Muffins with Mom!!!

In celebration of Mother's Day, Austin's school had 'Muffins with Mom' this morning.  By the time we made it to school, Chase was already back asleep, so I laid him in his crib and he didn't get to participate in the fun.  Next year, kiddo. :)  Although Austin was disappointed because I didn't make him his daily smoothie this morning (bad Mommy!), he quickly got over it when he saw the delicious array of muffins, pastries, fruit, and juice.  After making our selections, we headed back to the classroom and took our seats at the breakfast table. Granted, they were tiny seats for toddlers, but I made it work.  As soon as we sat down, other kids just swarmed around us.  We had a good time eating our muffins, but then Mommy had to head into work. 

Now, tonight my Mother's Day gift.....Parents' Night Out!  Jordan and I are headed to enjoy some hibachi and adult beverages, then to watch the Mavs game somewhere.  Exciting times! :)

Itchy No More!

I'm happy to report that Chase has made a quick recovery from his eczema flare-up.  I was so worried his sweet little face would never return to normal.  We went from this.....

To this, in a matter of 24 hours!  Yay!  You can't even tell there was a crazy rash taking over his face.

He's still itching at his head, so he gets to continue to wear socks as mittens. :)  He seemed to be in pretty good spirits tonight.  Well, that is until tomorrow morning when I take him for his 4-month checkup and get shots.  I'm not excited about this trip.  Usually I have Jordan there with me to hold the boys down for their shots, and then I swoop them up afterwards.  But since Jordan just started his new job this week, he's in training and can't get away.  I'll just have to step up, I guess.

Poor Baby!!

Chase has somehow managed to come down with a bad case of eczema on his face and head.  It will flare up, we'll get it under control, and then it returns with a vengeance.  This afternoon I took him to the pediatrician just to confirm my 'Mommy M.D.' diagnosis.  I was right.  Poor little guy has been so miserable and wanting to scratch at his face.  I've been forced to put socks on his hands so he doesn't irritate it anymore. :(  We got a cream that should make it 100% better in a few days.  I sure hope so; this condition is just breaking my heart to see him like this.  I take him back on Thursday for his 4-month checkup and shots and we hope he's all better by then.

On a side note, he weighed in at a hefty 15lbs. 14oz. today.  He's a few days shy of his 4-month mark, at which Austin weighed in at 16lbs. 3oz.  Looks like Chase is going to give Austin a run for his money!

Farewell....

Big changes coming to our family real soon.  Today is Jordan's last day at his current job.  He's been there 11 years, and it was just time to move on to other opportunities.  We've been thankful for his job and the family atmosphere that it brought, especially time needed off for my pregnancies and when kiddos are sick.  But it's been six days a week, every week, for 11 years.  That will definitely wear on you after awhile.  His new gig will bring new challenges to both him and I.  Moving out of his comfort zone after being there for so long will definitely take some adjusting to.  But everyone who knows Jordan, knows that he's a 'people person' and can sell the crap out of anything. ;)  His new schedule will allow him to work five days a week, but his days off will most likely be during the week.  Yikes!  That means I will spend a significant amount of time by myself with the boys on the weekends.  And there will be several nights during the week that he'll get home after the boys are already in bed.  (How this affects me and my job schedule has yet to be determined; more on that at a later date.)  It will take some getting used to, but we're hoping it will just be short-term and this position will be a great stepping stone to better opportunities at the company.

Jordan starts his four-week training program on Monday, which will be Mon.-Fri.  Needless to say, I will be making the most of these next five weekends he will get to spend with me and the boys.  I've got a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, LegoLand, and other fun stuff planned.  We feel like we're making the best decision for our family to reach our long-term goals and that the sacrifices we're making now will be worth it.  We're trying to focus on the positive impacts mainly.  One thing I'm excited about, is that we will we able to meet up for lunch sometimes when I'm working near him.  And he'll be able to experience a whole new world of dining choices working in the big city now. :) And we're hoping that every now and then he can keep the boys out of school on his day off to spend some fun one-on-one time with them and/or come meet Mommy for lunch. 

Stay tuned for updates on our new journey!

Easter Celebration: Part II

Finally, I have a few minutes to update from our busy Easter weekend.  Saturday morning, Austin and I made some cupcakes to take to Jordan's parents' house on Sunday.  I let Austin pick out the cake mix and the food coloring (green) for the batter.  He obviously shares my love for the kitchen and his favorite part is licking the spoon! :)  I love that he loves to cook & bake with Mommy!  I told Jordan I was going to get him an apron, and he thought they might be a little too girly.

That afternoon, one of the local churches was hosting an Easter carnival and egg hunt.  Unfortunately, it fell right during his usual naptime, so I wasn't sure how he would do.  He played a couple games, munched on a snowcone, and even got in the bounce house.  Of course, Mommy had to get in there the first time with him and climb the ladder to the slide. But after I went with him the first time, he was a mad-man going up all by himself.  I was so proud of him!

Unfortunately, shortly after the bounce house, it was still going to be another 20 minutes or so before they hunted eggs.  And we were pretty close to a meltdown.  He wasn't even talking, only nodding his head yes or no.  So, I decided to make a bee-line for the car.  He would have plenty of other opportunities to hunt eggs over the weekend.  But, the pastor stopped us at the car and gave Austin an entire sack of filled eggs!  Needless to say, this put a smile on his face right away.

Once we got home, we hid a couple of the eggs for him to find in the front yard before he laid down for a nap.  Then when he got up, he hunted eggs again.

And as usual, Chase slept through the festivities. :)  I'm sure next year, he'll be more into it.

Later that evening, we went and had our Easter dinner at Chili's with Katrina and Logan.  Yeah, Chili's; we're a pretty exciting bunch. :) And Austin loved playing with all of his goodies from his Easter basket from them.

After we got home from dinner, we decided to color eggs.  This was Austin's first attempt at coloring eggs and he loved it.  However, I did have to steal him away from watching his new Shrek movie, but I think he was glad. :) (But I hate how grown up he looks in the picture!)

On Easter morning, we gave the boys their Easter baskets, and Austin showed Chase his card.  He's so thoughtful!

After enjoying breakfast with Meow Meow and LoLo on Sunday morning and playing outside, we headed out to Jordan's parents' house for the rest of the day.  We got to visit with family and eat a delicious ham lunch.  Then Austin hunted for eggs with his two cousins.

And once again, can you guess what Chase did most of the day?  Yep, he slept.  Ugh, if I could sleep as much as this kid does, I would be the happiest person in the world!

And Austin definitely enjoyed all of the jelly beans and other candy.  I think it's fair to say that his meals over the weekend consisted of alot of sugar.  Hey, I'm choosing my battles these days!  After getting home, cleaning up the tornado that had hit our house over the weekend, I was pooped. It was definitely a busy weekend, but happy to spend it with special people in our lives.  And then back to work today.  Although, I did have one of my most productive days at work today, but more on that later. I'm off to get some shut eye.

First Family Pic!

I had good intentions of already having my pics and blog about Easter weekend up, but we just got so busy!  At 10pm last night, I finally sat down to try to do some work I needed to catch up on. Thirty minutes later, I said no way and went to bed.  (Granted, I did watch the 'William & Kate' movie on Lifetime, but I needed a mindless activity to wind-down from a crazy-busy weekend.  Don't judge!)

I'll get to the updating later, but in the meantime, I'm so happy to present to you our first family picture of the four of us!  Yes, it's been 3 1/2 months since Chase was born, but we finally have one of ALL of us in it.  And everyone is even looking at the camera.  Enjoy!

Easter: Part I

This will probably be the first of several Easter posts, since we have lots of festivities in the upcoming days.  Today, I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home, so that I could go up to Austin's egg hunt at school this afternoon.  I'm so glad I was able to go! (Well, for one reason, nearly every kid had a parent there, so I would have felt terrible.) 

The hunt didn't take long at all; these 2-year olds know exactly what to do! 

One of the teachers dressed up as the Easter bunny, and well, I knew how that was going to go.  But Austin wasn't alone, only 3 kids in his class weren't terrified of the big bad bunny.  I guess it's just this age. 

And not only did Austin get a bucket of eggs w/candy, one of his former teachers (who still spoils him way too much!) had a bag of goodies for him as well.  Pez candy dispenser, M&Ms, bubbles, and Rex (from Toy Story) roaring flashlight; she obviously knows the way to this kid's heart!  Thank you Miss Candace!!

Chase obviously didn't get to hunt eggs, but he brought home a gift for Mommy & Daddy.  I love that they do things like this!