Chloe is 11 months old!

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was counting down the weeks until Chloe's birth. As fast as time went when Camdyn was a baby, it seems to go even faster the 2nd time around. Maybe it is because I am just busier than I used to be, or maybe it is because I have a greater appreciation for the brevity of infant-ness now that I've already seen one child through it. Either way, you just can't keep babies from growing in to toddlers.

So, as is tradition, I took a couple of shots of Chloe this morning to hallmark her 11 month birthday. She was tired this morning and cuddly, and not at all as active as she usually is, but I still got some cuteness out of her. I usually take these pictures at home, but she is so cranky and ready for bed by 6:00 that I knew that if I didn't take them in the morning at school, I wouldn't get them. So, wa-la! We have a new venue for these snapshots!

Chloe's done a lot of changing this month and has added some exciting skills to her repertoire. Chloe can now pull up to standing on any object. We often find her standing in her crib in the morning. She doesn't like getting down from the standing position though, it must not feel good to land on her diaper bottom, so she often looks for help in getting back to her knees. She is also doing "high fives" and can crawl up a few steps at a time, although we do not encourage this. We don't have baby gates up yet.

She's also eating like a horse. We've added avocado to her food list, as well as, sweet potatoes, bread, yogurt meltaways blueberries, squash, and cantaloupe. She will eat just about anything that you give to her. She also had her first sip of juice recently. She got kind of plugged up from all of her solids, so that splash of apple juice mixed with a whole lot of water really got things moving for her...plus she enjoyed it immensely! Chloe also is working on the sippy cup, but I'm not going to force it on her when she turns one like I did with Camdyn. She'll keep the bottle until she is ready to let go of it, or until she gets to be 18 months old. Baby girl still has only her bottom 2 teeth, but the top two are making their decent. We can just see the white spots as they begin to poke through her gums.

For her stats, she's 16 lbs, 13 oz., which means she's only gained 3 oz this past month. Now that she is more active we are seeing a slow down in her weight gain. She's still wearing some 6 month clothes, but mostly 9 month gear seems to suit her just fine. Oh, and the biggest news, is that Chloe is finally sleeping 12 hours all night, EVERY NIGHT! The broken sleep was robbing me of my sanity, so we had to make a drastic change. I started by down right cutting out Chloe's 3 am nursing session. I changed her 12 am session to formula. We started with 6 ounces and then worked our way down to 4 oz, then 2 oz, and then she just stopped waking up for food altogether. This process only took 10 days and I think everyone in the house is so much happier, including Chloe! She had me played for a fool for a long time and we should have done this months ago, but better now then when she is 18 months old, right?

Here she is in all of her 11 month cuteness!

I love that she is my binkie baby and my blankie baby!

Chloe crawls through the Choo Choo Train on her own and gets down

without falling. Her teachers were surprised and impressed that she made that

venture all by herself!

So precious!

Camdyn plays in her classroom this morning with Chase

Who says that moving has to suck? Okay, I do! It sucks, but at least

the girls love the boxes!

Valentines Day Came and Went...

Although Valentine's Day isn't a day we really celebrate with much sha-bang, I should post a few pictures related to the event. This year's V-day was overshadowed by "the move" which is encompassing our life at the moment. Only 9 more days and a week of unpacking and we'll be able to put that behind us....

This year on Valentine's Day I woke up to a dozen roses and a hand made card from Camdyn. Chris asked her what she loves most about mommy and she replied, "her hair." Yes, dear, my hair is the envy of millions....well, at least it is to one little girl! Chris and I exchanged cards and an "I owe you" gift. Who knows if we'll ever actually buy them for each other, but, hey, we thought about it which is just about the same thing. I gifted him with an imaginary Wii and he gifted me with a new set of Stainless Steel pots and pans. No shopping required, we'll buy them when we buy them (probably after the move).

Here are some highlights from Vday week!

Camdyn had a dental appointment on Thursday morning. She cooperated after some coaxing and the realization that she would not get a toy from the dentist's surprise toy chest if she did not allow her teeth to be cleaned. After the successful cleaning, I took her to Starbucks for some chocolate milk and a piece of pumpkin loaf bread. Clean the teeth, then apply sugar. It makes perfect sense to me!

Playing at the park after school

I love how Camdyn is the monkey in the middle and both Abby and Chloe are looking at her like "What's your problem?"

This sequence of pictures cracks me up (they are slightly out of order because Blogger sucks for loading pictures) but you can still get the jist of it.

Abby shows her displeasure with Chloe as Chloe

attempts to eat a small rock off of the park bench

"Stop that you animal! You'll chip one of your brand new teeth!"

Abby looks surprised that she is sitting by herslef for a second

Chloe is bored with pictures "enough already mom, you alredy got the money shot!"

If only Abby was looking up....

Chloe's money shot

Abby isn't the only one who can sport pig tails!

These are Chloe's 1st pig tails and they didn't last long

The hair above her ears is just long enough to make a teeny

tiny, piggie tail. It's completely ridiculous!

My sweet pea on Valentine's Day night

Monday Weirdness

Mondays are weird and so is this post. Here are a few pics and a little commentary on what's going on in our world:

Abby and Chloe are literally "hanging out" at the park on MLK day. At 10 months I'm just now starting to feel Chloe's weight when she's in the the Baby Bjorn. Her days in it are definitely numbered, that, or daddy will have to start wearing her! Chloe is wearing an outfit that Miss Jillian gave to Camdyn. Camdyn wore it at 6 months.




There's nothing sweeter than belly laughs and Chloe is all about them these days.




Chloe is clapping with binkies in her hand while she plays in her crib. We tried to take the bumpers out of her crib, but then the binkies fall on the floor. She has also gotten her wittle wegs stuck between the rails. So, the bumpers have to stay for awhile....at least until she is pulling up to standing.



Chloe is blowing bubbles at the park. I love this picture not only because the background is blurred and the focus is on the pretty baby, but because her cheeks look just as kissable as they are in this picture! I probably kiss her cheeks 50 times a day!

Well, the men have made it a habit of golfing on Sunday mornings, so the women bring the kids to church. Here's a picture of Abby and Liz doing church with us 2 Sundays ago. Abby is such a good baby during the service. She just politely falls asleep and wakes up just in time to sing at the end.

Camdyn playing at the park on a cold day! We recently found out that Camdyn has 4 wiggly teeth inside her head. This was fairly traumatic for me, as I assumed that they were falling out of her head due to decay. It turns out that she is just going to lose her teeth earlier than her peers. This might require her to wear a permanent bridge so that her speech development isn't impacted by the holes in her mouth. Good thing for dental insurance!

Camdyn's 4th birthday came and went with just a little "ta-do." I had intended on throwing her a party and celebrating her birthday with some flare, but it didn't happen. When we travel over Xmas it makes it really hard to get a party planned when we get home. We did sing to Camdyn on her birthday and she got to open a few presents. I intend on incorporating her birthday party with Chloe's when Chloe turns 1. I guess having it 3 months late is better than not at all.

At Camdyn's 4 year old well visit she weighed in at 41 lbs and 41 1/2 inches tall. I neglected to ask what percentile she's in, but I'm guessing 90th. She has better than 20/20 vision and she really had Dr. Meyer laughing, especially when he asked her to touch her toes and instead of bending at the waist, she squatted. No shots this year, that'll happen next year before kindergarten. It was actually an enjoyable visit.

Here the girls are celebrating Camdyn's 4th birthday. I love how Camdyn has a hand on Chloe so that she won't fall off the table. Don't worry, Papa Rick's hand is on Chloe too, it's just hard to see. Happy 4th Birthday, Miss Camdyn!

If you are happy...

and you know it clap your hands (clap clap)! Chloe just started clapping along with the song. I don't know what inspired me to sing it to her, but when I began singing she immediately stopped crawling, sat up, and started clapping. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I can't believe that at barely 10 months old she can recognize the song and associate the motions with it. Here she is!

Get up - Stand Up....and other Stuff

Lil Chloe is now 10 months old! She weighs in at 16 lbs 9 oz and she is about 28" long. She is babbling non stop, and waving "hi" to strangers. It's fun to watch people stop, smile like goofballs and then wave back to her. Chloe has reached another milestone....she is pushing up to the standing position. She can accomplish this feat if the object she is using to push herself up is at her waist or lower. She uses the stairs, the bottom rung on our dining room chairs, and Camdyn's red folding chair in order to push herself up. She seems so small to be standing there like that. So, I take her hands and try to help her walk and she is all hula girl, with her belly wiggling back and forth while she tries to muster up the control to take a step. I predict that she is going to walk after her 1st birthday, she still has a long way to go before that will happen....I'm guessing she'll be 14 months old when she takes her 1st step!

Yes, I realize that Chloe is only wearing one babyleg and it's a completely strategic wardrobe

statement. Her uncovered leg provides her with enough traction to crawl on our wood floors.

When both knees are covered she ends up in a face plant.

Look at me, Mama! I'm Standing!

Camdyn & Madison play at the park on MLK day

Chloe sports a hair bow that is clinging to one precious hair on the top of her head

Snowed out at Disney!

Yes, you read that right and it happened in Florida. Originally, we planned our annual trip to Disney World the weekend in December that Chloe & Camdyn had the rota virus. I cancelled the trip thinking that it wouldn't be any fun to drag two crappy kids to the happiest place on earth. Well, turns out that would have been better than enduring Disney THIS past weekend. Being that I had already cancelled and re -booked the trip once, Expedia showed no mercy when I attempted to rebook it again. So, kids, it's 3o degrees out and we are headed to Disney World! We packed our warmest clothes, I bought a weather shield for the stroller and we thought we would brave the weather and just hope that we would, at the very least, take advantage of light crowds. When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was 27 degrees and raining. OH NO! This made the cold even more unbearable and the last thing we wanted was 2 sick kids, so Chris and I had to come up with a Plan B.

Camdyn plays in our hotel/condo on Saturday morning. Surprisingly, she isn't really disappointed about not going to Disney World. The digs are great at Mike Ditka's Runaway Beach Club...this is our FAVORITE place to stay when we do Disney. Having a full kitchen, and a separate bedroom are a must have now, especially when traveling with a baby.

Around 10:30, we bundled up the girls and headed to Downtown Disney. We shopped and Camdyn bought a baby Bambi stuffed animal and then we had lunch with the Dinosaurs at T-Rex. Camdyn thought they were real and it was really cute to watch her try and touch them and then pull her hand back in fear when they moved.

Chloe enjoys her lunch in the Ice Cave, she ate cereal, with crayons for dessert. The walls turned different colors and that really kept her attention.

Playtime at the hotel. Chloe tries to pull up to standing

Later that evening I took Camdyn to Arabian Nights to have dinner and watch the horse show. She wore her "Cutest Cowgirl" shirt and we had a blast watching all the pretty horses (and the princesses/knights too).

So, the weekend didn't turn out how we intended, but we had a great time despite the weather. We actually saw some snow flurries on Saturday night and we knew that we made the right decision. I will bring Camdyn to the Magic Kingdom when it warms up in a few weeks....I guess maybe the 3rd time is a charm!

Chloe Belle

It's been a bit of a whirlwind since Xmas and I have totally neglected my blog. I'll have to play catch up later...but this is a start. Miss Chloe turned 9 months old on 12/19 and just yesterday had her well visit. She was a doll baby and didn't even cry during the toe prick and subsequent squeeze. She babbled and cooed and smiled at Dr. Meyer. Even he couldn't even resist kissing her on the top of her bald baby head.

Chloe's stats: 15 lbs. 6 oz, 28" long and she sits in the 5th percentile for weight and the 50th for height. She has gained about a pound and a half since her 6 mo. visit and she has grown 3 inches! It appears that she lost some weight this month due to the rota virus which plagued our whole family for a few days....poor Chloe battled it for 10 days! The doctor isn't concerned by her petite-ness. He said, "I wish I saw more skinny babies." Funny, cause when I brought chunky monkey Camdyn in to see him he'd say, "She's big and healthy and perfect." Babies come in all shapes and sizes and they are all adorable! I'm so glad I got one of each...makes it easier to tell them apart in their baby pictures :)

So, what's Chloe doin? She's crawling on her hands and knees and she is losing that timid, "am I doing this right?" hesitation. She is linking a lot of vowels and consonants together and I'm just waiting for her to spit out "ball" or "dog." She does say Dada and Mama randomly. She is also waving "hi" and can pull herself up onto her knees. Chloe is also eating Organic Puffs now, for her first solid food, and we also mixed in a little fruit this month....pears and bananas!

Camdyn still adores her baby sister. This morning Cam was laying on the couch and I placed Chloe on top of her like she was riding a horse. Camdyn grabbed her little starfish hands and said, "Gidyeeup Chloe" and then bounced her around a bit. They looked so cute together! Chloe laughed and laughed. I'm sure these sisters will share a lot of good times.

So, Chloe is growing up and it won't be long until she is pulling up to standing and first words are flying out of her mouth. I'm still trying to hold on to not only my sanity but every minute of babyhood that Chloe has left in her. I know I'm really going to miss these days...