Catching up

I have completely dropped the ball on keeping up with the blog and even gave myself permission to basically give up on it.  Chase has however taken an interest in the blog and asked me to start updating it again.  And since his birthday is this week, I decided to honor his request since he is the birthday boy, after all.

There really isn't an easy way to pick up where we left off from several years ago so I just decided to go back as far as my phone will let me see what photos/videos I have saved.  Since I have hundreds of videos documenting Chase since he was a baby, I feel like it's only fair to start with a video of Preston (poor 2nd child who didn't even have any baby photos printed until he was 2). 

Here is a video from almost 3 years ago (April 4, 2015).  Preston was 2 years (and 3 months) here and we were heading back from the beach.  This sweet boy sure has grown.

My heart swells

Last night I had a moment.  A blog-worthy moment.  Not that I haven't had any other ones in the last 3 months but life has been too busy for me to devote the time to blog about it.  Last night I had this moment and formulated the blog posting in my head and had to get it down this morning.

My moment happened at my cousin Lee's wedding rehearsal last night.  Chase has the important responsibility of being the ring bearer in the wedding today.  During this rehearsal, he walked down the aisle, turned around, looked at Matt and me and gave us a thumbs up.

He then made some silly faces.

As I was watching him, giving him a thumbs up and returning the silly faces, I got tears in my eyes and had a moment.  A moment where I felt my heart swell.  People (mothers in particular) sometimes say that things happen that "make their heart swell".  Well, this was a moment that made my heart swell.  I literally felt my heart get bigger in my chest as I felt the pride and love for my precious, funny, charismatic 4-year-old grow.  I fought back the tears, feeling like an idiot ("Why am I crying??," I thought).  It's hard to put into words but my moment happened where I looked at my sweet little boy, the charming way he worked everyone around him (all night) and I fell in love with him more than I thought possible.  I'm so proud of the little boy he is becoming and watching interact with people makes this mama so happy.

It was a moment that my heart swelled.

Brothers

These boys sure do love each other...

 

 

Preston has stars in his eyes when he looks at his big brother.

Chase will walk in the room and Preston literally lights up.

 

 

Chase makes him laugh by just looking at him.

 

It melts my heart to see them bonding already and I can't wait to continue seeing their relationship grow.

Happiest baby on the block

 Preston is the. happiest. baby. ever.  Seriously.  He really does smile all the time.

I mean, don't get me wrong, he definitely is not perfect.  He fusses when he's tired.  But this baby really does smile. a lot.

He is one happy boy.

 

He's especially happy when his big brother's around but more on that later.

 

He's such a fun baby and it's fun to see his little personality start to come out.  Maybe I'll get around to posting more so I can tell you a little more about it.  :)

The first child

...remember him?  That cute, full-of-personality 4-year-old that we have?  I haven't been posting much these days.  And what I have been posting seems to be mostly Preston.  Well here's a few photos of our funny, sweet first-born.  :)

 

Still as funny...

...And as sweet as ever.  :)

Twins?

I keep saying how much I think Preston looks like Chase when he was a baby.  Lots of people have actually been saying that they even look alike now, which I don't see.  So, just out of curiosity, I searched through a few photos and found some where the 2 boys looks especially similar.  What do you think?

Preston

Chase

Chase

Preston

Preston

Chase

Preston

Chase

Crazy, isn't it? 

Random updates

Here are a few random pictures and updates...

Preston had been sleeping pretty well up until a few weeks ago.  I swear he was sleeping through the night but Matt says that only happened a few nights in a row.  At any rate, he's been digressing as far as sleeping at night goes.  Apparently this is pretty common at this age (3 months).  Basically he's been wiggling his little arms out of the swaddle.  And not just a swaddle blanket, but the Miracle blanket that has about 4 flaps that wrapped him up like a straight jacket.  I looked at the video monitor one night and he'd managed to wiggle BOTH arms completely out of all 4 flaps.  So he'd get his arms out and then wake himself up.  So the next night I tried just putting him in a sleep sack with his arms free.  That didn't work because he needed the swaddle to fall asleep.  So I talked to a friend of mine who'd used something called the 'Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit'.  I was a little apprehensive about the whole 'magic' part of this since the last 'magic' sleep thing wasn't so magical for us.  So Kristin sent me hers to borrow to see if it worked for Preston.  It actually works pretty well because it keeps him feeling cozy like the swaddle but keeps the reflexes from waking him up.  This is what he looks like at night in his bed:

Since we started using it a few nights ago, the sleep has been getting progressively better.  Last night I fed him at 11 and he didn't wake up until 7.  Let's hope it continues...

Chase is still really sweet with his little brother.  He talks in this cute, high-pitched voice when he leans down to talk to him and kiss him and I love it.

This little guy is still such a happy baby.  Although he will definitely let you know when he's not happy.

This picture above was one morning before we left for Leslie's.  I think it's cute that Chase doesn't mind when I lay Preston down beside him.

Here's a fuzzy picture of tummy time.  He's getting so strong and has even rolled over a few times (from his tummy to his back).

4 years and 2 months

I still can't believe that we have 2 kids.  Sometimes I'll be driving down the road, bobbing my head to Jay-Z and then I realize that I have 2 car seats in the back.  oh and I'm over 30 years old.  Times flies, right?  :)

Chase's birthday is tomorrow and he'll be 4.  Preston is now 2 months (or 2 1/2 months).  I had every intention to use those cool little monthly stickers to compare Preston's growth each month.  Well, in true 2nd child fashion, time is getting away from me and now it's 2 weeks later with no 2 month sticker.  But I am taking pictures, so I get points for that, right???

First, I want to talk about how much Preston looks like Chase.  Here's a picture of Chase that was taken when he was around 2 months old:

 

It's crazy to see the similarities. (For the record, the rest of these baby pictures are Preston...)

 

 

Chase continues to be such a sweet, sweet big brother.

 

  

Preston continues to get happier and happier.  This little smile makes my heart melt.

 

His little personality is coming out more and more.  He's been cooing and smiling since around 3 weeks and laughed for the first time this past weekend.

 So far, he's sleeping MUCH better than Chase was at this same age.  We put him down around 8 or 9pm and he'll pretty much sleep until about 6am.  Chase didn't sleep through the night until he was 6 months old.

Here are just a few random but funny pictures that capture life at our house.  Last Saturday, we were having a lazy morning.  I looked over from where I was sitting and this is what I saw:

Here is Preston laying beside Chase's baby that he got when Preston was born.  While I was on maternity leave I started getting pretty frustrated because Chase kept asking me to help him take care of his baby.  There were a few times I felt like I had twins.  Not cool.

In other updates, this is my third week back at work.  Things are going well and everyone seems to be adjusting well.  I'll keep y'all posted.  :)

Real pictures

Our friend Lynette Mittendof came over to take some newborn pictures of Preston a few weeks ago.  She also took some great ones with Preston and his proud big brother.  She did and always does amazing work.  We met her and her husband at our child birth class when we were pregnant with Chase and she was pregnant with Ada.  Doesn't seem that long ago...

At any rate, here are the sweet, sweet pictures of my sweet, sweet boys.

 

Chase is still so tender and gentle with his little brother.

 

It just melts my heart. 

 

He asks such cute questions as he watches me breast feed Preston.  And when Preston cries, Chase always asks, "What's he saying, Mama?" because we've told him that it's a baby's way of telling us that they need something.

 

Thanks, again, Lynette!!  Thank you for capturing on film the beauty that we see in this tiny boy and the love that this almost-4-year-old has for this tiny boy.

Life.

I haven't been good about updating the blog.  Sorry about that.  Life is great these days.  Busy, but great.  We have had so much help with Chase that I feel like I should have a 100 hours to do all kinds of things like updating the blog.  But usually I choose to straighten the house, do laundry, or meet friends out.  But here goes the blog update that's been on my to do list for 3 weeks now.

First of all, I cannot thank Betty Ann and Don enough for all the sleep-overs, and special attention they have showered Chase with.  I'm pretty sure that all that attention has and continues to shape him into the little ball of confident personality that he is every day.  He's so much fun and makes us laugh all the time.

 In this picture below, you can see him covering up with his "sur-bible blanket".  Apparently it came with a "sur-bible" kit that he convinced someone (Bebe? Pops?) to buy him.  Matt and I tried to convince him that he didn't need this blanket while in his bed but he insisted.  We gave in (because is it really that big of a deal?) and everytime he moved, we could hear the crinkle of the material.  It was hilarious.

 

And this is what our Friday nights look like these days:

 

 

And here we have Mr. Preston.  I can't believe he's 5 weeks old.  Time is flying.

He started smiling around 3 weeks and I managed to catch one of those precious smiles:

 

I had a hard time geting a good picture of him with his '1 month' sticker on but here are a couple of the better ones.

So there you go.  Life is currently filled with Chase making us laugh and us trying to get that little guy to smile.