Chess

Ryan got a no-stress-learn-to-play chess game for his birthday.  We've been playing multiple times every day since we returned from our roadtrip last week.  It doesn't come as much of a surprise to me that Ryan is really, really good at it.  But so is Abby!  At two years old, she can set up the board correctly.  And she can name all the pieces too.  Or at least I thought she could.  She named the rook, bishop, king, queen, and then cow.  Well there went that thought.  But then I realized that when she said cow she was holding the knight.  Which is a horse.  And while she can set up a chess board, Abby still doesn't correctly differentiate cows and horses.  So in Abby-world, she did correctly identify the knight  :) 

While we [myself against Ryan, with Abby "helping" me] were playing earlier tonight, Ryan captured one of my knights.  Without missing a beat, Abby looked at me and said "you're okay. you have another one."  So cute!!  And so smart too.  She knew without having to look and think about it, that there are two knights and that I still had my other knight out on the board, I was impressed.

We all know Ryan is super smart.  And Abby is a free spirit.  But I'm realizing more and more, that I need to be careful about the so-called boxes that we put them in.  I have a feeling Abby is going to be just as brilliant as her brother.  She may not be as "intellectual" or as detailed-oriented, but it's definitely there. 

the girls

Chloe and Abby have been sharing a room for the last week or so.  They've done wonderfully at night.  Abby hasn't napped much recently, and honestly I rarely even lay her down anymore.  Having her run around her room for an hour or two and then having to clean up her messes just isn't all it's cracked up to be.  But I am happy to report that today she actually asked to go to sleep.  And thus both girls are asleep at the same time in the same room during the day!  I'm very excited this sharing rooms thing seems to be working so well!  For now at least, Abby loves having Chloe in there, hopefully it will last forever [or at least another 18yrs or so!]. 
And I loooove having two sleeping girls  :) 

Sisters

Abby has a new roommate!  Chloe finally moved in on Thursday night.  Tonight was the big test though.  We put them in at the same time, both awake.  And they fell asleep, yay!  We weren't sure what to expect, but they did just fine.  Abby has been very excited about having Chloe share her room and hopefully that will continue.  She's been cute saying things like "I share my old crib with Chloe."  Abby is a great big sister! 

And ps, yes, Chloe does sleep through the night!  She started doing so at maybe two months old, but then she got a little off schedule when she was at Scottish Rite and then again last week on our trip to Massachusetts.  But on average she sleeps about 9pm until maybe 8am.  It's wonderful!! 

Conversations with Abby

Abby continues to amaze me with her speech and conversation skills and development.  I have to remind myself sometimes that's she's just barely two and a half!  I suppose it's that combination of being a girl and a second born.  She speaks full sentences and can hold her own in any conversation.  It's an interesting combination : her speech is so advanced, yet she still doesn't know all her colors and has only recently started counting [she makes it to six in correct order, then messes up seven & eight, before counting nine to twelve].  With Ryan we could see the wheels turning, but he couldn't get the words out; Abby gets carried away and talks up a storm, guess it's a female thing :)  I can't keep up with all the funny things she says, but here are a few recent ones that I scribbled down:

A while back we were driving and she took her socks off.  When we got home, she picked them up, and asked me: "You help me remember we can wash these?"  Yes, Sweet Abs, don't I always wash your dirty clothes?!

A week or two ago we were eating apple slices when Abby excitedly announced "there's apple juice in here!"

And perhaps my favorite Abby moment was last week when I went to free her from yet another failed nap attempt:  She was standing at her door, rocking her baby, and singing "You're going to miss these days"  over and over.  My heart melted.  For those of you that don't know, while not exactly the right words, that's a lyric from the Trace Adkins song that I used to sing to Ryan when he was a baby.  Ryan and Abby love it when I sing it to them now, especially if it involves picking them up and dancing crazily around the room!

Happy Halloween!

60, 30, 2

What a day last Thursday was!  Remind me to not schedule three well check visits in the same day again!  Especially since the pediatrician's policy is only two kids per appointment; that meant we were there in the morning and back again that afternoon.  So happy 5yr checkup to Ryan, 2 1/2yrs to Abby, and 2months to Chloe!  Here's how they compare:

Ryan weighed in at 43 lbs and 42.5 ins tall.  That's right about 50th percentile in both categories.  If you believe the growth charts that'll put him at about 5'10" and 175 lbs.  [of course last year he was going to be 6' when he grew up, he's losing height compared to his peers I guess. whatever.]

Abby weighed in at 28 lbs and 36 ins tall [and that's barefoot so plenty tall enough to have ridden the blankety blank dragons at the fair a couple of weeks ago, not that I'm bitter or anything.].  She's also right about 50th percentile.  Her charts don't predict future growth; I don't think that starts until three.

Chloe weighed in at 11lbs 5ozs and 23ins tall.  Her head circumference is 15.2"  Believe it or not, her head is just below the 50th percentile [how is that possible?!].  Her length is a dot above 50th and her weight is right at 50th percentile [although unfortunately she's lost quite a bit since then thanks to RSV and bronchiolitis, boo].



Ryan at his 5th birthday party!

Abby at the zoo, almost exactly 2.5yrs

Chloe smiling on her 2month birthday!



Creation according to Abby

Ever since Sunday, Abby has been "reading" her books in the car :  "And the next day, it was soo dark."  Over and over again in her super cute Abby voice.  We know they talked about Creation at church and they are working on a memory verse from Genesis.  And we know that Abby is a parrot and if something gets stuck in her head, she'll repeat it endlessly, even if it's not exactly correct.  So I suppose this was Abby's take away from church this week.  "And the next day, it was soooo dark!" 

A new beginning

A new beginning ... to our family at least, no guarantees about my blogging life :) 

Our sweet Chloe Marie was born on August 7th at 1:21 pm!!  She weighed in at an itty-bitty [relatively speaking] 8lbs, 10ozs, and 20ins long.  She's been a great baby!  She eats well, although she much prefers a bottle over nursing, which means lots of pumping for Mommy.  But we're just happy she's gaining weight now!  She sleeps well too and is very rarely fussy. 

Ryan and Abby adore her.  Ryan loves to hold her and kiss her and help give her bottles.  Abby is always trying to pick her up and give her hugs, which is wonderful albeit stressful at times :)  They love having their picture taken with her and shoving her paci in her mouth at the first signs of a whimper.  I enjoy watching them all interact; we are so blessed with our family of five! 

 Abby can tell you that her name is "Chloe Marie Chase" yet she always refers to her as "Baby."

Betsy, the same midwife that delivered Ryan!

Happy 4th!

So as mentioned in my previous post, it's naptime and I'm exhausted :)  But I really want to post about the 4th of July before we get too far removed.  It's one of my very favorite holidays and we had a super fun one this year. 

We started the morning with an adventure down to the assisted living home that Nana is now the director of.  It was fun to visit with her for a few minutes and see where she works.  And it's near where I grew up, so it was good to see a few old sights [McDonald's for fries and cokes :)] and of course all sorts of new stuff. 

Then we joined up with Grandma for our neighborhood party.  We enjoyed some bbq and then the kids [and Grandma too!] had a blast on the huge inflatable water slide.  It sure looked awesome! 

We watched the parade and fireworks with several members of our small group.  The kids enjoyed the parade quite a bit; fortunately for them they didn't understand that just about the entire parade consisted of political candidates.  All they knew was they got a lot of candy and stickers!  And of course there were a couple police cars and swat trucks, as well as every tow truck in town. 

In between the parade and fireworks we enjoyed playing with our small group friends and eating a picnic dinner.  The highlight was the ballroom dancing studio next to where we were set up.  It's owned by a couple from our church and they let us come in for a few minutes.  Ryan and his friend Anna Wynn stole the floor.  They were soooo cute dancing and twirling and having a blast.  It was the most adorable thing to watch.  The kids also enjoyed bubbles, sidewalk chalk, Josh's cars & ramps, and lots of sweets. 

The fireworks show was really pretty good, esp given it was in Canton :)  Abby thought they were super loud and she stayed in my lap the whole time.  But she slowly got used to them and sat up a little straighter to take it all in. 

It was a great day with family and friends!  Happy 236th Birthday America! [yes, Ryan asked me how old America was and I had to do the math]. 

Happy 4th of July!

waving to the firetrucks, they were loud so Abby was in Daddy's arms :)

checking out the wagon full of goodies after the parade

the cute couple!

Loud but so pretty

I figured it out!

I realized why I can't keep this blog up anymore, even though I really want to!  Naps.

Yup, I'm 36weeks pregnant and I can't keep my eyes open.  I sleep an average of 9-10hrs a night and I nap probably every other day with Abby while Ryan watches TV.  Don't be jealous though, I don't wake up feeling refreshed.  I can't wait to feel awake and alert again, living in this exhausted fog is really getting old [and I suppose birthing a newborn who will want to nurse around the clock and won't sleep through the night for a couple months won't help.  But I figure it'll be a different kind of pain and I'm ready for that :)]. 

So I don't know the answer to my little blogging dilemma, but identifying the problem is certainly a start, right??