Roll your eyes

Wait. 

Isn't this normally something that you tell your kids NOT to do??  Well, we think it's pretty funny when Chase does it. (When he's a teenager it probably won't seem quite as entertaining to us, I'm sure.)   :)

Shower time

Chase absolutely loves spashing in water and loves taking a bath so it made sense that he would love taking a shower.  He took a shower for the first time this morning...with Matt.  He had a blast as you can tell from his smile in this picture.

I couldn't resist getting a picture of my 2 clean, wet, happy boys.  :)

Marbles Museum

This past weekend we took Chase to Marbles Museum in Raleigh.  Don and Betty Ann took him when we were out of town for a wedding a few weeks ago and they told us how much Chase loved it...So we decided to see for ourselves...It really is one of the coolest places for young kids.  It starts with this huge bus as you walk into the Museum:

 Chase enjoyed sitting in the driver's seat.  He loves 'driving' pretty much anything. 
Which was good because after 'driving' the big city bus, he 'drove' this little car for a while...

 ...Then he 'drove' the mail truck for a little while.  (He also 'drove' a boat but I didn't post those pictures).

He spent a little bit of time 'ringing' up a mail order...

Then helped a few other kids load some packages onto the back of the mail truck.  (Can you see the excitement on his face from being around the other kids??  That child absolutely LOVES being around other children...Especially older children...)

After all that pretend play we were off to play in some water, which is also another absolutely FAVORITE thing for Chase to do.  He especially loves splashing.

 The waterproof apron was a nice attempt at trying to keep him dry.  He spashed so much we had to eventually change him into a dry shirt.  See the water dripping from his face?  :

 Then we ventured outside because Chase had some plants to water...

 Chase wasn't the only one who had a good time.  Check out this picture of Matt riding the bike below:

 Whew!  What a tiring Saturday morning..See this sleepy boy?
 He was pretty worn out from all that playing. 

But I was able to get a sweet smile out of our sweet boy while keeping him awake for the 30-minute car ride home.  (Nap in the car = no nap at home = unhappy parents & a tired little Chase).

Dental hygiene

 Chase absolutely loves to brush his teeth.  (And by 'brush his teeth', I mean hold the tooth brush in his mouth and suck the flouride-free toothpaste off it).  When we say, "Go get your toothbrush", he'll run off to his bathroom, pull open the drawer, stand on his tip toes (he's not tall enough to see in the drawer, but that doesn't seem to get in the way of him grabbing what he needs) and reach in to get his tooth brush and toothpaste.

Now I just need to work on helping him wait until he's done with breakfast before starting to brush his teeth.  That and I think it's probably dangerous for him to walk around with the toothbrush in his mouth.

Silly boy.  :)  I don't think it's possible for me to love this little boy any more than I do right now.

Got it?

Chase had his arms full of all the necessities before going out to play:

Milk? Check.

Pancake? Check.

Cell phone? Check.

'Alright, Mama, Let's go play.'

Like father, like son.

 Matt and Chase have a lot in common...

They both like wearing their new balances, t-shirts and adidas pants on the weekends.

They like watching ESPN in the mornings while eating their breakfast at the coffee table.  (Yes, I know.  I really should be enforcing the 'only eat in the kitchen' rule, but whatever.  We like to live on the edge around here.) 

They also both like to wear polos, khaki's, and new balances for a more 'dressed up' look. 

...Like father, like son.

Sale?

So.  Everyone knows I love a good sale.  When I started getting emails a few weeks ago about the Kids Everywear consignment sale at the Morrisville outlet mall I got pretty excited.  I mean, granted we don't really NEED anything for Chase right now.   But come on.  You can always look.  And if it's a good price then I'm there.  So I left work early on Friday and headed to Morrisville to see what I could find.  I think the best thing was this toy:

It was $15.  Yeah, I know.  That's not exactly yard sale kind of prices, but look how excited Chase was.  He LOVED it.  So it's worth it.

See how he was concentrating??  Mission accomplished.

Hello??

This was a good find, too.  For $10 I found this portable boosterseat/highchair.  (That yellow thing on the bottom pops off and is the tray)

So Chase and I both had fun Friday afternoon playing with the things I found at the consignment sale.  I was pretty disappointed in the clothes.  I think I'd rather catch Old Navy or Carter's having a good sale because I just didn't think the clothes were worth it.  I'm holding out for the annual Junior League Bargain Sale (http://www.jldoc.org/jldoc/npo.jsp?pg=event&eventid=825) that's coming up soon.  Definitely good stuff there. Gotta love a good sale.

The first haircut!!

Yesterday was a pretty big day for us because Chase got his first haircut.  You can see from the 'before' pictures that his hair was starting to look pretty ratty.

See what I mean??

We took him to Peek A Do since it's half a mile from our house.  And they had all the cool stuff that I think should accompany a child's first 'real' haircut...Like these fun cars and planes for Chase to sit in while getting his trim...

So, of course what do you think happened?  Chase freaked out a little bit when we tried to put him in the airplane.  Maybe he thought we were gonna leave him there.  I'm not real sure.  Either way he was NOT happy, with one leg hanging out trying to climb out.  We solved that problem by letting him sit in my lap while getting his hair cut.  I got to wear a cool, child's-size apron just like Chase.  :)

And...Here's the 'after' picture:

He even let us sit him in the airplane after warming up to the place.

Well, folks.  There you have it.  Chase is officially not a baby anymore.  He looks like a little boy now (sniff, sniff).  But, a pretty handsome one at that.  :)

This is what happens...

...when Chase runs out of extra clothes during the day at Leslie's:

(Yes.  That IS indeed a DOOK t-shirt)

To further explain, Leslie sent me an email this afternoon to 'warn' me about what Chase would be wearing when I picked him up.  Apparently he'd gone through not only the outfit that he was originally wearing but also through the extra outfit I keep in his diaper bag for emergencies.  She was really sweet about it because it sounded like she dug through all of Samantha's clothes and the only things in Chase's size were dresses and pink, girly pants.  The other option was this Dook t-shirt...  I really do appreciate the fact that she put so much thought into what clothes she helped Chase change into.  I also appreciate the fact that she sent me an email to warn me.  Thanks, Leslie!

I know, Buddy.  We'll get you into some Tarheel gear as soon as possible...

(Oh, and P.S. In case you're wondering we will now not only be keeping extra clothes in the diaper bag, but Leslie will also be getting her very own set of clothes to keep at her house...  Just in case.)  :)

Adventures in sleeping

This past week was a pretty big week.  Chase started taking only one nap each day.  He's been kind of phasing into this for a while.  Most days he just couldn't stay up past 9 or 10am.  Then of course in the afternoon he would not be able to make it without another short nap.  Well, last Sunday I decided to just see how long I could keep him up (assuming that this would be a gradual thing, where we would just keep slowly pushing back the time until we got him to the ideal 12:30 or 1pm naptime).  He made it til 12 and slept til almost 2:30!.  So then when I took him to Leslie's the next day and told her to try to continue with this whole mid-day nap thing.  And it worked again.  Forget the gradual thing.  Chase was all in.  He wasn't playing around.  He was like that with weaning from breastfeeding, too.  Just decided one day that he was done.  Nothing gradual about that.  Same thing with his bottle.  He was fine being just done with that one day as well.

Another exciting (yes I know. my life isn't really that crazy these days) update is that Chase will now sit still long enough for me to read him a book or 2 before bed.  He's started following along, pointing at the pictures, snuggled up in my lap.  I love it.

Here are a couple of pictures when he woke up one morning and started reaching for the books beside his bed.  When I handed one over to him, he sighed, sat down and started casually thumbing through it.  Lots of progress.  :)