Something to Think About...

I got this post from a friends blog so I am borrowing it to share with anyone who reads our blog. It's just one of many thought provoking tidbits I have found about this years election. Many of the instances this man references have also been confirmed by James Dobson from Focus on the Family. I just got a great newsletter from him which I will try to post if I can figure out how to copy it up here.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/huntleybrown.asp

And the Word is "NO"

Not much going on with us this week. Howard and I are both fighting nasty sore throats so I/we haven't felt up to much of anything.

Chase has learned the meaning and pronunciation of "no" and so it is all we hear when we ask him any question. Right now it is still cute because he has such an adorable little voice. We'll see how long that lasts!

From watching the Phillies Chase also picked up how to spit! I couldn't figure out what he was doing one day and then when I realized he was trying to spit, Howard and I couldn't figure out where he would have learned it. While watching the Phils that night it finally hit me that he had been watching some of the games with us (we don't usually let him watch tv) and must have picked it up from the players. Greeeaattt!!! :-)

The Joys of Boys

This is one of my favorite things about little boys...

I can walk into any room in the house and I will find random lineups of cars on the windowsills, the dining room hutch, the couch, a chair, etc. Chase will just spend hours moving his cars around the house and lining them up. He is so careful and methodical about it. I never know where a line of cars will show up next. It's such a great reminder that a little boy lives here. At the end of the day there are always cars all over the house BUT I wouldn't trade his joy in doing this for anything! :-)

Sometimes he pulls out the big guns to move all his cars from one place to the next. He's a smart one!

There are moments when Chase decides the cat would much rather wear Chase's sunglasses around his stomach. (If Chase will give him attention Smokey is more than willing to put up with this. The glasses incident didn't even faze him.)




Then, there are moments like this, when Chase is completely engrossed in one of his books. He will "read" aloud to himself, touch all the pages he's supposed to and want nothing more than to cuddle and read some books with me for a while. He proudly tries to point to all the letters in his ABC book and recite them to us. We get A,I,E,B and a bunch of letters that are jibberish. He is so proud of himself for being able to point out the letters on his own.


It is a challenging time with him, to be sure, but it is also a wonderful time that is going by quicker than we can sometimes handle too.

Baby #2 Update

Got back from the doctors with more good news about baby #2. The baby is now in the 37th percentile as far as size which means we are still doing great with controlling my blood sugar, etc. They still think I will only have to deliver one week early which is normal for anyone with a scheduled C so that is even more great news. I find out for sure in the next week or so what my actual scheduled date will be.

I do have to start going twice a week, every week until I deliver, beginning with next week. They are going to run bio-physical profiles of the baby which is a fancy way of saying that they are going to be running tests to make sure the baby is not under any stress as a result of my diabetes. So, all things considered we are doing great!

I'm getting my stomach kicked in by one super wound up baby. If this one moves as much once it comes out as it does in my stomach, Chase is going to look like a turtle! :-)

Mommy's Little Helper

Who ever thought that I would have to fight with my son for control of the vacuum cleaner? Whenever I pull it out anymore he is immediately at my side trying to take over. I indulge him when I can because he really does a good job for a 20 month old. The problem is, when I am trying to get things done quickly he throws a major temper tantrum because he wants to do it without my help.

Notice in the second picture how focused he is. When he's cleaning he is dead serious about doing a good job!

Happy Anniversary...

...to us!!!

I can't believe how fast 4 years can go by! Our actual date is Sept. 18, 2004 but I am only getting to our blog today AND we have a babysitter today so that Howard and I can actually go out and celebrate.

It might not sound exciting to anyone else but we are going to play some miniature golf and go out to dinner at a local steakhouse. Howard and I used to mini golf all the time before Chase was born and have been to as many mini golf places as we can find in our area. Although I absolutely hate the game of golf, I really enjoy miniature golf and it puts Howard and I on a more neutral playing field. Since we are so competitive that is important!

Through a lot of effort and hard work not to mention a ton of communication Howard and I both agree that this has been our best year of married life so far. When two people really commit to figuring each other out and working to resolve misunderstandings that easily crop up in everyday life something special starts to happen. We aren't the crazy in love couple we were 7 years ago when we first met but we have reached something much better. It's so hard to explain where we are right now but I will try to keep this short and sweet. We're learning to forgive and really forget, we're learning so much better how to truly listen to one another and be attentive to what they are saying, we're learning how much fun everyday life together can be and that it isn't always candlelit dinners, romance and flowers. It's five minutes of shared time when Chase is in bed where we compare notes about our days, laugh about something simple Chase did, catch up on the Phillies score or share something funny from work. It's where me meet one another daily in the real world and find that we are growing more in love from those few stolen moments than we ever were on fancy dates. This is life, our crazy, wonderful life and right now it is very good...

A Few Cooking Ideas...

I get very bored with the same old, same old when it comes to cooking. I don't really enjoy cooking so I am always looking for new recipes and things to try. I checked out kraftfoods.com and found that if you sign up for their Food & Family magazine you get sent a full color magazine five times a year loaded with easy recipes, pictures, coupons and nutrition info. I LOVE this magazine! They suggest all Kraft products of course but I just make my own substitutions based on the veggies and cheeses, etc that we are eating at the time.

For baking my favorite website is verybestbaking.com. I have made so many recipes from them and I always get rave reviews. I just go on their website and drool a lot. :-)

Check out Food & Family and maybe you will be inspired to try something new too! If you do check it out and get their magazine let me know what you thought.