Nathan Thomas Atkinson

I know it's taken me a few weeks but our sweet baby Nathan is here and healthy :)  He was born on April 1 at 3 in the afternoon, and was 6 lbs 13 oz. and 19 inches long.  I was induced that morning, my labor was about 6 hours and he came out with only four pushes.. lucky me!! Chase has LOVED having Nate at home with us and is always checking on him, and makes sure to tell me if Nate is crying or sad, it is adorable.  Here are some fun pictures of our new addition, I can't believe how blessed we are with these two adorable boys of ours.  

Nathan is such a great baby!  He rarely cries and loooves to cuddle :)

Me showing off my belly the night before we went into the hospital

We were both sooooooo ready!

First family photo :) 

Me teaching Chaserbug how to hold his brother 

Chase was so happy to have Nate home

He is always asking if he can "kiss his nose"  I love it so much

I'm so lucky to have two healthy boys.  Nathan is already such a sweet and fun little boy and has us all totally wrapped around his little fingers. 

Chase turns 2

 Chase absolutely loved his elephant  birthday cake, in fact he still asks to look at pictures of it! 

 We had all his cousins and family over for his birthday party and it was a blast!

 Easter sunday we had our own little egg hunt and then went to grandma's where he had a hunt with all his cousins

 Grandma got out the bubble machine and the kiddos were in heaven!

 On Chase's actual birthday we made his cake together, he loves using the mixer.  You can see in the next picture Chase singing out to some birthday music we played while we all frosted his cake together.

I cannot believe Chase is already two years old!!  He is so funny always singing and running and loves to play!  He loves hot dogs and cheese and chocolate.  Chase loves making art and brings it home to hang on the fridge every day.  I cant believe he is so big already and since we now have two boys I can't fail to mention that he is a great big brother too ;)

Changes

So many changes are coming at our house! Next month we will have a brand new baby boy and Chase will be a big brother.  I am so excited and I hope that Chase takes all the changes well!  We have some plans to have a few days out with just us and Chase before baby is here and we want him to pick a present for baby.  It makes me laugh because every time we talk about the baby he goes on and on about his baby cousin Mason.  It will be a fun adventure to see how Chase takes to having a new baby at our house!

 

So February was a fun and eventful month with us!  We went up to Bear Lake for our annual family winter party.  As always it was so fun!  My family stayed at the condo and all the cousins had a blast!  Chase just loves playing with his cousins and is now at the age where they actually interact and play and run together and it is just adorable!  Christian got to ski for the day while I stayed behind with Chase and other moms and made us a new spring wreath :) 

We drove home from Bear Lake on sunday night after family home evening only to make it about an hour away from the cabin.  Right in the middle of nowhere on the freeway one moment it was dark and the next thing we knew there was about 6 horses running and covering the whole freeway.  It was one of those seconds where you have a moment to worry about your loved ones in the car and brace yourself.  Im so lucky and blessed that my husband is pretty much Mario.  we managed to make it in a little space so we did not hit any horses straight on.  We did hit two horses and our car was totaled.  We were also so blessed none of us were injured!!   not only was the windshield totally caved in with holes in it and glass everywhere, but the hood was bent in a triangle and there were dents all across the front and sides of our car.  Being 33 weeks pregnant at the time I was very lucky that the airbag malfunctioned and did not work or I may have gone into labor! I sure did suffer some intense contractions the days following but no worries baby and mommy are fine :)   Since that scary adventure we finally got a new car!  We got a Ford Explorer and we love it!  I think it will last us a long time, and Chase's new favorite thing is to open the sunroof!

With 4-5 weeks until baby time we have a list a mile long of every little thing I want to do in order to be "ready".  I'm so excited for this baby and the weeks luckily are flying by!  Especially after being in an accident that could've easily turned out a tragedy I just need to shout to the world how happy and grateful I am for my AMAZING husband and my little sweetheart Chase!  This pregnancy has been quite the challenge and I could've never made it without Christian.  Also I have been blessed with a little boy who will cuddle me on the couch, give me hugs and kisses and hold my hand at any given moment.  I am so grateful and lucky to have Christian and Chase in my life and I am thrilled to bring another little boy in the picture! 

Happy 2013 and picture recap of 2012

I can't believe it is already 2013, and I can't believe that January is almost over! I'm now 30 weeks pregnant and am thrilled.  The last trimester, though hard as it can be, is ALWAYS the best for me! NO MORE SICKNESS! no more iv therapy!  I can run around and play with Chase and finally I dont feel like a huge burden on everybody.  Also, I finally look pregnant and my never ending to - do list is slowly getting shorter.   But before I go any further can I jut sit back and say what  HUGE YEAR 2012 was for us?  Christian graduated college with a Bachelor's degee! ( so proud of him )  I ran my first (and hopefully not last) half marathon!  Chase turned one year old!  We bought a house! We found out that we are pregnant with baby #2!   Chase now sucessfully sleeps in a big boy bed!!  Did all of that really happen in just one year?  It's crazy to look back on now and reflect on how busy we've been!  Last year was so good to us and we are really excited to begin a new year.  So far this year we've crossed off one HUGE house project, we got tile!  That is right people... no more carpeted bathroom, no more carpet under the table that chase so kindly decorates with peaches and juice and anything you can think of.  I LOVE IT.  It makes a huge difference!  Also we installed the baseboards, Christian is going to frame out our mirrior with some baseboards this weekend and then onto painting.  painting the kitchen, painting the family room, painting the babies room, painting the crib, painting will be what we do for fun around here for quite a while.  I'm loving all these house projects and thanks to pinterest they are never ending.  okay okay, now for the pictures to catch up on again.... lots and lots of pictures, dont hate me haha

Merry Go Round at the ZOO

I am not exaggerating when I say Chase's favorite animal ever is an elephant!

Yay Christian!!  SO PROUD OF YOU!!

Six Tunnels half marathon!  

fun at Bear Lake

Rowing the boat at Lake Powell

Obviously he is terrified of tubing hahaha, at least we tried!

pumpkin patch!

Halloween with the cousins :) 

This is chase at our new table, he loves to sit at the bench and its a much shorter fall from the last table!(since his favorite past time is standing and jumping on everything this is good news)

This is our new tile in the bathroom!  I love it so much! also notice the blue walls(yay!)

Just me and my boys

So as many of you already know we are expecting another baby boy at our house!  According to the ultra sound he will be here the same week that my little Chaserbug turns 2! I can't believe how blessed me and Christian are! We are really excited for another baby, and its also quite convenient we have all the clothes in perfect season for our new little one.

 My sister Leslie had her little boy John Mason a few weeks ago and from the second I held him I knew I wanted another little boy of my own! Mason is so adorable, and I just get more and more baby hungry just thinking about him! Whenever we've been with the Bybee's since Chase always checks on the baby, and he still carries his announcment around the house, this makes me that much more excited for him to take care of his new baby brother!

Thanksgiving this year was amazing, My entire family was here and the food, company, and everything went perfectly! We are now anxiously awaiting Christmas! I can't remember the last time I was this excited for Christmas! Chase loves the tree's and the lights and I just can't wait to see him that morning! He is saying so many words lately, literally a new one every single day! We painted our bathroom finally, I mean hey, its normal to take 6 colors to find the right one right? I'm just happy to say we didn't settle and LOVE the color! Now we are going to tile! I am loving these house projects, we love our house more and more every day! it is PERFECT for us. :)

  Also we have an amazing ward, and as of late I am just overwhelmed with all the blessings we have and am so grateful to have the gospel in my life! For the last little while Chase has been able to go to nursery, and as much as I love that boy it has been wonderful to listen and feel the spirit the lesson can bring again.  I have such a strong testimony of the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   I have a testimony of prayer, and of the spirit, I know that Christ lives and because of the gospel and its leaders and teachings I can live my life in a way that brings happiness.  I am so eager and blessed to have the opprotunity to raise two boys in this gospel.  I'm so lucky to have married Christian.  He is the perfect example for our little boys and I love him so much.  I can't wait to teach and show them what happiness and meaning this gospel brings into my life every single day.  When we picked Chase up from nursery sunday he had a little foam star ornament with a picture of Jesus on it, when we got home he went front and center on our tree (conveniently the only ornament he can reach) and now every day we hear his cute little voice saying "Jesus! Jesus!"  I know I have so much to work on, but with everything I have to help me, I can't help but just sit in awe and be grateful.