Friends, Family and Water Fun

This past week I had to fly solo while Brad had a business trip to Las Vegas. It was me and the boys on our own from Monday night to Thursday afternoon. It went very well, not that I didn't think it wouldn't, but it can be exhausting to do everything yourself and with a newborn, it could have went either way. Well except for Tuesday night, it went well.

Tuesday night Chase decided to get up in the middle of the night, well more like 3 am. And after I consoled him, Callen then woke up, once he was fed we both fell asleep, but then Chase woke up again. Let's just say this went on for 2.5 more hours. I was so extremely tired as I would get woken up after only being out for 15-30 minutes. Finally I got upset with Chase and told him I wasn't going to accept him getting up anymore and to go sleep. Thankfully he and Callen slept in that morning, which meant I did too.

Anyway back to the Friends, Family and Water Fun.

Tuesday we met up with Katie and Julie and the kids at Burnaps to enjoy some yummy food and let the kids play. We ended stay for almost 2 hours. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed themselves as did the mommies.

After Burnaps, Chase and I headed to Geneva to meet up with Nonnie, Cara, Cara's new boyfriend and the kids at the splashpark. It was past his nap time when we left Burnaps but I figured he'd nap on the way to the splashpark, which he did and be ready to play. Once we got there he had to wake up and was a little hesitant on doing anything.

But it didn't him long to embrace the splashpark and have a ball. Aunt B took him out first while I fed Callen, then he came back for a quick little snack, then it was mommy's turn to go. It is such a fun place because you can enjoy it with your kids and not get wet.

He just randomly got up and sat and looked right at me. Too funny.

Look. Here it comes. Here it comes. Right there.


On our way home we stopped at McD's to finish the day with a yummy fudge sundae. Yes, I knew it would be a messy occasion as he enjoyed his sundae by himself in his car seat. But ice cream washes out and you can't round out a summer fun day without ice cream.

Brotherly Love

"Chase hold baby brother." This was their first picture together alone. Notice both are smiling. Callen was 7 days old in this picture...May 27, 2010.

First Family Photo...5/22/10

When we left the hospital we had to have a family photo shoot. We did this with Chase before we left the hospital so of course we had to with our new addition Callen Michael. Oh and one thing I forgot to mention about his delivery. When we arrived to the hospital and got checked into our room, the first thing we noticed was that we were in the same exact room that we delivered Chase in 2 years and 15 days earlier. How cool is that? Of all the rooms in the delivery maternity ward we were in the same exact room.

ATTEMPT #1

ATTEMPT #2

ATTEMPT #3

ATTEMPT #4--Almost there.
Yeah! Even though daddy didn't smile.

Yeah again but now Chase isn't smiling.

Welcome to the world Callen Michael

Chase's baby brother finally made his arrival on Thursday, May 20 at 6:54 am weighing in at 9lbs. 8oz and 21. 5" long. The whole delivery was fast, from nothing to baby in just 6.5 hours or so, which is not long compared to over 36 hours with Chase.

I had been having false labor for just about a week or so and I was for sure I would be going sooner that what I did. I had "false" labor with Chase and it turned into real labor in just one day. It was a very stressful week because I was concerned that I was overdue and already delivering a 10lbs. baby in my first pregnancy, I was afraid of a bigger baby and being overdue was not exciting.

Yes, those are BIG feet and LONG toes.

I went from Tuesday of having very hard Braxton Hicks anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes apart but the times varied, not consistent at all. But when I woke up on Tuesday they were pretty good and slightly in my back so I told Brad to stay home. False alarm. He just ended up enjoying a day home.

Then Wednesday came. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Chase and I walked to Katie and Gracie's and enjoyed a fun afternoon there and then we walked back, about 3 miles or so all together with big hills. Still nothing, maybe one or two Braxton Hicks.

After Chase's nap we drove to Lowes to get stone for the flag pole that Brad was putting up. It was his birthday/Father's day gift. The stones I picked out were pretty heavy but I loaded and unloaded them myself. I was hoping all the physical labor would put me into actual labor. Well, nothing until......12:30am.

My belly was getting extremely hard, Braxton Hicks again but no pain. Not alarming just annoyed at this time that they didn't hurt. Well, just 15 short minutes later...pain in my back, not real bad though. But wait another 5 minutes....pain again but worse. Yeah, this was it. I was finally in labor.

I asked Brad what time it was, 1:17am. Ok I said don't fall asleep for the next 5 minutes. Sure enough 5 minutes later another strong contraction, stronger than the one before. Ok, yes these are real but how real? 5 hours from now? 10 hours from now? So Brad fell asleep but I kept watch of the contractions. Goodness another very strong one five minutes later, stronger again.

So I laid there contemplating if I should wake Brad to go and call my mom to stay with Chase or wait another hour or so. Oh what to do? I quietly went downstairs and made sure everything was in my bag added my toothbrush, contacts, makeup, etc. and then went up and woke Brad. It's time, we've got to go. By now it was only 1:45 but they were even more stronger but still five minutes apart.

I called my mom. No answer. I called her cell phone. No answer. Oh no are you kidding me. I tried the house phone again. Nothing. Cell phone again. Nothing. Ok now what. Dad. Try my dad. Yes finally. Dad, get mom it's time. Five minutes past and I called my mom again to make sure she was hurrying, they were coming faster and stronger by the minute.

2:oo am Brad and I are off to the hospital which is a 40 minute drive. Am I going to make it? They were now 3 minutes apart, this is crazy fast. With every contraction Brad steps on the gas pedal a little more. Thankfully it's 2 o'clock in the morning and there is no traffic. I called the doctor to give them a heads up.

We finally arrived and I can barely talk at this point. I get checked in and prepare to welcome our baby boy #2. Finally, I pushed and half laughed for a minute and a half and arrived Callen Michael. I say half laughed because the doctor said something funny and I started laughing and with my laugh Callen arrived. So maybe he will be the class clown as he entered this world with a laugh. What did the doctor say that was so funny? I couldn't tell you.

Quality time with my little man...

As we patiently wait the impending arrival of baby #2, Chase and I have had a few extra days of quality time together. I left work a few weeks early thinking baby #2 would be here by now and since I am only part-time, my presence wasn't as pertinent as it was when Chase was born. So I was able to hand my work off which left me with not much to do and frankly it is very uncomfortable to sit all day with my belly resting on my legs.

So we've had time to just hang out with each other. We've had some play dates, visited the Nonnie a few days, Katie and Gracie and then Clayton too when he arrived. And this past Friday I had another doctor's appointment since it was my weekly follow up. They originally had me due for May 13 which I didn't think was correct, I figured around May 20 or 21, one of those days. Anyway, the 13th came and went and nothing and knowing my history of a big baby, I was a little overwhelmed. I just can't go past my due date. Well, the doctor looked at my file and said that according to certain dates, my actual due date is May 17. Ok, so I know ultrasounds aren't always correct and I wanted to believe that my new due date is actually May 17 but then again was she just saying this to make me feel better? Well, it worked.

Back to our quality time. It was such a beautiful day that Chase and I stopped at a few garage sales, nothing spectacular, well nothing on my list but we got a few books and some onesies. I promised him we would go to the park so we headed to the Fairport park by the canal. It was getting close to his nap time but that didn't matter, we were going to have fun.

It was nice and quiet. I love that they had a little kid playground area where he could up the stairs and down the slide himself with very little mommy assistance. But either way he saw the big slide and wanted to go down which of course meant that mommy had to go with him. So we climbed the stairs and I finagled my way onto the slide and we went down together but I made sure he knew we were only going down once.



After sometime at the playground we walked up to the canal to feed the ducks. I found a nice sitting area for us on some rocks and we enjoyed our lunch together as we watched the ducks. And they were not disappointing, they gave us quite the show...fighting, diving under the water, landing in the water, eating some of our pb&j crust, and of course quacking. It was quite entertaining, we sat there for at least 45 minutes or more.

Plus two geese were there too to bring some entertainment. They actually almost came right up on our laps. I was cutting some apple and a piece accidentally fell into the water, a huge piece. I knew the ducks wouldn't eat it so we just watched it float. But then one of the geese saw it and started to nibble on it. I wasn't expecting that so of course we cut some more small pieces to feed him, I had two apples so we shared. Chase had so much fun, he has a pretty good arm and hit them a couple of times with the apple but then again some of them didn't even make it in the water but the geese came close enough to eat them.

As you can see Chase was enjoying the show too. I didn't have my camera so my phone pics will have to do.

Impromptu Family Photo Shoot

It was such a beautiful evening last Wednesday, 5/5, Chase's birthday, that I decided to do an impromptu family photo shoot before the newest Salatino arrived. It was just Chase and I at first, then daddy got home and I encouraged him to change real quick to coordinate and we set the timer up and here are the results.

Oh, and we were on our way to the hospital to see the newest Decker addition, born on Chase's birthday.

I wanted Jasper out of the picture but we wouldn't get out. But I love the picture, he cooperated with a smile on his face and it turned out adorable.



Patiently waiting for mommy.
Daddy's turn. Chase wasn't cooperating with me for this one.

As I patient/impatiently wait...

Ok, so I know I am stubborn and I wanted baby Salatino #2 to wait until after Chase's birthday and Brad's and come on his due date, which is today. But apparently he is too because here I am, on the couch with no pain. I was determined he'd be here tomorrow, well he still could, but I would be in the hospital right now, not on the couch.

I've done so much in the past week that I am surprised I haven't started labor yet. I definitely haven't made it comfortable for him to be in there but maybe he likes all the movement. Chase and I went grocery shopping today, a two mile walk down the road and up a huge hill and ended the night picking up sticks. Still nothing. Well, he is moving a lot in there, as if he is turning around, so at least I hope he's not too big because he still has room to move. One more day means more weight...not in my favor.

I've nested to the point that I've even started to nest in the shed converted work out room too. And I almost nested too much in the house to the point where I just want all the furniture out of the house because it feels overwhelming. But since we don't have any decent storage, closets etc, I have to have some extra furniture to hide all the toys that come with little boys. And having four different flooring in our living room, stairs, and hallway is starting to bug me. I know in time we will either finish with hardwood or re-carpet but ugh, it's getting old. No one to blame but myself, I'm the one that tore it out, but it is better than before, cleaner I should say, not looks.

So hear I sit, baby Clayton is already a week old and baby Celso will be entering the world tomorrow. Like Brad said I just like them well done. Thankfully though I am not uncomfortable and I am healthy.

One of them mornings...

Have you ever had one of them mornings where it just needed to start over? Today was one of those for Chase. He's been off schedule for the past few days and decided this morning to start it early, 6am, after not going to bed until 9pm. He usually doesn't wake up until 7 or so and after having an early morning, 5:30am, yesterday and not a good nap, this morning was just not good.

I kind of had a feeling from the way he was crying when he woke up that he might be miserable. Brad got up with him while I got some more zzzzz's. I couldn't fall asleep last night and when I finally did, I didn't sleep well. Turning from one side to another is a monumental task and always wakes me up.

Anyway as I drifted in and out of sleep this morning, I heard a few glimpses of how the morning was going, and it was not good. Chase was so whiny and he wanted everything opposite of what Brad said/offered. Brad was doing good at holding onto his patience but I could tell it was starting to slip.

I finally woke up around 7:30 and rescued Brad. Chase at this point was out of control. Throwing himself on floor and being outright naughty and miserable. Oh the joys of a two year old tantrum. I picked him up and told him we needed to start his day over and pray for a good spirit. I took him to his room and laid him in his bed, of course this made him even more mad. I just sat on the floor next to his little bed as he had a fit and was uncontrollably crying, you know the absolutely I am naughty cry. I was fresh so I had a lot of patience and just kept saying to myself, he is over tired and can't help himself. He doesn't want to be naughty but is so far off the deep end he can't recover. I told him we needed to pray for him to have a good attitude and sweet spirit. I then prayed that I would have a sweet spirit with handling him. I just kept saying "A soft answer turned away wrath."

Eventually I told him he needed to stay in his bed and go back to sleep. Of course he was not having that and was miserable. I shut the door and went downstairs. I could hear him get up and go to the door and start crying. Either he was going to cry himself to sleep at the door or go to his bed, which I knew wasn't going to happen. So I let him cry for awhile and went back up and gave him some loving and just held him. I sat on the edge of his bed and rocked him. "Mommy hold Chase like a baby. Mommy rock Chase." he said in between sniffles. I rocked him and rubbed his legs and feet as I watched him give into the monster within and fall asleep. I would have loved to hold him for a bit but his baby brother in my big 'ol belly kind of gets in the way and I am quite uncomfortable. So I carefully laid him down and he whimpered but finally went back to sleep.

Now I just hope he rests enough to start the day fresh and anew as the sweet Chase.

Chase's 2nd Birthday!

We celebrated Chase's 2nd birthday this past weekend, 5/1, we had to make sure we got it in before his baby brother arrives. Let me tell you it was the most exhausting two days ever. Friday I did nothing but run around, doctor's appointment, garage sales (of course), grocery shopping, last minute birthday supply shopping, Salvation Army find (answered prayer...another post), cleaning and more. It was a late night. I did little favors for all the kids and was up putting those together. That was the most fun that day even if it was late.


Saturday was exhausting too but for a whole other reason...it was his Birthday Party!! I started out the morning by finishing his cake. I did three different cakes, yes three. Funfetti cupcakes, and then a double layer cake, half chocolate and half yellow with vanilla pudding in the middle. It was quite tasty and turned out cute, I'd say.





Thankfully I don't plan parties until late and after naps, 4pm, so I had the whole day to finish preparations and cleaning. Plus, we had to make a drive over to pick up my new double jogging stroller, again another answered prayer found on craigslist, love that site.

We were blessed to have such a beautiful, warm 70+ degree day. Definitely not the norm for NY on May 1, but truly a blessing since we have many cousins and friends that were invited and we needed the big, open outdoors to play. It was nice having the weather cooperate with us, even if it was a little windy, but that is how it is on our hilltop.

It's hard to be the party planner, hostess, mommy, wife, assistant chef and photographer for a birthday party, and oh yes, 8.5+ months pregnant on top of that. So I might not have gotten as many photos as I would've liked. Well for one, I wanted a shot of all the kids together with their "construction" party hats on, but that didn't happen. Or just one of all the kids would have been nice. Nor did I get one of all the party favor boxes I did for each of the kids. Well, I do have Chase's still that I can get a picture of, I don't know we'll see. Kind of low on the agenda right now.

Ella decided Papa looked better with her hat on. Anyway it was a wonderful day and I believe everyone had a great time. Dinner took a little longer than planned, I guess our grill wasn't as big as we thought when you start to cook 35 hamburgers plus hot dogs. But after a few grease splashes and small grilled contained grease fires, everyone was fed and ready for cake/ice cream and presents. While Brad and I attended the grill, we had some tattle tales let us know that Chase was checking out his presents on his own. So yes, there were a few items that got opened that I am not quite sure where they came from but that's ok I guess, we should have been watching our child. :)

Where have these two years gone? I can't believe that our lil man who came into this world at a whopping 10lbs. 2oz. is already two. He's such a blessing and joy. Every day is a special day with moments to remember and cherish. I love my little chatter box, he just loves to talk and talk, full sentences too. It's so funny because sometimes he gets so excited that his tongue can't keep up with his brain. He starts and stops a few times until he gets it just right.

He knows most of the letters of the alphabet by looking at them and the sound they make but he doesn't know the ABC song. I guess we taught him backwards. He loves to count, working on counting to 20, almost there.

It's amazing what a little man he is, so independent and such a personality and already a negotiator. Where do they learn that anyway?

A Christmas gift from Grandpa S. that needed to come out to play. He's just so stinkin' cute.

Chase was the only one that wore his hat for most of the day. He loved it and it was so cute on him.

A little bit of everything...

Tonight was a night of sorting through some of Chase's clothes, ones he has outgrown or are winter. My intentions actually were to shampoo his carpet but decided it would be better to do that during the day so it will be dry by the time he goes to bed. So sorting clothes it was. Daddy took Chase to the garage with him for a bit so I could hammer down and get this task over without little hands helping me to "sort" them. But goodness, it is certainly a more challenging task when you are 9 months pregnant, sitting on the floor just isn't that convenient or comfortable nor is going in the attic. So after I realized how demanding and tiring it was to crouch in the attic, and get into containers, I decided to throw them in some diaper boxes until I have my belly back to size and I am more functional.

After about 45 minutes, I hear little chattering which meant daddy was bringing my busy hands back in to help me. He likes to help daddy in the garage too and that lends daddy to not getting much done either. So I had to distract him that he wasn't going back out, a hershey kiss did the trick. He came upstairs with me to finish the sorting. And I was right on his help "sorting" but that's ok, I was just about finished so I let him "help".

As I was picking up, he was laying on the floor chit chatting so I decided to join him. I grabbed his blanket, bundled it up in a ball and laid down as if we were looking at the stars. "What's mommy doing?" he chatted. "Laying down with Chase." "Mommy silly." After about 2 minutes, if that, I realized that again being 9 months pregnant and laying flat on the floor wasn't as comfortable as I wished nor did the baby think so either. So I rolled to my side, again not that comfortable but we were having fun. Chase grabbed some of my blanket to put his head on and then out of nowhere he says..."Chase happy." Awww, it just melted my heart. I replied. "Mommy happy too." Then after a few more minutes of chit chatting with each other he says, "I wuv mommy." Oh my goodness, again melt my heart. So sweet, so innocent, so real.

I may be nesting but stopping to cherish a few moments with my little man was priceless. Too bad he had to be a stinker at bedtime. Oh, bedtime, he's so unpredictable from day to day.

Oh, he has finally figured out his strength and can open the fridge by himself. So before bedtime we were getting a snack, well he was getting a snack while I was putting away the dishes. "Chase need cheese." So he grabs the cheese. "Chase need yogurt" and picks out a yogurt. But as he was choosing a yogurt the fridge started to close on him. "No fridge! Chase not done yet." He says yelling at the fridge. "No fridge, no close. Mommy need fridge open." He probably yelled at the fridge 3-4 times and you could hear the frustration in his voice, so I inconspicuously held the fridge open for him while he finished getting his snack.

Oh and I am about ready to be done with being pregnant. It's quite difficult to do the nesting I need to do with a big 'ol belly. I am organizing and beyond. I found some awesome thrift store/craigslist finds this past weekend, but they inadvertently caused me more work to get organized. I love hand-me-downs and we have received them in the toy department too. And since our house isn't quite set up for lots of toys, I must be organized to keep them under control. Thankfully for his birthday I requested outdoor things from family, where I plan to be all summer.

But anyway, everything I attempt to do causes some pretty intense braxton hicks, which are ok to me, maybe real ones will start, but I am trying to get past Brad's birthday. I got past Chase's, but Katie didn't. Baby Clayton was born on Chase's birthday. I thought that was so neat and special. Now when is it my turn? Brad says my actual due date, May 12. We'll see, I say May 9 or 10, no one knows but God.

So enough gibberish. I have a birthday post to finish but unfortunately Photoshop is not working which means I can't post pictures and you have to have pics to go with the party. Grrr.....

Chase enjoying his B'day cupcake

Ok, so I let Chase cheat and have a birthday cupcake the afternoon of his birthday party and right before his nap. I figured it's his birthday rules can be broken.



He decided to smash it with his hand and wasn't quite sure of the result it created.
But then started getting "creative" with the very blue frosting.
Very creative.