Two ER visits within one month

We have recently had the opportunity to meet the nice folks over at Vanderbilt Children's ER, once for each child. The first was for Kaleb about the end of November when he started complaining of stomach pain. This kid never complains of pain even when he has a really hard fall or hit. So, we really were concerned when he started complaining. Earlier that day I was nursing Chase and let Kaleb stay in my room playing with coins and it crossed my mind that that could be dangerous and I called him in to be w/ me. Well, later that night when he started complaining I asked if he had swallowed any money and he said "yes". We asked him how many and he said alot. Then we asked if he swallowed big ones or little ones and he said big ones. So, I called poison control and they told us to go to the ER for Xrays.

We were really concerned by this time so we called our friend Chris who is an anesthegiologist at Children's and he met Jason and Kaleb up there for moral support. After lots of waiting and Xrays confirming that he was constipated, they were discharged. So, Chris went and found the cool ball shown below for Kaleb and we have named it our "$400 ball" for our uneventful ER visit.A few weeks later we had a more serious problem. Kaleb had the croup and then a few days later Chase began to cough and had lots of mucous. He couldn't keep his food down and therefore became dehydrated. Our doctor told us to take him to the ER at 11pm. He had to get an IV and they couldn't find a vein and kept poking him and poking him. He was screaming and I was crying. It was terrible. They finally put it his ankle and also did breathing treatments. They had us stay overnight to monitor him and we got in our room about 4am and he slowly started to get better and we went home early afternoon that sunday.

Hopefully that will be the end of the ER visits for a long time!

Best Buddies

Kaleb and Chase have had a few of those special moments together. Kaleb really enjoys having a little brother, unless his playmates (me or daddy) get taken away to care for Chase. His teachers at school say he talks about "baby Chase" all the time. Below he is reading bed time stories to Chase.Baby Chase and Giraffe Kaleb make Mom's 35th birthday a success! Notice my very tired eyes! I don't think it has anything to do with being 35 though.
Kaleb got this Elefun game for Christmas where little lightweight butterflies blow out of the elephant trunk and you catch them with a net. One day I looked over and Kaleb had given Chase a net to play.
Here's the three boys watching TV before church one Sunday, probably Batman.
Daddy taught Kaleb the pull my finger joke...

"The Little Emperor"

Oh they say you can't get lucky twice. Well that is sure true in our case! Kaleb was the most laid back baby...a perfect "Babywise" baby...anytime he cried I knew exactly why and could remedy the situation quickly and easily....Oh my, not the case with Chase. We are still using the babywise schedule, but he is just picky and stubborn. For instance, if I try to feed him at a certain time he will absolutely refuse, screaming and arms flailing. Then 5 min later will be crying to eat. Ahhh, he thinks he's in charge...and I guess he is...We have to swaddle him to sleep and if his left arm moves up in it he will start screaming and we have to reswaddle him...My thoughts are if you don't want your arm there, don't move it there!But of course, how can you not completely fall in love with this adorable little face!

(Chase at 2 months)
And when he is awake, he is happy.
He loves his swing that makes noise.
But when he's not getting his way...
and Mommy changes him into this shirt...
Oh man, I definately think Chase is more stubborn, picky and demanding BUT Kaleb never had toys being pelted suddenly at his head and someone running around playing Batman when he was trying to go to sleep...so I'm sure there are some environmental factors involved in Chase's drama. We'll see how his personality holds out as he ages. And I can't complain to much...he got all these traits from me! :)

Chase's sip n' see in Knoxville

On Dec 5th we had a Sip N' See to welcome Chase into the world.It was given to us by Jason's mom and sister Amanda.
Ryan is a friend of Jason's from college and his wife Beth is a PTA.
Mark is a friend of Jason's from high school and his hunting buddy. They don't seem to get out as much now that they have four kids combined. Jenny keeps her hands full with Luke and Mary Kate that are near a year 1/2 apart.
Ulla is a great friend of mine and her son Benny will be one this January.
Ellen is a friend who just moved to Knoxville recently and I miss her so much in Nashville. Kaleb is in love with her daughter Abby and was very excited to play with her at the shower.
We were worn out from celebrating with our friends and eating cake but were so glad to be able to celebrate out beautiful son's birth with our friends!

Christmas card attempts

HO, HO, HO! Santa Jaws here to brighten the day!It is quite difficult to take pictures of two kids. You have to time their naps just right, then rush to get them dressed and just hope that they are in a good mood.
We had to bribe Kaleb with chocolate to even get in a picture.




Pooped...
But after 56 pictures over 2 days we finally got our perfect picture!

Chase: One month

What a cutie! We are starting to finally see this guys eyes open each day!But not for long...
At first he wouldn't take a paci, but I was persistent. At this point, he spits it out and then cries to have it put back in...I've gotten a lot of exercise running to his bed lately.
Here he is enjoying another bath. Can't wait to get him out on the boat!