Pictures from past weekends

There's not much to report about this week. Still waiting for the closing to happen so we can move! The loan officer is hoping for Tuesday...although he said last week he was 100% postive we would close this Friday. Chase and I have been hanging out, going to our usual stores (Babies "R" Us and Target). Our poor little friend Cohen has been very ill since Sunday night at the cabin so we haven't had a chance to spend time with him. We are sad for him and pray every night for his recovery! Anyway, here are pictures from our trip to Cabela's and to the cabin:


Simba!

I like this picture, they are both just staring at the fish together, having some daddy-son bonding time



After we looked at fish, this is what Jason did the next weekend at the cabin:

Josh holding his fish...don't worry, they threw all the fish back in the pond...though I'm sure having a hook in your mouth was still a little traumatizing...
And here is a picture of our cabin I stole from my friend Lindsay's blog. Her family came along with us to the cabin. It rained the whole time with a few breaks in the clouds here and there but we pretty much stayed in the cabin the whole time. We enjoyed Rock Band, some movies (27 Dresses and National Treasure 2) and the girls talked most of the time, since all 3 of us are at home all day with babies! It was great to have some girl time. And Lindsay and McKay will def have to come again soon when the weather is sunny and warm so we can go to Jackson Hole and lay by the pool! Oh, and I didn't get my massage...way too pricey up there!

Happy Memorial Day!

Surprise, we didn't close again so we are off to the cabin to enjoy Memorial Day Weekend! Of course, it's going to be cloudy with a 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms the whole time we are in Idaho. I was really hoping to walk around Jackson Hole but we will see if the weather allows it. But I'm fine staying in the cabin playing games and watching movies and getting a massage or facial at the spa.

The lender says he is 100% positive we will close this Wednesday. I am rolling my eyes at that but it will be a miracle if we do! I've learned not to get my hopes up but I will be estactic if we actually do close.

I have tons of pictures to post of little Chase and we actually got some family pictures this past weekend when we took Chase to Cabela's to show him the aquarium. When we went to the urgent care clinic for his herpangina a month or so ago, there was a fish tank there and he was just enthralled with it! He forgot his pain for a little bit and stopped crying so he could stare at the fish. I can't wait to take him to the real aquarium...I can't wait till we get a real aquarium, right now it's just a small preview one and the real one is going to be built in the next few years.

I hope you all enjoy your day off! I would be selfish if I didn't show my appreciation for all of our wonderful armed forces, past and present, for all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears they put into protecting our freedom. And thanks personally to my husband, who served in the army for a few years back in the day. Though I have to admit, I am so glad he's not in it anymore!

Hand Sanitizers and Tires

I bet that headline grabbed your attention! There is no relation between hand sanitizers and tires, I have just been watching the news and 20/20 alot and I really wanted to share what I've learned, it's very useful, and maybe even lifesaving, information...

Let's start with hand sanitizers. On our local news there was a study researching 10 different brands of hand sanitizers, all of which promised to kill 99.99% of germs. They did the tests using 6th graders to determine how much bacteria was left on the hands after using these different brands of hand sanitizers. And what they found was that very few of these brands actually do kill 99% of germs. And don't we all want clean hands? Especially after touching those Wal-mart carts! So here are the results. The 2 brands that actually killed 99% of germs as promised are:

• Walgreens brand
• Delta brand (I have never heard of this one)

Germ-X killed between 80-90%. And Purell, the kind I used to trust most, killed just 79% of bacteria on the hands. Looks like I will be switching to the Walgreens brand! And for those of you that like the Bath and Body Works Brand, the gel kills 98% of germs while the foam only kills 8%. So, go for the gel.

Now on to what I learned about tires from 20/20. Tires do not have an expiration date/shelf life and when you walk into a tire store and pick out new tires you are probably thinking they are brand new. In reality, the tire you are buying may actually be a few years old or more. Even though the tire may have perfect tread and has never been taken off the shelf and used, it is actually very dangerous to buy one of these tires. These "brand new" yet old tires are responsible for many blowouts, accidents, and deaths on the road. I can't exactly remember what makes the tires so dangerous, I think it had something to do with the rubber changing over time. I'll have to google it when I have time.

So, how do you know how old that tire really is that you are buying? If you check out your tires, you will notice a long list of numbers on them. The date the tire was manufactured is the last set of numbers, shown as the week and year the tire was made. So the number 4002 means that the tire was manufactured the 40th week of the year 2002. 2407 means the 24th week of 2007. 404 means the 40th week of 1994 (hopefully you don't buy a tire that old!). Before you agree to buy a tire please check when it was manufactured! This could save you a future car accident, one that typically results in death.

Oh the Frustration!

May has gone by so fast but there isn't much to report here. We were supposed to close today but surprise, that didn't happen! Now our lender is saying Wednesday. I do not like that man one bit. He has been postponing the closing for the past 2 weeks because he isn't doing his job and getting stuff done. So who knows what will happen. Next week we were planning on going up to the cabin in Idaho but now if we close Wednesday, we won't be able to go because we have to move instead. I have given up on packing for now. I don't want to be living out of boxes for who knows how long!

Because we keep thinking we are going to move any day, Chase and I have just been doing a lot of hanging out at home. I figure there is no point in doing any kind of shopping if we just have to move whatever we buy. We've been going to lunch with a few friends each week and hanging out alot with our pal Meghan so it's been nice to catch up with her. We haven't been able to spend a lot of time together the past 8 months or so and now her husband has been out of town so we have been getting together lots! Chase just loves his Meghan. She even babysat for us last weekend so Jason and I could go on an actual date, our first date since the baby came. I look forward to more of those.

I also had a fantastic Mother's Day. Jason got up with Chase in the morning (although he brought him into our room so I couldn't sleep in anyway, they were noisy boys!) and pretty much took care of him all day. I relaxed in bed most of the day and we went up to walk around our new house. We hope we actually get to live in it someday. Jason surprised me with a white gold locket that has 3 diamonds on it and some teeth whitener (Celebrity Sexy Smile). I haven't noticed a huge change in my teeth yet but have only been using it a few days.

It was 80 degrees here today! I took Chase to the park and we met our friends Michelle and Raelene as well as their babies. I put him in the baby swing and he was just lounging in it. He actually fell asleep! He would wake up and cry if the swing slowed down but as soon as I gave him another big push he was back asleep. I didn't have my camera but my friend took a picture of it so I will post it soon.

Jason won a Jazz ticket from work to the playoff game tonight against the Lakers. He went with the other guys from work who also won tickets. I am just relaxing tonight. I wish I had rented a girl movie!

What We Had for Dinner

I got this recipe for pork tacos using pork that is very similar to Cafe Rio's. It was very tasty so I thought I'd share it, especially for those who aren't living close to a Cafe Rio right now...

Place a 2-lb pork tenderloin in a crock pot along with 20 oz (or 2 1/2 cups) of Coke. Cook for several hours until the meat is able to be shredded (I cooked mine for 6 hours). Shred the meat, drain most of the juice and add:

• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 cup barbeque sauce
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1 1/4 cup sugar (this makes the pork really sweet. if you don't want your pork that sweet, i would add only 3/4 cup sugar)

Cook for another hour in the crock pot. When it's done, fry up some tortillas (I used the small corn tortillas and put a small drop of oil in the pan each time I fried one up) then sprinkle lots of parmesan cheese on the tortilla. Add your favorite taco condiments (lettuce, sour cream, cheddar cheese, salsa, we even like cottage cheese on our tacos)

Enjoy! This was so easy to make. I love recipes where I just throw stuff into the pot, walk away, and let the crockpot do it's magic!

Happy 5 months old!

Chase turned 5 months old on April 30. He is growing so fast. But it is such a fun age. It sure beats his newborn months when he would cry all the time! Now he rarely cries (as I breathe a looong sigh of relief!). He has even stopped crying when he wakes up in his crib. He just makes noise until I come get him. Unfortunately though, he is still getting up once a night to eat. I am going to work very hard this week to break this habit. I am decreasing the ounces he drinks at night every few days until I reach zero ounces and I have stopped feeding him right before bed. If you feed them right before bed, they supposedly become used to the idea of eating in order to fall asleep and that is why they wake up to eat at night, they think they need to eat in order to fall sleep again. Hopefully it works well! Here are his stats from 4 months of age:

• Height: 25 3/4 in. (75th percentile)
• Weight: 15 lbs 9 0z (60th percentile)
• Head: 42 1/2 cm (50th percentile)

And here are some pictures of him from the past month:

He loves sitting up by himself in this chair!

Finally, a picture with his mom
Our first attempt at eating solids...
It did not go so well. He wouldn't open his mouth for the spoon and just started crying like I was torturing him. Since you aren't supposed to force feed them, they are supposed to want to eat, I gave up for a few weeks after trying unsuccessfully for a few days to feed him. He just wasn't ready yet...

He loves his monkey daddy bought him
I often find him in this half rolled over position now
He loves looking at himself in the mirror! I don't blame him, he is one handsome boy!
Our second attempt at feeding him solids. It went much better. He opened his mouth for the spoon 3 times. I think most of the food came out of his mouth, I don't know if he actually swallowed any. But we are making progress! This time I tried bananas instead of rice cereal. I read that babies may like bananas better as a first food because they are sweeter and are still a low allergy food.

Did the closing happen?

NO! I am so annoyed. For the past 2 weeks, our lender has been saying that the closing of our new house on May 2 looked good and would most likely take place. Then yesterday morning he tells us it would be another week, possibly 2 weeks, before we can close! I was so excited to get out of here and finally be rid of these neighbors! (particularly the trashy ones next door and rude ones behind us) I suppose in a way it's a good thing, we had movers come to our house yesterday and give us an estimate and it's a lot more than we were planning on. So we are now packing and moving ourselves. At least we now have a week or more to get packed. Cross your fingers for us that the closing will actually happen next Friday!

I took Chase to the doctor today and the blisters on his soft palate are gone, though it is still a little red and swollen. I am so glad that's over with. Now he has this terrible cold and cough but that's easier to handle than herpangina. He is still a happy baby when he has a cold. He was also weighed and according to the scale, he weighs 17 lbs 9 0z. That seems a little much to me. He was weighed on Sunday at the urgent care clinic too and was 16 lbs 12 oz just 5 days ago. He is gaining weight like crazy! I do hope it slows down soon, otherwise we may have a 60 lb 1-year old.