Well, it's not really a crawl, but not really walking either

Occasionally he does this:

My Favorite Christmas Gift

Dear Auntie Caca & Uncle Mikebo -

Thank you so much for the great toys you gave me for Christmas. Rumor has it Mama almost bought me both of them, but fortunately she went in another direction so I have TONS of new stuff to play with. As of right now, this one is my favorite. But it does fluctuate occasionally to the basketball hoop or the baseball toy that Mama went with.

So you can see just how much I enjoy it, here's a video clip:



(And it continues like this, for hours!)

Love -
Chase

My de-Christmasing of Chase's blog is not complete. Need to do laundry and play with my baby now! I'll be back to straighten it up!

Merry Christmas!

A thank you note for my cousin Alice...

Dear Alice,

Thank you for always picking out such awesome toys to hand-down to me. I have really enjoyed the books and Ahab the octopus is a favorite (he still rides around in the car with me). But I think my favorite by far (so far) has got to be the musical sit 'n' spin!

Rumor has it that it made your Mama crazy...I don't understand! It is a wonderful toy with all those catchy great songs! I love it! I could listen to it/play with it for hours. In fact, I think I HAVE played with it for hours and I've only had it one weekend so far!

As of right now I haven't really mastered the "sit and spin" aspect of it, but as you can see from the video, I do sit on it. And at other times I spin it. I even use it as a jungle-gym!

Thank you so much for thinking of me and sharing your totally awesome toys with me! I love you and hope you have a VERY Merry Christmas! Hugs to your Mom and Mama too...we will see you soon!

Love -
Chase

4:20 of Chase in the snow - enjoy!

A nicer update

So since my last couple of updates (from last weekend) were so unpleasant, I thought I would share some cute photos from the last couple of weeks:

Feeding himself yogurt (it's no longer plain - this is either vanilla or maple flavored):


His own Christmas tree and Santa bear in the corner of his room:


Watching the cars go by has become a nightly routine! Even Papa and Buca joined in the excitement!

It gets better...

The dog ate one of Chase's sippy cups yesterday while Jason and I were at the hospital and she woke up around 3am I think it was - puking it back up.

I may just run away from home.

How can we top Friday's post?! Check this one out...

So after having spent Friday at YNH for Chase, Papa ended up coming down with the stomach bug that Chase had. He was up from 2am on and by 8:15 this morning he was SO sick that he was complaining that his side hurt and he was having trouble breathing. By about 8:30 I was on the phone with 911!

The fire truck came, the ambulance came and out he went. Michael and Erica were AWESOME and came over to take care of Chase who (of course) I did NOT want to have in an ER again.

It appears that Jason injured his diaphragm from vomiting so violently. First they had to take an x-ray to be sure he hadn't broken a rib/punctured his lung and then took a CAT scan to make sure that he hadn't separated/perforated/ruptured his diaphragm. So after those two tests, 4-shots of morphine, 2 bags of IV fluids, a script for percocet and another for anti-nausea pills we are home. He has rested this afternoon and is feeling somewhat better. Chase has also spent a good portion of today trying to re-coup from his adventures. The good news is when he is awake he is interested in playing - so it looks like he is on the road to recovery as well.

Now I am just keeping EVERYTHING crossed that I don't get sick after spending so much time in hospitals this weekend!

Nothing a "quick" trip to Yale New Haven Hospital can't cure...

We got a call from daycare yesterday that Chase was vomiting and needed to be picked up. We'd heard this once before and once we picked him up, he never threw up again (sweet)! So of course we were hoping for THAT sort of sick. Jason went to get him and I wrapped up some stuff at work so I could work from home today. When I got home I realized Chase was sick this time. REALLY sick. His color was off. He was lethargic and whiney. He was just generally unhappy.

We were OK with the vomiting, but then his butt decided to join the party (diarrhea). Good GOD did he stink (still does actually). Around 6 this morning when he hadn't thrown up for a while, I gave him some water. As soon as he started sucking it down, I knew it would be coming right back up. It did. Darn it! It was what happened next that really freaked me out. Some THING came out his butt unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was bloody and mucous like. Not anything that was supposed to come out of his BACK end (maybe out his nose perhaps)!

So armed with his diaper I headed in to the pediatrician's office, sure that I was "over reacting", but feeling better safe than sorry. Needless to say, the doctor didn't feel quite the same way. After several of the doctors consulting over his "pooh", it was decided we needed to go to Yale New Haven Children's Hospital! Ya see, they thought part of his bowel MIGHT have been telescoping back on itself, causing this sort of "output". And while an ultrasound down here might have been able to diagnose it, only YNH is prepared to perform the treatment required to cure it! So off we went...I picked up Jason at Accurate, the pediatrician called ahead and off we went to New Haven.

After a little more than hour, we knew that there was not an issue with his bowels. Thank goodness! Now they are running some cultures to see if the stomach bug is bacterial or viral. Good times.

After about 18 hours we were finally able to start getting water into him (without it coming back up) and once we were home we were able to start giving him Pedialyte. Now, he is resting comfortably...having been asleep for the last 5 hrs. Perhaps he will sleep through the night and wake up a whole new baby!

Once, JUST once, it would be nice if Chase could do sick "lite"...RSV, pneumonia, Intussusception - really, how about a sneeze next time?!

Santa...

We really thought our laid-back, happy baby would be SO happy to see Santa. I mean, what's not to like?!

He's jolly and happy in his bright red suit.

Friendly as can be and he was so happy to see Chase!

Yeah - it didn't really work out quite as we had planned.

(You might want to pause the music - to your right - before starting the video.)

School Photos

Somehow I don't think THIS is going to be the pose we select from his school pictures. Looks like he's about to meltdown, doesn't it?!

Yeah, sure he's cute - but he doesn't look happy!

Go Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I have been WAITING for Thanksgiving to be "over" to make this post...please enjoy our little Elf! You might even consider Elfing Yourself!

Our dear friends need your help!

Please read Katharine, John, Anna & Molly's story here:

Katharine & John: Would love your help.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Halloween!

Picking a Pumpkin (with our little pumpkin)!

Chase's daycare had a "pumpkin patch" set up in the field today and all the kids got to pick their own pumpkin! Papa and I were lucky enough that we were able to "sneak out" of work for a 1/2 hour to be a part of it!

The stats!

Chase had his 12-mo check up yesterday.
(Note to any moms out there...perhaps your child's birthday isn't the best day to bring him the doctor for vaccines and blood draws!)

His stats are:

Height: 33" (>97%) - up 12" since birth
Weight: 24 lbs. 12oz (80%) - ALMOST 3x birth weight
Head Circumference: 19 1/4" (85%) - up 5" from birth

So as you can see, the kid is still tiny!

As usual, Super Baby took the shots like a champ and was calm moments afterwards so it really wasn't TOO bad...just maybe not the nicest thing to do to the kid ON his actual birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!!

At first we had each other.
Then we had you.
Now we have everything!

Happy 1st Birthday Chase!

We love you!
Mama & Papa

Almost One!

I really can't believe it. Chase is ALMOST one!

We celebrated Chase's 1st birthday this weekend! Here are just a couple of pictures...

MORE teeth!?!?!

Chase has seemed a little off for the past week or so. His appetite hasn't been as quite as large, but overall he seemed OK. He's been a little fussy at night, but given that he hadn't been sleeping at daycare for more than an hour, we figured he was just tired.

Well, the other night he woke up around 10:30 SCREAMING!!! So we checked his diaper, checked his temp, looked him over and couldn't find anything. I thought "Maybe, just maybe he's teeth". So I peak in there...HOLY MOLY!!! He has 2 teeth (1 on each side), towards the back that are almost all the way in!! How did we not know this?!?! I am really starting to wonder if anything is ever going to phase this kid! He's such a little trooper!

Not the best week...

So I am sure it comes as no surprise that the past week was not particularly good. We are still in shock over loosing Bizkit. We realize how lucky we are to have had her for 9 years - that's long for a Saint Bernard. We are also thankful that she didn't suffer long and that we didn't have to face daily the question "is today the day that we have to put her down?", as you do when your beloved pet has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, but we are still just stunned by the sudden loss.

Chase of course has been thriving. He FINALLY "found" forward in his walker last week and now he is a terror! Before he would just back himself up until he hit a piece of furniture (or a wall) and he'd stay there happily, playing with the toys on the walker. Now, he chases Buca around the room (and I have to say, she's not really THAT happy about it).

We introduced whole milk this week in addition to his formula and nursing...we wanted to be sure he was transitioning well before his 1-year check up (in case we had any questions)...really NOT a problem! He sucks it right down! Why am I surprised?

I should have plenty of pictures after this weekend...we have Chase's party on Saturday which has been keeping me super busy at night. It's amazing how many unfinished projects you manage to wrap up when 9 people are coming over in less than a week! I am hopeful that on top of the cleaning, organizing, cooking and baking, we might even get his birthday gift assembled (a sandbox)!

Sweet Bizkit

I am sad to say that Bizkit, our sweet St Bernard, passed away this morning.

Apparently she developed bloat overnight and by the time she made us aware of how uncomfortable she was, it was too late. Jason got her to the emergency clinic, but there was nothing they could do.

It is my understanding from speaking with the vet that she most likely was quite sick with cancer (based on some recent weight loss and just how quickly this came on) and that regardless of what we had done, that the outcome today wouldn't have been any different.

We are of course devastated.

Here she is doing one of her favorite (my least favorite) things...laying on the sofa with her best bud...

Morning Music

Three weeks since my last real update...

and I have been trying to figure out, just what have we been so busy doing, that I haven't posted in that long. I guess the answer is we've just been living our lives.

Some things haven't changed - we still have great morning/evening routines that allow us both to spend as much time with Chase as possible. We have both been busy with work. Chase is still crawling commando style - he doesn't seem too interested in getting up on all 4's. And of course Chase continues to eat just about everything we put in front of him (grilled cheese remains the favorite and avocado is the newest addition).


And some things have changed: I was on vacation last week but when Chase returns to daycare today he will be going into a new classroom - the "older" infant room! Chase decided to wean himself (he only nurses first thing in the morning and just before bed). Chase and I have spent a better part of August weekends at the beach (making up for not getting there very often for most of May, June and July) .

A week's worth of breakfast...

this is what a week and a half, maybe 2 weeks, worth of breakfast looks like for Chase. I cooked up some pancakes and french toast and then froze it in Chase sized servings (this helps make our mornings MUCH easier). Hard to believe that all this food will only last a little more than a week & a half...

Aunt and Cousin

We had a lovely visit with Lynne and Alice the last weekend in August - an afternoon at the beach on Saturday and breakfast at Bobbi and Grampy's on Sunday!

We're in trouble now!

I realize it's been a while since our last post, but we've been kind of busy, what else is new? Right?

Check out what Chase has been working on mastering lately...

Busy, busy, busy

So the last few weeks have just been crazy! Some good, some not so good, but I don't really want to dwell on the bad stuff here. One of the good/fun things that has been going on is we picked a theme and a date for Chase's first birthday! (Family - that will be October 4! Invites to come...). I have been working on making invites and planning all the little details! Can't wait until I can share pics of everything, but I don't want to "spoil" things for the family! I really can't believe he will be 10 months next Saturday! Amazing!

As for Chase, he is doing really well! He is loving solid foods and continuing to eat everything in sight. He still has no interest in crawling, although he has been seen getting up on all fours and rocking, so perhaps it is coming. He does still get around quiet well by rolling and spinning to get where/what he wants! He has come to enjoy the dogs a bit more - he will laugh when he sees Bizkit and when Buca licks his face! We are SO lucky to have such a happy, easy going baby and can only hope that this is truly his personality (and not just some "phase"!)

I have put together another montage...the photos are from June and are from my mom's camera! We have included pics from the beach, Katie B's baby shower, Father's Day and of course, Devil.Island! Enjoy!

Have we met before?

PLEASE NOTE: EVERYTHING IS FINE!!! (Now, read on)

So not once before October had I ever called 911 (or been the cause OF a 911 call). Now for the second time in less than 10 months, we've called 911.

After a lovely weekend of "beaching" for Chase and I, we decided to wrap up the weekend with a little nap. Papa was watching golf, or the Mets, or Sports Center, whatever. When I woke up, I peeked in on Chase, he was awake too! We had a little diaper change and headed downstairs. Half way down the stairs, I smelled gas! In the front hallway, the living room, the dining room AND the kitchen I smelled gas. Jason didn't smell it. Of course I took Chase and headed outside "suggesting" to Jason that he call someone (911). He did that, rounded up the dogs and we all waited out in the backyard.

Moments later the fire trucks show up. I tell them what was going on and in they go, 6 guys traipsing into the house, some if full gear (minus the masks).

Anyway, while I was standing there, hoping my house didn't explode, the guy who drove one of the 2 fire trucks over (and who didn't go in for some reason) says to me "Ya know, the LAST time I was here, he was on his way" (and of course pointed to Chase). I wanted to say "Well, given that I was delirious with pain and begging for my epidural the last time you were here Sir, I hope you don't take it personally that I don't remember you!" Instead I just smiled nicely, pointed to Chase and said "Well, here's the finished product!!".

As it turns out there is NOTHING going on in the house. We think that a burner may not have been all the way off and that when I said I smelled gas and told Jason to check everything, he turned it off at that point (without realizing it). Nothing turned up on their meters and the house smells normal again, so all is well!

Just an interesting end to our weekend! And now I know, yes, there is a good chance should we call 911 again, at least one of the people who responds may have been looking up my skirt 9+ months ago!

A whole chicken or a half a chicken?

While on vacation, Chase tried chicken for the first time. Below is a video my sister in law Erica caught of us discussing if he had a whole chicken or a half a chicken. Chase was HIGHLY amused by the whole thing!

OK...so who voted for Bizkit?!

Jason keeps asking if I know who voted for "Bizkit" in our "who does Chase look like" poll. Since it wasn't me and it wasn't him we're wondering if the person who did vote for Bizkit would step forward? Anyone? Hello?!

Anywho, it's been a while since my last post, so I figured I should update Chase's health status...he went back to daycare on Monday and has done really well all week! Papa's been a super-star giving him his albuterol treatments at 11pm AND 3am every day! We have decided to drop the 3am one and after Friday or Saturday he will be off the albuterol all together. We will need to continue the steroid treatment twice a day, but that can be given during normal waking hours! Phew!

Just in time for his 9-mo birthday...

Chase was diagnosed on Wednesday with an ear infection and "something" in his lungs! Fortunately, his oxygen level was normal and we were able to stay out of the hospital. Unfortunately he is back on albuterol (which means he stays on the steroids for another 3 months) and antibiotics for the ear infection. As always he has remained in good spirits and I think he has enjoyed having the extra time at home with Mama & Papa this week. We are keeping himout of daycare just one more day, so that hopefully he will be nice and strong by the time he goes back on Monday.

Another "vacation" pic...

Here's one from the day AFTER we got home from Maine! Chase spent the day lounging around the house in his 2T, LL Bean Moose shirt (it was the smallest we could find)! ;)

Perhaps you should all UN-cross your fingers now...

It would seem that even though Chase was great yesterday (according to Dr. Vincent) and was his agreeable self today, he's not actually better.

This evening I thought he felt a little warm, so I took his temp. 102.6! That's the highest we've seen with this thing yet!

Since Papa has been out the last 2 days, I am going to take tomorrow off. I will run in first thing and "hand stuff off" (beautiful thing about living 10 minutes from work) and then head over to walk-in hours at the pediatrician's office. It will be our 3rd visit in 4 days, but given his track record, I am too anxious NOT to take him in! I would have thought his fever should be dropping at this point, not getting worse! UGH!

Update from our doctor's appointment:

Chase's ear is clear and so are his lungs! Looks like we are just dealing with a summer cold! Phew! He is staying home from daycare again today, just as a precaution, but we expect him to be back to his normal routine tomorrow! WooHoo!

(Thanks for all the crossed fingers...it must have worked!)

Chase's latest stats!

Thursday was Chase's 9-month check up. Luckily no shots this time, just a weight, height and general "how's he doing" visit.

Weight: 20 lbs. 14 oz. (55th percentile)
Height: 31 1/2" (90th percentile)

And for those of you keeping track (Uncle Michael) his head circumference is about 18 1/2" (up 4 1/4" from birth).

We were hoping to hear that we could take Chase off the steroid, but Dr Vincent wants us to go one more month. He was really happy with what he heard (or more appropriately didn't hear) in Chase's lungs, but he wants to see him one more month removed from the pneumonia before stopping the daily treatments. I guess it's a good thing because between his visit on Thursday and this morning (well, yesterday to be exact) Chase has gotten sick.

Yesterday he was a bit fussy (for him) and he had a low-grade fever. This morning however he was lethargic when he woke up, had a bit of a cough and was whiny so I took him in. They're not sure if it is an ear infection or just a virus he is working through. The good news is, they didn't hear any crackling in his lungs! We have a follow up appointment late Monday. If his ear looks worse, we'll know what it is and they'll give us antibiotics. He has slept a lot today and has been clingy, but overall in pretty good spirits for someone who's not feeling 100%.

Jason is staying home with him tomorrow and I will be taking him to his appointment in the afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed! Last time he had an ear infection he ended up with pneumonia 3 days later (and spent 2 days in the hospital)!

Our first vacation!

What a great time!! Chase was a SUPER STAR! From the time we left Norwalk to the time we pulled into Stonington on the 20th it was 11 1/2 hours! That included stops for eating, nursing, diaper changes, bathroom breaks and a 1 1/2 hr stop at LL Bean in Freeport (Jason had never been since he always took care of the dog in previous years). Chase hardly fussed, basically just because he was hungry. He slept A LOT in the car, so much so that I was concerned he wouldn't sleep once we got to the hotel on Friday night. He ended up going down a little later than usual, but still slept through the night!

Saturday morning Chase experienced his first boat ride - sadly, he hated it. Hopefully, he will outgrow that!

Once we got to Devil.Island, he fell asleep again and I was able to help hauling some luggage to our cabin!

We learned a learned a little too late that none of the boats were at the island (on their moorings), they were all in town! Then we discovered there was a little problem with the water -there was none! Grampy went to pump water, only to discover ANOTHER problem with the water! One of the lines was busted so he managed to pump one of the wells dry and we were still out of water! After surveying the second well, discovering that the lines weren't long enough to reach the new pump and then moving the new pump (took 4 guys and traipsing through the woods), we were up and running! As for the boats, Matthew came out in the Seaway and Jason and Michael ran back into town to bring Matthew back in and to pick up The Isabella.

The weather the first few days wasn't so great...there was a lot of fog, but at least it was warm enough to leave the house and it didn't rain during the day, so we can't really complain. I do wish it had been nicer earlier in the week so Uncle Michael & Auntie Erica could have enjoyed more that the island had to offer, but maybe next time the weather will be better.

We had a lot of fun with Mike and Erica with movie trivia game nights, and Jason and Michael had a wiffle-ball home run derby on the old tennis courts. There was sea-glass bingo in the clubhouse one afternoon as well as a scavenger hunt and a Maine trivia quiz!

Linda was back after a two year absence...boy was she missed! It was so wonderful to have "The Mema" back in the kitchen, taking care of all of us and cooking up her fabulous meals!

As for Chase, there were a lot of "firsts" on this trip:

-Leaving Connecticut
-A boat ride
-Being on Devil.Island
-Sleeping overnight in his pack 'n' play
-Sleeping with a blanket (this is a big one for me)
-Eating chicken
-Eating real blueberries and kiwi (chopped up of course)
-Eating pasta (are you noticing a theme here?)

Here is a montage of some our photos from vacation...

How did I miss this photo?!

Jason found this yesterday while scrolling through the pics from Chase's first day with his pool. How did I not see the look of total joy on his face?! This might just be our new favorite photo of him (until we get back from vacation at least)!

Happy Father's Day!

Hopefully Papa (Jason) enjoyed his day as much as Chase and I did! He got to sleep in a little bit this morning...then we got geared up for Bobbi, Grampy, Lynne, Liz and Alice to come over for a Father's Day brunch!

The food was good and the company was great. I think Alice enjoyed Chase a lot more this time than she did at Thanksgiving - he actually "does stuff" now!

Yogurt...

Is NOT one of Chase's favorite foods! Just check out the response plain yogurt gets...as much as he seems to dislike it though, he keeps going back for more! This kid is amazing!

An appointment, the park and a pool!

Thursday was a big day. We finally had our long awaited appointment with the asthma/allergy specialist at our pediatrician's office. Because Chase has had RSV and then the pneumonia his doctor thought meeting with her would be a good idea. She has confirmed our protocol (should he get sick), we learned how to give him his steroid treatment in Maine (without any electricity), she confirmed what types of things we should be looking for and we finally learned WHEN we can get Chase off the daily steroid. Once we have made it 2 months without him needing the albuterol treatments, we can stop with the steroid! If he makes it to his 9-month check up on 7/3 we should be in the clear!

Sunday we had a "New Mom" get together at the park. It was awesome to see how much all the babies have changed. Everyone is sitting up and others are crawling (or really working on it). Chase has no real interest in crawling - he doesn't like spending the time on his belly!

After leaving the park Chase got to splash around a little in his new pool! He LOVED it!

Another nice weekend!

We had lots going on this weekend. Saturday we had a lawn to mow, laundry to do (and put away), dessert to make and a road trip to go on...well, it only SEEMED like a road trip! We headed up to Newtown for dinner at The Jorgensons! It was great to see them and catch up. Chase was a little better company for Spencer this time then when he saw him back in January, since at least he can sit up and play with some toys now! Here is Spencer giving Chase hugs!

On Sunday I did some more organizing and planning for Maine! It is amazing how much stuff we have to bring this year (and I always thought we had a lot of stuff in years past)! We now have 70 something containers of baby food packed and ready to go, plus a box of rice cereal, one of barley cereal and 2 containers of puffs! I am still working on packing clothes for Chase and I!

Anyway, after a productive morning, Chase and I headed off to the beach to spend some time with Bobbi on her birthday! We had a nice time and Chase was even introduced to Long Island sound...I thought he would want to get away from the "cold" water, but he was perfectly content sitting at the waters edge, splashing away!

Hip-hip hooray! 3 days - no work, no play!

And so we spent a 3 day weekend with our little man! For the most part the weather was beautiful, everyone was healthy and we all enjoyed the extra day off with no work and no daycare!

Chase made an appearance at Compo Beach 2 out of the 3 days this weekend. Mama couldn't get it together early enough on Saturday (and as it turned out, the afternoon wasn't really that nice). We also got some stuff done around the house...I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what clothes we are going to take to Maine for Chase in a few weeks! I also realized that between now and then we have A LOT going on!

Bustin' through!

So it looks like all the drooling is starting to pay off for our little guy. On Saturday we noticed several white bumps along his top gum. Last night I was able to feel that one of them had busted through! Our little guy is going to have teeth popping out all over the place pretty soon! Can't wait to see the "new" smile once they all come in!

Favorite "new" toy...

Enough said!

(the clomping you hear are his slippers on the hardwood floor!)

A couple of days too late...

I think we are a couple of days late to actually catch the "scoop and stuff" method of transporting puffs from the tray to his mouth! He is still relying heavily on the wet fingers helping him "catch" the puffs.

Chase & Hannah

So this is Chase's little girlfriend at daycare! They get super excited when they see each other. Hannah was born in July, so like his Papa, Chase goes for them "older women"!



A more complete update will follow later...this is all I had time for right now!

It's been a while since our last update!

We can hardly believe it, but Chase is now 7 months old! He is sitting up like a champ and he has even started to self-feed! He hasn't perfected his grip, but he does a pretty good job using his current method of "scoop and stuff". He scoops up some puffs from his tray and then stuffs his hand in his mouth. Often he forgets to open his fist though so the hand comes back out with the same puff it went it with, but it's progress!

We all seem to have recovered from our various ailments nicely! The thrush and sinus infection are gone and Chase has long since recovered from his bout of pneumonia! We are still looking to schedule the appointment with the allergy/asthma specialist so hopefully we can stop the steroid treatments, but for the time being we've cut down to once a day (and he is taking them like a trooper)!

I had a lovely first Mother's Day...it was low-key (just what I wanted). I got a pancake breakfast, a nice walk with Chase, we (Chase & I) had lunch at the beach with Bobbi and Wendy (we cannot WAIT for beach season) and then it was finished off with a late afternoon nap for me and baked, stuffed lobster for dinner - yummy!!!

Because when it rains it pours!

So we finally got Chase ready to go back to daycare on Thursday...only for Papa to come down with a case of food poisoning and Mama to get a sinus infection! Jason never made it to work on Thursday and I only lasted until 3! Once I gave up on the idea that it was going to get better on its own, I finally went to the doctor yesterday and am starting to feel somewhat human again.

Then this morning, we were back at the doctor for Chase (and me) since it seems we've developed a case of thrush, which we are just passing back and forth when nursing. Dr. Moore has us on some medicine for this which will (hopefully) have us completely on the mend, quickly !

You just can't make this stuff up! I am REALLY hoping this is it for us! I think that we've more than paid our dues for the next couple of months (at least)!

Didn't know the little fella had it in him...

Or more appropriately, didn't know he still had anything left in him!

WOW! What a rough night! The plan was that Papa would go in to work really early today and be home in time for me to be at work at 9. All that changed when instead of giving Chase his treatment at 2:30am, we were giving him a bath...he'd thrown up. And then he threw up again in the tub. Then he threw up again on his clean PJ's and Papa. Then he threw up in his crib again. Finally around 3:30 (I think) Jason was able to head of to work and I got Chase down again. Only for him to wake around 5:15 for a repeat performance...threw up in his crib, threw up on the changing table! He finally went down after that and slept until 9. Unfortunately I can't say the same about myself.

At least we weren't caught off guard by the vomitting, when he thew up at the hospital they told us we could possibly expect more of it. It is actually a good sign that the stuff in his chest and head are breaking up and coming out. Poor little guy doesn't know that he should be spitting it out though, so he has swallowed it and made for an upset stomach. Hopefully last night/this morning will be the worst of it!

Anyway, he has had his treatments this morning, nursed and had a small solids breakfast and is back down for the count. Hopefully he and Papa can get some sleep today...I know I am already looking forward to a nap when I get home from work! ;)

The update from the doctor yesterday is that he is cleared to go back to daycare tomorrow (Wed), but we are going to keep him home another day. We are also starting Chase on a preventative routine so that when he gets another cold, hopefully we won't have the same kind of rapid decline that we had on Thursday and HOPEFULLY will be able to avoid any more hospital stays! We are also going to be meeting with the asthma/allergy specialist at our pediatricians office so we can understand more about the wheezing and hopefully how to avoid issues going forward. They can't say for sure that Chase will be asthmatic when he gets older, but they want us to be prepared!

Super Baby fooled us again!

So we thought after 36 hrs of being on antibiotics and almost as long without a fever, Chase was ready to go back to daycare on Thursday. So we got up and headed off for our day as usual. I got a phone call from daycare at 9:30 saying he was wheezing and they would need a doctor's note for him to come back.

I flew over to daycare and then off to the pediatrician's (getting in for their walk-in hours) so I could get the note. Two and a half hours later, Chase was on his way to be admitted to Norwalk Hospital!

His oxygen levels were down, his heart rate was up, the wheezing had gotten worse and they didn't want to release us to home! As it turns out, Chase has pneumonia! It looks like whatever caused his ear infection just decided to "move south"and settle in his lungs.

He has (as usual) been a star through all of this. His spirits are high, he's had a smile on his face, he flirted with all of the nurses...he has continued to be Super Baby!

We are happy to report that after 43 hours in the hospital, he was released yesterday morning just before I had to go to Gram's funeral. While it was a pretty crappy day, it was a little bit better knowing that I would be going HOME to see my little guy instead of back to the hospital!

He has slept a lot today, but I am sure he is still trying to recover and make up for the sleep he lost in the hospital (I know I am)!

Sitting up like a big boy and other assorted things...

Chase is ALMOST sitting up on his own! In just a matter of days he went from being kind of wobbly to pretty steady when it comes to sitting! If he starts to "lean" he is able to pull himself back up to sitting postion. Although, on occassion his head gets "too far out" in front of him and then he can't recover from it. But he has made HUGE progress on this front. He spent a good deal of time practicing this new trick with Buca this weekend. We took LOTS of pictures, but I had to post THIS one, because we cannot believe just how much he looks like his cousin Alice here!

We've had to face Chase's first ear infection this week. It started off with lots of excitement at daycare yesterday...an extra long nap, throwing up his whole bottle and a temp of 101.4. But once again "Super Baby" (as I have come to refer to him at times like this) doesn't know he's sick! He was a little unhappy last night, but other than that he's been in great spirits...took his antibiotics really well, made a face over the tylenol (but he took it), slept through the night like a champ and has even taken a couple of naps today. Below is a picture I took this morning after he ate breakfast - after nursing, he took a full serving of cereal, a full container of apples and 1/2 of a big jar of blueberries...yeah, really sounds like he's sick, huh?!

Breakfast

You might want to turn your speakers DOWN for this one...especially if you are at work! He really gets himself going! Enjoy!


This is how his whole breakfast went this morning! Jason asked if I could hear him while I was upstairs...I think the neighbors could hear him! He really seems to enjoy meal time lately!

April 5, 2008

I realize this post is a little out of order, but I wanted to make sure it got its proper place at the TOP of the blog (even if only for a day or 2)...

On April 5th Jason and I attended my company "holiday" party...yes I know it was April, as I've said before I don't plan these things, I just attend them.

Anyway, Uncle Michael and Auntie Erica babysat for us (and they did a GREAT job)! Below are a few pics of Chase's adventure with them! I wish there was one where we could really see Erica and Chase together...maybe Michael can work on that next time they babysit for us! ;)

We really appreciate them babysitting for us and I think you can just tell from these pics how much they all love each other!

A nice weekend!

Saturday was relatively quiet once I returned from an early morning trip to Target for diapers, formula and other baby supplies! There was a lot of cleaning and laundry going on...it was so nice out we even opened windows and got fresh air in the house!


In the late afternoon we took Chase for a walk! We've been doing this almost daily now. He really loves his jog stroller (and so do I). Now if the sidewalks in our area didn't have 8" curbs when it came to crossing the street, it would be even better!


Sunday our only plan was to go to Scott, Shannon & Millie's house. Millie's christening was Sunday so they had LOTS of family in from out of town. They were nice enough to invite us all over to be a part of the special day! It was great to see such a large number of the babies together again, but sadly Anna and Cole (along with their parents) were missing, so we STILL don't have a picture of all seven babies together! This has to happen before Katharine leaves!!!!


Below are a couple of the (few) photos I took...the first is Will, Chase & Jonathan. The second is Chase "petting" Will's head. Chase also pulled Will's hair, but we opted not to take a picture of that. Chase also stole Jonathan's pacifier at one point. I am a little concerned that my son is becoming the group bully! We'll have to work on that!

Happy Half-Birthday!!!!

Happy half-birthday to you! Happy half-birthday to you! Happy half-birthday dear Chase...Happy half-birthday to you!!!!


Hard to believe but Chase is 6 months old today! WOW!!! Time certainly has flown by! Everyone told me "treasure it, it goes by so fast"...they weren't kidding! I can't believe he is almost sitting up on his own, he has 2 teeth, he's eating solids! In another six months he'll be working on walking and eating real food! Holy crap! I kind of miss my little baby! :(



Based on Chase's expression, I don't think he can believe it either!

Opening Day at Shea!

A happy Papa with his little boy prepare for opening day at Shea (the last actually, next year they will be playing at Citi Field right next door)! Surprisingly Chase already fits into his jersey that came from the Easter Bunny...we were sure he wouldn't be wearing it until mid-season, but our little boy is bigger than we thought!

Almost 6 months!

So Chase had his 6-mo check up last week. He weighed in at 17 1/2 lbs. (his length is currently in question...long story). They didn't give him his shots though, they thought he might have the chickenpox! Fortunately, he didn't! He still has spots that come and go, so we think it is either food related or due to a laundry detergent change...now I have to re-wash everything!

He has two teeth that have broken through (front bottom). He was SUCH a sport about it. He drooled a lot, but didn't fuss at all! When he got his shots yesterday he only cried until I picked him up...then he smiled at both me AND the nurse who gave him the shots! What a super-star we have!!!

We're up for a big weekend...Chase will attend his first Devil Island meeting tomorrow and then spend the evening with Uncle Michael and Auntie Erica (while Mama & Papa go to the CGSM holiday party...yes, I know it's April. Don't ask me, I don't plant these things)!

Here are 2 more videos of Chase laughing...Papa discovered that Chase really likes it when he imitates an elephant!

Opening Day

As we look towards Opening Day of baseball tomorrow, the rivalry at home gets worse! Which team will Chase prefer? What outfit will he be happier in? Can Papa actually be mature and take Chase to school tomorrow in a Yankee outfit?

Let the games begin!

Easter

Chase had a special morning...he got his first Easter basket (from the Easter Bunny) and an Easter gift from Uncle Michael and Auntie Erica! He got some stuff for the beach and Maine (2 pairs of beach shoes and a swimsuit set) as well as a Mets jersey that made his Papa VERY happy!