Never a Dull Moment...

Book Mark This Page!!!

2010-01-01T15:54:00.002-05:00

It's still a work in progress, but come on over and visit! And leave me a comment if you do so I know who is following!

www.perfectlychloe.wordpress.com

We're Officially Retiring

2010-01-01T12:42:00.002-05:00

The blog that is.

But no fear, we will have a new home. We're making the leap over to Wordpress. I think the new blog is going to be pretty fabulous, so check back in the the next few days for a link! It's kind of a work in progress, so once we get the layout down, I'll let you know!

Sneak Peak...

2009-12-05T23:06:00.004-05:00

"Look Mama...Christmas!"

2009-11-23T21:35:00.004-05:00

Another Nice Day...

2009-11-15T11:25:00.005-05:00

Am I a Terrible Mom......????

2009-10-31T22:43:00.003-04:00

For posting this picture??? Cracks me up! We were in Florida and she was upset, crying, etc, then out of nowhere does this and starts laughing! Now she does it all the time. But usually its when she's in trouble or crying from being upset. Anyway, I think it's hilarious!

Also, I wanted to document some recent conversations that Chloe and I have had.

First, Chloe gets time outs when she's in trouble. And she hates them. But I have a special timer that I give her when she's in time out and I tell her that she can get up when it goes off. I go to get it the other day and can't find it anywhere. I figure I've misplaced it, which wouldn't be a huge surprise. Fast forward to today.

Chloe is watching a Dora Halloween special. Backpack and boot's backpack have costumes on, so of course Chloe wants one too. So she goes and puts hers on. It just so happens that we were leaving for the mall, but I tell her that she can take her back pack. As we get to the car I tell her that she needs to take it off so I can get her in her car seat, but that she could have it back. So while I'm holding it, I hear a beep.

Me: What's that? (Pulls the timer out)
Chloe: Time out timer.
Me: Hmm...Did you put this in here?
Chloe: Yes...
Me: Well, why did you put it in your backpack?
Chloe: Well, I no like time outs.

Makes sense. I guess that's a good a reason as any...

Also, Chloe is in this "Mine!" stage. Everything is "Mine!" I hear, "that's mine!" several times a day.

After Trick or Treating, I made Chloe a peanut butter sandwich. A while later I gathered her up to go home (from my mom's) and she still had it. I ask her if she's done, but she says no. So I put her in the car with it. As we are driving home, I have thoughts of it ending up crushed on my car floor, so we have the following conversation:

Me: Chloe? Do you want to give me your sandwich?
Chloe: No! That's mine!
Me: Chloe, I know that's yours. I was just going to take it if you were done. But you need to try talking nicer to Mommy. You also need to learn to share.
Chloe: It's mine Mommy.
Me: I know. But you need to learn to share. Little girls who share get lots of friends. Because that's what friends do...they share.
Chloe: Um. Mommy, friends don't share. Friends go poopie.

WHAT!?!? I would love to know what a toddlers thought process is...

Now these last pictures are ones that I pulled off of my cell phone. Chloe got her hair cut a few weeks back and Ashley curled her hair. She loved it! I think it's pretty cute...so enjoy!

A Look Back...

2009-10-25T19:08:00.005-04:00

2007

2008

2009

No!!!!

2009-10-18T22:40:00.005-04:00

I know I've written before about how Chloe has a stubborn streak a mile long. Don't get me wrong, she is a very happy child most of the time, but EVERYTHING has to be her idea. And I'm almost to the point that I don't ask her anything anymore because I know what the answer is going to be...NO!

It's so strange, it can be something that she absolutely wants to do, have, see, etc. But if I ask her, she has to say "no". And I'm not really sure where she gets it because it's not like she gets told "No" a lot.

Switching gears a bit, the girl loves her some dinosaurs. It's so funny, she gets so excited when she sees them. While we were in Chicago visiting with Hannah and Esther, there was a dinosaur exhibit at the zoo with a huge mechanical dinosaur moving and roaring. Freaked her out. Every since that day, anytime she sees or hears a dinosaur, you hear, "Dinosaur scare me!" Not in a pitiful or pathetic way, actually she's quite proud of it. Cracks me up. I tried to get it on video this morning, but just ended up with a "No!" fest...

Enjoy! :)

Sneak Peek!

2009-10-11T22:30:00.004-04:00

What she said...

2009-10-05T22:05:00.002-04:00

Because I couldn't have said it better myself:

Adoption is forever, unless you change your mind.

I'm a Monster!!!

2009-09-27T17:32:00.003-04:00

Am I the only one who feels like crap when I have to kill/dispose of a living creature, no matter how insignificant it may be???

-Friday-I notice my dog is in the back of my backyard messing with something. No doubt something that he shouldn't be...so I call him in. Out of curiosity, I walk back there to do an inspection. To my complete horror--I see a bunny rabbit. **Grossness Alert** I see it moving it's head around, like it's looking for somewhere to go. Then I notice that it's not all put together the way it should be. So I turn around and run back in the house because I don't know what to do. I pretty much feel like I'm going to puke. I'm thinking that the little thing need to be put out of its misery, but I certainly wouldn't have any idea how to do it even if I was so inclined. What I do know is that there is no way I can look at the look at the thing again. So I call in reinforcement to get it taken care of. Poor thing. I can't get the image out of my head.

So then today--I'm trying to clean the kitchen when I notice a bee in the house. I think it got in through a hole in the kitchen window screen, so I lead it back outside. Well, when I get out there, there are a good 15-20 hanging out on my patio and around my windows. I go back inside and there are three more! Chloe runs out on the patio all the time, so I figure it's in the best interest to get some bug spray. And I go to town. So--no more bees, but I feel like crap for doing it.

THEN. we're out front cleaning up, when I accidentally bump a wasp's nest. They weren't too happy, and the bug spray had to come out again. Gosh...I felt like the grim reaper this weekend!

My Shiny Sink

2009-09-15T22:31:00.005-04:00

I'm sure most of you guys are wondering why I'm posting about my shiny sink. Or more likely, are wondering WHO made my sink shiny!

ME!!!

The significance? I've decided to try the Fly Lady's system to getting organized and decluttering. I'm starting the 31 day Baby Steps program. We'll see how it goes.

I'm declaring Day 1 a success! (Pay no attention to the horribly dirty window...Day 1 was only the sink! Hopefully that'll be Day 2 or something...)

In other Chloe news--she's as spirited as ever!

That girl. I love her so. She is so just like me, which can make things a bit frustrating at times, but it's also awesome.

You know that one nursery rhyme???

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.

That's Chloe. I know everyone says that about their kid, but I'm serious about Chloe. She is as stubborn, strong willed a child as you will ever meet. I like to call it determined and spirited. She's not mean or hateful, she doesn't act out in anger. But when she does get frustrated, man, you better watch out. I always think, gosh, Chloe is THAT child. You know that child. The child who, before you had kids, you were like, my child will never act like that! I don't know, I could be wrong, my I'm pretty sure that's what people think often times when she gets in that mood. Sigh.

But a majority of the time, she's actually very happy and outgoing. She laughs and smiles ALL the time. I can't tell you how many random strangers how come up to us and commented about how happy of a baby she is!

A laid back child she definitely is not! But I can't say that I would have her any other way!

Chinese Festival

2009-09-13T21:32:00.007-04:00

On Saturday we made a last minute stop at the Chinese Festival in Military Park and got to meet up with Aiden and his mom Kelli.

It was a beautiful day to be outside and we had a great time. We made some lanterns, saw a dragon dance, and watched the lantern walk.

Some pictures:

Chloe and Aiden crashed the Chinese Checkers booth!

I'm pretty sure Chloe had a new best friend!

Chloe was pretty excited for the first week of Sunday night football!

And another one showing off her cute braids! It was her first time having her hair in braids and now she wants them ALL the time!

I had planned on posting this video because it makes me laugh. Now I'm hesitating a little bit as it kind of makes my child seem a little cannibalistic. I can't tell you where she got it from, but I can tell you with complete confidence that it WASN'T me! And she thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever. I know, I know. But it's still cute.

Toddler Painting (No Pun Intended)

2009-09-08T23:44:00.005-04:00

Today we decided to do some painting.

Most of you know, Chloe is a rock fanatic. She collects rocks. Any rocks she sees. She's even been known to sleep with rocks on occasion.

This particular rock she found on the middle of a parking lot and had to have it. So we decided to paint it.

The Rock.

The Colors.

The Artist.

The Final Product.

Not quite satisfied with her work.

The Masterpiece!

Stay tuned for an awesome post on our trip to Chicago to visit Joe, Lucy, Hannah, and Esther!

Seriously!! How do you fold a fitted sheet!?!?!

2009-08-21T21:09:00.003-04:00

Some of these made me laugh out loud, so I had to share!

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards orFAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*ck was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that?s is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you s*ck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dude from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

Bad decisions make good stories

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sl*ttier & sl*ttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a
problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!),but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the heII do I respond to that?

I get really mad when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pisssed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There?s nothing like being made to feel like a fat ba$tard before dinner.

Am I Corrupting My Child???

2009-08-06T20:58:00.004-04:00

We pull into the garage tonight about spending the evening at the library. Usually I pull in and shut the garage before we even get out of the car, but this time I didn't. I get Chloe out of the car and we walk over to the drive way. We talk for a few seconds and then the following conversation ensues:

Me: Chloe, are you ready to go inside and play?
Chloe: No, no Mama. Let's pick weeds! Weeds, Mama!
Me: That's my girl!

I admit, I have this obsession with picking weeks. Mostly its because they have taken over my yard and each weed I'm able to pull out by the roots seems like a small victory to me. But it cracks me up that Chloe would rather pick weeds than play! That's my girl...

Chloe has also developed a healthy obsession of her own. Cinderella. She doesn't really LOVE this movie, but she loves playing dress up. Yesterday she decided that she needed a crown to go with her dress. It's so funny because she gets so excited with herself when she's dressed up. She likes to twirl in the dress, dance, run, sing, it's too funny!

Note: There's actually a mirror on the back of this door. She likes to go look at herself whens she gets dressed up!

Near Disaster @ Bath and Body Works

2009-08-03T22:08:00.002-04:00

I'm so not kidding.

So BBW sells these cute little duck totes. (See Link) Made of that really think sleeping bag type material. The tote tucks inside a little duck that zips up. Pretty cute, huh?

For those who haven't been in the store, I'll try my best to describe the display:

Imagine a pillar/column type thing. White. You always see them in senior pictures, it seems. Square base. And it's taller than Chloe. I would guess it's about 3-4 feet tall. So on top of this pillar sits 4 huge glass bases. Very thick glass. About the size around of a dinner plate and about 1.5-2 feet tall. I'm 5'3 and the top of the vase/jar comes to about the top of my head. There are four of them sitting on this pillar filled to the top with these duck totes. That takes up all the place on the base.

So they have one of these on display. It's opened up, so imagine the duck hanging on a hook with the bag just hanging there. How is it hung, you ask? Well. It's on one of those S hooks attached to the side of the VERY heavy GLASS vase/jar. (You see where I'm going with this???)

So as we are walking by, what does Chloe do? She grabs the bright yellow fabric that's hanging at her eye level, not being able to see that it's attached to anything. Not that that would have stopped her...

Anyway, down comes the duck tote along with the vase. The vase shatters everywhere.

We are VERY fortunate, because that could have ended in a major disaster. Luckily she only had some minor cuts. And luckily I was holding her hand and kept walking, dragging her with me, before I knew what was happening, if not, it would have come down right on her head!

I collect Chloe and put her in the stroller and try to pick it up some. It took about five minutes for someone to come over with a broom. I explain what happened and profusely apologized. I was torn between telling the girl that I thought this was a safety hazard, because I didn't want it to seem like I was making excuses for it and not taking responsibility. But ultimately, I added that I really think that is unsafe and the consequences would have been tragic very easily. She nodded and I went on my way.

Actually we went to target and shopped for about an hour. On the way back to my car, I happen to glance into the store and see that the display is replaced exactly the way it was before. I was LIVID!

But I get in my car and go home. Once I'm home, I can't let it go, so I call up to the store and ask to speak with a manager. I explain what happened and express my frustration about it being right back the way it was. I mention that all it takes is someone brushing by, even with a purse, and knocking it over again. She actually apologizes and agrees it's definitely a safety hazard. She goes ahead and takes it down but asks me to come back in to fill out an incident report so that it can be faxed to their corporate office. She stated that was the way the store required them to do the display, blah, blah, blah.

Really, all I wanted was for the tote not to be hanging off of the vase. We accomplished that, so I was fine. I guess the moral of my story is to watch out for this if you happen to go in there in case it's not changed in your store!

Funny tidbits:

This happened yesterday. We went back in today to fill out the report. I'm holding Chloe at this point, and the second we pass the display of duck totes, Chloe starts yelling at the top of her lungs and pointing the display, as proud as can be:

Chloe: I broke dat! Look Mama, I broke dat Mama!!!
Me: Yes. Yes you did baby. We don't want to do that again.
Chloe: Yeah, I broke dat. Hey guys!!! I broke dat!!!

You know you shop at Target too much when your toddler gets distressed because we aren't going in there. And for the rest of the way home you have to listen to: "I go to Target, Dat way Mama...Target. Mama Target!!!"

I'm Thinking About Selling her to the Zoo...

2009-07-27T20:37:00.004-04:00

Only I'm not sure they'd take her.

Kidding. Well, about the selling her to the zoo thing. I'm pretty certain that they wouldn't take her though. I don't blame them.

It is usually pretty rare that Chloe will nap. Unfortunately, she definitely needs to. I'll put her down to "rest" but that's usually all I get. Now this usually makes for some unpleasant evenings for me. Or at least part of the evenings.

A pretty typical ride home will consist of Chloe playing with a toy, book, etc, in her car seat.

So then I'll ask her a question, or make a comment, or something to engage her. Her response almost every.single.time is one of three things:

1. NNNOOOOO!!!!!
2. A mean, nasty grunt.
3. Scream at the top of her lungs.

A lot of times a few minutes later, she'll make some type of comment to me, like nothing ever happened. But if I respond back...

So I'll just end up ignoring her the rest of the way home after telling her that response is not acceptable. (It's just five minutes)

Today for example:

Me: Chloe, do you want to listen to Spongebob?
Chloe: No!!!!
Me: Do you want to listen to the Horsie Songs?
Chloe: Aaaahhhh!!!!! (And then attempts to throw her book because I talked to her)

We'll get home and sometimes she's pleasant, sometimes she reverts back to that type of behavior.

Today, we went to the Library, then the grocery store, then came home. We decided to make some Jello. I let her pour in the powder and we are waiting for the water to boil. She's on her tricycle at this point, laughing and playing, so I decide to try and take her picture. After realizing that the camera is on video, I improvise. Here is a small clip of the child's response: (It's short, and I cut it off due to her response, but you should get the gist of it.

I'm really at a loss as to how to change this behavior. If I come after her and try to talk to her, it makes it worse. If I don't let her do what she wants afterwards, it gets worse. It's like the only thing I can do is let her have her fit, then go right back to what she wants to do, which in my mind makes her think that her behavior is acceptable. It would be different if this was a once in a while thing, but it's every.single.day.

Again, in the car, I just ignore her the rest of the way home and everyone is happy. At home, I either stop whatever it is that we are doing, or if we're not doing anything, I'll go sit down across the room and have her sit in the time out chair (which REALLY upsets her). After a few minutes, I'll call her over to me and explain that her behavior was not acceptable and make her apologize. She's usually a lot better afterwards, but it doesn't seem like the frequency of these episodes are decreasing...

Thoughts???

It's a good thing that her pleasant side is enough to make me forget about the devilish side~ :)

ANOTHER Lazy Day

2009-07-14T19:53:00.004-04:00

Does anybody else's child take off her clothes any chance they get???

Lazy Sunday

2009-07-13T19:02:00.005-04:00

(Pay no attention to the jungle of a yard.)

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Teeth, Slide, and Potty Time..Oh my!

2009-07-06T20:29:00.005-04:00

What a day!

Today Chloe had her first Dentist visit. I admit, I thought it was going to be a horrible experience.

But it actually went rather smoothly. It only took probably a total of five minutes. The dentist came in, immediately cleaned her teeth, painted a vitamin on, and we were on our way. Chloe sat in my lap and leaned back onto the dentist's lap. I'm pretty sure that the only reason she didn't scream her head off was that she was too terrified. She was just doing whatever we told her to do...

At any rate, the dentist seems to think that there is a great possibility that she'll need braces when she's older. His reasoning was that there is no spacing between her teeth, which could cause them to seperate as the adult teeth grow in. We'll see...I hope not. I certainly thing it's a bit premature to even be putting that in my head! Anyway, other than that, her teeth were great! Yay!

One thing that bothered me was that they said that after this visit, we would no longer be able to go back with her. What!?! Am I being way too overprotective when I say that is unacceptable??? How can a dental office expect me to let my toddler go back and basically have medical procedures/decisions performed on her without me present? I think not! Maybe it would be different if she were 8-10 yrs old, but she's 2! I called today to see how flexible they were with that, and apparently not at all. And I quote, "I understand your concern, but if we let you, we'd have to let everyone, and there's simply not room back there." What??? There's a chair in every corner! I promptly canceled her next visit and will be looking for a new dentist. On to the pics:

So then we went on to Bouncertown. Chloe LOVED it. LOVED. IT. Did I mention that she loved it? Because she did...

She was so much braver than I was going to give her credit for. They had five little bouncy stations and I was pretty sure that she was only going to be able to play in the toddler area. But goodness if she didn't prove me wrong and go on EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Including the HUGE slides. I'll post pictures and video. (Warning:They all came from cell phones, so they aren't the best quality, but what do you do!?!)

Last...Chloe went pee pee in the potty! It's funny because I sit her on the potty before she gets in the bath tub EVERY time. She never goes. I usually put her on again when she gets out. Still, nothing. Today I didn't put her on when she first got on. Then towards the end of her bath, she says she "needs to go poo poo". Back story: We used to have a BIG problem with Chloe going poo poo in the bath tub every time she took a bath. So gross. So everytime I put her in, I repeated, "No poo poo in the bath tub." Then I made her repeat it. We did that several times throughout. Every time. This time she starts saying, "Poo Poo in the bathtub." I ask her if she needs to go, and she says yes. So I took her out of the bath and put her on the potty. I wasn't expecting much because she always does this. But sure enough, she goes pee pee in the potty! And bless her heart, she tried as hard as she could to go poo poo!

But anyway, she got lots of praise, M&M's, and got to make lots of phone calls! Don't get me wrong, I don't think she's anywhere near being ready to potty train, but she certainly is getting a lot closer!

17/30 Chloe's Reaction to Me Trying to Take Her Picture...

2009-06-18T20:51:00.002-04:00

16/30 Hair

2009-06-16T20:50:00.003-04:00

How do all you mom's (or dad's) out there get your child's hair to lay flat?

Chloe's hair is always all over the place. I very rarely leave her hair down because I can't get it to lay straight...it's always going in 5 different directions!

But then, on the other hand, I feel like by me having it up all the time, it doesn't get the chance to train to lay the way it should!

Help? Suggestions!?!?!

15/30 Failure!

2009-06-15T22:40:00.004-04:00

So I know I've missed a few days. I've sort of been in a funk this weekend. I just couldn't bring myself to write any entries. Anyway, I'm going to cheat and go back and write posts for those days. So be on the look out.

Today I became the proud new owner of a 2009 Silver Nissan Altima. It really all came down to what could fit in my budget. There were some other cars that I liked, but I don't really like any car more than the others enough to want to spend any extra money. So there you have it. I had a horrible time at the dealership. I had the good guy salesperson, and then the sneaky finance chick. I can't tell you how many ridiculous extra fees they kept trying to sneak in there. In the end, I walked about with having to have them take off about 1,500 in extra fees, as well as convince her that I was serious that I didn't want the $1,000 extra credit insurance policy, life insurance, etc. It only look me calling her out on those things 5 times, then threatening to get up and walk out unless she fix the paperwork and stop adding extra hidden fees. (I loved the fact that I got a GREAT deal on the car, a $1,500 rebate, and put 20% down on the car, and she still insisted that I needed a $500 gap insurance coverage.)

It makes me feel bad that they are able to pull those things over on people!

So I had one of those weekends where the bad news just came rolling in. Some significant, some not so much in the grand scheme of things, but still. One being that my camera got left outside over night and had to endure I nice thunder storm. Seems to be taking pictures still, but it's definitely not quite right.

At any rate, I'll leave you with a few pictures:

12/30 Not Much to Report...

2009-06-12T10:08:00.000-04:00

I think I'm going to go with the Altima. For the sake of not having to make anymore decisions.

I was almost a thief...

2009-06-11T20:17:00.003-04:00

So my car got totaled on a Friday, the following Monday night, I lost my wallet, by Thursday I was resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to find it, so I canceled everything and reordered my credit/debit cards.

Fast forward to this morning when I REALLY need gas. I was 10 miles to empty. I leave a bit early for work, knowing that I would have to write a check since none of my credit/debit cards had arrived yet.

So I pump my gas (all 20 gallons of it!) and go in to pay. I get my drivers license out and everything. Apparently this was one of the gas stations where they have to hand key all the check information--I assume they are doing it as an electronic check.

Five minutes go by, and she finally looks up at me and tells me it's been declined. What!?!? I tell her to run it again because there is no way that check would be declined. She does so. Says it's still declined, so she's going to call it in. In the mean time, people are lining up behind me. Getting frustrated. I really wished I had some other form of payment I could use, but what do you do? My bank was next door, but it was too early to go over there. She finally gets off the phone and tells me that it's been declined as a "code 2" and there's nothing they can do. I ask her what a code 2 is...she has no idea. (But she did give me a nice number I could call to find out.) Finally, I remembered that I got my Healthcare Savings Acccount card in the mail the day before and never took it out of my car. So I call and activate it and use that for gas. That ordeal only took a half hour. I'm very surprised that it even went through, given the fact that you aren't allowed to use the money for anything not relating to healthcare, and I'm not sure gas qualifies. So I need to get that paid back before the IRS comes knocking at my door...

But wait. It gets better.

I call the number and after giving her my name, address, phone number, checking account routing and account number, driver's license number, and location, the lady tells me that my check was declined not because of anything relating to my account, but the check clearing company didn't have enough personal information about me to guarantee my check, I had never run a check through them before, and wanted to "protect me from fraud." How thoughtful. Given the fact that I had just given her almost all my personal information and the fact that I have been using checks for the last week, I wouldn't think that would be a problem.

Ugh.

She did tell me though that if I wanted to have my checks be accepted, they could send me out a waiver to release all my confidential personal information to them.

Hmm...I think I'll just go across the street to Speedway for now on.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to find out what happened if you can't pay for gas...

10/30 Rainy Day

2009-06-10T17:45:00.003-04:00

9/30 Expensive Taste

2009-06-09T12:04:00.000-04:00

Gosh. I’m a slacker. I admit it.

I was so busy yesterday that I forgot all about posting!

But I am making up for it now.

This car buying business has been so stressful! I just can’t seem to make a decision. I wish I loved a particular car that I could afford…that would make my life a whole lot easier.

Chloe was rather partial to the show room fully loaded Cadillac Escalade whose front end is almost as tall as I am and costs close to what I paid for my house! I told her that she was officially disqualified from having an opinion…

8/30 That Child...

2009-06-08T21:28:00.002-04:00

So Chloe can be a very stubborn child. She pretty much likes to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it. And she doesn't take too kindly to being told what to do. She prefers things to be her idea.

And I've never met a child who could ignore quite the way she does. It's more of a matter-of-fact ignoring rather than a defient ignoring. You could totally scream at her and she won't even respond in the slightest. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say she was deaf!

Sometimes I really do wonder if she's just completely ignoring me, or just super good at tuning everything around her out.

So last night she's sitting on the living room floor playing with all her horses. I ask her to come over to me so I can change her diaper and put on her pajamas. She continues playing with her horses. I ask her again, with a slightly raised voice. Still, nothing. I ask her again, and again, she just continues playing, never moving a muscle in any kind of acknowledgement that I said anything.

This is a daily occurance.

So out of pure frustration, I walk over to her, get down two inches from her face, and say, "CHLOE, WHY ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME!?!? WHAT DID I ASK YOU TO DO!?!?"

Finally she looks up at me. I'm still two inches from her face. She just gives me this blank look, reaches forward and gives me a kiss, and then goes back to playing with her horses.

Gosh. I know I should have not let her do that, but how can you be made at that???

Picking Strawberries

2009-06-07T15:39:00.005-04:00

6/30 This is harder than I thought...

2009-06-06T21:30:00.002-04:00

Blogging every day, that is.

Have I mentioned that Chloe very rarely takes naps these days?

Throughout the week when I am working, she is known to sleep until 10am. Sometimes later. So it's a little understanding that she doesn't nap.

But let me tell you, it's a different story anytime I am at home when she wakes up. Every day I look forward to possibly being able to sleep in a bit. Or at least be up a little bit before her so that I have time to shower. Nope. She's up by 8-830 on those days. And it's not just the weekends. I wasn't feeling well this past Wed, plus I had some shopping to do, so I took the day off work. Sure enough, I hear her little voice at 7am.

I guess I can't complain too much. It is pretty cute to be woken up every morning by, "Mama? Mmmaaammmaaaaa! Mama!".

That girl.

5/30 Apology

2009-06-05T08:37:00.000-04:00

Gosh. I don't really have it in me to come up with a good post.

I've been dealing with the insurance company all day. If you want to know which insurance company NOT to ever do business with, let me know!

So Chloe has started making this face. It's so funny to me. She just randomly will walk around doing it. She scrunches her nose up like a pig and then will do it over and over again. She especially likes to do it when I'm about to take a picture...

Chloe is such a stubborn child. You can ask her to do something, she'll start to do it, then realize she is listening and put a stop to it. This next video will illustrate my point:

I finally got to her to somewhat cooperate, but it involved bribery. And it didn't work for long, as you can see...

4/30 Picture Drop

2009-06-04T21:01:00.003-04:00

It's so hard to get any decent pictures of Chloe these days. If I'm not RIGHT there, she's getting into something she shouldn't be. Or else she runs and hides when I have the camera. Or more often than not, she's not dressed. This girl. The second she gets into ANY residence, she's trying to take her clothes off!

Anyway, here are some from the day!

3/30 Adventures in Car Shopping

2009-06-03T18:28:00.002-04:00

Last night I wasn't feeling too hot. I felt really achy like you do right before you get the flu. Only I didn't know if it was from the flu or the car accident. I felt bad enough that I emailed in a sick day for today last night. I was quite excited to see what the morning would bring...

Fast forward to this morning at 6.30 am. I wake up. I lay there for a second contemplating whether I have the flu. Nope, doesn't seem like it. Instead I'm pretty sure that I have a killer kidney infection.

My first thought? Well, my wallet is MIA, therefore no insurance or HSA card. Out of luck there. I need to go car shopping. Only no driver's license or source of cash. Ok. All this is going to make my day a little inconvenient, but I'm willing to work with it. So my mom comes by and we pack up Chloe and take off.

Stop #1: License branch for a new license. Rather painless.

Stop #2: Chevy dealership. Checked out a Malibu and somewhat looked at the Impala. Both cars were decent. Chloe was a pretty big hit running around like crazy. (I'm not sure how they felt about her putting handprints all over the demo cars...)

Stop #3: Nissan Dealership. Checked out the Nissan Altima.

Now. This is where I bought my last car in January. I was VERY unsatisfied with their service. I ended up paying an additional 1,500 for an extended warrenty/roadside assistance that was supposed to be included with it. The sales guy only gives me one key and when I inquire about a second, tells me that its the type of key you can take anywhere to get copies made. Turns out not. Then they want to charge me an additional $100 for a second key. After arguing, I get them to agree to give me one for free, but the service guy never gets back to me with a an appointment. Last, a few weeks back I lock my keys and cell phone in my car. Along with my above mentioned roadside assistance paperwork that I paid an additional 1,500 for. So I call the dealership for the number and they give it to me. Only it ends up not being the right company, so I end up having to pay $70 for someone to unlock my car.

But I digress. So the first salesperson who walks up to me asks me if he can help me. I tell him I'm looking for a car and have been VERY unsatisfied with their customer service in the past, so he's going to have to pull off a miracle for me to buy from them. We'll see.

Bad Salesguy #1 certainly wasn't happy about me working with someone else.

Anyway.

Stop #3: Lunch

Stop #4: Ford Dealership. Checked out the Ford Fusion.

Stop #5: Volkwagen Dealership. Checked out the Pasaat. Which I do love. But happens to be at the VERY top of my price range, if not over.

Stop #6: CVS Minute Clinic. Which I love. Hopefully they have made me better.

So that's how we spent our day from 9-4. Chloe was such a little trooper. I must admit that I brought the previously blogged about Sponge Bob CD. And I played Best Day Ever! over and over again. Just to hear hear sing...it makes me laugh that much.

So question: Which of these cars do you like the best? I pretty much don't care. I'm a little disappointed that I can't line each of them up side by side to look at in person at the same time. I know you can do it online, but it's just not the same...

2/30 Best Day EVER!!!

2009-06-02T20:22:00.002-04:00

Not really.

Well, unless maybe you are Sponge Bob and Chloe.

Chloe LOVES sponge bob. I don't know why. Even more than Dora, if you can believe that.

A while back I happened to buy a Sponge Bob CD to listen to in the car. Turns out it had a music video hidden on it. Not just any music video mind you, but the music video for Best Day Ever!

I have to admit it's one of those catchy songs that you find yourself bobbing your head to, then look around and make sure nobody was watching...

Anyway--Chloe LOVES this particular song. She always sings along to it at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately she only knows the chorus real well, the rest of the song she mumbles through.

I apologize for the crappy video quality, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that I was basically recording her in the dark. And I just mainly wanted you all to hear her sing anyway. Not sure if it's just because I'm her mom, but I find this absolutely hilarious. (Don't worry, I spared you the whole video and trimmed it to only include the very last chorus... :) )

(Oh. And she obviously got her singing ability from me.)

1/30 Potty Time

2009-06-01T19:07:00.004-04:00

Gosh! Can you believe it's June already!?!!?

So I've been thinking a lot about potty training lately. Only I have no desire to start until she at least shows a little bit of interest. And I'm content to wait until then.

But that doesn't mean I'm not encouraging her. We went out and bought the Potty Time Elmo Doll. He says random phrases and praises you when you get him to the potty on time. He apologizes if he doesn't make it. And we bought the Potty Time Elmo DVD and watch it every few days. We talk about going potty a lot. But she has no interest in sitting on the potty chair or anything. So whatever. We'll wait.

We're shopping at the store today and I decide to let her pick out some panties to start with. She picks out a pack of princess and a pack of Elmo. The following conversation ensues:

Me: Chloe, do you know what these panties are for?

Chloe: What, Mama?

Me: They are for when Chloe goes potty in the big potty like Elmo.

Chloe: Like Elmo!

Me: Yes, like Elmo. And you won't have to wear diapers anymore!

Chloe: No Diapees!

Me: That's right, no more going potty in the diaper.

Chloe: I no go potty in diaper. I potty on Mama! Ha, ha, ha!

(She is in fact correct. When I got home from work she was napping. When she finally woke up I went up and got her...she was only wearing her diaper. We went down and watched TV for a few minutes while she woke up. She was sitting on my lap. All of a sudden I felt like I peed my pants! At first I thought I was imagining it, but sure enough, after a few seconds, I jumped up...my shirt and pants were soaked! I laid her down on the couch while I went and through my clothes in the dryer and my mom changed her diaper. She was in that dazed-I-just-woke-up state. What do you do???)

Anyway.

Me: That's right. You did. You should not do that!

Chloe: It's ok Mama. Accident's happen.

Me: (At a loss for a response) That's right baby...

Elmo would be proud.

So much excitement!

2009-05-31T17:27:00.007-04:00

So...this has been quite the week.

Thursday, the 28th, Chloe and I celebrated her Giving and Receiving Ceremony anniversary. Most of you know, but for those of you who don't, that was the date Chloe officially become part of our family. Or at least legally. I considered her officially part of our family long before that! ;)

We had a nice low key celebration at our neighborhood Fazoli's. Classy, huh??? But it was good and Chloe loved it. She's such a fan of Italian food and I felt like I could bring her in there and not have to worry about her getting out of control. And it's a good thing, because boy, did she make a scene. She COULD NOT leave her bunny at home. Now, this isn't just any bunny. It's one of those Easter bunnies that play the ridiculously annoying banjo type music. But she loves it. And dances like a crazy child to it. ALL THE TIME. This dinner was no exception, much to the enjoyment of other diners!

But we had a good time and nice little celebration!

In a little not so exciting news, remember this past January when I got a new car? Possibly not, since I probably didn't blog about it. Well, no worries, as it is no more.

Friday morning Chloe and I left to drop her off at my mom's before work. Now, we're driving down a BUSY two lane road. We're driving along, when out of nowhere, a car pulls out of a housing addition right in front of us. I slammed on my brakes, but there was nothing I could do but hit him.

Luckily, nobody was hurt other than some minor scrapes and bruises. Chloe's neck has a huge seat belt burn around it, my knee and hand is bruised, I have a seat belt burn across my chest, a small scrape of my head, and other random soreness all over. But nothing serious. The guy who pulled out in front of us was completely fine.

The cars, not so much. I'm going to post some pictures, which don't look too bad. But apparently when an airbag explodes, they usually end of totaling the car, as the air bag itself is a $5,000 repair. Or at least that's what the insurance adjuster is claiming.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty impressed with the lady handling the claim. It was the other guy's fault, so we are going through his insurance, but they have been great. I was in a rental car by Friday evening and they have already made plans to total the car and purchase a new car seat for Chloe.

In all seriousness, I have a few points I would like to make:

1)Seat belts. An absolute must! We always were ours, and so do most of the people I know, but I'm just sayin'...

2)Air bags. Awesome. I've always heard how horrible airbags are. How the explosion can do more damage than just not having them. At least for me, that absolutely was NOT the case. It all happened so fast, but I remember instantly being grateful for it being there. And it did not hurt me at all. I can't imagine if I had slammed into the steering wheel without the air bag.

3)Car seats. Having Chloe in the car with me was probably one of the scariest moments in my life. Right after it happens, all is quiet in the car. I jump out and open the back seat, and when I look in the car, I can't see Chloe. The car seat is literally tilted forward against the driver seat, so all I can see is the back of it. I push it back, not knowing what I was going to find. Thankfully, she seemed fine and I got her out of the car. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think about. We had the seat installed correctly AND it was tethered in with the clip to the car. But 1)The back seat belt didn't lock. 2)The part of the seat that adjusts the length of the tether strap didn't hold. Not sure where the blame belongs, the car seat installer, the car, or the car seat itself. Either way, it has convinced me not to scrimp on a car seat. It could have been very bad. It's definitely made me more aware of whether car seats have been crash tested, what the rating it, etc.

So we went out and got a Britax Marathon. But sure if the insurance will cover it all, but spending the extra money was worth it to me to have peace of mind.

Ok...end of my public service announcement.

Funny story: We get out of the car and Chloe is HYSTERICAL. Understandable. She's attached herself to me and will not let go. Doesn't want the paramedic to check her or I out. But then the firetruck came. And instantly, her hysterical crying turned into screams of excitement and laughter. And she was excited the rest of the time! That girl...

I wish I would have had enough sense to take pictures at the actual scene, but I was a little shaken up and not thinking to clearly. But these pictures were taken Friday night when I went down to get the rest of my stuff out of it. The wrecker service place had cleaned it up a lot, but I think you can get the picture...:

Anyway, so that's been our week.

Last piece of news. Before I forget, my goal is to post everyday in June. I'm severely neglected this blog recently, and that has to stop. No excuses. So you guys are here to hold me accountable. So look for a post EVERYDAY.

On to some pictures:

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:13:00.005-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there! Sorry this is a day late!

I can't believe it's been two years since I first laid eyes on Chloe in an orphanage in Vietnam. I'm not sure that there's really anything that can top Mother's Day 2007.

In the last two years, Chloe has grown into quite the remarkable little toddler. I wish I could say she's easy-going, laid-back, and well behaved. But as we all know, she's none of those things.

She's a ball of energy, strong willed, and very, shall I say, spirited. She knows what she wants and doesn't have a problem letting you know.

To say she's going through a challenging stage would be a huge understatement. But it's funny...looking back, I'm certainly not surprised by her personality. I'm sure that everyone who traveled with us will agree...you could see that little personality coming a mile away!

But even with all of her challenges, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world! I love you baby!

Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2008

Picture Post

2009-04-16T17:52:00.003-04:00

Emotional Mess

2009-03-20T00:00:00.004-04:00

I admit, I'm an emotional mess.

And I think it's completely Chloe's fault.

I'm not kidding either. It's crazy. It comes out in so many different ways.

My feelings get hurt very easily. Like, I know at the time that if I just give it some time, it won't bother me any more, but still it doesn't change anything. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'll cut Chloe some slack there, I can't blame it all on her...maybe it's partly due to being a girl.

But that's not the bad part.

I used to be able to watch all kinds of movies. I was a big fan of scary movies. I mean, I watched Saw I, II, AND III. No problem. Not so much anymore. Only happy endings now. I only want to see things that end nicely. I was so excited to see Changeling. And then I finally saw it. And it was awful! I'm sure that Pre-Chloe, I might have thought differently, but I seriously sat through the whole movie trying to convince myself that there would be a happy ending. I waited. And waited. And waited. There wasn't. I didn't like it.

Here's the worst part. I'll be watching my regular shows. (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, House, etc) And the if a part comes on that's even remotely sad, out of nowhere I'll be in tears! A character has cancer. I've known this through several episodes. But still, EVERYTIME, when they talk about it, I end up in tears. And I'll be in tears the whole night! I could seriously drown in my tears! It doesn't matter if there ends up being a happy ending, the sad part gets me EVERYTIME. Which is bad since most movies/TV shows go through a sad part before the happy ending. (I'm glad I'm watching these on my own!)

Anyway, none of this happened pre Chloe. So my only conclusion is that motherhood makes you an emotional mess. I'm just sayin'.

Ok...that's my vent. I'll leave you with some pictures:

How big is this girl looking!?!?!

Funny Face

2009-02-06T20:46:00.002-05:00

Practicing with Photoshop...

2009-02-05T22:49:00.003-05:00

Original Photo:

Snow Day!

2009-01-28T20:38:00.007-05:00

A foot of snow! Seriously!

The up side is that I took the day off so I wouldn't have to try and brave the roads. So Chloe and I got to spend the day snowed in together! What did we do???

First, we looked out the back door and saw this:

Lots of snow! So what to do? Hmm....

We went and got a bowl of snow and the following:

And made snow ice cream!!!! (I'm sorry if anyone finds this completely disgusting. Apparently I let Chloe do a whole bunch of disgusting things. Poor child. It was even suggested that social services should be called on me for letting my child eat gross, polluted, bacteria infested particles that fall from the sky. Or something like that. But she did love it. She's been talking about snow ice cream all day...I highly recommend it! )

We also got in some quality snow time outside!

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-08T21:10:00.002-05:00

I am going to publicly announce my New Year's resolutions, in hopes that it will help me stick with them. I'll think I'll do one post for each resolution. So here goes:

1. Be more consious about the things that I do.

I have this tendency to not think about the things that I do when I do them. Or I do a lot of things very absentmindedly. I often misplace things. It's not neccesarily because I'm lazy, I just don't think about the things I'm doing. For example, sometimes I'll get my wallet out of my purse and instead of putting it back, I put it in my pocket? Why? I don't know...it would have taken me the same amount of time to put it in my purse rather than my pocket. And it's not just that it inconveniences me...sometimes the results cam be very bad! Let's look at the past week alone (granted, this isn't a typical week...):

Sunday I went grocery shopping. I have a two door mistusbishi Eclipse. I get out of my car and pull the seat forward so I can get Chloe out. I'm kind of sitting on kneeling in the back seat when I see a gift card I had previously purchased. (Don't ask why it was in the back seat...) So I grab it, wrip it out of the paper packaging, and grab Chloe. Well. Sometime between then and the time I reach the checkout line, I realize that I can't find it. Did I mention that it was a $75 Mastercard gift card???

Yesterday I pull into the drive thru at Arby's. My plan was to grab something quick for Chloe to eat on our way to swimming lessons. I order, then pull up to the windown. I go to reach for my wallet, when I realize I can't find it. I check all the usual places:my purse, my pocket, passenger seat, behind the driver seat. Nothing. I tell the guy at the window that I can't find my wallet, and ask if he minds whether I pull into a parking space and look for it. He responds for me to just take the food, if I find it, pay for it, if not, don't worry about it. Pretty awesome guy. So. I pull into a parking space and search my car. Nope. Not there. I flash back to picking Chloe up from my mom's.

I grab my wallet and put it in my pocket. We leave. I get to my car and try to open the door. It's locked. So I start to reach into my pocket for my keys. Can't reach them...my wallet is in the way. I take my wallet out of my car and put it on top of my car. I unlock my car. By this time Chloe has made her way back towards my mom's house, so I go grab her and put her in the car. Then I drive 3.6 miles to Arby's. So either the wallet is in my car, or I never removed it from the top of my car. I have my mom go look for it maybe 10 minutes later...she can't find it.
When I get home, I search my car again. Today I searched it once or twice more. Then I went to my mom's and walked the path that I took when I left. Correction: I walked the first mile (1.0 miles per google maps). Then I walked that same path back. So two miles round trip. In the snow. Windchill of 15 degrees. And no wallet.

So let's recap what I've lost: Driver's licence, Debit Card, Credit Card, Savings Account Card, Insurance Cards, Circuit City Card, Zoo Membership, Children's Museum Membership, HSA Card, and gift cards.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was only credit cards and such...I can easily replace those. But I had about $130 in Walmart gift cards, and a $20 gift card. Those, coupled with the other gift card, means I've lost a total of about $225. Nice. And I have no way to spend any money.

I'm hoping it turns up. I'm going to go search my car again...

Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

2009-01-02T01:14:00.006-05:00

Here's Chloe's 2nd Birthday Montage. And I'm also posting some cute pictures from today for those of you who don't want to sit through the whole video!

Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you missed Chloe's slide show from last year, you can view it here.

Public Service Announcement:

So as most of you know, my house was broken in to a few months back. They took off with a big flat panel LCD TV, my Ipod and Ipod transmitter, some cash, my cell phone, and my lap top. Now all that is just stuff. The scariest part is that Chloe and I were upstairs sleeping at the time. But I digress. My point is that with my laptop gone, I lost ALL my pictures of Chloe. I had not backed them up anywhere. So this slide show was made possible by me going back through my blog and downloading pictures, and from pictures my mom took. So Thanks! And keep all your doors locked, alarms on, and pictures backed up!

Christmas

2008-12-28T22:58:00.006-05:00

This just wasn't quite Chloe's year for Christmas. She had a good time and everything, but it wasn't like she was super excited or anything. She kind of preferred just doing her own thing to opening up presents. Every once in a while she would show some interest, but most of the time, it was like she was just trying to appease us. I'm pretty sure that I opened more of her presents than she did! So here are some pictures of throughout the day!

So here we are first thing in the morning. Take a look at me...it's definitely first thing. Way before Chloe normally gets up. The place had been to just let her sleep...unfortunately she's such a light sleeper that didn't work out.

Here is Chloe "reading" Kelli's "book". Or at least that's what she (Chloe) calls it. Seems like every one has one of these...but I, unfortunately, am not a member of the cool kids club...

Chloe with her new little bean bag chair. And flashlight. That kid...

Once Chloe got this nifty little thing, she left all the action and found herself a nice, quiet little corner to hang out in. And just played. Wasn't really interested in opening any more presents. This is actually pretty neat...it's a bunch of cuts of meats and vegetables that are held together by velcro. You use the little knife to cut them up in pieces. Chloe loved it! It's the first thing she's done each morning she's been up since.

This is Chloe and her new friend, Aaron. He apparently made quite the impression on her. Chloe doesn't really take to ANYBODY, even after being around them several times. This was one of their first meetings and she was climbing all over him and dragging him around. Crazy. I can't really think of any reason why. Except maybe he's a Bears fan... ;)

Chloe and her cookie:

Her new horse. Funny story. Chloe really loves horses. We're at home Christmas night and I'm watching her...and she's pretending she's riding it, yelling, clear as day, "Yee Ha!" "Giddy-Up!". I'm thinking to myself, what the...??? She's not really saying that. I have NO idea where she picked that up from. But then I turned on Dora. Or I mean boots. And there was an episode with Pinto the pony. And Dora, I mean Boots, yells Yee Ha!, Giddy Up throughout the whole thing. It was a new episode, so she picked that one up quick...

The end of the afternoon:

And here was Chloe's big present. Her very own train table. And she loves it! She plays with it at least twice every single day.

That was Christmas in a nutshell. Be on the lookout for a more action packed post in the next few days...we've got lots of news!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-28T22:40:00.002-05:00

NO!!!!

2008-12-08T23:33:00.005-05:00

So "No" is Chloe's new favorite word. Within the last few weeks, she's mastered using it in phrases. Literally she uses a no in front of every word she says to show her disinterest in it. I think she says it so much because she knows it annoys me...

You don't believe me? Just watch. I have proof. And then there is some video of her dancing to her guitar playing. She usually does quite an impressive job of playing and dancing, but of course, never when the camera is on! So without further ado...some pictures and video!

Date Night

2008-11-21T19:49:00.007-05:00

Me.

Pho.

Vietnamese spring rolls.

Grey's Anatomy.

What a night.

I admit, spending an hour eating in front of the TV probably wasn't the most productive way I could be spending my kid free hours, and eating take out by myself might be a bit pathetic, but it was nice. And relaxing.

I look forward to a second date.

And a little cuteness:

Oh Goodness...

2008-11-05T21:16:00.004-05:00

What a lazy blogger I've been.

So Chloe has a stubborn streak a mile long. Probably several miles actually.

The funny.

I've talked before about how Dora was Chloe's first real word. And it wasn't even just Dora, she actually did the D-D-D-D-Dora. You all know the theme song. Well,about a few months ago, she just stopped saying it. I think I might have blogged about this recently. Everything is Boots now. At first I didn't think anything of the fact that when Dora came on she would say Boots. But then I told her to say Dora. Her response? Boots. I have tried EVERYTHING. I have tried bribing her with candy. Toys. I've even stooped as low as to withhold toys from her. But nothing works. I would have her say a bunch of random words really quick so she didn't have time to think, but the immediate response to Dora was always Boots.

I used to think that maybe it was a subconsious thing, but her responses have somewhat evolved. Come of the common responses we get now to "Can you say DORA?":

-"Boots."
-"Boots!!!!" (this is being screamed)
-Just a straight scream at the top of her lungs.
-No! Boots.
-No! I say Boots! (This is my favorite)
-Huge sighs
-or she's starting now to just ignore the question.

After Mark dropped her off one day, I tried a new tactic. Being funny. So I'm like, "Tell Dora bye-bye!" She kinds of laughs, so I repeat it, encouraging her to say it. I repeat it again, and she laughs. I again tell her to say it. "Say Bye-Bye Dora!". She looks at me, looks at him, then looks right back at me, I kid you not, and says, "See you later Boots!" Seriously!

The not so funny.

When Chloe is done eating something she has the tendancy to just throw it down. I'm pretty sure she's old enough at this point to follow directions. So today she had one of those pop ice things. You know the popcicle in the long plastic thing? Well, she has me cut it down as she goes so that she can get it out, as she's not quite able to keep pushing it up. She gets to the bottom and then just throws it on the floor. So I'm like, "No, No. Pick that up." She yells no and runs away. So I go get her and bring her back to the spot. Tell her again to pick it up. She yells no and is throwing a fit at this point. She's trying to run away but I won't let her. I again ask her to pick it up. She throws a fit and just starts hitting and kicking it. She finally reaches down and picks it up. Only to immediately throw it again. I put her hand down there and she REFUSES to pick it up. I bet we sat there on the floor for 10 minutes repeating this sequence as she's acting like she's being tortured. She finally picks it up. We walk over and get it in the trash. Whew!

We have showdowns like this a few times a week. She definitely give me a run for my money.

And to end with some pictures:

Zoo Boo

2008-10-23T22:27:00.004-04:00

Ok. So. Halloween. I decided to dress Chloe up like a lion. Why, you ask? Because it's so freakin' cute to hear her go around roaring! I had to do it! I know, I know. But watch the video and you'll see. (You'll also notice her refusal to say Dora. Instead she says Boots. Each and every time.)

Today we went to Zoo Boo. Chloe had an awesome time dressing up in her costume and visiting with the animals. And here are the pictures to prove it!

My Hero

2008-10-23T22:24:00.003-04:00

So maybe I'm the only one impressed by this, but....LOOK AT HER!

She does this several times in a row. And she'll just hang there, I'm not kidding, for like 1-2 minutes.

I think that's pretty awesome!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-04T15:06:00.004-04:00

Today we went on a visit to the pumpkin patch. This place definitely beat our expectations. There were things for everyone! We (Chloe) went on a pony ride, a hay ride, played in a bouncy house, pumpkin patch, and petting zoo. We had a corn dog, majorly disappointing curly fries, and some water. We capped off our visit with a trip to the farmers market. I'm completely sold on this place! We are going to have to come back so Chloe can try out the straw hill, straw mountain, and corn mazes!

Here are some pictures from our visit!

A Little View into Chloe's life...

2008-09-30T21:32:00.005-04:00

You can't really tell here, but this is Chloe trying to decide which "baby" (see previous post) she wants to "brush". She goes through this process every time I do her hair.

This picture I just thought was cute :)

Disclaimer: Absolutely no babies were harmed in the taken of this picture. Actually this is Chloe's response to me asking her to stand still so I can take her picture. And actually you can apply this face to anytime you don't let her have her way. As soon as she realized it doesn't work she stops though, so that's nice. She doesn't quite understand that I think its adorable! (She actually keeps squinting her eyes really hard until she's able to squeeze tears out...it's crazy!)

These next two pictures are typical of what I experience when I put Chloe in a car seat. We went to a picnic the over the weekend about a half hour away and this was Chloe's reaction pretty much the whole time. After about 15 minutes I just told her to smile and blindly took her pictures a few times. Don't you feel bad for her???

These last few pictures are of Chloe playing with her "blocks". Notice the necklace and shades:)

An interesting note about this blocks: I went to the store on a mission to find her some blocks. I wanted some that stuck together as her coordination isn't the greatest yet and I wanted her to easily be able to build with them. So I'm envisioning finding a cheap $5-10/box. But no, this is all I can find....

$28.99 for this tub of blocks. Most of you who know me know that I don't like to spend a lot of money on things, especially toys. So I put this in my cart, intending to walk around the store and finish my shopping and make a decision at the end. Obviously I had a week moment and we came home the proud new owners of a $30 box of blocks!

But I must admit, I actually don't regret this at all! The child LOVES them. She would play with them all night, every night if she could. Every morning when I wake her up, before we even get downstairs, she starts chanting, "blocks, blocks, blocks". Every time we come home from somewhere, the same thing. And its not like its just because they are new...we've had them for over a month, possibly two and she STILL LOVES them. Probably the best toy I've ever gotten her.

See...I'm getting better

2008-09-27T20:02:00.006-04:00

I've often talked about my aversion to anything messy where Chloe is concerned. Especially eating. I've tried to make do by stripping her down to her diaper when she eats, but man, can this girl make a mess! Seriously, it never fails that she gets whatever she's eating all over her hands and then rubs them all over her head/hair.

Today she got her first taste of sirloin. We put it over mashed potatoes w. gravy. And she did love it. In case you don't believe me:

(Notice the (clean) fork in her hand. Notice further how the food is getting in to her mouth.)

(Also notice that baller tattoo!)

(So this whole section was full of food. So even though she's using for hand for a fork, at least she's eating well :) )

We Live in a Zoo...

2008-09-25T20:09:00.003-04:00

I'm serious. No joke.

Chloe can definitely be a girl. She loves princess movies. All the Disney movies. Belle, Snow White, Mulan, Cinderella, all of them.

But give her a doll? She wants no part of it. No interest at all. If you give her one, she might play with it for a few minutes, but she could really care less.

She loves "babies" though. Every day she comes home and calls out for her "babies". Not just one "baby" mind you. Every night she has to gather them all up, we set them out on the couch, and she tells them each goodnight. And then she picks one out to go to sleep with. And every night its a different one, you never know which she'll choose. It never gets old for her...

And even more amazing is that she knows when one is missing. And she'll insist that we keep looking until we get all of them.

I know the suspense is killing you, so introducing.....our zoo!

Notice that there are three elephants...her favorite. I've been on the look out for a lion for her, as its so cute to hear her making the lion sound. (Interestingly enough, she makes the same sound for a tiger, jaguar, leopard, and bear). Not pictured is her most recent sleeping companion, baby jaguar. (Diego fans out there know exactly who I'm talking about!)

And I'll leave you with some cute pictures of her eating corn on the cob. She had not had any in a while, and I thought she was going to refuse it. I tried to show her how to eat it, and she freaked out...didn't want anything to do with it. So I let her eat the rest of her food. After she was done, I picked the corn up and put it up to her mouth. It was like a light bulb went off and she went to town on the thing. By the time she was done, there was not a single kernel left!

Finally!

2008-09-21T20:45:00.004-04:00

I replaced my old camera! I'm pretty excited...it's definitely a lot more high tech than what I'm used to. I think that once I learn all the features, I'll be able to take some pretty good pictures. (I can't tell you how hard it was to shop for a camera with Chloe)

Here are a few from today:

Almost a genius and other random acts of Chloe

2008-09-11T19:28:00.003-04:00

So I almost became one of those mom's who thinks that their child is a genius.

Chloe was watching Dora. To set the scene, there is a tree in a forest with balloons hidden in it. So Dora is like, "Where's the red balloon?", "Where's the green balloon", etc. I glance up as Dora is saying, "Where is the orange balloon?" Chloe goes directly to it and points to it. I keep watching. Dora asks about the purple balloon. Chloe immediately points to it. I'm pretty convinced she's a genius at this point. So then Dora asks about the blue balloon. Chloe points RIGHT to it.

Of course, I'm skeptical by nature. So I rewind it to see if she can do it again. Unfortunately this time she mixes them up. So while no genius, it definitely was an awesome effort.

*
So while Chloe was pointing out the balloons, I quickly tried to find my camera to get pictures for the post. But, big surprise, I couldn't find it. It was especially disappointing because I had some other cute pictures to upload. So no pictures.

An hour or so later I decide to take Chloe out back to check out my produce in the garden. As we head out there I happen to glance down at her water table. Which is full of water. I stop in shock. What is in there you ask??? My camera. Of course now its a broken rusted camera.

I'm still trying to figure out how that could have possibly happened. It obviously had to have been Chloe, but I have no idea how long its been there or how she could have done it without me knowing.

So unfortunately, no more pictures of Chloe for awhile. Very sad, I know.

*

Over the last month or so, Chloe was developed this habit. Usually it's when we are in the car. I'll look back at her through the rear view mirror and she just has a blank expression on her face. So I'll say hi to her to make some other comment. Well, she'll look at me and yell, "No!". And if I keep talking, she'll cover her ears with her hands while simultaneously yelling "No, No, No!" at the top of her lungs. And she won't stop until I stop talking. Apparently she doesn't want to be talked to.

I can't help but to think that she is too young to be having this much of an attitude already.

Yes, I'm going to go there

2008-09-08T20:14:00.006-04:00

In a funk...

2008-09-02T20:16:00.005-04:00

Ugh. I need some new friends. Not that the friends that I have aren't awesome, but I need some Mom friends.

As much as my single friends try to humor me, I know hanging out with Chloe and I isn't the greatest fun. Especially when Chloe doesn't really want to be around anyone but me.

But she LOVES little kids. I've looked into doing some different things with her, but the problem is that it seems like all the toddler type community activities are geared towards stay at home moms. I can't exactly leave work in the middle of the day to take her somewhere. What's up with that? Its so frustrating.

She not quite the age where she can sit and listen to a story, follow directions, etc. So anyway, I'm looking for activities to socialize her more and get us out of our same old routine.

Here are some pictures from today:

How sad is this face? The problem? She wants to OD on vitamins.

Some Water Table Fun

Don't you just love this little dress??? We got it on clearance at Target over the weekend :)

These next three pictures illustrate why I can't seem to get any decent pictures of the girl. She thinks that I need to be holding her ALL the time. Like she's afraid I'm going to go somewhere without her...

Some swingset pictures:

Crying because she wants back in the swing... Unfortunately she wants me swinging in the swing beside her the whole time she swings. When you couple the fact that she would swing for hours if you let her with the fact that the second I get on a swing I get sick to my stomach...not a good combo.

Doing Good and Giving Back

2008-08-16T11:53:00.004-04:00

Goodness....it's been almost a month since the last post. Way too long.

So what have we been up to?

I've been contemplating ways to better help the environment. Unfortunately, some of these things take a lot of effort, so I thought that we would start small. And then as time goes by we'll add more and more lifestyle changes. Here's where we have started:

1) We've got ourself a little recycling set up. A while back I got these stackable crate like things from Lowes. So right now we're starting with plastic bottles (we go throught A LOT of bottled water), newspaper and magazines, and glass. There's a recycling drop off location right down the street from my house, so hopefully this works out well.

2) We have started using reusable grocery bags. We're kind of hit or miss on this one, as I can't always remember to have one with me when we stop by the store. But we've been doing pretty good.

Another thing that I've really wanted to do was something that helps out children in Vietnam that Chloe can be somewhat involved in/aware of as she gets older. So I've been doing a lot of research on different groups and organizations. We've decided on two for now.

KIVA http://www.kiva.org/

I've been involved with this program since right around the time we came home from Vietnam last year. I highly recomment it.

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

You can do as many loans as you want and specify the amount that you want to loan. You can do as little as $25. I try to go through and pick out individuals from Vietnam. You can really pick people from any part of the world. We also currently have a loan outstanding to a widowed woman from Nigeria. At any rate, I think that this is a really good cause and I highly recommend it. It's really great to hear updates on how you are changing these people's lives.

VIETHOPE http://www.viethope.org/

This organizations is based out of Boston. They have members all over the world and their goal is to provide education for the underprivileged and build schools and education centers.

We are involved with the child sponsorship program. More specifically the Primary Education Scholarship program. The Merit Scholarships and Community Scholarships provide financial assistance to children living in poor rural areas.

If you choose to sponsor a child, your sponsorship of $10 per month will enable a child to go to school. One hundred percent of your donation goes directly to your sponsored child. VietHope will send you a report at least once every year on the progress of the child whom you sponsor. They hope that you will establish a long-term relationship with your sponsored child.

If anyone knows of any other organizations or programs that they would recommend, feel free to share!

Well, that's all for now. I've started many others posts but haven't finished them, so expect some more soon. I'll leave you with some random pictures:

Summer Days...

2008-07-22T20:34:00.005-04:00

My "cooking" routine these days is really pretty simple. Mostly, I don't cook. Our meals usually consist of some kind of vegetable (Peas, corn, carrots, green beans) fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, water melon, pineapple, pears, etc )and meat (deli meat, grilled chicken).

Mostly it's because:

1) I try to stick to non messy meals. Nothing that's going to require a huge cleanup, either of the kitchen, dishes, Chloe's eating area, or Chloe herself.

2) It's very inconvenient for me to try and spend much time in the kitchen. Chloe wants to be able to be RIGHT there no matter what I'm doing.

3) It's so hard to really cook much in single servings. Or single and a half servings. So a lot of times when I cook we have leftovers for days. Which is no fun.

I'm sure it'll get better in the future, but for now, that's the way we roll.

However.

Tonight, we semi-cooked. We actually grilled out. We did bacon wrapped chicken kabobs. Chloe even helped me put them together. And as proof, here are beginning and ending pictures.

Mmmm. Looks good, right? Unfortunately, this was WAY too much food for just as. Really, after cooking it, I found out I just wasn't that hungry. So we kept one and gave the rest to my neighbors. They were pretty excited. We ate about half of one between the both of us. Kinda disappointing. But what do you do?

So as I'm grilling, Chloe is playing with her water table. This is what I turn around to:

Too cute, huh? This child loves to climb on, over, through EVERYTHING. She's definitely going to be trouble.

Something that makes me smile....

2008-07-17T22:55:00.003-04:00

Chloe has been doing a lot better in the car seat here recently. Of course when I say a lot better, that doesn't mean she's doing great, it's just not ALWAYS terrible.

It gets to the point where I just kind of try to tune her out when I am driving. Nothing I say, do, or offer her will calm her down at certain times.

I always have my rear view mirror turned so that I can see her. I like to be able to check on her when she gets quite, as usually it means she's doing something that she shouldn't be doing.

But the bad times are becoming fewer. And in the past few weeks I've noticed something new. I'll look back in the mirror and notice that she's just kind of staring off like she's in her own little world. And then she'll get this huge grin on her face and start quietly laughing to herself. It's not like there is anything funny around or I'm talking to her or she's trying to make me laugh.

I'll keep watching and she'll return to a normal look, then in a few more minutes she'll start grinning and laughing again, completely oblivious to everything around her.

How I would love to know exactly what she's thinking about that makes her laugh like that. Whatever it is, it truly makes her happy. I love that her thinking is getting so complex that she is able to use her imagination and think of happy things. I suppose I am making the assumption that she is using her imagination, but if you know Chloe at all, you definitely know that it's not the car seat that makes her happy!

But anyway, it does make me smile to see her back there smiling and giggling to herself like she doesn't have a care in the world! :)

And I'll leave you with a pretty cute video of Chloe showing off some of her crazy animal sound talents. Enjoy!

PS Don't let the black eye distract you.

If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy....

2008-07-13T13:08:00.004-04:00

Just kidding.

But Chloe had her first noticable accident this past week.

She was sitting in one of those booster seat/high chair things. Unfortunately it wasn't tied down, she leaned forward and fell on her head. Luckily she was ok, she just ended up with a knot on her forehead and a black eye.

Sidenote: Before anyone thinks about giving me a hard time about this, we did end up taking her to prompt care to make sure everything was ok. And we have taken steps to make sure this doesn't happen again.

These pictures really don't do it justice, but its the best that I could get :)

I've also been trying to teach Chloe animal sounds. She can do dog, cat, duck, tiger, owl, and elephant (which is totally cute, she does this little hand motion to imitate the trunk... :).

Anyway, the other day I tried to teach her to make a fish face. Her fish face kind of looks like she's about to kiss someone. Now she goes around doing it all the time, especially when I try to take her picture.

Finally...

2008-07-12T14:26:00.009-04:00

So this past weekend was awesome. I kept meaning to get on here and post some more pictures, but the problem is that we took so many, it's so hard to try and choose what to choose. Seriously, we took over 300 pictures the whole weekend!

So Sunday we went to the zoo in the morning. By the end of the afternoon, the girls were SO worn out. But we had a good time. Here are some zoo pictures:

As always, the carousel has a huge hit with Chloe. Now Anna wasn't so convinced that one could have very much fun.

Apparently there was something not so fun about the getting measured....

Waiting in line for the train...enjoying some frozen lemonade!

Here they are at the fountain/water area at the end of our trip. Neither of them were so sure about the amount of people around, but Chloe had lots of fun. I think Anna just wanted out of there:)

These next few pictures should show you how exhausted they were. We left after playing in the water. This is Chloe trying to keep her eyes open on the way out to the car. And then of course both girls were out by the time we got them in their car seats!

After going home and taking naps (well, Anna napped at least) we blew up Chloe's pool and they played outside for awhile. Anna enjoyed the pool over the fountains.

And that brings us to the end of Saturday.

Oh I forgot! We got Chinese for dinner.

Turns out Anna is a master noodle slurper! It was the funniest thing. We didn't even have to show her what to do...it's like it came natural! I tried to see if Chloe would slurp, but turns out she's more of a fan of shoveling her whole hand in to her mouth.

Coming soon:

*Children's museum pictures and our last day of the visit.

*Living Simply Week 2

*Chloe's Accident

We're having a blast - Day 1

2008-07-06T22:13:00.005-04:00

What are YOU doing???

2008-07-05T22:50:00.001-04:00

I have the laziest child in the world...

2008-07-01T20:17:00.004-04:00

Not really. She is actually a very active toddler, never stops.

But she does have one lazy tendancy that drives me crazy. Can't remember if I've mentioned it or not. But she refuses to walk over to a particular destination. If she knows where she wants to go, she wants you to take her. Usually it's the swingset. She'll take a few steps towards it and then turn and hold her arms out to me, expecting me to carry her the rest of the way. If I don't, she will throw herself down on the ground hysterically crying.

Today we went to the pool. I tried arm floaties on her...not a hit. We stayed in the pool for about an hour, then I went to my car to get some clothes to change into. I ask her if she wants to walk over to the "swings". (playground). She says yes. Again, takes a couple of steps across the parking lot and expects me to carry her.

Now if we are somewhere like the mall where it would be easier to carry her, no way, she has to walk. Go figure. :)

On to some cute pictures!!!!

2008-06-29T22:32:00.004-04:00

Last week was kind of a stressful week for me. Well, really the past month has been somewhat stressful. Dealing with the A/C, the floors, the water, etc. Its been the kind of week/month that makes you start feeling really overwhelmed with life. You, or at least I, start thinking about everything that needs to be done, the errands, shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc, and thing start feeling to completely impossible that you, or rather I, just don't do anything. Not the way to get things accomplished.

I sort of had an experience this last week that was pivotal in my new line of thinking.

Let me first start by saying that I always have a TON on my mind. And while I'm doing one thing, chances are my mind is on a billion other tasks that need accomplished.

So Monday started off pretty uneventful. Chloe and I did some grocery shopping, went and got something to eat, then stopped off at Kmart. Then we went home. I pull into my driveway like normal, open the garage, pull the car in. I get out of the car and get ready to get Chloe out of the back, when something catches my eye. What, you ask? Well, laying on the back of my car, right underneath the spoiler, were my car keys. Now I have two sets of keys with me usually, which is how I was able to get home. So I think to myself now lucky I am that those keys stayed on my car the whole way home! Now it's only less than a mile from Kmart to my house (.7 miles to be exact), but still, pretty impressive!

How did this happen? Well, when I put Chloe in the car, normally I'll set my personal belongings on the car somewhere while I strap her in. Usually I don't have my purse with me, so if I don't grab my keys from off the car then I immediately know because I can't start my car. So usually what happens is that I'm sitting in my car, realize I don't have my keys, get back out and grab them, then go on my merry way. And every time the thought occurs to me that I should change that habit.

Back to the story. Fast forward to the next day or so when I take Chloe to the city market for lunch. Can't find my wallet. Hmmm. Maybe I left it in my car. Nope. Maybe I put it in one of the bags that I left Kmart with. Nope. Then it occurs to me. There is a very strong possibility that it was put on my car with my keys. And my keys were the only thing that made it back.

Now getting a new driver's license, that probably will be a little inconvenient for me. Credit cards--easily replaced. Olive Garden gift card--not replaceable, but hey, I don't really care for it anyway. Zoo membership-again, already got that replaced. Wallet size pictures of Chloe that I had been holding on to, deciding what to do with, that was the real killer. I can't tell you how upset I am over that.

And the worst part? Completely avoidable. If I could just slow down and think about what I'm doing as I'm doing it.

Which brings me to my new philosophy. Living Simply. Simplifying all the normal tasks in life. Giving my complete attention to everything I'm doing. And I bought a book. It's called Simply Living.

It's a 10 week system that gives you a list of 4 tasks to tackle each week in order to add order and alleviate stress. I figure it's worth a try. So each week I'll report back here on what my tasks are and how I did accomplishing them.

1)Drink 8 glasses of water a day

2)Walk 20 minutes every day

3)Save $2/day or an equivalent of 1% of your weekly take home pay

4)Organize one drawer or closet of your choosing

Wish me luck!

And really, what post would be complete without some pictures of Little Miss Chloe!?!?!

Summer Days

2008-06-26T22:04:00.003-04:00

Guess Who's Coming for a Visit!?!?!

2008-06-23T12:36:00.003-04:00

I'll give you a clue:

Actually this kinds of gives it away:) But we are pretty exciteded!!! Hopefully they'll both be a little happier than they are in this picture.

What a mess...

2008-06-17T23:36:00.003-04:00

Most of you who know me, know that I don't particularly enjoy cleaning. To that end, I try to do things with Chloe that minimizes me having to clean as much as possible. For example, I try to keep her playing in one part of the house, we play outside as much as possible, and I don't give her messy foods to eat.

So tonight we're grilling out some chicken. We were playing outside when Chloe decided she was ready to come in. While I am doing some dishes, she's playing in the pantry with the canned goods, as she always does. I remember that the chicken is still cooking, so I leave her in the kitchen and run outside to grab the chicken real quick. I'm gone MAYBE 10 seconds at the most. Imagine my surprise when I come in to this:

What you can't see is that when I see this, I just sit down on the ledge/step (you can kinda see it in the bottom right) and watch her for a second, thinking about how much of a pain its going to be to clean up. I debate trying to find a broom VS grabbing the vaccuum. The vaccuum wins out, as I'm not exactly sure where my broom/dustpan is. So I run to the laundry room to grab it, and when I get back Chloe is riding through the mess on her Dora bike/car thing. So it ended up being a HUGE mess.

And here is a bonus picture:

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T22:09:00.001-04:00

It never ends...

2008-06-14T20:34:00.003-04:00

So last weekend we had a lot of rain here. Unfortunately, the sump pump for whatever reason did not kick on, causing water to flood into the living room, kitchen, dining room/hallway, and downstairs bathroom. There wasn't a whole lot of water, but enough to cause the living room, dining room/hallway, and bathroom floors to need to be replaced. I can deal with replacing the flooring in the bathroom and living room, as I had planned on doing that at some point, but I JUST had the flooring done in the dining room/hallway. On the bright side, I think I'm going to go hardwood throughout and ceramic tile in the bathroom.

And get this: I think I'm going to try installing it myself. So anyone who wants to help me out...be sure to let me know:).

I'm basically screwed with the air conditioning. The guy basically said today that he's not going to do anything else. So looks like I start over and that was $4,000 down the drain. I guess on the bright side here, once I get someone in here I actually won't have to be hot any more.

A funny moment today:

I'm laying down reading while Chloe is taking a nap, when the doorbell rings. It's the mail guy. He's bring me the mail because there is a package that won't fit in my mailbox. This package is from a book club that does those automatic shipments and I always end up sending them back. The conversation kind of goes like this:

Mail guy: Here's your mail, the box wouldn't fit...
Me: Um...thanks. But can you take this back, I don't want it...
Him: Absolutely...you can refuse whatever you want.
Me: Thanks. Actually can you hang on a second...I have another one in my car that I've been meaning to drop off at a mail box.
Him: No problem.
(I run in the house, out the garage to grab it then head back to the front. As I'm handing it to him...)
Him: Here's my number in case you have any other packages you want to refuse.
(I'm debating what to say because I'm 99% sure that he was just trying to give me his number, but maybe he was serious. After a couple of seconds pass, I just start laughing. I can't help it.)
Me: I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh. That's not a service the post office offers is it? (Still laughing)
Him: No...I was just being nice.
Me: (Handing the number back) I won't be needing that...but I have to say that was a pretty good attempt. (Still laughing)
Him: Hey...I tried.

Yes he did.

Frustration

2008-06-02T21:02:00.002-04:00

I have a love/hate relationship with my house. All 2,000 sq feet of it. And all 13,000 sq feet of yard. It's funny, as the very things I love about it I hate at the same time.

When I first saw this house, I knew it was the one I wanted. It was really such a spontaneous moment. We had just signed a new lease at our apartment, just gotten Rajah. I thought, Sammi and Rajah could REALLY use a place to run around. One day I just said, "Let's go look at houses. Just for fun, see what's out there." We looked at quite a few houses, but the problem was finding something suitable that was in our price range. When I say suitable, I mean nicer than our apartment. We found a bunch in our price range, just none that really excited us.

We really just walked through this house on a whim. I saw it online, saw it was in our price range, but there were no pictures, so we thought we would drive by. What really piqued our interest was that the sign out front said it was a tri-level. Well, there was no way I thought, I have to see this for myself. So we called for a walk through.

Walking into the house, I loved the tile entry way. You look to the left and there was this office/family type room with hardwood floors, which I loved. Go to the right, a bedroom. There was this ugly blue carpeting, but whatever. It was a room. Go up the hardwood steps, and there was a hallway with a bedroom on the left and right side and bathroom in the middle. The bathroom had a nice vanity and a whirlpool tub, which I loved.

Back downstairs from the entryway there is a hallway that leads to another bathroom and large laundry room, which I loved. A large dining room area and small, but nice and newly remodeled galley style kitchen. Not my dream kitchen, but it was definitely REALLY nice. Step up into a living room which has a sliding glass door the the large backyard. The back yard has a shed, a playhouse, and swingset. Oh yeah, did I mention it was big and fenced, perfect for the dogs?

I put a lot of work into making this house more my taste.

*I (along with my mom and brother) supervised/ripped off all the wall paper in Chloe's room, my room, and the office/family room.

*We repainted. We then ripped up all the carpeting in Chloe's room, my room and the downstairs bedroom. (I really did do all that myself). We got a floor sander and refinished all the hardwood floors. We stained and polyurethaned the floors.

*We pulled up the indoor/outdoor carpeting from the dining room, hallway, and put down laminate wood floors. We got rid of this hideous vinyl molding and put up new, and repainted the dining room and hallway. I worked really hard to strip and prime and paint over this hideous wood panel in the room.

*We converted from a well system to city water, as well as from septic to city sewer.

*We converted from baseboard heating and window air conditioning to central air and heating.

Those are the major improvements.

So now why do I hate it???

1) No dishwasher. This wasn't a big deal at first. But I hate doing dishes.

2) The house is so big. And Chloe can make a mess of it super fast. Then there's the laundry. Which while I admit would be the same no matter what, it just adds to the burden. So every night after Chloe goes to bed, I have to do dishes, laundry, pick up the kitchen, living room and dining room. I say pick up, because I don't really clean. After doing that, I really don't feel like doing much else. I won't even go into the last time the rest of the rooms have been cleaned. I won't even go into trying to pay bills, etc.

3) The yard is so big. It's awesome for Chloe to play in, but a headache with the upkeep. Right now I'm paying my brother to come over and mow, but still. I think its been over a year since any weedeating was done.

4) There's no place for Chloe to ride a bike, tricycle, etc. I have a driveway, but its gravel. Plus I live on a very busy road.

5) Neighbors-There's not really anyone for Chloe to play with. My next door neighbor on one side is eighty something years old and on the other side or 20 something guys with no sense of responsibility who spend every possible second trying to hit on me. (But they did send me a mother's day card, which was awesome) I'd really like to live somewhere where we can get to know the neighbors and Chloe would have someone to play with.

6) My (somewhat) newly converted heater/air conditioner does not work. I spent all winter freezing my @ss off, and now I'm sweating my @ss off. Seriously. No joke. It's actually hotter IN my house than outside of it. And it's currently 82 degrees outside. It's the kind of hot inside where you just can't bring yourself to do anything because of how hot it is. This is definitely a problem, as see #2.

So what is the solution????

Sell my house.

Perfect, right? Wrong.

Don't get me wrong, that's REALLY what I want to do right now. I want to sell my house, downsize, and move on to a new chapter in life and find a house that better suits our needs.

The problem?

1) Not enough equity in the house. We took out a home equity loan a few years back. If I could sell it myself, there wouldn't be a problem, I would actually come out ahead. The problem is that its definitely a buyers market and if I were to use a realtor, the commission and closing costs would take up all the equity. And forget my trying to keep the house in viewing shape.

2) It seems like a house in an addition would best match my desires/needs. The problem is that I don't want a cookie cutter home. I want a house with character. That's hard to find at a price I can afford.

3) At any rate, I wouldn't want to buy another house unless I planned on staying there for awhile. And I'm certainly not in a place to make any solid long term plans.

4) I could rent. But to get what I want I would probably end up paying a pretty significant amount more than what I'm paying now. And I know that people are going to say that I'm throwing money out the window by renting, but I'm throwing money away all over the place with this house too. And if I rent, I won't be responsible for all the repairs.

So I guess I'm not going anywhere. Mostly, I just want to not be hot and sweating. And cleaning all the time. :)

OCD on the swing set

2008-05-31T22:38:00.004-04:00

Chloe has learned this fun new trick. Seems she's figured out that she can grab my hand and lead me to wherever she wants. She doesn't seem to do this to anything else.

When we go out back to play, she employs this tactic a lot, pulling me over to the swing set. Now, my back yard is a pretty good size, so what this usually entails is pulling me about a quarter of the way there, then insisting that a pick her up, followed by excited pointing to the swing set.
Now this swing set is definitely not one of those super fancy kinds you see all the time. Its (somewhat rusted) metal with a baby swing, two regular swings, and a set of rings. Here recently she's really taken to the "big girl" swings. But even so, apparently there is an order that we do things.

First, we swing in the baby swing. Then she moves to the big girl swing. Then back to the baby swing. Then she plays on the rings. Never to we deviate from this system. Two times today I tried to put her on the big girl swing first...it was disasterous. Trust me. It must be said routine EVERY time. Weird, I know.

But here are some pictures of her enjoying herself on her big girl swing...

Garden, Part II

2008-05-27T21:59:00.003-04:00

If you guys remember, I started a "farm" last spring. I had tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, raspberries, black berries, blue berries, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, and a wide variety of herbs. But then we got Chloe's referral and after coming back I didn't much help with anything and just couldn't keep up with everything. So it failed...

This year I decided to try again...this time just a smaller garden though :) . We kind of got a late start, so today Chloe and I went out and got some starter plants. We got some tomatoes, patio tomatoes, banana peppers, Serrano peppers, jalapenos, green peppers, and red peppers.
After Chloe got to bed, I went out and got every thing planted except for the regular tomatoes. It was quite the sight, me out there in the rain, planting peppers...just ask my neighbors. They were nice enough to offer to do it for me. But no, I did it myself.

Some proof:

Patio Tomatoes

Pepper Garden

Chloe and I made some fresh, homemade salsa tonight. It was SO good. As most of you know, I LOVE salsa. But I've never tried making it fresh. Until tonight. And I thought I would try a mango salsa, just because it sounded good. So we went out and got some FRESH tomatoes, mango, onion, avocado, jalapenos, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. Hand diced all of it, mixed it together, and here's what we got:

Trust me, it's SO good. Sadly, I very rarely do much in depth cooking these days. Its tough just cooking for Chloe and I, and if I do, we eat the same thing for days, which I hate. But we just went for it tonight. Tomorrow we are going to make either some grilled chicken breasts or tilapia and top it with the salsa. I think it'll be awesome. The only thing I'd really change about the recipe is to up the spiciness. I added an extra jalapeno, but it didn't do much. So next time I think that I'll either use some of the seeds, or try a hotter pepper. We'll see. Tomorrow I'm going to the farmers market to get some more produce to make again. :)

And last, no post would be complete without some pictures of the baby....

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T15:23:00.004-04:00

Mother's Day will always be extra special...

Mother's Day--last year--was the day we first held Chloe in our arms.

Mother's Day 2007:

Mother's Day 2008

What a difference a year makes!!!

Spring Time...

2008-05-04T18:37:00.002-04:00

So it finally happens...

2008-04-27T20:47:00.004-04:00

I've avoided posting on this topic for awhile now as I have enough stress going on that it's been hard to sit and actually think about this enough to actually post my coherent thoughts.

Almost anyone involved in Vietnam adoptions know about the issues going on over there right now. The accusations of ethical violations, fraud, etc. Let me say now that this post is not meant to place blame or bash any specific adoption agency. And I would appreciate any comments related to specific agencies or accusations to be left off.

So there has been an official announcement that US adoptions with Vietnam will end as of September 1, 2008. All dossiers must be submitted by July 1, 2008, and as of September 1, only those families who have received a referral will be allowed to continue with their adoptions. For those of you who wish to read the specifics released by the US Embassy:

Announcement

Detailed Summary

I will say that the Vietnam's DIA (Department of International Adoptions) have denied these accusations. People say that the US is just bullying Vietnam.

To be honest, I don't know what to believe. I admit that I'm not the most unbiased person to talk to on the matter. I'm big on not believing everything that you hear. When I first got back from Vietnam, I was constantly having to defend my adoption and correct accusations that were being made about MY adoption experience. I would read things that people posted, and when I tried to correct them, i was being called a liar. What!?!?! I was the one there going through the situation!

I guess my point is that I wish people would only say/write about things that the KNOW to be true. That way information could be more reliable. It's scary how much people take things that other people say to be fact.

I urge everyone involved to read the two articles above from the US embassy. You don't have to believe everything that is contained in the reports, but make yourselves aware. Do your research. Come to your own conclusion.

No matter what side you fall on, it seems perfectly clear that there ARE problems.

But I guess my reasoning in posting isn't really to debate the issue of corruption and fraud.

How is this going to effect our babies? How is this going to effect Chloe's life??? I think that any responsible adoptive parent needs to consider this question. In my heart, I know that this will more than likely come up. Chloe, at some point, will be curious about where she came from. And it would be very irresponsible of me to believe that I can hide this information from her, nor would I want to.

In my heart, I really want to believe that Chloe's background was honestly given to us. That her birthmother willingly gave her up because she couldn't raise her. By her own choice, not based on promises that she would get her child back at some point, not because she couldn't pay a hospital bill, not because she was promised that she could visit her child whenever she wanted.

But in reality, there is no guarentee. So what do you do? I don't know what the answer to that is at this point.

All I can do is be honest with her. But it breaks my heart that she will have to deal with these things as she gets older. It really upsets me when people act like it won't matter--that all that matters is that she knows she is loved now. Because you know what? Chloe and all of these children have suffered a loss. And it's a loss that they are going to grieve for at some point, in some way. And it's something that none of us are really going to be able to comprehend because we've never had to experience it. And on top of this, they are going to have to deal with the accusations of widespread corruption and fraud.

I know Chloe is young now and its going to be a long while before we have to really deal with these things with her, I just think its important to start thinking about now. And I think that EVERY adoptive or future adoptive parent needs to also be thinking about how they will handle this. And I think that it will do a HUGE disservice to them to act like the problem doesn't exist. The problems are REAL. They do exist. The question might be to what extent.

No matter what you believe to be the truth though, the information is out there and its up to you how to explain it to your child.

I would also like to post the following websites:

Bring our Children Home

Voices for Vietnam Adoption Integrity

Like I said, I urge everyone to do their research and not to take everything at face value. Understand the differences between fact and opinion. First hand accounts and rumors/speculation. And most of all, don't just cover your eyes and ears and pretend this doesn't exists. Think about these things and how they are going to impact your life.

Just a Few Pictures...And points to anyone who can identify the tree in the middle....

2008-04-24T20:31:00.004-04:00

Spring is in the Air

2008-04-23T21:31:00.003-04:00

The weather has been SO great here recently. Chloe and I have really been taking advantage of being outside. We've been doing a lot of picnicing, playing, and gardening (I use this word VERY loosely).

Some of you may vaguely remember my attempt at a "farm" last spring/summer. Yeah, it didn't turn out very well with the sudden travel, new baby, and everything else. I kind of gave up on it midseason. Well, fear not, I'm going to take another stab at it. Only this time I'm going to be a little more conservative and realistic. I'll probably just stick with some tomatoes, jalepenos, and green peppers, possibly grean beans, and see what happens. I think Chloe will really be up for helping me this year. We'll see.

Some of the things I'm looking forward to in May:
*My "farm"
*Watching Chloe discover playing outside, in the water, etc.
*City Market Farmers Market. (Every Wednesday)
*500 Festival 5K (You might have to remind me that I said this, I might not find it so exciting once it actually gets here)
*Primary Election Day
*Memorial Day

So I've really been wanting to post some pictures, but unfortunately I can't for the life of me find my usb cable. So until then we will be picture free.

Bad Blogger, But I need a favor

2008-04-15T21:42:00.004-04:00

I know, I know. It's awful.

But I've been without my computer for awhile now. It got a virus and has been out of commission. I ended up have to completely reinstall windows and lost a lot of things that I had saved.

Unfortunately, all the links on my favorites list are gone. Do you know what that means? I don't have all my favorite blog addresses anymore. So if you are reading, and you have a blog, if you can either comment with your address, or send me an email (amhunter82@yahoo.com) I would REALLY appreciate it!

Quick update:

Chloe had her 15 month well baby checkup last week. Remember how I said she was 23lbs??? Turns out I was wrong...or at least my scale was. She's only 19lbs. So not so much of an impressive weight gain. But what do you do. She's healthy and happy, what more could I ask for!?!? :)

World's Cutest Cubs Fan

2008-04-14T20:21:00.002-04:00

Chloe

2008-04-02T08:09:00.001-04:00

Never a Dull Moment...

Book Mark This Page!!!

We're Officially Retiring

Sneak Peak...

"Look Mama...Christmas!"

Another Nice Day...

Am I a Terrible Mom......????

A Look Back...

No!!!!

Sneak Peek!

What she said...

I'm a Monster!!!

My Shiny Sink

Chinese Festival

Toddler Painting (No Pun Intended)

Seriously!! How do you fold a fitted sheet!?!?!

Am I Corrupting My Child???

Near Disaster @ Bath and Body Works

I'm Thinking About Selling her to the Zoo...

ANOTHER Lazy Day

Lazy Sunday

Teeth, Slide, and Potty Time..Oh my!

17/30 Chloe's Reaction to Me Trying to Take Her Picture...

16/30 Hair

15/30 Failure!

12/30 Not Much to Report...

I was almost a thief...

10/30 Rainy Day

9/30 Expensive Taste

8/30 That Child...

Picking Strawberries

6/30 This is harder than I thought...

5/30 Apology

4/30 Picture Drop

3/30 Adventures in Car Shopping

2/30 Best Day EVER!!!

1/30 Potty Time

So much excitement!

Happy Mother's Day

Picture Post

Emotional Mess

Funny Face

Practicing with Photoshop...

Snow Day!

New Year's Resolutions

Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

Christmas

Christmas Eve

NO!!!!

Date Night

Oh Goodness...

Zoo Boo

My Hero

Pumpkin Patch

A Little View into Chloe's life...

See...I'm getting better

We Live in a Zoo...

Finally!

Almost a genius and other random acts of Chloe

Yes, I'm going to go there

In a funk...

Doing Good and Giving Back

Summer Days...

Something that makes me smile....

If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy....

Finally...

We're having a blast - Day 1

What are YOU doing???

I have the laziest child in the world...

Summer Days

Guess Who's Coming for a Visit!?!?!

What a mess...

More Video...

Happy Father's Day

It never ends...

Frustration

OCD on the swing set

Garden, Part II

Mother's Day

Spring Time...