Courtney had her ultrasound today, and we found out that we are having another boy. So come mid-May, the boys will outnumber the girls 4-to-1 in the Chapin house. On the one hand, its nice that we don't have to repaint/decorate the baby room, we save money on clothes, they can share a room when they're a little older, etc. On the other hand, I got to thinking about all the extra money we're going to have to spend on household repairs (good thing our house insurance covers broken windows), grocery bills when they reach puberty, and sporting event tickets. I guess we have our work cut out for us.
All kidding aside, we're very happy that according to the doctors baby #2 looks great and appears to be in perfect health. And that's really the best Christmas gift we could ever hope for.
Using mommy as a trampoline.
I wonder how much he will look like Levi?
Not to be outdone, Levi took some pictures recently and wanted everyone to remember how extra-cute he is.
Getting in the Christmas spirit.
Prince will be SOOOO excited to have another baby boy in the house.
In honor of Levi's favorite thing in the world right now, this blog post will have a "C" theme to it.
...Cookie Monster Levi is not really into TV. Not that we're all that disappointed about it (there will be plenty of time for him to watch TV when he's older and supposed to be doing his schoolwork), but it would be nice if every once in a while he'd be happy watching something so mom and dad could get stuff done around the house. Levi has never watched Sesame Street but dad was a big fan growing up so Grandma and Grandpa Chapin got Levi a Cookie Monster book and stuffed animal for Christmas last year. He now sleeps with that stuffed animal and lovingly refers to him as "Cook" (like they're long-time buddies or something). So the other day I found a youtube clip of Cookie Monster singing "C is for Cookie" and played it for Levi. I stopped counting, but I believe we've seen the video about 5,274 times since then. He just wants to watch it over and over and over. In the middle of playing he'll run to the computer room, point at the door, and say "Cook". First thing in the morning it's "Cook". Last thing before bed is "Cook". We're glad he's into the video, but that song has been burned into my brain and no amount of Metallica is going to get rid of it.
The song is great, but try watching 1000 times in a row and you'll know our pain.
...Coxsackie A Virus AKA, Hand Foot and Mouth disease (HFMD). Late last week Levi started drooling a lot and didn't seem himself. He does have a lot of teeth coming in so we attributed his behavior as that. On Sunday morning Courtney left to go to a conference and was going to be gone until Monday evening. It was going to be the first time I had been alone with Levi overnight. I was pretty excited because I had all these cool ideas for some fun dad/son bonding experiences. Unfortunately for Levi and Dad, his HFMD blew up the moment Courtney walked out the door. He refused to eat or drink anything (which, if you know our son at all, is completely out of character because he eats ALL the time). He was crying a lot and not wanting to play. I was very worried but had no idea what was going on. I just assumed it was something to do with teething. So after a night of him waking up about once an hour, I got him around to take him to daycare. He seemed a little better and I thought that daycare can handle a teething baby, right? About 2 hours after I dropped him off I got a call from daycare. Levi had a rash and I had to come and pick him up. Mom left her conference early to come rescue Dad and we took him to the doctor that night. The verdict? Ear infections in both ears, HFMD, and he is still teething. No wonder the little guy was such a mess. In case you're wondering he is doing much better now. He's eating again and is back to his old self.
I think the valuable lesson that we can learn here is...Mommy should never go away and leave Daddy all alone with the kid(s) again.
...Christmas Preparations It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 2 weeks away. We still have a lot of work to do before the big day, but as a parent of a little one I can say I am very thankful for online shopping. It certainly makes life a lot easier.
The day after Thanksgiving we took Levi out to pick out our Christmas tree. He enjoyed walking around and looking at all the trees. He calls them "ouch" because the needles poke him and they hurt. He also wants the tree lit up at all times (when we go out to get him breakfast in the morning he points and the tree and says "please" until we turn on the lights) and he loves the angel on top (he points to it and says "angel"). We haven't gotten around to putting up the ornaments yet...maybe we'll get it done before the 25th.
Trying to push the cart.
Posing between the "ouches" (aka trees).
A family Christmas photo in front of our ornament-less tree.
Getting in the Christmas spirit by wearing his Rudolph hat.
...Curtis Granderson I know sports is a business but its hard to not get attached to certain players. I was very disappointing this week when my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, traded my favorite player Curtis Granderson to my least favorite team in any sport, the New York Yankees. Jerry Seinfeld has a bit where he compares rooting for a sports team to rooting for laundry. In other words we should root for the team itself not the individual players because they can leave for more money, get traded, etc. So I understand all that, but I'm still upset. And this isn't the first time the Tigers have traded my favorite player to the evil Yankees. On June 4th 1990 the Tigers traded my favorite player Matt Nokes to the Yankees. I was only a kid at the time, so I'm sure I was pretty upset for about 15 minutes and then played Super Mario 3 and forgot about it.
I think I have 10 copies of this card buried in my basement somewhere.
I'm older now so I kind of understand the reasoning behind the trade...cutting costs, adding younger talent, thinking Granderson had peaked, etc. But Curtis was just a likeable player...the kind of person you respect and root for, and the kind of person you hope your kids respect and root for. With all the jerks out there playing sports (I'm looking at you Tiger Woods) its refreshing to root for an athlete with character. Think I'm exaggerating a little? You should read this article from the Detroit Free Press website. Here's the end of the article:
Sports is a business. This is just your daily reminder. But I am thinking about all the kids out there who are now learning this for the first time. Kids adored Granderson, and for good reason. They probably thought, the way a lot of us did, that he’d be a Tiger for life. And I’m sure at a lot of breakfast tables around Detroit this morning, there were sons asking their dads the same question: “Why would they trade my favorite player?” How do you explain a shrinking payroll, shoddy management and bad fiscal planning to a 6-year-old?
I thought this morning about a huge Tiger fan named Timmy Vachon, who was tragically killed at the age of 7 in an accident at a ski slope in 2007. His favorite player -- like so many in Detroit -- was Curtis Granderson. When Curtis heard of the accident, he contacted the family and wore a bracelet in games to honor the memory of Timmy. Here’s a link to a video by my man Matt Shepard that tells you the story of an amazing ballplayer and a more amazing young boy.
Watch that video and then try telling your kids why the Tigers traded away a player like that. We all get that it’s a business. But a player like Granderson should trump that.
I'm just glad Levi isn't old enough to root for the Tigers yet. And the worst part of all of it is now I might have to actually not hate the Yankees. Thanks a lot Tigers.
Thankfully I didn't buy Levi that kids size Granderson jersey yet.
...Crash Which is what I'm about to do because its after midnight and I'm exhausted. Good night!
I've been pretty delinquent with the blog posts. Things have been pretty busy lately with fall activities (raking, cleaning, getting ready for baby #2, football, visiting family, etc.) so I haven't had a lot of time to post any pictures. But in case anyone is following our blog anymore, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
Enjoying some chocolate pudding.
"And starting at left tackle, #72, Levi Chapin!!!"
Having fun with cousin Maya.
We're still working on manners at the dinner table.
Prince was tied to a post and that was the only way we could get them in the same picture.
For the second year in a row, we spent Halloween at Marnie and Ryan's house (Courtney's sister and brother-in-law). Levi and his cousin Maya were very cute in their costumes. Unfortunately neither one of them lasted very long before they wanted their costumes off, but it was a fun time nonetheless. Levi especially enjoyed walking around outside with all the other trick-or-treaters. We didn't take him to any houses, but next year he should be ready to do that. Enjoy the pictures!!
That's right!! Levi is going to be a big brother. Courtney is pregnant and is due May 15th. She is 12 weeks along and everything is going well so far. Things happened a lot faster this time around, but we're thankful and excited for the challenges of adding another member to our family. We will (hopefully) be finding out on December 23rd if we're having a boy or a girl. Now we're trying to figure out where we're going to stick another child in our house!!
This past Sunday Levi took his first trip to the Cider Mill. He had a lot of fun picking apples, eating donuts, and looking at pumpkins with mom, dad, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Marnie, and cousin Maya. He really enjoyed eating an apple so it looks like we've found something else this kid likes to eat. Enjoy the pictures!!
Either trying to give Cousin Maya a hug or flip her over...hard to tell.
Levi is happy, Maya is frightened.
Uncle Ryan and Aunt Marnie showed us how to pick apples.
Family photo.
This was the only picture out of about 20 where Levi was close to looking at the camera.
Levi has really been enjoying the outdoors lately. He likes when mom and dad help him climb our tree, and of course he loves playing in the leaves and with all of Prince's toys.
Enjoying being up in the tree.
Prince the bully likes to steal whatever Levi has in his hands.
Umm, could you not put the dog's toys in your mouth Levi? Thanks.
And when he's done playing outside, Levi enjoys a good bath. In fact, he has begun throwing a tantrum when we take him out of the bath. We've captured some of the good bath moments on video for your enjoyment. Don't worry, Courtney kept the camera above waist level so the video is rated PG.
It's hard for me to believe that the baseball regular season is almost over. Baseball is such a long season...it starts at the beginning of April and ends in October. What makes baseball so exciting is the playoff races. Less teams make the playoffs in baseball than any other sport...only 8 total out of 30 teams. For us Tigers fans, making the playoffs is a very rare occurrence. In my lifetime (since 1980), the Tigers have only made the playoffs 3 times, in 1984, 1987, and 2006. So this season has been very exciting because while they are very flawed team, they are in a position to make the playoffs for the fourth time since I was born. Only 6 games remain and they have a 2 game lead on the Twins. Each game is an emotional roller coaster for me (just ask Courtney), but it has been a great season and after watching truly terrible teams for many years of my life it is nice to watch a team that is actually in contention for something meaningful at the end of the season.
In addition to the exciting and stressful Tigers games, our fridge decided it had enough and died on us a couple days ago. Its a tricky one though because it kind of goes in spurts where it over-cools everything, and then stops entirely. So we made an emergency trip out to Menards today to get a new fridge. It'll be here on Thursday, so hopefully our food will keep until then.
Levi is learning more every day. He's also quite the strong willed little child. He seems to enjoy openly defying Mom and Dad. He hasn't learned "no" yet but when it does I'm sure it'll be all that he will say. Some new things that Levi is doing:
* When you ask him "where is your belly", he'll pull up his shirt and point to his little chubby belly. * When you ask him "where are your ears", he'll try to touch your ears instead of his (for whatever reason). * There is a part in one of his favorite bedtime books (Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?) where it talks about going "Knock Knock" on a door. Now he'll knock on the book when we come to that part and he'll try to say "knock knock". He also tries to go "knock knock" on pretty much anything in the house. * Can almost say "cracker", one of his favorite foods. * When we say "all done", he'll lift up his hands (like dad does) and says "all" (can't quite figure out the "done" part yet). * Really loves to get up on the bed and try to jump around. Blame dad for that one. * Really loves spending Tuesdays at Grandma and Grandpa Freed's, and especially loves playing with his cousin Maya.
I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of for now. Enjoy the pictures! Go Tigers!!
There's nothing like reading Mr. Brown Can Moo (upside down) while sitting in a small basket.
Looking quite stylish, just like his dad.
Levi didn't enjoy pictures with Courtney's grandparents.
This past Sunday was an unofficial holiday for me as the NFL season got underway. Luckily for me Levi slept through the first 2-1/2 hours of the games, but then we just played and watched the rest of the games. Even though the Lions got blown out and both my fantasy football teams lost, it was still a great day.
Things are going well. Courtney is doing her internship at Dansville schools and is enjoying it. I have the opportunity to get Levi ready in the mornings now and I get to drop him off at daycare. It's certainly hard to get used to waking up earlier every morning but I'll survive. Prince is pretty bummed out because his routine morning walks are pretty much done. As if he needed any more reason to dislike Levi...
Levi is doing well. He continues to make us laugh and marvel as he learns new things. He also makes us shake our heads in frustration with some of his actions, but that's just kids I guess. Some of his new things are:
* Says "papa" when he sees a picture of Grandpa Terry or Grandpa Chapin. * Touches his teeth when you ask him "where are your teeth?". * Says "duck" when he sees his rubber ducky in the bathtub (or pretty much any bird). * Loves wearing his new tennis shoes and even says "shoes". * Wants to hold the spoon/fork when we're feeding him and tries to feed himself. * Loves pushing the button to close the garage door. * Loves playing outdoors and especially picking up leaves (hopefully he'll like to rake someday??). * Says "baabaa" when looking at my bobblehead collection...I swear he's trying to say "bobblehead".
That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures!!
Practicing his football skills.
Levi and his ball colletion.
Remember this for the future kid...never let Dad style your hair.
Put the rocks on the deck, throw the rocks off the deck. Repeat again and again.
We recently had Levi's 1 year pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. Cousin Maya came along also and we had them take some pictures together. It was a bit of an adventure as can be expected with two little ones, but all in all things went pretty well. Enjoy the pictures!!
Using mommy as a trampoline.
I wonder how much he will look like Levi?
Getting in the Christmas spirit.
Prince will be SOOOO excited to have another baby boy in the house.
Having fun with papa.
Hi grandma!
Reading all about his best friend Cook.
