Monday, December 31, 2007

Life in CA

We survived the trip out to SF! Actually Chase did great on the flight (both of them!) The air pressure didn't bother him in the least.

Here is Chase taking daddy's seat! In reality he was on our laps the entire flight. On the flight from Baltimore to Ft Worth we asked for seats A and C with the hopes that no one would sit in B and it worked! We had all 3 seats to ourselves!


Here we are meeting up with dad in the airport!


Here we are in at El Dorado in Sonoma and dad is drinking a Leatherface Mary. Basically this drink is hot sauce with habanero vodka... that green blob is a roasted jalepeno. I took one SMALL sip and was feeling it for at least 15 minutes! Very yummy!

So far we have had a great time. Sunday we went to Sonoma Valley... we visited the lot where my Aunt Winne and Uncle Bob are building a cottage (gorgeous BTW!), we toured Gloria Ferrer winery, ate at El Dorado and walked around the main square.

Yesterday Adam, Chase, Dad and I toured around SF, mainly around Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiradelli Square ... we took the Muni, a streetcar and the cable car.

Dad took this picture of us on the cable car! Yep, that is us hanging off the side with Chase strapped into the Bjorn! I was extremely nervous but it ended up being a great ride! Chase really liked the cable car... except when it stopped, then he got mad ;~) The Bjorn is definitely one of the best gifts we received! Every parent should have one!

More to come! We are headed to Muir Woods today!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Busy Busy Busy!

We are leaving tomorrow for San Francisco to visit my dad and Stacie! Today and yesterday are all about packing and making sure we are ready to go. In a few hours Riley will be heading to the kennel... don't worry, he loves it! I actually cried the first time I took him because he didn't give me a second thought... just walked back with no problem!

Just wanted to touch base... I am off to get some more packing done and maybe even get a shower! Wahoo!

Oh and here is Chase with his Christmas present from daddy and I. If you press one paw, daddy says something and if you press the other, I say something. Love Build A Bear!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

Much love and peace to everyone!



Love the G's!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Stolen from the Townleys

Had to share this video... enjoy!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Our little crossdresser

The young marrieds bible study had our traditional Christmas party last night. Unbelievably I think we were about 17 couples strong... and a few couples had to miss it! We have 2 groups but we may need to reorganize and split again! Babies were the theme this year since at this time last year Kristen was the only one pregnant and she was only 4 months! Now we have Ava Grace, Chase and Lilyanna among us and Anna Stuart is on her way!

Close the start of the evening Chase spit up on his shirt and upon changing his diaper we discovered that he 'leaked through' onto his pants... so we switched outfits... a cute little sleeper outfit, which about 10 minutes later he annihilated with some extreme spitting up... so now we are down to a onesie. I honestly thought I had enough clothes... go figure. The onesie, while cute, was not enough coverage, his little legs were chilly. So beautiful and gracious Lilyana lent Chase one of her sleepers... hence our little crossdresser!

Diane picked a very gender neutral one but Adam and I are still enjoying the fact that Chase is technically a crossdresser. We are such great parents!



Thank you Diane and Lily!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Fun with the video camera

I am sure Chase will hate me for this video in about 15 years but here it goes anyway!


Monday, December 10, 2007

Meant to post this a while ago

Chase's first Christmas tree.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

6 hours!

Ladies and Gentlemen... Chase and I slept for 6 straight hours last night. From 2 am until 8 am we peacefully slumbered. Boy does it feel good!

Perhaps Chase's ability to sleep so long has something to do with partying it up at 'the manse'. He's learning to be a real party animal...

Center of attention much?


Chase and Marat partying it up...


Chase's Christmas present from the Combs ;~)


In other happenings... Chase and Lilyanna had their first playdate on Friday. Don't they look just adorable together???


However, back at the homestead, Anna seems to be laying claim to Chase's affections. This is Chase's first EVER Christmas present. In case it isn't clear, it says "Anna Stuart is my home girl" You know he will be wearing that when he meets her for the first time!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Snow, Ad.com and Sleep


Chase's first snowfall!


Chase chillin with Rachel


Chase visiting Lisa, Erin and Stacy from HR and Karen from Legal.


This is the face of someone who let me sleep, and slept himself from
12 to 4 and then again from 6:45 to 9:30! Yay for us!


This is the face if my midnight companion!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The Playdates Begin

First things first... Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support. Sometimes bearing your deepest feelings is the only way to get past them. I have been feeling much lighter and more ready to take things as they come.

Kristen came to visit yesterday and so begins the playdate mania!

Ava and Chase chilling on the couch... perhaps we should institute the 12 in rule now!


Chase getting ready for a bath and Riley attempting to help clean him. Riley really is a protector of Chase... it's been great that we haven't had to do anything to train Riley to accept Chase.


We are starting to spend more time on the playmat that Aunt Becky bought Chase. So far he isn't extremely interested but I am sure that will change over time.


Here is daddy's little man with daddy's hat on. This kid couldn't be any cuter ;~)

I am going to take Chase to Ad.com today. Most people there haven't met him yet so this should be fun.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Been meaning to post this...

Last Saturday (Nov 24) Nancy celebrated her wedding with a huge party to which Adam, Chase and I were invited! Here are pictures of Chase at his first shindig ;~)





Thanks for a great party and Congrats! I couldn't be happier for you and Dave!

More medicine

So as it turns out, Chase has thrush... which also affects me since I am breastfeeding. Adam and I started to put the pieces together this past Sat... Chase's mouth has the white rash (which masks itself as milk residue but doesn't go away), and he has a general grouchiness about him... I have sore nipples still and that shouldn't still be happening this far into breastfeeding. Actually, I saw my PA/friend on Sun and she noted that I have severely cracked nipples (she was actually aghast at them... yay me!). So basically what I have here is the perfect storm of baby/mommy issues. Gas problems, acid reflux, thrush, nipple issues and breast pain... all which result in almost constant pain for me, extreme fussiness from Chase and no sleeping or sleeping only on me from Chase which results in very little sleeping for me. Couple all this with some VERY unrealistic expectations that I had in my abilities and this has been a rough 6 weeks.

I have always been around children and more than that I have always been around babies. I spent countless hours babysitting one family in particular (love the B's!) and I helped welcome 3 of our their children home from the hospital... I was holding them when they were days and hours old. So having all this experience and knowledge, I figured that I would be ahead of the game when it came to motherhood. 'Bring it on... I got it' was my mentality... which leaves very little room for humility. As it turns out, I don't know everything and I shouldn't need to be the best at this. I am learning (through forced realization) that it is ok for me not to have this all figured out. I can just be a first time mom struggling to figure out how to live life with a newborn.

The funny thing is... if I didn't have such a demanding, sick (for lack of a better term) and fussy baby, I wouldn't have learned this lesson. Rick G* spoke about leaving and arriving this past Sun... how you can't arrive somewhere new without first leaving... which makes leaving not such a bad proposition. I think this is my 'leaving'. I need to leave the notion that I have to be supermom and that I have all this figured out and I have to 'arrive' at being a new mom with struggles and consequently, lean on God for my strength and knowledge. Now to put this in practice... that's always the harder part ;~)

I have also been struggling with this idea that I would instantly be bonded with my child. I thought the moment I met Chase I would have this instant connection and that nothing he did would make me sad. I wish I could say that but over the past 6 weeks its been a getting to know you game. Don't get me wrong... I love my son fiercely and if anyone were to try and harm him... well there is nothing like a mother's wrath so watch out. However, there are times when he is crying that I don't know what to do with him... I have to just put him down and walk into the other room for a moment... which makes me feel like the worst mom and I am sure Chase doesn't feel great about it. There are times where I didn't feel like I could go on breastfeeding and I hated the idea that I had to feed him again... generally within 3 hours... a lot of those times I saw stars when he latched on and I would just cry. Fortunately my commitment to breastfeeding has continued to win out because I really wanted to do this but there were times I really wanted to quit. All of this made me feel more like a caregiver than his mother and I was sure that I was ruining our bond by not feeling the right way.

I talked to Christine about this one day and she reminded me that I just met Chase and we are both seeing the worst in each other right now because we aren't getting a lot of sleep and everything is new. She reminded me that developing a relationship with someone takes time... that I can love and fiercely want to protect my child but an actual relationship is work and takes time. Seems apparent enough but her telling me that really helped.

Saying all this is really difficult because I feel exposed and somewhat vulnerable but I have been keeping a lot of this in (with the exception of Adam who knows me inside and out ;~) but regardless.... keeping this all between him and I is making me insane. Sometimes it just feels better to open up and get everything off your chest.

Thanks for listening! And here is a recent picture of my handsome man... BTW... he is 10 lbs and 14 oz at last check... growing like a weed!


*It's not up yet but it will be soon enough if you are interested, the link to the Sermon Archives is here. Just scroll down and search by speaker... Rick G. He is a great pastor and will be sorely missed!