BIG BOY, BIG BROTHER

Before Chase was born when people would say Kaleb was a big boy or talked of him being a big brother he would get mad and upset and say, "I'm not big, I'm little. Daddy's big". But lately he has really grown up.

Kaleb has not only become taller, but has become a "real" helper. I had to take this picture of him doing the dishes, so when he's a teenager and claims he doesn't know how, then I can pull out this picture and tell him that he did when he was three.Kaleb "Bono" Bruns helping Dad put speakers in the ceiling.
Below Kaleb shows his nurturing side, being a good big brother.
Telling Chase all the truths of the world. Chase is eager to learn.
Over Thanksgiving Jason took on the daunting feat of potty training Kaleb. The pediatrician told us to start taking him to the potty every 15 min. I thought that there is no way I am going to do this any time soon seeing that I am breast feeding a 4 week old. But he stuck with it and Kaleb is now potty trained. It was amazing that he really did go every 15 min. Just like everything else this transition seemed pretty easy for him. Although, before we started trying he seemed to want nothing to do with it. I think he finally realized that it was more comfortable sitting in thin dry underwear than a thick wet diaper. I've only had to nurse Chase in the bathroom standing up over Kaleb on the toilet a few times. Ha! He still wears a diaper at night, but usually wakes up in the morning dry. Good Job Big Boy Kaleb!

Chase, 0-4 weeks

We quickly found out that Chase is a water baby. He loved his first bath and has never made a voice of discomfort or dislike about his baths since. Check out his big belly!
All snuggled up in his POOH outfit
Chillin' w/ Dad
We took similar pictures with Kaleb at this age in the same cammo outfit. It's so fun to play dress up and take pictures at this age...they can't really object...or at least cant move if they do.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaleb!

On Halloween day, the day after Chase and I got home from the hospital, we had a little birthday party for Kaleb. I wanted to have it that weekend b/c the whole family was in town...even though it was very hectic and I was very tired. He loves Diego, the animal rescuer, so I collected all the decorations and ordered the cake before going to have the baby and then let the family do the rest. Thanks family!!Here's the Diego cake and Kaleb still plays w/ the cake toppers.
It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed playing outside...

Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jeremy brought their bounce house for all to enjoy.

Although very overwhelming and tiring for everyone, it was a great day and we are so proud of our big 3 year old, Kaleb.

Introducing Chase Tyler Bruns

Delivery was so easy this time around. We went in at 6am and Chase was born at 8:44. We were instantly in love. Last time with Kaleb there was a lot of anxiety when he was handed to me, but this time I knew we would survive one way or another, just like we did with Kaleb.We didn't even see Chase's eyes for the first several days. He was a very sleepy baby.
Kaleb had this priceless look of awe on his face when he was holding Chase for the first time. He would stare at him and then stare at my barren body in the hospital bed. We had told him what was going to happen, but it is truly a miracle for all of us to actually see.

Proud grandparents below...


Chase with his fauxhawk on the way home for the first time!

Anticipation

So here we are, Oct. 26th. awaiting the morning when we will have to get up at 5am to get to the hospital for my 8:00 surgery where we will meet our 2nd little son, Chase. We are so excited that I don't know if I will sleep tonight. Jason's and my parents came in the evening and we got to show them the new house and Chase's room. We think Kaleb has finally come to the reality of the situation or at least admits it now. He will have a little brother tomorrow and his name is Chase and he will be a baby and not have teeth and drink milk. I think I am most excited to see what Chase will look like and to see Kaleb react to him and hopefully love on him. I am most nervous about any complications that may happen like last time, but all you can do is hope and pray for the best. I guess my next blog will be of my beautiful baby boy! Later!

Fishing w/ Kaleb

Kaleb and Daddy (not Jason-recently Kaleb has been calling his dad Jason. I think its halarious but Jason does not) have discovered a new hobby. Fishing! On there first trip to the pond in the back yard they caught 3 fish. Now they catch 4-5 each time which is usually under an hour. Jason says Kaleb will be very disappointed the first time he fishes in the real world.I'm standing on the deck taking this shot. It's nice that I can watch them w/o having to get too close to the worms!
This is a sideways video (taken from a cell phone) of Kaleb's fishing experience one day. He's getting to be such a big boy!

Kaleb's recent interests

We were recently invited to Kaleb's friend, Jacob's bowling birthday party. This was Kaleb's first time bowling and he had so much fun. I had no idea they had these shutes to roll the ball down as well as bumpers. The kids actually scored higher than the adults!
Kaleb loves to ride elephants now. I recently treated a Shriner circus clown and he got us tickets to the circus! Thanks Buck! Kaleb had a blast. His favorite part was riding the elephant which was humongous! Later that week he started telling us details about the acts and even started acting our some of the clown acts. He pays attention more than we think.


While we were packing and moving and being very busy it is sad to say that Kaleb watched a lot of TV. But, this is not all bad b/c most of the time he was watching Diego, which is Dora the Explorer's cousin and male counterpart. He loves it so much b/c Diego goes and rescues animals...and not just any animals...humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins, bengal tigers, etc. It is amazing how much kids absorb b/c I would have never thought to tell Kaleb the species name of the animals! He has learned alot from Diego, including counting to 10 in spanish and learning different words and phrases like Vamanos Amigos! He wants a Diego chocolate birthday cake this year...so I have ordered it seeing that I will not be able to make it b/c I will be in the hospital!

We have also been going on puma hunts around the pond since moving into the new neighborhood. Can you believe that there are pumas in Tennessee!

What...even more excitement

So, what does every loving husband do while their wife is pregnant...Why of course...goes skydiving....I guess all the other things we had going on this summer were not exciting enough for him. No, he had to leave his adorable son, pregnant wife and unborn son at home and step out of a plane...but notice i didn't say perfectly good plane b/c if you look close enough at the picture below you can see the duck tape by the driver's side of the plane.Yes, and there he is floating down safely with his parachute open...Thank God!!
He did this as part or a bachelor party outing. I was verrrry glad when it was over and he called me from the ground...safe and sound... He said it was the most intense thing he's ever done and doesn't feel he needs to do it again....I was glad to hear that! He did get a video of the whole thing and I must say it was pretty cool...his skin was flapping in the wind and I caught a glimpse of what he may look like when he's 90.

Transitions

We have been sooo busy this summer. We put our house on the market in February as we built our new one. Finally, we sold it in August and moved less than a month later when I was 8 months pregnant. ( I guess it could have been worse). The week we were going to close on our house our car broke down beyond repair which also forced us to buy a new (to us) car. Wow, do we feel broke! Since we moved, Kaleb started a new day care which he seems to be enjoying, although at first he refused to take naps. But that didn't last too long when I told him he wouldn't be able to watch T.V. if he didn't take a nap. He also started sleeping in a big boy bed at home which has been a smoother transition than I ever thought was possible. He actually is sleeping better in the new bed. This is b/c in his crib he slept the width of the bed, not the length and would get his feet and legs stuck in the slats all the time.

But the biggest transition is yet to come...
This is about 35 weeks...I'm very glad not to have gained 50 pounds this pregnancy like I did for the first. It is due to the fact that I do not have pre-eclampsia this time which is much more comfortable. This pregnancy over all is much easier/ less complicated than the first. Also, I know what to expect which helps, especially when I break out in tears for no reason. I know it won't last forever.
This is the first meal in our new house...pizza on the floor...
Here we are enjoying the nice sunset while eating dinner on the back porch.
So, with all this excitement we had not been able to concentrate on finding a good name for our baby. Of course, like before I went thru every single boys name in my 5,ooo baby name book but we didn't have one "pop" out at us like before. We narrowed it down to 3...Colin, Ethan and Jacob....so finally, we settled on "Chase". Not originally in the Top 3 but it started to grow on us...We are pretty sure his full name will be Chase Tyler Bruns....We've been calling him Chase now and it feels right....We have finally painted his room and picked bedding. I will have to post pics of his nursery soon.

Charleston with the Carrs

We had a relaxing vacation in Charleston S.C. in August with our friends Andrew and Ulla who had a 6 month old little boy at the time. We tried to take advantage of the nice scenery and take some family pictures.You always have to entertain the kids...Here we are "riding the train" and you can see my little belly bump.


It was fun to have Kaleb "practice" being a big brother with "baby Ben". I think he did a good job. He was interested in him and even shared some toys with him every once in a while.
Here they are playing trains together.
Both the Carr's and us do not have family nearby, so one of the exciting things to do that week was to go on a date night while the other couple babysat the kids. On our date night we took a sunset sailboat cruise and then went out for dinner. It was nice to be able to take our time and not have to rush back in order to save money on the babysitter. I must say we got the easy end of the deal b/c Benny went to sleep 30 min after Andrew and Ulla left for their date.
We had a great time vacationing with the Carr's and hope we can do it again soon!

Kaleb's crushes

We have enjoyed lots of parties and weddings this summer. This is one of Kaleb's older women that he adores...Abby. This was at her 4th birthday party and I just loved their facial expressions in these pics...having so much fun together.

We went to our friends, Claire and Dan's wedding in Alabama this summer. Kaleb found this cute little girl to dance with and they bounced up and down all night...not sure if my video will work... On the way home Kaleb seemed like he was on cloud nine and started talking to Jason saying.."Daddy, I danced with a girl...and she was pretty...like mommy...I had fun...I danced with a girl" We also have a video of that but I'm having technical difficulties and just want to get something on this blog since i havent in 17 weeks!

It's a....

BOY!!!

How can we not be excited about having another sweet boy! Today Kaleb came to me out of the blue and said "Mommy, you're pretty"...I was giddy all day long...I can't wait to see him love on his little brother. I know it may take an adjustment time, but i think we're going to have a very loving and active family. The ultrasound took 45 minutes b/c baby would not stay still to get measurements...he was all over the place. We have a few boy names we're thinking about, but havent nailed anything down yet. Any suggestions? My criteria (no B names, has to be at least 2 syllables)

Father's Day

We all had a great father's day. After opening cards and a boom box (requested by pops to take w/ us on our next beach vacation) we went to the movies. The 96 degree heat kept us away from the original idea of a nice hike.We went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D for Kaleb's first movie in the theater.
He seemed to like the movie b/c the first thing he said when it was over was " I want to watch it again". Although, he has not mentioned it at all since.

Three little pigs

Here's Kaleb's rendition of the three little pigs.

VACATION!

We took an extra long weekend over memorial day to go to Virginia and visit Gigi and Papa and get some rays at VA beach. There was this really cool park a mile from my parents house where Kaleb had a blast. It had everything a little boy could love...firetrucks, trains, cars and ducks to feed. There was also a petting zoo complete w/ sheep, turkeys, cows and horses.One of the great things about Jason's new job is that he gets to frequent the parks w/ Kaleb and me. Kaleb is still obsessed w/ trains so was glad he could drive one w/ daddy.
Papa and Kaleb just chillaxing...
Va beach is a great vacation spot...there was tons to do. We took a walk on the boardwalk. We were going to rent a "bicycle car" to ride up and down the last night, but it started to thunder and lightening so we didnt...but it didnt rain...we had great weather!
We got this cool beach tent since we're going to have many more vacations at the beach in the upcoming years. It was nice to have some shade.
Rock on!
Every kid has to be buried in the sand.