A Little View into Chloe's life...

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

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...

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!

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

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

In a funk...

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

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...

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.