Pool Day!

My parents left today for their Mediterranean cruise and they will be gone for what feels like FOREVER! I was so sad for them to go - I have come to rely on my mom so much during the day for company, advice, etc.

So...to cheer up after they headed out, I spent the day with Staci & her mom also known as Grammy Lu to Chase :) We had a great time hanging out in the pool, enjoying the sun, wine, Chase & good friendship! I love that after nearly 15 years of friendship, Staci & I are closer than we ever have been, only now in a much more mature way than when we were younger. We are so fortunate to have our friendship, and our relationships with each other's moms. Life is good :)

Three Months Old!

Chase turned 3 months old on Sunday - where has the time gone?! He has changed so much in three months, and I am finding that as each day goes by we have more & more fun with him!

Here are some fun pictures - took us awhile to get the pictures we wanted due to sleep, spit up & a little bit of grumpiness :)

Packing..Packing..Packing

We are just over two weeks away from our move to the new house! We have spent the last few days assembling boxes, getting moving company estimates and emptying cabinets. I am happy to report that I have stayed in my new "less is more" frame of mind and was able to get rid of a lot of unnecessary things in the house! My mom helped the last couple of days and we got the entire kitchen packed with the exception of a few random things that we will need over the next two weeks. I've moved a ridiculous amount of times over the last 10 years, and thought I had become quite the pro at packing. Turns out that having a baby & packing is MUCH HARDER than without...we get settled into a packing groove and that is about when Chase decides he would like my undivided attention.

Today we do the dining room & living room and Matt will work on the basement & attic. It is amazing how much more stuff we have now then when we moved in several years ago. It's also amazing to see where life has taken us during that time - we've had wedding showers, wedding, baby showers & Chase...no wonder we have so much more!

I am really excited to get into the new house and start the next chapter of our lives as a family, but I will always hold a special place for this house in my heart. It was the house that we mourned the loss of Jessie in by filling it with friends & family for weeks on end to comfort us, it was the flip cup party house, the wedding prep house with all of our wedding stuff laid out across the dining room, it was the house I spent my pregnancy in and the house we brought our baby home from the hospital in. We said goodbye to an old friend when we lost our dog Jake here, and we raised a new one by having Archie grow up here (and have the chewed edges to fix to prove it!). While the neighborhood around this house has changed and no longer fits our lives, the inside has always remained the same and it holds many wonderful memories of several of the best years of my life. I feel like moving out of here is a graduation of sorts...and now we are on to bigger & better things.

Most of all..I will miss the gorgeous blue hydrangea bush that blooms every June to let me know that summer has arrived.

Now, enough procrastinating. Off to pack!! Happy Saturday!

Happy Father's Day!

This past weekend we celebrated Matt's first Father's Day, and I don't think there has ever been a more deserving new daddy!

The weekend started with the fulfillment of a long standing wish of Matt's - a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with TRIPLE the normal amount of fudge & chocolate crunchies in the middle of the cake! He was in heaven!

On Saturday, we had tickets to go to the Phillies game that Kayla gave to Matt for Father's Day, so Chase & I gave Matt Phillies related new gifts. He got a new yard flag & grill cover for our new house along with a stuffed Phanatic mascot (really for Chase!) and Phillies cups that we used for tailgating. We left Chase for the longest we ever have - 10 hours! - and had a great time at the game. It was nice to do something as grown ups for the day, but we were so excited to get home to our favorite little guy!


On Sunday morning we went to Event's Etc for brunch, which is where my baby shower was held. Matt LOVES their breakfast food there, so it was a special treat for him. We also gave him the rest of his gifts:

From me - cufflinks with his initials engraved in them. I had given Matt these exact same ones for our wedding, but somehow he had lost them. So now he has them as a reminder of his first Father's Day!

From Chase - a picture frame that said "Best Buddies, Daddy & Chase" with a cute pic of the two of them. They really are best buddies!


From both of us - a new firepit for the patio at the new house! It was an IOU since the last thing I wanted in the house was one more thing to pack, but Matt is so excited to have it when we move.

It was a really great weekend spent celebrating the best daddy in the whole entire world! A little boy has never been so lucky! I am so in love with my two favorite guys - Life is so good!




Can't forget a special shout out to Grampy for his first Father's Day as a grandfather!

Jumperoo!

We got Chase a Jumperoo this week because he has been really into standing up & bouncing around...he wasn't too sure what to think at first, but loves smiling & talking to the rainforest animals attached to the top while he learns to bounce around. We had to prop his feet underneath because he is a little short for it yet, but I think it will be a favorite toy in no time...

Bathtime Fun

I've been having problems with uploading videos on here, and I'm not sure why so it may take awhile to get some of the cute new videos we have taken loaded! For now, I will share some still pictures of our growing boy!

Here is a picture of Chase from bathtime the other night - we are so blessed that he rarely has long periods of crying & general grumpiness. Don't get me wrong - sometimes, he is just a grump, but when we end the day with smiles and happy bathtime, it makes me feel like we must be doing at least something right!

Semi-Charmed Kind of Life

I've been slacking with my blogging...so let me start off with apologies for that! It seems like life is racing by. I'm going to try and catch up with a few posts tonight!

To cap off the beach trip, here are a few pictures that we took our last night at the beach. I love these pictures because I feel they really capture the sentiment of my life right now - especially the one of just me & Chase. It is so incredible to be at a place in life where you really have a hard time coming up with many complaints - we are healthy & happy, are moving into a beautiful home, have a fantastic family & group of friends, a great marriage, stable & good jobs, and most importantly, we have a little baby who seems to brighten the day of every person he comes in contact with. It gives me such joy to see the smiles on other peoples faces when they interact with my little boy...I hope he is always able to spread such infectious light & happiness on others.

Today was a perfect summer day, complete with chicken on the grill, corn on the cob and lemonade while watching the Phillies game on tv - I don't think it gets much better than this <3

A lot of firsts this week!

Our vacation to Stone Harbor contained a lot of "firsts" for Chase - his first time at the beach, crossing state lines, hotel stay, etc, but it also included a "first" for Matt & I! For the first time since last July we went out to a bar and also had a date night without the baby!

We went out on Sunday night with Chip & Ally to Fred's Tavern and another bar in Stone Harbor and had a great time. Once I was out, my anxiety level was manageable and we were able to enjoy 2 hours out having a good time without the baby! Then on Thursday night, Matt & I had a date night and we went out to dinner & ice cream. It was great to spend the time just the two of us without baby talk! Thanks to Nana Krn for watching him both times - though he slept the ENTIRE time we were gone!