUI to help fulfill their dreams of becoming a mother.  Needless to say, this is a strong group. Don't get me wrong, we come from a wide range of backgrounds, have different political views, and live all around the US (and one in the UK!).  But we are drawn together by the things we have endured, and we wanted to stick together.

After a couple months on the private board, one of the other girls who lived in Fort Worth and I decided to meet up for the first time. It was the funniest day, especially because her husband came to drop her off at the restaurant to make sure I wasn't a crazy lady wanting to snatch the baby out of her belly! I laugh, because Jordan just sent me on my way, all by myself. :) It was incredible to finally meet in person.  Since meeting Kyla, she has been to my house and I have been to hers, and our boys have played together.  I have also been lucky enough to travel to Chicago for work and sneak in a visit with Stephanie and Joell while I was there and meet their kiddos.  And today, I finally got to meet Emily (from California) and part of her clan, while she is in Dallas visiting family.  It's weird, because when we meet each other in person and talk, it's like we've been friends in real life for years. And to watch our kids play together is just a blessing.

There are still other girls in the group that I need to meet with and hopefully that will one day happen.  It's been almost 4 years since we first 'met' online, and I am proud to call these girls my friends. We used to joke about going on Oprah to tell our story and all meet up.  Well, Oprah's off the air now. But two girls recently submitted our story to the Rachel Ray show for one of their topics. Who knows, maybe you'll see me on tv one day with this great group of girls, who helped me through a terrible time in my life.

*I'm not including pictures in this post, for those who wish to remain anonymous. :)

Bleh!

What a weekend! And not in a good way.  Friday afternoon, I had just wrapped up a community service event from work and got a call from the daycare that Chase had the poopies. So, I get to the daycare about 2:30 and bring both boys home.  Hopefully it would stop at just the poopies, but we weren't so lucky.  After Chase napped at home, he got a bottle and then some snacks to munch on. As I was just about to pick him up from his high chair, he projectile-vomited all over himself, the kitchen, and Mommy.  Happy Friday. After stripping him down, I got him into the bath and cleaned up.  He played in my lap for a few minutes and then off to bed.  Surprisingly, he slept rather well, but I continuously checked on him in fear he would throw up in his crib.  After sleeping in til about 9am on Saturday, the boys and I got up.  Chase had just finished drinking his bottle, and I put him in his highchair to feed him some fruit, and deja vu. Ugh, more vomit.  Poor thing was just not feeling well.  Back to the bath for clean-up again.  After getting him dressed, I just held him in the glider in his room and he quickly drifted off to sleep.

The rest of the day, he just kinda laid around, munched on some snacks, and drank Pedialyte.  But you could tell he didn't feel well.  My biggest fear this whole time was that Austin would get this stomach bug, too.  I tried to keep him away from Chase as much as I could. Before going to bed, Austin said his tummy hurt. So, we caved and let him lay down in our bed with us.  Then, I wake up at 1:30 in the morning to him throwing up everywhere in our bed.  Not a pretty sight.  We stripped the bed, got Austin all washed up, and all moved to a pallet in the living room. After watching Shrek for about 20 minutes, we were back to sleep.  Austin tossed and turned most of the night, and I didn't sleep well. I heard him sit up, I grabbed the bucket, and he got sick again at 5:30am. I couldn't take much more.  Shrek again for 10 minutes, and then back to sleep again.  After sleeping in a little bit this morning, we got up and I feared another day of sickness.  We just laid around the house today, and neither one of them ate too much.  But I could tell this evening that both of them were mostly back to their playful selves.

Hopefully we've seen the last of it, and Mommy & Daddy won't get the next round.  My tummy has been a little queasy all day. But I can't decide if it's from cleaning up all the vomit or the bug getting me.  Knock on wood, I will be spared.

The Date is Set!

After Chase's consult with the ENT this morning, we have set a date for his ear tube surgery.....Oct. 3rd.  It was a quick meeting for him to review his history of chronic ear infections, noted he was a 'daycare kid', and woolah, we were a great candidate for the surgery.  I'm nervous about it, but ready to get it over with.  I can't imagine what cold/flu season will be like if we don't get this done before then.  And it's the same Dr. that did Austin's surgery, so we're familiar with him and the procedure.  Hopefully it will be a speedy recovery, and he will be a happier baby afterwards!

Daddy trying to entertain him as we waited

He looked like he was ready to take off running!

Happy baby!

Crazy Eight!

Happy 8 months to my little big boy, Chase Cooper!  I'm not even going to say that it's flying by, because I would just be repeating myself from last month. :)  He really is just a happy, mellow guy, and his personality is just shining through all the time now.  He cut 3 teeth on the top about two weeks ago, and the other top one is due to break through any minute now, which will make a total of 6.  He could practically eat a cheeseburger now, probably would if I let him!  He weighed in at a little over 21 lbs. yesterday at the Dr.'s office, and I feel the weight of every single pound while toting him around in my arms. 

He still loves to eat and devours all of the purees I've been making for him.  And he loves to munch on some Gerber puffs or yogurt melts in between meals.  Another accomplishment this month: he holds his bottle to feed himself.  I love this new development, because it allows me to have my hands free to do other tasks.  His favorite spot is leaned back in his high chair with his legs propped up while he drinks it.  This past weekend he has started to really put pressure on his legs and stand up and hold onto things.  The sight of this breaks my heart, knowing he will be fully mobile really soon.  Not sure I'm ready for my baby to grow up!  As far as being mobile right now, he does an army crawl, but really prefers to just roll across the room to get to where he needs to go; it's the funniest thing.

Austin and Chase play together often and we've been working with Austin on sharing his toys with his little brother.  Some days are better than others. :) But I love to watch them in the bath together.  A friend at work brought me a bath seat to use for him and he loves it!

We had a rough weekend, especially Monday night.  He slept all of about three hours all night.  It was our roughest night as parents to date.  Took him to the pediatrician yesterday, and what-do-you-know; another ear infection.  We were referred to an ENT and will meet with him next Wednesday.  He was the same doctor that put Austin's tubes in, so we pretty much know the process from here.  Most likely we'll get them put in before the end of the month.  The thought of putting him under scares me, but I know it's necessary to make him feel better in the long run.  Especially before we get into cold and flu season where he'd be more likely to have ear infections. So, if you can spare some, we'd appreciate any prayers you can send our way. I'm sure I'll have an update next week after we meet with the ENT. 

Here are a few pics from the past month.  The first two are from my fancy new camera, with a little editing by Photoshop.  Photography is one of my new hobbies. :)

 Daddy and Chase

Love those beautiful blue eyes! 

All smiles (and muscles!)

Foot propped up and chilling while Mommy cooks dinner

 Growing up too fast!

Playing cars with big brother

Austin showing Chase how to color in the bath 

Loooooove those cheeks!

Slightly Addicted

Okay, 'slightly' may not be the correct adjective here. Truly addicted, probably, to the greatest internet idea ever (well, at least one of the top).  Pinterest.  My neighbor mentioned it to me a few weeks ago, when she was looking for ideas for her son's 1st birthday. So, I created an account, started following people, and woolah! I was in heaven! For those of you who aren't aware of the greatness, it's basically 'pinning' recipes, DIY, gift ideas, etc. into categories on my board, and all my friends can see.  Okay, well, that didn't make it sound all that wonderful, you have to look it up yourself.  I have found some amazing recipes, ideas for the boys' birthday parties, easy & cheap holiday decor to make, and lots more!  Last night, I made some s'mores cookies I found on Pinterest and they were YUMMY!

And then tonight, I made a creamy pasta w/chicken, too. I'm in love.

I'm sure you'll see many more creations in the upcoming months with the holidays and both boys' birthdays.  If you're not on Pinterest, get on it!  Especially you crafty mommies! :)