Chase Is 10 Months

You are OBSESSED with Daddy lately.  He can't walk out of the room without you knowing what he is doing and where he is going...and you still will attempt to follow him!  

You like Momma at nap time and bed time...and Momma still enjoys that cuddle time with you!

You are SO BUSY and INTO everything!  We definitely have to keep our eyes on you.  

You mimic so many sounds and things we say.  We are having so much fun watching you grown and learn new things!

You normally go to bed around 7:30/8:00 PM and get up around 7:30 AM.  You still take 2-3 naps a day.  Each is usually at least 1 hour.

You have 4 teeth now - two on top and two on bottom.

You have started smiling real big (showing your teeth) while wrinkling up your nose.  It is the cutest thing.  You also snort while doing this and it makes us laugh so hard!  You are such an entertainer already!

You chew on your bed now...lovely!  When I go in to get you from your naps or in the morning, you are always standing up in your crib just talking and banging away on the sides.

words you are saying:

• dog
• boo
• NoNoNo!
• Amen (at the end of his meal prayer)
• ball
• Dadda
• Ma (this is a new one that I'm proud of!)

things you enjoy doing:

• jabbering all of the time
• waving...a lot
• standing alone
• love to play ball
• going outside to see Hunter (dog)
• making all kinds of facial expressions
• eating table food
• snorting

My Lent Sacrifice

Definition:  Committing to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence or discipline.

I have been thinking about my spending lately and how shopping becomes a habit instead of something I do based off of need.  Whether it is grocery, clothes, toiletries or household goods, finding a balance in what I spend and developing discipline in this area of my life is surely something I could do as a gesture to rid my life of so many materialistic desires.  

Spending isn't bad and having a hobby that involves clothes isn't bad, BUT this being a focus of one's life and reckless spending just to have something new is wrong (for me).  That's why I want to start making priority list for things I need or want instead of doing so much impulse shopping.  Saving for bigger items gives me great joy when I'm finally able to get them, but I've surely gotten away from having the discipline to do this!

I justify that I deserve things instead of thinking about more what I could be doing for others.  So I'm just working on my mentality and thought this time of year was the perfect time for some changes in my thought process.

For Lent, my sacrifice is going to be giving up frivolous shopping for Chase & I.  I have already found if I give up shopping for me, I end up buying Chase all kinds of stuff (he doesn't need) so I had to throw him into my "challenge" as well.  My hope is for this to be more of a lifestyle change than just a time of sacrifice for Lent.

Chase Is On The Go

...no, he's not walking quite yet, but his Daddy did get him on the quad this week and he enjoyed being outside and on the go!

I have a feeling this summer he is going to want to be outside all of the time!

...and I can't wait!

Hamburger Casserole

This is a recipe my husband grew up with.  It weirded me out a little bit at first and Nathan even had the nerve to tell his Mom that I didn't like it!  Hello...no way to win brownie points with the future mother-in-law!  Oh dear...that man! :)  See below for the recipe and then for the variations I've made to it.

Ground Beef Casserole

1 can oven ready biscuits | 1 1/2 lb ground beef | 1/2 c. chopped onion | 1 tsp. salt

1/4 c. milk | 1/4 c. ketchup | 8 oz. cream cheese | 1 can mushroom soup

Brown ground beef with onions.  Add salt and ketchup to mixture.

Pour into 9x9 casserole dish

Combine softened cream cheese, mushroom soup and milk.

Pour over ground beef.  Bake for 10 min @ 375*

Place biscuits on top and bake for 15-20 min @ 375*

*my addition to this recipe*

I add a little barbeque sauce and mustard to my ground beef mixture.  Gives it a little kick and honestly has more of a sloppy joe taste.  Also, I don't bake my biscuits on the casserole.  I bake them separately and put them on before I serve.  Had a bad experience with them not baking all of the way through...yuck!

 

Taste of Summer

One of the things I love about summer is all of the fresh goodies from our garden.  Lately I've been hungry for salads a lot so I've been experimenting with throwing a few of my favorites in a bowl and calling it a salad! :)

This is just mozzarella, tomatoes, cucumbers, ranch dressing (just a little) and topped with honey roasted almonds for that bit of crunch.  

You would think olive oil since it has mozzarella and tomatoes, but I've discovered I'm not crazy about olive oil in a cold salad like this! However, I l-o-v-e ranch dressing, so maybe my opinion is just biased :)

Sun Spots

 So probably over a year ago, I told Nathan he needed to get a spot under his eye looked at.  It wasn't a mole, but I felt like the texture and size was changing and I really started getting concerned about it possibly being a skin cancer spot.  Because he's a man and they don't seem to go to the doctor unless blood is spurting, it took quite a while of convincing.

When he finally asked me to schedule an appointment with a dermatologist, I knew he must be (at least slightly) concerned as well.  The first appointment, they cut off the top of the spot and then did a biopsy on it.  They called a week or so later to let him know IT WAS skin cancer.  Nathan walks by me as we are getting ready to leave one day and says, "that was the doctor, it's cancer".  We were actually headed to a doctor's appointment for Chase, so I was confused on what he was even talking about since it came so random as he was just walking by.

Nathan was very calm about the whole thing.  Apparently he had diagnosed himself already - through WebMD :) - and was just waiting on the real doctor to confirm what he already knew.  Thankfully his cancer spot was basal cell carcinoma, which is rarely life-threatening and seldom spreads beyond the detected area or "tumor".  Because it was on his face, he is at a higher risk of having other cancerous spots seeing how all of his face has been exposed the same amount.  

I know MANY people go through this and deal with scary and much more serious illnesses, but when your husband mentions to you that he has CANCER of any form, it takes your breath away just a bit!  

He was able to have a procedure on February 11th to remove the cells.  They went in and removed all of the cancerous cells and enough of the good cells around the area that they feel comfortable saying they got it all.  Whew!  It was a pretty simple procedure and Nathan claimed it wasn't that painful.  He did say for a "lesser man" it may have been difficult to handle - hahaha - but he handled it like a champ!  Considering the bruising and swelling from the stitches, he's healing very well.  The scar is so minimal I don't know that most people would even notice!

We were a good 30 years younger than most of the people in the waiting room that day.  It was interesting to me that this is most common in people 45 to 54 years told.  Nathan has worked outside (for the most part) since High School and not taken precaution when it came to sun exposure.  This is certainly something we are looking out for now and intend to deal with proactively with Chase!

 Skin cancer is about three times more common in men than in women, and the risk increases with age. Most people diagnosed with skin cancer are between ages 45 and 54, although all forms of the disease are appearing more often in younger people. If you or any close relatives have had skin cancer, you are more likely to get the disease. Geography and race also factor into your chances of getting skin cancer, with the rate of skin cancer at its highest where fair-skinned Caucasians migrated to an area with higher annual sun exposure than their prior climates.

Chase Is 9 Months Old

You are 29.5 in (90%), 20.5 pds (50%) and your head is 80%

•  At the beginning of the month you really started saying "Dadadada".  I would try to get you to say Mamma and you would just look at me and smile as you said "Dadadada" again!  :)
• you say "boo!" and "dog" as of this month as well
• you chatter a lot!
• You are so ornery and such a performer already!
• you still love to take everything in - when we are at the store or at a restaurant, you are normally pretty calm and just watch everything and everyone around us!
• you eat anything we put in front of you.  You enjoy feeding yourself so we have started giving you more and more table food.  For the most part, you are still intense as you are eating - making sure we have the next bite coming quickly!
• you have started fighting sleep a little bit again.  I have to hold you firm to get you realize we aren't getting up and playing, but then you take your bottle and go right to sleep.  you want held as you sleep though, so we are working with you to get you to go down in your crib without crying.
• you have been taking 2 naps during the day and then going to bed for the night usually around 8:00/8:30.  you have been sleeping through the night pretty routinely now.
• you are such a Daddy's boy.  You always want to see where he is and what he is doing!
• you love Hunter and want to watch him (from a distance).  we've noticed you are even like this with stuffed animals!  we are trying to ease you into it so we don't scare you further.
• we switched you to your big boy (stage 2) car seat this past month.  you like it ok, but I think you will really like it when you can face forward.
• you are growing out of some of your 9-12 months clothes already!  you are kind of between sizes as different brands fit you differently.
• you are pulling up on everything and love for us to walk you around the house
• you mimic different things we say or sounds we make
• you love your soft blankets and normally cover your face with them when you are trying to go to sleep
• you are getting a little bit of stranger anxiety.  you do well as long as they don't try to hold you.
• you still like for us to be right in the same room with you as you play.  you do play by yourself a lot better though and I'm able to get a few things done while you are entertaining yourself.