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!