Squish is Nine Months Old!

Happy 9 months, Squishy!

Happy 9 Months (+3 days) to my sweet Squishy!!!

I'm getting much better at making the time to take his photos somewhat within the vicinity of his monthly birthday, so yay!

He's just so sweet and squishy... I can hardly stand it!

Of course I couldn't leave out a few pics of these sweet toesies!

Confession: I. Love. Baby. Feet. like some kind of crazy person! Haha!

In a surprising, unprecedented move, Squish did NOT throw a fit when I put him on his tummy for a few quick pics. In fact, he even pushed up on his arms almost the entire time he was on his belly, which he pretty much never does.

I mean, he's obviously not totally thrilled with the idea of tummy time, but at least he isn't straight up bawling for once, right?

So here's something a little bit fun and interesting... Check out this sweet fella:

Any guesses? It's sweet baby E! Awwwwww!

And of course there's this guy, who, coincidentally, is a year old here!

Love these boys! And my sweet girl of course, too!

But back to Squish. He's still awesome. He still sleeps wonderfully. He is pretty much sleeping through the night, eating around 8PM, going to bed, and not waking to eat until 6AM or 7AM the next morning. He'll eat and go back to bed until around 10AM or 11AM. Seriously, the BEST. SLEEPER. EVER. He's nursing about 3-4 times per day, and is eating a plethora of baby foods, yogurt, finger foods, etc. For some reason, he still isn't quite fond of eating "real food" with us, but I'm sure that will come with time. And let's be real: the boy isn't hurting in the weight department.

Ya. So there's that. :)

This sweet guy is in absolutely no hurry to get mobile, which is totally a-okay with me! He sits up pretty well, but still hasn't quite figured out how to catch himself if he starts to fall over. Crawling does NOT seem to be in the cards anytime soon, as he basically despises tummy time. However, he does still seem to absolutely love standing up when grabbing onto our fingers. Apparently hubs didn't crawl and went straight to walking, so that may be Squish's intention as well.

The boy is VERY vocal and quite loud at times. He did happen to "say" his "first word" that just so "happened" to be "da da" but please don't assume the excessive use of quotes to mean I am even the slightest bit jealous. No, really. Not jealous. Not one bit.

*tear

Squish is Eight Months Old!

Happy 8 months, Squishy!

Happy Valentine's Day, and Happy 8 Months (+1 day) to my sweet Squishy!!!

Can we take a moment to bask in the fact that I was only ONE DAY LATE in taking his 8 month photos? Thank you, St. Valentine, for just the push I needed!

He wasn't nearly as smiley as he was last month, but I don't mind! Sometimes you just have to focus on the little (okay, BIG FAT!) details of baby numero IV. #wristsandthighsyall

Seriously. Let's just take another quick look at them thighs! What!? #squishyfordayzzz

Not too much new to report this month. He does love to stand (as evidenced above). And he's still eating and growing and sleeping (though never quite long enough for mommy) and being super chill and fun and awesome. He sits up independently for periods of time and still loathes tummy time. See?

Pretty much the second I put him down on his belly he gets M•A•D and immediately insists on flipping over on his back. Whatevs. He'll figure it out eventually. No rush here! I'm just enjoying every sweet moment with this gorgeous baby of ours. He literally is the best.

Da Da!

Figures the little guy would pick his daddy over me... Seems he's come up with his first word, which I'm pretty sure was the same as LO's first. I'm feeling so under-appreciated these days...

((sigh))

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

This Sunday is a B-I-G day for our family! First of all, this little guy right here is being dedicated at our church during our morning worship service:

I have what I believe to be a HUGE surprise for my family and friends but am not going to say anything about it so they can all be genuinely surprised on Sunday during Chase's dedication. Yay! However, I DO plan to share the surprise with all of my blog readers... but it won't be 'til Monday! ;)

Hmmm, now what else is happening on Sunday? Oh, right. Ya. This girl will be turning THREE on Sunday!

She chose Thomas the Train for her birthday party theme. She's really into trains. This should work out well that mommy & daddy got her this for her birthday present:
One of her favorite friends has one of these and she LOVED playing with it! She also LOVES playing with the one at Barnes & Noble and the one at the doctor's office. I can't wait to stop tripping over trains and train tracks laid out all over our living room floor! I'm not sure who is more excited about her getting this gift!

I can't wait to share pictures with you guys of both Chase's dedication and LO's 3rd birthday party. It seems like only yesterday I was planning her 1st birthday! And to think I'll be throwing another 1st birthday party in 3 months for my special little guy! Yay!

So suffice it to say things have been a bit busy around here, causing my lack of frequent posts/updates on the blog. I'm so sorry for that and hope to have things squared away here after this weekend so I can get back to regular scheduled posting! Thanks for your patience!

Just Some Random Stuff

So, it's been a few days since I've published a post out here, so I figure it's time. The awesome thing is that there really isn't anything crazy to write about these days! We're just an extremely happy family of four enjoying spending time with each other and loving our summer! I just can't say enough how amazing it is to just be a "normal" family doing "normal" things and enjoying our "normal" life! Thank you, Lord!!!

Hmmm... let's see. So yesterday I took the kids to Babies R Us to shop for a new car seat for LO. She's currently in a Britax Marathon, which I LOVE, and honestly she still fits well in it. The durn seat goes up to 65 lbs., and she's just now 30 lbs.! But believe it or not, she's getting close to maxing out on the height limit! Crazy, right? So I wanted to let her try out the Britax Frontier 85 to see if she'd like it. It's a combination 5-point harness seat (like she's using now) but also functions as a booster once she hits 40 lbs. My favorite thing (besides the excellent safety features) is that it has not one, but TWO cup holders! I can't tell you how tired I get of handing her drink back and forth while I'm trying to drive since her current seat doesn't have any cup holders. I also like that this combination seat has arm rests and doesn't seem as "inclusive" as her current seat. I guess I think it looks more like a "big girl" seat than a "baby" seat. So I put her in the Frontier and I'm pretty sure her face depicts her level of excitement regarding this particular car seat:

Ya, that's right. She was stoked. Totally stoked.

In the mean time, my little man was chillin' in the cart, eating his Puffs by the handful. No surprise there! Isn't he a cutie??

So since I'm on the subject, I'm going to sidetrack myself for a moment. In the picture above, Chase is in the Buggy Bagg I bought for LO a few years ago. I used it with LO for about a month or two and the zipper that closes the bag broke. The company was nice enough to send me a replacement. Within a month, the strap that connects the seat to the shopping cart broke. Keep in mind I honestly wasn't even using it all that often -- maybe once or twice a week. At that time, I just threw the durn thing aside in the garage and forgot all about it. I busted it back out to use with Chase, but since he hasn't really perfected sitting independently just yet, I want to be sure he's safe. Obviously he's buckled into the seat cover, but the seat cover doesn't buckle or attach to the cart. Long story longer (apparently), I decided to order a Balboa Baby shopping cart cover. It is the cutest thing ever (online) and I'm really excited to get it either tomorrow or Saturday. Have any of you used a Balboa Baby cart cover? It looks much more comfy and padded than the one I'm using now. I hope Chase likes it! I think he'll love the crazy geo print I chose for him! :)

Continuing with the random... for the 4th of July we headed to our church parking lot to watch an amazing fireworks show. I was curious to see how the kids would do. I know LO doesn't love the noise of the fireworks, but was interested to see how Chase would do. Here's a couple of pics I grabbed before the big display.

Chase with his little friend, A. She was totally over having her picture taken and was ready to take off. This sweet little girl is just a month older than Chase. I just know they'll be BFFs growing up. ;)

And here's LO looking totally excited to be hanging out with her friends and cousins.

During the actual fireworks, LO covered her ears and pretty much freaked out. She definitely didn't like the loud noise! But she sat on daddy's lap and he helped cover her ears and kept her turned around so she could at least watch the fireworks. She did say later how much she loved them and talked about all the different colors. So sweet!

Chase did amazing! Keep in mind this was around 10pm, and he's usually tucked nicely in bed by 8pm. He didn't cry at all! I think the first few scared him a bit, but once he saw what was going on, he was captivated. He stayed on mommy's lap and I kept his ears covered while he stared up in the sky in awe. I love imagining what it's like to see the world through his beautiful, innocent eyes.

Another totally random Chase story. My mom happened to pick up a box of those Huggies "designer" blue jeans diapers. Have you seen the commercial? "The coolest you'll look pooping your pants." No? Well, you've got to see it so you can truly appreciate the humor of these hilarious diapers. Go ahead and watch it below. I'll wait.

Ya. So what crazy product development department came up with those? And the marketing department coming up with that tag line? How very sad.

So my mom bought a box for Chase. I had to put him in them just so we could get a good laugh out of it. Without further ado, here he is!!!

Another shot of his awesome diaper. See how happy these designer diapers make him?? ;)

Crazy. Just crazy.

And for my next (final?) Chase funny story... I went in to get him up the other morning, turned the light on, and got sidetracked doing something. He was just cooing and talking to himself in his crib, so I didn't worry too much about it and kept doing whatever it was I was doing. A few minutes later, I looked over at his crib and noticed something unexpected... Do you see what I see?

That crazy, silly boy of mine! A few seconds later, I noticed his sweet, smiley eyes peeking out from behind the bumper pad as if to say, "Hello?! Mom!! What are you doing out there? I'm ready to get up now! Come get me!!!"

I so love this boy!

And of course I love my girl, too. Speaking of... I think I'll end this random post with a little video clip of a discussion I had with her earlier today. For the record, this was right after she woke up from her nap (as evidenced by the "crazy hair"). Can you say "bipolar??" ;)

Oh, and I added some captions to assist you in understanding her crazy-tired-whiney vernacular.

Happy 4th of July!!!

That's So Funny!

Chase dropped a toy on the floor and daddy picked it up for him. Apparently it was the funniest thing he'd seen in his crazy 8 months as he busted out the biggest belly laughs we'd ever heard! What was even more funny was that he kept doing it over and over and over and over again, laughing the entire time!

He is so sweet and hilarious and amazing. I love this boy of mine!!!

Praise!

Praise the Lord! Chase had a cardiology appointment this morning and I'm beyond thankful to say we received a fantastic report! His o2 saturation was 92 (which is probably the highest I've seen it), with the comfort level being between 85 to low-90s. Basically we don't want to see it get much higher than that before he has his final surgery, the Fontan. His blood pressures were great, his pulses were great and his echo looked great, too! Dr. Horne did still see a trace leak with his tricuspid valve, which was basically the same as what he saw 2 months ago. He did say typically this kind of leak seems to improve after the Fontan, so that was encouraging. And I was surprised by his latest stats: 27 1/2 inches long and up to 18 lbs. 15 oz.! I was hoping he'd crossed the 18 lb. mark, but apparently he's almost to 19! Way to go, sweet boy!

If that's not a good enough indication of how well our little guy is doing, maybe this will help: our next cardiology appointment is in FOUR MONTHS!!! Yay!!!

And I couldn't get over how incredible Chase was during the entire exam. From the blood pressures to the echo, he was a total CHAMP! I will say that towards the end, he was getting a bit tired of all the hoopla and was ready to leave...


Isn't that face just priceless?!

Dr. Horne did tell me something I wasn't aware of when I asked him about the prerequisites for the Fontan. Of course it's based mostly on weight, age, lung pressures and heart function, but I've always been told it would be between 2-3 years old. He said the majority of their patients are closer to 4 when they have their Fontans. Wow! I just assumed it could be between 18 months to 3 years, based on what I've heard and read on other blogs. And hubs pointed out maybe most of Dr. Horne's patients are closer to 4 because they have a hard time putting on weight. We haven't seen that to be an issue with Chase (as of yet), so perhaps he'll still fall in the 2-3 year range.

We also talked about the fact that we want to have Chase circumcised. We knew it couldn't be done at birth and it couldn't be done within a few months before or after each of his first two surgeries. Dr. Horne recommended early on that we wait until he's closer to 1 before we schedule it. Hubs and I have talked and we're leaning towards taking him back to MUSC to have the procedure completed there so we'll be close to the right people should anything unexpected happen. It seems like an easy enough thing to have done at the local children's hospital, but considering how Chase responds to anesthesia, we'd rather play it safe than sorry. So when we see his pediatrician in a few weeks, we'll ask for a referral to a pediatric urologist (I assume?) at MUSC. My poor boy!

So overall it was a wonderful appointment and was such a relief to hear that he's doing fantastic and no new issues or problems were found. Praise the Lord! We are so grateful for His hand of protection on Chase and for each new day he gives us to love on our beautiful son! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers for the appointment this morning and for your prayers for Chase's continued health.

8 Months!

Well, it's hard to believe that my sweet little Chase turned 8 months old on Saturday! Where has the time gone?? He's turning into such a big boy and I couldn't be more proud of him! I figured it's been a while since I've shared a little update on the boy, so here goes!

Chase has been seeing an occupational therapist (OT) every 2 weeks for about a month and a half now. We determined through an assessment that he's lacking a bit when it comes to fine and gross motor skills, and the OT has been a big help! After our first appointment, I started working with him on sitting up independently. When the OT came back 2 weeks later, he was an old pro at sitting up all by himself! He's not quite figured out how to catch himself when he starts to lean to one side or the other, but we're working on that. We've also been working on tummy time. Specifically, I want to get him to push up on his hands since this is one step closer to crawling. He still is NOT a fan of being on his tummy, but I know he'll get there eventually. He does a great job of rolling from his tummy to back (especially with his temper -- when he gets mad with being on his tummy, he's quick to flip over on his back!), but of course he has no desire to roll over from back to tummy. He'll hang out on his side for a bit, maybe, but has yet to make it all the way onto his tummy.

This Thursday we have a physical therapist (PT) coming out to do an evaluation on him. I've been noticing he seems to only want to use one hand/arm at a time when playing, eating, etc., almost as if the other hand/arm doesn't exist! I'm not terribly concerned about it but the OT and I agreed it would be a good idea to at least have an assessment by a PT to make sure there's nothing going on that might need to be worked on. We'll see what she says on Thursday!

The other big Chase news is that he has a cardiology appointment with Dr. Horne Friday morning. If you recall, it's been TWO MONTHS since his last cardiology appointment! Although I've loved having two months of NO doctor's appointments, the heart mom in me is very nervous and somewhat scared that they will find "something" on Friday. They'll check his o2 saturation, his blood pressures and pulses, and of course do an echo. I've been praying already that they don't find anything and that his heart is functioning as wonderfully as ever and his valves aren't leaking and his artery patches are holding nicely. It's crazy to think of how our world can be turned upside-down in the blink of an eye if this appointment reveals anything that would need to be addressed. That would obviously require an unplanned trip to Charleston, possibly a heart cath, and who knows what else! But right now I'm going to try NOT to worry and NOT to think of all of the "what if's" that could happen. I keep reminding myself that my job is to LOVE LOVE LOVE my boy every second of every day with all that I have in me since we, like everyone else, aren't promised tomorrow. If you think about it, please say a prayer for this appointment Friday morning, for Chase to have an excellent report and for me not to go too crazy with the waiting and worrying. :)

Also on the horizon is Chase's dedication at our church, which I happened to (purposely) schedule for the same day as LO's 3rd birthday (when all of the out-of-town family will already conveniently be in town)! So yes, I'm going to be QUITE busy over the next 4 weeks trying to get everything lined up for a dedication AND a birthday party. Good times!!!

Oh, and last night hubs and I put Chase in his walker for the first time and he was so cute! He really liked it and was already scooting himself around a little bit within minutes! See how precious?


I also had to share this pic of him from the pool the other day. Such a cute little dude!!!