I've hijacked matt's blog. Don't have much time, but thought i'd at least give a brief update of my trip thus far. I have to start by saying how much I already miss my boys. It was hard to leave them, but i know chase is having a blast in algona with both sets of grandparents and matt is enjoying his golf, video games & twins games.
I landed in Korea Wed afternoon after 15 hours on the plane...and maybe only 3 hrs of sleep the previous 2 nights. It was so great to see steph - who i haven't seen in over a year!! We headed back to her apartment and then out to her favorite thai restaurant for dinner. That night we also had to pack for our 18 day backpacking adventure. If you haven't guessed already, it took us 3 rounds of packing and re-packing to get everything to fit into our backpacks. I thought I was bad with overpacking, but I'm nothing compared to steph!
Thursday morning we headed to the airport, but soon ran into some debris from the previous nights typhoonesque weather. Trees uprooted all over, power lines down, it was pretty impressive. Looked like a tornado had hit a 2 block stretch. Steph took about 500 pictures, so i'll try to get those up sometime.
We're now in Malaysia for the next 9 days. Today and tomorrow we'll be in the capital city of Kuala Lampur. Today, we got here just in time to get some massages, but at a really sketchy place...not sure i'll go back there. It was really dark, dingy & i seriously feared for my safety just a little bit. The old lady who was doing my massage kept saying that steph and i needed to be careful in malaysia(2 girls traveling alone is apparently just asking for trouble). don't worry matt - we can take care of ourselves!! Tomorrow, we're going to do some shopping and sightseeing. Then it's off to Cameron Highlands for the next leg of our trip, which is one of malaysia's many national parks. I'm hoping to see some elephants & monkeys!!!
I think that's it for now. Off to bed for me.
to my boys...I miss you tons!!!
Laura
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Chase in the Bahamas
Only 14 months old and Chase has already been outside of the United States. Pretty sure it took me 18 years to do that. The best part about taking him to the Bahamas was that he got to get a passport picture which looks awesome. Even better is when they really inspect that passport in customs, like he's going to smuggle something through in his big gut.
Overall he did pretty well on the plane, pretty much slept on all four flights, which was great accept when you had to hold a 30 pound kid on your lap like dead weight. Also in case you every go on a plane with a baby I guess you need a ticket even without a seat. We almost left him in the bahamas because of this very reason.
Pictures are up on Picasa from the trip, but Chase enjoyed the trip overall. He got his first experience with the ocean and he loved to just walk in and out of the swimming pool. Being the great parents we are we forgot to bring any toys with us on the trip, which forced us to buy a $15 dollar ball that probably cost 25 cents to make in order to keep him occupied. As for the adults there was a lot of snorkeling (with sharks!) (no really, I got in with sharks 15 feet below). Of course I waited until everyone else was in the water and then went in for like a minute. We also did a lot of water slides and Laura tanned for about 5 hours a day. So a great vacation overall.
Other than that the kid has had a pretty good summer. A lot of time at the zoo, running around outside, trying to teach him to hit a baseball and golfball (which we are off to a pretty good start on), and playing at the water park. He can know climb stairs quicker than we can figure out where he is at, still falls at least 5 times a day, and is starting to get more words.
He also has discovered the bobblehead collection. This started with first staring at them in fright and then figuring out that his Dad has to be the coolest person on the earth with all of these bobbleheads. Know he will spend 10 minutes just staring, pointing, and saying bah-bah. He also had his first camping and boating experience. Infant life jackets seem a little uncomfortable, but if he gets tossed in the water he should survive. He was sleeping when he got on the boat, so I can just imagine what he is thinking when we force him awake and he's got the wind blowing through his long locks.
Speaking of that, the kid needs a haircut. Laura refuses to do it, but I think she finally realized the necessity when she got asked "how old is she" at the store the other day. So not sure how we will pull this off, but I told her if it is not done in a month, I'm taking care of it. Buzz cut man.
Finally, I think I figured out that when you are a baby, Dad's probably really don't know how to fix anything, but they pick it up as they go. I tonight figured out how to wire a telephone line by myself. One of two times I have completed a man task. I figure I'll continue to pick up on this, although my wife may disagree.
Here's a link to the pictures again. http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
Later
Overall he did pretty well on the plane, pretty much slept on all four flights, which was great accept when you had to hold a 30 pound kid on your lap like dead weight. Also in case you every go on a plane with a baby I guess you need a ticket even without a seat. We almost left him in the bahamas because of this very reason.
Pictures are up on Picasa from the trip, but Chase enjoyed the trip overall. He got his first experience with the ocean and he loved to just walk in and out of the swimming pool. Being the great parents we are we forgot to bring any toys with us on the trip, which forced us to buy a $15 dollar ball that probably cost 25 cents to make in order to keep him occupied. As for the adults there was a lot of snorkeling (with sharks!) (no really, I got in with sharks 15 feet below). Of course I waited until everyone else was in the water and then went in for like a minute. We also did a lot of water slides and Laura tanned for about 5 hours a day. So a great vacation overall.
Other than that the kid has had a pretty good summer. A lot of time at the zoo, running around outside, trying to teach him to hit a baseball and golfball (which we are off to a pretty good start on), and playing at the water park. He can know climb stairs quicker than we can figure out where he is at, still falls at least 5 times a day, and is starting to get more words.
He also has discovered the bobblehead collection. This started with first staring at them in fright and then figuring out that his Dad has to be the coolest person on the earth with all of these bobbleheads. Know he will spend 10 minutes just staring, pointing, and saying bah-bah. He also had his first camping and boating experience. Infant life jackets seem a little uncomfortable, but if he gets tossed in the water he should survive. He was sleeping when he got on the boat, so I can just imagine what he is thinking when we force him awake and he's got the wind blowing through his long locks.
Speaking of that, the kid needs a haircut. Laura refuses to do it, but I think she finally realized the necessity when she got asked "how old is she" at the store the other day. So not sure how we will pull this off, but I told her if it is not done in a month, I'm taking care of it. Buzz cut man.
Finally, I think I figured out that when you are a baby, Dad's probably really don't know how to fix anything, but they pick it up as they go. I tonight figured out how to wire a telephone line by myself. One of two times I have completed a man task. I figure I'll continue to pick up on this, although my wife may disagree.
Here's a link to the pictures again. http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
Later
Monday, May 31, 2010
Rocky, Roads, and Sprinklers
It's your lucky day, bonus coverage of the exciting adventures of little Chasers. This is what happens when I get a day off of work and run out of things to do. Definitely an exciting weekend that began with some blood. For the most part Chase has the walking thing down, but every once in a while he likes to throw in a good faceplant to remind himself he has a little learning to do. This weekend there were two pretty good ones. The first happened while he was carrying a basketball around the yard, tripped, and bit his lip. Nothing like a kid wailing with blood all over his teeth in front of the neighbors. About a minute later he was fine though and shouting "ba, ba" as he went to pick it up again. Round two came at a friends house. Chase was taking his 5th lap around the driveway (more on this later) when all of a sudden he fell forward on his hands, couldn't stop his mass from driving his face right into the driveway. It was one of those slow motion moments where I just stood there and watched the nose and lip smoosh into the driveway and what "oh crap". He immediately started wailing and had blood dripping from his nose and a cut lip and front of the nose to go with it. So while the outside maybe fun, we're finding it a little more dangerous than around the house.
Second, once again we buy an awesome little pool, take Chase to parks and all he does is find the road and start walking towards it. We set him in the middle of the yard and he immediately bee lines to the driveway and wants to walk over to the neighbors. My wife would say that is because they all have dogs and we do not, but it means no snoozing while watching him in the front yard. Then today we drove about 30 minutes to find a park. We were trying to find a lake, since this is the land of 10,000 lakes, but all the lakes around us have no parks attached. So we finally find this nice park, have lunch, put Chase into the sand next to the playground and he immediately starts marching off down the sidewalk, does a few laps around the restrooms, and then walks out into the parking lot towards the road finding discarded cigarettes and water bottles that he wants to play with. Awesome. You've got to love the walking now though because he very rarely falls and he swings his arms like he's out for a nice little stroll. Maybe he understands when we talk about his big belly and he's just trying to work it off. He already takes part in Laura's workout videos every morning. He has the arm waves and jumping jacks down.
Finally, Chase isn't quite sure what to make of sprinklers yet. He first experienced them this weekend and he would basically walk into the stream of the sprinkler, stop in shock, and let the water continue to just pelt him in the face. I thought this was pretty funny, so we tried to make him continue to do it. Doesn't seem to be afraid of them though and seemed to like getting wet, so that bodes well for our vacation coming up. Although he did hate the sand today at the park, he didn't like that it stuck to his hands, and he just tried to wipe everything off onto his belly. He definitely loves the outside though, at least 10 times a day he walks to the door and starts waving his hands like he's saying goodbye to let us know he wants to go out. It's going to be rough once winter is here again, which in Minnesota is like 2 months away.
Second, once again we buy an awesome little pool, take Chase to parks and all he does is find the road and start walking towards it. We set him in the middle of the yard and he immediately bee lines to the driveway and wants to walk over to the neighbors. My wife would say that is because they all have dogs and we do not, but it means no snoozing while watching him in the front yard. Then today we drove about 30 minutes to find a park. We were trying to find a lake, since this is the land of 10,000 lakes, but all the lakes around us have no parks attached. So we finally find this nice park, have lunch, put Chase into the sand next to the playground and he immediately starts marching off down the sidewalk, does a few laps around the restrooms, and then walks out into the parking lot towards the road finding discarded cigarettes and water bottles that he wants to play with. Awesome. You've got to love the walking now though because he very rarely falls and he swings his arms like he's out for a nice little stroll. Maybe he understands when we talk about his big belly and he's just trying to work it off. He already takes part in Laura's workout videos every morning. He has the arm waves and jumping jacks down.
Finally, Chase isn't quite sure what to make of sprinklers yet. He first experienced them this weekend and he would basically walk into the stream of the sprinkler, stop in shock, and let the water continue to just pelt him in the face. I thought this was pretty funny, so we tried to make him continue to do it. Doesn't seem to be afraid of them though and seemed to like getting wet, so that bodes well for our vacation coming up. Although he did hate the sand today at the park, he didn't like that it stuck to his hands, and he just tried to wipe everything off onto his belly. He definitely loves the outside though, at least 10 times a day he walks to the door and starts waving his hands like he's saying goodbye to let us know he wants to go out. It's going to be rough once winter is here again, which in Minnesota is like 2 months away.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
We've got a dancing, cooking, baseball lovin son
Our son continues to dance to anything whether it is his favorite song "Boom Boom Pow", my awesome singing, or a Pep Boys commercial. If he hears any music at all the dancing begins. He's added a new move to his repertoire which includes waving his arms back and forth in front of him while he nods and bobs his butt and head.
This kid also loves the kitchen, if he hears the fridge or pantry door open he will make a beeline waddle towards the kitchen and see what he can find. We keep hearing he is going to slim down when he starts walking, but the way this kid eats we may have a lineman on our hands. Although no sweets, this kid loves beans, peas, strawberries, bananas, and almost any fruit or vedgie you give him. I'm seeing a future as a dancing chef.
On the sports side he knows what baseball is. Everytime I flip at the twins he points at the TV and shouts "ba ba" which is his word for ball since he doesn't know how to make the "ll" sound. So we've got that going for us. I still think he's a little spoiled since he has seen more games in his lifetime than I saw in my first 20 years of existence. I'll make sure to remind him of that later in life.
He also loves any other type of ball whether it is a basketball, wiffle ball, golf ball, baseball, etc... He also likes to stand at the top of the stairs and chuck a ball down to watch it fall. I've tried to teach him how to hit off a tee. The box said 1 and half +, but I was hoping he was a little advanced for an age. Since he can't hold the bat upright, I'm thinking that may not be the case. Maybe we will try golf next.
We found out he was allergic to penicillan after giving it to him for about 7 days. He started getting a rash and my reaction was, oh it will just go away. 2 days later and with bumps all over his body, we finally figured it out. Fortunately the ear infection was cured, but know something we will need to remember going forward.
Other than that he is starting to develop an attitude. When he's done he throws whatever is left on his tray on the floor. If you take something from him he throws a tantrum. He's learned how to throw his head towards the ground in disgust. All similar to things his mother does, so I see where he gets it. So it should be interesting once he can actually start to talk. I'm assuming we will have a hard time not laughing at him when he tries to be tough.
That's it for now, he's definitely walking and going up stairs. Words right now seem to just be ma-ma, da-da, and ba for ball. He's learned to wave goodbye and sign language for more, all done, and milk. So overall the little guy seems on track. I'll be back in a month.
This kid also loves the kitchen, if he hears the fridge or pantry door open he will make a beeline waddle towards the kitchen and see what he can find. We keep hearing he is going to slim down when he starts walking, but the way this kid eats we may have a lineman on our hands. Although no sweets, this kid loves beans, peas, strawberries, bananas, and almost any fruit or vedgie you give him. I'm seeing a future as a dancing chef.
On the sports side he knows what baseball is. Everytime I flip at the twins he points at the TV and shouts "ba ba" which is his word for ball since he doesn't know how to make the "ll" sound. So we've got that going for us. I still think he's a little spoiled since he has seen more games in his lifetime than I saw in my first 20 years of existence. I'll make sure to remind him of that later in life.
He also loves any other type of ball whether it is a basketball, wiffle ball, golf ball, baseball, etc... He also likes to stand at the top of the stairs and chuck a ball down to watch it fall. I've tried to teach him how to hit off a tee. The box said 1 and half +, but I was hoping he was a little advanced for an age. Since he can't hold the bat upright, I'm thinking that may not be the case. Maybe we will try golf next.
We found out he was allergic to penicillan after giving it to him for about 7 days. He started getting a rash and my reaction was, oh it will just go away. 2 days later and with bumps all over his body, we finally figured it out. Fortunately the ear infection was cured, but know something we will need to remember going forward.
Other than that he is starting to develop an attitude. When he's done he throws whatever is left on his tray on the floor. If you take something from him he throws a tantrum. He's learned how to throw his head towards the ground in disgust. All similar to things his mother does, so I see where he gets it. So it should be interesting once he can actually start to talk. I'm assuming we will have a hard time not laughing at him when he tries to be tough.
That's it for now, he's definitely walking and going up stairs. Words right now seem to just be ma-ma, da-da, and ba for ball. He's learned to wave goodbye and sign language for more, all done, and milk. So overall the little guy seems on track. I'll be back in a month.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Chase is 1!
Well we just got done celebrating Chase's first birthday. Amazing to think it has already been a year since the drive to the hospital. Chase had a pretty good birthday overall with his grandparents and aunt and uncle. He got a lot of toys that he immediately ignored so that he could focus on playing with his swiffer, wrapping paper cardboard centers, and pop bottles. Pretty sure Grandpa had more fun with building things out of the blocks then Chase did.
Chase enjoyed his first taste of cake and ice cream. He pretty much just picked at it gently to ensure he got enough of it to eat. He probably ate about a fifth of the cake before we realized we should probably take it away before he gave himself a stomachache. We only let him eat in a diaper and a bib to make sure the mess wasn't too big of a deal. Chase's haul included a wagon, some blocks, some books, a crane, and some other stuff. We took him around in the wagon a little bit throughout the house because unfortunately it is 55 and raining all weekend. So back and forth through the kitchen was all he got. Otherwise he slept for around 5 hours throughout the day, so he slept most of his 1st b-day away.
Otherwise as far as Chase progress goes he is walking around on his own now. Loves the microwave and trying to get into the bathroom and the pantry if possible. We have had to clear everything out of the cupboards. He also started climbing the stairs in the past week, the only problem is he doesn't know how to get back down. He's starting to mimic us with yells and noises. He also carries a picture of me around since he doesn't see me Sunday night through Wednesday with my class schedule. He hates shoes and would rather eat them. He pretty much eats anything, but now he will spit it back out after chewing it for awhile if it doesn't taste good. He also continues to chuck his milk or water on the floor, we have stopped picking it back up. He can go thirsty.
Chase also got to see the first game at Target Field, which he enjoyed for the most part. He loved trying to touch the people in front of him and he has learned to clap along with everybody else when the Twins score some runs. He's also been to the zoo twice in the past week, and liked staring at the giraffes as they had some lunch. He's also been going to story hour which Laura says is a little over the top. He pretty much just stares at the librarian, which is more than I can say when we read him a story. He lasts about 4 pages and then crawls over to play with the doorstop.
I'm also pretty sure I'm going to have a dancer for a son. Which means he won't take after me. Anytime you throw some Black Eyed Peas on he will start shaking his rump. Actually pretty much anytime you play music whether it is chopstics, church music, random keys on the piano he will shake his rump. So we'll see, hopefully he can dance better than I can.
That's all for now, Chase is having a little lunch and then time to watch the Twins.
Chase enjoyed his first taste of cake and ice cream. He pretty much just picked at it gently to ensure he got enough of it to eat. He probably ate about a fifth of the cake before we realized we should probably take it away before he gave himself a stomachache. We only let him eat in a diaper and a bib to make sure the mess wasn't too big of a deal. Chase's haul included a wagon, some blocks, some books, a crane, and some other stuff. We took him around in the wagon a little bit throughout the house because unfortunately it is 55 and raining all weekend. So back and forth through the kitchen was all he got. Otherwise he slept for around 5 hours throughout the day, so he slept most of his 1st b-day away.
Otherwise as far as Chase progress goes he is walking around on his own now. Loves the microwave and trying to get into the bathroom and the pantry if possible. We have had to clear everything out of the cupboards. He also started climbing the stairs in the past week, the only problem is he doesn't know how to get back down. He's starting to mimic us with yells and noises. He also carries a picture of me around since he doesn't see me Sunday night through Wednesday with my class schedule. He hates shoes and would rather eat them. He pretty much eats anything, but now he will spit it back out after chewing it for awhile if it doesn't taste good. He also continues to chuck his milk or water on the floor, we have stopped picking it back up. He can go thirsty.
Chase also got to see the first game at Target Field, which he enjoyed for the most part. He loved trying to touch the people in front of him and he has learned to clap along with everybody else when the Twins score some runs. He's also been to the zoo twice in the past week, and liked staring at the giraffes as they had some lunch. He's also been going to story hour which Laura says is a little over the top. He pretty much just stares at the librarian, which is more than I can say when we read him a story. He lasts about 4 pages and then crawls over to play with the doorstop.
I'm also pretty sure I'm going to have a dancer for a son. Which means he won't take after me. Anytime you throw some Black Eyed Peas on he will start shaking his rump. Actually pretty much anytime you play music whether it is chopstics, church music, random keys on the piano he will shake his rump. So we'll see, hopefully he can dance better than I can.
That's all for now, Chase is having a little lunch and then time to watch the Twins.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
We're moving now
I realized it's been quite awhile since the last post and we no longer have the issue of Chase getting around the house. Quite a few moments of him being one place one second and then out of sight the next. He's got the crawling portion down now and his new favorite activity is to walk along the furniture and walls. If he has something to hold onto, he can make it anywhere he wants. Although this also usually involves carrying something in one hand, whether that be a TV remote, an empty cup, or a yardstick which is his new favorite item. Just this weekend he learned the process of standing up on his own with nothing to hold onto. He stands up, gets this huge "look at me" grin on his face and then dives forward on to my stomach. So walking is not far away.
Laura and I took a vacation last weekend in Minneapolis (otherwise referred to as a staycation, although I hear that word is considered lame now) and sent Chase packing with his grandparents. The non-highlight of the vacation was ice skating. It was our first time trying it, and I have to say I don't get it. It's basically like running laps on ice. Which means you can't balance and it is uncomfortable. Their may be video of me falling, followed by Laura not holding the camera straight because she's laughing to hard. I landed a couple of triple axels, and I consider my ice skating career to be over. We also got to see a movie theatre again and restaurants which are a rarity with Chase around. So it was fun.
While my parents had Chase they taught him the "so big" game. We decided to change that once we got him back and instead taught him to raise his hands when we say touchdown. It was also funny when he started crying as soon as he saw Laura after the 4 days and then immediately wanted to come to me. I can't say she liked it, but he wasn't too happy with her. We've also started the morning cry session now as I leave the house. Also makes Laura pretty happy. I tell her it is because I'm the fun one, he just knows her as the person who provides food.
He'll pretty much eat anything now, although he's starting to say no to some of the vegetables. I don't know where he gets that from. Oatmeal has also been stopped, A. because he hated it and B. because not even Laura could imagine eating it so why force him too. He'd still rather eat books than read them. We often find him in his crib just sitting up and staring off now when he's supposed to be napping. We're going to have to get something to tie him down.
Well that's about it for now, Chase is getting ready for his first game at Target field in less than a month and then his big birthday in around 7 to 8 weeks. A one year old in the house, crazy. I'm trying to hold off on another one, he's enough work. :)
Laura and I took a vacation last weekend in Minneapolis (otherwise referred to as a staycation, although I hear that word is considered lame now) and sent Chase packing with his grandparents. The non-highlight of the vacation was ice skating. It was our first time trying it, and I have to say I don't get it. It's basically like running laps on ice. Which means you can't balance and it is uncomfortable. Their may be video of me falling, followed by Laura not holding the camera straight because she's laughing to hard. I landed a couple of triple axels, and I consider my ice skating career to be over. We also got to see a movie theatre again and restaurants which are a rarity with Chase around. So it was fun.
While my parents had Chase they taught him the "so big" game. We decided to change that once we got him back and instead taught him to raise his hands when we say touchdown. It was also funny when he started crying as soon as he saw Laura after the 4 days and then immediately wanted to come to me. I can't say she liked it, but he wasn't too happy with her. We've also started the morning cry session now as I leave the house. Also makes Laura pretty happy. I tell her it is because I'm the fun one, he just knows her as the person who provides food.
He'll pretty much eat anything now, although he's starting to say no to some of the vegetables. I don't know where he gets that from. Oatmeal has also been stopped, A. because he hated it and B. because not even Laura could imagine eating it so why force him too. He'd still rather eat books than read them. We often find him in his crib just sitting up and staring off now when he's supposed to be napping. We're going to have to get something to tie him down.
Well that's about it for now, Chase is getting ready for his first game at Target field in less than a month and then his big birthday in around 7 to 8 weeks. A one year old in the house, crazy. I'm trying to hold off on another one, he's enough work. :)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Still not moving
Chase has just passed the 9 month mark and from what I hear, lucky for us he is not moving yet. Still above 90% in height and weight, Laura's building some pipes with this kid. Everything is on track with Chase, loves to stand, can't figure out how to crawl. Just gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Our hypothesis is he's just got a little too much weight to move around very well. Definetely finding him in his crib trying to stand. I'm just imagining all of the babies that launch themselves out of their crib. He's getting close.
We've also started the biting phase. Laura tries to tell him no, but he just looks up and smiles at her. I think we have a troublemaker on our hands.
Chase's first Christmas came and went. Obviously didn't quite understand what was going on. Favorite presents included wrapping paper and an empty pop bottle I gave him. Not a bad Christmas on the family budget. I'm sure we can keep this up for a couple of years. For some reason Laura wasn't happy that our Christmas family picture included me in a grinch T-shirt. I'm just trying to play my part during the season.
Also nice to see all the gifts he got from his relatives. We played the game of setting all of his presents out in front of him to see which one he picked. Mike was the big winner with his fake remote. Although Chase still preferrs the same thing. Chase was a little dissapointed he didn't get a mupppets or Fraggle Rock DVD set, but maybe next year.
Chase continues to bring no better luck from a Minnesota Sports standpoint. That Vikings game was terrible, and I'm glad to add another classic minnesota sport moment to my memory. Bring on Target Field, chase is getting excited for his first outdoor baseball. Only 75 days away
We've also started the biting phase. Laura tries to tell him no, but he just looks up and smiles at her. I think we have a troublemaker on our hands.
Chase's first Christmas came and went. Obviously didn't quite understand what was going on. Favorite presents included wrapping paper and an empty pop bottle I gave him. Not a bad Christmas on the family budget. I'm sure we can keep this up for a couple of years. For some reason Laura wasn't happy that our Christmas family picture included me in a grinch T-shirt. I'm just trying to play my part during the season.
Also nice to see all the gifts he got from his relatives. We played the game of setting all of his presents out in front of him to see which one he picked. Mike was the big winner with his fake remote. Although Chase still preferrs the same thing. Chase was a little dissapointed he didn't get a mupppets or Fraggle Rock DVD set, but maybe next year.
Chase continues to bring no better luck from a Minnesota Sports standpoint. That Vikings game was terrible, and I'm glad to add another classic minnesota sport moment to my memory. Bring on Target Field, chase is getting excited for his first outdoor baseball. Only 75 days away
Sunday, December 13, 2009
I taught chase how to give a high 5
A crowning achievement in his young life. I've now taught Chase to give me a 5, it's amazing how exciting the small things become. Especially when he does it for me, but not for Laura. Unfortunately Chase just thinks of her as food.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Chase is becoming attitudinal
Yes that last word is a word which means "having an attitude". We've started the crying when people leave the room phase as well as whining when he doesn't get what he wants. Definitely taking after his mother. :) He's also taken on his mom's spending habits, why do kids have to cost so much? The problem is he continues to top the charts as far as weight and height goes so all the shirts we get him end up being belly shirts because he is a little chubby.
With a kid we also had to go back to the tradition of decorating for Christmas. We haven't had a tree in 4 years, but we broke down and picked up a fake one from Target which we had to fluff to make sure it looked full. We also bought Chase his Christmas presents. I proposed just letting him play with them and then wrapping them later, but Laura said we couldn't do that. She's no fun.
We're still waiting for movement, for now he just rolls back and forth and tries to wiggle his way closer to what he wants. He hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing yet, which from what I've heard is a good thing. I've been told I have to take down my bobblehead collection at this time because he might pull them all down upon himself. The sacrifices you have to make for your kids, ridiculous.
We're trying to get Chase to read, but basically he just wants to eat the books so we're not sure how smart he will be. :) He has figured out he really enjoys the television remotes, we try to turn him away from the TV as much as possible, but sometimes he does twist his head around to take a peek. A couple of teeth have sprouted out which hurts when he decides to bite you. He's also started to shake his head "no" towards us, not a good start as far as discipline goes.
Supposedly we are supposed to put together a Christmas card now or something, but it feels like it is getting a little late. You may have to be satisfied with this blog as our Christmas letter, although I really want to buy matching Christmas sweaters we can all wear. If you are looking to get Chase something for Christmas his list includes a new TV, blue-ray player, and a couple of video games. He's trying to build his collection now to be ready when he can start using that stuff.
Merry Christmas
With a kid we also had to go back to the tradition of decorating for Christmas. We haven't had a tree in 4 years, but we broke down and picked up a fake one from Target which we had to fluff to make sure it looked full. We also bought Chase his Christmas presents. I proposed just letting him play with them and then wrapping them later, but Laura said we couldn't do that. She's no fun.
We're still waiting for movement, for now he just rolls back and forth and tries to wiggle his way closer to what he wants. He hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing yet, which from what I've heard is a good thing. I've been told I have to take down my bobblehead collection at this time because he might pull them all down upon himself. The sacrifices you have to make for your kids, ridiculous.
We're trying to get Chase to read, but basically he just wants to eat the books so we're not sure how smart he will be. :) He has figured out he really enjoys the television remotes, we try to turn him away from the TV as much as possible, but sometimes he does twist his head around to take a peek. A couple of teeth have sprouted out which hurts when he decides to bite you. He's also started to shake his head "no" towards us, not a good start as far as discipline goes.
Supposedly we are supposed to put together a Christmas card now or something, but it feels like it is getting a little late. You may have to be satisfied with this blog as our Christmas letter, although I really want to buy matching Christmas sweaters we can all wear. If you are looking to get Chase something for Christmas his list includes a new TV, blue-ray player, and a couple of video games. He's trying to build his collection now to be ready when he can start using that stuff.
Merry Christmas
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chase is sick... and so are we
H1N1 has struck our household and it was our first experience of seeing the little guy sick. We took him to daycare one morning thinking everything was fine, and then we got a call that he had a temperature of 101 and we had to get him within the hour. I went and got him and took him home. Of course we didn't have any tylenol that I could find for him so we waited for the doctor's appointment that afternoon. By the time they took his temperature it was at 102.8 and I believe the doctors were trying to be as calm as possible. It was probably a good thing Laura wasn't there. The doctor starting listing like 6 things I had to do, and I must have had a little bit of a stunned look on my face while I was nodding, becuase she stopped to ask me if she should write this down. In her head she was thinking "I wish the mom was here".
However, I remembered everything and we took the little guy home to get better. Could definetely tell he wasn't feeling well. No bouncy chair, no smiles, content to just sit on my lap, which doesn't happen anymore. So mom got home and immediately started charting everything in excel. Big change from the graphic design major I married 5 years ago, now she's using excel for everyhing.
The doctor said he tested positive for the flu, but she wasn't going to say for certain that it was the swine flu. However she was going to give him medicine like it was the swine flu. So basically, she said it was without saying it. I like our doctor, she's a straight shooter. So then I called the daycare to tell them it was the flu, but I wasn't sure if it was the swine flu, but it probably is, I just can't say for sure message. Which was cool, becuase about an hour later there was an email in my inbox sent from the daycare to all parents saying they had their first case of possible swine flu in the young infant room. Awesome being the first parents to bring an infected kid to daycare. I'm sure no one will figure out who it was. (sarcasm in that sentence) Nobody talks to us now as it is, this won't help.
Well after a couple of days of great parenting he started to get better. Nothing like high fives between us when we got a diaper filled with urine. I also would make him angry just to see if he would get tears in his eyes. Like I said great parenting, had to make sure he was hydrated. We're trying to teach him to cough into his elbow, but it's not quite working. It's also Chase's fault the Twins lost since he had to skip the game because of the flu. I was still for taking him, but I got vetoed on that.
Definetely crazy seeing your kid sick when they can't tell you why. So if you've got kids give em a hug and tell them not to share toys with kids at daycare for the next couple of months.
However, I remembered everything and we took the little guy home to get better. Could definetely tell he wasn't feeling well. No bouncy chair, no smiles, content to just sit on my lap, which doesn't happen anymore. So mom got home and immediately started charting everything in excel. Big change from the graphic design major I married 5 years ago, now she's using excel for everyhing.
The doctor said he tested positive for the flu, but she wasn't going to say for certain that it was the swine flu. However she was going to give him medicine like it was the swine flu. So basically, she said it was without saying it. I like our doctor, she's a straight shooter. So then I called the daycare to tell them it was the flu, but I wasn't sure if it was the swine flu, but it probably is, I just can't say for sure message. Which was cool, becuase about an hour later there was an email in my inbox sent from the daycare to all parents saying they had their first case of possible swine flu in the young infant room. Awesome being the first parents to bring an infected kid to daycare. I'm sure no one will figure out who it was. (sarcasm in that sentence) Nobody talks to us now as it is, this won't help.
Well after a couple of days of great parenting he started to get better. Nothing like high fives between us when we got a diaper filled with urine. I also would make him angry just to see if he would get tears in his eyes. Like I said great parenting, had to make sure he was hydrated. We're trying to teach him to cough into his elbow, but it's not quite working. It's also Chase's fault the Twins lost since he had to skip the game because of the flu. I was still for taking him, but I got vetoed on that.
Definetely crazy seeing your kid sick when they can't tell you why. So if you've got kids give em a hug and tell them not to share toys with kids at daycare for the next couple of months.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
It's Football Season
I tried to convince Laura we should get Chase a Favre Vikings jersey, but she's not on the Favre bandwagon yet. Chase is getting his fill of sports with the Vikings, watching ISU get destroyed by Iowa (although we taught Chase to chant "we hate the Hawks"), and hoping for a Twins rally so he can go to the playoffs. He seems to like football, and he enjoys watching the Twins as you can see from some of the pictures online. He's also gotten to see parts of Lord of the Rings already, so he's leading a good life.
We just had the 4 month checkup this week. Still chopping the charts at above 100%. 18 and a half pounds, definitely causing me back pain from carrying him. He's almost ready for the solid foods. We're starting with green beans and the rice stuff I guess. I still have some time to figure out the lies I will have to tell about why I don't have to eat vegetables.
We had the first daycare experience where Chase cried as we took him away from daycare. It was pretty funny from my standpoint how sad Laura got. Chase got over it pretty quickly. My favorite part about daycare is how nice they are about everything. When we ask how the day is, and they say he had an OK day today, he was a little fussy actually means he was pry screaming his head off and wanting to be held all the time.
Sorry not much comedy this post, some of the pictures are pretty comical so make sure to visit the website to see those if you want. Later
We just had the 4 month checkup this week. Still chopping the charts at above 100%. 18 and a half pounds, definitely causing me back pain from carrying him. He's almost ready for the solid foods. We're starting with green beans and the rice stuff I guess. I still have some time to figure out the lies I will have to tell about why I don't have to eat vegetables.
We had the first daycare experience where Chase cried as we took him away from daycare. It was pretty funny from my standpoint how sad Laura got. Chase got over it pretty quickly. My favorite part about daycare is how nice they are about everything. When we ask how the day is, and they say he had an OK day today, he was a little fussy actually means he was pry screaming his head off and wanting to be held all the time.
Sorry not much comedy this post, some of the pictures are pretty comical so make sure to visit the website to see those if you want. Later
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I have no title for this one
Things continue on, Chase is a month older than the last post, getting bigger and laughing more. We've found out he's pretty ticklish now, although it seems to be more painful than making him happy. We found out some words make him laugh like pizza, and when he gets going it's pretty funny. I'll throw some more pictures up online, we finally printed some out ourselves so now we have his picture around the house and in our cubes. I still don't have the wallet shot, although I can use my phone to show him off to people. Still no footprint, but supposedly today's the day.
We had the baptism about 3 weeks ago now, he was very well behaved. What was great is that the other kid was about 2 that was getting baptized and he was running around like crazy. No crying for Chase until after the ceremony, so nice job. He's finished up his tour of different babysitters and will actually start his full time daycare next week. He went to temporary daycare last week and the first day was a little rough. They said he wanted to be held all the time or he would cry, I wonder why that is, maybe because his family baby sitters spoiled him a little too much.
We've also found that he really likes TV to the point that we have to pull his face away from it, he'll crain his neck backwards to catch a glimpse. This is really good when we are watching our R rated movies and shows like weeds and dexter. Only a few more months we can watch that stuff with him. You don't want to be the parents who's kids first words are four letters and cause old people to gasp.
Laura bought some stupid chair called a bumpo which lets him sit up. First of all, his little legs are almost too chubby to fit, second this piece of foam cost $50 bucks for us to buy, and probably 10 cents for them to make, ridiculous. Chase's daycare also went up, so we've told him he needs to find a job to hold up his end of the family budget.
Pretty soon he will be crawling around and eating solid food, so I think things are about to get crazy. I'm posting more pictures now.
We had the baptism about 3 weeks ago now, he was very well behaved. What was great is that the other kid was about 2 that was getting baptized and he was running around like crazy. No crying for Chase until after the ceremony, so nice job. He's finished up his tour of different babysitters and will actually start his full time daycare next week. He went to temporary daycare last week and the first day was a little rough. They said he wanted to be held all the time or he would cry, I wonder why that is, maybe because his family baby sitters spoiled him a little too much.
We've also found that he really likes TV to the point that we have to pull his face away from it, he'll crain his neck backwards to catch a glimpse. This is really good when we are watching our R rated movies and shows like weeds and dexter. Only a few more months we can watch that stuff with him. You don't want to be the parents who's kids first words are four letters and cause old people to gasp.
Laura bought some stupid chair called a bumpo which lets him sit up. First of all, his little legs are almost too chubby to fit, second this piece of foam cost $50 bucks for us to buy, and probably 10 cents for them to make, ridiculous. Chase's daycare also went up, so we've told him he needs to find a job to hold up his end of the family budget.
Pretty soon he will be crawling around and eating solid food, so I think things are about to get crazy. I'm posting more pictures now.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
We have a chunker!
Well I know one thing my kid is better at then 100% of other kids his age. Being huge! He checks in at the 100 percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. His current nickname is the michelin man, although if you ask Laura he's not fat, he's husky.
Laura and I had very different reactions when we heard this news. Laura's first question to the doctor was, "Am I doing something wrong, should I stop feeding him, how have I created this huge kid?" My reaction was, "That's Awesome, let's keep it going!" They say it means absolutely nothing long term, but at least we know he's getting enough to eat. I can still hope for a 6'6 athletic kid, even though the likelihood is very low.
We apologize to everyone who doesn't have a picture of Chase that normal people sent out. We still haven't gotten professional pictures or done his footprint yet. They don't do that in the hospital anymore. Don't feel bad about the pictures though, Laura and I haven't actually printed any either, they are just all on a computer or online, so when people stop by my desk asking for a picture I'm the bad parent that says I don't have one.
Otherwise everything is going along in a pretty normal fashion. Laura had to come back to the working world this week, so far so good. Although she did float the idea out there about possibly going part-time. I said that wasn't part of the excel life plan we have, so that won't work right now. :) Baptism next week, 3 weeks away from heading to daycare. Everybody tells us to enjoy this time because pretty soon he's not just going to sit there anymore, we'll have to chase him.
By the way, the Twins are horrible so if anyone wants tickets, I've got some to sell you.
Laura and I had very different reactions when we heard this news. Laura's first question to the doctor was, "Am I doing something wrong, should I stop feeding him, how have I created this huge kid?" My reaction was, "That's Awesome, let's keep it going!" They say it means absolutely nothing long term, but at least we know he's getting enough to eat. I can still hope for a 6'6 athletic kid, even though the likelihood is very low.
We apologize to everyone who doesn't have a picture of Chase that normal people sent out. We still haven't gotten professional pictures or done his footprint yet. They don't do that in the hospital anymore. Don't feel bad about the pictures though, Laura and I haven't actually printed any either, they are just all on a computer or online, so when people stop by my desk asking for a picture I'm the bad parent that says I don't have one.
Otherwise everything is going along in a pretty normal fashion. Laura had to come back to the working world this week, so far so good. Although she did float the idea out there about possibly going part-time. I said that wasn't part of the excel life plan we have, so that won't work right now. :) Baptism next week, 3 weeks away from heading to daycare. Everybody tells us to enjoy this time because pretty soon he's not just going to sit there anymore, we'll have to chase him.
By the way, the Twins are horrible so if anyone wants tickets, I've got some to sell you.
Friday, July 3, 2009
We got rid of our first mistake as a couple
Well, say goodbye to Gertrude, or as I said, good riddance. We call it our first mistake (the house we live in being the 2nd :) ) because we were morons when it came to negotiating for that car. We were just graduating college and Laura had her other car totaled. So we went out looking for cars. First of all while test driving, Laura states loudly, with the salesman in the car. "I Love THIS CAR, We have to get it!!!" As you can imagine it was tough to negotiate after that. I fell for the stupid, well we can give you $500 dollars off, but you would have to buy right now! I stupidly reply "OK". About a month later we started referring to the car as our fist mistake.
I feel like we do a little better now when negotiating. All negotating online, make the dealers compete against each other and keep driving the price down. Because if there's one place I do not like, it's car dealerships. (sorry if anyone is a car dealer) It just always takes so long to get anything done. This time after we had bought the car, he wanted to give me a tour of the dealership, I don't need to see the lounge at that point, just get me out of there. We could have looked at the lounge during the other hour we sat there doing nothing. We bought Chase along in case it started taking too long. The plan was to pinch him to make him cry and make the salesman uncomftorable . Because at this point the crying doesn't really bother us. We can pretty much just sit there and watch him cry. We actually find it kind of funny. I know, we're mean. So anyways we got a Toyota Rav4, so we've given in and already gotten a bigger car, although it's not a minivan.
Chase is pretty excited today, it's his first Twins game. (Quick break - Chase totally just punched Laura in the face, hilarious) We are going to show him how to keep score. I'm sure he'll fall asleep just like his mom usually does. The little guy is up above 15 lbs now, which we are finding out is prettty huge. First doctor's appointment is still a couple of weeks away, but to all those people who bought us newborn clothes, sorry he only wore that size for about 2 weeks.
I'll probably post pictures more than I blog, so if you are curious check there first. Val got married two weekends ago, so Chase did some dancing there in his little tux. I'll try to throw some more Chase pictures up today. One you can see how excited he is to wear the ridiculous clothes his mom dresses him in. This week it's a dragon bath robe with slippers. He loves it. :)
As for mistake number two, if you know anybody willing to overpay for a townhome in Ramsey, let me know.
I feel like we do a little better now when negotiating. All negotating online, make the dealers compete against each other and keep driving the price down. Because if there's one place I do not like, it's car dealerships. (sorry if anyone is a car dealer) It just always takes so long to get anything done. This time after we had bought the car, he wanted to give me a tour of the dealership, I don't need to see the lounge at that point, just get me out of there. We could have looked at the lounge during the other hour we sat there doing nothing. We bought Chase along in case it started taking too long. The plan was to pinch him to make him cry and make the salesman uncomftorable . Because at this point the crying doesn't really bother us. We can pretty much just sit there and watch him cry. We actually find it kind of funny. I know, we're mean. So anyways we got a Toyota Rav4, so we've given in and already gotten a bigger car, although it's not a minivan.
Chase is pretty excited today, it's his first Twins game. (Quick break - Chase totally just punched Laura in the face, hilarious) We are going to show him how to keep score. I'm sure he'll fall asleep just like his mom usually does. The little guy is up above 15 lbs now, which we are finding out is prettty huge. First doctor's appointment is still a couple of weeks away, but to all those people who bought us newborn clothes, sorry he only wore that size for about 2 weeks.
I'll probably post pictures more than I blog, so if you are curious check there first. Val got married two weekends ago, so Chase did some dancing there in his little tux. I'll try to throw some more Chase pictures up today. One you can see how excited he is to wear the ridiculous clothes his mom dresses him in. This week it's a dragon bath robe with slippers. He loves it. :)
As for mistake number two, if you know anybody willing to overpay for a townhome in Ramsey, let me know.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The first word is...
HI
Or at least that's what it sounds like. :) Next up is Dad. The funny thing is you can see he is trying so hard to say something, and then finally a sound comes out. Plus you have his ridiculous parents just staring at him with stupid faces and saying hi a lot. People make the weirdest faces when talking to a baby, including myself. Interesting to know what they actually think.
Otherwise its been about a month since the last post. We've kind of fallen into a rhythm and he's not walking or crawling yet, so not much excitement to talk about. He's been to Iowa 3 times already, I know some people in Minnesota who have never been to Iowa. At Mike's graduation he was passed around to about 40 different people. I tried to get pictures of all of them but I got tired.
He's been to church a couple of times now which is definetely different with a kid. You spend half the time concerned that he is going to start wailing during a sermon. 2 for 2 so far with being quiet.
There was also one weekend Laura decided to go to a wedding and I stayed home with him. That night I found out why they make babies cute. He cried pretty much from 1 until 3:30 in the morning. He's lucky he smiled one time in the middle so I could keep my sanity. I made my mom come up that weekend and she finally got him to sleep at 3:30. Definetely a stinker, I asked him if he wanted a spanking, and that didn't seem to calm him down at all.
He's already outgrown most of his newborn clothes, so there's about 40 outfits down the drain that he never wore. Sorry to all the people who gave us newborn onesies as gifts. We weighed him last week at 13 pounds. The good news is he can now wear his Twins clothes. He's getting pretty pumped for his first game coming up the 4th of July weekend.
Well that's it for now, Laura got him some fancy clothes for Val's wedding next week so we'll post those pictures in a couple of weeks. I'm also going to throw up a bunch of new pictures right now as well.
Or at least that's what it sounds like. :) Next up is Dad. The funny thing is you can see he is trying so hard to say something, and then finally a sound comes out. Plus you have his ridiculous parents just staring at him with stupid faces and saying hi a lot. People make the weirdest faces when talking to a baby, including myself. Interesting to know what they actually think.
Otherwise its been about a month since the last post. We've kind of fallen into a rhythm and he's not walking or crawling yet, so not much excitement to talk about. He's been to Iowa 3 times already, I know some people in Minnesota who have never been to Iowa. At Mike's graduation he was passed around to about 40 different people. I tried to get pictures of all of them but I got tired.
He's been to church a couple of times now which is definetely different with a kid. You spend half the time concerned that he is going to start wailing during a sermon. 2 for 2 so far with being quiet.
There was also one weekend Laura decided to go to a wedding and I stayed home with him. That night I found out why they make babies cute. He cried pretty much from 1 until 3:30 in the morning. He's lucky he smiled one time in the middle so I could keep my sanity. I made my mom come up that weekend and she finally got him to sleep at 3:30. Definetely a stinker, I asked him if he wanted a spanking, and that didn't seem to calm him down at all.
He's already outgrown most of his newborn clothes, so there's about 40 outfits down the drain that he never wore. Sorry to all the people who gave us newborn onesies as gifts. We weighed him last week at 13 pounds. The good news is he can now wear his Twins clothes. He's getting pretty pumped for his first game coming up the 4th of July weekend.
Well that's it for now, Laura got him some fancy clothes for Val's wedding next week so we'll post those pictures in a couple of weeks. I'm also going to throw up a bunch of new pictures right now as well.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
We got a smile.... or it was gas
We've been told that babies start to react in the 4 weeks to 2 months range, but we're pretty sure we've gotten him to smile at us a couple of times in the last couple of days which is pretty cool. We also find his huge belly kind of amusing, skinny chest, skinny legs, huge belly. That's what happens when you eat all day. Other than that not a lot to report on the little guy.
His first visit to Iowa was amusing. He was quiet the entire time we were driving until we crossed the border then he started crying. Go figure. So the new game to play is where can you pull over to feed him without drawing attention. So far it's been next to a grain bin and an empty daycare parking lot. It was also comical trying to leave and come back home. Trying to pry a baby from its grandparents arms is impossible. I finally had to say, "Put the baby in the car seat" My dad was trying to get him to play with toys, little young for that.
First mother's day came and went as well. Laura got both her mother's day present and a push present. Suprisingly Target doesn't sell push present cards yet, looks like a big opportunity.
We are also starting to recognize faces and what they mean. When he snorts and shakes his head, he's hungry. When he's happy he will just sit there and stair at the wall. When he tries to avoid eye contact and gets really quiet, watch out something's going to happen. You have to be really careful of this on the changing table, never trust a quiet baby on the changing table. I had a perfect streak going until this morning with a clean baby, oh well. One night I got up to change him and stepped on a wet spot on the floor. You couldn't be angry with the kid, you had to be proud for his range.
We'll try to post some more pictures today as well.
His first visit to Iowa was amusing. He was quiet the entire time we were driving until we crossed the border then he started crying. Go figure. So the new game to play is where can you pull over to feed him without drawing attention. So far it's been next to a grain bin and an empty daycare parking lot. It was also comical trying to leave and come back home. Trying to pry a baby from its grandparents arms is impossible. I finally had to say, "Put the baby in the car seat" My dad was trying to get him to play with toys, little young for that.
First mother's day came and went as well. Laura got both her mother's day present and a push present. Suprisingly Target doesn't sell push present cards yet, looks like a big opportunity.
We are also starting to recognize faces and what they mean. When he snorts and shakes his head, he's hungry. When he's happy he will just sit there and stair at the wall. When he tries to avoid eye contact and gets really quiet, watch out something's going to happen. You have to be really careful of this on the changing table, never trust a quiet baby on the changing table. I had a perfect streak going until this morning with a clean baby, oh well. One night I got up to change him and stepped on a wet spot on the floor. You couldn't be angry with the kid, you had to be proud for his range.
We'll try to post some more pictures today as well.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
He peed on himself
I was going about my business changing a diaper, which are now more frequent again and nastier, when I felt his clothes and noticed they were all wet. Then I felt above his head and that was wet too. So I'm pretty sure he peed on himself which explains why he got really angry. I told him to warn me next time so I can have the video camera ready to see what kind of air he can get.
My current favorite thing that he does is his snort. It sounds just like a pig and he usually does it when he is hungry. Still working on getting him to sleep in his crib or the pack n play, he usually tries it for about 20 minutes and then starts crying. So sleep at night involves sleeping in a chair with him on the chest. Fine for now, but I told him this will not last past age 12.
I have to go back to work tomorrow, although we are going to buy a lottery ticket tonight to see if I can become a permanent stay at home dad. More pictures down below including a demonstration on how to play video games with a newborn and his patented fist under the chin sleeping move. Time for us to eat, Ginny made us lasagna on Sunday and we've been eating it for every meal since, so time for some variety although obviously it was really good because I usually eat leftovers once at the most.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410/20090428MoreChasePictures#
My current favorite thing that he does is his snort. It sounds just like a pig and he usually does it when he is hungry. Still working on getting him to sleep in his crib or the pack n play, he usually tries it for about 20 minutes and then starts crying. So sleep at night involves sleeping in a chair with him on the chest. Fine for now, but I told him this will not last past age 12.
I have to go back to work tomorrow, although we are going to buy a lottery ticket tonight to see if I can become a permanent stay at home dad. More pictures down below including a demonstration on how to play video games with a newborn and his patented fist under the chin sleeping move. Time for us to eat, Ginny made us lasagna on Sunday and we've been eating it for every meal since, so time for some variety although obviously it was really good because I usually eat leftovers once at the most.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410/20090428MoreChasePictures#
Monday, April 27, 2009
Day 3 of Parenthood
We've decided we are going to keep the little guy. We've made a little progress over the last couple of days, especially after the nurse showed up today and told us we were doing everything wrong. So get the bumpers off of the crib, when he cries feed him no matter when he last ate, and pretty much let him do what he wants. We followed these rules and immediately he sleeps for like 3 hours straight. Best part of that is he slept on my belly while I played PS3. So now he hardly cries and sleeps a lot. Exactly what he's supposed to do. He also let out the loudest belch today, uncle Rich would be proud. You also know you've reached a new stage of your life when you start looking forward to a poopy diaper. (so you know he's actually eating enough) Plus he just threw up in Laura's hand. Yeah!!! It's the little things.
We had to get his earmuffs out today as we watched the movie Role Models. Their are a few words he probably shouldn't hear in the movie. We also made sure he faced away from the TV since it is the unrated version. We have to enjoy this while he still doesn't understand what is going on. Then it's all Disney movies and Nickelodeon. Can't wait for the telletubbies. Not much else going on, he timed it right so I got to miss a couple of classes, so he's scored some points from me already. We may try to venture out tommorow, so we'll see how that goes.
We had to get his earmuffs out today as we watched the movie Role Models. Their are a few words he probably shouldn't hear in the movie. We also made sure he faced away from the TV since it is the unrated version. We have to enjoy this while he still doesn't understand what is going on. Then it's all Disney movies and Nickelodeon. Can't wait for the telletubbies. Not much else going on, he timed it right so I got to miss a couple of classes, so he's scored some points from me already. We may try to venture out tommorow, so we'll see how that goes.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Chase is here!
For some reason blogger is blocked here, so I’m keeping track in word and then you are seeing it all at once.
Friday Morning - 4 AM
Well, we’re assuming today is the day. It’s 4 AM, we’re in the hospital, Laura has her drugs, and she’s trying to get a little sleep. At the doctor’s appointment this morning they sped the process up and it obviously worked as by 8 tonight the process had begun. Tough to know when you are actually supposed to come in, but with us being 40 minutes away we didn’t want to risk it. We got to the hospital at about 1 and by the time laura got drugs it was 3 hours later. She kept emphasizing that she wanted drugs though, and made sure the nurse did not forget.
At the time of the epidiral I was just standing in front of her and holding her hand. The doctor had just relayed a story about how a guy fainted and hit his head on the sink and had to go to the ER. Luckily I have practice in fainting so towards the end, I felt it happening again. This time instead of trying to shake it off, I sat down. So Laura’s getting a needle shoved in her back during a huge contraction, and the nurse has to get me some juice since I look green. Good thing I’m not having the kid. They have informed me there will be a chair ready for me during the actual delivery.
Pretty crazy to think that we will not return home by ourselves after this weekend. I was playing some PS3 when it started, so I got my last bit of that in as well as our random suppers of chicken wings and fries. Laura’s doing really well. Comments she has already made.
- I don’t want another kid
- Get me drugs
- Get me drugs now
- Did I mention I want drugs
- My husbands a fainter, watch out for him
I’m going to try and get some sleep now, obviously at the end of this there will be a link to pictures.
Friday Morning - 6:49 AM
Pretty rough last hour, the pain medicine wasn’t working and Laura was in a lot of pain. At first the machine distributing medicine broke and stopped letting medicine come out. They checked everything 3 times and then decided to just redo the epidural. When she sat up they realized that the first one had come out, so whoops. Laura had some pretty bad contractions at that point and was thinking she’d have to deliver the baby naturally which scared her the most. They restuck it in though, this time no fainting worries, and it looks like she might actually be sleeping again now. So I believe this sets the timetable back another few hours, hopefully she can get some sleep though. Kind of stinks when there’s basically nothing you can do to help. Plus I would say Laura and I tend to skew more towards the sarcastic side when talking with each other, that doesn’t quite work when you are feeling the most intense pain you have ever felt. Sun is coming up, we’ve been at it for around 11 hours now. Still hasn’t had her water break, so I think they might force that at some time.
9:22 AM - Saturday
So then it got a little busy after the last post. Laura was actually able to sleep until about noon and then we started the final part of labor. At the beginning she asked how long it would take, and I think we both thought “maybe 30 minutes”, obviously forgetting the class we took where it said it was a couple of hours. An hour and a half later, Laura was starting to get mad, which helped the situation. Finally, after 2 and a half hours, Chase Cameron made his way into the world, and man was he a lot larger then expected at 8 lbs 7 oz and 22 inches long. I got to cut the umbilical cord and then we took him over to get cleaned and warmed up. He came out with extremely wrinkly hands and feet due to some circulation problems, but everything was fine after a couple of hours. Overall the process was long, but Laura said it wasn’t too bad. She’s ready for the next one already. :) Laura did a great job, I tried not to laugh when she went for the 4th push during a contraction, but there was just this look of, “I’m sick of this, and I’m not wasting a contraction.”
We then finally invited the grandparents in to see their new grandson. Let’s just say Laura and I didn’t hold him very much over the next 8 hours. My dad just kept using the word Grandpa a lot, and people were making phone calls left and right. We then went through seeing some of his firsts, like a bath and his first meal. Unfortunately after everyone left we also got to experience the first diaper change. Good times. I faked like I was sleeping the rest of the night when he needed his diaper changed, so Laura took care of those. We actually slept pretty well during the night, he would sleep between feedings for the 3 hours without a lot of crying, so we’re feeling a little more rested this morning. I almost forgot that he got to see his first Twins game last night, although he pretty much slept through it, just like his Mom. 1-0 during his lifetime.
He stayed with us the entire time, and he actually just left us for a procedure. So hopefully they bring the right one back. I think we are planning on heading home today, so he’ll get to see all of the cool baby shower gifts he got. He can see the bobblehead collection, the PS3 that he won’t get to play more then an hour a day unless it is against me, and his basketball hoop that he can start shooting with. He should be able to start taking grounders in the next couple of weeks to get ready for baseball. :) That’s all for now, I’m sure when I’m up at 3 AM some night I’ll be able to write some more.
9:23 AM - Sunday Morning
Last night was a little longer then the night before. We think his current crib is a little big for him as every time we laid him down he would start crying. So we basically traded off holding him all night. That's not lasting much longer this week. :) He's pretty content now after eating a little bit. Grandma Friedrich has figured out that putting him in his stroller keeps him pretty content, so he's hanging out there now. Laura probably got around 3 hours of sleep last night, including an hour on the floor, so we've sent her back to bed for hopefully a good 3 hours. Overall he seems pretty happy, we already have the diaper changing down, and he seems to like both of us, so that's good. Here's a link to some of the first pictures, as we have more we'll post him. The 12th picture is my favorite, because he looks like an evil doctor or something with his old man hands in front of his face. His hands are back to normal now and he has lost his cone head, so supposedly that means he's starting to look cuter.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410/20090424FirstBabyPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCKTrkuPh_s-YjQE#
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