Good Big Brother

Teigen has been an AMAZING big brother to his "baby Chase" (as he calls him). He is so sweet to him. When he cries, he'll try to calm him by talking to him or giving him his binky. He's so loving....that Teigen of ours. Just tonight Chase was freaking out and I was trying to feed him, cuddle him and talk to him but he would not calm down. I laid him on a blanket on the ground to let him "cry it out" while I had to run to the potty. I heard him a couple seconds later calming down. When I came into the room, Teigen was kneeling by him talking to him. He also gave him his binky and giants blanky (that SuSu made ;) ) Chase was looking up at his big brother in ahh and smiling so big. Some things a sibling can resolve better than a mommy.....I'm already learning that and it's ok. They are already forming a brotherly bond and that makes a mother proud. So, today this is to you, Teigen, for being the best big brother anyone could have!

Little Man in White...

Chase Evan Allred had such a special blessing from his daddy on 10-10-10. We had so many friends and family visit to see our sweet little Chase. He is definently loved! Thank you to all of you who were able to come and share his day with him. It meant SO much to us!

"Anything Like Me"

This first song on our blog is one of our new favorites. It's a Brad Paisley song and reminds Justin a lot of how it'll most likely be with our boys when they grow up. :) You HAVE to listen to it...it's perfect. We love our boys....But we'll most likely get our PAYBACK! :) We're ready for the inevitable. But how could we not love these boys NO MATTER what?!

Chase napping and Teigen's a little photographer...

Here's a few pics of Chase I took last night. We've already been giving Chase some "tummy-time" to help wear him out a little before bedtime. Well he was getting a little fussy yesterday before we were about to eat dinner so I figured some "tummy-time" would help. He fell asleep after just 5 minutes and stayed asleep for a 3 hour nap! It was awesome! Apparently Chase is a tummy sleeper like the rest of his family. :)

So, I've had the camera out a lot lately taking pictures of Chase and such and Teigen begs me to let him take some. He says "I try mom". So I finally agreed. I love his pictures!! So whenever it's out, and he asks to take some pictures, I let him.

Here is some of Teigen's portfolio :)......

Welcome Chase Evan Allred!

We are so happy Chase Evan is here! He is very sweet and calm. Sleep, Eat, Awake is the busy life of Chase. We have a routine down and love our new life! Overall everything went well during the c-section and I'm able to recover much easier with my helpful hubby around. He's the best. Thank you for the many prayers on behalf of our family. We love you all!

Aaron's a Daddy!

Congratulations to my brother, Aaron and my sister in law, Angela!

Angela's been having some strong contractions the past few days and started having really strong ones early this morning. They called their Mid-Wife and were told to drive to the hospital. When they got there, Angela's water was starting to break. They got her checked in and she was checked to see if she was dialated. Angela was telling them "Please don't say I'm a 2!" But to her and Aarons surprise she was already at 9 cm!! Yeah! Happy Day! She pushed for about a half hour and they were blessed with a beautiful baby BOY at 8:43 am! (Those are the kind of birthing stories you want to have for yourself) I'm so happy Angela had a very fast labor and everything was okay. He weighed in just under 7 lbs 10 oz. They hadn't measured him yet when I talked/saw them on Skype this morning. His name is still undecided. He's very sweet and content. Such a cutie with lots of dark wavy hair. Mom and baby are doing good.

In Loving memory of Evan Chandler Haddock...

Today 2 years ago was a sad and tragic day as my nephew, Evan, left earthly life but returned to his Heavenly Father. He will be thought of often and remembered always. My heart, prayers and thoughts go out to the Haddock family during this time. To my loving sister Angela, my strong brother-in-law Jim, positive niece Danielle (age 12), charismatic niece Kailey (age 9), sweeter then ever nephew Cameron (age 6), and happy niece Savannah (age 1).

We love you Evan and miss you every day!

Reno/California Trip...

Teigen and I were able to fly into Reno and visit with my Grandparents, Aunts,Uncles and cousin while the Haddocks were there too. We had a great time. We went to Circus Circus, had BBQ's, floated down the canal that surrounds my Aunt and Uncles house/backyard and strolled downtown Reno. After that the Haddocks (minus Jim-he had to fly back to Florida for work) and I drove to California to stay with our parents. We did a lot of fun things there too like the waterpark, played in their backyard (which is beautiful and peaceful), Sacramento Zoo, Fairytale Town, movies, play games, visit friends, see family and did other fun things. We had a great time and SO glad we were able to do that, with the help of family. :) It was a blast!

Here are pictures from the trip. There are many....so view as you wish.

Precious Moments

I'm sitting here on Teigen's bed and he just fell asleep. I love how he's old enough to lay down on his pillow while I'm sitting at the foot of his bed typing away on the laptop and he can still go to sleep. It only took him about 5 minutes and I look over and he's out. Such a good boy.

I was talking to Justin last night about Teigen because he mentioned how he didn't like it when Teigen did something(what..I can't remember right now). Then we got to talking about how he really is good more than bad and how his "bad" is because he's 2! Every kid goes through it and sometimes at different ages. His "2 moments" are when he has friends over and doesn't want to share, or doesn't want to go to bed, or doesn't want to come inside, or wants a popsicle RIGHT NOW, or doesn't want to stop chasing the dogs around with his bat, or wants to watch what HE wants to watch, or screams randomly when he wants his way(my favorite is at church). It's lovely. These are all some examples of the times when Justin and I go crazy.

But then we started talking about how minor these moments are and how when he's good, he is such a good boy. Like last night, (P.S. you can say I'm a bad mom, but a lot of times we all eat on tv trays and watch some shows together. We all still talk and have a good time and this works for us. So don't judge me! :) ) ...so back to last night, I made Chicken Stir-Fry with rice and I look over at Teigen eating from his tv tray and he's eating all of it without me having to force him to eat his veggies and chicken or to eat at all. Or some other times....when he cleans up his toys before he goes to bed without fussing, or helps me make dinner or cookies, or knows that when he spills he gets a napkin and cleans it up right away without me asking, or how he knows that when he's done eating he puts his plate and cup in the sink and sometimes he'll come get our dirty dishes without me asking, or remind me to pray if I started eating, or act like a little comedian and make justin and I laugh so hard.

We just feel so lucky to have him in our little family that we're happy to take in all that he brings.

(Teigen chewing on a piece of steak...he loves meat)

3D pics of "Chase"...

On June 24th I got a couple 3D pics of baby #2, who we have officially decided his name is "Chase". It was between a few names, but Teigen is so stuck on his baby brothers' name being Chase that we couldn't change it on him. We're sooooo excited for him to come!

Here are the 3 pictures that I got. He was kinda being a stinker and hiding, so we only got side profiles. Hope you can see him.
(My next appointment is in 4 weeks, so I'll be around 34 weeks along, so those 3D pics will hopefully be better!! )

Here he is sucking on the top of his hand....

Here's a side profile just barely because he would not stop sucking his hand...

The tech zoomed out so we could see his body more...you can see both of his arms giving himself a hug and just half of his face at the top...Do you see it?? :)

So cute!!! We love him!

Operation: Backyard....

So most of you know that our backyard has been a task that we've only been able to do piece by piece and has taken longer than most backyards take. But, we have been doing what we can with what we have. Our Home Owners Association has been bugging us to complete it (Yes, they have a say on our backyard-lame). Recently though, we have been blessed with help($) from family so we're able to work on it some more. THANK YOU!! (You know who you are)
Our backyard is not done, but will be one day. Here are pictures that have been anticipated of the recent progress we've made on our backyard.

Here is Justin and Teig leveling the dirt after Justin and a buddy put in the sprinkler system...

Such a big helper that Teigen-boy...

The plants...

The placement of plants...

The result after planting(sorry the sun was setting-so kinda dark)...

The choice of rocks... I laid down the obnoxious black film, while Justin would bring barrels of the rock and then I would use a rake to spread and make a design with...

Such a poser-he sat like this with no instruction so I grabbed my camera...

Silly boy...
More black film...more rock...

So fun...

More fun...

YEA! The result...

Where there is dirt on the lower level will one day have grass... So happy to be done with that...took all day...

I tried to make some kind of design to look like a river with the red rock...

If you can see, there's an area by the rock that is dirt-that is where I will have a vegetable garden and above that(where the top tier is) hopefully grapes growing all across it. :)

We love it and can finally see an end in sight. At least the next steps will be less manual labor. I will also be planting a flower garden behind our bedroom window. So those pictures will come soon hopefully! :)

A Favorite Moment....

I have a lot of favorite moments, but this moment right now is my favorite. I have Teig napping (a late nap because I completely spaced it today) and the 7 month old (that I watch) napping. I just cleaned the kitchen.....oh I love a clean kitchen... and i just vacuumed and picked up the toys. This moment is a favorite:
I have the pleasant sound of a dishwasher swishing around, the faint sound of the laundry rotating in the dryer, a clean(for the moment) house, lights are off, windows shut, a/c on, me currently plopped in the middle of our "love sac" with my little love-pug, Chamaco, snoring just slightly away. This moment is my favorite. Alone time (adults need it).....complete peace.......serenity. Thank you moment for letting me have this stillness even though the world around me is still going.

Our Eventful Month...

It's easier to make a recap of the month in one blog. So, here are a BUNCH of pictures showing what we've been up to.

"Walk for the Cure-for Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis"

(I made Team Ashley shirts and a Team Mama shirt for Teig)

Swimming/sitting in our pool

Seeing Baby Issac and watching his baby blessing for Church

Visiting with Gramps and SuSu during the blessing time

PF CHANGS for Justins birthday dinner

(We chose the chicken lettuce wraps, honey seared chicken and pepper steak)

And two little yummy treats

(raspberry cheesecake-SO good and an apple pie)

Had Lee and Krystel over for my birthday for dinner and games

(Ate Quail that Justin and Lee had shot, salad,potatoes,zucchini and squash and Ice Cream Cake)

Father's Day-we ate steak, grilled asparagus and twice baked potatoes-YUM!

We also have been working on our backyard a lot!! On saturday, we laid rock down. I will blog those pics on another post this week.