New games

Chance has started playing a new game. He turns his head to the side and then when he catches your eye he pulls his head back up straight again. Sometimes he leaves his head sideways until you turn your head sideways too then he pops back up straight. It is kind of like a form of peek-a-boo. He is so cute when he puts his head to the side though because he usually also makes a funny face as you can see in these pictures taken yesteday and today. He mostly plays this game in his highchair but he also plays it in the stroller and sometimes just while sitting around for fun. I was able to snap this last photo of his teeth while trying to get the shots of his new little game and had to include it. He doesn't have any more teeth but the ones on top are all the way in now so when he smiles you can see them almost every time now. They are so cute.

Barkus

Today we went to the Barkus parade. Barkus is an all dog parade that runs through the French Quarter. It is so cute. Like all the other parades for Mardi Gras they have a theme, this year it was Indiana Bones Raiders of the Lost Bark. They have floats and throws and costumes. The only difference is Dogs are wearing the costumes and riding on the floats. Their owners are throwing the throws and pulling the floats. For those of you who don't know Throws are beads, stuffed animals and other things that people in the parade Throw to the crowd. Chance really liked the parade, he loves animals. Scott carried him in the backpack most of the time and then we took him out and I held him and he watched the dogs in the parade. The weather was really nice for the parade not too hot but it wasn't cold either. There was a cute English Bulldog all dressed up just riding on one of the floats, it made us miss Rosco. Chance got a lot of beads, a tennis ball and a tiger mask. He did not want to wear it very long but I did get a couple pictures of him in it before he pulled it off. It is amazing how they get all those dogs together and we did not see one dog fight. That is pretty impressive in itself. Scott had the camera for this parade and he took a lot of pictures of the parade and the surroundings, you can see the rest of the pictures by following the New Pictures link and checking the Mardi Gras album. Where we watched the parade was in front of the Saint Louis Cathedral School. It was a pretty cool sight to see the nuns out watching the parade so I had to add the last picture on this blog. The first picture is before we left for the parade and then Chance at the parade, he was not looking at the parade in the third picture he was looking back at Scott. Watch out! It's a dangerous Tiger! He needs his milk of he gets anger.

Saturday Parades

Today we beat the cold and went out to the parades. It stopped raining but it was still grey and overcast so we bundled up and brought a blanket. In the beginning Chance was not sure what was happening but he was amazed by all of it. He watched the bands and his eyes got wide when the floats went by. We caught lots of beads and other things. I learned that having a baby at the parades gets you a lot of stuffed animals. We watched Ponchantrain and then folowing that was Shangra-La. Chance stayed warm with all his layers of clothes and then when the wind picked up a little with his blanket. All the people were very nice, a bead landed on him and scared him, when I picked him up to comfort him is when the people on the floats started giving him stuffed animals. We came home with 6 stuffed animals, a football, a plush soccer ball and an oversized plastic pacifier. He made a haul. Tomorrow we are off to Barkus which is the all dog parade that goes through the Quarter.

Eye looking better

These are just some fun pictures of Chance and his eye. Which is looking a lot better. It did not get black like I thought it would. Now only the scrapes are a little red and the rest of his eye is just fine and the bruise on his forehead is almost completely gone. The first picture is from yesterday and the second one is from this morning. I don't know if you can really tell the difference in the pictures but his eye is getting better everyday. He is getting closer to walking too. He does not take steps yet but he has started letting go of things on purpose, standing there for a second and then grabbing onto something else. That is just the next step before taking steps.

Guitar Playing

Every time Scott plays guitar Chance has always been very interested. He crawls over and wants to touch the guitar and pull the strings. Well last night when he went over to play with the guitar he was really trying to mimick what Scott was doing. So Scott showed him how to strum. Chance would strum the strings while Scott played the chords. It was so cute and really cool to watch him and see him learning. Chance would watch Scott for cues of what to do next and would check to make sure he was still doing it right. If scott would strum the low strings then the next time Chance would strum the low strings too. You could tell that he was listening and then trying to make the same sounds. Chance really had fun playing the guitar and Scott and I were excited that he was really listening and playing along.

swollen but ok

Today Chance woke up his cheery little self as usual but his left eye was almost swollen shut. The bump on his head had completely gone down though leaving nothing but a little bruise. I gave him some Tylenol to help with the swelling and put some neosporen on his scratch and waited to see if the swelling would go down. He talked and played like normal and did not even seem to notice that his eye was swollen. Throughout the day his eye got much better and by the afternoon it was barely swollen at all. Also, Dan watched Chance for a couple hours around his nap time and I went down to city hall to get a business license and register my business name. It took nearly four hours of walking from office to office and building to building trying to find exactly where I was suposed to be but I finally got a license to conduct business in my home. I will have to go back to register my business name officially since every single person in that office was at a retreat and the temp secretary had no idea how to help me but at least I know which office and building to go to when I do go back. By the way I am starting a travel agency for those of you who do not already know. I will have a website soon and will be able to facilitate all your travel needs. When I get the website up and running I will tell you more about itsince I will then be more ready to actually work with you to book travel. Also, I was reminded that I never told you all what happened with the gas leak and heater situation from a few days ago. A man came from the gas company in just a few minutes after we called them and fixed the gas leak. The leak was under the house but actually from the pipes for Dan's side of the house. The gas man fixed the leak in just a few minutes and that was that with the gas. Fixing the gas did not fix our heater though and we pushed through the night with one little electric space heater and a lot of blankets. It was about 39 degrees outside that night and it was about that inside. The next morning we called a repair man who showed up in a couple hours from the time we called. The heating and cooling units each have their own special fuses and one of the heating ones was blown. He changed the fuse and gave us an extra for next time then his job was done. We had heat again! It was a cold night but at least now we know what to do next time.

Face Injury

Today We were working in the yard and Chance was playing out in the yard with one of his little cars. We have four steps leading from our back door down to the ground and Chance had been playing very near them. A couple times he tried to go up them and each time I told him 'No' and he got down. Well the last time he had his knees on the first step and I told him to get down. He put his foot down and twisted the wrong way planting his face right on the pavement. He cried of course and I ran over to pick him up. I hugged him and took him inside. I could see there was blood around his eye so I wet a paper towel to dab his eye and get a better look. I sat down and gave him a bottle to feel better. He was not crying at that point. His left eye was not really cut the skin on his cheek bone was scraped like a burn from moving on the pavement and he has a little mark on his eye lid. He took a few sips from his bottle and was so ok that he started wiggling for me to let him back down to play. I sat him down and he went right over to play with his car and try to go back outside like nothing had ever happened. He has a bump on his head which is definately going to bruse and a small scrap on the left side of his head. He is also going to have a black eye, his cheek and eye lid are swelling a bit but he can see fine and there was no damage to his actual eye at all. He went about the rest of the day playing and having fun like nothing was wrong. We even went back outside because he wanted to go back out so bad. He just looked out the door and pointed and whined till I let him go back outside. He played with his car some more and got all dirty. It looks so bad and when I look at him his face looks so sad but he is still just his cheery self. It was bath night so he got all the

dirt off of him and he played all his usual games with one added in, He played peek-a-boo with me over the side of the tub which he initiated and you can see how happy he is about it in the last picture. He also said a new word today "This." It is kind of funny because he holds something out and says "This" with a little question mark at the end. It is one of those things you don't think of but you say "this" a lot. "Is this what you want?" or "This is your sock." or "This is Mommy's coffee" so he thinks lots of things are called "This" now. I feel so bad for him but he is such a good (and tough) little boy that I know he will pull through without any trouble. He went to bed tonight just like always. He is such a sweetheart.

Krewe De Vieux

We had a busy day but at the same time it seemed like we just sat around for most of it. That is ok though because we got to spend the day together hanging out. We sat around all day waiting for the delivery of our dishwasher which finally came two and a half hours late. Right before the parade and so they had to park two blocks away and wheel the dishwasher to the house on a dolly. I am so glad they did though because now we will have a dishwasher up and running tomorrow. We bundled up and walked the two and a half blocks down the street to the parade route. Krewe De Vieux is what the locals call the local parade. It is the raunchiest and the smallest and the most fun. There are no motors, everything is pulled by man or beast and they have the best bands out of all the Mardi Gras parades. Chance had fun. His little face and hands were cold when we were done but he was watching the lights and all the people dressed up in funny costumes. He got a stuffed animal and some other cool stuff as seen in the loot photo. When we were walking back to the house Chance talked and talked, he was telling us all about his favorite parts of the parade. We even got back home in time to put Chance to sleep on time. He had some fun with Scott on the couch first though to wind down a little bit. He did not seem to mind the cold. We are really glad though that this parade was only a couple blocks from the house so we did not have to walk far. When we returned home we found that our heater was not working and we could smell gas outside the house so we called Entergy and they are here now trying to figure out what is going on, we will keep you posted on that too.

Joe Joe the Monkey

Today I put Chance down for his nap and when I did he grabbed his little Monkey that lives in the crib and pulled it close to him for a hug.

I had to grab my camera and take a picture or two. He usually grabs his little blanket and when I go in to his room in the morning or after a nap the monkey is moved around the crib but I never really see him move the monkey around. This time though he reached for the monkey and hugged it close to him. He is so cute hugging his little monkey.

Teeth Pictures

The other day we noticed that Chance has even more teeth now. He has two on the bottom front, two on the top front and now he has one on the top to the left of his two front ones and the one on the right side is about half way through the gum. I need to learn the names of the teeth so these blog posts will make a little more since. This first picture doesn't look like a very happy face but if you look closely you can see lots of teeth in that little mouth. We got him some shoes yesterday and he has been having fun wearing them around the house. We have a big day today. We are getting a dishwasher put in today and we are going to the Krew De Vieux parade tonight. It will be fun. I will try to take pictures of the parade tonight.

Love Lush Young

I sat my Lush bag down on the couch and now that Chance can crawl up on the couch and down again it took no time for Chance to spot the bag and head off to investigate. He pulled out a glittery bubble bar and as soon as he got it out of it's little bag he put it in his mouth which was when I had to take it away. By that time though he was already covered in glitter. I don't think he got a taste of it because he didn't make much of a face. He is not old enough to get Lush baths yet but when he is I think he will love them. I should put some bubble bath in his bath one time to see what he thinks of it, he will probably like that. Right before I took these pictures He was looking at the camera and it would have been the perfect Lush commercial.

Hanging with Miss Carly

Today we met with a friend of mine from Barnes and Noble. She was looking for someone to walk around the French Market and since that is only a few blocks from our house and as we all know I just sit around the house most days. It was the perfect opportunity to get out and visit with a friend. I put Chance in the backpack carrier and off we went. We left the hosue around 1pm and walked all through the Market then down Decatur to the Lush store and Urban Outfitters. We really lucked out with Lush in that they were still in the middle of their after Christmas sale and we got a lot of free stuff, Yeah!! Oh and for you people who haven't been to Lush, just go you will thank yourself. We did not get home until after dark. Carly came in to visit a little bit longer after we got back which is when these pictures were taken. Chance liked playing with Miss Carly's glasses. Thanks for coming over Carly it was fun hanging out with you.

Brushing Teeth

Scott and I are not very good about brushing our teeth, it is just one of those things. Recently I have been making an effort to brush my teeth in the morning and at night with Chance to get better habits for myself and to start Chance off on the right foot. I have had one of those little rubber things that goes on the end of my finger to get him u

sed to brushing. He is always really interested when I am brushing my teeth and now that he has four teeth of his own I got him his own little tooth brush. I gave it to him for the first time yesterday and he took right to it. I bushed his teeth a little first and then he wanted to hold the tooth brush. At first he really inspected it but then when I opened my mouth and said "brush your teeth" he stuck it inside his mouth and moved it around. It was so cute. Now if I can just remember to brush my teeth and keep up the routine he will be a good little tooth brusher. I forgot to tell you something about his first check up he is allowed to drink whole milk now so we are going to start making the transition to real milk. I gave him some today and he made a little face at first and then drank a bunch more before putting his sippy cup down to go play.

One Year Checkup

I don't have any new pictures to go with this post but I wanted to give you all the update on Chance's one year checkup. And I will give you an old picture from before Christmas, he has such an "ah Mom" look on his face in this one. Well, we took it easy today not doing anything except a little cleaning around the house before Chance's appointment. Chance was very active in the office and wanted to crawl around everywhere. He is 26 pounds 3 ounces and 31 inches tall. Which puts him in the 95 percentile for his age. In other words he is a big baby but he is growing proportionatly for him. Everything checked out just fine and the doctor said he really paid attention to things and made really good eye contact. She said that even though he wasn't saying a lot of words he was communicating which is very important and she could see that he understood a lot of words and that was a big step to him trying to say the words for himself. He got two shots, a PPD test and a finger prick today. He cried a little with the shots and test but then was ok when I picked him up. But with the finger prick they had to get blood to fill two little circles on paper and with the first circle he was ok not even crying but when she started with the second circle he got very angry. It was as if he was saying "look I have been really good here but now you need more blood forget it!" We did get the blood though and he got a bandaid with little soccer balls on it. He looked so sad sitting there both thighs red from shots his arm red from the test and his finger in a bandaid which of course he was holding way out from the other fingers. I picked him up and gave him a big but gentle hug. He got a lead test today too that we should get back in a week or two. We are doing this one because we have lived in old houses since he was born and old houses tend to have lead paint. After his shots the visit was over and we went straight home. Usually Chance just sleeps after a visit with shots but not this time today he jsut started playing and went about the day like nothing happened. His next visit is March 24th for his 15 month checkup where he will get some more shots, poor baby.

Aquarium

Today we had a busy day. We started with a trip to the Aquarium of the Americas with our play group. Chance and I had been to the Aquarium before which weirdly enough I don't think I mentioned here. I have lots of pictures from that time as well as this time which you can find by clicking 'New Photos' at the right. I have always really liked animals and greatly enjoy both the Zoo and the Aquarium so last time we were here we bought a year long pass to both places so we can go anytime we want without having to worry about how much it will cost, Yeah! Chance also really loves animals he seems mezmerized by them sometimes and wants to get close to them. He likes getting right up close to the tanks at the aquarium and will touch the glass and watch the fish swim around and around. Today we watched the zoo keepers feed the penguins and Chance was right there listening to the man talk and watching the penguins swim waddle around. He is so curious. The other women in the group jsut walk and talk but I, like Chance am actually interested in learning some things so we stayed behind to finish the penguin feeding. We caught up though and went on watching all different kinds of fish. Chance has really started pointing to what he wants and a new game is to point when I am holding him then I will take a couple steps in the direction he points and then he will point again and I again take a few steps. He thinks it is fun and I am learning what he actually wants instead of just walking blindly in the direstion he first pointed. Turns out he wanted to watch the sharks swim in thier tank because he took me right to them twice. Also, last night we had the screen door closed but the solid door open and our niehgbours were sitting out on their Stoop across the street. Chance crawled over to the door pointed out the door then pointed up to the door knob and then looked at me and made a noise to get my attention then he repeated the pointing and and noise. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the stoop and then opened the screen door and sat on the first step. Chance crawled down the first step and sat there with me for a few minutes jsut like the neighbours were doing and then he crawled back inside to play. Also today he crawled into the bathroom then pointed to the bathtub then to himself and then made the noise again. He repeated it a few times. He wanted to take a bath. It is so much fun , He is comunicating. While at the Aquarium today he was really interacting with the displays too. He pushed buttons and felt the scales of the fish and crawled under this one tank that you can look up into over and over again. They have a play area for the kids and he had fun crawling around and discovering all there was to discover. We watched the otters swim around in their tank too. It is like Chance can tell that it is a living thing but it is different from him and he is just so curious to find out what it is.

It is really great to watch him. After the Aquarium Chance went to sleep on the walk back to the car. We went straight home so he could finish his nap then we went out to Lowe's for some goodies for the house and then at 7pm we went to the monthly Geocaching Event. Like I said it was a busy day but we had fun. Tomorrow is Chance's one year checkup so we are just going to veg out until 2pm when it is time for his appointment. As always I will keep you all posted on the outcome of his doctor's visit.

Flying Home

I am post dating this because it has been a couple days since we got home but we were getting settled from the trip. We flew back home from Portland on Monday. Chance was really good for the whole trip. He is more active now and wants to move and play the whole time but I really should not complain about that. He was happy for the whole ride. We were really lucky on both legs of our trip the planes were small only two seats on each side and they were not full so we got a whole two seats to ourselves for both legs. Chance liked having his own seat to wonder around in while we flew. He learned how to open and close the shutter for the window and how to put the arm rest up and down. These were great games. We had a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah we had to walk out in the cold for a little bit to get into the terminal when we arrived and let me tell you it is cold in Salt Lake City. We made it though and were rewarded with a children's play area just two gates down from our connecting flight, Yeah! Chance had a good time playing there for about an hour before our plane arrived. On the next flight we again got two seats to ourselves and this time we tried some of the cheese crackers the flight attendant was offering. Chance loved them. The flight attendant offered me my own package of crackers because she saw that Chance liked them so much he was eating them all. Both of our flights were on time and we even got home twenty minutes early so all in all it was a really good day to fly.

Busy Day

After we got home from the Chinese Gardens Chance took his nap and then we were off again. This time to Gaynelle and Von's other house where we were to meet Miss Kathy who is a friend of Gaynelle's who we also met last time we were up here in June. Gaynelle and Miss Kathy used to teach at the same school in the area and Miss Kathy still teaches preschool there. She just loved Chance and seeing how much he has grown. It is nice to hear what a preschool teacher has to say about Chance because somehow it jsut feels like she really knows what she is talking about and of course she does. She brought Starbucks and some homemade goodies which we all tried while Chance crawled around and generally played - what he does best. It was nice to see Miss Kathy again. We will have to plan coffee again for next time. We are off tomorrow back to New Orleans. It is going to be a long trip and it is going to be just me and Chance so wish us luck.

Chinese Gardens

This morning we woke up and went to downtown Portland. They have a wonderful Chinese Gardens there that Gaynelle and Von have a membership to so we can go any time we like. I had never heard of the Chinese Gardens before but it sounded like fun so we bundled Chance up and off we went. The Gardens really are beautiful even in the winter. They brought in real artisans and designers from China when they built the gardens and it realy shows. There are small mostly open air buildings with walkways in between them and a lake connecting the buildings and flowing under bridges. Within the building and along all the walkways are plants some of which are flowering even in the cold. There are false windows that create a view of a view of a view with plants in between each window. It really is pretty. I can not wait to come back next time we are here to see what the Gardens look like in another season. There is an authentic Chinese Tea Room in the Gardens where we went and Gaynelle and I had some tea and some mooncake which was suprisingly sweet to be made of beans. Chance was very good and really seemed to enjoy the gardens especially all the water and the waterfall. Grandpa Von took Chance out walking around while Gaynelle and I drank our tea. Chance stands up to the cold very well as a matter of fact most of the time he does not even seem to notice except for his nose getting a little red. Next time we come he will be able to toddle around the Gardens himself. It was really nice to see this little piece of tranquility in the middle of such a large city. It was a great idea to come here I really enjoyed it. These last few pictures are just building in the gardens that I thought were pretty. There are more pictures of the Gardens in the Portland trip folder at our New Pictures site.

Skamania Lodge

We Went for a drive today across the Columbia River to the Washington state side of the Gorge and up the river to the Skamania Lodge. The drive was just beautiful the whole way. There was a little snow on the side of the road but never enough to warrant a stop. We could see snow on the Mountains in the distance and waterfalls on the other side of the Gorge. When we got to the lodge we had some lunch in the restaurant there. Chance has been taken with the waitress' lately and this time the waitress was really into him too. She has two sons with chubby cheeks like Chances. He watched her the whole time she took our order and every time she came back over to our table. The view from the table was wonderful we could see trees and mountains and even some people playing golf on the lodge's course (they must be freezing). Not too long ago Scott got me a nice hard shell suitcase which I have been trying to colect stickers from places I go to put on but so far no where has had any stickers. The nice ladies in the gift shop at the lodge though gave me a couple of the gold foil stickers that they use when gift wrapping things. They were perfect, they even have the name of the lodge on them. Thank you to the gift shop ladies! The drive back to the house was pretty too, we went through a few little towns that were just so cute. I can't think of a way to explain them except Main Street USA with a NorthWest flare. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Picture 1 - Chance with waitress. Picture 2 - Grandma G and Grandpa Von. Picture 3 - the view from our table at Skamania Lodge

Chance and Madeline

Up to this point Madeline a standard poodle simply pulled away from Chance not sure if she should play with him or leave him alone. Not sure if she was alowed to play with him or if she would get in trouble if she did play with him. Today Chance pulled one of his socks off and Madeline got a hold of it. She pranced around Chance with the sock in her mouth and Chance thought it was so funny. Chance crawled after her and Madeline pranced around him all the while Chance laughing. They went around the living room at least twice like that. It was so funny and Chance was so cute.