Visitors!

Nona came to visit right before the Miss Mayhem made her grand entrance. She stayed untill Scarlett was almost a week old. Wish I had gotten some photos of my mom holding her (something I will most definetely rectify at Christmas!!!) but obviously I was pretty tired!




About a week and a half after my mom left Grammie J arrived. One of the highlights from Grammie's visit was a Saturday morning trip to the Kids Park. Everyone had a great time..

Even Miss Mayhem who slept through 90% of the trip to the park!


Shortly after Grammie left... Cousin Judge arrived! But that's for another post!

Miss Mayhem's First Photo Shoot

Brother making sure she was adequately "loved" before the photo shoot.

Her shirt says Navy Princess... which couldn't be more true ;)

The Mistress of Mayhem has arrived!

Introducing:

Scarlett aka: Mistress of Mayhem

Born: May 27th 12:03pm

Weight: 7lbs 13oz

Length: 19.25"

Brother getting to see "sissy" for the first time

Such a good big brother
Daddy, Jr and Scarlett

Miss Scarlett all ready to go home!

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: Our Visit to Louisiana...and Back Agian!

We spent the weekend with Aunt Claire and Uncle Bill and lots of other extended family memebers celebrating Aunt Claire's birthday. It was a big party!

Chris, Jr and I ended up leaving very late Thursday night/very early Friday morning to drive the six and a half hours to N. Louisiana. We arrived about 630am - just in time to surprise everyone by letting Jr run around the house and "talk". ;)



These two pictures are perfect examples of what happens when mom goes upstairs to take a nap. It's a good thing that little boys, dogs and clothes are all washable! Jr is covered in "swamp" mud. (Uncle Bill is attempting to make the "swamp" into a pond...)

As you can see in the pictures... Aunt Kathy is very proud of her handy work ;)

Uncle Bill took Jr for a short tractor ride...

Aunt Claire taking Jr down to the "swamp".

(I loved this picture in color, but absolutely LOVE it antiqued!)

Aunt Claire made out! The Dreaded "Blackish" Flamingo even made an appearance - more then once!

Chris, Papa Stan and Junior all working to put in a dog door for the boys who are now here at the house. I was supervising ofcourse ;)

While Grammie and Papa where here, Junior finally got his first tricycle. We are still learning to pedal...

But having a Papa to push you helps alot!

If Last Night Is Any Indication:

Today is going to be a very long day. Yesterday evening Jr had a meltdown of gigantic proportions for no discernable reason. I'm talking full blown screaming and crying to the point that we thought he was going to make himself sick. He didn't want to eat dinner (not unusual lately) and wanted nothing to do with anyone really. We had gone to the Dr earlier in the day to have his ears rechecked (more on that in a minute) but didn't seem to have any other issues going on. Normally when he gets upset in the evening a bath will usually calm him down. He wouldn't take a bath. However Daddy was nice enough to get in the tub and shower with him, and that was deemed acceptable. In true uncharacteristic fashion, Junior was in bed by 730 - a full hour before his normal bed time.

He woke up at about 330, Daddy changed his diaper and he got in bed with us. It took almost an hour to get him settled and just about back to sleep. Courtesy of being in Florida we just happened to have a thunderstorm settle over us and let go with a rather loud clap of thunder. It took another hour or so for him to settle back down. (normally he has slept through thunderstorms, atleast they have never woken him up) By the time he fell back asleep, he knew what the loud noises where and even attempted to say "thunder". I'm pretty sure we fell asleep about 5am and Daddy had to get up for work at 6. So its going to be a loooooooooong day today!

Dr follow up
As I mentioned earlier, we had a follow up on Jr's ears yesterday. One of his ears was still filled with wax and the Dr was unable to really look at the other one (even with Daddy holding him down!) so we are getting referred to ENT to have his ear cleaned out, and have a consult on tubes. We should be getting a call in the next couple days to make that appointment, and since the odds are they will need to sedate him, I am considering doing it while Grammie and Papa are here next week since Dad won't be able to get off work to go with us. Never hurts to have moral support right?!

On the Road agian
Tomorrow we are leaving in the morning to go visit Great Aunt Claire and Uncle Bill. It was supposed to be a surprise, but the beans have already been spilled! We are looking forward to getting to see family agian so soon after Christmas! Thank You Great Aunt Claire for having the courtesy to turn 60 and to give us a reason (not that we need one) to P. A. R. T. Y!

We are also meeting up with Grammie and Papa there who are traveling in my car back from CA with our two four-legged furbabies to bring all of the above here! It will be so nice to have not only our doggies back but mommy's car as well! And visits from family are always appreciated!

Say - Revisted

I've been thinking a lot about this post.

Those of you who know me well, know that this topic has not always been an easy one for me. I find it ironic that I'm revisiting this topic while once again pregnant. I am pleased to inform all of you that actually read this, that this time things aren't quite the same.

A family member found a sibling of my biological father on Facebook and the long and short of it is: I decided to email him. And you know what? I am happy to be able to say that not everyone in that side of my family is either unwilling or afraid to not only acknowledge me but actually TALK to me! And by talk... I mean actually talk to me, about everything the serious elephant in the room (who gets smaller every time we talk- to me at least) to mundane things like how the Wii Fit game is incredibly rude ;).

I think that both of us are still trying to figure out these new found roles but in all honesty, that's perfectly okay. In a perfect world, I would have grown up knowing him as my Uncle and he would have watched me grow up. But we all know that the world is far from perfect. So at this point in both our lives (ironically we are both at the start of new chapters aside from the one we are figuring out together) we will hopefully continue to go forward and learn and enjoy getting to know each other.

In the conversations I have had with my Uncle, I found that I really did want to know that side of my family. I did not use to think of anyone from that side as family. They where just people that I am genetically related to (okay and in a few cases that may be true still) but now. Now I know that not everyone is hiding from something or someone and is willing to actually be my family. And I am very grateful for that!

I hope that in the new year, every single person who reads this, takes something that seems challenging to them, and just does it.

Do it with your heart wide open. I think you might be surprised at the end, if not with the result at least with yourself.

Post Christmas food coma's

Most of yesterday was spent in a food coma. Don't you just LOVE those?! I did get an hour and a half nap, which was nice. Junior spent his second day taking an almost 3 hour nap.

Speaking of food.... last night we met up with Will, Connie and William at Guy Feiri's resturant Tex Wasabi in Sacramento. We brought Grammie J and Papa along, and the companionship was great! Aunt Kathy was also there as well as Uncle Will's friend Chris. The food was okay, not as good as I expected it to be, for the price you got A LOT of food! I think the conversations and seeing William and Junior playing was well worth it.

Afterwards we conviened to Aunt Kathy's where most of the adults played some poker, Grammie J took a nap on the couch, and Aunt Connie and I supervised the two little boys. I think it is safe to say, that while William was trying to play nice and careful with Junior, my son can definitely hold his own.

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!

"The End of the World As We Know It" - our Life at the present

Ah, an absence from the blogosphere. My apologies to the ones who come for the pictures of my lens loving monster of a son ;). (I love his pictures too) However life in the Chaotic household has been one of upheaval since last friday.

While I spent the day running errands feeling "off" (which I chalked up to pms - with out getting tmi) I suddenly crashed after Chris got home to feeling awful. By Saturday night I had a fever, chills, the sweats you name it. Sunday during the day I was feeling better somewhat, despite the cough from HELL. By monday, I had a migraine that rivaled the cough from hell. So to the Dr. we went. We saw the same Doctor that said my cough a week earlier, "It's just viral, annoying but it will go away eventually but nothing to be worried about". Yeah not so much anymore. I had blood work and 2 chest xrays. "Bacterial pnemonia looks a certain way - yours doesn't look exactly like it, so I think it's viral still, but it's a really soft call, so we are going to treat it as bacterial just in case."

So there you have it. I'm coughing up a lung here (with only an antibiotic - that if I'm not feeling any better by Friday to go back to the doctor - ) with pnumonia. Who knows how or why I caught it. Here it is wednsday and I don't have the fever, but am winded pretty easily still. Jr is taking full advantage of this, and I'm VERY thankful Chris has been able to get off early!

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

Photo Blog - Our trip to LA (part 1)

Fathers Day - we spent it with my Papa (to Jr: Papa Chas) in Long Beach, CA.






Here you can see they were fast friends from the get go!











My Papa introduced Jr to the marvelous thing called a slinky. My ever-0bservant, ever-into-everything child LOVED the slinky! And it was the metal variety NOT the plastic kind! (and who knows why Papa had it in the first place!! He's just like that














We spent the better part of the morning at the Long Beach Aquarium. It was too dark inside to get any quality photos...besides this was his favorite part - the aviary. He thought the birds where a little odd (larakeets they where I believe) - the birds at home don't let him get this close!









After the aquarium... we spent some down time at Papa's just relaxing. Jr thought he was going to make a break for it but he was no match for the security door!









Sunday afternoon we spent a little time down at Belmont Shores. I went to a pre-school across the street from this beach. It was, and kind of still is (to me anyhow) my beach. I have many, many fond memories of this beach and was looking forward to getting to do some of the same things with Jr here... but they removed the play structures!!!





As you can see... the excitement (and ice cream prior to the beach) just plain wore him out! Papa for some reason kept telling Jr he was being followed by the "baby paparazzi". (How's that for a monkier Angie... lol we are no longer picture happy parents... we are the "baby paparazzi"!! LOL)










I have many more photos to post... but alas I keep getting to this late at night when I am falling asleep as I type... hmm I guess that means I'll spread the joy out a little bit longer!

Tomorrow: More Beach Pics & the Infamous Mr. Cooper (and his mama!)

Ahh My blog :)

Oh how I have neglected thee. Tis no longer going to be a problem! My internet connection is now a speedy one, a more reliable one that will enable me to post pictures (yeah!) Like these...

My son was helping Grammie garden. Did I forget to mention he was being a soil/bark quality control tester?? Via his tastebuds ofcourse!

There is some cousinly love. The boy holding my boy turns 18 (gah! How dare he grow up!) just a mere 4 days after my son turns a year old! My nephew, affectionaly named, "Boog" was out this past weekend helping my father in law bale hay. It was very odd - more then once he reminded me he can be sooo much like his uncle! And he loves his cousin! So much so - he refrained from screaming during the Brazil/US Confederations Cup game to avoid waking Jr up from a much needed (and considerably long) nap. :) In a few years, I have a feeling it will be the awful leading the awful here ;)

Next up on the blog: Our trip to Los Angeles to visit Papa Chas and to meet the infamous Cooper Doo!

Baby S Has arrived!

Due to the fact I am not sure that his mommy wants me posting his name on my site, we are going to refer to my new nephew as "Baby S" for now. Till I come up with a better nick name or his mommy says it's okay. In the mean time here are his stats and a few pics :)

Born: 1830 (6:30pm) PST
Weight: 6lbs 13oz
Height: 19 1/2" long.

He came out screaming, despite having the cord wrapped around his neck twice! He was born via c-section.

















The Nurse was kind enough to hold him up for his first photo... I'm counting this as his first photo with his VERY proud auntie because if you look carefully you can see my reflection!



















Shortly after I took this one through the nursery glass Baby S was SUCKING on Dad's finger. He was hungry! (They took him back to Mom shortly after that too and he latched on and nursed like he'd been doing it forever!)








I couldn't be more proud to consider this woman my sister! Welcome to the very elite club named "Mommy-hood". Love ya!!!! You did good!!!

Photo Blog - Mother's Day Part 1

My first mother's day was wonderful! I started off the day with my son sleeping most of the night(!!!!) and then my father in law coming in to get him about 7am. Unfortunately due to actually getting a seemingly full night of sleep and Jr having already been awake for an hour, I couldn't go back to sleep. So I laid in bed for a little while and tried, but no such luck.

After a cup of coffee then some time in the hot tub with both my mother in law and father in law (Jr too) Papa Stan took us out to breakfast. (and we managed to not have a horrendous wait!!) After breakfast we stopped by a KFC to get some of their new grilled chicken to take out to the local lake for a picnic. We are supposed to go camping for the weekend this coming weekend, so my inlaws wanted to take the boat out for a "shake down" cruise.

While hooking up the boat trailer, my father in law failed to make sure the hitch was on correctly. Resulting in this:

The truck is another good 100 feet behind me when I took this picture.

We finally managed to get out to the lake. A great time was had by all. Junior loved to watch the wake & what his Papa was doing with the boat motor. Couldn't have cared less about everything else!

Junior also got his first drumstick to himself. To say he throughly enjoyed it does not even cover it!

By far my favorite picture of the day.

Junior - enjoying his grandparents on the lake.