This Just In

Coming across the wires today is some news that I am sure will astound you. Our little cherub, our sweet little bundle of joy is no longer a wee babe. Oh, no. As of last night, he is in fact a Big Boy. I know that making an announcement of such magnitude will require some visual aids as many of you will be loathe to believe such a story. Well, here my doubting readers is your proof:





No your eyes are not deceiving you. That is our Chase in a Big Boy Bed. Even more earth shattering is that it appears to have been a smooth transition for the Monkey from crib dweller to toddler bed resident. We had just one hour of fussing before his nap yesterday. He must have resigned himself to this new occupancy because he slept peacefully through the night last night and took today's nap with nary a peep.

Now all that remains to complete the transition from baby to big boy is for Mama to get her butt in gear and finish furnishing and accessorizing his room. Hopefully, I can get that task complete before he enters the adolescent stage--but I'm not sure I'd take any bets on the likelihood of that occurring just yet.

Here comes Noodle Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail

Hippity, Hoppity
Easter was quite a day!

We had a most Excellent Easter Extravaganza at Grandma & Grandpa's this year. We arrived in the Wood on Friday around 4, and the fun didn't stop for Mr. Magoo until we left Sunday at 1. He played, he partied, he shared his circle dance with all who would take a minute to sing "Circle Dance, Circle Dance, Fall Down". Here's a day by day recap of our weekend for anyone bored enough to read it.

Friday: We arrived at G-ma and G-pa's house with Noodle in toe. He of course quickly went about making the living room look like a toy junk yard. The little gremlin was on hyper speed as he raced around the room shoving various novelties in the faces of his grandparents. It was quite amusing to be on the observing side of this only as Monkey wants nothing to do with me when my mom and dad are around. No complaints on that by the way.

That night for dinner we had another of my favorite hometown foods that I can't seem to locate here in Virginia: the wedgie. Mmmm. The wedgie is a most delicious treat made by Fox's Pizza Den that is basically a heart attack wrapped up in crispy pizza crust. What they do is take two crusts that are not doughy, but not too crusty either and fill them with various meats, cheeses and more mayonnaise than an entire family should healthfully consume in a week. They do throw in some token veggies so that you can at least pretend to be eating something that could possibly fit into a food group. My favorite is the ham & cheese while Drew tends to go for a steak version. Yum-O. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that the wedgie gave me heartburn too, but I feel it was probably the fault of the green peppers--stinkin veggies.

Saturday, Drew and I escaped to the lake for a few hours. We had an appointment to meet with a contractor to discuss the possibility of adding an addition to the lake house. We just wanted to get a rough idea about the process and time involved in such an undertaking. The builder we talked with actually built our house and used to live across the street. His family owned most of the surrounding land, and he told us lots of stories about all of the playing he did in the lake and the creek. It reminded me of when I was a lowercase mell and my cousins and I used to look for crayfish in the creek by their house. Such happy memories and that is one of the main reasons that I wanted that particular house: so that Chase could one day make similar memories of his own.

After the meeting, we had lunch at Santa Fe Grill (hello carrot cake) and then we headed back home to relieve my parents of Chase duty. The little rugrat had had quite the time rough housing with the grandparents and was in no hurry to be turned back over to his mom and dad. Again no complaints there.




We watched my Mountaineers overtake Duke in the NCAA tournament. Much celebration was had at their once again reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Then we colored eggs. Oh my did we color eggs. Chase most enjoyed dropping the egg in the cup and watching the dye splash everywhere. Silly child even thought he wanted to drink the water until he got a really good taste of the vinegar in it. So, he gave up on that idea and went back to splashing. He had so much color on his hands and arms that he looked like the Incredible Hulk after we were through. Good thing it was bath night.




After the egg dying it started to snow, so Grandpa and Daddy took the little guy out to play in it. Chase couldn't have been more thrilled, and threw quite the fit when he had to come in because he was all wet. But then we got to see a herd of 13 deer go by, so that made everything better.



Then Uncle Rob came home. "Yippee a new toy to play on," is what Monkey must have thought as he proceeded to crawl all over his giant uncle. Rob was a bit hung over I believe, but he took the assault well. Chase followed him around for the next hour or so, and every once in a while I'd see him looking up at his uncle with a puzzled expression on his little Noodle face. I'm sure he was wondering how someone so tall ended up in a family of shorties and if he himself would grow to be as big.

We made Chase's nest for the Easter Bunny, and then at last it was time for bed. I was wondering if the EB would know to find us at Grandma and Grandpa's but the long-eared chap with big feet had no trouble delivering Chase's spoils to Kingwood.



After exploring and opening all of the bounty, Chase settled in on his two favorites: the 24 match box cars that his dad told the bunny to get and the Little Einsteins rocket that Grandma and Grandpa added to the stash. Those two items kept him pretty occupied the rest of the morning.
We ate yummy ham, potato salad, green beans, corn, rolls and cheese cake around noon. We sat around pleased at our overindulgence for a bit and then it was time to waddle ourselves to the car for the uneventful journey home.

And that my friends was the Mellon Family's Excellent Easter Extravaganza.

I have been forsaken

by my beloved pepperoni roll. Even though I have three of them in my possession from our Easter trip home to Kingwood, I will be unable to enjoy another bite of their greasy splendor. Why you ask? Because due to my current debilitated state (aka being with child), that spicy pepperoni yumminess isn't so yummy as it is heartburn inducing. So now I'm left to just stare at the rolls and dream of what could have been.

Even though I am obviously in danger of falling into a spiral of deep,dark depression; I will somehow gather the strength needed to post an Easter synopsis later today or tomorrow. Sainthood surely can not be far off.

Longest Day Ever

Yesterday, Chase had surgery to get his ear tubes. You might recall from reading a previous post that we were told that this was not likely to be a relaxing day since we could expect our child to emit a serious of screams and cries for hours after the surgery. It makes sense then that we were dreading the arrival of this day for many reasons. First of all, we had to get up at 5 so we could leave by 6 to get there at 6:45 for the pre-surgery sign in and prep work. . This meant that we had to wake Chase up at 5:45 when he doesn't usually arise until 7. Then, once he was up, he couldn't have his milk or eat his Crispix. Then we'd be in the car for 40 minutes after which we would find ourselves in a hospital setting, and we all know how much little kids love people in white coats with shiny instruments poking and prodding them. Then there was that whole surgery, general anesthesia, waking up around strange people, being annoyed because someone had done something funny to his ears thing. Just thinking about it made my head spin and my heart hurt, but I had done much self pep talking to mentally prepare myself for the trials that lay before me.

All that mental preparation? Yea a total waste of effort. Here's why. Monkey didn't seem to mind being awakened from his slumber early, and I don't think it ever even occurred to him that no one had given him his sippy cup full of milk. He was a little grumpy in the car when he saw Mommy eating a sausage biscuit, but once I gave up and put my unfinished tasty treat away, he was all smiles again. Not only was he okay with entering the surgery center, he was positively giddy when he saw the fish tank in the waiting room. And then he only mildly protested when the nurse took his temperature and preformed other pre-op tests.

Once we were checked in and cleared for the surgery, they sent us to a toddler waiting room that had lots of bright colors and toys to play with. Noodle had a blast in here being Mr. Social flitting from toy to toy while trying to convince the older patient in the room to play with him. He can be quite the outgoing soul when it suits his mood. Oh, and he looked awfully cute in his hospital gown with his diaper peeking out the back, don't you think?



Soon it was time for him to head to the OR for his procedure. His dad went in too, so that he could be with Chase until the gas did its job and knocked him out. I'm sure that wasn't a pleasant job for Drew, but he is better at handling those types of things than I am. I probably would have asked to be gassed myself if I had to watch my little guy fighting the mask that they placed on his little face.

Fifteen minutes later, Dr. H came to tell us that the surgery went well and that she had to suction a multitude of fluid from his ear canal. She reiterated that he definitely needed the tubes and that we made the right decision in going forward with the surgery. She then handed us a fistful of prescriptions, babbled a string of post op instructions, and said she'd see us in a week and a half for the follow up visit.

After that, we were ushered into the recovery room where an alert and happy Chase man was charming the pants off of the nurses. They all kept saying what a cutie he was and how relaxed and at ease he was when we woke up: apparently he looked around, yawned and then placed his hands behind his head and assumed his standard lounging position. I bet he was thinking, "What's the big deal? I mean it's just surgery and general anesthesia--a walk in the park guys, just a walk in the park."

We spent about 30 minutes in the recovery room while the little guy downed two cups of Apple Juice and watched cartoons. Then we were given the all clear to head home. I looked at my watch expecting it to be around noon--it was 8:40. We were home by 9. The entire rest of the day, Andy and I were worn out and always thinking it was 3 hours later than it actually was while Chase was a ball of happy energy. The only sign that he'd had any kind of medical intervention was that he occasionally rubbed his ears. That and the little collection of prescription medicines gathered on the kitchen island.

All in all it was a pretty smooth process which I attribute mainly to Chase's go with the flow personality and the efficiency with which the surgery center operated. Even so, the day was exhausting for me which I ascribe to stress, worry, and lack of sleep. Not getting to finish my sausage biscuit certainly didn't help matters either.

Amaya's Bedding

if it goes with the yellow walls. I do have back ups if it ends up clashing. Also please note the spelling change of Amaya. Fickle I am.

X's, we've got X's

We received news today that we are awaiting the arrival of Chase's little sister Amaya Rose. She is our little double X miracle--such a miracle that we had to ask the technician a few times to verify that she had in fact said that there was a little she-baby growing in me. Of course, one person's opinion was not going to be enough, so when the doctor came in, I made her show me the girly parts again. I'm still in a mild state of shock and am constantly checking to be sure that the earth is still spinning on its axis.

Here are some pictures of baby Amaya--one full and one money shot. These will have to hold you over until she arrives via C-section on July 31. That leaves us a little over four months to get prepared for this new being--it's going to be a whole new world. I better get shopping--the pink is calling!

In this one, you're basically looking at her tushy, one whole leg and part of another. You can see where the tech typed "girl" in the upper left hand portion of the picture.


PS--Amaya is pronounced A-maya so basically A-my-A.

Farmer Chase

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Chase is a farmer child trapped in suburbia. The kid just loves going to the farm and getting all dirty. Yesterday, he was very excited because he got to pet a mommy sheep and a fat bunny. Monkey trotted himself all over that farm and wore himself out pretty well. In the Mama dictionary of life, that's the true definition of a successful outing--when you tucker your child out to the point that he needs a 3 hour nap the next day to recover.

Love this picture with his little tush sticking out for all to admire.

No. More. Loud. Banging. Noises. Please.

And still with all of this thudding and house shaking going on, we're no closer to fixing this lovely detail that has been decorating my kitchen ceiling for a month now.

And you people wonder why I'm so grumpy.

Paint, Paper and Glitter = Unrivaled Joy

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
Pablo Picasso

He didn't get it from my side of the family

So, it's been an eventful last couple of weeks for our little noodle man. Not necessarily fun, but eventful. You see the little guy has been spending quite a bit of time in doctors' offices. Remember the little guy's spewing party that was described for you in detail during my Disney recap? And do you also recall how we thought it was due to monkey being allergic to the medicine, but the doctor thought croup? Well, it turns out that both hypotheses were wrong, but ours was the one that was closer to being right. Let me explain...

You see, when Chase was sick again after we switched antibiotics we knew that we were wrong. But when he didn't have any repeat occurrences after that first night of the trip, we thought it couldn't be croup since that was supposed to last for a few days at least, and he never really coughed all night long either. This put our little minds to work trying to think about what else it could be, and we came up with one common theme across all of his recent rashes, vomits, and wheezes: Honey Nut Cheerios.

So, we made an appointment with a pediatric allergist, and what do you know, the kid is allergic to almonds, peanuts, walnuts--basically all tree nuts. Now, we get to become very familiar with the EpiPen Jr., Benadryl, and ingredients labels while becoming less familiar with reese's cups, tagalongs & snickers bars.

On top of all of the appointments and blood work for the allergist, Chase got his 6th double ear infection of the year . So, off to the ENT we went. The doctor looked in his ear for 2 seconds and said, "He needs tubes." Apparently he's had fluid build up in his ear and an infection that never really went away. She also said that he's had some hearing difficulties which can help to explain why he often leaves off the beginning sounds of words. (uck, ase, ish) So, poor little guy has to go in for out patient surgery next week. We're told that the procedure itself is not too bad, but that Chase will still scream for an hour afterward because he's scared, hungry and just all around grumpy. Should be a good time.

Despite all of these recent health developments, the little guy is as happy as can be. We went to visit with cousin Nate over the weekend. They took us to an arcadey kinda place called Fun Expedition, and as you can see from the pictures, Chase wasn't letting his ears get in the way of his having a good time.




If anything, his time spent with medical professionals may have made him more loving. Case in point, on a recent trip to Lowes, the noodle thought the Tide bottles looked a little lonely, so he decided to hug them up a little bit. It looked just like the pictures in my last post except instead of a cuddly little bunny, he was hugging industrial sized bottles of soap. Being the generous soul he is, he couldn't contain his affection to just the laundry aisle, so he decided to spread the wealth to other areas of the store by snuggling up with paint bottles and yellow wet floor signs, too. My boy's a lover, not a fighter.

And they call it bunny love

Oh, I guess they'll never know

How a young heart really feels

And why I love bunny so

Redeeming Qualities

Here's a list of a few qualities and quirks of which Young Master Chase is currently in possession. Please note that despite the title of today's post, not everything on the list can be considered "redeeming".

1. He is getting more vocal, but he isn't very forceful with his chosen words. For instance, if you ask him what a train says he'll say "choo choo" in this very soft voice. It's almost as if he's afraid of being wrong, so he waits to see if you agree with him before he says it any louder.

2. Some of Ace's (Chase's) favorite words are choo-choo, uck (duck), ruff (dog barking),
growln (crayon), us (bus), ish (fish), woo-woo for truck sirens, and bubBLES with a very pronounced accent on the second syllable.

3. His favorite things to eat are cheese and bread. One can usually persuade him to eat yogurt, waffles, and french fries, too. Little man is still not a fan of the veggies although we can sometimes sneak shredded carrots in by pretending they are grated cheese.

4. He loves to color with his growlns, read his ooks, and play with the choo-choos and ucks. He also loves putting puzzles together. Turning around and around with his arm in a perfect ballet 4th position is his most favorite form of exercise. We call it his circle dance. You can also count on him for a round of applause upon completion of any song you may sing--but The Wheels on the Bus is his favorite.

5. The little imp has been going through a bit of a defiant phase. He knows that he's only supposed to use his growlns on the paper, but lately he has been giving me an evil little smile as he colors the ottoman, table or floor instead of the paper. This of course means that I have to take the growlns away which leads us to the next item on our list...

6. Bugger's got quite a bit of a temper that he often unleashes in a little tornado of screams and body thrashings the likes of which I did not think was possible outside of the Looney Tunes Cartoon Medleys. This would be the reason for our recent purchase of not one, but two 720 capsule bottles of Tylenol at Costco this week.

7. But darn it, the boy sure is cute, isn't he?