Monday, December 31, 2007

Photo Album Password

I have password protected our Photo Album on Snapfish. Just send me a message if you want the "room code" required to log in and I'll email it to you. Thanks!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Very Merry Christmas

We are back from St. Louis, where we spent the holiday at Brian's parents' house. We did a lot in our few days there! For Brian's birthday this year I got him tickets to the Mizzou vs. Illinois "Braggin' Rights" basketball game, so we went to the game on Saturday (they lost, but we're not going to talk about that)...

...while Grandma and Grandpa entertained Chase. They had lots of fun with him. Grandpa shared all of his Christmas toys (Rock N Roll Santa, his Christmas train, and Chase's favorite: the motion censored musical snowman)...

...and Grandma got him dancin' to Barney!

While we were in town we also got to have dinner with our friends Todd & Toni, who are expecting their own little one in May! We had a good time, but Chase was not very cooperative! We're hoping we didn't freak them out entirely with our embarrassing "what's to come" display!

We did our traditional Christmas light display outings at the Lady of the Snows and Rock Park. It was past Chase's bed time each night we went but he was such a trooper. He really liked the lights and each place had a petting zoo which kept him entertained!

Chase also had his picture taken with Santa which went just fine. No big fits or anything to report. Phew! I'll try to scan the polaroid and put it here at some point.

Christmas morning was stretched into Christmas afternoon, as Chase opened his gifts in 3 shifts!

Chase was generously showered with fun stuff by both of our families, while Brian and I mostly got him the boring stuff like socks, shoes and a new stroller!

(Yes, it was 3pm when I took this photo and my child is still in his PJ's.... It's the only way to do Christmas!)

One of Chase's favorite gifts was a basketball hoop, and I think Brian got into the game even more than Chase did!

(In Brian's defense, Chase really had just made an incredible shot!)

I hope everyone had as nice of a holiday as we did. For more photos, check out our Photo Album!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

12 Months!

OK, folks, here it is.... Chase's 12 month photo!

Click here to compare it to his 11 month photo!

He went to the doctor for his 12-month checkup Monday. He is now 21lbs 12oz (35th percentile) and 30" long (55th percentile).

It is impossible to get this kid to sit still for these photos. I got this shot right as he was diving for me. So, I hereby declare this the last monthly bear photo. From here on out I think we'll do yearly photos (well, maybe I'll sneak an 18 month photo in there, too). ;)

The slideshow of all his month photos has been updated at the bottom of Chase's Info Page if you're interested in seeing the progression. [Update 1/18/08: This page no longer exists. If you would like me to email you a slideshow of the progression, let me know!]
Random photos taken over the last month are now in our Photo Album (labeled "Chase: 11 Months - Misc.").

P.S. 6 days til Christmas!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Kiddy

We had a jam-packed weekend at our house!

First, my parents came to visit on their way out to California to spend Christmas with my brother and his family (yes, they are DRIVING)! Dad spent most of the weekend at a flying workshop and Mom was nice enough to babysit Chase while Brian and I spent all day and overnight in the city Saturday! We had MAJOR shopping to take care of (we are SO behind this year!) and we got my family done (phew!) so now just have to work on finishing up Brian’s.

The city was so beautiful, all lit up for the holidays. We did our usual State Street and Michigan Avenue thing that we do every year (last year I was hugely pregnant so it was nice to be able to walk vs. waddle around downtown this year). We also caught a movie while we were downtown because we discovered a movie theatre just 2 blocks from our hotel. We saw “I am Legend.” It was really good, but VERY intense. Will Smith was great in it.

When we got home Sunday it was time for (dun, dun, dunnnnnnnn)… the CAKE! Some things I learned about birthday cake decorating this weekend:
  1. Don’t forget to add water to your cake mix batter. Thank goodness for Mom who realized something was up when I wound the entire batter up the mixer and couldn’t get it out.
  2. Don’t let your mom help you get the cake out of the pan with a big knife or you will have to spend extra precious time patching holes (love you, Mom)!
  3. You need a “screw thingy” to attach tips to icing bags.
  4. The fancy tips you buy at Hobby Lobby don’t screw right onto the frosting tubes (but they SHOULD! Someone invent that)!
  5. You need more than a tiny tube of icing to cover a whole cake.
  6. To thin out frosting you have to use corn syrup.
  7. Sending your husband to the store for corn syrup is never a good idea. Especially when he has already gone through the checkout line once to buy you more frosting.
  8. None of the employees at Jewel know what corn syrup is, let alone where to find it.
  9. Corn syrup is in the aisle with the maple syrup on the very top shelf in a box.
  10. Never let your son taste the frosting before you’re done with the cake or he’ll sit at your feet grunting and shaking his fists at you for more while you’re trying to control your decorating hand.
  11. Never set your masterpiece on top of your gas stove where pilot lights continually burn and produce heat (thanks, Brian, for noticing the icing was starting to melt).
So we hit some minor roadblocks along the way but I did manage to pull it off. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you (drumroll, please)... THE CAKE!!
After that was done (it took me 4 hours, by the way…) Chase helped me wrap his presents (the state of our house should give you a little insight into the state of our minds these days):

When Grandpa got home we opened presents!!

And then my beautiful masterpiece was ripped to shreds....

And on his first birthday Chase spoke his first word. He’s been working on it for awhile now but we finally got it last night: Kitty. And not just “kitty,” but “kiddy,” and more specifically: “kiddykiddykiddykiddykiddykiddykiddy.” Once he said it he was so proud and excited he just couldn't shut up. He said it for the first time after his bath, looking and pointing at Boomerang as I put his PJ’s on. He said it over and over through his goodnights from Grandma and Grandpa, all through his 2 bedtime stories, all through his mommy’s lullabye and hugs and kisses... and then this morning when he woke up and saw the cat it started all over again. This boy LOVES his kitty.

Now that I know he’s a “repeater” (whoah, Seinfeld moment), I’m thinking we probably missed his first “mama” and “dada,” since we often hear “mamamamamamama” but previously dismissed it as gibberish!

I think that’s it, folks! I totally forgot to take his 1-year photo with his teddy bear yesterday but I will do that and post it soon.

I will also publish more photos of this weekend's festivities to our Photo Album once I've compiled them all from various cameras. I'll put an update here when posted. [Update 12/18/07: Photos posted!]
8 days til Christmas!!!!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Can't Wait!

Someone loves presents just as much as Mommy does!

Chase got his first birthday present in the mail and he just BEGGED us to let him open it! I got a cute video of it but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me attach it. I'll keep trying, so keep checking back for it! [Update 1/18/08: Still nothing. I'm starting to think the file is corrupt or something. I'm so bummed!]

P.S. 11 days til Christmas!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Ultimate Mommy Test!

So Chase's first birthday is Sunday. I decided I was going to make a cake instead of just buying one from the store because, hey... that's what my mom always did and it just seemed like cheating to buy one on my way home from work Friday.

My original plan was nothing fancy, just bake a cake (from a box, I might add). Then Brian said, "you should at least make it in the shape of something." And I thought, hey... that can't be hard. I mean, you just dump the cake mix into the shaped pan and VOILA! Right?

So off we went to Hobby Lobby to find a cake pan. There were lots of choices, but it became clear pretty quickly that unless you did some decorating it was going to be hard to tell what the shapes were. So I took a deep breath, chose what seemed like a relatively easy lion, and bought all the icings and fancy tips I needed.

The thing is, boys and girls, I don't cook. I have a handful of easy (and I stress EASY) recipes I can pull out if I absolutely have to, but I'm not exactly handy in that department. It takes me forever to make something because I am literally lost in the kitchen. "Where are the measuring spoons?" "How much is a dash?" "I thought vanilla was a scent.... You can put it in food?!?"

So I have decided this cake will be my ultimate mommy test. If I can pull this off (with the lion looking relatively alive and happy when it's all over and done with), I can call myself a supermom. If I fail miserably I may just have to hand Chase over to Brian and pray he turns out OK.

Wish me luck!

P.S. 14 days til Christmas!

P.P.S. I must be nuts trying to bake my first ever fancy lion birthday cake sometime in the next 14 days before Christmas. Like I have nothing else to do than wander aimlessly around my kitchen for the 5 hours it's going to take me to accomplish this task!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Decorating for Christmas

Last weekend we put our Christmas tree up, and yesterday we worked on our lights outside. Chase loves our tree ornaments! We're behind in our decorating and shopping this year partly because of my Soapbox show (which closes today). I cannot believe it, but...

16 days til Christmas!!

And only 1 week til Chase's first birthday. We really need to get on that, too. I hate being this disorganized, people!!

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