Thursday, September 30, 2010

Happy Mother's Day/Christmas to Me!

Yes, Yes... I know it is October... but back around mother's day, I came across a super cool website (which I can't seem to find anymore, otherwise I would post the link) and saw these cool business cards for moms. 'Cause when you are at the playground and meet another mom that you want to connect with, there is just never time to write down someone's info (if you even have a pen and paper!). I sent it along to Jeff in the hopes he would 'gift' it to me ;)... and then totally forgot about it with everything that has been going on this past year. So last week, Jeff whipped these out as an early Christmas present/belated Mother's Day gift for me :) YAY!
Speaking of some things that I would love to have as gifts, because I wouldn't buy them for myself and I would be afraid I would never use them :( are:
A sewing dress form... something about having a dress form in a room just seems COOL... sigh.


Cool boots
(Although I never know what I would wear with them :( )


Things I would love to have as gifts for the kids:
Handmade wooden teethers, rattles and toys... so beautifully made!
Baby TEETHING TOYS WOODEN moon and stars Ohio Maple Wood Block Teether
TEETHING BABY SAFE Dinosaur NATURAL ORGANIC Teething Free Play Maple Wood Pretend Baby Toddler Teether Toy Block Set
RATTLE ORGANIC The Handle Wooden Maple Waldorf Style Wood Rattle Teether TM for infant baby toddler

And, of course, these cute things
(the leggings, not the baby... I've got one of those already!):
Lil
Just some things I drool over ;)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Happy Birthday Chase :)


Happy 2nd Birthday to my baby boy!
You came into the world on September 26th
at 3:38am
weighed 6lbs
and were 18 inches long
and I loved you from the start...
(Password Chase1)

Chase is 2! from Mel Tsai on Vimeo.

A Birthday Slideshow for Chase :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What's up Doc?

Speaking of doctors - kind of - this past summer we learned that Chase was allergic to Cashews. Eeek! Scary to have to deal with, and it wasn't even that serious on the 'reaction' scale!

The doc prescribed an Eppi (sp?) pen for me to carry around in case his allergic reaction would ever get more severe, and wrote me a script to get Chase's blood taken and tested for other nut allergies.... I don't know HOW he thinks I am going to get an almost 2 year old to sit and get his blood drawn, but he was as insistent as I have ever seen him to get him tested. I guess it really would cut our worrying in half if we knew exactly what to avoid and/or the various levels of allergy to each type of nut. I wonder if Ami will have any types of food allergies?

The last two weekends have been jam-packed full of fun :) I really love doing these things, it is just such a bummer that I get so exhausted from all of it :( Last weekend we went to Chuck-E-Cheese to scope it out as a potential Birthday party site for Chase and Asher's shared Birthdays. (Asher is the oldest child of our friends the Keiths, Asher and Chase were both born on Sept 26th, 2008!) But it was all a bit much, especially for kiddos that really don't even stay on the rides for more than 2 seconds. I think it was more for the Dads that liked the concept (and playing the games) than the kids. We did a joint birthday party last year for the boys at a park (cowboy themed), but the day was rainy and cold :( it was the first day like that last year, it was just a bummer that it was on the boy's birthday! I would love to just have it at a park again, but am afraid that the weather might turn on us again :(

Also last weekend we went to our first baseball game(s) as a family of four! Let me explain... We went on Sunday with our good friends Rachel and Brendan Kelly, and then, because it was a Holiday and the Pirates were having another afternoon game on Monday, we called up our good friends the Keiths and got them to go to another game with us. I must say, we got the BEST seats for toddlers on Sunday and then got the same ones again on Monday. After the game we walked around the river (a bit too much walking for me :( I still haven't worked out too much since Ami's birth, and really am out of shape!), saw an old Military Ship from D-day... so amazing. Walked through Heinz Field, which was open for the BBQ festival or some such thing, and came home to collapse!
Tuesday was laundry, recovering, and Jeff's late class day.
Wednesday was Bible Study day.
Thursday was Ami's check up and Chase's nut allergy consultation day... and that afternoon we headed off to another adventure!

Jeff and Micah (Keith) took Friday off of work, and we all went to the Laurel Highlands for the Highland Games (Scottish Festival). Friday we spent at a great local park, with bricked walking/biking trails, lakes and paddle boat rentals. We walked/biked around, ate lunch there and went back to the hotel for the kiddos to take their naps. That night we ate at Texas Roadhouse - a staple from my college days! - It was a bit of heaven to have those warm rolls and sweet butter again :)


Saturday was the actual festival, and it was pretty interesting, there were more people there than I expected, but less to do (I guess I was expecting more of a 'Renaissance Fair' type of a thing). They had huge guys in kilts throwing hammers, and a caber toss - although we missed the caber toss :( Most of the Scottish breeds of dogs were present, with doggie activities and agility courses. There was Highland dancing, which looked similar to Irish Dance, but using arms also. It was just nice to get outside, walk around in the beautiful weather and hang out with some great friends! (Brendan was actually able to meet us out there and hang out with all of us too! YAY!)
On another note, I started cloth diapering the kiddos again. This is week three, although we 'cheated' with disposables for our weekend away... it seems to be going well though. When I have Chase in cloth he really seems to pay more attention to when he has to 'go' and will sometimes tell me. He has told me three times in the last two days that he has had to 'peepees.' Two of those times he was totally naked, but I guess it was good that he told me before he went in the hallway! I just stuck him in the tub for those times, and then rinsed him off. Maybe he just likes standing up versus the sit-down potty method? We shall see :)

Silly boy, he wanted to wear Ami's new Columbia Jacket (size 6months!) and he fit in it! He also needed to keep it on while playing with bubbles, water and ice ;) silly silly kiddo.

Happy 1 Month (and a week!) Birthday Ami :)

So my baby girl is now a month old! (Technically, as I am writing this she is one month, one week and 20 or so hours old.) Last week was super hectic so I never got around to writing anything down... I am trying to get better at this blogging thing, because I STINK at journaling, and seem to be better at recording our lives this way :)

She is becoming so smiley! She has been smiling since she was three days old, but would only smile about once a day, if that. Now, every time she is awake and not fussy, she is trying out various facial positions.... some of the faces she makes are really funny, I just wish I could have a camera in my retina to capture what I am seeing! Because she really never seems to want to smile when I ACTUALLY have the camera!

We went to the doc for our 1 month check up last Friday, and baby girl is looking great! :) She weighted in at a WHOPPING 7lbs 14oz... I guess I just create gigantic children ;) Some of my friends and family have birthed children at that weight, not waited a month for them to get to that weight! ;)

The past two nights Ami has slept about 6 1/2 hours at night (from 10:30pm-5am) and it has been WONDERFUL. Good job baby doll! You seriously got your sleeping skills/needs from your Mama (before kids, of course!). She seems to really be growing and getting bigger every day. Her legs are starting to loose the newborn fetal 'scrunch,' and straightening out when she is awake. Her eyes were trying to track me around the kitchen yesterday :). And her arms and legs are starting to really get some chunk on them ... at least as chunky as a tiny peanut of a girl can get. :) love love love her so much!

Happy one month birthday :)