A few of my favorite things

For all of my friends who are soon-to-be mommy's, I thought I'd make a list of some of my favorite baby items. When I was pregnant I liked asking anyone and everyone what stuff they liked. Most of these aren't completely essential. I've found that only a few things are absolutely essential: a few clothes, diapers, a few blankets, and some way to feed the child. These are things that have made my life so much easier with my babe.

A carseat cover:
My mom bought this for me for Christmas and I love it! The little loops keep in it place, and this one is thick with cute minkie fabric on the inside, so it keeps the cold and wind out. Especially since Chase was a winter baby, the few times I did take him out it was nice to just keep him covered. Even now when we are running errands and he is sleeping in the carseat it keeps everything a little quieter and darker.
Sleeper Nightgowns:
My brother is completely disgusted that I have Chase sleep in a 'dress', but I love these sleepers. They make middle of the night diaper changes so much easier! These are Carter's brand. You can find them at Kohls, which I've found has some of the cutest baby clothes at the best prices I've found anywhere.
Travel System:
We bought the Chicco travel system and I've been very happy with it. We liked the neutral green color and actually picked it out before we knew if Chase was a boy or girl. It's really sturdy and the stroller rolls really well. When we researched it we found that this carseat is rated one of the best "bang for your buck" carseats- it's not too expensive and has excellent safety ratings. The only downside is that the carseat is on the heavy side. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Swaddle Me:
I got this as a gift from my friend Rachel and it is one of my favorite things. Chase loves being swaddled and this keeps him very tightly swaddled. He sleeps in it most nights and when he was brand new I'd put him in it to feed him because he couldn't figure out what to do with his hands and they just got in the way.

Pack N Play:
My mom bought me this pack n play as a baby shower present and I love it. This one is Graco brand. It's really easy to set up, packs up really small and I love the attached changing table. It makes traveling with Chase so much easier. Also, Chase loves mobiles, and this mobile has little bears that are facing him while he lays in it. It's also nice that when we are traveling Chase is sleeping in something familiar. (Actually- I'm not sure he knows the difference yet, but it sure makes me feel better). It's going to be his bed in Dominica.
Some more favorite things:

• Blankets- I swear you can never have too many. There have been some weeks where almost every blanket we own is dirty. We got a big variety of blankets as gifts- big, thin ones for swaddling, soft, fluffy ones to keep him warm, and I love all of them! I just bought him the Aden and Anais swaddling blankets for Dominica, so I can wrap him without him getting too hot. They are big, thin, soft and gauzy and I think will be perfect for the heat!
• Rocking Chair- We decided early on the a rocking chair would be a luxury and we would buy it if we had enough money left at the end of the pregnancy. Ben found one on Craigslist for a really good price and it was basically brand new. I love it. I'm so glad we got it. I spend a lot of time there, rocking Chase to sleep, reading him stories, and nursing.
  
• Boppy Pillow- I sent Ben out to buy this when Chase was 3 days old because nursing was so difficult. I didn't buy one before because I know some people don't like it or think it works very well, but I have loved it. I'm sad I can't take it to Dominica with us.
• Books- I love reading to my baby. He started really liking story time when he was about 6 weeks old and could sit up supported on my lap. He gets really excited looking at the pictures and I feel like it's good 'quality' time with him. The older he gets, the more engaged he is in his books. He doesn't really like toys yet, but thinks books are great.
  

General Conference and BFSC reunion

This last weekend was awesome for two reasons:
1. General Conference- I love listening to the apostles and hearing their inspiring words. I feel so uplifted after listening to them. With all the big changes coming up in our lives, it was nice to hear the perspective and wisdom of our church leaders.
2. The Bradens were here! This isn't news really, they always come for conference weekend. It's a huge party. I love their family. We've been family friends since we lived in Boise when I was 3. I love that we've been able to stay close to them. Jana, the sole daughter in the Braden family, has been adopted as a sister/cousin into our family. Hence, Jana, Heidi and I refer to ourselves as BFSCs (Best Friends/Sisters/Cousins). We all had a fabulous time lounging around watching conference, watching Community episodes between sessions, staying up late laughing, eating my mom's delicious cooking, and enjoying a night out at Fat Boy's.
Chase especially enjoyed the weekend because I don't think he ever got set down, as shown in the pictures below. Let's just say it has been a rougher week now that he has just me to hold him all day, and occasionally I do have to set him down.



I love this picture of Chase and Ben. Chase was a little overwhelmed with all the people and noise. He's used to a really quiet, calm house. He looks like his clinging onto to Ben for dear life here. He did have huge eyes the whole time taking everything in. I think, in time, he'll warm up to the Bradens:) (Also, he loves loves loves Pam. I wish I had a picture of them together!)

THE BFSCs

Heidi and Chase reading People magazine.
His dad and Uncle Will were not too happy when they saw this picture.

Then Heidi introduced Chase to "silky one". It's her little blanket (that actually started as my aunt's bathrobe) that she loved when she was little. Chase was excited I think.

3 months

My baby turned 3 months old on Monday! I can't believe it- in some ways it feels like it's gone really fast. In other ways, Ben and I feel like he's been in our lives forever. We sure love this boy!

I've been taking a picture with Chase and his bear every month. He hasn't actually grown as much as this makes it look, mostly he's learned to stretch out his legs. But I love to see the changes in his little face, he looks so much older now!

Brand New

One Month Old

Two Months Old

Three Months Old

A few things about my sweet boy at three months:
He is not a fan of tummy time, but when he is being cooperative he either rolls over or just sits there with his head up looking. This kid has a really strong neck.

He rolled over for the first time at 7 weeks. Technically that was a "2 month" thing. He's better at it now though:)

He loves story time. He always has, but he's more interactive about it now than ever. He sits in my lap, makes noise and kicks his little arms and legs around in excitement while we read. It's one of my favorite things to do with him.
He's not a huge fan of the car seat, but will tolerate it usually if we are going on a walk or driving in the car. He usually falls asleep during both activities.
He smiles all the time now, which is the best! Nothing makes my day like my little baby smiling back at me.
He loves to be held like this when he's ornery. My brother Will was holding him like this at church a few weeks ago, walking around the halls with him because he was fussy, and someone came up to him and said, "You don't look like you are being very careful with that baby!" He just likes to be held like that, okay?!?!

The Roommates

Last Saturday I got to go to lunch with some of my favorite
people in the world, my college roommates!

Me and Chase, Courtney, Kate, Lauren and Emily

I really found the golden ticket when I got assigned roommates at BYU. I was so lucky to get to room with the BEST girls. My friend Lauren and I planned to be roommates together, and I was a little nervous what the other girls would be like going into Freshman year. Honestly, I couldn't have picked better roommates myself (except for Lauren, who I did, in fact, pick myself:) Courtney (or other Courtney, or short Court) and Kate ended up being some of my best friends at college. I love them both a lot.

The last day of Freshman year- WE MADE IT!

Posing on our lovely blue couch-accompanied by our other roommates Taryn and Rachel

Freshman year was so fun, we decided to live together again sophomore year. We got two great additions to the group, Shay (who lived next door to us Freshman year but spent most of her time at our place) and Emily, who was another random assignment that worked out great!

Kate's birthday party

Our roommate Christmas party

At my wedding

It was so much fun to live with these girls. We never had any drama and just had so much fun together. We are all really different, but we ended up getting really close. Kate is beautiful, so artistic and creative, musically talented and spiritually in tune. Short Court made me laugh every. single. day. She was my running buddy and anatomy study buddy and she was always FUN. Lauren helped me stay focused in school, always gave me great advice and perspective in life, and was always there to talk when I was stressed out of my mind. Shay was fun, carefree and friendly to everyone. Emily is very compassionate, generous (she always let me use her kitchen stuff-sounds kind of lame written here, but I really appreciated it) and sweet.

Obviously, I shouldn't have been stressed about who my roommates would be and if I would like them. I love these girls. Those two years were awesome. I'm going to remind myself of this next time I worry about something:)

Gems from Nate Part II

Nate's birthday was last week. In honor of him making it to 21 (as my mom put it, there were some days she worried he wouldn't make it to adulthood) I'm posting another edition of 'gems' we've gotten in his letters. These are just a few excerpts from his letters the last few months. These funny anecdotes are surrounded with stories of missionary work and his testimony. These are the parts that let us know it really is Nate who is writing these letters.

One week he gave us the highlights of week in this numbered form, 3,4, and 5 made me laugh.

1. Having an investigator the first time at church stand up in priesthood and bear his testimony.

2. A member buying our groceries for us this week anonymously.

3. Elder Sutton identifying George Forman as "the guy from the Green Mile"

4. Elder Sutton redeeming his lack of boxing or movie knowledge by getting me on a protein diet that's working like a charm.

5. Running out of gas *(Elder Sutton at the wheel, not my fault) on Sam Cooper Highway en route to a baptism, having to jog a half mile to the nearest gas station, buy a some gas and jog it back. (Shades of a similar incident with Aaron Johnson and Jane Bruce 2 years ago which Mom's family thinks I made up)

6. Getting good news emails from all of you.

*Nate was notorious in our family for running out of gas. His solution was usually to just switch to another car. He ran completely out of gas several times.

He got transfered to Memphis, Tennessee at the first of the year:
Memphis is the white field, we're just trying to hold one sickle at a time. I'll end there before the crappy metaphor and botched biblical parallel police come after me

In response to telling us about his new companion from Wyoming:

I also count it as a personal success that I've gotten him to sometimes say "I saw" and "We saw" rather than "I seen" and "We seen". Old habits die hard. No offense to Grandma and Grandpa.

Well, Jerry Sloan resigning sent shockwaves even through the hispanic world. Not really, but it was a mexican who told me thursday night. I thought he was talking about Jim Boylan, but wow, look what happens, I go on a mission and the whole world falls apart. I don't know what to believe anymore. Is Deron Williams a problem now? What happened?

This was him telling us about what happened on his birthday:
Otherwise it was just a pretty busy day, with another baptism and a big Relief Society Party celebrating the anniversary of the Relief Society, which included a short play (in spanish) about the founding of the relief society. There's something very inherently entertaining about 15 hispanic women dressed up in Pioneer garb and Emma Smith having a thick Chihuahua accent.

Crossed the year mark Thursday. We still haven't gotten to burn shirts (Elder Sutton is serving right next to me). We were going to do it yesterday, but Elder Pitt felt it would be breaking the sabbath. I call it a gray area.

I decided to try to get a haircut at a barbershop near Graceland. I learned my lesson, apparently you need to go to areas where there are white people to get your hair cut, because barbers who've only cut Afro-American hair, don't really know what to do with mine. It looks pretty bad. I did get to talk the barber about growing up in Memphis during the Civil Rights movement.

We miss Nate a lot, but these letters sure are fun to get.

The Big Move

On April 27th, Ben, Chase and I will be packing up and heading to our new home for the next 16 months: the island nation of Dominica. It's a tiny island in the Caribbean, between Martinique and Guadaloupe (for those of you who cruise the Caribbean often). Ben is going to be attending Ross University, which is an American University that has a campus on Dominica. We are doing his first four semesters there, and when those are over we'll be moving back to the US to finish medical school. All his clinical rotations will be done in the US. Our time in Dominica will be mostly book learning for Ben.
In a lot of ways, we are really excited for this move. It is a huge step towards Ben reaching his dream of becoming a doctor. We are also excited for the independence this will bring for us and a time for us to bond as just our family. Ben and I have always thought it would be fun to live in another country for a while, and this is an awesome opportunity. It will also be a grand adventure.
At the same time, the reality of this move is starting to sink in and we are getting really nervous. Ben is a little nervous about the rigorous nature of medical school and how he'll handle that pressure while balancing a family. I'm a little (okay a lot) nervous about being SO FAR away from home. (Like I told Ben last night, now a move to Texas or Oregon or somewhere like that seems like a breeze) My biggest fear is about our little baby. The island is very hot and humid and I worry about how he'll handle the heat. There are poisonous centipedes on the island that can be up to a foot long, along with tons of other bugs. I'm scared that I won't be able to protect Chase from the bugs! (Ben reminded me that I won't be able to protect Chase from every dangerous situation even if we are in the US) Since we haven't visited the island ourselves, we don't really know exactly what our little house will be like. If it still looks like it does in the pictures I think we should be just fine, but the unknown is still a little scary.
With all of these worries, I have felt very comforted that we are doing the right thing. I think that Ross University is really where we were supposed to end up and we have a great adventure in store for us there. A lot of things have worked out in just the right way, like Chase coming when he did, that will make this move as easy as possible. Even still- it's a huge change! Pray for us!

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Here is Chase last night, I finally got his huge gummy smile on camera!
This smile completely melts my heart.
I think he's excited about the upcoming holiday.

Here is Chase's St. Patrick's Day outfit #1.
With this baby we go through several outfits every day.
It was super cute while it lasted.

Then he switched to just green socks.
He doesn't own any thing else that is green that fits him right now.
I really love these socks. He has them in every color. They were a gift from my aunt. I get excited every time he wears a pair of them. This was the first time he wore the green ones.