Holiday's

I hope everyone had a merry CHRISTmas! Our little tribes holiday has been quite lovely &, although not as busy as most, all the activity has kept me away from the computer. Here is a little family update since my last post...

Mike & I were able to attend a holiday party at Kyle Ray & Lindsay's thanks to my Mom coming into town & staying with Miles. It was so nice to go out just the two of us & mingle with some old Cal Poly friends. I wish I would have taken more pics (I always say that!), but it was great catching up with Vic Greco (his lady Sara is quite a catch!), Spencer Hamm & Ron & Annie Thorn. We were able to meet more great people that live close by to us & hopefully we will be able to get together in the future. Lindsay did a wonderful job as hostess & the food was delicious & plentiful! Thanks so much for a great night!

Family photo by the tree. Me with make-up on - oooh!

Kyle & his fiance Lindsay

Kyle & Lindsay's adorable dog Belle - what a face!

Christmas eve was a wonderful rainy day spent at home with Miles. My Mom was here in the morning, which always makes for good company. I spent the entire day baking or cooking in my kitchen. Bonding time for me & the new house ;) I have to say, my cookies turned out awesome (that is not always the case for me! Just ask my Mom!) & the roasted chicken with red/gold potatoes, carrots, & onions will definately be a Chavis family staple from now on. It was so good I couldn't stop patting myself on the back ;) I am just really learning how to cook, so this was a proud moment for me. Miles had fun playing while I cooked & he is getting so good about hanging by himself without mommy sitting right next to him. Thank goodness! That evening I went to a service at One Life Church in Lincoln. They had special songs by the kids & a candle lighting ceremony which was very nice. Everyone was extremely welcoming & Pastor Troy is a recent "Lincoln-ite" himself from the OC.

Mike made Christmas day extra special by surprising us with more presents under the tree than we had expected. He was so thoughtful & got me a bunch of cold weather gear for our new NorCal climate. Mike & I surprised eachother with the gifts we got for Miles, which was really fun. The kid made out like a bandit & got tons of great toys. Now, I just have to figure out where to put them all! My house is starting to look like Toy R Us exploded! We tried to let Miles join in the fun of unwrapping gifts, but after he tried to eat the paper & almost choked (scaring me half to death), we decided that he could watch us unwrap his gifts from the safety of his exer-saucer (which is a baby carnival on crack - but he loves it! Great gift for mommy & babe) We had a wonderful morning together as a family & I just felt happy all over. Ah, Christmas.

Our lovely little tree

Miles eating paper

A beanie that demanded I throw a peace sign up the minute I put it on my head. Hmm...

My parents joined us at our house early in the afternoon. It was another day of cooking for me & I had a lot of fun reciprocating as a hostess after years of being a guest. I must have been on a cooking roll or something because everything turned out so yummy. STuffed mushrooms, hot onion dip, honey ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, salad, bread, pie - all so yummy. It was an absolute wonderful day celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

The spread & some crazy guy ;)

The fam at our ghetto little table (Did the job, though!). New one should be arriving any day! Thanks Mom & Dad!

Miles kicking it with Uncle Billy & Grandpa

The next morning Mike was back to work & my Mom, Miles & I were off to the Bay Area to be with family. I LOVE my family & always cherish the moments we get to see eachother. My cousins & I (9 in total) are all around the same age & are now all having babies! There are 4 new cousins 2 and under and 2 more on the way come March. It was amazing to see how much the older girls (Darian 12 & Lu 10) had changed since I last saw them in August. I swear Darian grew a foot & Lu is looking more & more like her Mama. Little Bentley (9 mo.) is crawling every where & already taking several steps on his own! Get ready Stacy! Lily was as darling as ever, sporting upside down sunglasses & purse. She is so much like her mama, Christina. Who, BTW, looks great at 6 months preggers with little Luke. Erinn was there with her daughter Kaia. Kaia was a little tired from all the travelling that day - they were catching up with Erinn's hubby's relatives (he is overseas - please say a prayer for all our troops & Mike Blaz who spent the holidays away from family & loved ones). Kaia was still full of personality, though! We spent the evening chasing after babies, chatting away & playing pictionary (so fun because my family is CRAZY - in a great way!). It was a wonderful day/night! Only a few pics because I ended up taking more video than still shots.

Andrea & Miles

Lily-kins

Nonni (Auntie Carol), Miles & Lily

Before heading home we vistited with my Mom's best friend Lynelle & her daughter Lacey. Lacey & I grew up together & she had her son Brayden just 2 weeks before Miles was born. It was our first time meeting Brayden & I am so glad that we got the opportunity on this visit. Brayden is super adorable (looks just like Lace as a baby!) & is crawling everywhere! Can't take your eyes off him! Miles started army crawling a few days before Christmas, but he is still pretty slow. I am happy he is finding out how to move, but in no hurry for him to get the hang of full on creeping. I see how much work that is for mommy & daddy! I am savoring my last moments of being able to put him in one place & walk away for a minute knowing I will return & he will be in the same place I put him. I know my days are numbered though. Time to get out the baby gates!

Brayden & Grandma Vanilla (Lynelle)

Miles & Brayden - so cute!

It was a great holiday & I loved being busyfor the sake of family time! It is nice to be chill'n back at home, introducing Miles to his new toys & playing. I hope you all have a happy new year! 2009, oh my!

Internet, Finally!

Sooo, we finally got our internet connected! Woo-hoo! It has been forever since I have gotten to post & there has been so much going on to post about ;) Because I am so exhausted from all the stuff that has been going on, this posting will be brief (& without pictures, because I am too pooped to download any - tomorrow possibly?).

A little over a week ago we moved into our new home (yay!) with the help of my bro & the Laney family. Moving sucks but as moves go, this went really well considering all the great help we had. Amber was the mover of the day & went above & beyond when she strapped little Mason to her back monkey style & hauled boxes up & down our stairs like a pro. Even 2 year old Abby helped out with the little stuff ("Hillary heres a mat you lay on in the sun! It's from Mike"). We ended an exhausting day with some grub from our new favorite pizza place in town (the name ? I forget! Mike orders it.) The next day we had breakfast at the Laney home & then went to a Christmas tree farm to try to cut down our own tree. That was unsuccessful because there were no trees! It was a cool place to check out, though, & it really solidified for Mike & I that we weren't in Kansas any more (Kansas being the OC; it was freezing at that tree farm!).

Since we moved in, we have been busy little bees, unpacking & staying up late while our favorite night owl handy man Brian Laney assists us in doing the things we are clueless about (re-lighting a water heater pilot, installing a ceiling fan, hooking up a washer/dryer, etc.) Honestly, we would be in bad shape if it weren't for the Laney's & I can't say enough how grateful I am for their friendship, kindness & help. I just LOVE that they are our neighbors! We had a hectic week of unpacking, grocery shopping, laundry, ugh...I am tired thinking about it all!

The best part of our first week, though, was that Mike surprised me with our first Christmas tree for Miles's first Christmas in our first house! I finally finished decorating it a week after he brought it home & I am happy every time I see it. I love my husband. He does the most thoughtful things sometimes. I guess I'll keep him ;)

Our first non-moving weekend was packed with visitors. We hosted our first "dinner" on Friday night. We don't have a kitchen table (Mike gave ours to the Goodwill in Lake Forest, but that's another story that I will not share because it will make me very mad & make me want to not keep my husband) so we sat on boxes at our ghetto card table. It worked, though. It felt great to cook in our new kitchen & each time I do the house feels more & more like our "home". Jamie Rose was our first house guest on Saturday night & Mike hung with Brian while we had a girl's night in the new pad. Ambie cooked a killer Italian dinner (Chicken Kalamata, mmm) & we drank lots of yummy wine & chatted until we lost our voices. Jamie couldn't get a word in because Amber & I couldn't shut-up since we were free of babies & mommy-stuff! It was long overdue time together & I hope we get the chance to have nights like that often now that we are all close by each other again. Sunday morning was breakfast at the Laney's & a visit from miss Breanne Gutterman (formerly Anderson) & her new little guy, Max (3.5 months). It was so good to see her & the babe, and crazy to see how much our lives have changed in just over 2 years. We are a long way from nights at The Bear! Sunday night Kyle Ray & his fiance Lindsay came by for a visit. It was so good to see the RZA & finally meet the lady that won his heart. I really hope that we get to see lots of them - Lindsay is awesome & Kyle is a lucky man (but I can see he knows that!).

This week, I am so tired that I am just kicking back a bit more. I went kind of crazy with unpacking because I am type-A like that, but now, I think I can hide the boxes that are left in unused rooms & let myself rest a bit. It is crazy cold here (Mike has to defrost his windshield in the morning & I wrapped our pipes last night so they wouldn't freeze!) & the chilly weather puts me in hibernation mode. I took two naps with Miles today! So lovely.

BTW, Miles is doing GREAT! He loves his new home & is as happy as ever. There are lots of older people in Lincoln & they can't get enought of the little guy when we are out running errands. He just hams it up for them too. So cute! He has 3 cute new teeth & now has 5 total! I can't believe it! His new top chompers are a funny but adorable addition to his big smile. He & I are totally in love right now, so my next post will proably be all about my boy.

I wrote more than I thought! This blogging is addictive! Hope everyone is have a happy holiday season! So happy to have my internet back so I can connect with you all again ;)

We are in like Flint!

I won't type another novella, but just wanted to share the exciting news that escrow has closed & we are officially home owners! I am so pumped! We get to do the final walk through tomorrow & then the keys are ours! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Big smiles here.

2 Crazy Days

The past 2 days were nutty. I am typing this & I should be going to bed. But, I have to wait until at least 9:30 to pump (ugh, how much I loathe pumping is a whole blog posting in itself), so I am typing this post to pass the time & decompress from the past two physically & emotionally exhausting days.

We are getting so close to moving into our new house that if I close my eyes I can practically feel the key in my hand as I turn the lock on the front door. I start to actually get giddy just thinking of how giddy I am going to feel as Mike & I cross the threshold of our new home with a box in our arms. Friday is supposed to be the big day if all goes as it is supposed to with the closing of our loan. Our "docs" were supposed to be returned from the lender on Friday...then Monday...then Tuesday morning FOR SURE (you get the idea?). Our mortgage broker & my cousin Chrissy were working their butts off to get them back asap, but all the nagging in the world couldn't seem to get the lender to move a little faster (must have still been under the intoxication of triptophan from turkey leftovers or something - grrr). We had to get the docs to the escrow company before we could do all the final signing away of our lives. And, the signing had to take place at the escrow company, which is in Sac, by Wednesday at the latest if we were to have any sort of chance of closing by Dec.5 as the contract from the seller stipulates. Add the stress of this time constraint to the "mommy stress" I was feeling based on the fact that Miles had to come along for all of this & you could say that I was kind of unwound. Why did I have "mommy stress" from having to bring our precious angel to our signing in Sac, you ponder? Well, Miles is a wonderful baby (as you have all read about) but the kid is not a fan of the car. If he does sleep in the car, he screams for 30 minutes before doing so. And I mean, screams. Sacramento is 1.5 hours away from my parents house in Chico. I have NEVER driven by myself with Miles for that long. Needless to say, I was dreading our little road trip.

I waited around the house all morning (& then all afternoon) on Tuesday to get the call that the docs were in & we had a scheduled time to sign by the end of the day. At 1:45, I was informed that the docs STILL weren't back - but (if I could swing it) I should start driving down to Sac (just in case the docs came back by 3:30 & we could sign at 4:00) because we needed to get these darn papers signed asap so things could stay on track for our Dec. 5 deadline. If the docs didn't come back by the end of Tuesday, we could sign early this morning (meaning Wednesday) & all would be good still. Thankfully, we were able to stay at Brian & Amber's house in Stink'n Lincoln if the morning signing was what we had to do (Lincoln is 20 minutes from Sac). Well, I could "swing it" so I ran around like a crazy lady & loaded up the car (I had to come back into the house 3x after locking the door & starting up the car because I remebered I forgot my wallet, then the directions & finally my christmas CD - hehe).

I was pleasantly surprised (& growing more nervous by the minute) when I hit Oroville (20 miles) & Miles was happy as a clam chewing on his carseat strap. By the time I made it to Marysville (60 miles) & Miles was still totally chilling, I felt like either GOD was cutting me a big break or Miles had taken a huge poop (which he often does while sitting in his carseat - go figure) & was totally happy revelling in the new relief that had overcome his little body. Some small whining began in Whetland (70 miles) but 20 repetitions of "Itsy Bitsy Spider", 10 "skida-marinky-dinky-dinks" & at least 20 verses of "Down by the Bay" later we made it to Brian & Amber's house without more than a small whimper. Whew. I was soooo happy. And, yes, Miles had made a HUGE poop (& I am sure GOD cut me a break along the way as well). I finally got the call from our MB that the docs had not come in (stupid turkey eating lenders!) but was guarenteed that they would be back by the morning. I was too tired to be really p-o'd at the lenders, I trusted my MB & was feeling way too happy about the AWESOME car ride & the fact that I got to have a slumber party with the Laney Family. So, it was all good.

Brian & Amber have Abby (2.5) & Mason (6 mo.). Miles is seriously 2x Mason's size & it is hilarious to sit them next to eachother. I think Mason is in the 11% for height/weight & moosey is in the 85th. Amber couldn't get enough of Miles's chunker thighs & I couldn't get enough of holding Mason, who was sooo light & easy on my back. Miles couldn't get enough of Abby. Every time she would talk, he would start flapping his arms & legs in overwhelming excitment. Then he would laugh & bury his head in my shoulder. It was so flipp'n adorable. I couldn't even give him a bottle with her in the room because he was too excited.

Amber made an amazing dinner of chicken enchiladas (thanks Julia Child!). We sat on the couch chatting, drinking some wine & listening to Mike serenade Abby with the mini-guitar & made up songs to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon" before getting all the babes down for the night. Amber & I went out to our house later that night & spied in all the windows with a flashlight. So excited! I love that Brian & Amber are only going to be 5 minutes away. Love it.

Miles had a rough night sleeping (boo). Brian & Amber have lots of really cool electronic stuff with little neon lights. Miles woke up & then wouldn't go back to sleep because he was so enthralled by these little lights in every room. After 2 hours of trying tons of different ways to get him to go to sleep, he finally went down for good in Mason's crib (Mase ended up in Mommy & Daddy's bed earlier). I learned that my kid is a very picky sleeper (just like me). Not good.

We got word that the docs were finally back & ready to be signed early this morning (Woo-hoo!). I loaded up the car & by the time I hit Roseville (7 miles) I had a screamer. And, itsy bitsy nothing was cutting it this time. Miles yelled for 30 minutes until Daddy unloaded him from the car, fresh with giant alligator tears (I hate that). Signing docs took forever because I wanted everything explained to me (thanks Clay!), but Miles did really good through it all & napped on Mike's shoulder for 45 minutes while we signed our name about 1,000 times.

Then a ton of other stuff happened (bank wiring woes, running into Bre, meeting Sarah, seeing Michael Cook), but this posting is WAY too long to go into any more details of all that. Are you still reading this? I need to pump!

To finish my looong tale off, the docs got signed, the money got to where it needed to be, Miles screamed the whole way home (the whole way home) & we still are praying that all will go according to plan & Friday will be the big day. Please, please, please.

Oh, & Mike wants me to give a shout out to Kyle "the RZA" Ray...I need to go to bed.

Blogger S.O.S.!

So, if you have been reading my blog, you have noticed that I have already changed my blog layout about 4 times. I am just not satisfied with the aesthetics of the page & I don't have the handy computer skills to be satisfied. Mike tried to help me find blog templates, but I got frustrated with looking through fairies & vampire-esque layouts. Not what I had in mind.

So, here I admit my lack of blogger finesse & ask all you bloggers who have fancy layouts to, HELP! Where do I go to find great blog templates? How do I put pictures amongst the text of my posting & not just to the right, left, center or above? I have tried moving my pics around & it seems I am just not allowed :( Boo.

Thanks for any help. Please explain the "how to's"as if you were talking to someone from the 17th century that has never before seen a computer ;) Then, hopefully, I will get it.