The Car Seat is my Nemesis

Me = Blogwhelmed

That's my new word for being extremely behind in blog-land. There's a lot to update our now lagging blog but I'm too overwhelmed to try to catch up with a million posts. sooooo it might all get jumbled into one. That is...one to come.

And let me tell you why.

The car seat my friends.

It hates me.

And I hate it.

Ok well, I appreciate it's use. Nice, safe, plasticky contraption that keeps my baby boy safe when hurling down a concrete highway at 70 mph. But other than the safety aspects, the car seat is completely working against me.

Salem falls asleep as soon as his little body hits it. Unless he's too hot, he's conked out in that thing anytime we're on the go. If we were a traveling family circus of 4, that would come in handy. But seeing as how we like to spend most of our time at home, car seat sleeping is just not acceptable.

So here's my excuse. The majority of the last few days I've spent helping my sweet baby boy get over his first addiction: car seat sleeping.

For nap time he prefers to either be held with his head nuzzled nicely in my neck or strapped into his car seat. The first is nice and fun, but again not something that is practical when I'm also chasing an almost 2 year old. And the second, well, it's a new phenomenon in my world.

Eden didn't use a car seat until she was 8 months old so naturally, the car seat soon became her nemesis as well. To this day she still can't nap longer than 30 minutes at a time in it. Which truly, I prefer over my current problem.

But now that we're living in the land of car seat laws, Salem has to be strapped into his car seat instead of a handy dandy Baby Bjorn like Eden used. Obviously, car seats are safer, but Baby Bjorn never waged war with me when it came to getting Eden to sleep.

So anyways, this is why our blog is now really behind.

My first excuse is that we've had an influx of family for the past 5 weeks that absorbed my blogging time. And I'm not complaining. It was truly great.

And now my excuse is Mr. Graco Safe Seat...currently staring me down from across the living room.

Salem and OU

For All You Real Football Fans! By Brandon

Future Linebacker or NCAA Wrestling Champion

Happy Father's Day

I've been a bit of a slacker this year for Father's day, Brandon. sorry.  :) But I've been a little busy having a baby boy and adjusting to it all, so I'm hoping that's a good excuse. I thought about tying a blue bow around Salem and attaching a card that says, "Happy Father's Day!" to his back, but alas, I didn't get that done either. None the less, I'm hoping birthing our first son will do as this year's Father's day present!

Brandon, you are an amazing father and I can't wait to see how you'll adapt to raising a son and teach him about our heavenly father. For now, you are doing great at your new job of playing intervention between Eden and Salem. I love you babe!

ok...sappy part over. :)

We're blessed to have my dad here for father's day this year and he's really enjoying his new grandson. He's managed to have Salem fall asleep on his chest just about every afternoon since he's been here.

And Happy Father's day to Pops (Brandon's dad) too! We'll see you in a few weeks! Can't wait for you to meet your first grandson!

Sleepy Sleepy

There aren't many things in the world (if anything) cuter than a sleeping baby. 

Sleepy grins. Baby REM is fun to watch. :)

Loving on Salem

We're loving being at home finally and Eden is loving having her parents back at home! We're doing our best to take lots of pictures of Salem so he doesn't feel the neglect of being the second child and not having anything to document his cute newborn stage. He is quite a handsome little man too. He looks a lot like Eden did as a newborn, but with lots more (and darker!) hair, and definitely a boyish touch to him.

As with any newborn, he's absolutely adorable when he's sleeping but he's also quite the wiggler and Houdini-d his way out of Brandon's expert swaddling.
Eden is incredibly enamored with her baby brother and it takes all of her self control to not squeeze his guts out when she gets to hold him. She loves to pull on his toes, poke at his eyes, and point at the nastiness that still is his belly button. "Gross" she says. :)  I agree.

I've decided that so far the hardest part of having two is just making sure Eden doesn't torture him or feed him cheerios.
Brandon is taking a week long class starting Monday and has tried to get in as much studying as possible even with a newborn around. 
He's keeping us all busy, entertained, and sleepy. But we're doing well and we're really enjoying having my mom around to help out for the next week or so.

Salem Is Here!

Salem Luke Chancler was born on June 10, 2009 at 1:16 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. and was 21 inches long. 

Both April and Salem are doing good.  Here are a few photos, and if you know anything about April, she will post many more soon.

Blessings,

Brandon

Brag Blog

If you're at all sensitive to people bragging about their children's many skills or talents, this perhaps might be a post to skip. However, if you're interested in how awesome our daughter is, keep reading. :)

Eden has just about mastered her ABCs, and counting to 10 in English and Chinese, though almost always skipping #4 in English and #6 in Chinese. And occasionally when she gets to "R" in her ABCs (which sounds identical to #2 in Chinese) she'll jump from the alphabet to counting to 10 in Chinese. Also, apparently she's got no use for "m" and "n" still. eh...she's still brilliant. :)  

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