"The Ideal Mother's Day Vortex"

Snagged it off a website for a laugh... fairly accurate I'd say :)

What A Character!

Literally... over the course of the past few months, Chase has acquired quite a few nicknames and character comparisons. Just for laughs... we have:

Thanks to my sister- she has used the term "Squishy" -compliments of Finding Nemo:

Then, we go waaaaay back to the tv show Dinosaurs... The baby is soooooo Chase:

Of course we have Rug Rats... Chase is Tommy Pickles, Nathan is Chuckie, and of course Kaely is Angelica... ha!

Who else? Ahhhh- I'll go back to my Stewie clip...

and my original Finding Nemo clip- is Squirt- the baby sea turtle... Chase's little face reminds me of him :)

I'm sure I'll come up with more over the months & years, but had to have a bit of fun with it :) Maybe one day he'll inspire a cartoon or book himself :)

A Weekend Escape

Okay... so it wasn't that far from the apartment down in Miami, but still- anytime you can have room service and housekeeping come in is appreciated! I'm not gonna lie, being able to wake up, put Chase in a stroller, and walk across the street to a Starbucks is a wonderful morning :) To top off the morning was a long overdue massage....

***Let me clarify that I began writing this post yesterday morning- and as it would be, chaos that is our baby boy prevented me from finishing this. LOL.

First, I'll say mini escapes are absolutely necessary for everyone. However, what comes with that are reality checks- and what made up our mini escapes a year ago are absolutely nothing like what they are here and now. As long as you hold on to those memories, and expect to go through the same carefree, relaxing, and crazy time- you may face disappointment. But... if you embrace a different atmosphere, a chance to stare and play with the crazy baby somewhere else, and sneak in moments of good food and ambiance, then maybe you can truly enjoy yourself. This is a lesson I'm still working on learning. I was bummed this weekend- it was a nice, even wonderful weekend- but it was most definitely not what I had set up in my mind.

In the end though, I had both my boys, gorgeous weather, pretty great food, and a little bit of down time. We have survived another round of flights- which is amazing. I feel a little bad for the gentleman next to us on the plane, because let's face it- it's either I nurse Chase before we take off, or everyone can listen to him cry. I opted for the former. Nothing like sharing pictures of grandchildren while Chase is under the blanket eating away. Ha!

In any case, it appears I've hit the point that I'll be posting less frequently- simply because the days blur together and sometimes I fall asleep on the couch and awaken wondering what day and time it is.

Well- here are some pics from this weekend, sorry so late!

Our balcony with the hot tub- no Chase didn't get to play in it ;)

 Dad & Chase watching the playoffs... go figure

 Ice Cream!!!

 LOL

 I love how unique all the accents of the hotel are... this was our room this time

 The only way to eat now- find a restaurant with a sidewalk patio- leave him in the stroller- he either plays or sleeps the whole time- it works!

On our honeymoon last year.... Chase this year... LOL

Yummmmm

Too stinkin' cute :)

Bravery or Stupidity?

Long overdue to write, but been a really long week! Had a full day of doctor's appointments Monday (including Kaely), so both kids were tired and not feeling well. Tuesday we had Nathan over, and both boys were recovering from their boosters. By the time my sister got back around 6ish, I was ready to fall over. Wednesday Chase had another doctor's appointment, by the time I dropped off Kaely at school, it was nearly time to turn around and wait in the line to get her in order to be at the doctor's appointment in time. The office was the worst nightmare. Full of screaming kids throwing things and banging toys- which led to Chase screaming in my ear for an hour. Sigh... Waited 90+ minutes just to have the doctor look at him for 60 seconds and say, okay- see you in 4 months. UGH!

This led to yesterday- Thursday- had Nathan again, and in trying to prepare for heading out this weekend, had a million things to do. So- my first attempt to bring both boys out in public (aside from walking to school)... hahaha... definitely interesting. Almost like those timed shopping sprees- trying to race around to get what needs to get done, done. Got a lot of confused looks, oh, there's two... you know, the usual :) lol. But amazingly they both were pretty good- although I can't say I'd recommend doing it on a regular basis!

Today we are running around trying to make sure I don't forget anything- have to tackle the task of looking human again (ha! easier said than done). Oh well- otherwise just more days in paradise! Going to miss my baby girl while we're gone this weekend, things have been a lot better since I shifted my focus and tried to do better at splitting my attention. She's been a big help with the boys- they love looking at her and all the silly faces she makes.

Praying for a good flight tonight, and a peaceful baby! One can dream, right?

Happy 4 Months!!!

As we sat at the pediatrician's today- going over introducing fruits first, then veggies- I'm thinking- woah! Wait a minute, I was excited about introducing cereal, all of a sudden it seems it's flying by too fast! We had some pats on the back over his growth- he's up to 12 lbs, 8 oz and 23 3/4" - which puts him in the 10th percentile for length and 12th percentile for weigh for a 4 month old... if you consider his adjusted age of about 2 1/2 months, he's right around the 50th percentiles... and has officially (more than) Tripled his birth weight- nice! He's still working on his muscle control and other "developmental" tasks- so he's right on track/ahead for his adjusted age- but it's still hard separating and not expecting him to meet his chronological age goals. But! He's still amazing!!! He gave the doctor big smiles (always with the glasses- they crack him up) and sat inspecting him for a minute- good job kiddo :) Unfortunately had another round of immunizations- so he's passed out now... hoping for an easy time, just gotta stay on top of the Tylenol. Just found out my sister was at the same doctor for Nathan's 2 month checkup, just an hour before us. Lucky me- he got his round of shots too- and yep, I'm watching him tomorrow. Two babies post-shots... oh boy.

Well- for now I'm just gonna snuggle and rest- it's gonna be a crazy day tomorrow! Happy Birthday baby boy! :)

Three Little Birds

Another day of dragon baby! Which led me to proving to Dave that there was a game when we were kids called "Don't Wake the Dragon..."

 LOL... we started the day off okay, but man! Then, a much needed trip to Target for necessities led me to wanting to tear my hair out and run over all those people in my way. Why is it that people in the stores either stop and stare at you, ignore you completely, or try to make small talk when all you want to do is briskly walk through the aisles??? I just wanted to get him to sleep so I could finish the diapers & grocery trip- which meant I had to keep moving. Doing laps through the clothing racks and home section- ha... only took 20 minutes, but eventually succeeded. Took another couple hours, but in the end after food & a nap? We got this amazing baby!

It's like a little Gremlin... we even got to try out the rice cereal again, have a nice bath, eat, and snoozed through the evening (well, he did anyway). So... like the rainbow after a storm- it makes everything all right again... so... like Bob would say (our NICU theme song)... "Don't worry... about a thing... 'cause every little thing...is gonna be alright..."

March For Babies

As quickly as 5am came, it was a beautiful morning to have done the walk. Not only were we able to get there and start the walk, but also make a pit-stop at the hotel to say hi to Ashleigh & friends over at the Starbucks. We met some genuinely nice people during the walk itself, and saw some heart-breaking t-shirts dedicated to babies born and lost. It was definitely a reminder to be grateful for what we have and how fortunate to have Chase doing as well as he is. We even got to see one of our NICU nurses, Jelda, at the Winnie Palmer tent- it made for a great morning. Thank you all for your support!