Who would have thought that a 1-year old could have such an awesome passport picture?!  We sat Boone up on the chair and he just smiled.  It’s like he knew he needed a good picture for his passport since he gets to keep it for the next 5 years.

Pretty great.

We have the coolest kid ever.

World traveler and all.

So I am not a very good blogger.  I wish that I was, but I am not.  It doesn’t come natural to me to just write about what’s new with this or that, but I do like it when it’s done.  I like being able to look back and read about a certain memory, trip, or experience.  When we traveled around the states a couple of years ago, blogging was a great way for us to share our experiences with you.

(On our road trip.  On top of Half Dome in California.)

Although this doesn’t come natural to me, I think that I will try to start it up again.  Why you may ask?  Well…the Chapman family is about to experience some fun adventures and I think it will be worth documenting.

Scott, Boone and I are about to head to Europe for 4 weeks.  That’s right, we are traveling over seas with a 1-year old for FOUR WEEKS.  We may be crazy, but we’re really excited.  We are hopeful that Boone will adjust well and be the “best” traveling baby ever.  (We’re still trying to figure out how Boone is going to sleep in the hostels with us – anyone have a 1-man tent you want to lend us)?!  It will be an adventure.

This is what we’re going to do.

We are going to Spain for two weeks to visit my brother Nick (who now lives in Madrid as a missionary).  While we’re there we’ll travel north to Barcelona and then to Valencia.  After those two places, we’ll go on a climbing adventure to Mallorca.  It’s a little island to the east of Spain.  This island is well known for it’s deep water soloing- where you climb up the rocks and then jump into the water below.  It’s a lot of over-hanging climbs.  It will be hard.  I will not do well, but Scott is so stoked.

(Beautiful, huh?!)

After Spain, we’ll leave Nick and travel to Italy.  We don’t know our exact plans for Italy, but we want to go to Florence, Rome, Bologna, and Cinque Terre.  Scott might be climbing up in northern Italy at the Dolomites, but we are still waiting to hear if his friend is coming.  We’ll also visit Scott’s aunt and uncle who live in Bologna.  Plus, we’ll visit our friends, Rachel and Andrew, who live in Florence.

Here’s a pic of Cinque Terre…it’s suppose to be a really cool place to visit.  It has something to do with 5 cities all on the coast of Italy.  It’s going to be amazing.

So…here’s to blogging.  We’re excited to keep you guys all up to date on our upcoming trip.  We are super excited and blessed to be able to take this trip.

Can’t wait.

Cheers.

This is what I woke up to the other morning, well when Boone decided that he wanted to get up.  It was beautiful.

I’ve been thinking today about how much I have to be thankful for.  My brother, Nick, left for Spain yesterday.  He has committed to living in Madrid for 5 years.  Over the past couple of years, I have seen him grow in his walk with the Lord in so many ways and I am so proud of him.  My dad lost his job last Friday.  We all kind of expected it in a way (his company was bought out last fall), but to actually have it happen, was hard.  But I am thankful because on Monday, he was offered a new job.  He didn’t even go one whole business day without a job.  So, I am thankful.  We’re just praying that this new jobs pans out alright.

I am SO thankful for my husband Scott.  I know this is cheesy, but  that’s alright.  We’ve grown so much over the past 5 years.  He is my best friend and I love being around him.  He challenges me and loves me.  It is wonderfully amazing to be so loved by another person.  I love his heart.  I love that he makes me go on adventures with him.  I love that he loves climbing.  He is so passionate about it, which I don’t fully understand all of the time, but I admire his passion.  I do love climbing with him.  I love listening to him tell me about the climbs that he did, or ones that he wants to do.  I love when he does dumb things just to make me laugh.  Thanks honey for always loving me.

And of course, I’m thankful for our son Boone.  He found his toes this week.  He started rolling over from his stomach to his back.  He started eating rice cereal, well attempting to eat it.  It’s amazing how much how loves us.  It’s amazing how much he’ll smile at his relatives over skype and I pray that he’ll be so familiar with them over the computer, that when he sees them in person, he’ll be comfortable and remember them.  I can’t believe that I grew him inside of me.  It’s amazing.  This is the person who was hiccuping inside of me only a few months ago.  amazing.

So, although I am really tired, exhausted, and sleep deprived.  I am thankful.  I am joyful.  I am content.   We are blessed.

Boone is growing up.  You may wonder how can a little 4 month old grow up, but he is.  He used to be considered a “fussy baby” by some, but now he smiles most of the time when he is awake.  Where as before, he would smile for about 10 minutes and then start crying for whatever reason.  He even flew from Dallas to Omaha last night without any crying fits!

Yesterday Boone and I spent 3 hours waiting in the airport in Dallas.  I was really excited to only take one flight up to Nebraska, instead of the normal two that we take from San Antonio.  It ended up taking about 5 hours to finally get to Nebraska when it was all said and done.  We were delayed about 3 hours.

Once they finally decided to board us on the plane, they told us that we had 15 minutes to board everyone otherwise their employees would be considered “illegal” (for whatever reasons those may be…I think they didn’t want to charge them overtime) and have to unload everyone and get us on another plane.  So we finally start boarding and as people started to sit down, the people towards the back of the plane started yelling at the people just coming on the “hurry up and sit down”!  It was an interesting flight, but as soon as we took off, Boone fell asleep and slept the entire time.  I was lucky.

So, we are now here in Nebraska.  We came here to see my brother Nick one more time before he moves to Spain (for missions).  We spent over a week with Scott’s family in Dallas and that was great.  I am amazed at how many people love Boone.  I love seeing both of our families with him.  Scott’s family loved calling him “Buddy”, while my family has loved calling him “Mr. B”, while Scott and I call him “stinky pants”, “fuss bucket” or “Baby Boone” (depending on the day we’re having- all out of love though)!

I feel really blessed to be someone’s mom and I love it.  It’s really crazy to think that Scott and I will have so much influence on another person’s life.  It’s scary, but cool.  Right now, Boone just laying next to me, sucking on his toys.  People are telling me that he about to teethe…I don’t know if we’re ready for that!

Boone is becoming an professional traveler to see family.  Family time has been great with the Chapman family and now we’re looking forward to some good Nebraska Masten family time.

christmas vacation is here.  vacation time is different for me now that I am not working full-time.  i use to look forward to vacation time because I could sleep in and take naps, but now that I am a full time mom, vacation time looks differently.  it doesn’t mean more sleep, but it does mean more nap times.  i feel like my days are just full of little naps.  i knew that this lack of sleep would be hard, but it seems to be getting harder.  i feel like i am always exhausted.  it’s amazing  because although i feel so tired, i still love seeing boone smile at me even if it’s at 5 in the morning and it’s the third time that he’s gotten up that night.  plus vacation time means that scott helps out a little more during the night because he can sleep in, so that is a vacation to me!

right now we’re in dallas visiting scott’s family.  it’s been fun for his fam to be around boone again.  he’s really afraid of new people right now, but he is starting to warm up to them.  today scott’s sister, leah, said hi to boone and he just started to scream.  he has a great sense of stranger danger.  maybe this will come in more handy when he’s older.

speaking of strangers, tomorrow night we are going to a Dallas Stars NHL hockey game and yes, boone is coming with us.  there’s going to be a lot of strangers there.  he won’t take a bottle yet, so we can’t leave him with anyone.  we’ll see how he does.  i have taken him to a movie already and he just slept through it all.  we’re hoping for the same at the game tomorrow night.  maybe we’re crazy, but it should be fun.

worst case scenario is that we’ll have to walk the halls with a crying baby.  best case scenario, boone will grow up and want to be a professional hockey player.  (well maybe the best case scenario would be that boone would grow up and not want to be a professional hockey player, but a professional climber- with his dad as his climbing partner.)

I really enjoy reading my friends’ blogs.  I feel like it’s a way that I can learn about their lives, even if they are my neighbors and close friends.  I feel like those friends can really express their thoughts and tell about their lives in creative and exciting ways.  I feel like I am not that talented, or that good of a writer, but I have come to the conclusion that people just like to know about other people’s lives despite their writing ability.  So I guess I will try to write more often in order to give my friends and family a glimpse into the Chapman family life.  So, all that to say…here we go…

I have loved being a mom.  It’s hard work.  People really weren’t kidding when they said that it’s the hardest job that they have ever done.   Boone is about 3 1/2 months old and time has flown by.  Just this week, he has started grabbing objects with his hands.  It’s pretty impressive for a little guy.  He has also recently started holding up his head really well.  With this new talent, he has decided that he loves to sit up.  Even when he’s laying in his bath water that he loves so much, he wants to sit up.

I’ve loved seeing Scott become a dad.  I’ve fallen even more in love with my husband.  I love how Boone gets a huge smile on his face when Scott plays with him.  Boone really loves it when Scott “beat-box” with him.  I feel like Scott and I have transitioned fairly well into this “parenthood” part of our lives.  We have our rough days, but they are few and far in between.  I feel very blessed to have such an amazing husband.

It’s definitely weird to not work full time.  I have had some sort of job for the past 15ish years.  I wasn’t quite sure how I would like being at home.  I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but for those of you who don’t know, we live in the middle of no where.  We live 8 miles down a dirt road.  We do not have cell phone service.  Our internet coverage is VERY slow in comparison to the city folks.  It’s takes us 1.5 hours to get to church.  So, we are very isolated out here.  Over the past 4.5 years of living here, or community here at Camp Eagle, has grown from 15 or so, to about 50.  So, it hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be.  I do miss doing “town things” (like going to Target whenever I want, or going to the movies, etc.), but I do love living out here in the middle or no where for now and it has been pretty good to be a stay-at-home mom out here so far.

So, our lives are good.  We’re blessed.  We have amazing families.  And we love our little Boone (and I really hope that he has red hair someday).

So our baby boy, Boone Wilson Chapman, is now here.

For those of you wanting to know the details…here you go…

I woke up at 2 in the morning, Labor Day morning, to some mild contractions.  Since this is our first baby, I had no idea about what to expect.  I imagined that the contractions would be severe, but they really weren’t too bad.  I didn’t end up waking Scott up until 4:30 am and told him that I thought that I was in labor, but wasn’t sure.  So he went back to sleep while I continued to labor outside while eating popsicles and visiting with the neighbor’s dog, Squidget.  It was the start to a long day.

We then left our house at 5:45 am for our 1.5 hour drive to the hospital.  We put on a Citizen Cope song, Our Son’s gonna Rise, and headed away from camp.  The drive was uneventful and we arrived at the hospital to find out that I was in labor and was staying at the hospital.  So long story short, I ended up getting an epidural at noon (which both Scott and I were glad that I did) and then started pushing at 5:45 pm.  Boone was born at 8:35 pm, yes, that’s right…3 hours of pushing.  It was rough, but he finally came out!  (I wasn’t sure for awhile if he was ever going to come out!)  He was 5 days overdue and he weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Now we’re back home at Camp Eagle.  This is the start to our new life.  My mom has been here and for that I am thankful.  I am adjusting to being home, not working full time, getting minimal sleep and learning about how to comfort our baby when he is crying.  We’re blessed that Boone likes to sleep and will sleep about 3 hours at a time during the day or night.  We are lucky that he is good and that he got his good sleeping habits from his dad.

While in my womb, Boone went backpacking, climbing, swimming, running, camping, and hiking with us.  Since he’s been born, we’ve started out a little slower, but he has been down to the climbing wall a couple of times.  Scott and I have already talked about how old he needs to be in order to climb a big wall with us (don’t worry Grandparents, it will be a few years from now).

We know that our life is changing, but we are hoping that Boone will naturally become a part of the things we love to do and who we are.

So we’re happy, tired, emotional and excited for this change in our lives.  It’s been good and it’s amazing how much we already love our little Boone.

“Having a kid is like being hit by a Mac Truck”

Any minute my life could totally change.  A 1.5 hour drive, a drive I make almost every week, as familiar as the walk to the fridge, will soon be the start of my new life and I’ll never have the chance to look back.  Sleep deprivation will make sure I’m not able to look back.  Thank God, because I don’t think I ever want to look back.  There’s nothing for me back there and there’s everything just up there.

One time I watched a movie knowing a jolt was coming.  I knew the villain was hiding around a corner, waiting to jump out.  When I hit play, I knew the movie was all about shock factor; so, I hate to admit it, but I flinched when he came around that corner.  Probably because I put so much attention into guessing where he was.  I was looking ahead to the next corner, but he was behind one I had already past.  Either way, I lived and the character on screen didn’t.  Maybe because I reacted and she just screamed.  I don’t know.

One time I ordered a pair of corduroy online and I waited for them to come in the mail.  I didn’t know if they would fit like I wanted.  I didn’t know if they would look like I wanted.  I didn’t know if they would feel like I wanted.  I did know, I thought I wanted them and I was willing to risk a chunk of change to find out if I did in fact want them.  It turned out that I did.  Of course, I could have sent them back, for the price of shipping, if I didn’t.

You are what you eat, and one time I ate something without knowing what it was. What does that say about what I think of myself?  I like almost all food.  It’s a super power of mine.  We all have super powers, they’re just not as grand as we wish, so we miss them.  I’m really easy going when it comes to food and I love to try new food.  I’ll try anything if I know its something someone likes to eat somewhere.  This has gone bad only a few times.  In Peru, I tried a locally hand crafted, purple drink and suffered from nausea and the runs for a week.  I think it was a potion for exactly that because it tasted too good to do such bad things. Anyways, most the time you can just spit up bad food and be done with it, so I guess you aren’t always what you eat.

The unknown is out of control.  Some would say exciting and others frightening. For some its paralyzing and others its stimulating.  For all its out of control.  It might bring change.  It’s not here, but it sure is coming and it can’t be stopped. That’s life.  That’s the joy, the heart break, the excitement, the design.  Right now I’m living with the expectation that my life will change forever at any minute, but maybe yours will too.

p.s. Later today I heard that my friend’s step dad was told he either has 2 days or six months to live.