I'm an Inspiration?

I don't know if I've ever been called an inspiration before, but someone called me that today and I am just glowing as a result.

Remember when I joined Curves? Well I am proud to report that since joining I have lost almost 30 pounds (27.5, to be exact). I now weigh less than I did before I was pregnant! So a lady at work asked me what I was doing to lose weight and I told her all about my experience with Curves. Well, she told me today that she joined last week, and that I was her inspiration. What a wonderful compliment!

I won't bore everyone with all my Curves babble, but if any of you other women out there are interested in learning more about it, contact me and I will tell all. Sometimes I think I need to be their spokesperson because I'm a walking advertisement, anyway, the way I go on and on about it. It's such a great program!

So, anyway.... If you happen to see someone miraculously walking on air today, it's probably me. ;)

Thunderstorms

Last night we got some pretty incredible thunderstorms. I absolutely love thunderstorms. They started around 8:30 and we turned the lights out and just lay in bed watching and listening.

After about an hour Chase woke up... not because the storm scared him, but because he hasn't been sleeping well lately (he's teething again) and the last few nights he's woken up several times. We let him cry for about 1/2 hour because he wasn't screaming like he was scared, just moaning and fussing. After 1/2 hour we said, "well there's no way he's going to be able to go back to sleep with the storms going on" so we went in and got him and brought him into bed with us. He wasn't afraid of the storms at all.... He was completely intrigued. Every time there was a huge flash of lightning or crack of thunder he would just stare in wonder. It was so amazing.

After the storms started calming down we put him back to bed and he went right to sleep. It is just amazing to me.... You would think the huge flashes of light and loud banging would scare a baby that doesn't have any idea what's going on... but he actually enjoyed it, too. It was so amazing to share that with him.

The storms lasted several hours. It was so cool. The Chicago area lost a lot of power last night and our internet went down but it was so worth it!

7 Months!

Chase turns 7 months old tomorrow! Here is his 7 month photo.

Click here to compare it to his 6 month photo!

You can also see a slideshow of his month photos on Chase's Info Page, FYI. [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: 6 Months - Misc."), FYI.

New Toy

I'm blogging from my new toy! I have been in dire need of a new computer for awhile. The one I had been using was a desktop and was about 6 years old. It was soooooooo ssssllllooooowwwwwwwwwwww....

I decided for my next computer I wanted a laptop vs. a desktop so I could take it with me to my theatre company's rehearsals/performances/etc. So we headed to Best Buy yesterday and bought my new toy. My favorite feature: IT'S RED!

4th of July and a trip to St. Louis

We really lucked out on the 4th of July this year because they shot off fireworks right across the street from our house! We did our Friday Night Game Night on the 4th (because we were going to be out of town on Friday) and then walked outside and sat on our back porch for the show. We took the baby monitor out, sure the big booms would wake Chase, but the kid slept through the entire thing! Afterwards we watched the swarms of people flock to their cars and try to get out of there while we just walked inside, put our PJ's on and climbed into bed. It was VERY nice!

The next morning we left for Brian's parents' house in St. Louis. His sister, Jen, and our nephew, Ryan, were up from Florida so it was a great opportunity to see everyone. We had a busy few days! Highlights:

• Chase went to his first St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium (and they won)! It was past his bedtime and he was such a trooper!
• Swimming at the YMCA! We bought Chase a floating turtle to sit in and he loved it! We also brought along a pool basketball and hoop for Ryan to play with, but Brian and his dad ended up taking it over with a game or 2 of HORSE! Ryan had fun on the diving board and even got Grandpa ("Paw Paw") to jump in!
• We went to Grant's Farm and fed the goats and saw the other animals. It was HOT but so fun!
• Brian and I got a chance to go on a date while his parents watched Chase (we saw "Knocked Up..." funny)!
• Brian and I went with Jen & Ryan to see "Transformers" (cool movie)!
• Nintendo Mario Cart wars!
• Yummy homemade pizza!

We had a great weekend, but now it's back to work! Hope everyone else had a nice holiday! Photos of our trip are posted in our Photo Album.

Weekend Update

So Brian and I finally had a chance to celebrate our 4-year wedding anniversary on Friday (our anniversary was the 21st). We started it off by feeling incredibly old: Up until that point we had used friends/family for babysitting on the rare occasions we’ve had the chance to go out. Well this time we hired a real babysitter. After I left her all the instructions and emergency contact information, showed her around the house, introduced her to our remotes, etc., we left. After we closed the door and started the walk to the car I said, "omigod, we are officially old." I remember when IIIIIII was the babysitter and I thought the people I babysat for were so old! *sigh* It was bound to happen, I guess.

And then after all that, the babysitter stole our remote! Saturday morning Brian went downstairs to watch some TV and he couldn’t find it anywhere. About ½ hour later our phone rang. It was our babysitter who was so embarrassed because she had just found our remote in her purse! We got a good laugh out of it.

Anyway, we had a very nice date. We went to dinner and then saw "Fantastic 4." It was OK. Brian liked it better than the 1st one, I liked the 1st one better. It was really nice to get out to the movies again. We used to go to movies ALL THE TIME and I think the last time we went was in March. We’ve been deprived!

And because our date was on Friday night we had to move "Friday Night Game Night" to Saturday. They are so fun. We’re becoming obsessed.... We bought 4 more games this weekend!

We also bought baby gates this weekend. Chase is now becoming more mobile. Not only is he rolling all over the place, he’s starting to scoot on his stomach and the way he’s bringing his legs under him to push off made us realize, "Wow, crawling is not too far away!" Time to start the "baby proofing" process around the house!

Last night Soapbox had our first night of auditions for our next show and we had a pretty good turnout. 1 more night of auditions to go and then we can cast the show and start rehearsals next week! Hard to believe we’re about to do this again!

I think that’s it for our weekend update. Hope everyone else had a great one!

NOTHING

It's been a record number of days since I've posted anything and I'm going nuts! I just haven't had anything newsworthy to post in the last week! So if you're at all interested, here's a summary of the meaningless goings on in our life since my last post:

• Brian and I both got sick and we think Chase got a little bit of our colds, too
• We discovered Chase is likely allergic to prunes
• I made a comeback at our last Friday Night Game Night, beating Brian at "Battle of the Sexes" (actually, that one was technically a tie because he won 1 round and I won another) and "DiVinci Code"
• Brian finished up the Concordia class he taught this semester and now he's free as a bird for awhile (til fall, probably)
• I took 1/2 day off last week to play with Chase and he fussed the whole time (thanks a lot, son)!
• We had our 4-year wedding anniversary (6/21) but it doesn't feel like we've had it yet because Brian had to teach that night (but we do have plans to go out this Friday night to celebrate)!
• I got a chance to sing on a great big stage at the Paramount, but no one was paying attention so it kind of doesn't count (Soapbox was the pre-show entertainment for a show there, so we performed as people came in and found their seats, etc.)
• I've been busy getting material together for Soapbox's next show (our 2nd annual Soapbox Comedy Revue). Auditions are this weekend.
• Chase was "child of the month" at daycare, and he only has a few more days to enjoy it!
• We bought our plane tickets to California for my brother's wedding this summer. YAY! We are so excited, and Chase can't wait to meet Uncle Jeff (and cousin Rhianna... and his soon-to-be brand new Aunt Julia)!
• Brian is giving blood tonight out of the goodness of his heart (I have no idea how he volunteers to have needles stuck in his arm on a regular basis)!
• We went to downtown Geneva to do a little shopping Sunday and ran into a festival they were having there. Chase loved the parade and when I laughed at the giant hot dog car barrelling down the street Brian was shocked I had never even heard of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile before. Am I alone in this?!?

I think that about sums it up! Aren't you glad you read it all? You must be as bored as I am! ;)