Picture Post....make sure you look to the end!!!!

Ok--So I've been a bad blogger. But I promise to do better. Anyway, I wanted to share a few pictures...

So I FINALLY refurnished the living room with furniture that was more my taste. I have to tell you, this was quite the ordeal. One day, two Thursdays ago, I got it in my mind that I was going to get rid of my living room furniture. So I put it up for sale on Craigslist and it was gone that same night!!! So I had no furniture!!! Then I went shopping for new furniture but couldn't find anything that was quite perfect. The sets that I loved just weren't comfortable enough for me, and the ones that were comfortable enough I didn't like. So finally I compromised, and this is what we ended up with. I think I did quite well... :)

Now this chair is awesome. I wouldn't have gotten it expect it's an awesome Chloe toy. You see, it spins around 360 degrees, just like a merry-g0-round, and Chloe LOVES it. I know, I know. But it entertains her and I don't let her play on it by herself...:)

The only problem with the couch is that the pillows all come off. Chloe's left them alone for not, but not sure how much longer that will last....

CHLOE'S ROOM

This leopard is her FAVORITE stuffed animal. Every single day when she wakes up from her naps she has to go over and kiss him. And before bed. And generally every few minutes when she's in her room.



CHLOE IN PIG TAILS.
I think she's way too cute. Keep in mind these pictures were taken right after her evening nap so they weren't the freshest. But still way cute!

Weekend Highlights...

So I put this dress on Chloe and thought i would find some tights for her later. After looking for a bit, I gave up and decided to put jeans on her. Only she wouldn't let me take the dress off...so this is how she stayed Saturday... :) (Notice I accidentally put her dress on backwards!)

Chloe at Uncle Marty and Aunt Charity's. Isn't she way too cute???
It's so hard to get a good picture of Chloe anymore. She's always distracted by something and REFUSES to look at the camera!

I *heart* her. I really do. :)

One Tired Mama...

Ok--I must admit, I'm tired. I get up, go to work, and then when I get home, I'm ready to crash. But of course I've got four or so hours until Chloe is ready to. It's gotten really bad this week...

Last night Chloe woke up about a half hour after I put her down. I usually get at least a solid three-four hours before this happens. Not last night. And it was the type of cry where I knew she wasn't going to stop. I walk in her room and she's actually standing up in her crib...so I pick her up and walk around with her. She won't let me sit down and rock her, as that requires me to stop standing up. She calms down when I walk around, but the second I start to put her down it starts back up again.

So I bring her into my room where I was *trying* to sleep, thinking that I might regret this, but I would try to let her sleep with me. No such luck. She wants to play. So we play for the next hour and half, until finally 1030 or so when I put her back down and she goes back to sleep. She actually stayed asleep for a little while, but still got up two more times before 6am when I had to wake her up.

Tonight we try again. She wakes up after an hour and again, nothing I do will soothe her unless I walk around with her in the dark. But after a half hour she's still not asleep. Or at least not to the point where I can put her down without her waking her self up screaming. It wouldn't be so bad if she would let me rock her. So finally I put her back down. And she screams. She's been screaming for the past 30 minutes, so I'm about to go back in there. But man, I sure hope this isn't a new habit.

One difference in her routine from the last few days is that both last night and tonight she missed her evening nap. I usually lay her down about five and then wake her up by six if she doesn't wake up on her own... maybe that's throwing her off???

In my defense and more attitude

I will try to repost the video of Chloe later to see if it will work. The problem that I am having is that my lap top is sort of broken. More specifically, the power supply cord split and I had to get a replacement. Instead of ordering the actual model specific cord, I just got a generic replacement. Unfortunately I don't think it hits the place inside the little hole that puts the power to it as it doesn't always work. I have to keep adjusting the plug thing in different directions for it it to hold a charge. Then I have to either hold it there with one hand the whole time, or on some occasions I can find a position that will work, but that I can't let anything move or touch it, etc. Sucks. (Hope that makes sense, as I don't know all the technical terms for what I am talking about. That being said, if anybody knows how to help me, feel free to share)

Why don't I buy the proper cord, you ask? Well, it's like $150 and I'd just as soon buy a new lap top. That's why.

All that being said...

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SWEET LITTLE INNOCENT GIRL!?!?!?

That's definitely an exageration. She's still sweet. Most of the time at least.

But she's definitely developed this full on "I want my way RIGHT now" type attitude.

What is she doing you ask?

I will tell you. (Some of these I might have already blogged about, but that's ok)

Biting: She's discovered that her teeth do things. For example, I'll be holding her, going about my business, not expecting anything, next thing I know, my shoulder is getting gnawed into. Granted, I almost feel that's sort of a discovery type thing--so I won't dwell on it. Next, I'll be walking along, holding her hand, leading her somewhere she doesn't want to go. She wants me to let go of her hand, but I'm pretty stubborn too, so I don't. Next thing I know she's got my hand in her mouth biting it! I will say that this behavior has NEVER resulted in me letting go of her hand, no matter how much I wanted to.

If I try to put her down when she doesn't want down, she instantly resorts to the "make your body go limp and throw yourself on the floor screaming and crying". Unfortunately, it's hard to ignore as I can't just let her go at this point because most of my floors are hardwood and she'll hurt herself. So I try to gently get her to the floor and let her scream and kick and cry.

Heaven forbid another child try to take something from her. She definitely defends herself. She'll hit, scream, smack, etc. My only consolation here is that she NEVER starts it. If people leave her alone, she leaves them alone. I try to avoid putting her into the situation where this would become an issue.

These are just to name a few. Now don't get me wrong, if you met her you wouldn't nessecarily notice these things and she's in no way a problem child. These are just behaviors that I've noticed starting to come out of her. I'm pretty confident that these are stages that all children go through and I'm pretty sure that my sweet little bella will return in all her glory.

It's more of a battle of the wills at this point. The child will learn that more than likely she won't be able to out-stubborn me. And if she does, it's only because I am picking my battles with her...

Chloe the race car driver....

Whenever we go by any kind of arcade, Chloe HAS to go in. And there's one game in particular that she HAS to play.

RACING. Huh. Go figure.

Anyway, I just got one of those flip cameras and am figuring out how to use it. I tried taking some video of Chloe playing her game, but it didn't turn out really well. She gets really into it, jumping up and down and everything. But for some reason, whenever I turn the camera on, she stops. So I did the best I could, you'll just have to imagine the rest... :)

I know the video isn't the greatest, but like I said, I'm just learning and I wanted to see how video does on my blog. So enjoy~

My, how things change...

It's so funny how different things can change your perspective on life.

When the idea of children first came up, I was one of those people who never thought I could be a stay at home mom. My career was too important to me, I would get bored, not feel like I'm productive, etc. Don't get me wrong, I didn't feel like being a stay at home mom was a bad thing, just not something that I wanted to do.

I babysat a lot growing up. I knew how hard children would be. I just always felt like I would need a break from that.

Fast forward to 2007--Chloe coming along. She has totally changed my outlook on life. She adds so much to my life, I can't even begin to tell you. And all I can think about is how awesome it would be if I had the chance to stay home with her. I did stay at home with her for a few months until circumstances changed and I had to get a job. And I admit that it was a very stressful time...but I wouldn't change it for the world, I just wish that I could have enjoyed it more.

I can honestly say that I hate going to work everyday. All I can think about is how much of her life I'm missing. The real possibility that I won't be there to see her "firsts". I go to work and I fantasize about winning the lottery so that I can stay home with her...it's crazy! (Especially since I don't buy lottery tickets) I just want to be around to experience life with her. I can honestly say that I am VERY jealous of stay at home moms. Isn't that crazy???

I will say that there is a priceless moment that happens every single day that I go to work that just melts my heart. The second that I walk through the door at my mom's and Chloe sees me, she stops everything she's doing, starts smiling and laughing, excitedly swinging her arms up and down, and runs over to me! And she just has to sit on my lap for a little bit and do nothing else. If I try to put her down, forget it!

Today when I walked in, my mom was in the kitchen on the phone holding her and she was completely content. When Chloe saw me, she did her excited thing and basically leapt into my arms and hugged me. My mom goes to touch her arm and Chloe swats her away, I guess thinking she was trying to take her away from me. I admit, that wasn't very nice, but it's nice to know that she misses me.

All that being said, I still wish I could stay at home with her. Or at least find a job that I can do from home. Maybe I should try working for myself... If anybody needs any accounting, tax, or bookkeeping work done, feel free to contact me! ;)

Misc Information

I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but Chloe is not a "morning" baby. Upon waking up, she just wants me to hold her. I can't talk to her, play with her, put her down. I just have to hold her and go about my business until she decides she's ready to start her day. If I try putting her down, the result is a replay from my last post... :) This includes after naps.

During the week, I have to leave really early for work, so what happens is I get ready, then I go get her as I'm walking out the door. I try not to turn on any lights, transport her straight from her bed, to car seat, and then back to bed at my mom's. I try not to rouse her too much, so unless she starts "talking" to me, I don't really talk to her, besides giving her a hug and kiss (which I realize isn't talking:).

So this morning I go in and get Chloe out of bed. I hear this awful, awful sound. What is it you ask? Well, little Miss Chloe is grinding her teeth! Mind you, she only has her two front top and bottom teeth at this point, four total. But she is grinding them somehow. So I'm like, "No, No. Stop, baby girl" as I try to stop her with my hand to her mouth. She stops after a few seconds and I am able to stop cringing. I get her in her car seat and all is well. Until I get to my mom's and take her out again. Again, she starts doing it, so I try to get her to stop. She finally does once I lay her down. I'm hoping, hoping that this isn't going to become a habit...keep your fingers crossed!

In other Teeth news, Chloe is also about to get her two top incisor teeth. They are not poking through the surface yet, but you can feel them.

Also, I have to wonder about the person who developed the infant tooth brush! It must not have been someone with a baby... Or maybe I just have one of "those" children. We had our first attempt at toothbrushing over the weekend. Chloe LOVES it, but when I stick my finger in her mouth, she automatically bites down as hard as she can! Go figure...

Some things Chloe is learning:

-She knows how to turn lights on/off
-She knows what the light is
-She's learning to jump. She's got the bend the knees part down good, but still needs a little help getting airborne!
-She's getting really good at throwing balls.
-She understands A LOT of words, but won't really say any besides her usual, "what's that", "yeah", and "Dora", or "Do-Do-Do, Do Dora!" And some other miscellaneous sounds.
-Her go-to phrase is Da Da Da Da. She randomly says it all the time. Try as I might, I can't get her to say Ma ma ma ma. I think she just doesn't because she knows I want her to do it. I go, "Can you say Mama?" She looks at me, laughs, and says, Da Da Da Da. Hmmm.

I had a lot more on my list to update about, but I don't want this post to go too long.

One other thing. I've been hesitant on posting certain things on this blog. Basically as I want this to be a blog about Chloe, so I don't want to diverge much from that. But there have been times that I've really wanted to post about certain random topics, but I've refrained from doing so, so after much consideration, I decided to make another blog. Just about random life things. I've decided to do it over at wordpress in order to utilize the password feature if I need to. So feel free to check it out over at www.fracturedfairytale.wordpress.com .

I haven't posted anything on it yet, so give me a day or two...

Anatomy of a Fit...

They say the "two's" are terrible...if so, I'm really in for it!

Chloe Birthday Tribute!

It's kinda long (8 minutes), but totally worth it!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's been awhile...

Since my last post. Things have been pretty busy. Chloe's been sick for the last few weeks, then we had Christmas on the 25th, my birthday on the 29th, New Years Eve, New Years, and then Chloe's birthday is tomorrow.

I have to get some posts up that I've been working on concerning Christmas and birthdays. I'm working on something extra special for Chloe's birthday, so be sure to check back!

Being the genius that I am, I am going to share with you my extra special moment of the night.

To set the stage, as I said, Chloe's been sick. She hasn't been sleeping well at night, on top of the fact that it's normal for her to still wake up 3-4 times a night. Last night she was waking up EVERY hour. So tonight after getting her to sleep, I decide to take a nice, hot, RELAXING bath. I bring a book in there with me so read. So I'm laying back reading while the water is still running. I think I hear the phone ring, so I go to turn the water off. Somehow, I accidentally turn the shower on and soak myself with cold water. But I finally get it all off, only I don't hear the phone anymore. So I return to my book. Phone starts ringing again. I REALLY don't want it to wake Chloe up, so I jump out of the bath, grab a towel, and take off running on the hardwood floor, down the hardwood steps, across the tile hallway, down the three carpeted steps, onto the laminate hardwood floor. I spot the phone...then BAM! Did I mention that I was running?!?! And soaking wet???? The next thing I know, as I'm reaching out for the phone, my feet slide out from underneath me and I land HARD on my hip, hand/wrist, and shoulder. As I was starting to fall, it flashes through my head that I'm going to be luck if I come out of this without any broken bones. Fortunately, I'm ok, just a little sore. Everything is a little swollen, but no permanent damage. Hopefully it's not going to be one of those things were I'm REALLY feeling it tomorrow!

Well, Chloe just woke up, so I'm gonna jump off. Remember to check back for Chloe's birthday post!

Circle of Lights and our trip down town...and other misc pics!

Last Thursday we went downtown to look at the Circle of Lights. It was a little cold outside but Chloe seems to really love the inclement weather...

Here is a view from the middle:

Chloe was mesmerized...

Chloe at Borders...

Don't you just love her boots!?!?!

Flying on a Jet Plane...

Chloe took her first trip across the country this past week! We left this past Thursday to visit Mike, Beri, and Anna in Washington. It was great fun, I can't even begin to tell you! Anna was adopted from Vietnam at the same time as Chloe, so we all spent a lot of time together. I love that we are able to keep in touch and get the girls together, and visiting with Mike and Beri is awesome as well. And a HUGE thank you to Mike and Beri for letting us stay with you!

Chloe was very good on the airplane over, all things considered. There was two 2.5 hour flights each way. Chloe was a little fussy on the plane, but it was because she is now VERY mobile and wanted to move around. Unfortunately, the plane was packed both ways so we had no empty seats. Except on the leg from Denver back to Indianapolis. We had a whole row to ourselves, which was great for her.

First off, Washington is a very beautiful place...very different from the midwest.

Some highlights of our trip:


-Saturday we all went to Sea Side, Oregon. We traveled through the hills, saw where some mudslides occured, enjoyed the scenery. Chloe got to see the ocean for the first time. The weather was rainy and super windy. Chloe LOVED it, as you can see from the pictures!







We got some salt water taffy and candy covered pretzels, which were VERY yummy. We then ate at Doogers and had FRESH seafood. I'm jealous I don't have access to that here! Everything I had was so good. Chloe enjoyed her broccoli, green and red peppers, and carrots.









-Sunday night we went to zoolights at the Portland Zoo. It was fun, but again very rainy. There were a bunch of pretty lights and we really enjoyed the train ride through the zoo. We tried putting the girls in the double stroller, but Chloe hated it. Obviously stroller = restrained. Not for Chloe.









-Chloe showed everyone her sweet dance moves. And believe me, they were sweet. Ask Beri.


-We introduced Anna to Dora.


-Chloe got some awesome boots, you can see them in some of the pictures!



-Anna and Chloe were quite the pair in the car seats. Chloe screamed most of time we were in the car. Now we spent some pretty signficant time in the car seats, many times at least an hour each way. Many people might think that Chloe would eventually calm down. Not the case. She screamed the whole way a lot of the time. And when she wasn't, her and Anna were egging each other on. One would cry, so the other would start. Back and forth. It was so funny.



-It was awesome just seeing the girls together, visiting and seeing how far we've all come. We can't wait to do it again. I'm hoping that we might be able to do something sometime in the future that included all the little girls in our travel group...we'll see!!!

Not sure if you can tell in this picture, but Chloe had been hysterically crying. Why you may ask? Because Anna had been crying. That's it. Too funny.

Again, the trip was so great. It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with Chloe as well, without having to be at work.



Oh yeah, I lost my cell phone while we were there. My new cell phone. I'm still hoping that it might be found. But what do you do... (Of course this bit of news probably surprises very few of you.... )



I just thought this was a cute picture of how Chloe sleeps! :)

Chloe's First Words

Ok--For awhile Chloe has been able to make sounds. Most of the time its da da da da da. But it doesn't mean anything. Or actually it means everything. To her right now, it's just a sound that she can make.

Every once in a great while I can get her to say ma ma, but again, she just says it because I tell her to, and like I said, that's only once in a GREAT while. Now she knows who ma ma is, she just doesn't say it.

Moving on...

"What's that?" Chloe says that all the time. About everything. And when she says it, she's always pointing at something. But again, I'm not sure that she REALLY understands what she's saying. It's just that I do that all the time, point to something and say, "what's that". So now she does that too. So like I said, not sure it counts.

Well, today she started REALLY using a word. Appropriately. And actually, she says it two different ways. What is the word, you say? Are you ready for this???


Mommy?

Nope.

Daddy?

Nope.

Ba Ba?

Nope

Bye Bye?

Nope.

Try again!

Whatever you guessed, it's probably wrong!

OK...now I'm really going to tell you.

I am not kidding, I am going to type this exactly how she says it....


Da Da Da Da Dora!

Exactly like in the song. I admit, I say that to her a lot. It's because of her love for all things Dora. Usually it will get her to calm down if she's upset. I was a little skeptical at first if that was what she was really saying, but she does it anytime she sees Dora--it's never just said randomly. And then I tell her to say Dora, and she does! So there you go :)

Curse of the Christmas Birthday

My birthday is December 29th. Four days after Christmas. And I have always hated it. It always seemed to be forgotten about by most people, as most people's attention is on Christmas. When I was little and in school I hated it because we were always on break during my birthday, so we never got to celebrate it. Now Chloe is going to suffer through the same thing, as her birthday is four days later, on January 2nd.

I will admit that as I get older, the proximity of my birthday to Christmas gets less annoying. But now I have another problem. I have already decided that I wasn't going to go nuts getting Chloe things for Christmas. But now I have to get her birthday items as well. I would love it these two days were spread out more during the year, as I would have a reason to buy her new clothes as she grows, or replace toys that she might have outgrown. But now, there are only so many toys that she can play with at one time. So I'm kind of feeling like I am cheating her.

Here is Chloe's Christmas list for this year:

Fisher-Price Little Superstar Sing-Along Stage- Chloe loves, loves, LOVES, music and instruments. We listen to music every morning and anytime she hears any kind of music she immediately starts dancing. So I think she'll like this!

LeapFrog LittleTouch LeapPad Learning System- I love anything that encourages reading. And I found it at Target on clearance, so I got a GREAT deal on it!

Playskool Swing 'N Score Baseball-I try to keep Chloe involved in things that are active so hopefully physical activity becomes second nature to her. I know that its kind of a boy toy, but I think that she'll like it. We'll see...

Playskool Busy Ball Popper-Balls that fly up in the air...enough said. I think she'll be entertained!

So that's it really from me for Christmas. Birthday is another story. I've kind of been going back and forth on things, but I think that I've finally figured it out.

Not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but Chloe REALLY, REALLY loves Dora the Explorer. I opened one of the sales ads this morning and this is what I saw: What do you think??? The best part is that it's going to be on sale for less than $20! I think that she'll LOVE it!

Playplace and Santa

I want to start by saying that Santa ripped me off today!

I went to the mall thinking that I could take some pictures with Chloe on Santa's lap...

My mistake. Apparently, you can only take your own pictures with a minimum purchase.

Ok--I think I can work with that. I'll just get a small picture. Wrong!

The cheapest package I could get was $25! And that was only for 1- 5x7 and 4-wallets. So I'm totally going to take them to the kodak picture machine to get my money's worth!

Anyway, enjoy!