Playing with "Chay"

*VIDEO*

[chay says i have to write my own blog posts from now on. fortunately, there is auto spell checker, so hopefully you can read this as i go.]

one of my very favorite activities is playing ball. i especially enjoy playing ball with chay. he's a good doggie. we have lots of fun together. tonight we played ball for a long time. chay is a good fetcher. he likes to run after the ball when i throw it. sometimes i have to say "GI" so he will give it back to me. that's what daddy says to do. it works. i have lots of tennis balls in my toy box. i don't know where they came from. i like to find all the balls and throw them for chay. sometimes he gets tired and i have to pick them up. but i don't mind. it's fun. sometimes the balls go under the couch and we have to get them out. my arms are longer, so i usually do it. but sometimes chay will do it too.

daddy took this video tonight. i think chay was tired by the time daddy got out the camera. he did not want to run anymore. i tried to tell chay to go get the balls, but he was not up for it. so i did all the work. but i still had fun. 

A Day in the Life of Ford

Ford is two weeks old and doing great! He's up to 9 lbs. and has grown 3/4". We're getting into more of a routine at home. He's sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time and we only have to do one feeding in the middle of the night. We're hoping his awesome sleep habits continue (if he takes after his momma, this shouldn't be an issue.....ha).

So, what do we do all day while Daddy goes to work? Well, our day looks a little like this:

On extra special days, we get to visit with friends, too. Corwin loves Ford. He says "baby" and points at him. They're going to be big buddies.

Madelyn and Ford had their first play date. Madelyn is just two days younger than Ford and the daughter of a friend from work. We joked that this was the easiest play date we will ever have. ha

Emily, Laura, and Kirk came by for a visit. Chase may have been a little jealous.

Speaking of Chase, he's doing fine with the new addition in the house. He ignores Ford most of the time. If he's crying a lot, he'll start attacking a toy. We're guessing that's his preferred method of stress relief. He's also more tired than usual because he's not getting his naps and his nighttime slumber gets interrupted a lot. Overall, though, he's adjusted nicely. Still just as awesome as before. :)

A Quiet Christmas

*VIDEO*

We just celebrated our last Christmas as a family of 2.5. *sigh*  It was a good holiday and good to spend some time together alone before the baby comes, but it was a little odd not seeing our families for Christmas. Any other year we would've celebrated Christmas in Florida last weekend with all the Stelsels and in Kentucky on Christmas with the Parkers. Although we didn't get to share in all the family festivities, we shared in the celebrations as best we could by phone, email, text, and Facebook.

Merry Christmas

Chase helps David open his presents.

It's official: the basement is all his.

Helping Momma

Not sure how much time I'll have to devote to reading or dancing, but I'll do my best. ;)

"Mom, really? Why do you do this to me?"

Chase opens his present.

"I'll put up with anything for a bone."

My parents came up Christmas evening to visit for a few days. It's been nice to have some company (and even better to have someone cook for us)! We've been so spoiled lately. :)  We didn't even leave the house yesterday. We worked around the house a little, watched football, played games, and laughed so much we all thought I'd go into labor. We're looking forward to Dave and Connie's visit this weekend over New Year's to do it all again!  

In the meantime, we're still working little by little trying to get the house in order and just enjoying the calm before the (baby) storm. Just one more week until Bubba's expected arrival. We shall see when he will decide to make an appearance. Stay tuned..... :)

Perceptive Puppy

Something's going on. I can feel it in my bones. For the last few months, I thought all the ruckus that was causing my anxiety was due to all the moving. But now that we're settled into our new house and things still aren't back to normal, I'm beginning to realize there's something else going on. I don't understand what it is yet, but I'm sensing some signs that something's just......off.

1)  There's a lot of new stuff in our house that I've never seen before. In fact, there's a whole room of new stuff! I've been spending a lot of time in this room, sniffing and checking everything out. There are some new clothes. New furniture. And best of all, new toys. But Mom won't let me play with ANY of them. *sigh* And if I try to help her with the clean laundry that she hangs in the closet in this room, she gets frustrated. So I just have to sit and watch.

2)  Mom smells different. I've noticed she isn't the same as she used to be because I can't lie in her lap anymore. She also moans and groans a lot these days. And it takes her twice as long to get up off the floor. I try to help her when I see she's struggling, but there's not a lot I can do without opposable thumbs. Lately, though, she not only looks different, she has a different smell, too. Odd. Not bad. Just odd.

3)  Dad keeps talking about somebody named Bubba. I've never met this Bubba, so I have no idea who he's referring to. But he talks about him constantly, and even talks to me about him as if I know who he's talking about. He'll ask me things like, "So what are you gonna do when Bubba gets here?" and "Are you excited for Bubba?" Ummm, hello! Who is Bubba?! I can't answer your questions until I've met him. Duh.

Anyway, I hope things get back to normal soon. In the meantime, though, I'm keeping an extra close eye on Mom and Dad. I've made it a rule not to let them out of my sight....ever.

See what I mean?



This Puppy Turns 5

*VIDEO*

I realize I haven't blogged in a looooong time, but if you've kept up with Mom and Dad, you know things have been a little out of sorts at my house for quite some time. Frankly, I just haven't been in the mood to blog about anything; too much to do (and maybe a few periods of stress and depression). Things are starting to settle down now, though, so what better way to get back into the blog than with a post about my birthday!!

That's right -- I turned 5 yesterday! Can you believe it?! Does this officially make me an adult dog? I don't know. I still feel so young at heart. :)

Here are some pictures and video from my birthday. Enjoy!

Presentsssssssss!!!!! Gimme, gimme!

I can open it myself, Mom! 

YAY! New bones -- just what I wanted!



Back off, Dad! It's MINE!

Movers and Shakers, Part 7: The Final Chapter

What a crazy week! We closed on our house last Wednesday (yes, the day before Thanksgiving) and moved in immediately (as in straight from closing to the apartment where the moving truck was waiting for us).

Packing up the apartment.

We had pretty good weather (thank goodness!) -- chilly but no rain. By about 6 p.m. we were completely unloaded and my parents had arrived for the long holiday weekend.....with a Uhaul in tow! They surprised us with new furniture: a bed for the guest bedroom and Bubba's chair for his room! They also brought the rest of my stuff from their house that's been taking up space for the last 10 years or so (furniture from my old bedroom, old toys, memorabilia and keepsakes that I haven't had the heart to part with, etc.). Needless to say, our basement is filling up quickly!

Although the moving process went pretty smoothly, there have been a few hiccups, which is to be expected. For example, our refrigerator, washer, and dryer were supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, but we had to reschedule for Sunday. Then, upon delivery on Sunday, our fridge was damaged, so we refused delivery and had to go back to the store to have a different one delivered (which is scheduled for tomorrow). In the meantime, we're making do with canned goods and bread. But this caused a bit of a problem over the weekend because....duh....it was Thanksgiving! We weren't hosting, of course, but my mom had made a variety of dishes to take to Thanksgiving, so we had to keep everything packed in coolers in the garage. We survived for the 4 days, but it sure was a pain in the you-know-what.

We saved $1,500 on our new refrigerator! ha! Kidding. This was the mini fridge my parents brought down for David's basement. Thank goodness they did because it sure came in handy for keeping the milk and butter cold. And beer. Can't forget the beer. I'm sure that's what Mom is looking for.

Thanksgiving, however, was great as always! We spent the day at Kirk and Laura's with the Stelsels and Kassenbrocks chowing down and watching Green Bay beat down the Lions.

Hanging out at Kirk and Laura's on Thanksgiving.

Is that a feast fit for a king or what?

Dig in!

The days following Thanksgiving were busy, busy, busy. I actually ventured out on Black Friday this year for the first time....ever. We hit up Home Depot, Menards, and Office Max. Not too exciting, but we got some good deals on light fixtures, fans, and office furniture. And we didn't even have to stand in line or fight any crowds. When people saw the 34-week pregnant lady coming their way, they tended to move. :)

Most of the weekend was spent....you guessed it....unpacking. We had a lot of help, which was VERY much appreciated. It would've taken us months to do it on our own. In fact, we're still not done. But at least the house is livable and is looking more like home every day.

Chase helps Dave with a light fixture.

Kirk puts on some temporary shades so we can have a bit of privacy before our blinds are installed.

Taking a break. Too exhausted to make it all the way down the stairs. ha

Chase needed breaks, too. Supervising is hard work.

Starting to come together :)  We used that fireplace A LOT over the weekend.

Breakfast area off the kitchen

New bed in the guest bedroom

In addition to their help with the move, the grandpas were a big help with getting Bubba's things ready. If there was something of Bubba's that needed assembling, they were on it in a snap.

A puppy's work is never done. Chase helps Dave read the instructions for the crib.

Grandaddy D puts together Bubba's high chair.

Testing out Bubba's new glider. Yep, I think he'll like it. :)

Daddy, me, and Bubba (5.5 weeks 'til his pending arrival!)

And that about does it for Moving Day/Thanksgiving 2011. We can't thank our families enough for their blood, sweat, tears over the weekend. Kirk and Laura, we definitely owe you one for spending so much time at our place over the holiday; we'll be returning the favor when it's your turn. :)

I think Chase sums up the end of Moving Day/Thanksgiving 2011 better than anyone:

Movers and Shakers, Part 1: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

It's been a crazy couple of weeks for the Stelsels, with no sign of letting up soon. Ever since our return from a peaceful vacation in Mexico, we've been busy worker bees, buzzing around the house and about town in preparation for a) closing on our house, b) moving to the apartment, and c) building the new house. Oh, and on top of this....I'm 6 months pregnant! It's all EXTREMELY exciting, but overwhelming.

We spent the last 2.5 weeks doing nothing but packing up the house. We got a really great head start on our own. Then my mom came down for a long weekend to lend her packing expertise. Between the three of us, we were able to pretty much finish all the packing a week before our scheduled move. And we still managed to get in quite a bit of football time, too. :) 

Chase is the best supervisor.

"Mom, you can fit more in this box."

Inspecting the plant shelf. "Yep, all clean, Mom!"

Gotta make sure we don't leave behind any of Chase's toys! 

"I'm packed up!" 

In the interim of moving to the apartment, we put "KEEP" stickers on all the things we wanted to make sure were left out at the apartment and not put in storage. David made sure Baby and Chase were included. :) 

We moved into our new apartment over the weekend with the help of Dave, Connie, Kirk, Laura....and six (yes, SIX) of our friends (do we have the best friends or what?!). We started the day at 7 a.m. with the Stelsels. Then our friends came over at 9 a.m. to help finish loading and head out to the new place for unloading. Dave, master packer that he is, manned the loading of the truck. And thank goodness. We probably would've had to make 2-3 trips had David and I tried to fit our stuff in by ourselves. By 11:00 or so, we had our 26 ft. truck and every single car loaded to maximum capacity and we took off. The unloading went much more quickly. I think we were done by about 12:30 or so — just in time for pizza, beer, and the Notre Dame game. We can't thank everyone enough for the blood, sweat, and tears they put in on our behalf. We are truly blessed to have such amazing friends (and family!!).

Vroom vroom, David. Vroom vroom.

All loaded up and ready to go, thanks to our moving crew!

Empty house! Happy to move on....

....but sad to say goodbye to our first home. So many good memories!

Guess we worked them too hard. Dave and Chase take a snooze before the Packer game.

September has been a total whirlwind. Lots of changes going on in our little family right now, with more on the way, and we're so grateful for the love and support of our family and friends.

Stay tuned for Part 2! :)