He's a Talker...

Lately Chase has really been finding his voice. He sounds kind of mad here, but he really does like the sound of his own voice!

Chase's Play Date

Well Chase officially has a girlfriend! I have recently worked out a baby-swapping arrangement with a friend of mine, who also happens to Ashley's neighbor. She has a daughter a few months older than Chase named Savannah. I got to keep Savannah for the first time last week and it was a blast! Since I don't have many friends with babies, Chase hasn't had much interaction with other kids his age. It was adorable to watch him with his new friend! For the first ten minutes Savannah was here, Chase would laugh at every noise she made - and it isn't that easy to get him to laugh yet. I can't wait for him to be able to really play with other kids - he is already becoming so social!

My Day Off

I officially have the greatest husband in the world. Let me explain... Lately I have been feeling a little bit run down. Having a four month old while moving and trying to fix up a new house while simultaneously trying to build up my piano clientele had really been starting to take its toll. Don't get me wrong - I know that I am incredibly blessed to have a new home and a wonderful baby, but I haven't been dealing with the stress very well. I guess Chris was able to recognize this (...it must have been making me hard to live with...) so he decided to give me a day off. Friday night Chris told me to wake him up when Chase started to cry, and he would be on "daddy duty" for the night. I was able to get a good night's rest for the first time in a while. Then he also let me sleep in until 7:30 am on Saturday morning! I probably would have slept longer but Chase hit himself in the face with a rattle and started screaming which woke me up :) Chris then explained that I was to have the entire day to myself! He had arranged for each of our families to take Chase for the day, and instead of working on one of many tasks yet to be completed around the house, I was supposed to relax and chill. I got to spend the entire day soaking in the tub, reading my book, watching movies, eating chocolate, and I even got to take a nap! It was fantastic! It was such a great day - and it ended perfectly when we picked Chase up and I got to see him smile. I am so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful husband who understands that every once in a while I need to have a day all to myself.

We Bought A House!

Well, as many of you may know, Chris and I bought a house! It was a foreclosure so we got a great deal - but the house was in such bad shape! The floors were disgusting, the walls had writing all over them, and the windows looked like they had been egged! I'm sure that we will have enough work to keep us occupied for months to come - we have even had to scour our cabinets because they were covered with who knows what! Luckily, Chris' dad works for a plumbing company and my dad is a contractor/realtor. Both of our families helped out soo much! We still don't have baseboards or doors put back in yet (we have to paint them) but we are living in the house and loving it! I wish we had remembered to take before and after pictures, because the difference is unbelievable! We are so grateful to be here and we are excited to start attending our new ward on Sunday. I'll post pictures of the house when it is finally finished.

Catching Up & More...

Chase has been such an incredible blessing to our family. He is so incredibly happy! He laughed for the first time on Oct. 12th, and he just rolled over on Nov. 2nd. He is so tall now - he is in the top 5% for his age! He gets lots of love and attention and is no doubt already completely spoiled. Oh well!

I Finally Created a Blog!

Well, since I decided to make a blog because of Chase, I guess I'll start with filling everybody in on his life! ...it was the evening of July 20th, my due date. I was scheduled for induction the next morning, but I really wanted to go into labor on my own. I ended up taking matters into my own hands. I took caster oil. BAD IDEA! I had the most violent diarrhea of my life - it was probably the most pain I'd ever endured up to that point. The pains lasted throughout the evening, and even into the night. I woke up the next morning to get ready to go to the hospital, and I felt pretty okay. About 15 minutes after I got out of the shower, I noticed that my underwear was wet. At first I thought maybe I had just lost control of my bladder and leaked a little bit... However, more liquid kept coming, and I soon realized that my water had broken, but it was just a slow leak break. I finished getting ready and got to the hospital at 7:30 am - a half hour before I was supposed to be induced! When I was checked, I was 2 cm, so they let me walk around and I really started to feel the contractions. Forty-five minutes later, I was checked again, and I was at 4 cm. The contractions started becoming really painful, so I opted for the epidural. Fifteen minutes later the nurse came in to check my progress, and to catheterize me, but I was already at a 10! The nurse was shocked! Five more nurses came in just to make sure! They started calling me Miss Lightning Bolt. Anyway, Chase ended up being born at exactly 12:30 pm, July 21st! He weighed 7 pounds, 15 1/2 oz, and was 21 inches long. He was/is perfect! After about an hour they tried to move me to the recovery room, but I started to hemorrhage. They determined that it was because they were unable to catheterize me after the epidural. They were practically jumping on my uterus to get it to contract! It was pretty painful, but everything turned out okay!