Mama?

Chase is at the point where he is communicating with pointing, grunting and lots of "Uh" 's. He says "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" (not necessarily always directed towards Matt and me at the appropriate time. For example, sometimes I'm pretty sure he calls Matt 'Mama') and makes lots of other 'ba-ba' 'ya-ya' kinds of sounds. All these sounds just seem like part of the learning process but aren't directed towards anything yet. Actually, I take that back... He does say, "heeeeyyyyy" in a really cute, high-pitched voice when he sees our (insane) cat, Haven. So that definitely counts. He has said 'hey' a few times. So, anyway. This past weekend I was upstairs and heard Chase downstairs at the base of the stairs. It was really funny because even though all he was saying was "uh" over and over again, it was clear that he was calling out to me. There was so much behind the simple sounds he was making. Just watch this video and you'll see what I mean.

Forward facing

I had been so excited about Chase turning one year old because we could finally turn his "big boy" carseat around so that he would be front-facing.  When he got that stinkin' stomach bug right before his birthday I was so sad to hear that he only weighed 18 pounds and the doctor said not to turn him around until he was at least 20 pounds.  So.  After all that waiting for him to turn one led to us waiting another month for him to gain a little more weight.  Well we are FINALLY there!  (I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs now, but I'm pretty sure we're ok...)  See how happy he is to finally see what's going on while in the car?  I can't imagine how much it must suck to stare at the seat and not be able to see anything.

Golfing

Matt headed out this morning to Pinehurst for a golf trip with his college friends.  He's been pretty excited about it.  While out picking up some things he would need (want) for the weekend, he found an age-appropriate set of clubs for Chase.  Remember the one he bought for Chase for Christmas?  (See the picture below from 4 months ago).

Well, this plastic, snoopy set of clubs seems like it might do a little bit less damage to our house (and everything in it). 

He seems to like the new toys quite a bit.  In fact, he carried this golf ball and golf club around the house without letting go from the time that Matt got home from work until he went to bed.  He probably would have slept with them if we'd let him. 

Maybe starting this early will ensure a college scholarship one day??  One can hope.

Ouch.

Now that Chase is walking, he is on the go ALL the time.  In fact, he doesn't like to sit down even when taking a bath.  Last week, we were having our usual battle with trying to let him play while trying to encourage him to sit at the same time.  Before I could stop him, Chase fell from his standing position and hit his head/face.  Yes, I know...very SAD.  :(

Here's a picture of the injury below.  See the small cut to the side of his left eye?  I think it hurt me almost as much as it did him...

And yes, I know.  This will be just the first of many injuries that we will experience...(sigh).

Laurie's shower

This past weekend, I helped host my friend, Laurie's baby shower.  She is due with her second baby in June.  Kelly is due with twins (!) in August.  We have a lot of fun ahead with all these babies on the way!!  :)

I decided to bring Chase along and just prayed that he would do ok.  Which he did do okay, but kept me pretty busy the entire time, having to chase him around the house during the entire shower.  I'm pretty sure I've decided it'll be better to leave him at home next time...

He was a pretty happy boy the whole time, despite not getting an afternoon nap.

Here's Catherine, Elizabeth and Anna Grace (Laurie's sweet little 17-month-old) with the guest of honor.

This was pretty much the only time Chase sat down once the shower started.  I'm serious.

After the shower was over, we headed back to Laurie's house where Chase had a pretty good time playing with Anna Grace's toys.  I got a kick out of seeing him playing with her girl toys.  This picture of him holding her doll tightly makes me laugh.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of him pushing the baby in the play stroller.

He's looking at me like, "What??"

Whew!  What a day!  :)

Look at my teeth

Is it normal for an almost 13-month-old to have so many teeth?? I don't even know. I mean, I know that it really just depends on the child...and of course each child is different. Right now Chase has 13 teeth and at least 2 more breaking through. His first tooth started coming in around 6 months (I think...) and they have been popping up at a rapid pace ever since...

Food fun

It's been fun to see what kinds of foods Chase will eat. He's definitely becoming more independent and wants to do it all himself so I've had fun trying to be more creative with foods that he seems to like. I pulled out the book Deliciously Deceptive that I got when I was pregnant to get ideas of ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into what I make and what Chase eats. It's still a bit of a challenge since he has this darn milk allergy but I'm becoming more comfortable using soy substitutes for many recipes that call for dairy. Pasta is one thing that Chase really seems to like and he does well with eating it independently. So I made some "spaghetti" sauce with ground turkey, sneaking in some pureed carrots and spinach and he loved it. (As a side note this is a good way to trick Matt into eating more veggies as well. :) )

Eating is a pretty messy event in our house but it's worth it to see our little guy shoveling it all in.

I love this cute little expression in the picture below. I think I was maybe tickling him to get him to smile. :)

With all these teeth he can sure chow down!

What's for dinner?

Who knew how much fun a measuring cup and wooden spoon could be? It worked wonders in helping me entertain Chase the other night so I could cook dinner.

See the remenants of Chase's dinner on his face and hands still? That's why he doesn't have any clothes on, by the way. :)

Easter pictures

...Just a week late. Last Sunday, we went to Henderson to go to church with my family. After church (and the easter egg hunt) we had lunch at my mama's house. Here are some funny pictures I took of Chase with his cousins. I think this picture is probably the funniest because Chase and Jake are checking each other out.

...and here's the next picture showing that they are about to touch each other to figure out what's going on. Looks like Chase is thinking, "Jake! Stop touching me!"

And now Jake just wants to lay on Chase. He (Chase) doesn't seem so happy about it but he was pretty tolerant.

Then Justice came to join his baby cousins for a couple of pictures.

I love this one, too because it's amazing that they were all still long enough and looking the same direction for this picture.

Step aside, Glow worm.

Chase doesn't really have any sort of "lovey" (a blanket or stuffed animal that he sleeps with and/or is otherwise attached to). Since Christmas he's had a glow worm that plays music and he kind of likes it but doesn't seem to notice if it's not in the bed with him for nap/bedtime. The other day, we were playing with some of the stuffed animals in his room and I found this teddy bear that plays music and has a heartbeat sound when you press a button. Ever since we stumbled upon this bear, Chase has seemed to develop a little bit of a 'relationship' with the bear. When he's upset (which happens a little more frequently now that he's becoming a toddler and is more fiesty when not able to get his way), the bear and the music calms him down. Here's some sweet pictures of him hugging Mr. Bear after falling asleep last night.

...In other exciting news: Chase is a walking MACHINE. It seems like this just happened overnight, but he is seriously walking all over the place now. More on that later, though. :)

Happy birthday, Matt!!

We love you so much!!

And he's off!

Chase has been doing progressively better and better with standing alone for longer periods of time and even taking several steps here and there. Well, a couple of days ago, I put him down and he just took off walking! So when Matt got home from work, we caught a few of the steps on video.

P.S. Just in case you're wondering what he's holding, it's baby tylenol that he found when rummaging through his diaper bag (a favorite activity of his). :)