4th, Reunion, and the Bel Air

We've been busy lately with summer activities. I love summer, and it feels like it's almost half over. Time has never gone by so quickly for me, as it has since Lil' Chief was born. Crazy. Get ready for a picture filled post. Were documenting memories here at Big Chief Little Chief, one blog post at at time.

It was a low key 4th of July; we went to my parents house for an afternoon BBQ and swimming. We came home to pack (didn't get very far), and were going to go into town to watch the fireworks, but didn't feel like dragging Michael out of bed. I'm so glad we didn't. Kyle and I grabbed some chairs and a blanket and watched the fireworks going off around town from our backyard. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the reflection on the river from the lights in the sky. We are out far enough, and up high enough that we had a perfect view of both firework shows, as well as people who set them off from their house. I've always been afraid of fireworks, maybe it's because one time a firework backfired on my uncles and came screaming straight for me and burnt my back. I'd much rather watch the real deal.

On Saturday we went up north to my birthplace for a family reunion. It was good to see family, and afterwards we went to my grandparents farm. I haven't been their during the summer in a while. Their garden is HUGE and pristine. They could feed 80 families with it. They also have a big swimming pond, and at any given time there are at least 3 carloads of people there.

Today I fed Michael some avocado. He loves the stuff. About two hours later I fed him a bottle. Well, I was getting ready to put him down for a nap and all the sudden he started projectile vomiting. It went EVERYWHERE. So disgusting. I can't even explain to you how bad it was. It was covering me from head to toe and it was green chunky nastiness. Not to mention I had just fed him $6 dollars worth of bottle. So, I'm covered, he's covered, and so is the carpet all the way from his bed to the bathroom. Then it got all over his baby scale, a freshly folded basket of laundry, and the door...among other things. I couldn't believe that two hours later he still hadn't digested his food yet. Then, I had to feed him another whole bottle because he was hungry. He did this same thing last week with the projectile vomiting, but this was much worst.

Besides that though, he is so good. I can't believe how happy he is. He really is such a good baby. His favorite word lately is Momma. He loves to say it, especially when he wants out of his crib. I have to admit, I love hearing it. Michael loves to explore, especially when it comes to putting things in his mouth. If there is anything remotely bite size, and it's left out, it will be in his mouth. At my grandparents house he chocked on a nutshell. He started throwing up, and I realized he had the shell in his mouth!

Tonight the people upstairs asked if we wanted to go to the country store in their Bel Air. Cars back then didn't have seat belts, so Michael was able to ride freestyle in the Bel Air, and it was perfectly legal. He was in hog heaven for the two hour trip. I often wish that we didn't have to deal with car seats and seat belts, but don't worry, I do. We drove to the country store, got some homemade ice cream, and then took a long drive in the country. Nothing makes me happier than that.

I told you there would be lots of pictures.....

Summer

All good things must come to an end....we're moving. I am so sad, but so grateful that we were able to live here for the time that we did. I am in LOVE with this place. Who wouldn't be? Every day and every night I look out to the river and can't believe this is where we live. I'm going to miss being secluded out here in the country. I've also converted Kyle to country life. We have looked high and low the past couple of months for a place close to where we live, but nothing has come up. When we couldn't find anything out here, we decided to look in town for something in our ward boundaries, and we also couldn't find anything for rent in our ward. We love our ward too, and are very, very sad to leave after only living there for 10 months. It just seems that we started to get to know people, and now we have to leave. I'm especially sad that Kyle has to leave his calling. The kids really like him, and he really likes them too.

So my days will now be filled with packing, throwing away stuff that I don't need, and trying to keep Michael out of everything. We are moving to a town home, and will rent it until we buy a house. The lady is flexible on our contract, which will be perfect for us. I am so ready to quit paying rent. I've been paying rent for 8 years. I don't even want to calculate how much money I've put into rent.

Speaking of the little guy, here is an update. He learned to say Mama and Dadda in the same day and I don't even think I taught it to him. He picked up on it by himself. He says it all the time now. He's even starting to say Babba for his bottle. I'm really struggling with what to feed him. Fruits and Veggies don't have very many calories in them, and you can only feed him so many cheerios and kix. I made some dairy free bread for him the other day, but he doesn't eat it too much. He does seem to like potatoes. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I take him to the allergist next week, and hope to come home with some answers.


Kyle's sister and her family surprised us at 6 am on Saturday morning with a phone call and told us they'd be at our house in 40 minutes. Can you say, panic attack?! I made Kyle get out of bed and hurried to clean things up. Too bad I didn't have time to stock up the cupboards, but I think it worked out. We had TONS of fun with them here. They stayed for the day and then headed to Utah. Kyle had a friend in town to go four wheeling, so they took the kids on a ride; it was an action packed weekend. Luckily my mom and dad have a pool, so we all just headed over there and went swimming. I LOVE the heat.

The Tale of Two Teeth

The other night while at TJ Maxx I found this outfit (see photoshoot above). I don't think I've ever seen Kyle so excited as when we put it on him and it fit...kind of. I found this same one a few months ago, but the only size they had was for 2 years (we still bought it). This one is still a little big, but maybe that's the point.

After MONTHS of teething, Lil' Chief has finally cut two teeth today, and the days not even over! Who knows maybe he'll have three by tonight. We went to the doctor and he's still in the 10th percentile for weight (he gained two pounds though), and he needs to get back up to where he was pre-allergies, which was the 50th percentile. So....I'm done nursing, and we're going to go straight on the hypo-allergenic, hypo-expensive formula. Pray for lots of samples! Do you know what this means? Mommy gets to EAT AGAIN!!! I'm going to gradually take him off nursing, so hopefully by the beginning of next week I'll be able to eat normally again. One thing this diet has taught me is I can do without butter, sour cream, processed foods (s0y), chocolate and many, many other things. Moderation in all things.

The doctor said he'll have a hard time gaining weight because of how active-I call it hyper-he is. Seriously, he doesn't stop moving for one second.

8 Months

Holy Smokes, I can't believe Michael is already 8 months old today. Before I know it, he'll be 8 years old. Michael is so much fun; I can hardly stand it. He is an extremely happy baby, and is always laughing. I can learn a lot from him...seriously. Speaking of standing, for the past few weeks he's been pulling himself up in his crib, and he pulls up to everything and anything. He is still teething, yet no teeth have popped through. His allergies are worst then ever. I was hoping they would start to trail off and he'd be allergy free by one year, but pretty sure that's not happening. I've been very good with my diet of no dairy/no soy, but will be very glad when it's over. Butter, sour cream, ice cream, skim milk, chili, bread, and many, many other things have been absent from my diet for almost 4 months now and I crave them daily. Yesterday I decided to take Michael for a walk outside. Big mistake. There was a very slight breeze, but it was enough to get his allergies going and by the time we were home his eyes were practically swollen shut and watering, his nose was running, and he wasn't happy. I learned my lesson.

If you look very closely, you can see some hair on his head.....I said VERY closely. Good thing he's a boy because I don't think he'll have a full head of hair for a couple of years. Also, check out the excitement on his face in the picture below. He is doing his classic nose scrunch, snort, laughing face. Love it!I "caught" him reading the other day. He was actually flipping the pages! I know what you're thinking....he's so advanced for his age. Thanks, we think the same thing.
Tonight we are going with some friends to Hogs and Dawgs (motorcycle show), and then to Cool Desert Nights (a classic car show). Only problem is I know that after tonight Kyle will start talking to me about fixing up his and his brother's '64 Impala, and he'll want to buy a street bike. Sorry buddy, ain't happenin'!

Big Chief

Today Kyle's at Fathers and Sons...without his son, maybe next year I'll send Michael, maybe. Kyle is such a good dad. Pretty sure he'll be our kids favorite. He loves playing with Michael (as well as anyone else's kids), absolutely loves it. Whenever my nephews see me they ask "where's Kyle?" (thanks guys, I love you too). Many nights he gets Michael out of bed just to snuggle with him, and everytime he tells me, "this is my favorite."

I love this picture of Kyle and his dad. I only was able to meet Kyle's dad once before he passed away and it was before I'd even met Kyle. I can see Michael and Kyle taking a picture similiar to this in 20 years.

Lil' Bro

He wore my cap, gown, and tassel (I don't think they could tell that it said 2000, instead of 2008).

The past week has been a BIG week for my lil' bro Andrew. He sang his first solo at Baccalaureate and then his second solo at graduation (can you tell there are a lot to pick from at his school?) and he did GREAT on both. I have to admit, I was very nervous for him...probably more so then he was for himself, but he pulled it off. So he graduated a week ago from high school, followed by seminary graduation. This week he had finals for Running Start and finished his last final this morning, and tonight he will graduate with his Associates Degree. Yesterday while we were at my cousin's wedding, we got a call from him saying his mission call came in the mail. It had only been a week and half since he put his papers in! After the luncheon a big crowd met at my parents house and he opened his call. He's going to the Texas Houston East Mission-English Speaking, which also encompasses parts of Louisiana. He lives on August 27th, which is perfect for him. He will be able to stay home and work all summer, go to our brother's wedding, and leave right before school starts, also he can finish recovering from shoulder surgery. Way to go Andrew, we're so excited for you!

We had our sister on the webcam so they could see him opening the call

Ah, how cute...love this picture.

Happy Birthday Mamma!

Today's my mom's birthday, and in celebration, Mother Nature decided to send her some of the craziest weather of the year. For her birthday she's doing what she does best...serve others. Today she is babysitting some of her grandkids, making dinner for someone in her ward, making jam for her family (what's left of them that is), arranging flowers for her niece's wedding, hopefully going to get a free lunch with my dad at Red Robin (if she gets the other things done on her list), saying goodbye to my dad while he goes to 4 hours of meetings tonight, and then coming to celebrate with us.

She loves being a Nana, and her grandkids love her!I wish I had more old pics scanned, but this is all I've got.

Don't I look great for just giving birth? Okay, that's not my baby, but that would've been nice!

I love living closer to my mom. Before I used to only see her a few times a year, but now we're only 25 minutes a way, so I can see her whenever I want. Mom, I love you; thanks for all that you do for us! Happy Birthday!!!!