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

Chase will be on television!

Got ya, didn't I? You thought our precious baby was going to be the star of a big time television commercial - perhaps like the baby on ETrade? Well, while we think he is absolutely cut out for the job, he isn't going to be on any commercials. But he still is going to be on tv...

When registering for Chase at Babies R'Us, I had a lot of help. Meg went with me to register and she told me pretty much everything I needed to know. I also checked with Stephanie to see if she would add anything. What I didn't do, was check my crystal ball and look into the future. What do you mean?, you may ask. Our sweet little 17 lb Chase is now in the business of moving - yep, rolling over. As I said in an earlier post, he rolls over all the time. Even in his crib!

At our 4 month check up, Dr. Dobson told us that since Chase has proven that he can sleep through the night, we now have to play the game of tough love. Mom tells me this isn't the first time this is going to happen. It ain't fun, she says, but it has to be done. So...tonight we start.

Actually, we started a couple of weeks ago. But the problem is, when he starts crying in the middle of the night, we don't know if he is just crying because he wants us or because he has rolled over and is stuck. Take right now for instance....I am listening to him scream from a nap....i guess you can call it a nap...it was 30 minutes - clearly not long enough. I know I should wait it out and see if he'll cry himself back to sleep but I ask myself, "Is he rolled over?"

Why am I telling all of you this? And why are you still reading, you wonder? Well, we've made the jump and bought a video monitor. The cheapest one on the market. I always thought they were silly until now. Hopefully this will make our nights a little less interesting :)

...I did go up and check on Chase (the monitor is not hooked up yet) and, of course, he is rolled over! The end of a short nap :(

If any of you have wise ideas of how to keep a baby on his back (and the sleep positioner isn't working), let me know!

Clarification

I got an email from a friend the other day asking if I was pregnant. Apparently my Father's Day blog post may have indicated that. Well....

We're not!! Soaking up every minute with Chase and not pregnant.

Thanks, Katie, for pointing it out! Didn't want rumors flying! :)

After our four month appointment (Chase weighed in at 16 lbs 5 oz and 26 inches long!), the doctor told us we could put Chase on rice cereal. We would ideally like him to sleep longer at night, so we thought this may be a solution. Dr. Dobson told us it doesn't work, but that everyone, including himself, tried it, so we took a stab at it. Needless to say, Chase is not the biggest fan of the stuff. I ate it and it doesn't taste bad, but I think the texture is what bothers him. The video is priceless :)

Father's Day

We were lucky to have Matt home for his first Father's Day!! Father's Day last year was very special to us. The Friday before, we found out we were pregnant! And now, we can celebrate with sweet Chase!

On Matt's one day in town, we slept in and went to brunch at Greenville Country Club. That place probably has the best brunch in town! Chase was good for the majority of the meal. :) After brunch we came home and we rested (or attempted to). After our brief glimpse of resting, Matt put together Chase's new exersaucer. Man, that is toy that has a million pieces! Why don't they put some of the pieces together for you?!

Another Long Overdue Post...

It seems like it has been months since I have posted any new pictures or videos of our sweet Chase. It's not that I don't want to! I am just pure lazy. When it gets to night, I'm worn out and still have the list of things that I need to do - wash bottles, wash clothes, clean the house...you name it. It's much easier when Matt is in town, that's for sure!

Hmm...the past month has been great! Chase is getting so incredibly big! It's amazing how much he changes from day to day! We have loved watching him grow and watching him learn so many new things. Here are some updates of what he can do...

- He can turn over from back to stomach. And boy, when he gets on a roll (ha!) we get worn out! You put him on his back and 5 seconds later he is over on his belly. He must do it 10 times in 3 minutes! He does know how to turn from stomach to back but is much happier letting us come to his rescue and flip him over.

- He likes to blow bubbles and make a "tooting" noise with his mouth. I was playing with him one day and doing it to him and he copied me. Needless to say, he does it all the time now :) He loves it!

- He is quite knowledgeable in the golf club department. He can analyze grips, shafts and blades. Got it from his mom :) No, really, PING sends a baby club out to the golfers who have babies. The color is blue and has his birth information on it. We love it! Thanks PING!

We never imagined having a baby would be this fun! He's a pure joy to our lives and we look forward to the many years to come! We love you Chase!