BK

There are no pictures to prove it, so I thought I'd make a quick note of it here.  I sent a facebook message to some of our random, local friends that we'd be going to lunch at Burger King today if anyone wanted to join us.  We had a blast!  We ended up with four families, fourteen kids!!  Ms. Erin and her three, Ms. Kelsi and her four, and Ms. Becky with her three plus a niece.  All the kids played together very, very well and had soo much fun.  We love the Burger King playplace.  It has its own separate room, so we can eat in there and linger and socialize while the kids play.  We don't bother anybody else, and there's only one door in and out.  I can't figure out why it's never crowded!

Ryan played mostly with our neighbor Jacob.  Jacob is in second grade, and he's just about as cool as they come.  Asher joined in pretty well when he got there.  Abby sort of did her own thing.  I saw her with Georgia a couple times.  And poor Max wanted to play with her so badly, but she'd just keep right on racing around that playplace.  Naomi loved on Chloe and came back multiple times to give her kisses.  Once I freed Chloe from the highchair, Georgia and the other big kids helped her all through the play area.  A little nerve racking, but I kept reminding myself: it'll help her toughen up!  She's almost seventeen months by golly! 

I'm loving having all three of my kids around and being able to do some of the things that have become hard to do with an elementary school schedule.  I just wish the break weren't going by so fast! 

Merry Christmas 2013!!!

so sweet

Last night I went out with Christa and Alicia, woo-hoo!  I said all my goodbyes to everyone and hugs and kisses and I love yous.  As I'm walking out Ryan says, "I-L-o-v-e-Y-o-u!"  It was so cool and unexpected, he's never spelled like that before.  I truly felt loved!  I love you too, my Little Man! 

loved it

I've been babysitting our neighbor-friends, Max and Grant, some recently.  Usually only once or twice a week, but it adds up.  Ryan's so funny, he'll say he doesn't want to play with the little kids, but of course once he gets in there, he has a great time.  He asked me a couple days ago if he could have some of his friends over.  I told him I'd work on it and see what we could come up with for Thursday since it was supposed to be a warm and sunny day.  We are waterlogged here. 

So we had Jacob, Georgia, and Sam over yesterday.  It was wonderful!!  They played together sooo well.  I just got to sit and watch them have fun.  The three boys played soccer for quite awhile, which just made Ryan's day.  Georgia and Abs played babies and watched the game from the sidelines.  They also played monkey in the middle, ring around the rosy, and all sorts of run around like crazy things.  I can't believe how well they all got along.  They planned and talked and came up with the games all on their own. 

The afternoon was originally planned for Ryan's benefit, but it was a great day for me too.  We've had a CRAZY busy December trying to do Christmas parties and class plays and Christmas cards and teacher gifts and baking goodies and all sorts of stuff, on top of everyday living.  I'm working hard to keep perspective and enjoy it all, but I will admit I am exhausted.  So a couple hours of watching kids laugh and play and be happy was just what I needed!  I love our neighbors! 

no cooties here

Uh-oh, watch out Daddy!  Abby had her first kiss today!  Mommy and Chloe were at Ryan's school for the Christmas party, so Abby rode home from preschool with Ms. Alyson and Dylan [and Seth too who happened to have today off for parent conferences].  They went back to Alyson's house for peanut butter & honey sandwiches and clementines.  After playing for a bit, Dylan had to go down for his nap; he's a younger man, only two years old.  Apparently Abby asked to say good night, so Ms. Alyson brought over a stool.  She stood up on the stool next to Dylan's crib, and Ms. Alyson prompted Dylan to give Abby a hug and a kiss on the cheek good night.  They both completely ignored the "on the cheek" part and gave each other a big ole' kiss on the lips!  So there ya go, I guess it was bound to happen eventually! 

good question, Buddy

Ryan and I were talking about numbers yesterday.  He said the biggest number he knew was 1,999.  And then he realized 2,000 was higher and then we talked about all the thousands, and then the millions, billions, and trillions.  He asked me what the biggest number I knew was and I said infinity.  I explained to him that infinity basically means forever and higher then anyone could count and the numbers never stop.  His response: "Oh, is God still thinking of new numbers?"  I thought that was a great, very insightful question!  I love the way his little brain works so hard to try to make sense of everything! 

Chloe, 15months

Our sweet Chloe-Chlo-Chlo is 15months old!  Or at least she was a week ago; we're just observing the event today with a checkup to Dr. Bowman :)  Our Itty Bitty weighed in at 19lbs, 6.5oz.  I was shocked she hasn't hit 20lbs yet.  But Dr. Bowman was very happy with her weight.  Albeit at the very bottom, she is soundly on the weight charts now.  She was 30" long with an 18" head.  Dr. Bowman was very excited about her physical progress.  She's not worried at all that she's not actually walking yet, but she was very happy about her standing and pulling up and cruising along the chairs, woo-hoo!  Like her sister, she appears to be a wheezer.  Her ears looked great, her chest was clear, but alas she just has a bit of a wet, gunky wheeze and cough.  Sounds like someone else we know and love :) 

Chloe has eight teeth up front and three molars in the back.  Her fourth molar is on its way in and oh boy does it look painful!  It's all swollen and big and ouchy looking, poor baby.  The molars would explain the recent fussiness; Chloe has not enjoyed getting any of her eleven teeth.  When she's not busy with erupting teeth, she's a super sweet, laid back little one.  She's very observant, both Abby's preschool teacher and the doctor today commented on how aware she was.  She loves to laugh at her siblings.  She's a pretty good eater, loves to drink milk and smoothies, sleeps great - all night and three-ish hours in the afternoon.  She babbles a lot, but doesn't say any words on a consistent basis yet.  She points at everything with her one little crooked pointer finger.  She claps and blows kisses.  She can wave, but that's so a couple months ago, she's too cool for that anymore.  She loves to put things in and out, in and out, in and out.  She's into the fine details of everything.  She sucks her left thumb and is still very attached to her pink elephant.  Mommy's her favorite person in the whole world which I'm totally okay with :)  Her favorite foods are cheese, quesadillas, chicken, pureed veggies, applesauce.  She's got a dramatic flair to her; if you tell her no, she'll turn her head and pout and give you the most pitiful eyes ever.

I love you my sweetest littlest Love!

 

to compare:
Chloe at 15m: 19lbs, 6oz, 30" tall, 18" head
Abby at 15m:  20lbs, 5oz, 31" tall, 18 3/4" head

dreams

I don't often remember my dreams, but last night I did.  I dreamt that Chloe stood up and walked across the room, woo-hoo!  Since Ryan and I were running ahead of schedule this morning, I took a minute while he was eating his breakfast to ask him if he knew what dreams were.  We talked about dreams and how your mind pretends things while you sleep and sometimes you remember when you wake up.  So I told him that I had dreamt last night about Chloe walking.  He then told me that he had dreamt last night also.  He was at the tennis courts for the neighborhood Halloween party.  He was wearing his bat costume and then he started flying.  It was so great to listen to him talk about his dream. 

Anyways, it was just a really neat conversation.  I felt like we were actually talking, there was no agenda, no plan, no pulling teeth to get information, it just flowed naturally.  We were bonding, you know?!  So often I feel like I have to ask leading questions, and he usually gets silly or distracted and gives one word answers.  Which is fine, he is a six year old boy after all.  But, I don't know, this conversation was just special and really nice :)  

Up!

I think Chloe has her first real word!  She babbles a lot, although I've yet to be convinced that she knows what she's saying.  But last night in the bathtub, she had me pretty confident that she was saying "Up" and that she knew exactly what she meant.  She's getting pretty good at pulling all the way up to a standing position, and as scary as it was for Mommy, the edge of the tub is a perfect height.  She pulled up over and over.  And several times I swear that she said "Up" as she did it.  Then she grabbed the pink elephant squirt toy as it floated by, set him up on the edge, and once again said "Up."  I think we may just have a first real word on our hands!  Yay, Chloe!

the keys to my car

Move over Adele and "Boomer has it."  After a good year and a half plus, Abby has finally found a new favorite song, hooray!  She is all about "the keys to my car" song, which Mommy just so happens to love also, so it works perfectly.  At least for now, I'm sure I'll burn out on it before she does :) 

fyi: "the keys to my car" is more commonly known as "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" by The Band Perry. 

Makes my heart happy

Today while driving to church, Ryan asked "there are some people that don't go to church?"  We said something along the lines of well yeah that's true.  He replied with "why not? Church is good."  How awesome is that?!  Especially from Ryan.  He really loves being in UpStreet, the elementary age environment.  It's leaps and bounds better then leaving an upset, crying Ryan in the 4s room downstairs.  There were times I questioned whether we needed to find a new church or not it was so hard.  He'd start getting upset Saturday night just thinking about it.  I love that he finally loves church!  Hooray!

SIX!

Time's gotten away from me and my blog again.  hmm.  I seem to go in spurts and I have certainly not been in a blogging sort of mood recently apparently.  Sorry. 

There's a lot I have missed blogging about this summer ... Destin in May and again over Labor Day didn't make the blog.  An awesome week long OBX 4th of July trip didn't make the blog.  Neither did a trip to Laura's new place in Tampa along with a visit to Disney.  But we did them all!  And they were all a blast!  There's plenty of pictures on my picasa page to remember all the good times.  And hey a picture's worth a thousand words, right?! 

But I really do want to blog about my first born, my only son, my Bug-Man, my kindergartner, my Little Man, my Bud, my SIX year old!  I've attempted and saved a few drafts without luck.  I think between Ryan being in kindergarten [how did that happen?!  I still miss him and tear up at the bus stop in the mornings!], and Chloe growing up so fast [as much as we are done and as hard as the baby stage is, it's still weird knowing we're moving on from this phase.  I need some friends or sibs to have some babies so I can live vicariously.  it's fun to love on babies and then give them back.], I'm all out of whack.  It's hard on this Mama sometimes, this growing up stuff.  It's crazy how much I love them and how I just want to hold them and hug them and keep them my babies forever!  But alas, I can't, so time to focus on all the exciting things that do come with age.  And speaking of age, back to Ryan's SIXth birthday.  [Did you like how I tied that back around?  It wasn't even entirely intentional.].

Ryan's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we celebrated at school on Friday.  The girls and I surprised him by being mystery reader for his class and bringing in a new book, Danny and the Dinosaur's Birthday Party.  When I searched for birthday and dinosaur, this book kept coming up.  Danny and the Dinosaur is special to us since Grandma has an old copy of the book and loves to read it to them.  So this book was perfect, even more so when I realized that Danny turns six in the book.  It was fun to bring in a new book to read to the class.  I also had little dinosaur figures that we gave to all Ryan's classmates.  He was soo sweet, he even pulled out a couple for his teacher and parapro.  After the reading, we stayed and ate lunch in the cafeteria with Ryan.  Unknown to us, our new neighbors Georgia and family were also there, so that was fun.  [and hey, we had a photographer :)].  We also sat across from Benjamin's family.  Abby and Benjamin have been in preschool together both years.  When we sat down, Benjamin saw us first and was so excited, "there's Abby from my preschool!"  Small world.  Or a bubble, depends on how you look at it.  And since it was Friday, Ryan had ice cream with his lunch, yumm!  I also brought a couple of dinosaur cookies to celebrate. 

 

Saturday morning we had a soccer game.  I must say I was pretty distracted this game.  Lots of family in town!  It was great having Grandma, Auntie Sarah, Uncle Christian, Maxim, Uncle Jason, and Amber cheering our Dragons on.  But Ryan wasn't distracted; he won the medal for the day's value: paying attention.  Yup, Coach's kid won the medal on week two :)  He had a great game and the assistant really wanted to give it to him when he heard it was Ryan's birthday weekend.  Coleson had pretty much decided on another kid, but when the game ended and they asked if anyone remembered the value, Ryan was the only one.  No favoritism there, seems like he really did deserve it!  Great job, Buddy!  Ryan loves soccer.  He has great energy and is always right there in the game hustling, hustling. 

 

After the game it was party time!!  We packed up and headed towards the birthday party playground.  This is the fourth year we've partied there, but hey, it's a perfect place!  We had a dinosaur birthday banner and dinosaur tracks for the sidewalk.  We colored and cut lots of footprints between the sidewalk decor and the goodie bags.  The weather was perfect.  All the kids seemed to have lots of fun running and playing and eating pizza.  We had dinosaur cupcakes and dinosaur cookies.  As always, the merry go round was a huge hit with the little people.  Thanks to everyone who turned out to celebrate our little man! 

Off to the corn maze after the party.  While we always end up exhausted after a long day, the corn maze has turned into a fun tradition.  The big three cousins led the way [why do we always answer the questions wrong?!].  The corn was awesome this year, super tall and green, there are a few benefits to all the rain this summer!  The kids were so cute holding hands.  Poor Maxim was in the middle and would get pulled from side to side whenever we hit a fork in the road and Ryan & Abby would disagree about which way to go.  Chloe did great in the Snugli and enjoyed laughing as the others would run by.  We also checked out the corn crib and horse tire swings and jumpy pillows.  And then back to Nana's for a big family dinner.  Thanks Jim for a delicious meal and hosting all of us!  Presents and cake and celebrating Auntie Sarah too.  Sorry you have to share your special day with Ryan!  [well not your actual day, but the celebrations.].  Happy birthday too, Auntie Sarah :)

Sunday morning, birthday morning!  It was Pajama Day on Upstreet at church.  It sounds like they had lots of fun and played lots of cool sleepover games.  On our way home, we stopped at QT for birthday snacks. Ryan picked out gummy worms, Abby Skittles, Daddy coffee, and Mommy & Daddy shared donut holes.  More presents back home with Mommy and Daddy.  Grandma and Grandpa came over with more too and ate lunch and cupcakes with us.  We then enjoyed some downtime while Ryan built and built and built with his Legos.  We bought him one of those plastic storage things with three drawers and moved the lego table up to his room.  He's really enjoyed organizing all his Legos and building lots of fun creations.  We had a family dinner at IHOP to celebrate the birthday boy.  The kids love pancakes for dinner and we love that kids eat free. 

On Monday Ryan came home with a happy birthday hat from school.  I couldn't get anything else out of him about that though, I don't think they really did much more to celebrate.  But since he had the hat on, the busdriver had everyone sing to him on the way home.  Our busdriver is awesome!  Monday afternoon Ryan had his six year checkup.  As the nurse said, he's a square: 45lbs and 45ins.  Right on average in both categories.  Which means they are still predicating 5'10", 160lbs.  It'll be interesting to see if that's accurate or if he has one of those crazy high school growth spurts.  Everything looked great at the checkup.  He had his iron checked, blood pressure, hearing & vision, a flu mist.  All sorts of things, but no shots, yay!  The girls and I all got flu shots though; Chloe did great, Abby not such a big fan.  On a whim, we drove into Alpharetta after the appointment.  We were almost there anyways, and I knew Coleson would be a little late that night.  While we were driving to the appointment, Grandpa had called to tell us there were some scarecrows up.  We had a great time wandering around downtown Alpharetta checking them out.  There were lots and lots of them on every street light and corner and wherever they could lean them.  Ryan liked the Lego man of course.  We saw an astronaut and Abby was ecstatic.  She's been all about astronauts recently.  She really wants to be one when she grows up, pretty cool in my opinion!  Of course she also wants Chloe and I to be astronauts with her.  She has big dreams, but she's still my Mama's girl and I like that. 

What a day, what a week, what a celebration.  I love you, love you, love you Mr. Ryan Hazen!  I just can't wrap my brain around you being six already.  You're so amazing and smart and independent and handsome and sweet and caring.  You're an amazing big brother and your sisters both adore you.  I'm so proud of you and the fine young man you are growing into.  Even if I do miss you terribly while you are off conquering the world, or at least kindergarten :)  Happy, happy sixth birthday Buddy!!

good things to say

Abby's teacher, Ms. Dorothea, put her in the car today after preschool.  She had such nice things to say about our Abs!!  She said Abby is doing great at preschool, she is very sweet, she is a wonderful teamplayer, and she's very bright.  Yay!!  That'll make a Mama super proud!!

Abby also had plenty of interesting things to say on the way home.  Apparently Brandon is line leader this week, but he wasn't here today so Lauren got to do it.  I asked if she knew where Brandon was and I was rewarded with a good five minutes of "or maayybe's."  A couple noteworthy ones:

Or maybe his belly had a tummyache [my personal favorite]
Or maybe he had to go to the doctor or to the dentist
Or maybe he went to the grocery store
Or maybe, or maybe, or maybe. 

In other words, she didn't have any idea why Brandon wasn't there :)

Gotta run, just a quick post while all this was fresh.  According to Abby: "my belly is telling me it's hungry", so lunchtime it is.

here I am, I love you

Chloe has taken to crawling over to someone and then sitting herself up so that she is pretty much on top of them.  Super cute!  She started doing it to Ryan awhile ago when he'd get home from school.  If she was awake [she's normally napping], she'd slither right over to him and then sit up.  It was as if she was trying to get in his lap.  Both the girls really miss Ryan when he's gone [who am I kidding, I miss him too!!]. 

 

interruption:

"I miss Brother when he's at school.  When's it time to go pick Brother up?  Let's go pick Brother up."

Abby is in my lap while I'm writing this.  She can't read.  I'm not talking out loud as I type.  She just announced exactly what I was writing when she had no way possible to know what I was writing.  Point proven, we miss Ryan.

 

Back to my story:

She continues to crawl to her sibs and here's the girls today:

 

 

Chloe crawled right on over there, put herself in a sitting position, and wiggled around to get just right.  In Abby's words: "Our backs are leaning on each other. That was funny."  Too bad it's a blurry camera phone picture.  But you still get the idea.  Look at the joyous smiles on both my girls.  Love, love, love my babies!! 

squeeky clean

Yesterday afternoon we washed the cars.  Abby wore her bathing suit and had a great time.  She was so cute helping wash the car with lots of soap and sponges.  But the best was when she was scrubbing the front grills and told me: "I'm brushing the car's teeth!" 

Chloe the crawler

Chloe started crawling on Wednesday.  Just like that.  She was wearing a dress and I thought maybe it was hard to slither on her belly with the dress for some reason.  But she was still crawling yesterday and now today.  Belly up, hands and knees, a real crawl.  Now if only she would considering this whole standing up and walking thing :)  She is getting closer though I suppose.  She will pull up and balance on her knees; she just doesn't have much interest in using her legs.  But you know what?  That's probably just as well.  I am sure when there are three of them running in three different directions I will miss being able to carry Chlo! 

where does she come up with this stuff?! :)

We were sidewalk chalking one afternoon last week.  A small piece of Abby's chalk broke off and she threw it into the grass:  "I throwed that out there so the ants could eat it for their lunch."  Mmm, tasty!!

Abby Chase, Three Year Old

Abby started preschool yesterday.  She goes T, W, Th this year.  Her teachers are Ms. Dorothea and Ms. Terry.  She has a few friends from last year: Lyla, Virgil, and Benjamin.  No Max though, bummer, but we still get to see him a lot around the neighborhood and we may carpool some.  She did great at preschool!  She picked out her red Easter dress to wear and was super excited to have Chloe match her.  Since it was the first day, Chloe and I walked her in to her classroom.  She looked around, gave me a hug, and then asked if she could go play with the dollhouse.  Just like that she was gone!  No tears, no looking back.  Mommy cried a little on the way home :)  Preschool itself wasn't too emotional, I think it was just the culmination of everything.  Having two babies gone and in different places is a little weird.  I loved when they were at preschool together.  They didn't see each other all that much, but it was a wonderful feeling when they would say they saw each other and waved.  And I do know that at least once they took Abby to see Ryan when she was upset about something.  Loved that!  Anyways...

Picking up Abby in afternoon carline was a bit crazy.  The first week with beginner parents is always rough :)  She had lots of fun on her first day.  She played in the gym with balls.  She did a picture of day and night for the first day of Creation.  We had snack duty this first week, so she was excited about that.  She helped me shop and we picked out all her favorites: bananas, cheese, goldfish, and vanilla wafers.  This also meant that she was line leader which has gone straight to her head!  This afternoon when we were going to the playroom, I got fussed at for not following her and I had to go back and walk in again  :) 

Nana offered to take her to school this morning.  When she woke up, I asked Abby if she still wanted to go with Nana.  She said "yes, Nana can take me, but I want you to pick me up Mommy.  That's a good idea." super cute smile with a thumbs up.  She's going to do just fine in preschool.  She'll probably run that school by the time she's in the fours class next year.  Have a great year my Sweet Abs!

bored or brilliant?

I am hoping that the first couple of weeks of kindergarten are more of a review and a chance for the teacher to assess the abilities of the class.  I think Ryan might be bored.  He must finish his worksheets in record time because this is what the backs of them come home looking like: 

He's not a huge fan of naptime, so thanks to Nana's suggestion, last Monday he spent naptime thinking of a story.  When he came home, I helped him write it.  And by that I mean, I literally wrote what he told me to write.  I had nothing to do with the creativity or storyline [alright confession, slight story alteration, he wanted koala bears orignally but I couldn't even begin to draw one.  he then suggested penguins, not that I drew them all that well either].  He came home knowing exactly what his story was.  He even knew how many pages he wanted.  He would only recite the story to me one word at a time; I couldn't have swayed him even if I wanted to!  I did help outline a couple penguins and whatnot, but again only exactly what he told me to do.  And I'm sure you can't tell on here, but the doctor's name is Dr. Melons, it says so on his hat.  And oops, I misspelled penguin, that's all me.  The rest is all him, even the thought bubble [I didn't know he knew what those were]:

 

Helen

The theme for this summer has been rain, rain, rain.  And cool, cool, cool.  Now don't get me wrong, this weather would be great... if it was November!  But c'mon, for real?!  It's mid-August for crying out loud!!  I bet I could count on one hand how many times this summer it hit 90 degrees.  And we only slip 'n slided maybe four times.  This past weekend, AUG 17th and 18th, not Nov, not March, but August the high was 70.  That set a record low high.  We turned the air off on Friday and opened the windows and the temperature in the house dropped several degrees.  Fall weather is great, I just wish we could have had summer first!  Alrighty, alrighty, off my soap box now.  maybe.

So on Saturday we had a family adventure day.  We decided on Helen since that's been on my bucket list of sorts for awhile now.  [It's not really a bucket list per say, I just have a list of nearby places I'd love to go or things I'd love to do.  Like the UGA game we went to in April.]  Coleson and I used to love Helen, and we went there a million times pre kids.  And even once when Ryan was little and spent a weekend with my parents.  Believe it or not though, the kids had never been.  We ate a picnic lunch and then went to Anna Ruby Falls.  Now keep in mind three or four weeks ago I picked a hike for us.  It was a long drive, a long hike, and we got rained on.  Pouring rain.  Fortunately we were able to squish into a rock wall and really didn't get that wet.  But we did have to turn around before we got to the waterfall.  It really was a great adventure though; I had a wonderful time.  Ryan however has asked to not go hiking in the rain again.  Thus I was a little afraid of how announcing another hike would go over.  Anna Ruby Falls seemed safe enough.  And fortunately the kids seemed to have forgotten about hiking in the rain and were very excited.  It's a super short trail and therefore we actually made it to the waterfall this time.  The kids all did great and loved it.  They did seem a little confused by the paved sidewalk, and Ryan asked to keep going when we got to the waterfall so quickly.  I love that my kids know what real hiking is!  The waterfall was beautiful and it was a fun little hike.

After our hike, we headed into Helen.  The car said 64 degrees.  It was chilly!  I hiked in jeans and a sweatshirt, in addition to the bodyheat of wearing Chloe.  And it was drizzling a little.  But we still had fun wandering, and hey, Ryan enjoyed wearing his raincoat.  He also loved watching the handful of crazies that were tubing the river.  You couldn't have paid me money to get in that water when it was 64 and drizzling.  We stopped for fudge and ants on a stick pretzels.  Unfortunately the rain was getting heavier, so we snapped a quick picture of the kids for proof of our visit, and then we ran to the car.  We had thought about staying through dinner, but just didn't have it in us to hang around in the rain.  So we drove a ways before dining at El Rio in downtown Dawsonville.  Love that place!  I used to eat there when I worked at the bank, and that's where the fajita nachos that we all know and love originated.  Always a fun stop if we can work it in; it's not exactly convenient these days. 

While the weather wasn't ideal, it was still a great day.  With our busy schedules and kindergarten, we love our Saturdays!  I really don't care what we do, as long as we do it together [cheesy! but true!].  The crazier the day, the better the memories :) 

random Girls stuff

*Chloe ate a scrambled egg for breakfast this morning!  I am so excited!  Third time's the charm in regards to eggs; R&A still won't touch them.  Way to go Chloe!

*Abby misses Ryan like crazy when he's at school.  When she sees the bus coming over the hill in the afternoon, she goes crazy.  She'll jump up and down while shouting, "Brother! Brother!"  Quite possibly the sweetest thing ever.

*Chloe drinks her milk out of a sippy cup now.  Not her first choice of course, but she's getting the hang of it.  This morning she sat in my lap, held the cup all by herself, and drank it all at one time, awesome!!  We're still working up to that consistently, I tend to have to help and nudge her along, but she's getting much better. 

*Abby met her teachers yesterday, Ms. Dorothea and Ms. Terry.  She did great at open house and was really excited about it.  She knew two kids already, Virgil and Lyla.  Hopefully she'll be as excited on Tuesday morning as she is now!  She'll be in the three-day threes class- Tues, Wed, Thurs from nine to noon.

one year stats

Chloe had her one year checkup today with Dr. Bowman.  We love Dr. Bowman :)  Abby was a great helper and all about telling Chloe "it's okay, it's okay."  Chloe did pretty good at her appt, she only cried for the vaccinations - three shots.  She didn't even get upset about the finger prick for her iron levels [which were normal]. 

*She has six teeth.  Dr. Bowman said most likely the next teeth to come in will be baby molars in the back.  None are erupting yet, but she says the top left feels like it'll be first. 

*She's 17lbs, 6oz.  Woohoo!  I was hoping for 17, and she surpassed my goal!  She had dipped off the bottom of the weight chart at her 9month appt, but she's back up there now.  Of course she's right at the very bottom line, but at least she's on there again.  Dr. Bowman was pleased too, no concerns.

*I didn't end up with a copy of her growth charts, I honestly don't think I was given them, I wonder if Dr. Bowman put them in her stack instead of mine.  I only ended up leaving with the financial stuff, boring!  I think she was 29.25inches.  They have been known to mail me paperwork in the past, maybe they will this time. 

*Her head I think was 17.75.  Fairly large on the growth chart of course.  I do know her head was big, her height was right at average, and her weight was still Itty-Bitty.

I know I'm not supposed to compare my kids.  But in objective issues such as height and weight, it seems harmless enough to me, and it's interesting :)  So here's the comparision between the three amigos at one year:

top secret

I made smoothies this morning [in my awesome, new Ninja blender :)].  Abs and I each drank one, we froze some, and we saved some for Ryan.  He drank it this afternoon when he got home from school.  He loved it and asked me to make them this way all the time.  Cool.  Secret ingredient?  [you'd better not tell him!!].  Spinach, lots of spinach.  And Green Plant juice from Trader Joe's.  Everything else was the same as always, love it!

Songwriter Abs

Abby loves to sing.  Most of the time to her own song and dance.  She doesn't have the time to be bothered to learn a whole song, so she'll just sing whatever comes to her head. 

A recent example:  "ABCD QRS how I know what you are"

Other one liners that make her songs:  "Boomer has it" [she LOVES Adele], "Happy Birthday to you," and "God our Father."  These are combined in whatever rhythm and order comes to her head.  Creativity and imagination are not lost on Abby! 

Chloe's first birthday week

It's crazy hard to believe, but our sweet Chloe is one!  Her birthday fell on Wednesday, and we celebrated all week long!  Auntie Sarah and Aunt Lolly couldn't make it up on the same weekend, so we decided to have two small family dinners instead of a big party.  The Saturday before her birthday we had a great dinner at Nana and Pop-Pop's house.  Auntie Sarah, Uncle Christian, cousin Maxim, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Tyler, and second cousin Christopher all joined us, as well as Nana's friend Mack.  It was a wonderful time and great to have all the family around.  We feasted on some yummy food thanks to Pop-Pop and his smoker.  And then we brought out the cupcakes!  Chloe really wasn't too sure what to do with it.  Daddy helped her a bit, and she eventually stuck her fingers in it a little.  She certainly didn't devour it or anything like that.  Nice and dainty and ladylike I suppose you could say!  She did get manage to get icing all the way into her ear though; when she was done we borrowed Nana's bathtub :)  Thanks for a great evening and for loving on our Sweet Chloe with us!

Chloe's actual birthday was a perfectly rainy day, sad!  I had hoped for the playground and swings and maybe even her baby pool, but that didn't happen.  We started the day at McDonald's with Grandma.  Chloe usually likes pancakes, and she did okay with them at her birthday breakfast.  A playdate with Ms. Alicia and Ms. Christa's crew got rained out :(  We made a birthday dinner menu around her favorite foods - hot dogs and sweet potato fries.  Thanks to Daddy for grilling out in the drizzle!  Nana, cousin Christopher, Grandma, Grandpa, and the Stokes family joined us for burgers and dogs and celebrating.  I wish we could have been outside, but we still had fun.  Chloe ate great, and we brought out the cupcakes again.  She still wasn't overly sure about the cupcake thing, but fortunately Anna Wynn kept putting bites in her mouth when no one was looking!  Fun side note:  Anna Wynn has Grandpa's birthday, the 9th, only two days after Chloe.  Baby Adleigh and Abby share April 13th.  Pretty cool.

With all the excitement on her birthday, we didn't open presents with Grandma and Grandpa until Grandpa's birthday dinner on Friday.  How fun for them to almost share their special days.  And we didn't get around to family presents until Saturday, as well as putting together her new car from Granddaddy.  The three amigos enjoyed a bike ride Saturday morning with Chloe in her new car, complete with lots of cupholders and very, very quiet wheels [Ryan's red car was super loud].

Saturday night we birthday dinner'ed with my side of the family.  Aunt Lolly and Uncle Brian drove up from their new home in Florida [how cool is that?!].  And Grandma and Grandpa and Cousin Steve and Great- Grandma Eleanore.  Ms. Alicia and Ms. Christa and kiddos joined us Saturday night as well.  It was great fun, although once again we were stuck inside due to rain!  The day had been beautiful; Ryan and Abby swam at the pool with Lolly & Brian.  I had planned to put out the slip 'n slide, but thanks to our daily rainstorm that didn't happen!  The bottom feel out right about dinnertime.  We dined on Domino's pizza, even Chloe ate some, yumm.  She still wasn't overly excited about the cupcakes, but she was willing to eat them if Grandma put bites into her mouth for her. 

Chloe's one-year checkup is not until this Thursday, so no stats to update.  I'm really hoping for 17lbs, but we'll just have to wait and see.  My Little Itty-Bitty!  She's all over the place.  She's great at army crawling, she sits herself up and down now which is fun, she gets up on her hands and knees all the time although she doesn't crawl in the traditional sense.  She's becoming a more adventurous eater.  She loves turkey lunchmeat, pureed veggies, bread, goldfish, we've also just started cheese.  She's transitioning to whole milk and doing well with that.  We have to keep with the formula a little while longer though, I'm not wasting any of that expensive stuff!  She's pretty much given up her morning nap, although she did fall asleep in her highchair at 11:30 today. 

Phew, what a week! Between Ryan's first week of kindergarten and Chloe's first birthday, it was full of milestones and lots of emotions for Mommy! They are growing up soo very fast! But I love watching them grow, and I'm so blessed to be Mommy to the three awesomest kids ever :)  Happy, happy birthday week to our Sweet Chloe Marie!

Happy, happy birthday

Happy first Birthday to our Chloe Marie, my Itty-Bitty, my Peanut, Daddy's Sweet Girl, our Chlo-Chlo, Abby's Baby, my Littlest Love, Daddy's Chlosters, our Chlo Girl, our Chloe-Chlo-Chlo!!  What an amazing, happy, beautiful, fun-loving, sibling-adoring, wonderful One Year Old you are!!  We love you, love you, love you dearly!  Thank you for being your awesome self and for completing our family so perfectly.  We are so blessed, and we are thankful everyday for you! 

Ryan Chase, Kindergartner

Ryan is a kindergartner!  He's been a little nervous and anxious all summer.  He wasn't too keen on kindergarten and told us several times he didn't want to go.  But then we went to Meet & Greet last week and that changed everything.  We left the girls with Grandma & Grandpa so that we could focus on Ryan and getting him excited!  We had a special dinner at Wendy's and then headed to the school.  He saw his room, met his teacher, sat on a school bus, and all sorts of other fun things.  When we got back in the car he lit up, he was ready!  He just needed to see it all and organize it all in his little brain. 

He's a bus rider, against all of my early wishes.  He LOVES it.  And it's so much better for Mommy and the girls.  He gets on at 7:15 and off at 2:36, both when Chloe is asleep [and Abs too in the morning].  Carline is crazy, I've heard anything from 30-40 mins to closer to an hour.  Trying to do that with two sleepy girls twice a day would likely have just pushed me right on over the edge.  He was sooo excited to get on the bus, so we went with it. 

Over the weekend we stocked up on school supplies.  Grandma and Grandpa bought him shoes.  We went to Target to pick out his new backpack.  He got a haircut.  Last night before bed, we read through the note Mrs. Sheffield had sent him, and he put some confetti under his bed to help him sleep better.  I woke him at 6:45 this morning [gulp!].  He put on the new clothes that he and Daddy had picked out at Kohl's and drank some smoothie.  We made him a lunch - peanut butter and jelly cut in a rectangle and two squares per his request, frozen grapes so hopefully they'd be the right temperature by lunch, veggie stix chips, and goldfish.  Since he had to bring all his school supplies in today, his backpack was huge.  He looked pretty small with that thing on his back.  Daddy went in late this morning so he could see him off as well.  The three of us walked outside about 7:10 to wait.  The stop is only three houses up, close enough that we can see him off while leaving the girls inside.  There were four other kids this morning, but there'll be lots more supposedly.  There are two new families across the street, one has six kids, one has four.  According to the mom who's driveway we were standing in, they'll all ride the bus in a couple of weeks.  Ryan did great when the bus came, he crossed the street with the bigger kids and walked right on up.  His friends, Anna Wynn and Sam, were both on the bus already.  We can't piece together exactly what Ryan and Sam were saying, but we think they sat together, maybe with someone in between them.  Ryan said Sam sat next to him but not on his seat and Sam said Ryan sat next to him with someone else. 

Ryan's favorite part was riding the bus.  He told that to everyone today :)  He also ate lunch in the cafeteria, played in the field between the two playgrounds but not on the playground, sang in music class, colored pictures of the school rules.  The only two names he knew were Tripp and Eli.  'A new Eli, not Eli from preschool, although I saw Eli from preschool in the hall and Eli saw me too and we waved, I also saw Claire from preschool but she didn't see me' [paraphrasing Ryan there].  He ate all his food which was good because what he didn't finish would have been thrown away so the bugs didn't get it [what?! not sure about that policy]. 

The bus dropoff is 2:36 so Abby and I headed out about 2:30.  The bus was crazy late today, we walked back inside at 2:58.  Yikes, I hope they figure out that kink tomorrow!  The busdriver, Ms. Darlene I think it is, is supposed to be super nice and really great.  She's driven our neighborhood for years and has a reputation for watching out for the kindergartners.  I caught a glimpse of Ryan's head in the first row before he walked off, so that was good.  And she won't let them off the bus until she sees the parents.  We also found out today that he has to stand on the sidewalk until all the kids are off and the busdriver gives a thumbs-up that it's okay to cross the street. 

Once he was inside, we looked at his papers and he had a quick snack and drink.  I realized that he didn't know how to drink from his new thermos and he hadn't drank anything all day, yikes.  So I showed him where to bite down :)  He called Daddy and filled him in on his day.  He also left messages for his grandmothers and talked to Grandpa.  Then he and Abby relaxed in front of the TV for a few minutes.  When Chloe woke up from her nap, we drove up to the school to take his picture in front of the sign.  My hubby thought that was super goofy, but it made me happy!  Since I didn't drive him in and get all the first day pictures, this made me feel better.  As much as I wanted to walk him in today, I knew it wouldn't have been for the best.  He was so excited about the bus, it would have taken us hours to get into that building, and the girls were still snoring.  Plus there were no meltdowns at the bus stop [I was more worried about me than Ryan!  yes, I did tear up as the bus pulled away]. 

All in all, great first day.  Ryan loved it and is super excited to go back tomorrow.  I am so proud of my little kindergartner!!!  He's going to do great and learn so much.  I love you Buddy, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful first year of school!!

 

Abby's first haircut

Abby finally got a haircut!  I've known she needed it for awhile, but it's a big step and I was terrified of her curls being cut out.  We'd talked about it a week or so ago, and then when Grandpa asked a few days ago when she was going to get a haircut, we figured that meant it was time!  Thanks for giving us the push we needed :)  I took her to Ms. Krista's house - she lives in our neighborhood and did my last haircut.  She's great and has a wonderful salon in her home, it's pretty impressive. 

Abby wasn't totally sure about her haircut.  I tried to play it up as girly time with just Abby and Mommy.  And sitting in a big princess chair with a mirror, but she still wasn't sure.  When we got there, she hesitated big time so to avoid meltdown we had her sit in my lap.  She had a super cute apron thingy and did a pretty good job of holding still.  She didn't say a word the whole time we were there, which of course was totally un-Abby-like.  But she did say later that she enjoyed it and we could do it again sometime.  Krista kept going on about how adorable she was and she doesn't think her curls will cut out.  She said at minimum she'll have pretty waves as she gets older, but there's so much curl that she really thinks it will stay, yay, I hope she's right!! 

It was a great experience and Mommy didn't even cry or anything.  It was definitely time and it was a fun Mommy/Abby date.  My big girl! 



how to make your own dimple

Did you know you could make your own dimples?  It's true!  After a couple months, I am convinced that that's just what our Abby has done.  A dimple appeared on her right cheek earlier this summer.  I've never noticed it before; how could I have not known my own daughter had a dimple?  A handful of other people began to comment on it, and so I became convinced it really was new.  At some point I realized it was in the same spot that she had hit and bruised earlier in the summer while attempting to jump off a water table [welcome to my life, mother to Abby :)].  So I mentioned jokingly to a few people that her bruise had turned into a dimple.  But you know what?  I think it's true.  Dimples, while seen as attractive and beautiful in our culture, really are a muscle deformity [I wikipedia'ed it].  I have looked at it closely and when she's not smiling, there is the tiny littlest bit of purple bruise still there.  And then when I have her smile, the dimple appears in that same spot.  Thus I fully believe that she fell, bruised her cheek, and created her own dimple.  While it's certainly a cute outcome, don't try this at home.

Goodnight, sleep tight

Abby's bedtime routine is always a wee bit interesting and entertaining.  She rarely falls asleep quickly and she likes to keep busy until sleep arrives.  Fortunately this doesn't bother Chloe, although I don't really understand why not.  If I try to put away laundry, Chloe wakes up.  If I adjust their fan setting, Chloe wakes up.  But if Abby runs around the room singing, she sleeps right through it.  While confusing, I am certainly grateful.  I guess she's already figured out her free-spirited, happy-go-lucky big sister.  Life would be a whole lot harder if Chloe couldn't sleep through Abby.

I always check on my babies as I go to bed.  And it's always anyone's guess as to what I'll find when I get to Abby's bedside.  I am sure you've seen some of the funny pictures of her in odd positions with crazy getups.  Or covered in stuffed animals and babies.  Just now when I went in, I noticed that her feet looked a little odd, almost like she had socks on.  Weird.  Oh, nope, not socks, tinker bell slippers.  As I am taking those off, she rolls over and her talking dog starts talking.  Remove talking dog from bed.  Anything else in here that needs to go?  Princess crown on head, yep, that's probably not a great thing to sleep in.  Oh, my dear sweet Abby-Girl, what are we going to do with you??  We'll love you forever and ever, silly goose, that's what :)

L's & Q's

So this is old news, but seeing as I think about it everytime I fold socks and I don't think it's ever made the blog, I figured I should share. 

A million years ago [okay, maybe only two-ish], I bought Ryan some new socks.  They were basic white socks, except for that they had a little blue "L" stitched on the inside of the socks.  I have no idea why.  But Ryan did not like these L's in his socks and was on the verge of being really upset about it.  My husband, who believes in little white lies, told Ryan that it was all good because Daddy has Q's on the inside of his socks.  It worked.  Ryan latched on to that and has happily worn the socks for years.  Many are now missing or thrown away due to numerous holes, but there are a few floating around that he manages to stretch enough to still wear.  And he almost always tells us that he has L's on his socks just like Daddy has Q's.  I finally broke the news to him earlier in the summer that Daddy really didn't have Q's, and he had just made that up.  I think it rocked his world a little.  I told him that Daddy had just said something silly to try to make him feel better.  But he still sometimes mentions the L's, and I think about Q's everytime I fold Little Man's socks.  Bet you didn't think that little white lie would have stuck for years Dearie Dear!  You gotta be careful what you tell these kiddos, especially Ryan :) 

finally, the lazy days of summer are here

My blogging weakness: overdue and overwhelming posts.  I haven't blogged about the beach yet, so I feel like until I do that, I can't really post anything since I'll get all out of order.

So perhaps if I just do a few bullet points about exciting things, it won't be like a real post and I can still blog about the beach later.  And hey, I did finish posting the beach pictures last night, so I'm halfway done commemorating the trip :) 

- We were so super busy leading up to our OBX trip.  It was all good stuff, it was just a lot of stuff.  Destin, Savannah, PA, OBX, lots of playdates.  Mommy was a little stressed for awhile there.  In fact, I don't think I mentioned it on here, but we had one of the best playdates ever during that time period.  Since Alicia and Christa and I haven't been able to coordinate a GNO in forever, they surprised me with a GNO at lunch with eight kids in tow.  It was amazing, I love these ladies!  We had guacamole and margaritas and great conversation while the big kids ran around my safe and confined backyard and little ones napped in various rooms upstairs.  It was the best [or at least the best it can be with kids! here's hoping for a real GNO soon!].

- Like I said, all our early summer plans were great, there were just a lot of them.  I felt like we'd get back from a trip, spend a couple days recovering and doing laundry, only to get ready to do it all over again.  So since we got home from the beach about ten days ago, we have done nothing.  literally nothing.  Alright, Ms. Tara came over once.  The kids had a blast playing in the backyard and slip 'n sliding.  And Ms. Valerie came over once with Baby Milo.  But other than that, nothing.  Hanging out with the grands some and lots of neighborhood bike rides.  We finally made it to the Canton farmer's market.  And Coleson and I had a date night to the Painted Pig [Delicious!!].  But mostly, we've just played at home.  And an awesome thing has happened: the Big Two are playing together sooo well.  How do you think I'm typing this in the middle of the day?  They are playing together in the office.  And have been all morning.  I guess it's just because life has slowed down and there's not been the competition of friends and activities.  Sure they still have the occasional spat, mostly fighting over toys, but overall, it's been wonderful.  There have been a couple of times I've thought that I should plan something or I feel guilty not playing with them, but I truly believe that playing together like this is exactly what they've needed.  We want very much to raise siblings who actually like each other, it's very important to me that they are friends, so I'm going to ride this train as long as I can. 

- Chloe is a crawling fiend.  She's army crawling and rolling everywhere.  And she's finally starting to pull her stomach off the ground.  She still doesn't go anywhere, but she's gotten up on her hands and knees several times and rocked back and forth.  Any day now!  She's started to get a little picky about her food and I don't push enough since she's number three and quite frankly, I just feel like I don't have the time.  Meals are not one of my favorite parts of the day.  I feel like we eat all day long.  Oh wait, that's just Abby still sitting at the table from the last meal.  Anyways, I digress.  So last night I got Chloe to eat one of my homemade creations and I was super excited.  I had boiled some potatoes to mash up for her, but she wouldn't touch them.  So last night I combined them with a jar of mango [which she hasn't thrown up!] and then I put chunks of fresh peach in it too.  The same peaches that she wouldn't pick up off her tray.  She ate every bite very willing and probably would have eaten more if I had made more.  Point Mommy!

- Ryan is becoming super witty - a mini me of his Daddy.  Can we say sarcasm?!  He said something the other day that was so random and funny.  I really wish I had written it down, Coleson asked me again yesterday what it was he said and I couldn't remember!  I'll try to jot down his next funny something.  He is also a biking champ.  He loves it and is getting really good.  He's been without training wheels all summer and is up to a 16" bike.  He has great balance, there's been more then once I've seen his tire hit the curb or sidewalk funny, and I've thought he was going down.  But he doesn't!  He can stand up while pedaling and jump off curbs and he's worked up to taking one hand off so he can high-five me.  I can't convince him yet to try to lift both hands at the same time.  Future BMX biker?! 

- Abs is her normal, beautiful self.  Oh, okay, so you know how you have that one baby friend that the whole family remembers and talks about?  Mine was Jon Ryan and Coleson's was Ramona.  Ryan has Madeleine.  Not sure who's Abby's is, maybe Andrew, but we found out who has her as his.  We went to her friend Max's house for his birthday party on Saturday.  Max was in her preschool class this past year and he lives four houses down.  Abby does talk about Max a good bit and I know Max talks about Abby too.  We've gotten them together a few times, although they still play next to each other more than together.  We met Max's grandparents a couple of weeks ago and all we had to say was "this is Abby" and it was like we were in the presence of a rockstar.  They already knew about and loved Abby.  But we still didn't quite get it until the party.  More of the "oh, this is Abby" and then Erin posed Max and Abby for several pictures [she was the only one who got a posed picture which was then posted on facebook amidst all the family pictures].  So, pretty cool!  Abby, you will forever be famous in Max's family and his childhood memories! 

super cute cows

coming someday ... OBX beach vacation 2013! and 4th of July! 

But until then, here's a couple pictures of today's cow appreciation day.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

storms mean cuddles!

I love a good storm.  And we sure had one tonight.  I had mowed the lawn, took a quick shower, and then gone to sit out back and enjoy the last few minutes of sun- it's probably my favorite time of day.  It was so beautiful watching the clouds, but they quickly got dark and within five minutes I was chased back inside by lightning.  And sure enough, as soon as the thunder started, Abby was up crying.  Never fails.  My poor sweet girl just cannot handle thunder.  It doesn't even phase the other two. 

So I ran upstairs and met her in the hallway.  We went into my room and she sat on my lap as I hugged her and tried to comfort her.  It was one crazy storm, non-stop thunder and lightning for about ten minutes.  The lightning lit up the whole house.  Sitting there calming Abby and playing with her hair in the midst of the storm was very peaceful to me; I doubt Abby would have agreed!  The storm passed as quick as it came, and it wasn't long at all before Abs was fast asleep on me.  Oh, what a wonderful feeling.  I love cuddles and I don't get them often.  Just one more reason to love storms :) 

clap your hands!

Today we went to the movies with Ms. Christa and Ms. Alicia and all the kiddos.  We saw Rio during one of those summer kids' movies [translation: dollar movies with lots of crying babies, perfect for us and our eight kids].  It was a good time though.  The movie was cute and the kids were super well behaved and seemed to really enjoy it.  This was both Abby and Chloe's first movie theater experience.  Abby sat next to me and had very minimal wiggles and stayed in her seat.  I wore Chloe in her snugli so she wouldn't try to throw herself out of my lap repeatedly.  The snugli worked great, along with a large supply of cheerios. 

Super cool moment:  at some point in the middle of the movie, the birds are all singing and dancing and one of the birds says something along the lines of clap your hands.  So Chloe, in her snugli on my lap, lights up and goes crazy clapping :)  Yup, she one hundred percent knows what she's doing when she's clapping. 

CMC

I've been putting this off way too long, so here goes.  But I must confess I am more than a little overwhelmed by the thought of everything I should put in this post.  So we'll see how it turns out I guess.  Chloe Marie is well over ten months now.  And I didn't do a post with her nine month checkup info.  Oops.

So think back to early May :)  Chloe weighed in at 14lbs, 10oz at her nine month, which is off the bottom of the chart for weight.  She was 27ins which is maybe 25th percentile.  [they give us charts now instead of the numbers, so it's a little harder [for me at least!] to read].  Her head was 17.2 ins which looks to be right about 50th.  The next question is usually: how does that compare to her sibs?  So here's Ryan's 9month stats: 
He weighed in at 17lbs 2 oz and is 28.5 inches. 
And Abby's: 
She weighed in at 16lbs 11 oz and is 27.25 inches. 
So wow, our Itty-Bitty really is an Itty-Bitty!  [although basically as tall as her sister was]. 

 

Hmm, there's not a very good 9month picture.  It's getting really hard to get her to hold her signs!  They are so much fun to wave around and to chew on.

 

Chloe started sitting up at the end of April, just in time for her 9month pictures.  She's a little, err, lazy.  I suppose that would be partially my fault.  She's my third and my baby.  I carry her a lot and she spends a lot of time in her stroller or carseat while the Big Two do all the things they do.  Plus she still spits up.  All. The. Time.  So after she drinks a bottle, I put her in the blue chair to digest.  It seems to be a catch 22 there.  The doctor tells me as she gets stronger she'll spit up less, yet if I let her down to exercise she spits up everywhere.  We will need new carpet by the time this phase is finally said and done! 

So let's see, current day, Chloe is ten plus months old.  She sits like a champ.  And one of my favorite of her tricks, is that she can spin in circles while sitting.  She uses her feet and rotates around and around on her bum.  Another family favorite trick is Chloe's turtle pose.  She spreads her legs way apart to sit [better for balance I think], and she is quite fond of bending forward until her face touches the ground.  We make silly kids. 

She's been rolling all around for some time, but she recently added an army crawl to her repertoire.  She still doesn't pick her belly up, but we're all different, that's what makes us us :)  Now that she army crawls, moving forward is a lot easier, which means things like crawling in between the corners of the couches.  Or crawling around the legs of the barstools and under the table.  She also likes to beeline for the bathroom, which is just nasty.  cat litter crumbs.  big sibs using the potty.  Enough said.

Chloe can be a good eater sometimes.  She's not a huge fan of her bottles [four a day, about six ounces each].  Typically she much prefers food, but the past week or so, she's been pretty opposed to it.  In fact for about three days last weekend, she flat out refused anything on a spoon.  Mouth sealed shut, arms flailing.  She only drank and ate cheerios.  I think her teeth were bothering her.  That's what you say when you don't know what else could be wrong.  She likes her cheerios and star puffs and teething cookies and yogurt bites.  She doesn't pick up much else.  I think her teeth bother her.  She'll eat anything mushy, except avocado.  When her teeth don't bother her, that is.  While I feel like I am doing my best to enjoy the baby stage, this third and final time around, I do look forward to her eating more finger foods soon.

Speaking of those troublesome teeth, she has two on the bottom and four on the top.  They are big, like her Mommy's.  Sorry!  The ones on the top have all come in together at basically the same time the past couple weeks. 

Chloe loves the grass.  She loves baths.  She loves the pool, especially if the water's warm.  She got that from her Mommy :)  She is a big fan of splish splashing.  Yesterday was her first time in the float and she was about as happy as I've ever seen her.  She loves her big brother and sister.  Ryan is really good at getting her to laugh.  And they both adore her.  She loves to swing.  She loves to chew on things. 

Oh my goodness!  I am ten months old already!

She's a great sleeper, although very light.  Almost everything wakes her up, but she just rolls over and goes back to sleep.  I don't even try to kiss her when I say good night before I go to bed.  Even pulling the fan chain will startle her.  She naps ideally twice a day still and sleeps almost twelve hours at night.  She's usually the first kid up, shortly after 7:00, but she's happy to lay in her bed until whenever.  She seems to be attaching herself to a little purple elephant that we gave her for Valentine's Day.  I love it!  She sucks her left thumb [all the time!!] and always falls asleep on her right side facing out into the room.  I love that she usually has the elephant in her arms. 

Chloe's personality seems to be pretty laid-back, taking it all in.  She is always super observant.  She likes to watch TV and she nailed the vision test at the doctor.  She was in a trance watching that screen, even the tech commented on it and she watches kids watch tv for a living.  She is lot like her big brother in that she seems to want to be able to do something perfectly before she'll do it.  They were both late sitter-uppers and crawlers and walkers.

Chloe can clap and is getting pretty good at doing it when we encourage her.  At first it was pretty random and we weren't convinced she knew what she was doing.  She definitely does now and seems to love the attention when she does it.  A couple of times I've thought she waved, but she certainly doesn't do that on a regular basis. 

Oh, she had a physical therapy evaluation in late May.  Dr. Bowman was a little concerned since she has been physically a little behind at both her six and nine month appts.  But she did great and the therapist did not think we needed any sessions, yay!  She agreed that Chloe's a little behind, but there's no reason for concern.  She did several things to test brain and reflexes and that sort of thing and Chloe could do them all.  It just comes back to she's lazy :).  Her upper body was a little weak, which explains the lack of crawling, so there's a few exercises that she suggested that we don't do as well as we should.  But she's off and moving around so much more than she was even then.  She'll catch up in her own time.  She'll learn to walk before we know if and as my friend Christa likes to remind me, no school or job application is ever going to ask when you learned to crawl or walk.  Early or late, it doesn't really matter, almost everyone averages out in the end.  [she is convinced Ryan is above average, but that's not relevant to Chloe's post :)].  Anyway, the PT appt was pretty interesting and fun in its own way , all the different exercises and whatnot.  It was nice to focus solely on Chloe for an hour.

Alrighty, Chloe Marie, we love you Little Peanut!  Sorry for the delay on your post, but the quantity [and hopefully quality too] perhaps will make up for it!  I am all out of words!

 

thunder

During today's storm Abby told me:  "that's God kicking bowling balls"  :) 

"I got three"

Abby has mastered her three fingers.  In fact, she's figured out that most of the time if someone asks her name, they'll next ask how old she is.  So now she'll answer "Abby" and hold out her three fingers before they can ask.  And then she'll tell them: "I was two, but I got three."  Sweet Abby Girl! 

PA :: five days :: 1800 miles

We are becoming quite the travelers this summer!  I think we must be making up for last summer when I was huge and miserable and waiting on Chloe's arrival.  This past week my Dad and I drove the kids up to PA and back.  We had an amazing time!! 

We left a week ago Sunday after church.  We picnic lunch'ed in the car and had Taco Bell for dinner.  We drove to Roanoke and stayed at a Hampton with an indoor pool.  Thanks to rain, rain, and a little more rain, we arrived around 9pm.  But of course we'd already promised the pool and thus a week of late nights began.  Ryan was sooo excited about staying in a hotel and the pool was a huge hit.  It was great and very warm.  Chloe and I didn't swim Sunday night since it was a quick swim, but we did get up and all swim Monday morning before we left.  Chloe liked the warm water, and Ryan and Abby are becoming quite the little fishies.  We had a continental breakfast before heading out.  Among other things, Ryan had a sausage biscuit and asked if we could come back to this hotel again so Daddy could get one too :)

After a longer then expected day of driving, we arrived late to Aunt Kathryn's farm in Troxelville.  I love that place!!  Oh, and on the way we passed my Dad's Grandmother's old apartment which was really neat.  It was a little rainy at the Kathryn's, but we still had a blast.  Kathryn is doing great!  I think we decided she is 93 and she lives by herself.  Her daughter Glenda comes to visit a lot and her grandson Brian runs the farm.  The kids did well with her, especially Chloe.  She's not always great with strangers, but she would literally reach and try to roll/jump out of my arms to Kathryn, I've never seen her do anything quite like that.  [Abby sure, R&C no.].  I think Kathryn liked it too!  Grandpa and I took the kids to see the four cows.  They weren't overly sure about being that close to the cows.  Aunt Barb met us at the farm, and we played in the corn crib and the hayloft.  I remember playing in the corn with my cousin Matt as a kid.  Funny though, the corncrib was not nearly as big as I thought it was!  The hayloft was great fun too.  We climbed up as high as we could and Ryan jumped once or twice [not to the bottom or anything, just off a stack about three haybales high].  Since we were late arriving, we went out to dinner with Aunt Kathryn.  Oh and Dad's cousin Ken and Jane were there too, what a nice surprise!  And Glenda went to dinner too, we had a nice little crowd going.  The restaurant in Troxelville was closed on Mondays, so we went to the next town over.  It was a great little place with delicious food.  I loved my view out the window of a beautiful old white house set against a hill in the rain.  Chloe sat in a highchair between Kathryn and I and she kept reaching for her and messing with her sweater.  After dinner, we headed back to the farm.  The kids sat on tractors, and we climbed the hayloft one more time before dark.  We then went inside and visited with Aunt Kathryn and the cousins until close to 10:00.  They popped real popcorn and we chatted and the kids played.  Chloe hung out with Kathryn a good bit.  Did I mention I love Aunt Kathryn's?  It was so peaceful being in the middle of nowhere.  And the atmosphere and all the family gathered around was great.  I am so glad the kids made it up there to meet Kathryn and experience the farm!

We made it to Aunt Barb's late Monday night and woke up there Tuesday morning.  We slept in a little and then headed to the Amish store.  Among other things, I bought several things of dried fruit since the kids seemed so excited about that.  So even now, they still call it "the dried up store."  We also bought sprinkles of course.  It was still drizzling Tuesday.  We got subs from a country store along the road and I had a birch beer [tasted a lot like root beer].  We picnic'd under a pavilion at Whipple's.  It was an awesome lake in the middle of the mountains.  [I had no cell service this day :)].  Fortunately the rain let up a little and we walked around the lake and Ryan scootered a bit.  Ryan and Grandpa also went down towards the damn to check it out.  They stepped across the rocks and Ryan even took a quick swim if you know what I mean!  Pennsylvania is soo pretty.  We then went down to the beach area and waded in the water.  That pretty quickly turned into the kids taking their shirts off [I keep extra underwear in the car but not tops!] and all but swimming.  They loved it.  The water was crazy cold, but it was alright as long as I only got my feet wet.  The afternoon was spent back in State College, looking for camera batteries for me.  My battery died at Aunt Kathryn's and if you know me, you know how upset I was!  I ended up buying a flash drive and taking Aunt Barb and then cousin Teri's photos.  When we got back from Wal-Mart, Katelyn and Julie, cousin Matt's kids, were at the house.  Katelyn's softball game was rained out that night, so after a really really yummy dinner of chicken pan pie, we headed to Spring Creek.  The kids scootered and we hung out by an old wooden bridge.  Ryan then waded in the water with Katelyn and Julie.  The girls are 12 and 8 and they were sooo good with my kids.  They all played great and Ryan and Abby loved the big girls.  Abby eventually got in the water too.  They looked so cute holding hands and wading up and down that river.  Although in Ryan's opinion, the best part was scootering in the parking lot right before we left.  There was a huge puddle that apparently was awesome for riding through.  Back to Aunt Barb's for baths and bed. 

Wednesday morning we woke up leisurely again.  My cousin Teri arrived around 10am with her sons, Brandon and Noah.  It took the kids a little while to warm up to each other since all the boys are shy :)  Katelyn and Julie came back too, and pretty soon all the kids were playing well.  They loved this huge beach ball that Katelyn had brought over.  They would throw it from the ground level up to the deck and back down again.  Over and over.  They also played a little soccer.  Wednesday afternoon we hiked Mount Nittany.  It was a nice trail and a perfect day.  We made it to the first outlook with awesome views of State College.  On the way back down, Ryan took a little tumble and got himself one nice looking boo-boo on his forehead.  It's already almost better though.  Ryan had a great time hiking and he really took to the big boys.  Abby did pretty well too, although she did manage to talk cousin Teri into a piggyback ride on the way down!  After our hike we stopped at the Sheetz gas station for ice cream treats.  Ryan and Abby had their first ever slushy and loved them.  In fact, yesterday Ryan told me that the slushy was his favorite part of the trip.  Silly kid!  We went back to Spring Creek again to cool off in the river.  It was a bit more crowded and didn't have any more puddles for scootering, but we still had fun :).  I pushed Abs on a swing for a long time.  We went back to Aunt Barb's for baths [poison ivy rinsing-off after our hike.  paranoid mommy.].  My cousin Matt and his wife Krista [Katelyn and Julie's parents] joined us for a wonderful dinner of meatball subs and plenty of yummy sides and desserts.  We then went to the ball fields where Katelyn was finishing up her softball practice.  We all enjoyed an evening of picture taking [THANK YOU cousin Teri!!!] and baseball.  It was fun to watch my dad hit, it's been a long time since I've seen him play.  When we got back to Aunt Barb's, the girls went to bed, but I let Ryan stay up.  Hey, we were on vacation!  He had such a great time playing with the big kids.  I know they played never have I ever and duck duck goose.  It was right about 11:00 when he went to bed!  But it's not everyday we get to see these guys and I knew we'd be spending the whole next day in the car, so it's not like he needed to be rested up! 

Thursday morning we hit the road about 7am.  We stopped in Mechanicsburg to see Grandpa's cousin Paul and his wife Judy.  We were pleasantly surprised to meet two of their grandkids as well.  Megan is going into 10th grade and is in marching band.  Erin is going into 6th grade.  They were both super sweet girls and Erin Loved my kids, thus I liked her!  Erin took right to Chloe, picking her up, coo'ing right back at her, making faces, picking up stuff that Chloe would throw, she even put the girls in their carseats and knew how to buckle them.  I wish we had teenagers around at home!  Erin was great.  We all ate breakfast together at Perkins.  I went out of my comfort zone and had some really yummy chicken and gravy biscuits.  I'll give you one guess what my kiddos ate.  Yup, chocolate chip pancakes.  The drive home took forever.  Lots more rain and potty breaks.  A dinner stop at Chick-fil-a in Christiansburg.  We dropped Grandpa off at about 12:30am and we were home a minute or two before 1am.  But it was worth it!  All 1800 miles of it! 

Thanks so much to Aunt Barb for hosting all of us.  Especially Wednesday night when all the cousins were there!  If I counted right, there were eleven of us under her roof that night!  Sorry for the chaos and mess :)  We had such a wonderful trip and we really appreciate all the amazing meals and good times and beds.  Thanks to Dad/Grandpa for sharing the driving with us and for the gas and food and hotel.  We couldn't [and wouldn't] have done it without you!  And thanks to both Aunt Barb and cousin Teri for taking pictures for me.  I still can't believe I forgot my battery charger!  What a great trip.  Pictures to come eventually, but I wanted to try to get down as many details as I could while it's all fresh in my mind. 

always and forever

Happy 10year anniversary to us!!  We celebrated with a wonderful trip to Savannah.  It was a great getaway, so very relaxing.  We dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's house Thursday night so that we could get up and out of town early Friday.  We made it to Savannah in time for lunch at Paula Dean's restaurant, Lady and Sons.  Unfortunately I was still recovering from a strawberry and/or pesticide allergic reaction, so I didn't have a great appetite.  But it was still tasty, I think.  I had a chicken salad sandwich and Coleson had the buffet, complete with all the southern staples - fried chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc.  After lunch, we napped at the hotel and then enjoyed an evening stroll down River Street.  We checked out a few shops, watched a lot of boats, and took the free ferry across the river.  It was beautiful looking back across the river at all the historic buildings at dusk. 

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Tybee Island.  We climbed up the lighthouse and walked the beach.  We enjoyed Tybee and it's laidback, smalltown vibe.  We ate lunch at the Sugar Shack - a turkey sandwich and patty melt.  And of course we had to get some ice cream when we were done.  Saturday afternoon we walked all around Savannah and made it to the Forsyth park, a large park full of huge trees and spanish moss and open fields and an impressive fountain.  It was great to sit and people watch [especially the frisbee players] and listen to the live music and just be outside in the fresh air.  On the way back we walked through lots of squares and the city market and watched kids playing in fountains.  We couldn't decide on dinner and finally stopped in B&D's Burgers.  I had a super tasty grown-up grilled cheese - pimiento cheese, tomato, and bacon.  And Coleson had a hot dog with blue cheese and onions.  After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and hung out at the rooftop pool for a little bit.  Sticking our feet in that water felt great after walking a couple miles in flipflops!  We also watched a massive barge navigate the river, which was great even if I couldn't catch it blowing its horn on video for the kids :)

Sunday morning we walked River Street one more time and bought a few souvenirs before heading out of town.

Our hotel was great, we dined on yummy continental breakfasts and enjoyed lots of good cable TV.  All the architecture was wonderful,  I loved the old, Southern, New Orleans feel.  And of course the river, I am not picky, I love any water :)  Thank you so much to Nana and Pop-Pop for the hotel points!  And thank you, thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching our kiddos for three days!  We had such a wonderful, relaxing time, but it's also nice to be home and all under the same roof again. 

I love you Dearie Dear and I am so blessed that you are the one I get to do life with!  I couldn't ask for a better husband and best friend and father.  Here's to many, many more years; we're going to make it to our 75th you know!  I love you forever and always.