The Chaffin Family

This is what I cannot stand:

2011-12-21T18:50:00.001-08:00

I've thought about it... For months- years, actually. This grosses me out way more than dirty diapers or puke. Officially, the thing I dislike most about the toddler years --- I despise the after meal cleanup under the table. It is so disgusting to me for some reason... I'm not sure why my kids can't seem to keep the majority of their food in their mouths or on their plate or at least on the table somewhere. Anywhere. But crawling on my hands and knees with a rag under the table picking up moist morsels of half eaten food after a meal... Hate it. Hate it. The end. This is Chris writing in case anyone ever reads this or wonders if Curt or Chris is the one who hates this. It's me.

Loving this weather!

2011-12-20T13:15:00.001-08:00

I was about to post a picture of what I dislike the most about the toddler years. But I decided to first give thanks for the good things in our life- like being outside together, enjoying this gorgeous weather and doing some hiking. So after this post, I will feel less guilt about posting what I really can't stand. Stay tuned...

Food Smear time

2011-10-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had another great session of food smear. We have this ritual of food smearing that has been passed down through the generations (on the Barkers side I am sure...). We start with just some peanut butter. We smash it on the table, on the floor, in our kids hair, under their fingernails, under the table, both sides of the plate, in the folds of their neck, on cabinets, walls, windows oh and occasionally in their mouth. Then we add bananas and repeat the whole process not leaving any crevase untouched.

Some people call this time snack time, but that seems strange. We think food smear time is more apt.

Coming into focus

2011-10-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Don't all dads think their daughter is perfect? So it was a shock to my system when she recently required glasses. And due to my poor choice, she is wearing dark gray glasses against her pale skin and looks hilarious. Studious. Dorky. One well meaning friend even said she was cute in a quirky sort of way. What? My crazy, funny, beautiful daughter? Quirky?

It is in relationship that we learn most about ourselves - usually the parts of ourselves that we have kept most hidden from others and perhaps even our self. We try not to focus on those parts but they come out at odd times and remind us that they need to be dealt with at some point. Joseay is a beautiful girl and she remains so. Her energy and curiosity alone are infectious and that smile melts me quickly. Now she has an additional advantage, she can see more easily when she has her father wrapped around her finger. Not fair.

Thank you my beautiful daughter for teaching me about beauty and correcting my altered view of the situation. We love you like crazy.

I might look for another color of glasses...

Never skip date night!

2011-10-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Green to Radiant

2011-09-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

Fall seems to have snuck up on us out of the blazing heat as we received about 10 inches of rain in a 24 hour period here in Chattanooga taking us immediately from a parched, hot summer to a wet, cool autumn. We lost electricity (or “the batteries are dead” according to Brown) with down power lines blocking the driveway forcing a sleep over at the house with a few guests around candles which was nice.

With all the changes in the air, we decided it was time to rid our house of that blessed peace-bringing invention called the pacifier. We have had them as a part of our lives for a few years now but it is time to say good bye. So me, I thought of several gradual ways to wean Miss Joseay off of her pacie, taking slow baby steps one at a time. While I was coming up with a spreadsheet to plan these steps (not really, but don’t put it past me), I came home and Chris said “it is done.” “What is done?” “Her pacie.” “What do you mean?” “They are gone. She took a nap without the pacie and now they are packed up.” Hmm. I wanted to tell her how abrupt that change was and how it clearly would not work. Except that it worked beautifully. Joseay has slept through several naps and nights without the pacie now so just like that, she (and we) loses another remnant of her babyhood, and she takes another step toward being a little girl and no longer a toddler.
Seasons change at the blink of an eye, where you once saw beautiful summer in the green leaves, they suddenly turn radiant and summer exists only as a glowing memory.

Plasma Cars

2011-07-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

So Brown and Joseay are enjoying the newly paved driveway. Wait a second, who is that big kid on Brown's plama car?

Seriously Summer

2011-07-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

Not sure where you are as you read this, but it is hot in Chattanooga. Red cheeks, sweaty forheads, skinned knees (and shines, and elbows, and foreheads), lots of scooters and bikes, screams of ice cream – must be full on summer in the south. I notice it so much more with kids. Even after being inside for 30-45 minutes last night as we tried to cool them off in the AC before they went to bed, Brown’s hair was still wet. It makes me hot just looking at them, but they don’t seem to mind.

Joseay is growing into her personality which is exciting and scary at the same time. They both are competing to be the loudest and I think we have two champions in the making. But we are having fun.

We are learning to make directions very explicit at this age. Chris told Brown to help clean up and line up the shoes by the back door. This was the result:

You really can't make this up can you?

Spring into Summer

2011-05-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well, blog posts come rarely these days. There are so many notable moments in our lives now that to try to encompass them seems ridiculous, so I will just share a bit as it comes to mind now.

Our neighbors loaned us a children’s Noah’s Ark play set with ark, animals, and people. Brown and I were looking through the animals and he was naming them as I pulled them out. Giraffe, lion, cow, etc.

I next pulled out Noah, robe, white beard.

Brown looked at him, cocked his head over to the side. Then his eyes brightened as he said “Santa Claus!”

Suppressing laughter, I just said ok, and moved on to the next animal. I would like to wax eloquent about how confusing fairy tales and bible stories are to children who can only think in concrete terms, but I will save that.

Brown's speech therapy is going well, too well. They forgot to tell us where the off switch is. He loves asking "what that?" or "who gave me that?" or "what doing daddy?" Its hard to believe he was ever nonverbal.

Joseay is a trip. Not sure how to describe her current phase. Willful, curious, loud, messy, still nearly bald, hilarous, ticklish, all that. Come visit for a first hand look and then let us know your opinion.

This weekend, we were moving sand for the sandbox and I was using the wheelbarrow and Brown of course wanted to help.

He came over, slipped under one of the handles and was holding both handles in front of me as we walked sand around the garden. His interest just lasted a few seconds really but there I was, working in the yard with my son working and playing in the sun, sweaty, healthy fun. I looked over at Miss farmer Chris who was hoeing in the garden (yes, that minivan driving, signal living mom of two now wields a hoe so watch it) and thought, does it get any better than this? Speaking of garden and my wife, we had our first produce from the garden last night in the form of a basil/cilantro pasta dish.

Not sure where this life is taking us, but we are enjoying a generous season in many ways at the moment and are so grateful.

Grandma

2011-03-31T03:05:00.000-07:00

My Dad's mom died earlier this month. She recently had broken a vertebrae in her back and had been going through rehab in the hospital, then a rehab unit and then finally had made it to an assisted living sort of place where she could have her own stuff in her room - her own bed, dresser etc. Not home, but fairly close. It was run by her church and had worship services and bible study for her and I believe she was beginning to settle in. She died apparently peacefully in her sleep at 92. She had a long, blessed life and for that we are thankful. Brown had become fond of visiting with her on a regular basis and still mentions her name at random times. He got to visit her the day before she died as Chris took Joseay and Brown by to see her at lunch. Of course the workers loved seeing the kids and brought them some ice cream which you can see Brown devouring in this picture. This is the last picture we have of grandma. I am glad that she knew my kids and obviously loved their visits and seeing them grow and develop. She knew Joseay was a girl, but would frequently say things like: "oh isn't he cute." Joseay still could use some hair...

Snow Day 2011

2011-01-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

The Chaffin family has had a wonderful morning. Up early, Brown doesn't understand that when school and work are canceled, that means to be lazy for a while. But it is 3pm as I write this, and though we have been out in the snow, eaten several times, bathed the kids, everyone is still in pajamas so I guess we qualify for lazy.

Joseay likes touching the snow. Her face kind of squeezes up when her hand pushes through the surface of the snow. But this 6 or 8 inches or whatever we have on the ground out there, comes up past her knees. That translates to about two foot for an equivalent amount for an adult. So my point is, a toddler, with a true “toddler”gait does not handle the snow so well. So her time outside has been fairly brief.

Brown came out and played for a while, but his gloves just don't quite stay on and his hands got cold really quickly. Add that to the fact that he just likes eating the snow and he got chilly quickly. His first words when we looked out the window early this morning were “want to eat that snow.” But we did get in some sled rides in our backyard along with some snowball fighting which consisted of him coming and throwing loose snow at my knees. But it was really fun none the less.

We continue to be blessed with happy kids, happy times and lots of love. Brown is talking much more now and can communicate his needs more easily which I think had led to a lot less frustration for him as well as us. He is developing friends in that he looks forward to seeing them when they get together at various times. He and Joseay love to play with each other which has been nice. We had cinnamon rolls this morning and while Chris and I were lingering at the table eating, both of the kids were playing in Joseay's room. When they were both laughing, Chris looked at me and said, “See, everyone told us the kids would get to this point.” Fun times in St. Elmo!

Bottles begone

2010-12-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

As our kids grow up, we mark the passing time in different ways. Sometimes, its the fact that we are now all sleeping through the night. Other times, we realize that we can sit and talk to each other and the kids are playing happily by themselves. Recently, however, we marked a pretty big milestone which is marked by the picture below.

To those who has spent countless hours taking apart, cleaning, and putting back together baby bottles, you will recognize that this picture closes a book on those days for us. 2 out of the last 3 years we have been covered in bottles. An though we are not trying to hurry through these precious baby/toddler years, this picture is beautiful to me.

J-Walking

2010-12-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

Joseay is quite the walker these days. It is so stinking cute because she is so little, and I'm just not used to seeing someone that little walking around. They told us at the pediatrician appt last week that she is in the 25th percentile in size for her age.
I wanted to get some video of her walking around yesterday while she was following Brown and Curt around the house. Brown is finally starting to figure out that he can use his big brother status to his advantage if he can get Joseay to do what he wants. Took him long enough...

Happy 1st Birthday, Joseay!

2010-11-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

Well, what to say on your daughter's first birthday? "What a long strange trip is has been?" Perhaps, though this is probably true for most kids. It is almost hard to remember those months of sleepless nights, of screaming days. Almost.

So as you can see, we did get a cake for her to celebrate, and had not planned on her having a taste, but as we (I use that term we loosely as the pictures are all my wife) were trying to get everything arranged for the picture, we neglected to see the obvious: there is a bright shiny cake with a candle within Joseay's reach. No need to explain what happened next except to say no one was burned despite the fact that the picture appears to show me holding her hand in the fire. Icing was the only casualty.
If you haven't seen her in a while, I guess I should mention she is walking when she feels like it. She has had the balance for about a month but no real desire. And I am not sure when to mark the day of her first steps being taken. She has for weeks been taking one step and then falling forward. Technically maybe a step. But not really. Then she started this thing where she would move one foot and just sort of pivot. Does this count? Questionable. But just about 3-4 days ago, she started walking. Easily taking 10-15 steps and going where she wants. Fun to watch!

But unfortunately she has been sick the last couple of days (105, snotty, cough, fussy, etc) so her walking time has been limited, but that should change this weekend. We hope to post some walking pictures soon. Yes, Brown is well. He has been sick with the same thing this week but continues to grow in many ways. His language has improved drastically with new words and combinations popping up all the time. His favorite phrase now is "mommy, look!" It is super cute now and we must have heard it 50 times already. Wonder how cute it will be after the 50,000th time?
We have tried to keep him from having an overwhelming taste for sugar and it may be working. In the picture above, he has cake in his green bowl which he has been crazy excited about for weeks now that he understands what cake is (thanks so much school!). But after about half of a tiny piece today, he started asking for yoghurt and cereal. Brown did get a similar cake on his first birthday (http://brown-chaffin.blogspot.com/2008/12/firsts.html) but I think Joseay was much more cooperative with smiling. Maybe it was because his hat didn't have the pink balls hanging all over it. Its tough being the oldest.

Soccer camp has begun!

2010-10-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

All is well

2010-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

All is well at the Chaffin house. We spent 3 straight weeks at the lake which was a wonderful way to finish the summer, but it is good to be back home and begin to get into some sort of rhythm again. But we ALL love the lake!

We ran out of swim diapers... I think this diaper is at capacity.

Joseay continues to be a joy and is all over everywhere. Up and down and making noises and just generally having a good time. She is cruising along furniture and just yesterday stood up from a sitting position. Of course she was immediately back down, but her day is coming. Or rather our day is coming. Not sure.

Brown is enjoying school. Still “eating all his snack” in case you have been following along. He is doing all those things that to us are amazing and fun, but to the rest of the world are just normal kid stuff. He has begun to play under his bed somewhat. The other night, I went in to check on him after he had been asleep an hour or two, and all I could see was two feet sticking out from under the bed. He was asleep on the wooden floor. Not sure why we spend money on sheets and mattresses.

The Joseay/Brown interaction is also taking a fairly predictable course as Joseay is more mobile and just wants to be doing whatever Brown is doing which of course is exactly opposite of what Brown wants her to do. Sharing hasn’t entered the mental vocabulary yet but we are working on it. This may explain Brown’s new love of running – it is the only way to outpace her right now. But again, the day is coming…

But the boy loves to run. Put him in a big yard and he just takes off. And does circles. Last week, he even finished a run by lying in the grass and rolling around he was so happy. (yes like a dog)

Now that I think of it, this may simply be the beginning of a trend. We built him a sandbox the other day. When we showed it to him for the first time, he played for a few seconds, then laid himself facedown in the sand and sort of made a sand angel. I think he likes it.

Personal Swimming Pool

2010-09-08T08:57:00.001-07:00

Well, to keep the swimming pool theme going and divert attention from our bruiser mugshot of Joseay, lets talk about Brown and his recent water experiences. He is getting into the routine of school and all its strange protocols ("well, Brown still likes throwing his lessons on the floor" says his teacher) but all in all it is good. One of the "life skills" at this age is to figure out the toilet. I can see why it would be strange to a two year old to begin using the toilet when they can just poop in their pants. But hey, that thing has a lever that makes a big whoosh, and it involves water, so Brown is in! So they are basically just trying to introduce him to the toilet. Evidently, Brown got a bit to into it as you can see from his daily report:
Now, focus on this part of the report:

So evidently, he really is getting personal with the toilet at school. Nice.

The other thing we are learning about the reports is that sometimes, they are just not that relevant for what is going on with your child. For instance, this line:

This line is completely irrelevant for Brown. He always will eat everything. There is never a time when the "I wasn't hungry" box will be checked. If it is, please call an ambulance. He is a snack eating machine. His first day, while I was there observing, they gave him one cheese stick off of a huge pile, I mean a pile of 30 or more cheese sticks. So after the 2 seconds it took to cram the whole thing in his mouth, he was back at the basket grabbing more cheese sticks with both hands causing much consternation. "wasn't hungry," ha! give me a break.

Terrible mommying

2010-09-04T18:51:00.001-07:00

We were up on the dock at the lake enjoying a beautiful day this morning. Joseay was crawling around and I didn't want her to get a splinter so... I had a brilliant idea. The big inflatable pool was empty so I thought she would enjoy crawling around in there for a few minutes - splinter free. About three minutes into this great adventure, the wind picked up quite a bit. Suddenly, as I turned around, I saw the pool take flight with a huge gust of wind, flipping it over in mid air with Joseay being tossed up and over and flat down - face first onto the wooden deck - with the big pool on top of her. Holy cow!!! It was unreal. Poor thing was scared to death, crying hysterically. Scared me, too. She looks like she got beat up pretty good. But she's tough. She shook it off after a few minutes. But she's looking kind of rough right now.

Montessori update

2010-09-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ok... So the first 2 days were rough, but this video is when I was observing him the third day behind the one way glass. I felt so much better after watching him this day. He had a great week and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.
Hmmmmmm

Montessori

2010-08-30T02:56:00.001-07:00

Well, this certainly feels like the first day of school for Brown. He did a day of mothers day out each week last spring, but this is his first 5 day a week outing. I think he is really going to love it and thrive here over the next few months, but of course I am a bit nervous for him. He has been saying " 'cool" (school) for a long time which is what he called his old mothers day out program. We took him by his new school yesterday and of course he saw all the playground equipment and didn't really even want to leave. Hopefully, the new playground will ease the transition. Hope to post a picture of him later this morning. -curt
-----------------
And now... this is Chris chiming in later... the boys just left for school. Curt gets to go with Brown to help phase him in today, and I get to go tomorrow, and then Wednesday, he's on his own. I'm not worried about him at all - he's going to love it. Absolutely. But when I woke up this morning, I wanted to cry and throw up - I feel so sad. What are we doing!?! Sending our 2 1/2 year old off to school already? What in the world!? If I could make the decision today (which probably wouldn't be smart), I would definitely not do this. A lot of people HAVE to send their kids to school this early because of their work schedules. But we don't have to do that. I wanted to do this sometime last year when I was overwhelmed with 2 little ones and our friends who have their kids in Montessori could all work for their marketing team - they LOVE this place. So I was convinced that it would be best for Brown. But... I'm having massive second thoughts. We are going to ride it out for a couple of months and see how he responds. I really think he is going to love it. But I'm just not sure the timing is right... we'll see. And as Curt told me when they were pulling away this morning, it's not like we are locked into this decision for the rest of our lives. We can change our minds. So I'm trying to have more of an open mind. But I am sad. Brown looks sad in these pictures, but he isn't. He was just annoyed with my camera. The second to last picture is of him running out to the car. I made him come back and give me a hug, but he couldn't have cared less.

She's Crawling

2010-08-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any videos lately, and this one is a few weeks old, but this was one of the first days she had figured out how to get up in the official crawl position. Now she is crawling around the house like nobody's business, and pulling up on everything and everyone. We knew she was going to be quick! I'll post more pics and videos soon, but I thought I should at least get these up there...

Hydrant

2010-08-22T06:51:00.002-07:00

Firetrucks and obsessing over fire hydrants

2010-08-22T06:51:00.001-07:00

Generations

2010-08-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

A friend commented how strange it is to watch her daughter jump off a rock at the lake that she used to jump off of when she was a child. Most parents have had this experience as you watch your kids grow up. We see similarities and differences. But when we see our kids in the same physical surroundings that we were in at their age, it does strike a particularly reverberant chord. This happened to me this week as Brown and I were leaving my grandmothers house and he was playing in her front yard, the same yard that I had played in as a child. Life is fast. Our lives are brief as we are replaced by the next generation. Its nice when we get to enjoy the passing of time.

Lake Days

2010-08-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

We are having a blast up at Chris's parent's house this week! Can't get enough of the lake...

Wilmington Visit

2010-07-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ah, what summer should be about at this age!

The Dark

2010-07-20T04:02:00.000-07:00

Brown is suddenly afraid of the dark. I don’t know what happened or how he got this way, but it is kind of weird. In the evening, if there is a room with out a light on so that it is dim, he will run to the door and just stand there, either wait for someone to go with him, or just turn around and go elsewhere. It is very strange to us. I really thought this would not come until later, until someone had let him see some sort of movie or TV show which would then make him scared of the dark, but it seems he has come about this quite naturally.

Joseay is quite the talker these days. Ok, not words or anything, but she loves to just babble on for a while – I am sure she is expressing deep emotion, mostly how she lives her parents and the Brown, but we will have to wait until later to hear the full story. She is beginning to get her knees under her so we guess crawling won’t be too far away. Doesn’t look like we will get the army crawl like we did with Brown. They are so interactive these days and both love it. Especially since Brown can leave whenever he gets tired of her. Things may change when she starts following... The picture is of them looking at Goodnight Moon. Both enthrawled.

Brown starts a half day of school this fall – just about a month away now – and I am not sure that Chris or I are ready for this adventure. We have loved keeping him at home and being able to go whenever. But he loves to be out with other kids and loves to learn, so we are going to try this and see how it goes. I haven’t given up on eventually home schooling both kids within a larger community, but we will see where this takes us.

Sweet Summertime

2010-07-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the updates are few at this point because our lives are full. Spare time is simply non existent so carving time out of time with kids to write about how good the kids are doing seems silly. And again, I have to apologize to Joseay as this is effectively her baby book that we are neglecting at this point. Yep, we are not recording this very well, but know that we are loving hanging out with both of you right now and Chris is snapping lots of pictures. Someday, we might go back and record some of the stories.

Brown is now sleeping in his big boy bed (don’t tell him it is just his crib with a side removed). He has been doing pretty well in it though the last time he was in it, he did sort of end up hanging off onto the floor for a bit. But he loves sitting in bed and having us sit there and read to him. He has gotten to where he will pat the bed beside him and say “daddy” indicating that I am to get over there and sit down.

Joseay is sleeping well, waking up smiling and generally being agreeable. She is eating Cheerios by the dozens now and it won’t be long before she will be eating off of our plates. She has been sitting easily for a while now and we really don’t even worry about her falling over anymore. She spins around on her belly but has not really begun to motivate to crawl as of yet. It looks like her two teeth will be the only ones for a while. She loves to be tipped upside down and generally giggles if you kiss her belly – she is quite ticklish. Hair, well still not so much.

Brown and I had a great night on the dock a few nights ago. He and I were mostly sitting in the small pool but he was doing his fair share of running around and we were both singing and yelling as the sun went down. The lake was getting quiet as he kept asking me to get in the pool with him. We laughed and smiled and had an evening that is hard to capture except to say that it is my favorite memory with him so far.

Did we mention Joseay’s first trip to the beach? We all had a great time. Joseay ate quite a bit of sand and seems to have survived it just fine, Brown finally had fun in the waves and it was hard to drag him off the beach most times. We had a babysitter so Chris and I were able to escape for some lazy bike rides around town and get to a wedding and associated dinners without hassle and with MUCH fun. We had good weather, good food, good kids (with babysitter), good friends at the wedding, and a quiet beach. This will be the vacation we try to emulate in the future. The one the kids will get tired of hearing about. (Joseay, I remember when you were just 7 months old, we took you to St. Simons Island…)

The joys of being at home

2010-06-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Brown loves playing outside, and running around, and drawing, going to "cool" (school), but there is truly nothing more that he seems to enjoy than when the 4 of us are home and playing together in the living room. He just has joy coming out of his pores. He loves to dance and spin around and wrestle with curt and bring us books and give Joseay toys (and sometimes kisses). It is definitely sweet times and I love to see him so happy. Joseay LOVES her big brother, and she cackles and laughs so much when brown is dancing around and spinning around near her. She loves watching him. The hardest I've ever seen her laugh was last week when he was playing peek-a-boo with her. She was howling - and he was eating it up. None of these pictures are spectacular - just recent from around the house.

Pictures and Progress

2010-06-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids are growing and changing. I know that is news to no one, but we have reached a point where we can peek our head above the water and and look around a bit, and we see change.

Joseay is finally sleeping through the night. We put her through baby boot camp a week or two ago, just letting her yell it out. I slept downstairs with her the first night, and listened to her cry for about 2 hours straight. Checking on her every 20-30 min to try and replace the pacie etc, but she would have none of it. Chris did the same the next night. Then, since we weren't doing anything to help her anyway, the next night, we just slept upstairs, checked on her the next morning and she was fine. Imagine that. So we are now catching up on sleep which is improving our outlook on life and Ms. Joseay immensely. She is also getting pretty handy about holding her bottle on her own which is quite nice as well. She is just about out of the bassinet phase as she is beginning to roll around and get wedged in sideways, so we have to get her in the crib soon. That means her big brother gets transitioned to a bed in the near future.

The Brown continues to roll on. He is a joy to be with and play with. He is starting to talk a bit more which is a relief to us both. He has summertime knees which is evidence that his still tries to run faster than his legs want to meaning he has skinned knees most of the time. Yesterday, he got his first wasp sting which was no fun for anyone. His hand is swollen quite a bit but he continues on his way. We finally got in the lake this weekend, rain and all and he mostly loved it. He is quite the tentative guy, but once he gets in he loves it. Joseay hasn't invaded his space in the water yet, so that will be coming soon. He spent last evening running around with his 5 cousins with Sarah, the 11 year old babysitting him most of the time while we enjoyed the food and company. What a nice stage this could be! Yeah for responsible, patient, 11 year old cousins!

The quickly disintegrating bear

2010-05-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

I know many of you had your favorite stuffed animals or blankets including an annoying little sister in my house who carried her blanket around until all that was left was a section of the satin hem that used to be pink in color but was last seen as a pinkish brown streak of material that you would never touch if you saw it on a park bench. With nightmares of this discolored material still floating in my brain, I was hoping Brown would not latch onto something like this. I even thought we were well past this point but several months ago, he latched onto a bear that we have successfully (mostly) confined to use only in his naps and bedtime. Somehow, he has gotten into the habit during reading at night of picking hair off of the fur, and stuffing it in his nose. Yes, you read that correctly. No idea where, how or why he acquired this pattern. Aside from being bizarre and quite gross especially after he gets up, it has the effect of hastening the deterioration of this particular collection of fabric. For many months, this fur merely smelled like an old shirt. Then it started smelling slightly of urine which was only mildly offensive and was worth the trade off of a happy sleeping boy. However, during a particularly feverish night, it was a collecting point of vomit not once but twice during the night. Despite our efforts, this smell could not be removed or countered. So we put this non washable bear into the washing machine which it largely survived. However, we can see that its days are numbered. It did take a few trips to the Good Shepherd playground during a few weeks of separation anxiety during which time it picked up more than its share of small, prickly pieces of mulch which we are still trying to remove (it did wonders for the separation anxiety however). A few more washings, and more of the stuffing may begin to come out. We envision the time when the Brown is carrying around a piece of fur with an eye or two attached to it. In light of that, we have been looking for a look alike bear out there, but have had no luck. If you happen to see a bear that looks like the one in the picture, please let us know. We may buy 4 or 5 of them so that we can avoid the fate of that well used blanket of yore.

That dreaded bath time event...

2010-04-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

We had a good time at the Discovery Museum today. Two is much harder, but doable. Joseay just had to be carried the whole time, but Brown did a good job playing and exploring without me having to be right near him all of the time. He loved it. Joseay did a good job holding her bottle on the way out to the car. She's a pretty coordinated little thing.

So when we got home, Brown had lots of sand on him from digging for dinosaur bones, so I stripped him down at the door and he ran to the bath. He had a great time in the bath and was happy for 20 minutes or so. And then… UH Ohhhhh… the moment we knew would come. Suddenly, something in the water was really scaring him. He stood up and kept trying to get away from it – crying, squealing… yelling…

POOOOO POOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Sure enough… there were floaters and sinkers to dodge. The more he ran from them, the more they moved around in the water and tried to get him. Talk about saying “BLEEEHHGGGHHH over and over! He did not like it at all. He looked a bit terrified. So I got him out and stood him on the bathroom floor next to me while I fished for the nuggets. I put them into a bag and we dumped them into the toilet. He flushed and told them “bye bye”.

So then he had pooh pooh water all over himself, so we walked upstairs to mommy and daddy’s shower. As I got the shower water warm for him, he peed ALL over the floor.

Oye vey! Hilarious. This morning involved a lot of cleaning up time.

It's been a pretty long 5 months, but things are definitely starting to even out a bit. All of those people who told us that going from one to two kids was a HUGE adjustment... "word", is all I have to say. Holy cow.

Joseay is smiling and giggling more and more and loves showing off her 2 new teeth. She's doing better rolling over and she is really great at holding toys and banging them around. She loves the "freedom" of the exersaucer and jumpy thing. She is just SO READY to walk and run and do her own thing. You can see the frustration in her when she is being held and she just wants to do it on her own. She is going to give us a run for our money... she is making that very clear. She'll keep us on our toes for sure.

The Peace Offering (she's not too interested)

Does this count as camping?

2010-04-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Well we are planning a camping trip with some friends this weekend and last weekend we thought we better practice as we have 2 kids now. Shouldn’t be too much trouble right? As you will see, it didn't go so well. We pitched the tent in the yard up at the lake and began to put our stuff in for the night. But before we even got in to go to sleep, we decided that with the baby still getting up twice a night screaming bloody murder, we would try this first night with just Brown and let grandma keep Joseay. So that is what we did. Then we laid down for the night about 10pm. Brown decided it was play time and didn't even go to sleep until 11:30 while making frequent loud noises. About 1pm, just as it was getting good and cold, Chris reached over to cover Brown once again since he kept kicking the covers off. She realized Brown was soaked. Not just damp but soaked through his clothes and his sleeping pad with tee tee. So at 1am, Curt and Chris stripped Brown down in the freezing cold, changed his diaper, found new clothes, flipped the sleeping mattress over and tried to settle him down again. Well, he is not a still sleeper and kept waking up crying, moving around. This continued until about 4am when we decided to give up and go inside and put everyone to bed which is what happened. So Curt and Chris think that maybe this year is not the right one for camping with this age kids and maybe next year will be better. Even if we decided to tough it out, Curt thinks that no one else in the campground would get a good night's sleep listening to both kids scream alternatively through the night. Wouldn't exactly be fun for anyone. So this summer, anytime you hear us talking about a tent, you will know we are planning on “camping on the lawn.” It was so easy when Brown was 3months old and camping in the cold. What happened?

On another note, Joseay rolled over from her back to her front for the first time yesterday. Yep missed that one too (see last post)… Second children are so neglected…

Who said Madness?

2010-03-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who think march madness started today, you haven't been to our house lately. The last two weeks have seen fevers in both kids, ear infection, RSV, breathing treatments, tylenol, amoxil, nexium, ear drops, up all night (ok not new) as well as vomiting on the favorite non washable stuffed bear. So in the Chaffin household, the madness is subsiding for a while. Joseay is celebrating the first appearance by the mighty mighty terriers as you can clearly see above. Wofford you know.

We are sort of using this blog as our public babybook (there isn't a private one) so I expect the kids may one day peruse through some of these entries. So Joseay, if you are reading this, I am happy to report that yesterday, you rolled over for the first time. Rolling over is one of those fun milestones. It means you are strong enough to start actually moving yourself around. You are no longer an immobile blob, but locomotion has come to your world. It is a glorious event, one for which we have kept a camera handy for weeks so that we could capture the moment on film. Unfortunately, we missed it. I don't mean that we didn't get a picture of it, we didn't even see it. One minute you were on your stomach, laying there on the floor, then you were on your back. we weren't even in the room. Brown, if you are reading this, don't tell Joseay. She might start complaining that we are treating her like a typical second child, missing important milestones and not nearly so many pictures. We are trying, but wow, there is so much to do. Like watch you both smile at each other while you "help" her. Like riding you on my back. Like watching her smile. Like helping you dump your diaper contents in the toiled and seeing the amazement on your face (more later. Uh, maybe not...) Like making her laugh. Like dancing with you. So much to do... truly march madness continues.

First Joseay REAL laughs! :)

2010-02-26T07:53:00.001-08:00

Snow Writing

2010-02-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Well we have gone where many parents have gone before: We have about a thousand photos of Brown's early months, but only about 4 of Joseay so far. Terribly unfair, but true non-the-less. In a mid winter attempt at parity, we took advantage of the snow to recreate the snow writing that we did for Brown out in Utah. (see Dec 17, 2007 ) Luckily, an unusual storm allowed us to take care of this much closer to home. Brown enjoyed the snow or at least he enjoyed being out in it. I don't think he has ever voluntarily come inside.

Joseay continues to grow into herself and we are getting better at being her parents. She is sleeping much better at night, which means we are sleeping much better. The world (especially that world inside our 4 walls) looks much better with a handful of sleep. Thanks for all the encouragement over the last few weeks, and ignore just about anything we have said since November. We were sleep deprived and have no idea what we were saying/doing.

As you can see, she is growing well. People keep commenting on her double chin. They don't realize she also has a double thigh, double ankles...

Garbage Pals - following in my footsteps

2010-01-22T04:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was one of those defining moments – one of those images that will be in my mind for a long time. You hear parents talk about memories of their children that they will never forget, and I must say that yesterdays image is etched in my memory. Is it too early to say that sort of thing about something that happened less than 24 hours ago?

Brown had been cooped up way to long and he needed to get outside. So I took him out to move the trash can around to the front. I walked him out the back door, grabbed the big can and began rolling it around towards the front. He loves pulling that sort of thing around. I said “come help me with the trash can.” He heard me, looked at me and ran the other way. I was hoping that once I moved the trash can, he would come running to the sound, but after I moved a bit to the front of the house, I saw nothing. I better go see where he is. As I started toward the back of the house, I hear another loud rumble from behind the house. Not a scary loud, but a curious loud. And the next thing I see is Brown walking around the house trailing a smaller trash can that we keep the recyclables in. Now, what I had forgotten about, and what I have not yet told you is that Brown loves to drag the recyclable trash can around the driveway. As soon as he saw dad get the big trash can, he thought, it is time to go get my trash can.

So with a huge smile on my face, I turned back to the trash can, proceeded to walk to the road knowing that he was right behind me with his can. Of course it was empty and I had to go back and get it later. But that vision is still clear in my mind, of him proudly following his father, trash can in tow to take the trash out.

Our last month in pictures...

2010-01-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Wow. It is REALLY hard to keep this blog thing happening with 2 kids. I have been wanting to write on here for weeks and just can't squeeze enough time out of the day. I thought I could at least upload some pictures to represent our last month or so since I have been slacking off on this. Time is precious these days. In a nutshell, Brown turned 2 in December. This is a picture of his daddy licking the cake icing off of his fingers. We celebrated with his cousins over at our house eating cake and opening presents, which he has really never done. He is totally digging the unwrapping thing, now. He actually hit someone for the first time - his cousin, Ella. She swiped a new truck out of his hand (a couple of times) that he was pretty excited about opening. It was chaos. He was exhausted - past bedtime. And there it was... 2 punches to her arm. It was time to put him to bed.

This has pretty much been our last 2 months or so. Crying, puking, holding... therefore, no blogging.

Bathtime for the kiddos. Is it just me, or does Curt look tired?

Cousin Keely holding her "1st cousin Joseay".
Santa's little helper (when she wasn't crying)

She has been doing better the last couple of days, and she even snuggled up for a little nap on Curt, today. It has been hard for her to be content because of her reflux and ... who knows... colic? Satan? Not sure what has been making her scream bloody murder, but it is definitely getting a little better every week, so we are thankful.

Someone noticed how few (none) pictures we have around our house of Joseay at this point. Pictures of her screaming and crying just haven't been the ones I've been wanting to blow up and frame lately. But there have been more of these moments the last few days so I thought I should start documenting them.

Brown had a somewhat hard time adjusting the first few weeks of Joseay's existence. But now he gives her several kisses a day and actually started crying last night when I was shipping her off with a babysitter for the evening.

Is (Manly) Christmas over?

2009-12-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

Joseay is doing much better now – she has transitioned from the continual scream phase to the just-scream-sometimes phase with frequent spitting up. We can handle this phase. Not sure how long we could have endured the previous phase. Hopefully that is behind us now. She is getting big with rolls of fat and is nearly unrecognizable if you havene’t seen her since her first week of life. When she goes to her nursery reunion, she won’t have to wear shades to be incognito.

Brown had his first episode of croup last night which was not exactly fun, but he seems to be none the worse for wear. He has had lots of fun playing outside in this freezing weather which may explain some of the croup.

Our Christmas traditions are just getting off the ground for our family. We have the tree cutting with the Ernest hatchet (see http://brown-chaffin.blogspot.com/2008/12/hatchet.html ), trimming the tree, the Misfit party, and of course lots of food with lots of family. I don’t consider myself a city boy, but I didn’t exactly grow up on a farm. I am always envious when I hear of people who grew up in the country and spent the holidays with family, where the men would get up early to go quail hunting with the dogs. It always seemed like such a great bonding/family/tradition time. The men being manly, braving the frosty air, crunching through the ice in search of their prey. Each man with his son, showing him the rules of the woods, how to shoot a gun, how to respect the land and the game, how to train a puppy to be a hunting dog.

With this in mind, I have been looking forward to taking Brown out on cold frosty walks in the woods during the Christmas holidays to share manly insights with him. I thought I would capture our first such walk with a picture. Here it is:

Yes, that is Brown, with his cousin’s manly pink stroller that he loves and has just about worn the wheels off of as he goes up and down the street, pushing it and laughing with glee to see the pink sparkles and hear the turn of the wheels. He especially loves going to the top of the hill and then watching it roll back down. At least there are woods in the background and he is out in the frosty cold. And no animals were harmed in the writing of this post.

Ah well, new generations, new traditions. Merry Christmas one and all.

2

2009-12-11T07:21:00.001-08:00

Brown is two years old today. Last night, as I was carrying him from our reading spot in the rocker to his crib, it struck me again what a young boy he is. He has lost much of that baby fat and is beginning to run more like a boy than a toddler. His expressions of his wants and desires are becoming more vehement as are his protests when he is not thrilled with what we are asking him to do. Having a small infant in the house to contrast has been interesting in pointing out just how much development has taken place in the last couple of years. Trying to cradle that 35 pound boy like a baby is laughable, but I will continue to do it in the evening as long as he will let me. Which may be only tomorrow.

Speaking of prayer (nice transition), prayer I think is poorly understood by most people, especially me. We Christians like to sit around, tell each other what we are going to pray about, then begin the prayer as if God wasn’t listening until we directly addressed him. Quite humorous. We don’t generally have altars at which we spend much time on our knees in prayer. I have heard parents of teenagers say that “you will never pray harder than when you have teenagers” and that maybe so. My experience is only with my younger kids, but I would echo the sentiment. Children drive us to prayer. I think it is because we recognize how vulnerable they are, they could so easily get sick, or have and accident, or choose the wrong path, or…or… We see their vulnerability so easily. God must laugh that we see how much prayer we direct at kids because of their obvious need of God’s guidance, but don’t recognize that need in ourselves. So in this way in my life, God seems to be using Brown and Joseay to teach me a course about prayer. Glad He has several years to teach this course as I have much to learn. But through my introductory course, God has shown me that there is no better altar to pray over than a sleeping child. The love, the desire for protection, the recognition of vulnerability drives me to prayer repeatedly.
May the joy of Advent fill our homes as we see again how much a Father can love us through a young child knowing the sacrifice that would be made.

Gratefully Exhausted

2009-12-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

What time is it? How long has it been since the last feed? Are we out of diapers again? Are there any dry burp clothes? Ok, not dry, how about if there are some that are just damp and not soaked? Ok, then how about just a somewhat clean tshirt of the floor? No the one under the Cheerios. Is that diaper on inside out? Which one of the kids smells? Is that me? How long has she been screaming? Did I tell you I dreamed about her screaming last night? How old is she now? Is this colic? Should we change formula? Am I supposed to be at work today? Which office? Do we have any clean bottles? Remember when we used to take showers regularly?

In case you have never had small kids or have conveniently forgotten (like we obviously had), this catches you up on the conversation in our house for the past month. For those of you who talked to us or came by recently, I want to apologize for our whining. We probably dwelt on the small and fleeting issue of no sleep, and almost entirely neglected the huge point of what a blessing it is to have Joseay in our house. We have been like kids who have begged and begged to go to the park, and then complained because the slide is too steep. One day ( I hope very soon ) we will look back and think how interesting it was to be up at 4am having some alone time with our growing child (9 pounds now if her neck rolls and our home scale are to be believed). We are grateful. In fact, we have begun to use the phrase “gratefully exhausted” to describe our state of mind right now. Lord, help us to recognize the amazing gifts that you are raining down on us constantly and to quit complaining about getting wet in that glorious rain.

2009 Christmas Tree Cutting

2009-12-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

We are old. Wimpy and tired. At least I have caffeine to get me through the days. Curt can't have caffeine because of migraines, so I don't know how he is functioning. My life is mostly on caffeine autopilot. Feels kind of fake, but it is working.

Joseay is doing better every day. We started her on zantac for reflux/heartburn issues a few days ago. It was just a shot in the dark, but it seems to be helping with what seemed to be digestive issues that were causing intense screaming fits. Needless to say, we are quite relieved that those fits are subsiding. I think Brown is starting to like her more too now that she is not crying as much. He kept kissing a picture of her today, which was very cute. He's not a big fan of kissing her actual head, but doesn't mind kissing her picture now, at least. We tried to put them together on the couch a few days ago for a photo opp and you can see the results below. He was trying to get out of there as fast as he could. Look how sad Joseay looks in the second picture!

Anyway, things are good around here, but we just feel kind of worthless. Many friends have cooked meals over the last many weeks which has been SO helpful and we really appreciate it. Curt actually made the comment to his friend yesterday that he has been so tired that this weekend he bailed out on going to a Christmas party, bailed on church, and even bailed on bathing. Pretty pathetic, eh? :)

We had a really fun day yesterday when we went to cut down our Christmas tree. Brown loved being able to run freely through the trees and kept running off to explore on his own, with some hide and seek with daddy in between. I carried Joseay in the Ergo and she quite enjoyed the experience, too. She wasn't very helpful in helping us pick out the tree, but I guess we'll cut her some slack this year.

They found it... the perfect tree.

Typical Parents of a Second Child

2009-11-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

So yes... we are taking fewer pictures of Joseay and blogging less. BUT... we have an excuse. She has been killing us the last couple of weeks. I would have put money down that she was for sure going to have colic. She would scream in pain a LOT of the time when she wasn't asleep. Good times. It was definitely wearing on us as we were trying to figure out ways to make her feel better in the midst of our sleep deprivation. Well, we switched her to Soy Formula a few days ago and it has been slightly miraculous! I am in heaven. Now THIS is fun! This is how I remember a newborn being - sweet, cuddly, sleepy. Good stuff.

Brown has also finally started taking an interest in his sister. Especially when I told him today that she has a belly button, too. That's what we are pointing to in one of the pictures. He had a rough first couple of weeks with her around, but I think he's finally caught on that he's still our favorite boy and he will still get attention - ESPECIALLY with this beautiful soy calming her down. WAHOOOoooo!
My favorite!

It's hard to find hats to fit that tiny head!

Bleh!!!

2009-11-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

Chubby 6 Pounder!

2009-11-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well... first of all, OK, OK, you were right. We are having a hard time keeping this blog as up to date as we did for the first child. So there. You were right. So here is a quick update. I took Joseay to her 2 week pediatrician appt yesterday for the official weigh in. WAHOO! She has gained a whole pound since birth!!! The pediatrician was VERY impressed. She's a good eater, that one.
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I also wanted to include my very favorite homemade card we have received. This is from the daughter of one of Curt's nurses. "Hip Hip Hooray! It's a girl!" I love the detailed caricatures of each of us. Curt looks like a preacher man screaming the gospel in his black robe. And I look like the lady on the TBN network (right after I got my lip augmentation).

I love this! Thank you, Allyson!

Nothing mushy... just cute pictures of Brown

2009-11-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

Every time I think about writing a blog entry, I just feel too overwhelmed so I don't do it. I was just staring at Joseay after I finished feeding her. She was fast asleep with a little drop of milk on her bottom lip. She looked SO CUTE! I just kept staring at her and thinking... I can't believe you are my daughter. It's just wild. But I don't want to get into all of that mushiness right now. I really need to be sleeping instead of posting anything on the blog. This is not smart, because she will be waking me up in about 84 minutes to eat again.

BUT... I had to post these pictures of Brown. He was taking a bath the other night and he was just precious. I felt like he was getting ready for a little date or something... getting suddsy, combing his hair. He LOVES combing his hair and brushing his teeth. So funny.

the finished product...

And not to be left out, this is a picture of Curt rewarding Joseay with milk after her sponge bath today that she wasn't a huge fan of.

What a great day!!!

2009-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

If you ever followed the "Brown Blog", you probably picked up on the fact that my (chris's) parents just aren't "baby people." I've always known that. Ask any adult who has ever taken their children into their Barker's jewelry store in Louisiana. There were no babies curling up on those laps. Now, to clarify, Curt's mom and dad are all about the grandbabies and keeping them and baby sitting all the time. Well... you CAN teach old dogs new tricks.

My parents are suckers for this baby. And they are the ultimate suckers for Brown. They have already been a huge help for me as I am trying to get used to this two child thing. While I am feeding Joseay and trying to keep her awake for more than 6 minute intervals so we can fatten her up, they are playing hard with Brown outside and wearing him out. I can hear my mom howling laughing in the other room right now at whatever Brown is doing to make her laugh. My dad just told her to stop laughing so hard so she doesn't have a heart attack. They eat this boy up. And... don't tell them I said this, but they are SLIGHTLY becoming "baby people" with this cute little 4 pounder in the house. She is such a little cutie! We are staying with my parents this week while Curt has had to go back to work. It has been great. They play and help, and I get to play and look at my kids. KidS. Wow... plural. I still can't believe it.

Anyway... it's not like there are a lot of new events happening. Besides the fact that Joseay is getting cuter every hour, there really isn't a lot to report. I'll attach a couple of pictures, but again... it's not like Joseay is doing much but hanging out. Sleeping. Eating. Sleeping. Cutening. etc.

Curt's mom (Nana) and Joseay

Brown Meets Joseay (video)

2009-11-09T04:03:00.000-08:00

We wanted to capture Brown's expression when we introduced him to his new baby sister. It's a pretty uneventful video, but I love his blank stare as he is checking her out. I also love how my mom shoved her hat down over her nose and mouth when she was trying to put her hat back on for me. But my favorite part is at the very end when I put Joseay down on the couch right up next to Brown and he pushes his arm against her to get her away from him. Hilarious! Sorry buddy... she's going to up in your grill for the rest of your life!

Did this really just happen?

2009-11-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

To say that this has been the most intense, dramatic, unreal month of our lives is really an understatement. In the last 30 days, we have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows of our lives. 30 days. It has been packed. And it has ended on the sweetest, most unexpected note we could imagine. Yesterday we received a call from our adoption attorney that there was a baby that had been born the day before, and the birth mother wanted to meet us. So a few hours later we drove to the hospital to meet her. It went really well and she said that she thought we were a good match for her baby. And... that was it! We picked up the baby girl from the hospital today and here we are... sitting on the couch together. Snuggling. Looking. Staring. Wondering if we are going to wake up from this dream. So surreal. Wonderful. She is beautiful. Tiny. So petite. Precious dimple in her chin. This is crazy! I can't believe that this just happened to us. We have been waiting... dreaming of this moment. And it's here. And I just can't believe it's real.

We are so happy. Thankful. Undeserving of this sweet little thing. Brown is very curious. It is too cute! When we brought her in, he couldn't stop staring at her. No smile. No frown. Just staring at her... wondering who she was and having no clue about how she was going to completely rock his little world. After the initial shock, he was very sweet and kept handing us her milk for her. So cute. I am about to feed her and then get a couple of hours of sleep before the next feeding tonight.

Thank you for being a part of this insane adventure with us. Thank you for weeping with us when we wept, and now rejoicing with us as we are overcome with joy... and the realization that we aren't going to wake up from a dream. This is real. This is our family. We can't wait for you to meet Joseay Rebekah Chaffin.

(have you ever seen Curt look so happy!?!)

We are happy to be able to give her our family names. Joseay is a combination of Chris's dad and grandfather who are both named Joseph, and Curt's grandfather who is named Seay. It sounds like Jo-See. We know, we know... but she'll get used to it.