Updates Updates... Why am I so bad about updates?

Well there are a few reasons. The biggest two being pregnancy and trying to keep up with a toddler. Both wear ya out QUICK!

Junior Update:
Junior is well Junior. He has an entire post coming up about him following this one and his latest antics. Lets just say - he is 110% boy, who loves his food, to play outside, and help his daddy in the garage and no matter what the messier he can get the better!

Baby Scarlett Update:
Her cesarean section is scheduled for May 27th. Nona arrives the day before to hang out with Jr while Daddy and I are at the hospital with Miss Scarlett. I had an ultrasound yesterday, and her weight is estimated to be approximately 7 pounds 2 ounces. The cool thing about the ultrasound was that I actually got to see her "breathe". It is a very interesting experiance to see your baby "breathe" when you know that they aren't breathing air. The other bonus to that experiance is the Dr (who was doing the actual ultrasound) said that is something you WANT to see at this stage in the game and it also means that their lungs are mature. :) Which also means if I were to spontaneously go into labor (ha ha fat chance there) and they went ahead and did the c-section she shouldn't have any lung complications!

Mommy & Daddy Update:
Mommy is tired of being pregnant. Enough said.
Daddy is doing well with work - while being overwhelmed! Last week he had to deal with 3 DIFFERENT classes simultanously! He was NOT a happy camper when he got home. Other than that he's enjoying riding his dirtbike as often and as much as he can because our weekends are soon to be limited in being able to get out to the track for a few weeks!

Meet the New Addition to the Family...

My husband use to race motor cross when we were dating. He sold his bike when we moved away from home because he was trying to lessen our bills and we were pairing down things for an out of state move. That was 11 years ago.

Ever since then, periodically I have heard about how much he'd love to ride again. We had joked that when Jr was old enough to learn to ride, they would both get a bike. It would be a father/son thing. I think being in an area that seems to have a plethora of tracks (motocross, super cross and trails) available for relatively little travel has really made that part of him that wanted to ride come back out.


Introducing:





Chris and his new "toy".

A 2005 Honda CRF 450R























This new addition also brought a "blast from the past". Chris' riding gear hasn't been looked at let alone touched (with the exception of moving of his gear bag from one location to another).

Here are some photos from rummaging through it tonight:












Chris' old racing jersey.... a new generation filling in?






















Jr swimming in Daddy's old, stinky gear. (which is currently going for a swim in the washing machiene and will probably get a 2nd washing too... if not a 3rd... )

This is pictorial proof that my husband no longer gets to complain about a change in pants size. These are his riding pants from high school. The man is 31 and still fits into pants from high school! (And Julie this gratuitous butt picture is just for you!... I told him it was a down payment for the pictures he's been teasing you for!)

Photo Blog - A "Boy's" Afternoon

Who doesn't love an afternoon of just

"The Boys"

doing what boys do?

Christmas X's4 (actually 5)

Christmas Eve

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with Chris' dad (Papa)'s family in Chico. After a late start, we arrived in Chico before dinner. After quick hello's and some rearranging we headed to the P'family's house for dinner. (The "P" family are cousin's who have a large enough house to contain our growing clan ;) )


After a lovely dinner, we opened presents with all our extended cousins. A great time was had by all. Junior was quite a charmer. While he did not find that mommy holding little Miss Pollyanna (the infant in the picture) as a good thing. After a few attempts to pull her out of mom's arms, he found others to play with. (He DID give her a few "pets" on the back - hey it was a term he understood!)

Christmas Day





Christmas Morning - Take 1: Junior woke up at 5am - and since none of the rest of the family that was here was ready to get up, he went back to bed with Mom and Dad! Not a creature stirred untill about 630am when we heard Grammie get up. After Grammie, Papa, Dad and Mom where up (and Junior had suffeciently harrassed all four dogs) Junior got to open his stocking. In his stocking he found Santa left him 2 books (with wheels on them), a slinky and 2 wooden cars. We then hot tubbed for a while then got ready for Aunt Leslie, Uncle JJ and the kids to arrive. After a mad house of opening gifts, Papa cooked a wonderful breakfast of hashbrowns, sausage, eggs AND waffles! I was a bad mom this year and didn't take pictures of anyone opening gifts. Afterwards, we got ready to head to my mom's.

Christmas Morning - Take 2: We arrived at my mom's house to a tree filled with presents for everyone. I think even my brothers would admit that Junior made out very well. Juniors favorite gift of the morning (by far) is in the video below. Thank You oh so much from Mommy to a certain Uncle Ian for the drum. I am sure that we will hear alot of music coming from it.

Christmas Night: We enjoyed a wonderful turkey AND ham dinner with all the fixings with almost the entire "A" Clan (Grammie J's side) plus my mom and Uncle Ian. Junior even got to sit at the table in his own chair with out a booster seat. Junior loved the cresent rolls and entertaining everyone at the table. After dinner, my mom (Nona) and Uncle Ian had to leave due to other plans. The rest of the family adjurned to the living room for the next round of present madness. This living room seems to get smaller every year - when i joined the family almost 12 years ago, we all fit in it just fine... kids grow and people have been added. It's amazing how quickly it all changes.

After presents we enjoyed dessert of homemade apple pie, pumpkin pie and left over carrot cake from Chris' party. Junior had a great time playing with everyone. He loves his cousins very much - which is evidenced by the fact he will go to the two older ones and asked to be picked up (and carried everywhere! Justin and Megan really do spoil him.)

Today, Uncle Will, Aunt Connie and cousin Willam (aka W3) arrive from LA. There are plans for Karaoke for the adults and Megan babysitting the two little boys at Aunt Kathy's. (We shall see how that goes!) And another gift exchange with them later this week! (which will be Christmas #5)

All in all, our Christmas was a wonderful one. We where very fortunate to be able to spend this time with family and friends. The Chaos household hopes that you and yours where able to have just as wonderful time (and continue to have) as we have!

Big Chris' Birthday :)

Yesterday was my wonderful husband's birthday. He's officially "middle-age" (so to speak). He is a whopping 31 years young.



He started the day out with joining his own mother at the gym for a "Boot Camp" class. (Mr. Joe the instructor is puuuuurfect for this style of class. As Chris put it - "He is VERY motivating!") Today Chris is complaining about being able to walk among various other things.



Afterwards, his mom and I went to attempt to finish up our Christmas shopping while working on meeting up with my mom to retrieve Junior. (Whom had spent the night with Nona on Tuesday night.) While Grandma J and I finished up some shopping, Chris got the honor of feeding cows with his dad, then head to his Aunt Marge's house to replace a kitchen sink, faucet and garbage disposal prior to her hosting Chris' party later in the evening.



Around 2pm Chris, my mom, Junior, Grandma J and I met up at a non-descript building. Inside, I surprised my mom and Jane with their Christmas present. :) An ultrasound so that they can see the new baby! And what a better birthday present for Chris, to hopefully find out what his new baby is going to be. But then agian - I think like a girl :) you know sentimental and all.



Grandma J and Nona were very excited to see the baby, and got to hear the heartbeat. Grandma J had only heard Junior's heartbeat once. The cool thing was they not only got to hear it but see it. Yesterday the baby's heartbeat was 148. As we watched the baby who was moving very little, it was cool to get to see a profile picture of her. Because of the way she was laying we couldn't see her face clearly (she was laying right under the placenta). If you haven't caught on yet - it's a GIRL! :) We are all very excited and shocked. I will scan the pictures from the ultrasound later today if I get a chance and post them.

Photo Blog - An Interesting Trend

This is what happens when Daddy babysits when Jr should have a nap....

Daddy lets him fall asleep where ever he may!

Photo Blog: Daddy & Me

me and Dad... post bath, pre- running of the naked baby (aka Jr post both, sans diaper chasing mommy & daddy around the house all parties laughing hysterically ofcourse!)

This following series says it all... who's playing with WHO'S toys?

Okay, so this next series may not include Daddy... but he's watching TV like Daddy!

Photo Blog - Friends along the Drive to TX

Chris holding the boys. Cooper wasn't sure about Chris, but thought it was pretty funny after the picture was snapped :)

Me and Coop - he was SUCH a flirt ;) (and a cute one at that!)

Jr & Elijah - playing on the floor. Eli wasn't so sure about Jr ;)

Jr checking out Elijah's curls... you can see what Elijah thought of the idea

Left to right....Diana holding Elijah and Me with Jr. All you can really say about this picture is that's a whole lotta trouble there!!! :)

Daddy's Coming Home!!

Chris arrives in a few long short hours!! Junior is currently on the longest nap EVER in preperation to see his Daddy tonight!

Due to the fact that we don't know if Daddy has access to the internet or not on his layover - I can not detail our plans for tonight! ;) Shhh... it's a surprise! So with that... on Sunday we will hopefully have two posts... Daddy's Homecoming and the Milestone Saturday Party Lowdown! Ahh it's going to be a busy weekend.. but oh so worth it! Hope Daddy's jet lag doesn't really hit till Sunday :D

Hopes, Dreams and other Crazy Things

Yesterday watching my son get into things that I rather wish he wouldn't (you know like playing with all things off limits- like the toliet - instead of his ever growing and overflowing toy box) I realized that I can see him as a young little boy. He IS a young little boy you say - but the young little boy I see is maybe 3 or 4, old enough to ask embarasing questions and not be able to fully understand why he has to wait till he's "older" to have them answered. That kind of young. Like "where do babies come from?" kind of question young where we hope that the answer "From Mommy's tummy" will sufice.


I see a little boy who barrels into a room demanding to have a blanket/towel/sheet tied to his neck in "Super Man" fashion and then disappears from the room, only to reappear wearing a colander on his head, chasing the dogs and yelling "CHARGE!!" and carrying some sort of a sword. My mother and my mother-in-law both tell me these are and will be normal little boy behaviors. A part of me can't wait to see it. That is a very small part of me. In almost a month my baby will no longer be a baby but a full fledged toddler.

In a way, these past almost eleven months seem like a dream. A dream because they have gone by so fast and because Chris hasn't gotten to see it all up front and personal. I realized as I was writting this, that if there was a part of Junior's life I would choose to have Chris miss, sadly this part seems to be the part. Not because I have gotten to have all the "baby" stuff to myself but because I see this ride called parenthood entering a new stage, a very fun stage that is perfect for daddies as little guys curiousity goes and personalities are developing. One where the interaction between father and son will set the tone of their relationship if not the foundation of it for the rest of their lives. Every boy needs a man who is willing to be Dad when they need it, and Daddy when they need him as his best friend and playmate the rest of the time. I am looking forward to watching this relationship develop and grow. :)

Things I have Learned...

I know in the past I have posted about things I have learned since becoming a mom (see Here )

This is my updated list:

• My son may have a "dirty" diaper shortly after waking up, but inevitably he will work on having a blow out while we are out in public.
• Things that shouldn't be a toy, will in fact become a toy.
• Jr will figure out how to get something to work for him, at the least opportune time for mommy! (like figuring out where the "send" button is on mommy's cell phone)
• When sleeping and napping schedules seem to be figured out, inevitably they will change.
• As he learns things (new things on a daily basis) he will do them agian, and again and agian, despite the repeated "No's" and lets do something different over here or other failed attempts at redirection.

I have loved this journey that we are on as a team, although sometimes I feel more like the goal keeper or referee but I have also learned so much about myself. My patience level is much higher then I thought it ever could be. My ability to be amazed, entranced and fall in love with the smallest things is amazing. I can't wait to see him grow and change through out the years, I also can't wait to see his relationship with his Daddy grow and develop especially as they reconnect when Daddy gets back.

Ahhh Life as we know it....

Things are around here are status quo with out status quo. Now if that makes sense to anyone I will be amazed!



Junior is doing well. Since Mother's Day, oh wait it's been almost a month! Man that's a long time for me to go with out blogging! Lets see what all has my son learned to do in the past month?

• Pushes his walk behind toys with no difficulty what so ever.


• Self feeds large chunks of food and actually chews it (most of the time)


• Drinks from a sippy cup with a straw very well (mom's soda through a straw tends to come back out as quickly as he sucks it up - and he prefers juice of any kind to water or tea)


• Gets closer and closer everytime to saying "Leslie" (it comes out lellee)


• Has figured outhow to drive his cars and anything with wheels around the floor.


• He also has seen ducks and Geese on a trip to the park by Nona's house. (I think we need to do this agian..btw, when I actually have my camera.

And yesterday he said "Ma Ma" for the first time. Before it was kinda "mmmmmm" but I actually heard (or thought I heard) Ma Ma. We'll see though. He spent the night last night with Nana and most of the day today. lets hope I didn't imagine something.

Another big milestone: We mailed off the final care package to Daddy today!!! We have a little over a month till he is back in the states and a little over a month and a half till he is back here in northern California with all of his family!

Speaking of Daddy coming home, we still have not had any real word on when we are moving. Basically we have been told to keep waiting, and they hope (they being the military) to be able to tell us by November when we are moving. So as things go in this life, we have a game plan. Well as much as we can. In August when Daddy goes back to Tx to go back to work, Jr and I will be flying back with him. We are going to get an apartment short term and once we are able to figure out the move to FL, Grammie Jane and possibly Nona will drive my car out with our two furry children.

I thought this post would be longer! LOL either way... that's what's new in our neck of the woods. I hope to put up pictures from the rest of Mother's Day and some pictures I have taken since.

Things I want My Son To Learn

Stand up for things he believes in.
I want my son to stand up for things he believes are right or wrong. I don't care which side he's on, as long as he picks one and defends it. He will only grow more from each decision he makes.

Stand up for people who can not or will not stand up for themselves.
There is a difference between being able to standing up for one's self and refusing to do so. I want him to become a man who is willing to stand up and be a man who will look out for and protect others when he sees that they need protecting. Especially when others aren't willing to ask for it.

To be the man he should be proud of, not just one his family would be proud of.
Actions can be the biggest and longest legacy a person can have. Words are not always the only thing remembered about a person, the way they lived their lives and the things they did can sometimes be more ingrained in history then the spoken word.

To learn when to forgive, when to let go and learn that forgetting just means letting go of the hurt.
Every child gets hurt. It's a fact. Even as adults we get hurt. We get hurt by actions, by words, or by non-actions. I want my son to learn to forgive those that hurt him, to learn from it and move on. However, I want him to learn from those situations and move forward and take those things and put the memories (while not holding on to the pain) to good use.

To remember that where you came from isn't always where you are going.
Just because he will spend (at a minimum) the majority of his formidable years as a military child I want my son to know that he has options. He can choose to make his own way in this world and following in his father's footsteps, while admirable, are not required. I want him to decide for himself where that path will lead - even if the destination changes 2, 5 or a million times.

To remember that his family will be there, cheering in his corner for him, no matter what.
I want my son to learn a sense of family. I want him to have strong ties to his entire family, so that he will grow up with a wonderfully huge family that will support him, and be there to listen to him as well as push and pull him when ever he needs it the most. Even if that means it's part of his extended "military" family steping in.

Sigh of Relief

Yesterday was a very stressful day for Chris and I. Unsure about what the Orthopedic Surgeon (OS) would say about his back, and knowing this could impact Chris' plans career wise and my immediate plans for the next 8 months we were a little on edge yesterday.

Chris does have a herniated disc. It's not causing him pain right now, and the OS said it was very minor at this point (as we could see from the MRI scan). He did not see why Chris could not stay in an "up" status for now, and treat the pain as needed. He even perscribed a non-narcodic pain reliever that was extended release, that he assured us would allow Chris to fly with.

Now he just has to go back to the Flight Surgeon here on the base and fill her in as to what the OS said. So basically - he still has physical therapy but other than that - he should be good to go and the only major decision he should have at this point is if he wants to get an easy set of shore duty orders that will allow him to finish his degree (which means a possible move to FL) OR he takes a set of shore duty orders that allow us to stay closer to home for 3 years (recruiting duty - which means Junior and I will be home - and so will he although working 12-14 hour days).

Reflection...Looking Back A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, pretty close to this time of day (3:30pm) things where drastically different then they are right now.

I was madly finishing up cleaning my house. I was attempting to doll myself up and make it to the airport early. The only person I had to worry about at that moment was me. I was rushing to get everything done before Chris came home from overseas.

Seeing him after six months was going to be awesome and well worth it. He was going to see me with blond hair for the first time in my life (my Halloween costume last year was Marylin Monroe - and I couldn't find a wig that looked right so I bleached mine) and see the weight I had worked hard to loose while he was gone in person.

I know with absolute certainty that the night he came home, Jr was conceived. Looking back Jr was worth the four year wait. I wouldn't change anything in my life right now, although sometimes I wish teething where easier for Jr and for me but I still wouldn't change anything. I love my son, I love my wonderful husband.

How many people can say with ABSOLUTE certainty what day/night their child was conceived? And quite honestly, you can't get much more planned then Jr was. And I am oh so thankful for all the smiles, silly faces and all the little funny things he does (like trying to eat his fingers and a spoon full of cereal at the same time).

Daddy's Home!

Chris had to go on a short trip for work and was gone for 4 days. I think both he and Jr missed each other quite a bit! Chris had the opportunity to get a full night of sleep for the first time in just over 2 months but was unable to! He couldn't sleep with out the sound of Jr's monitor (I have it positioned to where we can hear him breathing) and him waking up to eat in the middle of the night. Aww he is truely a Daddy now!

Unfortunately for Chris, while on his trip he did his back in agian. He came home yesterday after a stop off at Medical with his muscle relaxer in hand and that stiff sort of bent over walk he gets when his back is out or just about out. The back issue makes it difficult for him to help out with Jr as I don't want him to try to pick Jr up out of the swing, pack n play or Jr's little rocking chair and possibly hurt himself more. (the thought of him crumbling to the ground in pain while picking up the baby isn't a good one, but I know if it *did* happen that Chris would do what ever he could to make sure his son wasn't hurt - so it's not really a worry for me right now).

So at the present, Chris' ability to help is limited, but in a very cute capacity! I even caught it "on film" so to say, yesterday. I have to say it is *one* of the cutest pictures I've taken yet as a parent!

Can A Song Give You Insight To Your Child's Behavior?

Okay, so the title sounds like some formal type of paper/article that I found. Not so much really.

This is more of an observation on my part. This morning while sitting here going through my normal morning routine, (checking email, iVillage, blogs ect) I had iTunes on as normal. Junior did his normal squirming to most of the songs that played however, he really started moving when Chris Cagle's "Cause The Chicks Dig It" came on. Those of you non-country fans, I'm going to post the video that I found from Youtube on here... but the overall thought does kind of scare me.



My husband wasn't the wild and crazy type... more of the quiet one you had to watch out for. I've been told stories of when he was little and wanted to go outside and work on the ranch equipment and his grandpa wasn't moving fast enough (meaning getting off the couch) so he asked where the grease points on the rake where... from what I hear there is nothing scarier then a 5/6yr old with a grease gun standing in the kitchen. (My in-laws grow their own hay). Then there is the time he climbed under his daddy's truck with a screw driver and a wrench. Somewhere around the same age - oh and the truck was brand-new or close to it. As he got older he got into dirtbikes and rode motorcross. He use to tell me all the time, boy or girl our kids where gonna do it too..

I was the one that you heard and saw coming. Open to trying anything atleast once (in terms of being a dare-devil that is). Couple my husband's behavior as a youth with my own and my son's new found love of this song... I think I'm in for a world of hurt!!!! What do you think?

Blahh...

Having kind of an "off" day. Junior moved around ALOT yesterday and I think I may have had a couple contractions either way, my stomach is feeling "bruised" today.

Chris rearranged our living room this morning, and made pancakes for breakfast. Other than that we have had a nice relaxing day of doing NOTHING! :)

Oh Is This Gonna Get Me In Trouble :)

glitter-graphics.com

Okay so Chris is stripping the floors in the dinning room and kitchen. He's currently on his second round (because I found a couple HUGE areas that didn't quite come clean - and if I'm paying to rent his damn buffer for a full 24 hours - I'm getting the floor the way I want it damn it!). This is him:




And no, my husband isn't wearing shorts. He had long pants on before hand.... LOL maybe I should have titled this post "almost in the buff" ;)