Happy Halloween

I've been itching to make another cake, but just haven't had a good excuse. But our annual church fall festival is tomorrow. And wouldn't you know it, they happen to be having a cake walk. So when my mom volunteered me to make a cake for our household, I decided to have some fun with it.

This time, it went much more smoothly. I planned ahead, laid out a step by step plan for each day, and things actually went according to plan. Woo hoo! There were a few snafu's when covering the actual pumpkin, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with the results.

This was also my first attempt at a chocolate cake from scratch. And it was amazing. But I wonder who was the first person to think of adding boiling water to cake batter? In case you're wondering, it's four 8 inch layers of chocolate cake, chocolate filling with bits of candy corn, and the stem is made from rice krispy treats. It blows my mind that just a few days ago, this all started with two cups of sugar (well, other than the candy corn).

The 'Stang and the Squirrel

I'm not a member of PETA, but the thought of killing an animal makes me wanna throw up (well, every animal except for my neighbor's pesky dog). Don't get me wrong. I don't care if you hunt, fish or whatever else floats your boat. It's just not for me.

But tonight I did the unthinkable. I killed a squirrel. It ran in front of my car, and I didn't hit the brakes. Why, you ask? Well first, because I've heard too many stories of people getting in senseless accidents braking for pesky things like rodents. And second, because...when have you ever seen a squirrel not make it across the road before the car? I don't care how close it is, the squirrel always wins. Except tonight.

Tonight, as I was on my way home, I saw him coming, and I just kept going...and I didn't hear a "crunch"...but I definitely got his tail. :( I wasn't sure, so I checked in my rearview mirror. Bad idea. He was writhing around, trying to get up but immediately falling back over. It was awful. When I left the house again, he was still there. Obviously a casualty.

I already felt bad. But at least I didn't actually run the entire thing over...that's disgusting. Then, on my way home for the night, I made the mistake of forgetting. And wouldn't you know, I did it again. I heard the big "crunch" this time though. Oh well, at least I put him out of his misery.

One Month and Counting

Tonight I got Chase's new umbrella stroller in the mail! If you follow me on facebook, you know that I acquired it through ebay. It was my first auction and, I'll admit, it was quite a rush. If I had an unlimited amount of money, I imagine I would spend a great deal of time on ebay. (I would also never darken the doors of Walmart again, but that's another blog for another day).

Moving on, my title is related to the Disney Cruise that we have scheduled for one month from today! I can't wait! But when I started thinking about packing, I knew that I didn't want to lug around his giant travel system stroller (even though it drives like a dream). So thus began my extensive research into umbrella strollers. Basically, I was looking for a baby Cadillac...that fits mommy's needs as well. And I'm pretty happy with what I got for my money.

This baby has a reclining seat, a basket underneath, a parent caddy by the handlebars with a cupholder, a large sunshade, and nice tall handles (no hunching over to push for this mama!). I am very pleased. Plus, it fits in the trunk of the Mustang (our Chicco stroller does not), which is a big plus for me when Kevin goes out of town. Another thing marked off my cruise checklist...one month to go!

Kicking Myself

The past two night have been torture when it comes to bedtime for Chase. He has tossed, turned, cried and spit up. Basically done everything but sleep. It's been almost midnight before I got him to sleep. Yuck! Tonight I left him in his crib for an hour, until I absolutely couldn't take it anymore and, picked him up. While I was rocking him trying to figure out what to do, I realized something.

I had broken routine. For the past two nights, for one reason or another, he hadn't had a bath. What was I thinking? Once I stumbled on this revelation, around 11:30, I knew what I had to do. So I stripped him out of his pj's, gave him a bath, and sat back down to rock.

Within ten minutes, he was sound asleep. Guess tonight I learned just how crucial a routine is. Oh well, you live and you learn.

To Sleep, Or Not To Sleep.

Not much of a question. If you've known me for any amount of time, you know that I'm going to choose to sleep. Whenever possible. This applies to my son as well. So when I realized how much time the two of us were spending in a glider rocking him to sleep, I decided it was time for him to "cry it out."

And, a week or so later, I am convinced that this is one of the two best decisions I've made for Chase so far. What was the second, you ask? Not shielding him from noise while he's sleeping. Now, we've had our ups and downs with regards to sleep over the past five months. But for the most part, he's been a great sleeper. I'm chalking the "downs" up to the constant change of being a baby.

So, at around 4 1/2 months, I decided to bite the bullet. Getting him to bed at night hasn't really been a problem, since establishing a bath-bottle-bed routine. But naptime could be tricky, especially if he was over-tired and fussy. So one day, I did the thing that every mother dreads...laid him down, and let him cry. I would occasionally pat his back, or give him his pacifier back if it had fallen out. But other than that, I left him alone. And eventually, he cried himself to sleep.

The next day, I put him on the floor while I was rocking Carter for his nap. And the next thing I knew, he was sound asleep...success! It's not foolproof, but he's gotten himself to sleep for just about every nap for the past two weeks. I even think he's napping better and longer. And I'm one happy mama!

Pumpkin Patch

We made two attempts at visiting a pumpkin patch in the past week. The first time, Chase was on the verge of a nap, grumpy, and it was ridiculously hot outside, so we left pretty quickly. On the second attempt, we dressed more appropriately, and tried to get there at a better time of day. He still tried to nap on the way, but woke up after the first few pictures, and I think we got some pretty cute ones, if I do say so myself. Take a look.

Finally finished...poor thing was exhausted.

Fun Times

Here are some pictures of the past month of Chase's life. Didn't want to overdo it on the five month update, but I couldn't let you miss out on all the cuteness!

First night in his crib!

Angel.

Loves to watch tv.

...and his daddy.

Baby camouflage

In his new favorite toy

pumpkin patch attempt #1

Learning to sit up on his own!

Five Months!

Baby Chase is five months old today! In some ways, I can't believe he's been with us for that long. In others, it's like he's been with us forever. Weird, I know. The past month has been so much fun! He is learning like crazy, and is really developing into the fun, entertaining, sweet boy that we just knew he would be. ha ha.

I don't have any specifics for you in regards to height, weight, etc. Instead, I'll just share some fun developments he's achieved as of late.

• He has finally discovered his feet! Poor short thing was a little late on this one...but he's found them, and he's happily chomping away on them daily.
• He loves baby food...all baby food. Except meat. Tried that one recently, and the poor thing almost gagged. We'll work on that one again later.
• We recently helped him learn to put himself to sleep (aka let him cry it out). That's a blog post in itself.
  
• He's really close to crawling. He can get up on all fours, belly off the ground, and rock a little bit. I'm pretty sure if he wasn't so interested in chewing on his hands that he'd already be there.
• He's picking up sign language! Not due to my amazing parenting skills, but simply from watching his buddy Carter. He's learned to say "please" when he wants food. It's super cute! Check out Kevin's facebook page if you haven't seen the video yet.
• He loves his Exersaucer. This is his favorite toy as of late, and mommy is so thankful for something that can entertain him so thoroughly while she does something else.

I'm sure there's a ton more I could post, but I know you really just want to see some cuteness...so here it is...

Team Edward

Chase might seriously be a vampire. What's my first clue? He's amazingly handsome! Does he dazzle in the sunlight? Yeah, like I'm exposing that amazing ivory skin to the sunlight. Are werewolves his enemies? Well, he definitely doesn't like it when Dakota howls. But here's what really put the nail on the proverbial coffin. He thirsts for human flesh. Don't believe me?

It started out simple. A thumb here, chomping on a wrist there.

But tonight he showed his true colors. He attacked me with a vengeance. Take a look:

Crazy, right. Note the fingers ripping the hair out of my head. What you can't see are the pool of drool collecting on my shoulder, and the squeals of delight ringing in my ear. See the look of terror in my eyes? You can't make this stuff up.

We've Moved!

Don't go getting your address books just yet (yes, I realize most people use their phones...I still like my pretty little address book). Anyhow, we haven't changed addresses, simply rooms. We've been toying with the idea of switching rooms for awhile now, and this past week we finally decided to make the change. So we've switched from the small room in the back of the house (my childhood bedroom) to the larger room in the front of the house (the playroom). It took several hours of cleaning, moving a ton of stuff, and it's still not quite complete. But now we have a much more organized, comfortable room complete with a nursery, living room, bedroom and office area. One of the biggest perks is that we were finally able to set up Chase's crib. I'm so happy baby boy finally has a real bed to sleep in...and he's slept through the night the past two nights. Woo hoo!

PS - If you like yard sales, be on the lookout for ours sometime soon. lol.

Naked Baby!

I am trapped in a (very nice) hotel room in Atlanta while Kevin is at drill this weekend. So to kill some time, I thougth we'd have a photo shoot with Baby Chase. Except he kept his hands in his mouth the WHOLE time. Oh well, here are the best shots I got out of the 45 I took.

I barely got this one. Every time I snapped the camera, he went spread eagle.

And so begins the hands in the mouth.

What's the problem, mommy?

So innocent.

Sorry I'm not behaving, mommy.

Gotcha...I'm not gonna stop!

Can't catch me now...

Or now.

Are we done yet?

I put his diaper back on and he was making the cutest faces, so I tried again...as you can see, he still wasn't cooperative. Little stinker.