Pictures from Chase's Baptism - Oct. 10, 2010

Both families here to celebrate!

Our sweet family...

With Gigi and Papa

With Nana and PopE

I love Happy
!

Happy 8th Month Birthday Chase!

Wow! Where did the time go?! Chase is already 8 months old! I cannot believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital all wrapped up in a blanket and walking in the house wondering, "what do we do now?!" Over the last 8 months, we definitely have learned a lot about child rearing...more lessons to follow, I know!

It is hard to imagine that you can love someone so much. The love between a parent and a child is amazing and so strong. Chase is a blessing to us and we look forward to the many years to come.

So what is Chase up to now a days?!

*He is now into crawling and pulling up on things. You can't leave him for a second without him trying to climb up on something. Needless to say this has caused a few bumps but he is learning his way around!

*He still Army crawls a bit and boy can he move! You can walk away and he'll be at your feet in no time. As of yesterday, he has started to crawl much more. Matt and I still need to baby proof the house...

*Chase is now in a big boy car seat. We went to Babies R Us yesterday to get a car seat for him. He went for a flu shot last Thursday night and I asked them to weigh him. He weighs 20 lbs 8.7 ounces, so he can move up! Still rear facing but a step up! The infant carrier was getting to be a little much for me to carry and he actually started to hate it. He still has it when he's in Matt's car (because car seats are so dang expensive) but my guess is he won't have it long there!

*He now says mama. Of course, he doesn't know that I am "mama" but that' s ok. I still pretend that he does :) We are trying out the dada but "d's" are harder.

*He has pretty much gone through all the baby stage 1 foods. With the milk protein allergy we were a little worried about bringing foods on too fast, so took our time. So far he likes everything except peas. And sweetie, I can't blame you there!

*He was baptized on October 10th and he was a charmer! He was so good during the service!

*Chase has 2 bottom teeth and 2 coming in up top. He is SO good about the pain with them. It seems he has a high pain tolerance like his mom!

*Still not sleeping through the night but mom and dad don't mind. We actually are used to waking up and working on little sleep :) so it's not a problem getting up. We've tried to make him cry it out, but he cries for an hour and a half and that's miserable to us. He'll grow out of it by the time he's 13, surely!

I think that's about it! I hope to be better about keeping my "record" updated with what he is doing!

Pictures to come later!

We love you Chase more than you'll ever know!

My goal...

I am on a mission to lose this baby weight. I can no longer pull the "I just had a baby" routine...he's almost 8 months old! In my defense, it was hard to work out during the summer. We were paying someone hourly to watch Chase and I just felt guilty paying for an hour while I worked out. But, I was at a point where I needed to do something.

In 2004 (I think), I ran the Kiawah Island Half Marathon. My goal? To run the whole way. And did I? HECK YEA! Of course, at the end, I couldn't feel my limbs but I did in fact run the whole way.

So now I am motivated to do it again. In DISNEY WORLD!!!! How fun!!! Slight problem...I'm somewhat behind the 8 Ball. As of 3 weeks ago, it had been a good year since I had run. I ran a little bit when I first got pregnant but then used the pregnancy as an excuse.

IF I have the nerve to sign up for the run, I may not be able to run the whole way. I have worked my way up to 3.2 miles, but that is a long way from 13.1.

Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted!

Hilton Head 2010

Little man loving the blue chair!

Taking the family on a joy ride in the golf cart...

About to head to the beach. Watch out ladies!

Poor thing...he was so exhausted. He loved the pool but needed a break.

And I'm not quite sure why the pictures below are organized the way they are. Again, don't have the patience to figure it out! These are from Hilton Head. Matt and I went parasailing on Sunday and Matthew and Leslie went with us. On Saturday, we watched the Clemson/Auburn game...close one :(

Are we still here?

I have to say that I have seriously debated about whether or not to continue this blog. As I sit here, just home from work, with a stack of clothes a mile high, an upstairs that needs to be vaccumed, butternut squash in the oven for Chase's food, a dog barking like crazy at a horse on the tv and a baby I'm trying to make sure stays asleep, I think keeping this thing up is crazy. But maybe if I see it as a source of rest, I'll get back to loving updating it. I know that this is the way some people keep up with us so I figured it is probably a good thing for me to keep it going. I apologize for being on a three month hiatus....I hope to be better.

So what has been going on with us? What hasn't maybe the question :) Not really, we've just been extremely busy. Matt has been traveling a good bit and I've been back in work mode. My partner retired from the company back in May, so it has been an adjustment. But, work has been going really well and I love it more and more each day. I have such flexibility which is great! I can play with Chase in the morning, take him to the nanny (who is amazing!) about 10 and work the rest of the day. Usually I pick Chase up about 4:30 or 5 and play with him until bedtime. When he goes to sleep, I go back to work...of course, my office is right under his bedroom, so that is great!

Matt is doing well with golf. We are gearing up for Q-School which starts October 26th. Please keep us in your prayers. Any wives of golfers (and golfers, of course) know what the Fall holds when it comes to professional golf! But, we know everything will be great!

And the little man of the house?! He's amazing! We have been truly blessed with the world's best child! I know everyone says that but I really do know it for Chase. We had a rough few weeks at the beginning with his milk protein allergy. But ever since we got that straightened out, he has been PERFECT! He is growing like a little weed...19 pounds, 7 ounces at his 6 month check up and I know he's gained weight since then. No one can say he goes without food! He's perfect in every way!

We finally found a Nanny for Chase. She is SUCH a blessing to us! We have thoroughly enjoyed her and look forward to the years to come. She keeps Chase and Ryan at her house every day and the kids love her! After 6 long months of searching, we finally found a perfect match!

We went to the beach a couple of weeks ago with my family. We had a great time and Chase did well! I was somewhat worried about him being outside his element, but he did great. Vacations with a child are far different than without a child, that's for sure! I now understand when people say they need a vacation from their vacation. We got back home on Monday and I took Tuesday as a "recoop" day.

Last Sunday we baptized Chase and what a wonderful day it was. We had friends and family come to the church service. Matt and I were so worried Chase would be the one who screams through the whole service, but lo and behold, he didn't! I was especially worried because, of course, we couldn't get him to nap before the service. We resorted to Matt driving him around

for 30 minutes, but even that didn't work. He got a 10 minute catnap which worked good enough. He was a champ throughout the whole ceremony.

Let's see...what else?! I guess nothing. In the next post I will update pictures. I don't have the patience to put them in order so they may be all out of chronological order. It's late (for me) and my patience wears thin after 8 :)..and now it especially is worn thin as I just heard a thud upstairs and Hogan has gone into Chase's room and taken everything off the bookshelf...darn dog!

If you're still reading at this point, you're a good person! :)

Much love,

Melanie, Matt and sweet baby Chase