Alison & Chloe

Christmas 2011

2012-01-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

The holiday season went by so quickly, and it was nice to have David here while he had 10 days of official " leave" (time off) over Christmas. During that time we finished the last of our Christmas shopping, took the girls to see Santa Claus, celebrated Christmas together, and even flew to Charleston, SC for a day of house-hunting! Whew! Jam-packed 10 days!

Below are a few Holiday 2011 photos. We spent Christmas Eve/Christmas Day at my mom's/Bill's as they went out of town for the holiday itself and we were to dog sit (or own dog) while they were gone. It worked out well because it meant we got to enjoy their tree, have use of their house and lots of space to open presents, hang out as a family, and of course, to cook a big Christmas Day dinner. Unfortunately, Alison came down with a mighty stomach flu bug on the Eve of Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve day. She spent the better part of the day resting/sleeping, but started to feel better in time to set out cookies for Santa and food for his Reindeer that night, thankfully.

Time has been trucking right along here in Pittsburgh. It is hard to believe that in two weeks David's time on the USS Ronald Reagan will be officially ending. Goodbye sea duty!! He flies out to us here Pittsburgh at that point, and then we will be moving to Charleston as a family of four. Honestly it doesn't seem real to me. Not yet.

Enjoy the photos below. And, Happy New Year!

Pics with Santa Claus! They were both excited and ALL smiles this year.

Exchanging a few gifts before Christmas with their Omi and Bill. Hey..It's... Elmo! (big , big smile!!)

We actually got a photo of all 5 of us looking at the camera!

puppy love

Poor Alison , sick on Christmas Eve Day (she never naps so you know she is sick when this occurs!!)

Leaving Reindeer Food out on front lawn

cool neighbors traditionally line the street with luminaries on Christmas Eve

Reading Night Before Christmas --on the iPad-- because, like everything else of ours, the book is in storage!

Silly!

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Christmas Morning

Year-and-a-half, Miss Chloe

2011-11-21T04:35:00.000-08:00

Chloe.

I'm running a month (plus) behind with this one. I started it when she was 18 months and now here we are well over 19 months!

I have a difficult time articulating why I love this age so very much but I'll try my best. Although I think newborns are surely sweet in their own right, for me things get really cute (and much more fun!) when they are walking/ talking little toddler munchkins! I just love the personality they express, the way they are soaking up everything and learning so much, but yet are still dependent and baby-like, too. Personally, I love how Chloe crinkles her nose when she laughs hard, and how she looks back giggling when she is trying to run away from me. Those chubby toddler thighs and chubby cheeks I could never tire of kissing either. Yes, I wish I could bottle this age :)

Nursing is still going well, although has diminished in frequency. We are down to almost only night nursing, and I think she will be ready to end on her own in the next few months. She has also started to show signs of being ready for potty training- it is her call, but I think it will be soon! I'm not sure I am ready for it yet, but I will follow her lead as I did with Alison. I don't push, whenever they are ready (or not ready), so am I.

Chloe looks up to and loves her big sis, (whom she calls "Ali"), lights up when she sees her, and always wants to be around and be playing with her (although I can't say this is always true the other way around ;). She absolutely loves Sesame Street, specificially Elmo! This took off about 2 months ago when she saw him on Sesame Street and it didn't take long before she fell in love :) It has been non-stop ever since. When we were at Sea World San Diego in September they have a special play area for little ones that is sponsored by Sesame Street. The characters there do special "meet and greets" for photos, etc.. and Chloe got such a kick out of meeting Elmo in person. She gave him a big hug and kiss. She loves her Elmo books, CDs and movie.

Even though Chloe is ornery and also has her share of toddler temper tantrums lately, she is also usually pretty easy going and patient. When she hears music, she immediately runs over to me (or whoever is nearest at the moment) and asks to dance with her. She loves animals and giving us kisses. In fact, as I was typing this I heard Alison yell out, "Chloe stop kissing me already"! ha,ha. And , what a trip it is to have a child that eats a pretty good variety of food including fruits and vegetables ! She is not at all what you would consider a " picky eater" (seriously thanking God this time around!) and her current favorites are meats, pastas, apples, grapes and cherry tomatoes.

For my own documentation purposes because (sadly?) this is the only place where I do any sort of documenting! and God knows I'll never remember to jot it down otherwise..

Below is a list of Chloe's self- initiated words that I can think of (although she repeats everything and signs)

MAMA

DADA

BOOK (this was her second real word after mama)
MORE
ME (more like "MEEEEEEEEEEE")
MINE
ALI (easier than Alison)
OMI
FISH
HI
BYE BYE
DANCE
ELMO! (and Abby.. and Oscar.. )
JUICE
EAT
APPLES (although cherry tomatoes are also considered "apples")
GRAPES
WAWA (Water)
NO (and sometimes YES)
GO
DOGGIE/WOOF
MEOW
MONKEY
ONE..TWO..(hasn't made it to 3 yet)
BAILEY
ALL-DONE
UP/DOWN
BABY
"MORROW" (Tomorrow abbrev.)
ME TOO
DANCE
PLEASE
MAX (from Max/Ruby)
"'RORA" (as in, "Princess Aurora" -- wonder who she picked this one up from?)

Funny girl with her big personality! RROARRR

Love you sooo much CC!!

Fall in PA

2011-11-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

It's good to see you again.

It's amazing how time flies. Weeks and months have passed since my last blog post. There have been so many things going on of course; the challenges, victories, ups and downs of life with two young, ~~non-stop, spirited, curious, questioning, stubborn, feisty~~ and adorable daughters while I single-handedly run our family's household. :) Every day a new adventure, although sometimes blending together making them a blur of sorts.

David returned from 7 months of Deployment and was given 2 weeks of official leave in which he flew out and spent time with us here in PA. It was wonderful to be a family of four again. Alison was in quintessential "daddy heaven". The extra set of hands was undoubtedly nice for me, too.

After two weeks together in Pennsylvania, the four of us traveled to San Diego. David had to return to work, but since he only had to work half-work for his first week back, we thought that we could squeeze out a bit more time together. We saw family and old friends, made lots of trips to Sea World, made a trip to the beach, and had plenty of authentic Mexican fare when we hit up some of our favorite old spots. While there, Alison also had half year Oncology /endocrinology check-ups at the Naval Hospital. (the tests that have come back thus far have all been normal, although she is still due for her abdominal ultrasound when we get settled in Charleston in a few months).

After almost 3 weeks of together time, it was not easy to say goodbye, of course. But, a few days later, David's ship had to return to Sea in order to complete an ongoing month of underway exercises.

Alison, Chloe and I flew back to Pennsylvania and I wont deny that it took a full week or more to recover and fall back into our PA routines. Despite Daylight Savings time and the days growing shorter, my own days have sometimes seemed anything but. I think we are all ready for a change. Ready to be living together under one roof again and having some sort of "normalcy" return to our lives. But, on the flip side, we have been enjoying the beautiful sights, smells and activities that a place like Western Pennsylvania in the Autumn can provide . Although I don't care much for very cold weather I really enjoy 3 out of the 4 seasons. One day I'll have to figure out how to make that work. And in the meantime it has been nice to experience these changes again. Somehow, wearing sweaters, boots ands scarves when there is a slight chill in the air has grown on me. A hot cup of coffee always tastes better, and my favorite music always sounds sweeter. And, as you will see in the below photos, my girls seem to enjoy the colors of the Season and play time in the leaves as well.

By the time we leave Pennsylvania headed for South Carolina at the end of January, we will have been living here almost exactly a full year. (!) That is not how we intended or thought it would go in advance, and had not prepared for such, but how it has happened nonetheless. This has it's own set of pros and cons of course, but getting to experience a full year of defined seasons has been a joy. It's hard to believe that in just 2 weeks we will be celebrating Alison's 5th Birthday, as well as Thanksgiving.

I'll leave you with a few photos taken at various times, from Mid September, to Halloween. And, in case there is any doubt in the photo, Alison was "Rapunzel" and Chloe a black Cat. Of course, "Elmo" probably would have been Chloe's first choice of costumes, but I was a bit late in the search for costumes this year, (to be honest, as crazy as this year has been I'm just happy I had the wits about me to get them costumes at all!! ;)..)

Enjoy.

Yes- that is a REAL Pumpkin. This 1,400 (!) lb pumpkin sits on front porch of a local neighbor who has made a yearly tradition of finding a larger-than-life pumpkin to carve and put out on display. It has become a mini tourist attraction during Halloween in our little neighborhood and in the photo above, Alison and her preschool class stopped by for a visit while on their preschool's Halloween Day Parade.

"In summer, the song sings itself"

2011-07-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

It's the summer and naturally we have been spending a lot of our time outdoors (minus this current dash of heat wave we are experiencing and have been spending as much time in places well equipped with A/C -or at the pool!)

Last week I brought my camera on several of our trips to the local park/playground and I thought that since I have been such a slacker blogger as of late that I would at least post some of the photos I took.
( Oh, Also, I was playing around with different preset and colors, hence some of the funky colors you'll see below:-)

Enjoy and stay cool wherever you are!

Starting off with a little bit of "Peek-A-Boo" from Chloe...

A few

2011-07-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I'm really so very far behind in regards to blogging.

For now, the best I can do are a few photos. It's late. I'm tired.

More soon..!

my little firecrackers

2011-07-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Video

2011-06-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

Before I post another round of photos I thought I'd share a few recent videos.

Alison's Preschool Class held an End-Of- The-School-Year ceremony (although she did not graduate this year as her birthday does not meet the official cut-off so she will have one more year in preschool before Kindergarten)

However, even though only one of the kids in her class was moving on to Kindergarten all of the children work graduate "caps" and received diplomas :). They sang 4 songs altogether too including,"The Wheels On The Bus, "I'm a Little Tea Pot", "5 Little Monkeys", and "The More We Get Together")

Here they are at the end of "I'm a Little Tea Pot"

And, Alison receiving her "diploma"

Chloe waving blowing kisses and waving bye- bye. She has been doing this for a few months but I finally thought of trying to capture it on video.

Alison likes to make up songs/dances. I thought I'd share a random song she made up a few months ago. It is titled "I'm a Big Girl" and was written/composed/performed by yours truly, Alison.
Guaranteed to make ya smile :)

photos galore/update

2011-06-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm behind on the blog...wayyy behind.

I have so many photos to share, but for time's sake I'm going to break these up into two blog posts --Below are photos from late Spring/Early Summer..So, stay tuned for more!

beginning with Easter and working my way forward ..

Alison has been taking gymnastics for the past 3 months. This was on the last day of Gymnastics class at Gymkhana before Summer...

Pittsburgh International Children's Festival..

Watching the Pittsburgh International Marathon-- (Alison was very excited to cheer the runners on!)

Visits from friends! (like one of my best girlfriend's, Lisa, and her sweet 4 year -old son, Bryce!)

Alison's End -of-the-year Preschool ceremony/graduation

(group pic in her classroom)

Singing "The Wheels on The Bus.."

And, "The More We Get Together"..

she still has another year of preschool but all of the kids got celebratory caps and "diplomas"! lol

And plain summer outside fun..who doesn't love sidewalk chalk!?

Happy Summer!! Stay tuned for more..

sentimental

2011-05-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have lots to do and catch up on, but I'm having a bit of a moment this morning..I was looking back at some older photos stored on my computer and came upon these below. They were taken one morning last year when the four of us were hanging out in San Diego's Balboa Park.

So, these go out to David. He will enjoy seeing them when (if?) he checks the blog. We miss you!

Daddy and his girls..

Just like that

2011-05-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have other things that I had intended to post about before this (like photos from Easter, etc.) but first I thought I'd share something kind of exciting.

The video below dates back to about 4 days ago. As you can see she is a little wobbly, but Chloe is definitely walking toddling toddler!!!! (OK, she officially took a first unassisted step a week or so ago, but has since gained much balance/strength, pretty much walking everywhere now instead of crawling!)

In fact, just today she walked from one end of the house to the other. She is so proud of herself too, just beaming from ear to ear.
So..umm ..how did this happen so quickly?! That is what this mama wants to know! :)

Happy First Birthday, Chloe Claire

2011-05-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

hello there! Oh my, I am sooooo behind in the blogging department. My apologies to those who are still checking in! There is just too much going on , and not enough time in the day to do it all. :)

Going back almost to April 10--almost one month ago now--Chloe's 1st Birthday!

It was a beautiful if not somewhat surreal day. First off all, it was almost 80 degrees in Pittsburgh- which is just crazy for April 10th around here--but because it was sunny and warm and not a cloud in the sky, it felt very similar to the actual day in which she was born one year ago in San Diego and that was kinda cool! We spent much of the day with my mom and Bill, which was great, however also somewhat bittersweet since David could not join us in the celebrations.

Since the weather was warm, we headed out to a local park and playground (she absolutely loves going to the playgrounds , mostly she likes picking up the mulch and trying to eat it, but she also finds the slide and swings enjoyable) After the park, we opened presents and enjoyed cake. As you can see, in the photos below, we let her go to town with her smash cake!! Sure, it was the messiest thing ever, but she loved it and we got a kick out of watching her do so!

As of her 1 year wellness checkup at the pediatrician's office her stats are:

50% in weight and 25% in height.

She is standing, cruising, and has now taken a few steps completely unassisted! She still crawls but you can tell she is reallly just wanting to walk now. Often she also likes to practice her balance by positioning herself in the middle of the floor and pulling herself up to for a minute or two without holding on to anything, but wobbling very proudly in her achievement. The look on her face just beams... "Look Ma no hands!!!!" :)

She is babbling tons, and has lots to say. Some of her favorite words are Dada, Mama, Bye, All Done, and Woof (for dog). She absolutely loves dogs, and any animals really, but whenever she sees a dog, or an animal that could pass as a dog, she starts to "wooooof!!" and make the sign for dog. Today we were at the Pittsburgh Zoo and she went crazy when she saw the polar bears, signing and saying "wooof!". (Apparently those bears are just big dogs to Chloe :)
She is also fond of waving bye- bye and blowing kisses to us (or others) when we leave. Sometimes all it takes is to just hear the word "Bye" and she starts blowing kisses everywhere. Ha :)

On to the photos!

Birthday Slide with her Oma

Swinging with her Big Sis

Big Birthday Cake

Getting ready to blow out her One candle

BEFORE "smash cake":..

DURING...

AFTER...

She is growing up too fast, and is such a smart, mischievous, charming, little lady!

We love you so much, Chloe!

Almost One..

2011-04-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

This time last year I was doing a lot of waiting. With each day post my "due date" we asked ourselves, "will TODAY be the day"!?

Recently I took a few photos of her wearing this darling little tutu/leotard that I found. I think she wears it well. :) Perhaps call it her "pre" birthday pics, maybe ?

Enjoy.

And, lastly, a silly smile photo but it is SO Chloe! (and look at those choppers!)

baby model photos

2011-04-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yet again, I have been a bit absent with my postings here. It isn't that there is not much going on, I assure you. I will do better come Spring. Yes, I know, it is officially Spring but it does not feel so--not around here --not yet.

A bit of exciting news that I simply had to get busy and share though was this...Are you ready? Chloe's not even a year old and she is officially famous. :)

You know the Eddier Bauer photo shoot we did wayyy back when (August) in San Diego? If you do't remember click HERE for the link . Well, the modeling agency kept telling me to look out for it at Target stores sometime after the new year. So, every now and then when I'm at Target, I will walk down the baby aisle where I know that I could find the item. It's always been the outdated packaging that I would find, at least that is until last week. This time I casually walked down the aisle not expecting to see Chloe's cute face plastered on the Eddie Bauer travel bed. But, wrong, there it was!! I think I walked by it and then actually had to do a double take, back up, and look again. Yep, that's my baby's mug on the front! :) Funny how tiny she was, and how much she has grown since they took the photos which doesn't seem all that long ago to me.

I did not have my camera at the store, but of course I had to buy one of the items so that I can keep the packaging for memory's sake! Here is a photo of the packaging once I got home and opened it.
Also, I am not sure who the baby is in the 3rd photo (bottom right) but first two (with model mommy) are Chloe.

She's a star, but then again, we already knew that! ;)

March Madness

2011-03-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few recent ones at home..

Even though David is deployed right now, I have carried on the tradition of the occasional cheese Fondue night in our household. Afterall, it IS one of Alison's faves. :)

(No worries, baby Chloe opted for Sweet Potatoes and noodles instead)

I'm not sure what Fashion look Alison was going for here...but it's def unique!

(P.s those were my new heels she was trying on, and for the record, I think she walks better in them than I do!)

I spy a cute baby girl named Chloe...

flipping through magazines...

getting into the pantry....and throwing everything off of the shelves (and finding it hilarious!)...

Climbing INTO the dishwasher while I am trying to unload it....(or maybe helping me?)

Dancing ....

Walking all over the place with her walker....

Always looking up to her big Sister...

..And lots of hugs, giggles and squeals of delight from both!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

I love St. Patrick's Day! So what if I am only one-fourth Irish?! Everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's Day and it is a great excuse to wear my favorite color! :)

Alison was very excited about St. Patrick's Day this year. They had a little party at her pre-school, and all the kids wore green (of course). Last night, with much anticipation, she laid out her favorite green dress and green polka dotted pants (for underneath), and a green bow in her hair.

Well, here are a few of my "Irish-y" pics of the day. Have some green beer and cabbage and Enjoy!

--Alison outside of preschool this morning

I liked this view, which is just down the street from A's Preschool

I drove by this sign and had to take a photo. I thought it was fitting for today!

My two Irish Lasses! :)

still under one, for now, anyway..

2011-03-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to believe that Chloe turned 11 months old last week, and it is less than a month until her very First B-day. I feel like she is just growing up tooo fast!

This girl now has four teeth (top two came in at the same time last week). She is babbling non-stop. Umm..no, I mean like, she REALLY wants to talk. Badly! She is definitely a baby who wants to communicate with us. She is also pointing at things now and saying what sounds like "what dat?!" It is too cute.

At this point she has about four signs including "more", "dog", "light", and "eat"). :) (fyi: Her most favorite sign is by far for Dog-- when we visit Bailey she goes crazy signing for him!) She is also waving bye-bye, pulls -up on to everything and and can a few steps with our assistance.

Ahhh..So, I will savor these last few weeks of her being so many "months" old...because soon my baby will be 1!

She is giggles and smiles and baby softness and chubiness, and I think Alison described best how we all feel the other day when she said, "I cant even stop loving baby Chloe!" :)

oh, snow

2011-03-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

OK, let it be known that I am not the biggest fan of really cold weather. I generally just do not like the cold temperatures and wind. I think it is nice to watch the gently falling snow from the inside of a warm house maybe twice a season, and then I am over it. (Although I do like being able to wear cute scarves, hats and boots for a month or two so that is going for me in the fashion department! ha!)

But, instead of going against mother nature during our time here in Pittsburgh, I have been trying to go with her. And, I am finding that taking photographs in/of the snow, is actually kind of fun and even pretty. (If you can stand being outside in it for more than 10 minutes, that is).

Here are a few of my favorites from the snow this weekend :) All photos taken with my very first DSLR (Canon Rebel xt) because my new(er) SLR is broken and needs to go to the doctor :) (Also, before you start thinking I deserve the bad-mom-of-the-year award, Alison was in fact wearing a hat and gloves but flung them off for a few minutes when we were outside, oh yes, gotta love 4 year olds :) There was no wind and it wasn't so terribly cold, so I let her have her fun for a few minutes!)

Yes, even Bailey gets a photo now and then :)

Chloe at 10 months

2011-02-23T06:06:00.000-08:00

Here we are at 10 months...

Chloe is teething (again)and her two top front teeth are about to bust through at any moment. She is crawling very well now and is all over the place, at top speed. Sometimes when she is crawling away we play a game in which we act like someone is "chasing" her, which she loves! She tries to crawl away as fast as possible while giggling uncontrollably and looking behind her to see if someone is watching/following her. ( I shouldn't have to tell you how adorable this is, but I will anyway!) :)

She also loves to be on her feet and pull to stand on anything and everything. Chloe is not cruising yet, but it is probably only a short matter of time. She is also a huge fan of water! She just loooves bath time. In fact, when I am taking a shower, or when Alison is taking a bath, she crawls straight to the bathtub, pulls to stand and watches enviously! Thus, I have started putting Alison and Chloe in the tub together for bath time. And, they both love it! In fact, it has made bath time easier on Alison (and me) who has normally not liked them in the past.

Although she still doesn't have much hair, the hair that she does have seems to be getting a little more light (blonder ?!). I actually don't mind her lack of hair at all because it keeps her looking like a baby that much longer which is more than fine with me! :) Those hair bows can wait!

She is babbling lots lately and loves to talk! Her favorites are MA-MA-MA, YA, YA, WAH WAH, DADA, and AHHH BOO!
She loves to clap (esp to music, when she hears music she automatically starts clapping!) and is starting to gesture and sometimes point at things, too. A fun game that we play is "where is?" ..For example, I will ask her Where is Alison??! and she will turn her head to search for her big sister and sometimes point in that direction!
Although I have not been signing with her as much as I would like, she has started signing, for "More". (**Also, I am adding this a few days later for my own memory's sake- when we went over to my mom/Bill's she signed for Bailey ("dog") and my mom says has been doing this for a while!)

It is my hope to find more free time to sign with her as I have always been such an advocate for baby signing. Actually, it is not like it takes much time out of my day to do this while we go about our daily activities, it is just a matter of remembering to do so in the midst of everything else! In fact, Alison remembers many of the signs and has started to sign with her too.

So far, this baby girl loves food, I have yet to find something she will eat and not like. Thus, feeding time is really a lot of fun!

Although she is a total sweetheart, she does have a fiesty and honory streak and she does not put up with any bull from anyone and will always let you know if she is not happy! She also understands her name as well as the word "No" (though doesn't always obey it, of course) She is in love with her big sister, and her big sister is in love with her too! :)

She is a joy, and I never tire of her smiles, giggles, baby breath, chubby cheeks and adorableness!! Happy 10 months Co-Co!!

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes...

2011-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Pittsburgh, PA

Photo: Three Rivers by Jon Gibson

I wouldn't say it was a last-minute decision, but it was at some point during Dave's month (out to sea) Underway in January that gave me/us the idea to head back East during his upcoming 7-month deployment in Feb 2011.

Although I like San Diego more and more these days, (the weather!!, the culture, the food..) have made some friends, and love Alison's preschool, we decided that it would be nice for me and the girls to be closer to my mom during David's deployment. Especially since this is more than likely going to be David's last deployment in the Navy before retirement, and the girls are not in school yet which would probably make a temporary move not as desirable.

To say that it was the speediest and craziest move-to-date was an understatement. Just trying to figure out how to get me, the girls, cat and dog, all out to Pittsburgh in the quickest manner possible was no easy task!!! We literally had about one week's worth of time to get organized, packed, move an entire house of goods into local storage, (will return to San Diego after deployment), and travel to Pittsburgh! ::Whew::!!!! Although it eventually all worked out in the end, we made plans several times in the beginning, only to hit a roadblock of some sort along the way.

We finally decided that I would fly out with the girls and our cat, and David would drive my car out with our dog, Bailey. --Let me just note that traveling with a 4 year old Alison was much easier for me than traveling with 9 month old Chloe (who does not want to sit still for more than 2 seconds at any given time.. That plane ride was a constant lesson in trying to keep her happy while in flight and attempts to sleep while on the plane) And, props out to my mom and David's friend, Steve, for keeping us sane along our separate journeys along the way! :)

After just a little more than 12 hours in Pittsburgh, we said our good-byes and David flew back to San Diego last Saturday in order to go back to work. Then his Carrier, The USS Ronal Reagan, left yesterday for 7 months at Sea.

So, here we are in Pittsburgh and officially moved in and starting to get settled. The girls and I have our own little apartment along the Allegheny River and Alison enjoyed her first real snow experience a few days ago, complete with snow angels--which she has been eager to make for quite some time. Also, being Steelers Football fans, we are looking forward to a great Superbowl Party and WIN on Sunday. It would be pretty awesome to be here in Steelers country if they do!

Chloe at 9 months

2011-01-22T02:45:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted about what Chloe is up to so here is a quick update. I can't believe she is already 9 months old, these months have gone by so very fast.

As you will see in some of the photos below, Chloe now has her two bottom teeth. The first of which started to bust through on Thanksgiving, and the other one followed not too far behind. (And just yesterday I spied the whites of her two teeth up top just below the surface, so I know it wont be long.....)

As of December she has been mobile as she really started crawling all over the place. Prior to that she had been "army crawling"a ton, but in December she really mastered the crawl and is now everywhere (and, fast!) If I run from the family room into the bedroom to grab something for a moment, she is already down the hallway looking for me by the time I turn around! She loves to follow big Sis Alison all over the place, too!

She is a crack up and truly has a little ornery streak budding. For instance, when she is on the floor and finds something she shouldn't be putting in her mouth (you know, like a bite sized piece of paper, one of her faves!) if she sees me coming to take it from her, she will quickly shove it in her mouth, and try to crawl away AS FAST as she possibly can in the other direction!!! Then when I take the item from her, (through very tightly clenched teeth I might add), she just giggles and giggles,.... like she just knows she just did something she was not supposed to and almost got away with it!?! Hilarious! and I need to get it on video sometime. Oh my little mischievous one..

Speaking of mobility, Chloe is also pulling to stand, and once she does so, can hang out for a few minutes at a time. When she does so, she is reaching for everything in sight that is of interest to her, of course. I can't tell you already how many times cups of water have already been spilled from our coffee table or my Blackberry has been dropped. Speaking of which, Chloe loves my Blackberry so if you ever get a strange phone call from my number with heavy baby breathing in the background, or an odd text message, it is her not me! She can and will do this! lol...

I have not been so great with "baby sign"ing with her often as I would like; but, she does sign for ceiling fan, and I think she is signing for "more" too- although she has her own version of it, which is shaking a tightly pumped fist at me..(ie: **give me MORE of that food**!!) And speaking of food..she loves it. Have not really found a food that she wont eat-- YET.

Doing lots of babbling..saying "Dada" a lot...(I am working on mama with her, while Alison is working on Sis) :)

As of her 9 month stats at her baby wellness checkup..

weight: 16 lbs and 15ounces

height: 26 and 3/4 inches

and some video of C ...a bit of her in action!

Video#1 Preschool Holiday Performance

2011-01-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

Just realized I haven't uploaded any video in months!

Alison's preschool had a holiday performance before winter break. Each class sang a song, and in addition her class implemented the use of wooden sticks for instrumental value. :)

Though they had all been practicing the words to the song, the kids in her class were pretty quiet when it was show time. Good thing for the song playing in the background :) Probably still a little young at age 3/4 I guess!

It was so cute seeing them all up there on stage though, nonetheless! Alison was was very excited the morning of the show and she was smiling a lot during the song, so I think she enjoyed herself. :)

(Also , I apologize in advance for my shaky video camera work!-- If you think this is bad you should see the beginning of the song, which I actually had to edit out due to how jumpy and all over it was! But, in my defense holding a baby, while standing on a chair and trying to video your 4 yr old's first holiday performance is not the easiest or most stable things to do! Ha!)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

Can't say it was exactly the story book Christmas for us. 50% of our family had the sickies during the week of Christmas, (I was sick with a bacterial stomach reaction AND a cold, and Alison also had the same cold, not sure who had it first!), and the weather was rainy, cool, and windy. But, David had a few days of leave from work and it was terribly nice to have him at home nonetheless, just hanging out (and trying to get-well), with the family.

A few photos/ Christmas 2010

Christmas Morning....

BiG Sis helping LiL Sis unwrap presents..

Pre Holiday festivities 2010

2011-01-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

Better late than never , right?

Since David was home (in port) December and we have a babysitter who is available on the weekends to watch Chloe, we decided to take Alison to two Holiday activities being held in San Diego- First, The Old Globe Theatre's production of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (awesome theatre! awesome show!). And, the following weekend, we headed to the City ballet's performance of "The Nutcracker".

Also, as you will see, we got our money's worth with Alison's Christmas dress this year. Ha,ha. She wanted to wear it every chance she could in December! :)

MMM..pre- Grinch show hot chocolate mustache!

With Daddy, outside The Nutracker

Alison also had her first preschool holiday play in December

Each class sang/performed a song. Alison's class sang "Up On The Housetop".

Chloe's first Christmas Tree!

.. she was obsessed with the ornaments, crawling over to them and pulling on them/ and sometimes pulling them right off, as well as the candy canes that were on the tree!

Chloe also enjoyed all of the Christmas wrapping going on. .Here is a photo of her "helping" me ;) * and if you look close you will see her new two bottom teeth. (more on that in a later post) :)

Our mom/baby playgroup had a get together during December in order to do a Holiday gift exchange. Below is a photo taken right after the babies got done opening gifts.

In addition, as a group we did something cool for a local family over the holidays. The leader of our baby group had a fabulous idea in which we could give back to the community and "adopt" a family in need from a local shelter/social service agency.

The family in need gave us a Christmas "wish list" and we bought things for the entire family. I thought it was such a fantastic idea and it was really a cool thing to be a part of, it would be anytime of course, but especially over the holidays.

Every Christmas Eve I ~~torture~~ make my family by asking them to gather for a "family" photo, which usually involves setting up a camera on a tripod and a timer. (Bailey and Elly are now not included because we learned quickly that it gets much too chaotic to try to do so with them!)

Well, this is the result of this year...not bad I guess, at least I got the four of us looking at the camera! :)

Birthday Girl

2011-01-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

A little over a month has now passed since Alison's FOURTH Birthday. I am ashamed that I have not posted about this yet. But, that is how it goes sometimes. I had dedicated some of David's leave (vacation) period in December to catching up on things exactly like this, because I am SO behind. But, I got an infection. And, then Alison got sick. And then I got sick (again) and honestly I'm still recovering and not feeling all that great!

Back to the business at hand.. Alison's Birthday. My dear, sweet, Alison. Her Birthdays are very, very special to us, as birthdays are for any parent, of course. But, they probably hold a bit of emotionality for us due to everything she went through (and us too) and had to experience before even getting to her birthday that very first year..

Three years later, and to see Alison now you would never know how sick she was when she was a little baby. So full of life and such a big personality. So very silly and genuine, smart, and funny. It is impossible to be serious around her for too long, she is always doing or saying something to crack us up.. and as much as she makes us giggle, (and not surprisingly she also really seems to be drawn to others who are funny and silly!)

We love her stories that go on..and on.. and her high pitched laugh and squeals of delight! When she truly loves something she loves it a lot! She plays so well with others, always looking for new friends. Her passion for life and living it is just soo grand. She is sensitive and strong, not to say that she doesn't have a stubborn and fiesty side to her too, though, because she does. :)

She is becoming this amazing little individual and person in every way, and we love her for all of those things and then some. (Ahhh, don't I sound like a proud mama? ;)

Her actual birthday fell during the middle of the week this year- (the day before Thanksgiving! And next year it will fall right ON Thanksgiving!) so we had a low- key celebration at home on the actual birthday day. We hung out as a family and made, decorated and ate cupcakes. :)

We then celebrated again with her party on the following weekend. I was worried that many of her preschool friends might still be out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday, but it worked out quite well. Only one of her very good friends from preschool could not make it.

We rented out a room at a local community rec center, which turned out to be a great idea as the rec center decorated and set up everything for us. Essentially, all I had to do was bring the cake!

The party went a little something like this..
(* oh, and, please excuse the less than great picture quality!..instead of taking a bazillion photos and worrying about quality, I chose to be more present and enjoy myself instead of watching it all through the eye of my lens) :) it worked!

There were crafts..

parachute games...

And an appearance by "Princess Belle"...
(Alison looves Princesses, and I couldn't resist renting a "real" princess to come out and make an appearance/entertain at her party) :)

Face Painting....

Music and Dancing......

wonderful friends and posing for photos..

Birthday Cake (of course!)

A GIGANTIC Pinata!.....

Family...

And, ...a very happy 4 year old B-day girl.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

Backtracking towards the end of November, and our favorite holiday around here..Thanksgiving!

We were happy to host both Grandma E and Oma this year for Thanksgiving. It was a real treat to have family here with us for the holiday!

As usual, Alison wanted nothing to do with eating (or trying) any part of Thanksgiving Dinner. But, she sure was excited for the day nevertheless! She was excited all morning as David prepared and cooked in the kitchen. It is tradition we always watch /have on in the background, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and she was dancing to the music/performers, and very excited to see Santa's arrival at the end! Alison also looked cute wearing her "Matilda Jane" apron-style dress, (if you are a MJ fan like me, you know how their vintage outfits are adorably addicting and look perfect on a day like Thanksgiving!) and she completed her festive outfit with the feathered "Alison" hat, which she made at preschool.

Chloe experienced her first Thanksgiving Day, and although she was feeling a bit under the weather with a combination cold and cutting her first too, she still seemed to make the most of it all. She had mashed green beans baby food, and also tried a little bit of our mashed potatoes. As her awesome St. Jude onesie reads, she really is a "little gobbler". :)

Sister Gobblers :)

Alison helping with the mashed potatoes!

sorry!

2010-12-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

So, for all of you that still check in with the blog, my sincere apologies for the lack of blog posts as of late!

I could go into depth about preparing for Thanksgiving dinner and guests, getting ready for Alison's 4th Birthday celebration and party, holiday activities/plays and parties at Alison's preschool/friends houses, barely seeing David due to his heavy work schedule, prepping for Christmas, and a few bouts of infection/sickness going around our house! Not to mention a non-stop preschooler and a teething--and now mobile--baby! But, I will spare the details. We are also getting ready for David's impending deployment that we face in the New Year, which makes us even busier trying to tie up loose ends before this occurs. Agh! Anyway, enough of all of that!

This week David has been on leave ("vacation") and it has really been the first time I could find the chance to even think about sitting down to update the blog. We were actually planning to head up to Malibu, CA and spend a few days at a cottage on the coast, but if you haven't already heard, Southern California got hit pretty hard with torrential rains so the trip got cancelled. Just as well though because the day we were due to leave Alison came down with a mighty cold/flu and now I'm actually a bit sick with a cold/stomach bug as well. Ah, what a vacation huh?! Needless to say I wont be writing much on here because I don't have a whole lot in me to do so, but I figure the photos (and videos) are what everyone really wants to see anyway! :) So stay tuned, Here come a few updates headed your way!....

7 months

2010-11-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

As of last week, our little chloe turned 7 months old. And I cant remember a time when 7 months has flown by so quickly.

She continues to hang out in the 15-25% for both height and weight. And her eyes, though still mostly blue, now have a little bit of a hazel ring to them too. David says that they kinda look like mine. :)

She is starting to make lots of fun babbling noises, like "BAABAAA", "MAMAAA and DADAA"

She sits very well on her own now, too. And her favorite mode of transportation is rolling. She rolls all over the place. But, she is also started doing some new tricks, too. When she is on her tummy, she pushes off with her hands and feet, and does a little scoot. It looks very much like she is gearing up for crawling. And, no I am not ready!!

As for eating, she has a good appetite and seems to enjoy everything I offer her (so far). I guess God wanted to give me a lesson in balance and give me one child that likes almost nothing (Alison) and one that seemingly likes everything --so far--(not gonna jinx myself yet!). She eats bananas, sweet potatoes, avacados, squash, and peas.

Chloe and Big Sister Alison are starting to play like sisters too, which of course is ~~usually~~ fun to watch.

Alison is pretty good about sharing, but she has her moments just like any (almost) 4-year-old with their younger sibling(s). I've already too often heard the cries of "Mommy, she took MY toy!!" and "Noooo, Chloe that is MINE!"

Overall, they do get along well though. Chloe is always smiling and giggling at Alison and her antics. She is no pushover though either when Alison takes something from her, she yells right back at her! haha!

Having two kids is fun! Even amidst all of the chaos (and oh there is plenty of it around here!)

I honestly never gave much consideration or thought when it came to planning/age difference and spacing of children. Personally, I know that I (we) were not ready to think about being pregnant or having another baby until well after Alison turned two and I just never felt like it was something that would be an issue. I believe it worked out (it always does) as I have to say that I LOVE the age difference between the girls and I find that it works out SO well for me/our family. Alison is old enough to know how to be gentle with Chloe, and can even help me out when I'm in a pinch (when she chooses to, of course!). But, still young enough to bond and play with Chloe, too. I don't know how moms with two babies ages 2 yrs and under do it!!?!

Happy 7 months Chlo-burger!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

I feel so behind in my desire to try to keep up with the blog that I just realized I hadn't posted any Halloween photos yet!

It seems David is always gone this time of year , (out at sea), but my mom was able to extend her week visit by one more day and stay for Halloween night. That was cool and my mom loved seeing the girls all dressed up! When it was time for Trick-or-Treating, we took them both out to roam the streets of our neighborhood --Alison walked this year, while Chloe hung out in her stroller-- and Alison thoroughly enjoyed herself (if you had any doubt!) while Chloe was pretty content watching her big Sis go crazy!

We walked t~~ried to keep up with Alison~~ as she ran from house to house to house giggling with delight. As much as this kid loves getting chocolate/ candy, she reallyyy loved running to and from the other houses with the other kids that were also out in our neighborhood. In fact, sometimes she would get pretty upset if we had walked up to a house in which she didn't spy any other kids around at the moment...she'd yell "BUT there are NOO kids here!!! I want other boys and girls!!" You would think a child that loves chocolate as much as she does would be Ok with this, maybe even like the fact that she would have a chance to get some bonus goodies to herself if someone was feeling extra giving, but nooo. No Sir. It is very much as social of an event for her as it is about getting goodies I guess! :)

After an hour and a half out begging for candy, we decided to head back home and spend the last half hour handing out treats to the treaters who were stopping by at our house. I asked Alison to help me out, and we ended up having a lot of fun doing this. It was such a nice night out that we sat outside, which meant alison could see the trick-or-treaters walk up long before they planted their feet on our doorstep.

Giddy with anticipation and excitement she would yell to us, "Here they come!! Here they come!!! as she held the the bowl of candy close to her body eager to pass out from her little hands. Once the beggars left, Alison would immediately be on the look-out for more kids, and would ask us many times that night if any more "customers" were coming to the house. HA. HA. Customers!?! Yup..That is exactly how she was referring to all of the Trick-Or-Treaters that come by. She is too funny.

Hope you all had a fun, happy and safe Halloween. I think I'll go now and ~~steal~~ borrow another piece of candy from Alison's stash :)

Introducing:

Sleeping Beauty Princess ...

And her little sister, the Ladybug!

Little Ladybug at playdate

Ladybug with her baby friends at our playdate group. One of her little friends was also a lady bug :)

Beauty and The Beast

2010-11-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, when my mom was visiting and I had a built-in-sitter on hand, I took Alison to see the Broadway touring show of Disney's "Beauty And The Beast". Although we have taken Alison to various live performances before, this was her first time seeing a Broadway show.

Going in, I was a little worried about how she might react; Would she be scared of the darkness/low light? Would she be frightened by the gruff Beast character? (we have watched the Disney classic many times, but still, you never know what your 3 yr old kid could get set off by sometimes!) Would she be able to sit through the entire production in the theatre or would she grow bored?

Well, she was a little bit anxious when the show first started. She asked me a few times if the Beast was going to come up to our row where we were sitting. I told her no, but she insisted that she wanted to sit on my lap. However, a few minutes into the show and she apparently decided that the Beast was staying put on stage and it was safe enough to move over to her seat next to mine. :)

She (and I) enjoyed the Disney musical very much. She was so cute because she kept forgetting we were in a theatre with lots of other people and not watching a movie at home. So she would sometimes ask me a question a little louder than one might do in a theatre. I tried to remind her to whisper, but she would get excited and forget. haha. Or she would talk to herself out loud (Ex: "Awww..the Beast gave Belle a flower.. that was nice SO nice of him!" etc....) Luckily, as you can imagine, the show was filled with many other youngsters too, so it's not like the place was exactly quiet. In fact, there was another little girl around Alison's age sitting behind us who I could overhear making comments or asking her mom questions out loud too :) I guess she and her mom were also having a mommy/daughter afternoon at the theatre too, because we chatted a bit before the show and her mom is the one that snapped this photo of Alison and I before the show (seen below).

Another priceless moment occurred during the show when Alison squeezed my hand and whispered that she loved me. Truly. Adorable. Right?

Afterwards, I asked Alison what her favorite part of the show was. Her initial answer was when Belle came out in her yellow gown (the same costume/version that Alison was wearing to the show). She also loved when the entire cast came out at the end to take their bows. She got a big kick out of it and was standing, and clapping wildly. :) And ever since seeing the musical she has been wanting to listen to the music at home and wanting to pretend/act out different parts of the show, too. Funny how she always wants to be Belle and she designates mommy as the Beast!!. Hmm..hopefully there is no deeper meaning behind that choice!?? ha!

It was so nice to have some quality "just me and Alison" mommy/daughter time. We both needed it!

And, as you may guess, her new favorite Princess is now Princess Belle.

it felt like a bit of fall

2010-10-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last week we had "weather" here in SD, with temperatures in the 60's, cloudy skies, and on and off rain almost every day. Cabin fever set in after a few days of this and the girls and I took a walk during one of the breaks in rain in search of some leaves. We don't have many big trees on the streets of our neighborhood but there are a few big trees in our community paseo area that provided a little bit of fun leaf action :). I took my camera along to snap a few photos. Hope you like!

First taste of solids

2010-10-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

David and I have always joked that after having Alison (aka: THE pickiest eater on the face of the earth) any child born to us would be easy when it comes to food. I mean, they would HAVE to be, right? Alison is the child that will detect any (if it even ever gets near her mouth in the first place) teeny-tiny piece of fruit or vegetable in her food, and takes it right out and declares " YUCKY! "
No amount of hiding it in the other (few) foods that she likes works either, nor does trying to cover with, blend or puree it in scrumptious sauces or dips. Peer pressure from others, including teachers/friends at her preschool ? Nope. Alison is solid and stands her ground. (Although I'm kinda cool with that in a way) I'll admit, I've even lowered myself to bribing...and she will still not be swayed!!

Thus, it is my hope that my first born daughter's extremely selective & discriminating tastebuds will emerge and one day reward her with an amazing career in the culinary arts world as a master Chef or something. I mean, that must be what happens when you have a 3 yr old kid who adores dark chocolate and cheese fondue and turns up their nose up at the sight of cheeseburgers and french fries, right?! Yes, life with a picky eater can be frustrating when it comes to meal time.

So, on Chloe's 6 month birthday I was prepared for the worst when we gave her her first bite of solids. (rice cereal). I was envisioning a look of anguish and disgust. But, no. She loved it. In fact, she would start to fuss a little bit when I took the spoon away. Yep, she wanted MORE.

Since rice cereal, I 've also introduced pureed bananas, which she also seems to love. I swear that as I start to mash up the bananas in the kitchen she knows what is about to occur and gets happy! I feed her..and she eats it. ALL. UP. It's amazing. As the spoon nears her mouth, she can't wait. And it is all she can do from ripping taking the spoon away from me and trying to feed herself more in the process.

Score!!!!!

Excited about first solids..

Bananas!!

YUM!!

F-A-M-I-L-Y

2010-10-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, as I mentioned last week that we had some family photos taken recently and now I have proof! :)Yep, the photos from our portrait session are complete and I couldn't be happier with the results! :)

Since I am a bit of a photo nut, I admit that I can be a teeny bit of a photo-snob when it comes to choosing the type of photographer that I want for our own family portraits (which we rarely get taken-- I need to work on that! ) Thus, it kinda goes without saying that when it comes to anything photo/photography related, I can become a bit of a fanatic! I researched websites and blogs high and low to find a local family photographer that would have the "look" I was hoping to achieve! I think I found just what I was looking for in San Diego photographer, Sylvia Borgo.

The images she took of our family are beautiful and artistic and the kind of pictures I will be proud to hang on my walls and put in albums. I love the architecture and surroundings of Balboa Park, and the color, oh the fabulous colors!! And bonus? The fact that in-person Sylvia is so cool, sweet and she also completely hit it off with Alison and made the entire photo shoot super fun for all of us!

If you are reading this, thanks again, Sylvia! :) You're awesome!

Now, I just have the tough time of deciding which one to choose for our family Christmas card!! ;)

To see some of the photos from our family portrait session, just click on the link below:

Sylvia Borgo Blog

my 6 month girl

2010-10-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Chloe turned 6 months old on 10-10! It's hard to believe that a half year has already flown by. Even with having some reflux in the beginning, Chloe has been such a content little one. Such a joy. We don't have her official 6 month pediatrician appointment until later this month, but we were at the office last week to get 2 of her 4 month shots (we are on a delayed vaccination schedule) and, she weighed in at the 25th percentile, and jumped back up to the 50th percentile for height.

She rolls around like crazy lately and always wants to be doing things. Put her on the ground and she rolls from one side of the room all the way to the other rolling towards the things that catch her eye and are worthy of further investigation. She is also lunging forward tons and tries to drag objects to her.

She loves time playing/standing in her jumpy toy and bouncing up and down, and she is quite vocal lately with lots of baby babble, many of which sound like various loud squaking type of birds. ;)

Oh, and, just to make mental note to myself for when I ~~hopefully~~ eventually fill in Chloe's baby book; Chloe sat upright on her own for the first time today! It didn't last more than 10 seconds, but is yet another milestone out the window..(sigh) so bittersweet... :)

With all of Alison's activities that keep us fairly busy, (preschool, tennis, dance) I decided that now is the time I would like to start having some "just Chloe" activities, also. You know, just to add to an already fairly jam packed schedule that we have going. :)

I found a local play group that recently just formed for local babies born in 2010. So far there are only about 6 of us in the group, but we are hoping to add a few more. We meet every Friday morning rotating meet-ups at each others houses. Right now the babes just kind of lay/sit there, play with toys on their own, and stare at/ ignore one another, and it is more of a mom socializing hour. But, it will be fun as they start to interact more and more.

I'd also like to enroll chloe in a local baby sign language class. We've just recently started signing with her at home, but I took Alison to the classes and it was a nice bonding/learning time, and I'd like to do the same with Chloe if possible if I find a good class locally!

Pics!.......
Jumping in her (handed down from Alison )Rainforest Jumperoo :)

Daddy's Home from work! (smile)

September photo from Chloe's baby play date. (she is bottom row, middle) The two little girls next to her are about a month younger than her. (and the little girl on her right also is a Chloe!!)
And the two babies at the top are 2-4 months older. The boy on the left (the only boy in the group, ha!) is 10 months old and already walking/running all over the place. What a difference a few months can make!

still a lil' wobbly, but doing it on her own....

photos

2010-10-08T23:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had some professional family portraits taken by a San Diego photographer whose family portrait work I've come to enjoy and follow.

Although we had to reschedule the shoot a few times (once due to weather, and once due to a slightly sunburned kiddo, --oops!) in the end I think it worked out well timing-wise because it gave me extra time to contemplate the logistics and I ended up choosing a different location for the shoot altogether (and I'm soo glad I did! I think the backdrop of the park that I ended up choosing will have much more depth and be much more visually interesting !)

This event was a special treat for me because I don't tend to be in photographs too much since I am usually the one behind the lens! And, I cannot wait to see the results when our photographer gets them edited and uploaded, probably later this week. :)

And, until then, I'll post a few of my own that I took the other day in the backyard. Nothing special, just the girls..and someone else who is seen trying to pop in and steal the moment :)

Smiles?? Forget smiles! I was just trying to get the two of them to just look at the camera at the same time which proved challenging!! Ha

Chloe is looking in my direction but Alison looks away...

Alison is looking at camera but now Chloe is looking away...

( I took many, many photos just like the two above...over, and over again...)

And then.....

Bailey has to be nosey and stops by to check on the scene ...and ruins everything ;)

OH, Bailey!

p.s. Chloe's feet are not unusually long for her age as they might appear -- they just look this way because the sweet lil' thang likes to grab and try to pull her socks off whenever she can, pulling them down ..down....until they are barely hanging on anymore. Not even a minute after this shot was taken nd they were ripped off completely :)

Anniversary date

2010-10-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

Here on the blog I don't normally post about things that aren't related to either Alison or Chloe, but we recently celebrated our 5th wedding Anniversary and I thought I would share.

Our actual Anniversary was on September 10th, but because we knew that David had to leave on the 6th for an underway at Sea, we decided to celebrate early. Being that my mom/Bill were visiting that week, they offered to babysit so that we could have an afternoon/evening to ourselves while David was still in town.

We took them up on their offer and had a date day/night. I had bought concert tickets in advance to see one of my favorite artists, Ray Lamontagne, co-headline with David Gray at Harrah's Open Sky Theater, which is an outdoor venue about an hour and a half north of San Diego. I've seen Ray perform live twice before, and whenever he is in the area touring we try to make it a point to see him...and yes, I've made a fan out of my husband, too so the concerts are something we both enjoy :)

On the way up we decided to stop by at a winery that I'd heard about for some wine tasting. The reviews said that it was a small family run winery with friendly owners who opened a winery after years of being in the Italian restaurant business. So, in addition to the wine, they are also known for their made-to-order fresh brick oven pizza. I figured we could not go wrong with this. :) It was a cute little winery and they had a nice outdoor area complete with beautiful mountain view. It was quite warm out that day we visited, but they had an outdoor covered patio and they turned on the overhead misting system to cool us down a bit. The wine, pizza, and view were all great!

After the tasting, we headed North to the Casino /Indian Reservation. We got there a bit early and decided to do a little gambling, eat dinner, and then head to the show. The concert was held at the "Open Sky Theater" for which the name is quite appropriate. Being located out on an Indian Reservation with not much else around you can imagine how the stars were out in full effect. And as soon as the sun set behind the mountains the temperatures cooled down making it a near perfect evening for outdoor live music. I don't know if it was the mountains or the clear air or what, but the sound quality was fantastic!
Both performances were great, and as an added bonus David Gray performed our wedding "first dance" song ("be mine"), which was fairly appropriate for the evening:). And, of course Ray was amazing as always. In fact it was probably the best concert of Ray's that I have attended to date.

By the time we returned home, we had been gone for 12 hours, total! That might not sound like a long time to be separated, but I've never spent more than a few hours away from either Chloe or Alison before. So, as great as the day/evening went, it was good to be back with our girls, too.

I took along the point-and-shoot camera. A few snapshots to share,

Me , outside of Cordiano Winery, Escondido, CA

The view on the patio

Dave, wine, relaxing

Ray Lamontagne.

(Although there is not a bad seat in the house at this small outdoor venue, we were not sitting as close as the photo makes it look- I moved up close a few times just to snap a few quick pictures)

David Gray

Disneyland!

2010-09-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

Boy, I've been behind in my blogging. I'm about a month behind in fact. So, let me back track and try to make up for lost time as best as I can.

The week prior to Labor Day my mom and Bill visited us. It was great to see them both of course, and we also took advantage of their generosity to babysit a few times (although it's no secret that they looove spending time with the kids and having them all to themselves either!) David took a few days of leave (which is almost unheard of) and we decided to head to Disneyland with Alison for a day.

It's been a year since we have been to Disney (I was early in my pregnancy with Chloe during our last visit!) And although Alison is still very much a fan of Minnie, Mickey,and the rest of the clubhouse gang, she is now also a huge fan of all of the Disney princesses!! For days before our visit (as well as the drive up) she was talking excitedly about who she would like to meet/see and what she would say to each of them in person, etc..:)

Our trip to Disneyland this year was remarkable because it was just so fun to see Alison really enjoy herself while we were there visiting. Sure, she loved it last year too. But, she is a year older now and really knows the characters much more. Plus, she could get on some rides that she couldn't last year due to height restrictions.

Because David had taken a few days off at work and we had the option of going on a weekday, we chose to go on a Wednesday which was perfect really as there was barely a line to stand in and the weather couldn't have been better! Chloe stayed at home with with her Oma and and Bill (we figured she was a bit too young to really enjoy the park) and it meant that David and I got some really nice one-on-one time with our oldest daughter, which I think she appreciated :) Honestly Ive never been the biggest Disney fan, but I must say that I truly enjoy going now that I have a child that finds so much joy in it all. And I mean, how can anyone really not be happy while at DisneyLand?!?

Here are just a few pics from the day!

Minnie Mouse signing Alison's autograph book

Alison was THRILLED to meet almost every Disney Princess-- here she is giving Princess Snow White a hug!

Meeting Princess Ariel--the feeling was mutual

With Disney's newest Princess, Tiana

Alison's current favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty

Alison at the Princess Coronation ceremony

On the Teacups ride

In one of Mr. Toad's cars

Infantino

2010-09-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Just realized I never posted about the most recent photo shoot that Chloe participated in. It was for the baby company called Infantino (they make infant carriers, activity gyms, etc..) and the shoot was locally here in San Diego which worked out great. It meant that I could drop Alison off just a little earlier at preschool that morning and was able to leave the shoot with enough time to be back at preschool to get Alison at her normal pick-up time just after lunch!

The shoot was different from the Eddie Bauer shoot. First of all, we didn't need to attend a casting at all prior They chose her straight from the photos that they saw via the agency as well as a recommendation from the agent and the producer og the Eddie Bauer shoot. This was nice (but probably not normal) to get a job without having to go and attend a casting first!

Another difference was that this shoot was held at a photography studio. This was nice because they could control elements like lighting and shadows, etc.. but it was also bad for that same reason (ie: flash had to be used and was going off like crazy of course). Chloe did well though. The main shot that they wanted/needed for product packaging was a "tummy time" photo of Chloe lying on her tummy while playing on one of their baby activity gyms. After they got that photo they asked I change her into another outfit and they took some shots of her playing on her back, and then some close up head-shots, too. After it was over I had a chance to look at the photos up on their computer briefly and the headshot photos were especially adorable. I just wish I could have a few of them to keep!

While they are taking the photos I was also working behind the scenes as I was trying to help get Chloe to look at the camera, or in another direction, smiling, etc... It means lots of jumping up and down, clapping, holding toys up for her to look at, and just generally making lots of noise and acting like an idiot :) Actually, I am used to doing this because I do this when I take photos of the girls at home. The difference being that I'm always trying to do this while I snap the photos too, which is much more difficult. So, this was actually easy peasy for me ;)
Sometimes the photo shoots have what is called a "baby wrangler" on set to make the babies happy, but this time it was up to me and the Infantino producer, and I think it worked well! :)

Here is a photo I took really quickly as they were prepping the area before shooting Chloe playing on the activity gym. (as you can see she was lying on her back in this picture and her legs are sticking straight up-- she kept doing this and when she did they couldn't see her face in the photo so they had to keep taking many photos before they got one with her feet down! ha)
Everyone was super nice and didn't mind that I take a photo for memory's sake/scrapbook purposes (I've heard that some places actually don't want you to take photos while on set). Not the best pic taken with just my point and shoot camera, but at least it gives you a little bit of an idea of what it looks like.

Photos

2010-09-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

A few of my favorites from the past month

Chloe and The Eddie Bauer Photo Shoot

2010-09-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Finally...

I have no excuse as to why it took me so long to blog about this other than being pretty busy lately. I know, I know, everybody is busy but I guess that blogging for me is one of those things that has to take a back seat to other things now and then. So, for those of you interested /curious and have asked me about Chloe's shoot , I'm sorry it took so long! I've spent the past two nights trying to foster enough time/energy/brain power to sit down and write about this. And then last night when I finally do and I am finishing it up, I mistakenly hit a random button on my laptop and wiped out the entire first half of this blog entry! ~~&($*#!~~ Not too happy about that. So, here I go again....hopefully this time with better results.

A quick background first; You are probably aware of Eddie Bauer as the outdoor/sportswear company. But they also lend their logo/brand to a select group of infant/baby items as well. If you are a parent/family member of a fairly new baby then you have probably seen Eddie Bauer products for little ones online or at your local store like Target. Some of the things they use their logo and branding on include car seats, car seat protectors, baby window shades, etc..

After I was informed that Chloe was selected for the photo shoot, I got a detailed schedule from the modeling agency that gave us more specific information such as location of the shoot, our "call time" (or when we are to show up), a contact name, and who else would be there (other models scheduled to be photographed). I also learned that Chloe would be modeling in a photo for the "Eddie Bauer Infant Travel Bed". (as seen below)

When we arrived on location that morning (which was at a beautiful home/estate in northern San Diego) I was told that they were running late and we would have to wait. Chloe was scheduled to have her shoot at 9:30, but they were doing make up/hair for another model first, and then there was still another shot ahead of us to set-up/take, too.
Well, waiting is really not such a bad thing when you are getting paid to be "on set" (no matter if the photos end up being used or not!) but with a baby that you have to keep awake, entertained, and happy for an indefinite amount of time, things can get interesting and I was a bit nervous as to how it would all go down!

Luckily, there was lots going on, and Chloe kept entertained and happy. One of the older child models (used as Chloe's "sister" in the first photo) played with her a bit, and of course others came over to say hi and chat, too. The home was air conditioned so we were able to keep cool, (it was extremely hot outside that day) and it was catered by Kraft Services so there was plenty to eat and drink while waiting.

When Chloe was finally called, we went outside to the backyard where the photographer/assistants were set-up. The first of two photos that Chloe was to be in was staged as though it was a "family day at the local park" along with a mom, dad and older sister (all of whom were models too, of course) Chloe was put inside the travel bed, and she and her model mommy sat in the foreground, while the two other models (father and sister) played in the background.

Despite the extremely warm temperatures and the adjustments that the photographer/designer/producer kept making, Chloe did great! I sat to the side (just out of view of the photo) so that when the photographer needed me to move or reposition her body, I did so. Once everything was adjusted just right with the lighting/angles, etc.. they started snapping away and it only took 10 minutes or so to get the shot that they approved of/liked.

The next photo that Chloe was used in was one in which the mom /model was to be showing the ease of carrying the travel bed (it folds up into a convenient travel sized bag) while walking with Chloe in her arms. Again, the photo was to be taken in the backyard. While they got things ready and set up for this shot, we cooled off inside the air conditioned home (thankfully!) When they called for us we went outside--only to wait again as they made minor adjustments with the female model, wardrobe and lighting.

In the meantime, Chloe was getting a bit sleepy (not only was it so very warm outside but at this point it was about 2 hours since we had arrived) and she fell asleep on me about a minute before they called to me that they were ready for her! Timing huh?

I knew there was no chance of them getting the photo unless I woke her up as they were already an hour late, had other models waiting in the wings for other shots, so I knew that they did not have the luxury of waiting for Chloe to take a Siesta. Also, the photographer told me that Chloe simply had to be awake in order for the photo to work for them.. So, I did what any mommy would do (right?) ..I offered to wake her up!

It really didn't take long for them to actually get the right shot taken though, and once they did we were finished and were free to leave as they quickly moved on to the next model/photo that was up!

Overall, it was an interesting morning and experience! And since then the modeling agency asked if I would like to sign Chloe on with them in the event that more opportunities for her come up in the future, too. (actually, we went to another photo shoot just yesterday for Infantino, but I'll have to blog about that another time)

So, we are all signed up with the agency now and I am applying for Chloe's work permit. (yes, can you believe an almost 5 month old needs a work permit? ha!) . The cool thing about all of this is that any money made from these opportunities will be going straight into Chloe's college savings account. It's nice to get a head start and it is fun to think about Chloe already earning money for her college education at such an early age! ;)

I've had a few people ask me when we will get to see the photos, and to be honest I can't answer that because I don't know when or really even IF I ever will. This is because once the photos were taken they became the rights of Eddie Bauer Corporate and I don't have access to them. Chloe's agency said that if her photos are used then you can expect to see them on the product packaging in Target stores in January/February of next year. Will keep you updated as I find out more!

Since I have some background in photography, I took a few snapshots of Chloe at home and submitted them to the agency for them to decide which two that they liked the most and to use.

If you would like to see Chloe on the Jet Set Modeling website you can see her profile by clicking the link below.
Jet Set Models-Chloe

Thanks for checking in, til next time!

2010-08-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I just realized I hadn't updated the blog since Chloe's photo shoot with Eddie Bauer last Tuesday. I have been so busy!

But, I just wanted to say that the shoot went great. Chloe did well, she was such a trooper! It was fun and interesting for mama, too. I'll post more about it soon, promise!

SUPER model in the making?

2010-08-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

A little bit of exciting news to share..

I didn't want to jinx Chloe and post prematurely about this, but she was selected to be in a Eddie Bauer photo shoot! Yes indeed, our own baby model at the tender age of 4 months, haha ;-)

Are you wondering just how this managed to happen? Probably.. so I'll try to give you the brief version...

Just about 2 weeks ago, I noticed a posting on one of the local mom's groups/websites that I belong to from a mom who also works as an agent for a San Diego/Los Angeles based modeling agency for babies/kids. She posted that her agency was doing a talent search for little ones ages 3-6 months for an an upcoming Eddie Bauer photo shoot taking place in San Diego and that she was accepting photos/applications ASAP. (I came to find out later that they apparently only have so many 3-6 month old baby girls signed with the agency and they are already doing Desperate Housewives in L.A and thus are not available!)

(*one of the photos I sent in to agency- who wouldn't be taken by her smile?)

So, I figured, why not enter and give it a shot?! I checked the agency out and knew they were legit and of course Eddie Bauer is a national recognized company that we have all heard of. And further it is a PAID photo shoot! (I know some basics about the modeling biz , and there was no sketchy-ness going on about them wanting money beforehand because everyone knows that an agency is not on the up-and-up if they ask of anything from YOU to start with!)

Plus, I a have TONS of photos of my kiddos and I had nothing to lose to email a few in to the agency.

So, that is what I did. I didn't really think much more about it or spend more than 5 minutes selecting a few pics and typing up a quick bio about Chloe.

The agent replied and told me that the info/photos would be passed on to the client -Eddie Bauer- and if they were further interested we would be invited to a Casting call. If not, we wouldn't hear from them again.

A few days passed..and then I got an email with an invitation to the Casting.

The casting itself was an experience- (though short and sweet, which I've now learned is usually how these castings go)- we met quickly with the director/producer , they snapped a quick "in person" photo, and once again, we were told that the info would be sent over to the client (EB) and if they decided Chloe was right for the job the agency would let us know.

A few more days passed.. and then I got an email that Chloe was on "HOLD" for the shoot. (This means that you are still in the running and it is likely you will be "booked" or confirmed, but that there is a final round or another person to go over submissions one last time so it is not for sure).

Well, yesterday I got the final word-- Chloe was chosen and is booked for the photo shoot!

I'm pretty excited for her! OK, I know that she will never really remember this, but it will always be a fun story to tell. And, being that it is a paid photo shoot- it brings in a little $$ to help with her college savings account. Plus, who knows, one day we (or you!) might spot her on the package of an Eddie Bauer car seat or something! :)

She is currently getting over a slight cold/congestion, so let's hope she is in good spirits and will shine her beautiful smile a LOT on Tuesday morning for the photographer! :)

Wish her luck!

4 months

2010-08-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Chloe Claire is 4 months old (as of two days ago).

And is such a little smiley sweetheart.

She enjoys playing on her activity mat (and giving the monkey a good smack down), and has found her feet, which also now provides as lots of entertainment for her. :) She is rolling from front to back, but not the other way as of yet.

Oh and she can sit up now!

OK, not really on her own yet, of course! But I found the "bumbo" chair (which Alison also used when she was a few months old and starting to practice sitting upright) and have started to put Chloe in it on occasion now too. Although she is still wobbly, seeing her "sit" there (even with the help of the bumbo) makes me realize she is growing up so fast. Tell me, isn't there some sort of magic potion out there one can purchase to make them stay this small for just a little while longer??

If so I'd buy it.

Chloe had her 4 month well visit at the doctor's office today where she was totally CRACKING UP the pediatrician with her giggles and smiles. She was full of tons of smiles for the nurse as she was being weighed/measured and when it came time for the pediatrician to perform the exam, Chloe thought it was pretty funny I guess. When the doctor looked into Chloe's ears it produced a giggle. When she looked down her throat, another giggle.. well, you get the idea! The doc remarked at what a content and very social baby she is and said she couldn't recall the last time a baby smiled and laughed so much during an exam. Understandably though, Chloe didn't giggle much when it was time to get vaccinations. :( That part not so fun.

Most importantly , Chloe is healthy and doing well! Here are Chloe's stats as of 4 months:

weight 12 lb 9 oz (25%)
height 23.5 inches (22%)

Home

2010-08-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, David's ship returns from a 2 month underway at Sea. We are all excited of course, but I know one little girl especially that is going to be very, very happy! :) ( --Or as she says, "BERRY, BERRY happy!")

Baby transportation

2010-08-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

During the past week, whenever I ~~never~~ have a few moments to clean, vacuum, or do laundry I will put Chloe into the baby sling and wear her around the house.

So far it has worked fairly well for short periods; Chloe is pretty content with hangin' inside the carrier and watching the world go round'.. and will sometimes even fall asleep while I wear her and simultaneously get some housework done!

However, she normally doesn't want to be inside the sling for more than an hour (or so) at any given time- and when she wakes up she normally wants to come out ASAP! But, that is fine with me as the weight of it usually sets in and starts to hurt my shoulder and back around the same time anyway!

The hotsling carrier that I am wearing below is probably my favorite of the carriers that I own/have tried so far though. I love the simplicity; there are no large pieces of fabric to figure out, ties to tie, or adjustments to be made. You just put it on and put baby inside. Badda-Bing.
Plus, they have a variety of eye-candy fabrics that make babywearing fun and funky, too :)

Tap

2010-08-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

As you know, Alison began Tap Dance class a few weeks ago. She really loves dressing up in the leotards, tutus and dance dresses I have bought for her. Minus the tights though, of course. Oh my gosh, she HATES wearing the tights! Once she has them on she is OK but putting them on her is not fun. AT all. Oh, the drama!

This was her on the first day before we left for the first class. She (now) usually wears a tutu or a dance skirt over the leotard but for the first class went without.

Sorry about the blur on these, she was moving around so much and I didn't change my camera settings.

I love this one because she had no desire to just stand there and smile, can you tell? ;)Thus I got a grummpy face. She just wanted to dance around and did not want to be bothered by posing for photos. :)

She had no issues modeling this dress I bought for her though. As soon as it arrived in the mail she asked to put it on. The dress wasn't bought specifically for tap class, but it sure is cute, no? She loves it!

ice cream fun

2010-07-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we made homemade ice cream. Yup, I dug out the ice cream maker for the occasion as I was craving ice cream and it sounded like just the perfect summer activity for us to partake in!

Of course, Alison was thrilled with this idea. You see, this kiddo ~~lives for~~ loves ice cream.

She especially loves chocolate ice cream. Or any ice cream with good amounts of chocolate like chocolate chips, brownies, etc,.. that are mixed within. This time we kept things simple and just made vanilla with a few semi- sweet chocolate chips thrown in for good measure. (And then hot fudge on the finished product.)

The flavor turned out decent, but the consistency was not exactly perfect. And it melted wayyy too quickly. But who cares! It was still edible and we had fun making our yummy creation! But next time we may have to give it more time in the machine in order to(hopefully) get it thicker.

As you will see in the photos below, Alison enjoyed every bit of the ice cream making (and eating) process :)

We wish

2010-07-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy, ever!

videos

2010-07-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

A few recent videos you might enjoy..

Alison making up a story (pardon the messy kitchen in the background)

Chloe giggling

Alison dancing at home

testing

2010-07-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

new design

2010-07-24T01:29:00.001-07:00

Hi!

Notice a few new changes here? I guess you could say that my blog is experiencing a makeover.. nothing drastic.. just a bit of a new look.

I decided that it's time to make things a bit more photo friendly around here by adding larger sized photos and a more understated, simple design. Plus, I'm psyched about the slide show at the top of the page.

I've been wanting to do this for a while now as I love taking photos of my girls and I want the pictures that I take (and post here) to show up in a style that reflects this.

Something a bit easier on the eyes.

Plus, I think the larger photo size will not only make sure I keep taking lots of pictures, but also help me strive for better quality photos when I do, which is something I have admittedly become a bit of a slacker about lately (no time?! no energy!? excuses, excuses!).

So, bear with me while these changes are in place as I haven't got it completely figured out yet. Work in progress!

Stay tuned!

A week's worth of activities (and then some)

2010-07-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

My mom flew out to visit us last week, and to say that her visit was wonderful, and helpful, and great for my sanity is a bit of an understatement.

Plus, it was fun. Now that Chloe is 3 months and is up for a few more adventures I feel like I can leave the house sometimes with the girls (not including mandatory grocery trips, doc appts, or taking Alison to/from preschool) in order to get out and do a few possibly enjoyable things now and then. And, I probably don't have to tell you that this is a LOT easier when you have an extra pair of hands to help.

We hit up one of SD's big Farmer's markets, went out to lunch a few times, went to the pool and the local spray-park, and attended one of my friend's daughter's 13th B'day party, (where we ate fresh made-to-order mexican food and Alison got to try out her luck with a pinata!).

In addition, Alison began taking two classes at the local rec center last week as well; Tap dance class, and Tennis!

AND, (whew!), Alison also resumed preschool and began the new school year this week as the schools here are on the year-round system.

As for me, I got a bit of some personal down time during my mom's visit too since I had the advantage of a built-in-babysitter. I went for a few runs, did some grocery shopping (sans kids!!), got my hair cut, and treated myself to a pedicure.

My mom's visit also reminded me that I need to take breaks every now and then when David is away at sea, so I interviewed a babysitter that was recommended to me by another mom.
I figure that this is a good idea as life as a single mom for long periods can sometimes get tiring and challenging. Sometimes just One hour is all I need to recharge. And, realistically speaking, my husband is going to be away for 8 months next year and I need to prepare for that in every way one can possibly plan for that type of thing.

Thus, I am going to enlist the help of the babysitter for a few hours a week so that I can get some alone time to do things (like grocery shopping for instance) or to just spend some one-on-one alone time with Alison, which is something I haven't been able to do as much of lately and feel guilty about. And, maybe at some point my husband and I will even get a date night out of it too. :)

Well, here are a few snapshots of a week's worth of activities! I took some video too, but that will have to wait for another time.

Alison picking out the bouquet of flowers that she wanted at the Farmer's Market. (FYI she chose these mini red Roses)

At the Spray Park

Alison is very serious about enjoying ice cream.

Warming up at Tap Dance Class

doing baree work

Alison and Pinata

Chloe chillin'

Alison and mama post 1st tennis class!

3 months

2010-07-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that this little sweetie has been in our lives for only 3 months.

Today I packed away all of her newborn sized clothes, since they no longer fit. And honestly most of her 0-3 month are getting very tight on her too. The fact that she is growing out of these little clothes is bittersweet for me. Kinda makes me sentimental. Can't she please stay teeny tiny for just a little while longer?

Three months means no longer a newborn, but a true infant now, right?

Chloe is quite strong and is starting to do a little bit of a "half"-roll. She turns her head and rolls half of her body on to her side, but doesn't make it all the way over. Only a matter of time I guess..
Even though she absolutely hates tummy time (the girl starts screaming almost immediately within a minute or two of being on her tummy every time!) she has been holding her neck up well for quite a while now. She has also found her fingers and loves to put them in her mouth (sometimes she will even put her paci back in when it falls out!) and, has started to grasp and hold on to some of her smaller toys and stuffed animals, too.

These days she seems to be sleeping less during the day and is having longer stretches of being awake and alert. She loves to be held and loves to hold hands with anyone who will do so. Holding hands seems to comfort her and can often quiet her down when she is upset. There have even been a few times that she and I have fallen asleep while holding hands together! Ahhh.. So adorable. And, comforting to her mama too :)

Chloe is full of smiles and she is a social baby. She has a smile for almost everyone that has a smile for her. I've heard from a few individuals now that they have never seen a baby so smiley at such a young age:)

Happy 3 months Chloe Claire...
You have only been around for 3 months but already I can't imagine our familly and life without you!

Laughing/talking video. Taken a few weeks ago..

A few of her favorite things..

2010-07-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Miss Fancy Nancy here. Or, as Alison refers to her, "Fancy Antsy" ;)

I haven't been able to blog as often as I'd like. I'm just too _________ (fill in the blank).

Words that come to mind are busy, tired, brain-dead or a mixture of all of the above. Most days I can't contemplate trying to form a sentence coherent enough to be blog-worthy.

The other day I couldn't remember my zip code. Umm..Not kidding.

I thought that I experienced mommy memory loss after having one child, but I am finding that this phenomena actually doubles with two children. I really should say four kids if you consider our cat and dog and some days I most definitely feel like they count!

As busy as having two kiddos can make any parent, having your spouse away for extended periods makes it that much harder. I'm not complaining, just stating the obvious. That said, we look forward to David coming back from sea in August.

In the meantime, I was asking Alison about some of her "favorite" things the other day. I wrote them all down as I'd like to put them in her baby book (you know, the one that I haven't even really started and is forever on my "to do" list).

So for memory sake, if I never get around to it and I end up losing the piece of paper that has her answers written on (which is very possible) well, then at least I'll have it here to refer back to.

I love her responses. So very Alison :)

What is your favorite....?

Color: purple

Food: donuts, no! WAIT! pancakes!

Disney Princess: Sleeping Beauty

TV Show: Yo Gabba Gabba

Friend: Madison

Thing to do with Mommy: Go on walks

Thing to do with Daddy: Go to playground

Place to go: Sea World

Toy: tea party

Activity: bouncing, jumping and hopping

What you want to do when you grow up: ALL of them! (so ambitious!)

Who do you want to marry? Daddy

Favorite place to go on vacation: Hawaii

Car: Minnie's Car

Smell: Frosting

Sport: Tennis

Restaurant: A donut place

Day of the week: Domingo

East Coast or West Coast: East coast!

Little sister Chloe can't verbalize her favorite things too well just yet. ;) But, I'm seeing more of her personality shine everyday. She enjoys watching her big sister ham it up, getting attention from people and giving back lots of smiles in return, putting her fingers in her mouth, talking/cooing, playing airplane, sleeping next to mama, and watching the ceiling fan go round and round..

Thanks for checking in!

Rock on rock star..

2010-06-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

3 years ago

2010-06-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

The photo you see to the left is one of (few) that I took of Alison when she was in the PICU after surgery in June of 2007.

June 14 this year marked the 3 year anniversary of the surgery that essentially saved Alison's life. And, I was thinking back upon this one day last week and feeling kind of sentimental. I guess that having a second child inevitably reminds you of some of the experiences that you went through with your first baby/child. It's easy to start comparing I'm sure, but in our case our experience was so different from the very beginning that it isn't even comparable at all really.

Looking back now, it is hard for me to believe that Alison was just 6 months old when she went through everything that she did. That's only about 3 months older than Chloe is now. And, because of that, I'm reminded of how lucky Chloe is that she probably wont have to go through something like this. Hopefully not ever, and especially not as a small baby.

The awful symptoms that Alison experienced, the testing that ensued, the diagnosis, the surgery, the recovery and all of the subsequent follow-ups (which are still ongoing). Looking back, I remember how some of the precious milestones she reached as a young baby are so bittersweet as they were all too soon retracted due to her sickness.

For example, the fact that she essentially STOPPED growing altogether somewhere around 4-6 months due to the high levels of hormones wrecking havoc in her tiny body.

Or how she started to roll/flip over at 5 months, but, as she became sicker and had muscle deterioration, stopped being able to do so and couldn't do this again until months post-surgery when she had time to grow and build up her strength all over again.

How she didn't begin to walk independently until she was almost 21 months old.

Thus, so many of her young months and first tender years of life were spent trying to play catch-up.

And, here we are three years later and she has come so far and grown so much, physically and emotionally. If it weren't for the visible scar that exists and extends from the top of her chest down to her belly button/abdomen, You would never know otherwise. You would never know now by watching her play, or dance around the house, or make up a silly song, just how sick she was when she was just a few months old.

Sure, there are photos like the one above that remind us (and, honestly I actually wish I had taken more of them for this very reason. So that we have them and more importantly SHE has them in the future).

And then, of course there are those haunting memories that will never leave my mind when I do decide to go there and reflect/think back.

And I really don't ever want to forget, even though it was so heartwrenching as a parent to go through. Because it makes her who she is. It makes her so very special and strong, and me too.

Some days I am tired. I'm exhausted by the energy of a 3 year old and her ability to test and challenge me. Which she can do quite well.

But, I'm so thankful for her exuberance. And her spirit and strength. Her sillyness. And her determination and even her (gulp) stubborness. Yes, even that.

But, above all, just for HER.

What a gift.

Video Wednesday

2010-06-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been a while...busy busy...

Last week Chloe had her 2 month check-up at her pediatrician's office. She weighed in at 10 lbs (28th percentile) and is 57.8 cm in height (67th percentile).

Chloe is eating well, sleeping well at night, and napping with more consistency during the day. She still has some irriation after nursing and a lot of spit-up at times but generally our days are not as filled with as much crying/discomfort as they were just a few weeks ago. I don't know if I can attribute this to the use of the probiotics, or if it is just her system starting to regulate itself naturally. Either way, things are looking up and it's a good thing.

She had her first ever vaccination during this doctor's visit as well as we are opting for a delayed vax schedule. Well, she took it like a champ. No tears or complaints at all. Easy, peasy!

A lot of people seem to say that Chloe resembles me a lot thus far. I've actually been hearing g this since she was still in utero though because a sonographer at one of my ultrasounds even mentioned it when she was looking at a side profile shot of Chloe during an ultrasound! (Um, yea, I thought she was a little crazy at the time!!)

And now, anyone up for some video?

In it you'll see just a few of Miss Chloe's many cutie smiles :) And a guest appearance by someone's big sister, who of course had to steal a moment in the spotlight towards the end of the video. ;)

I sure wish I had video of lil C's recent cooing and giggles(!) to show off as well. They are pretty darn adorable if I do say so myself. I'll try to get a bit of video of that soon too.

*if you don't see video below, I apologize! There is something wonky going on and my videos don't appear to be showing up anymore on blogger. Hopefully I'll get it figured out and fixed soon!

Sisters Chillin'

2010-06-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago us girls watched a movie together at home. Now, I have to say, I don't normally make it a habit to put my 2 month old in front of the television, but it had been a long day and I needed a few moments. Plus, hey it was kind of a cute photo opp!

And why Alison has no shirt on? She wanted (and was very determined) to watch Space Buddies and eat popcorn without her shirt on. Don't ask me why. Three year old's!!

Both girls did look to be enjoying the flick. At least in the beginning..

Not even 40 minutes later though, they both had fallen asleep, haha.

And notice the in-flight dropped pacifier in the bottom photo? :)

8 weeks today

2010-06-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

It's just craziness. Chloe is already looking so much older and more filled out and time seems to be flying by ((sigh)). And no more newborn clothes... she is wearing 0-3 and already fitting into some 3 month items now as well.

She is already pretty good at holding her head up very well. And, she loves to make a lot of eye contact. So many cute smiles and "coos" for us too. I love it.

video update

2010-06-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Excuse the poor video quality (I'm getting a real video camera soon!) but I thought I would share a few video clips taken over the past month!

First ..
Alison singing her "Days of the Week" song that she learned in preschool.

She can sing them in both Espanol AND English :) (However, the days of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday always seem to run together a bit in the Spanish version ;)

At the end she asks for her bagel back.

Then, Alison doing some freestyle dancing/skipping outside to the classic tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain"..

Alison "reads" to Chloe.

And, Miss Chloe. :) (sorry for my background chatter)

Winner

2010-06-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm more than a bit belated with this post. But, better late then never, right??

Although nobody *officially* guessed that our little darlin' Chloe would arrive exactly one week late, (on April 10, 2010) I figured it was only right to award the person that came closest.

That said, the winner of the $5 Starbucks gift-card is Natalie over at One Pork Chop! (BTW, Natalie's guess was April 7th!)

Natalie, Congrats! I'll be in touch with you soon and will get your Starbucks gift card out in the mail ASAP.

Thank you to everyone that played along as we really enjoyed reading all of your guesses!!

Blogger Award

2010-05-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Busy has been the word! Between David working on the ship extra long hours lately and couple of visits from family members over the course of the last few weeks (--oh, and let's not forget an active 3 yr old and a newborn!---) I've fallen a bit behind in my blogging. So, now I'm trying to steal moments away here and there and play catch-up :)

First off, Thank You, Laura, from The Tale of Baby Riser, for bestowing this award upon us! Not only is Laura a fairly new mama blogger, but she also happens to be my Sister-In-Law! :)

So, here are the rules of this Award:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 10 bloggers who you have discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

So, 7 things about myself:

1. I'm mama to 3.5 yr old Alison and 7 week old Chloe. And, though they appear to resemble one another physically, they seem to already be different in personality! ;)

2. Unlike many first time moms of little girls, I was not interested in decorating, buying, or dressing my first born daughter in everything frilly and/or pink! The second time around though? I can't get enough of all the pink. Weird huh? (interesting side note: Alison's fave color is pink, which just goes to show me of course!)

3. Favorite new TV show of the year? Parenthood. So glad it was picked up for another year.

4. My husband, David, is in the Navy. We usually move every 2 years (give or take) and our life is an adventure in unpredictability because of this (if not just plain crazy at times!)

5. I love nicknames and I have all kinds of silly nicknames for my girls. I rarely call them by their "formal" first names alone.

6. When I hear The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" I can't help but dance. Even if I'm sitting, I'll dance in my seat.

7. By the time I was in high school I had made 7 trips/vacations to Germany to visit famly, most of them as a child. Some of my favorite memories ever too.

And now I'll pass the award on to the following fab blogs:

~Kristine at There's Nothing Like A Daughter To Love...Except Maybe Three!"

~ Eliza at The Redlus Family

~Tracie at TSJ Photography

~Natalie at One Porkchop

~Heather at Our Incredible Journey

~Eliza at Postcards From Parenthood

~Miranda at Hangin' Loose with the Tucci's

Amber at Amber Page Writes

Susan at The Baby Brade Chronicles

~Sarah at Baby Stroke Steps

One month update

2010-05-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit behind on my updates, and it is time to post.

Miss Chloe turned the big ONE-MONTH-old on Monday. Crazy as it sounds, sometimes I selfishly feel like I don't want her to get any bigger or grow up any more. I love holding this little one in my arms. I love examining her tiny fingers and hands as she so sweetly clutches my own fingers. And yet, her newborn clothes are already becoming a bit snug and she has grown into Size 1 diapers... ! Anyway, as you can see, I made a special onesie to mark the one-month birthday. :)

Backtracking a bit first here.. my Mother's day was a bit mellow. David had to work (yes, again. We can't wait until he finally has a day off NEXT weekend. I wont even go into how crazy his job is right now but the fact that he hasn't had a single day off in three weeks should tell you something!) Anyway, I hung out with the girls on Mother's Day. Chloe wasn't having a particuarly great day but we spent some time in the backyard and Alison presented me with a special and most FABULOUS mother's day gift. The super cool thing about it was that it was made by her at preschool! You know how they say that homemade gifts are the best? So true! All of the kids in her class made a "love" box to give their moms. On one side was a photo of Alison and on the other side the answer to the question that her teacher posed "Why do you love your mommy?" Her response was pretty funny, too! Aww, I loved it!

And now an update on Chloe...

Chloe is a sweetie and growing well. There is a bit of good news and bad news though. Not so great news first...
Chloe has a lot of reflux, which means a lot of crying. Although she is a good eater, she tends to become very upset after eating (or sometimes even during). The reflux is clearly uncomfortable for her. Poor thing has a lot of spit up, coughing up, and burps. She squirms and arches her back a lot. She needs to be burped after she eats right away and she likes to be carried around upright and across my shoulder. Napping can be a challenge as she does not like to be put down flat on her back. She wakes up within 5-10 minutes every time, or just wont drift off to sleep at all and will just scream and cry. She seems to prefer napping in her swing or her car seat carrier and this works best with the white noise machine going (or when driving in the car). But even this sometimes does not work.

As much of a fan of babywearing as I am, I haven't figured out the carrier that works best for us yet either. She just doesn't seem comfortable in the carriers thus far. I put her in them and she is squirming and upset within 5 minutes, but I'll keep trying.

Some days are better than others, of course. Last monday she cried almost all of the day and didn't take one nap lasting more than 20 minutes the entire day. But, on Wednesday she took two 2-3 hour naps, which was a wonderful thing. You just never know though, because yesterday was more of the same; bouts of crying, being carried upright most of the day, and napping very little.

The good news? She is a great sleeper at night!!! whoo hoo! (why do I feel like I should knock-on-wood as I type this ?). She usually wakes up twice at night to eat, once around midnight and then again at 4am. She doesn't make much of a fuss at night at all. After changing and eating we are quickly back to sleep again. Let me tell you, with the days being as crazy as they are I am so very thankful for this!

Chloe had her 1 month check up at the pediatrician this week as well. She is now weighing at 8lbs 4 oz and 21 inches.

Obviously I brought up the reflux issues to her pediatrcian so that he would be aware of the situation. He noted that it can be frustrating but that many babies really need that "fourth trimester" outside the womb for their digestion/gut to become fully developed. He said that often times there is something magical about the "3 month" age when babies with reflux issues get worked out on their own. It's just getting to that 3 month point that can prove interesting!

Because he does not see any red flags (ie: lack of weight gain) he felt it was up to us if we chose to put her on medicine for the reflux or try any other methods first. So far, we have used a combination of mylicon and "Colic Calm" gripe water.

I do feel like the gripe water takes a bit of the edge off, and calms Chloe a bit. And maybe if I used it more often during the day it would help a little more, I don't know. But, the bad part of the gripe water is that I have to give it to her often througout the day to see any slight difference. And the staining!!! Ugh. This stuff has a vegetable charcoal in the inegredient ingredient making everything that it touches black. Not good. I now have tons of sleepers, swaddling blankets, burping clothes, (not to mention my own clothes) that have wonderful black stains on them now. Eerrgh. Ah well.

Although maybe not the mainstream approach, her pediatrician brought up trying the use of probiotics for her reflux,as there has been good research on the benefits of using them with little ones who have reflux/colic issues. This idea appealed to us as I like to try natural/holistic methods first if possible when it comes to my children's health. Our pediatrician knows that and it is probably why he mentioned this to me. Nothing against modern medicine at all, I think medicine is and can be wonderful, but we just want to try everything else possible first before resorting to it.
Thus, we'll try the probiotic route and see how that goes... I mean, why not? if we find she is not getting relief with the probiotic and her issues haven't worked themselves by that point, then we will definitely consider it as an option.

When Chloe is awake and feeling good she is quite attentive. She likes gazing in her big sister's direction, and she has recently given our dog, Bailey, a good stare down too.
One of her favorite things is looking at the black and white photographs that hang above our bed. She is fascinated with them. And, I know it is dorky of me, but I'm convinced this means she will be my little artist ;) Also, she is almost as interested in her larger-than-large"mobile" in our bedroom (AKA: the ceiling fan). She is always looking up for it when I change or nurse her.

Even though she is bothered with the reflux, she gives us sweet smiles everyday that melt our hearts. I can't remember Alison smiling near as often so early on, but Chloe is very smile-y (then again maybe it is the gas?!) Sometimes it seems like she even wants to giggle! Her smile is just beautiful (like her sister!) and she has a dimple on the exact opposite side of Alison! Oh, I just want to eat her up.

just in case you were starting to think she is always smiley ;0

My Mother's Day gift from Alison :)

Me and my girls

2010-05-09T08:44:00.001-07:00

Last week I attempted to take a few photos of me and my girls.

David has been working 12+ hour days without a single day off in almost 3 weeks now (boooo!) so I figured I would try to take them myself. (Yeah, big cheers for the invention of the camera timer and tripod!)

Honestly, I have no idea why I chose that day or moment to take a few pictures. To say I wasn't prepared for it would be an understatement. I hadn't showered that day much less done my hair or makeup! And, as you can see I was sporting some weird half ponytail going on in the hair department and and I think I have spit-up down the back of my top too.

But, both girls were in a "good" (cooperative?) mood so I had to grab the opportunity while I could. And we had fun. Well, Chloe had no clue what was going on and was probably thinking she has a crazy mama, but Alison and I had a good time running back and forth to get to the camera in time before the shutter clicked, and just being silly in general.

I probably took 10 pics total and these two (seen below) were the best of the bunch. It's too bad Chloe wasn't looking in the general direction of the camera in the second pic, but it's tough to get a newborn AND a 3-yr old to look in the same direction, possibly smile, or at the very least not be crying at the same time.

But, oh well. I like them just the same. Dirty hair and all.

The next time I decide to have pictures taken I think I'll shower and fix my hair in advance. And have someone else take them. But until then..

Happy Mother's Day.

Because I just can't get enough

2010-04-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

Alison loooves her sissy

2010-04-26T09:51:00.001-07:00

A very PROUD big sister!

Alison is doing really well with her little sister's arrival. When we first brought Chloe home, Alison would get upset when Chloe cried. She would put her hands to her ears and say "I DONT like that noise!!". But, now she has grown more used to it of course (although she still holds her hands to her ears when she hears baby Chloe cry in the middle of the night).

She loves to check in with baby when I am nursing her, or while she is asleep, just to make sure she is OK. When we change Chloe's diaper she likes to be a "helper" and take the dirty diaper and put it in the diaper pail, or hand us a baby wipe. Although Alison was at first a bit tentative to hold or touch Chloe during the very first few days at home, Alison now likes to hug, tickle Chloe's ear, or gently brush her hair with her hand. She often says to us, "Mommy/Daddy baby Chloe is soo cute. I love her so much!". Yesterday Alison told me that Chloe is her "favorite baby in the whole entire world!" :) Alison likes to give her sweet little kisses too. And, as a mom, it is pretty awesome to watch Alison interact and be so motherly and affectionate with her.

As for Miss Chloe, she seems to enjoy her big sister's antics and attention. She likes to gaze in Alison's direction when she is near and Alison gets a huge kick out of this too. When she sees Chloe looking in her direction she will say (or rather yell in typical 3 yr old fashion) "Mommyyyy!, she is looking at ME!! She must REALLY REALLY like me!!!"

Chloe had her 1 week Pediatrician appointment last Thursday. The doc's physical exam went well and Chloe is gaining weight normally. (She has surpassed her birth weight by 6oz- yeh!)

It was good to hear that she is gaining weight nicely especially since she is a baby that has a LOT (NO, a TON!) of spit-ups, regurgitation, wet burps and hiccups. We had to go out and buy a few more packages of burping cloths just because she spits up sooo much! (This is new to us as we never had this problem with Alison, in fact, we rarely burped Alison! She just didn't need it.)

Chloe is very different though. In fact, I began to worry a bit last week about the possibility of colic/ gastroesophageal reflux when Chloe was not napping at ALL during the day and seemed bothered by the spit up she was having during/after her feedings. In fact, when she is not asleep, she is almost always crying and I am trying everything I can to soothe her and get her back to sleep! Right now the only way she will take a short nap during the day is if she is in her infant car seat carrier with the white noise machine going. Not ideal, but a nap is a nap. And some days this works out better than others. (Also, things get even more interesting when you have a 3 year old in the equation who likes to talk REALLY loud when there is a (finally!) sleeping newborn. Ahhh! Never a dull moment!) ;)

I brought this up to her pediatrician last week and he allayed my fears a bit. He said that many newborns do have some Gastro Esophageal Reflux issues during the first few months because their systems are simply not simpatico yet. He did not seem worried because Chloe is thriving, healthy and gaining weight as she should be. So, we agreed to keep an eye on the situation and he recommended trying Mylicon and Gripe Water in the meantime to help ease any gas pain/discomfort.

Hopefully these help a bit, as the bouts of crying and fussiness during the day can be trying. At the same time, I'm very thankful that starting a week or so ago she has been a great night sleeper (as long as certain conditions are in place anyway!) and sleeping a couple of hours at length at a time. This is great because I/we need our sleep at night and just can't imagine going without!

Our hope is that the reflux type of symptoms will subside in the next few weeks/months on their own as her digestive system works out the newborn kinks. We really like that her pediatrician was not quick to prescribe drugs in order to medicate her tiny system, given the possible side effects. I don't want to start down that road if we don't have to and am willing to try any homeopathic options first. I'm also going to take a look at my own diet and eliminate (or at least try to decrease) my intake of dairy and carbonated beverages and/or caffeine which can exacerbate these kinds of issues.

OK now on to what you REALLY came here to see...the photos of our girls!! Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-21T19:12:00.001-07:00

it's happened again. we're so in love.

The Birth Story of Chloe Claire

2010-04-17T10:44:00.001-07:00

So here it is (finally)..

My apologies for taking so long to post. What would normally take me a few minutes to write, has taken me almost two days to get through, due to lots of interruptions from lil' Chloe and her big sister :)

So, for those of you that are interested, (and for my own documenting purposes as well), here is Chloe Claire's birth story:

Last Saturday (4/10/10) David, Alison, my mom and I decided to spend the afternoon at the local Nature Center. We decided it would be nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air, but also stay close enough to home *in case* labor started.

We spent a few hours at the center, exploring the grounds, taking a walk on one of the trails, and watching Alison have fun at their kids story/craft time event.

The sun was shining bright..and the weather was beautiful. A great day to have a baby.

(photo during our walk)

At the end of our afternoon at the nature center, while we sat there waiting for the trolley to pick us up and bring us back to their parking lot, I started to feel consistent contractions every 12 minutes apart. The kind of contractions that made me think..Hmmm... things might be getting interesting here...

When we returned home, I relaxed some, contacted my birthing doula (to give her a heads up just in case) ate dinner, and took a shower.

Within two hours my contractions were coming every 6-7 minutes, and lasting for 25-30 seconds. At that point I called the midwife who was on duty at the birthing center/hospital. She said that she would recommend waiting until my contractions were 50 seconds -1 minute long in length, but that it was my decision of course as to whether I came in or not at that point.

David and I felt things were progressing fairly quickly and I didn't want to be at home (or worse, in the car!) having a baby- and we live about 30 minutes from the hospital. So, we decided to gather our things, say goodbye to Alison and my mom, and head up to the birthing center.

On the way there, my contractions were starting to increase and were coming 4-5 minutes apart. I called my doula while we drove and told her to please meet us there.

When we arrived at the hospital around 8pm, the midwife checked me and I was 3 cm dilated and fully effaced. They admitted me (though later we found out that at just 3cm they usually do not!) However, based on my previous short labor with Alison, the midwife felt I be admitted and stay for a while. ( Thank you intuitive midwife!)

8pm..just a few minutes after arriving at the birthing center..)

My birthing doula arrived around 9pm, and at this time my contractions were further spaced apart again (7-8 mins or so) and I was starting to worry my labor might be stalling out. We talked for a while and then decided to that the three of us would walk the halls and do some light stretching and lunges. Well, that was really all that was needed to jump start my contractions again because that is when the contractions started to kick up a notch and began coming at 3-4 minutes apart. It was then that I was feeling like things were growing quickly more intense and I wanted to go back to our birthing room and lay down for a bit and rest.

When we got back to my room, we asked the nurse about starting the water for the labor tub (which would take 30 minutes to fill) and she looked at me with a smile and a bit like I was crazy. She said something about saving the tub for when you REALLY need during those extremely intense parts of labor when I had progressed more. At that point I was thinking, Oh my God! I'm screwed then because this already feels pretty darn intense to me right now!! agh!

Ironically, my water broke a few minutes later and the SUPER intense contractions hit me in gigantic waves. We called for the nurse and told her to please start filling the labor tub (which would take 30 minutes to fill). She left the room and just a few short minutes later I started to get the feeling like I had to push. Immediately!

My doula ran to get the nurse, who called down to our midwife. When they came back they both were kind of shocked that I had progressed so fast in a short amount of time and was fully dilated! It was time for baby to come! And, needless to say I never had the chance to labor in that birthing tub! :)

So, I began pushing at 11pm and miss Chloe arrived just before midnight. I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself (and dare I say even a little surprised?) that I was able to have my entire birth in a birthing center room, and did so entirely intervention and medication free!!

With all of my anxieties about labor in the past, I did it. Crazy! This time our baby got to choose her own time to be born, 7 days pass my due date. I am eternally grateful that I trusted in my baby, my body, my midwife, my doula and my husband.

Right after Chloe was born she was put skin-to-skin and we were able to bond immediately. I cannot express the overwhelming feelings and love that I felt.

The only bummer of the event occurred right after I pushed my placenta out and I immediately experienced a LOT of blood loss. Things got a little scary for me when they started talking about how I was hemorrhaging and my midwife called down for a blood transfusion to be put on stand-by. Everyone kept very calm though. And, fortunately, the midwife and nurse were able to get my uterus contracting once gain by manipulation , two shots of medicine and an IV of fluid,so that I did not have to have the transfusion afterall.

Overall, I had the beautiful birth that I was wanting. Apparently, our doula and my midwife felt it was also a beautiful experience. Our doula told us afterwards that, although she attends quite a few births of course, she hadn't attended a truly beautiful birth in quite some time. And our midwife told us that David and I worked so well together (OK, she was actually raving about what a strong support he was) that seeing my birth made her want to have another baby of her own. :) (she has a 6 month old). Pretty cool. I cannot think of a sweeter, more genuine comment.

(David cutting the cord)

It was one of the hardest things I have ever done physically. It was painful, and there were a few moments during pushing where I thought I might not get through it. But, I also never doubted my body. And the option for medication honestly was never considered (possibly because it all went so fast!?)

The positive affirmations kept playing over and over in my mind. And, the positive energy from everyone in the room filled my body with strength. The room was quiet and I went into an almost zen-like mental state. And, having my doula and husband's hands to squeeze the daylights out of during each push gave me both support and an outlet. :)

Everyone in attendance trusted me and allowed my body to do whatever it needed to get the baby out. I consider myself to be a bit of a wuss when it comes to these kinds of things. But, I guess this experience changed the way that I view myself a bit. I feel stronger. So empowered.

Even though my labor did not last all that long in duration, this was definitely MY marathon. And, although it was a huge challenge, it felt right for me and for my birth with Chloe.

(chloe's first weigh-in)

(our awesome doula, kayti, and us about an hour post delivery- all photos of actual labor are credited to her)

So, that's it. For those of you that are still reading this sappy post, thanks for doing so. I was happpy to share it with you:)

I'll try to post again soon about life with Alison and Chloe during Chloe's very first week! And more pictures of the SISTERS too, I promise!

Wordless Wednesday-Video-

2010-04-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Alison has been communicating with her baby sister a lot via my large stomach in these past few days. And, she has been giving my stomach lots of hugs and kisses too.

Hopefully you can understand what she is saying on the video. If not, you get the idea- she is ready for her baby sissie! :) Personally, I love the "it's playtime!"

an exciting Easter!

2010-04-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Not the way you might be guessing though.

However, I did feel the earth "move" literally and it wasn't due to labor. Nope, my official due date has come and gone and I'm still very much pregnant :)

Our Easter day activites consisted of rising early (OK, when do we NOT rise early? a 3 year old has no concept of ever sleeping in, right?- at least not OURS!) and Alison racing out of the room to check out her Easter basket!
After breakfast we had an egg hunt in the front yard and Alison had sooo much fun running around searching for the eggs. Alison found ALL of the eggs that the bunny left for her in record time, too. She is very good at this and the rest of the day she wanted to reenact more easter egg hunts while hiding them in random spots around the house. Sometimes she would hide them for us to find, and other times we would hide them for her to find. Either way she had a blast with this game. Over and over she wanted to play this!

In the early afternoon we had a yummy Easter dinner (Hello, Honeybaked ham!).

After our deelish dinner we all decided to relax, and shortly before 4pm it happened. Not the contractions that I was half expecting from a clearly filling dinner but instead......an Earthquake!!

I've felt minor earthquakes before in Seattle, but this one definitely got this girl's heart racing!! The windows started to rattle, and the room started moving side to side in a very "rolling" way. It seemed to gain in momentum during the first 15 seconds, and we all ran outside in the backyard (for some reason this just felt "safe" to us). From there we could see the house moving. Alison didn't seem to notice something going on, David had her safely in his arms, but our dog, Bailey, was visibly pretty upset by it..his hair was standing on end and he was running back and forth barking.

I'll never forget how it was a beautiful sunny afternoon outside with very little wind, but yet my backyard wind chimes were going like it was quite windy! Very eerie!
For those of you that have never experienced an earthquake like this before, this particular one felt like being on the middle of a swaying bridge and having someone on both sides pushing it back and forth, over and over.

The quake seemed to last forever but in reality it was only about 40 seconds in duration. When it was over, we went back inside and turned on CNN immediately to see the breaking news. The epicenter was located in Mexico about 125 miles South East of us. It registered about 7.2 but it was fairly deep which is why (luckily) more damage did not occur. This may be the biggest one I ever experience, and it was surely unsettling. Many people have lived in San Diego their whole lives and have never experienced one this large. I'm certainly glad that no damage (near us) occured from this and I cannot even imagine experiencing a larger or more damaging one. We'll definitely not soon forget our Easter Sunday 2010 in San Diego! Exciting to say the least.

Anyway, here are some of our Easter Day (and day before coloring eggs) pics! And, I'm hoping that the next post I share will be one bringing yet even more exciting news..in the form of our littlest family member! :)
(*By the way, I did experience some contractions on Saturday night- ones that were big enough to question me calling in to my midwife- but they weren't consistent and subsided after two hours) Ah, well! Baby will get here when she is ready! :)

Map of the quake courtesy of the USGS. Our little town/community of Chula Vista is listed on the photo (right in the middle of San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico). As you can see we fell in the light to moderate level.

baby toes=no words needed

2010-03-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

Now that I have to get ultrasounds once a week (very silly to me, but whatever) it only seems appropriate I post the latest ultrasound photo for today's "wordless Wednesday" post.

Seriously, who doesn't like wee baby toes? And, by the looks of this photo (or angle) I think little sister may have inherited my classic larger than life "big" big-toe. so cute!

Gosh I can't wait to meet this kiddo! Gotta get through labor though first. oh MY.

The waiting game

2010-03-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to post really quick and give a brief update for all of ya'll that aren't on Facebook and are checking in to see if I've had this baby girl yet. Well, as of now all is still quiet on the Western front.

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts regarding the contest I'm holding regarding little sister's arrival! It is too fun seeing everyone's guesses! If you haven't submitted yours yet there is still time, I'm still here! See previous entry below and submit your comment/guess!

Speaking of contests- I was the winner of a giveaway on another mommy's blog that I frequent and entered just for fun. I won a $50 gift certificate to Baby's First Phone Call. If you haven't heard of it and are expecting, you might want to check out the service as it is kind of a neat/novelty idea. As most of you know (or can at least imagine) getting on the phone to call all kinds of people and talk right after you have had a baby (and have another baby waiting for you at home!) can be easier said than done. This service allows you to make your own personal recorded message giving the awesome news and then calls everyone for you! So hey, if you want to be on our phone call list- just post or email me and let me know. Although, if you know me, I'm sure I'll be at the birthing center updating my Facebook status as things occur from my trusty little Blackberry. Ha, ha! Yeah, I can never seem to get away from being "connected" can I? ;)

Today's Midwife appointment /NST and ultrasound went well. Baby girl was very sleepy (as was her mommy) but everything looked/sounded/measured just great. Head is down, fabulous heartbeat/movement, fluid levels..etc.. They asked if I wanted to be checked for dilation yet or have my membranes swept- No thanks to both! I haven't even technically reached my due date yet and I want to give this baby girl all the time she needs to grow and be at her best! Or, at least another week. ;) We'll see how the next few days go.

Well, gotta run! I so desperately need a nap and want to take advantage of this time while I can! Cheers to my mom for being here for us and all of her assistance these last few days! Alison has been sick for the past week with a bad cold and her mommy here is trying her hardest not to get the same! I now have a sore throat and and the last thing I want during labor is to feel sick and not be able to breathe due to congestion! Labor is tough enough as it is without that added bonus!! Eeeek! Gotta get some rest pronto.

Until next time!..

Can you guess??

2010-03-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Can you guess Baby girl's due date?? Will she be early? Right on time? Another late baby??

Thought I'd do something a little different here and hold a contest! Something fun for everyone who wants to play! So, here's your chance to share your thoughts, take a guess, and win a little something, too!

For one lucky reader of our blog who hits the mark on the head (or comes closest!) you will win a $5 Starbucks gift card! And come on, who doesn't love Starbucks? (not that I've been drinking a whole lot of it lately..sigh..)

In order to win you must be a follower of my blog and you must leave a public comment here in the comment section with your guess (and, please post time of day too just in case we have multiple guesses for the same day!) Closest person wins! Oh, and also leave your email address so I know how to get a hold of you if you are the winner!

P.S- I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow. And my due date still stands at April 3rd.

Wordless Wednesday- playtime, shades and tiaras

2010-03-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

38 week update

2010-03-21T21:55:00.001-07:00

Dave and Alison are outside cleaning out the cars and installing the infant car seat bases. Our hospital bags are packed. OK, not exactly. Almost though. ;)

So, just in case you are checking in for any "new" news..here is the latest...

Wow, I truly in the home stretch now. Only 2 weeks left. It's exciting yet nerve-wrecking at the same time. I mean really, I've done this before, it should be no big deal right? Wrong.

I'm actually a little more nervous this time around. It's been 3 years since I gave birth to Alison--and all I can remember thinking after my delivery with her was how I thought "I am SO glad to finally meet this baby girl!!!!!!

oh, and - I never. want. to. go. through. THAT (being labor) again.

But here I am. again. And it will be worth it once again.

Last Friday marked the first of my weekly fetal non-stress testing (also called NST) that I will be doing until delivery. Apparently these are routine with our provider when you turn the magical age 35+ (or have some other high risk condition that may warrant a higher level of screening). In my case it is just the age factor and they just want to do the extra monitoring and make sure baby is doing A-OK during these final weeks. (If you want to know exactly what a Fetal NonStress test is click here)

First up I had a routine sonogram (that started at week 38 as well). Everything looked great and normal. Baby girl looks healthy and had good pockets of fluid left (total measuring an 8.5; normal is considered 8 and above).

Then they hooked me up for the NST part (which monitors and measures the heartbeat and movement of baby) and things looked good except for a few dips in heart rate during the contractions I had (contractions which, btw, I really didn't even really feel.. but they DID show up on the monitor), which could be sign of something called cord compression. Well, they didn't like seeing the dips in heart rate during the contractions so they scheduled another NST for me on Monday (tomorrow). If they don't see those dips in heart rate again I am good to go with just the standard one time a week NST monitoring that I need to go in for. Hopefully that will be the case. Sometimes I think the more you get monitored the more "things" they will come up with to find. But, at the same time we want a healthy baby and labor, so will do what I need to do.

Between Alison and myself we've got 8 appointments total this week to go to- yep 8! Usually it is just two or three total so this will be a busier week for us!

My hope is that baby will hang in there for a few more days at the very least- my mom arrives on Wednesday and it would be a big sigh of relief knowing we would not have to worry about Alison when I go into labor because my mom can be at home and take care of her so that Dave and I can dash to the birthing center/hospital with no worries!
Thanks for checking in!

Alison update

2010-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I feel like it has been ages since I've posted about anything medically related to Alison, specifically, in regards to the routine testing that she undergoes. One reason is that we haven't had to take her in for testing quite as often recently. Just in case you didn't know, last year her St. Jude doctor confirmed that the routine testing protocol could be pushed back from every 3 months to every 6 months. This was great news.

Well it's been almost 9 months since we last took her in for a round of tests. And we are now due (well, past- due really). We've had some legitimate reasons (David's deployment, my pregnancy, busy schedules..etc..) But, as parents also we have delayed because we just plain don't want to put her through the pain of invasive testing once again. We know in our hearts she is healthy. However, we are torn because we still want to err on the side of caution and also adhere to the protocol.

Two months ago we contacted her former St. Jude doctor, Dr. Galindo (who has since moved on to a new position in Boston but we are still in contact with) as well as her new St. Jude doctor and a researcher of her particular tumor. We asked if there was a way to continue testing to make sure there is no recurrent or new tumor growth, but in a less invasive fashion.

They agreed that after almost 3 years being tumor free, her risk has dropped significantly. And because of that we can find a new way to monitor. They came up with a new testing plan, one that will hopefully produce accurate results but with the less invasive structure (IE: no traumatic strapping her down while kicking and screaming, no full sedations, no blood draws which consist of tons of sticks all over her body, etc..).

Her St. Jude doctors sent over their recommendation to her Oncologost/docotor here at Naval Medical Center San Diego (where we have been taking her to get testing done while we live in San Diego), and the doctors here confirmed and agreed to this as well.

So, for the first time ever we will begin these new tests this week! It will consist of a full abdominal ultrasound on Tuesday at hospital as well as a 24-hour urine test (to measure cortisol levels).

I'm not sure how these are going to go. It sounds great in theory and surely this can only be better than subjecting her to the fear and pain of the previous tests. But, at the same time she has so much built-in fear of doctors and procedures at this point that I think it could prove difficult for her to lie still for a 40 minute ultrasound. She is a little older and wiser now though, and I'm hoping we can talk her through this to help put her at ease some.

The good thing is that David will be able to take a few hours off of work in the morning to go with us for this visit. And, the 24 hour urine sample shouldn't be too hard to do since she is so good about using the potty and I should be able to easily collect it. (The doctors supplied us with a large orange jug filled with some sort of acid that I have to collect all urine into for a 24 hour period on Monday; sounds easy enough but let's just hope that she wont have to go potty while we are at two other appointments that I have to take her with me to attend on that day because I'm not about to bring this big orange jug all over town with us!)

Then we will bring the specimen to drop off at the lab before Tuesday's appointment/ultrasound.

So, please think of us and wish us a little luck on Tuesday if you can!

Word-less Wednesday on a Thursday

2010-03-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

I've seen a couple of other bloggers out there do something called a "Wordless Wednesday" post-- specifically only posting photos for the day with no writing. Well, I've decided to jump on that bandwagon and do the same.

Being a fan of photography, this idea appealed to me right off the bat. I feel that sometimes more can be spoken through photos than words can honestly describe, and possibly more emotion too. Also, this will remind me to keep taking photos..something I have been neglecting with all the busyness going on as of late! And, let's face it, we all love seeing lots of photos to go along with blog posts! Hopefully this will challenge myself to get the bigger camera out now and then again, switch up lenses, and stop relying on and using my crappy point and shoot so often.

So, though I'm a day shy this week, I'll try to stick to this blog idea in the future. Here are a few photos from the past week on my first official "Wordless Wednesday" post. Hope you enjoy!

I know that these are supposed to be "wordless" but I can't help but say how much I love these last two photos :)

How to get to Sentimentality Street ?

2010-03-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

(*WARNING*- schmaltzy pregnant mama post-* proceed with caution).....

37 weeks. And these final weeks of pregnancy are a bit bittersweet for me. They are filled with lots of preparing, anticipation, and last minute things to do and think about.

Physically, my body is feeling it. My stomach is gigantic. My hips are now sore. I have lots of varicose and spider veins going on. My feet and ankles have swelled. My ribs hurt. I'm tired. My body is generally stiff and achy. I've had more colds/flus over the course of these past 9 months than I had combined between the ages of 25-30 years old. (my one true goal is to NOT get sick again during the next 4 weeks. I would honestly consider putting myself in a bubble to achieve this but it's kind of hard to do so with a 3 yr old!). My level of patience is a wee bit less than stellar lately. Unfortunately, my complaints are probably more prevalent too. (Oh Poor David!)

And ironically, I'm trying to take mental note of it all- trying hard to remember these moments-because it could possibly be the last time I have a baby growing inside of me. And, for what it's worth, this has been a pretty easy pregnancy.

But, more than that, in the midst of all of these daily challenges and changes, something much bigger is occurring. Something much bigger than all of my complaints, worries, aches and pains. Something pretty darn amazing. A new family member is about to enter our world. A new little baby girl who will forever have our hearts. We already love her. A sibling for Alison. Another child for us. Another little person to love, and teach, and watch grow. And those are all such very cool things and we cannot wait.

But at the same time, I'm faced with trying to cherish as many moments left in the remaining weeks with our current "baby" too. I'm trying to soak in all of these precious minutes of alone time between us, giving her as much concentration as possible. Soon Alison will no longer be the only girl in our lives vying for our attention and time. It will no longer be just the three of us. Soon there will be two of THEM.

And, as exciting as that may be, it presents a new challenge to me as both a person and a mother. I guess as most expecting moms of their second child must feel, I am faced with the question of just "HOW I will be able to give of myself completely and find that much love to give to two little beings at the same time"? (quite possibly two very demanding little beings at that!) Mamas out there tell me all the time about how this love just doubles and grows like you can never imagine. It is comforting to hear and I know that it will be true.

But, I can't imagine. Not just yet anyway. There aren't words for the kind of love I have for Alison. What she brings to my life, our marriage, our family, and those lucky souls that have the fortune of knowing her for that matter. She is so special. I never thought I could love a little person as much as I love her.

So, I will wait and see. Excitedly. Nervously. Anticipating it all. But, soaking in the last moments of precious alone mother/daughter time with Alison--my current baby--too.

Yes, I gave you warning before you began reading. I'm a huge sentimentalist.

And, on that note I shall end this post. I've got a sweet little 3 yr old standing next to me asking me to play-and that is exactly what I shall do. :)

It's new to me, folks

2010-03-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

As we prepare for baby #2 and our weeks are growing short in number, I am trying to do as much as possible to prepare for this little one. But more and more I feel like I'm forgetting something. Maybe it is because we haven't hit up a Babies R Us, (or any baby super center or furniture store this time around for that matter). This is partly due to busy schedules, having lots of colds this season, and putting things off, but mostly because we haven't really felt a need to do so (and Target down the street is a wonderful thing).

Don't go thinking we are being neglectful parents of our second daughter just yet though. We've got what are the essentials (for us anyway.) Awesome birthing Doula to support us during labor? Check. Diapers, new onesies, booties, and hats for those first few precious days/weeks? Check. Car seat covers are washed and the infant car seats to be installed in our cars by David in the next week or two? Check. A handful of rockin' baby wraps/slings purchased so that I can (hopefully) babywear lots? Check. Co-sleeper all set up in the master bedroom? Check. Someone to watch Alison if we go early and my mom is not yet in town? BIG Check. (Whew!) Sounds good huh?

Still don't have a name though. You probably think we are crazy huh.. Procrastinators? Indecisive? Well, maybe a few of those things apply..but we do have a few possibilities in the running. And, we aren't stressed about it really. In the end, we plan to choose her name from our list once we meet and see what best fits her aura and personality best. So, as you can see we are actually pretty mellow about the whole new baby due in just 4 weeks thing I guess. :)

This week I began washing some of Alison's baby items that I kept just in case we had another baby girl and a few things popped into my head while doing so. Although this is our second baby, there are lots of things I may actually be using for the very first time.

For instance, we have two swaddling blankets (washed and ready to go-check), neither of which have gotten any use before. Alison was extremely against them, would scream and kick as soon as we wrapped her in them. And, much like magician Houdini she would somehow escape. It was quite impressive really.

Baby carriers. Like most babies, Alison always desired to be held. But, she never enjoyed being "worn", ironically. Before she was born, I purchased one of those old school Infantino carriers which I tried using on her in the beginning. But, I was not especially knowledgable about babywearing back then, and I gave up when she would squirm and cry as soon as she was put into the carrier. This makes me a little sad because I feel like if I had found a different style of carrier, one that was a better fit for her, she could have really benefited by being worn (and me too! and let's not mention David's poor arms!!). Later on, (post-surgery) when her body had grown, and she could support herself better, I did buy an Ergo carrier to give wearing a try again. We used it a handful of times, but, she was never really content or happy about it. She was probably just too accustomed to being carried everywhere by us.

She never took a pacifier. Ever. I wasn't one that wanted to use them much anyway, (too concerned about confusion issues when it came to nursing) but I had pre-bought for her just *in case* it was one of those things that worked and helped soothe her. Never did. In fact, the things just pissed her off much more! Oh well. I'm pretty sure that we experienced some level of hearing loss from all the screaming/crying, but at least we didn't have to contend with the whole "paci weaning" issue that some parents end up facing (apparently I was addicted to mine well into my toddler years,ha!)

Bibs. Whenever we would put a bib on her she would pretty much have a fit trying to flail about and and bat at or rip the thing off!. So, didn't use 'em. Yeah, I've got lots of lightly stained clothing that I will probably not be able to re-sell (and even more now that she is a preschooler, of course!) but I found it beats a hysterical-crying-tugging-at-bib baby. What's a little baby spit up on clothes in the grand scheme of things anyway, right?

Rocking chair/Glider. Used our custom designed glider all of 3 or 4 times. Proved to be more inconvenient than anything else. Probably because she never slept in her nursery where glider was located when she was a wee one. Or her crib. Neither worked for our particular situation.

Boppy Nursing pillow. Sounded like a good idea. Lots of people use them, (so I hear), but, it was much more convenient for me to use a regular pillow that was close by rather than go seek out that special "designated" pillow when it's that time. Or lie down and nurse in the side-lying position which, in the end, turned out to be my fave and worked best with dear Alison.

I am not sure where I stand on the double stroller dilemma. We're definitely not buying one in advance though because I really want to give babywearing a valiant effort. And, Alison has never been a child that has been pushed around a lot in her stroller anyway. Plus these double strollers/or sit-n-stands just seem a bit big and bulky to me. For me, the less I have to lug around/carry/put into the trunk of my car the better. But, I may change my mind about this. Perhaps those of you who have kiddos of two (or more) out there can give feedback to me on this- worth it? or no?

Maybe this time 'round I may get a bit more use of some of these items we got little use of before. I'll give some of them a try again. Or, then again, maybe baby girl #2 will prove to be like her older sister and I will end up selling things on Craigslist. Ha ha! We'll see!

Hello mom. You did what??

2010-03-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

Something strange occured today. Something very rare indeed.

I took a nap. For an hour. Yup.

At some point shortly after lunch I felt exhausted. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and caring for a non-stop 3 year old all day long. Yahhhh..I'm bound to have these moments. So, I did a really crazy thing. I sat down on the couch for a few moments..and then I decided to put my swelled feet up. And, you see where this is going? Less than a minute later I found myself completely horizontal on the couch with my head on a pillow!

Alison thought I was playing some sort of a game and brought me her princess blanket from her room (it's actually pretty cozy, too). She climbed up with me on the couch and lied down next to me, and for a brief 4 seconds I thought she just might allow herself to fall asleep and nap as well (which if you know Alison, for her, would be something much like the day when hell freezes over). But, she soon jumped off the couch and began to play (ie: scatter toys randomly round the room) by herself. I turned on the television and switched it to Nick Jr. channel (I think "Wow Wow Wubzy" was on at the time and anyone familiar with Nick Jr. understands me when I say it is not exactly the best cartoon to try to nap to but I'd take anything at that point) just to be sure she would be entertained by herself as it was obvious I was about to fall asleep right then and there..I was past the point of no return.

I dozed off quickly. And it was a very light sleep. I could hear Alison in the background dumping toys, chattering on to herself..and every now and then she would come over to check on me, say "hi mom!" and brush my hair back or kiss my nose. My sweet little munchkin. Yes, she actually let me nap for an hour!!? No screaming. No crying. No whining. And it was even cloudy out, (we ARE in San Diego, remember) and I have BBQ ribs going in the slow cooker to boot so the smell emitting from the kitchen was bonus.

Sure, I woke up to a family room that looks like it was ransacked by burglars looking for the Hope Diamond. (I'd take a photo and post for proof, but I'm too embarrassed. And, I don't have much time because I need to begin the task of cleaning it all up now.)

But, it was so worth it I tell you.

What you talkin' bout mom and dad?

2010-03-02T11:48:00.001-08:00

Once you have a non-stop chatter box on your hands, like our little darlin' Alison, you never know what might possibly (and surely will) come out of your little person's mouth. Usually it is in form of a WHY question (mommy, WHY ???) or a very opinionated response to something (No, I do NOT want to eat my dinner!!)

Sometimes it is something just too darn cute or insightful, or just plain random that will make you laugh out loud or smile. But, I've started to learn that as a mom I really have to watch what words I use more carefully these days, if you know what I mean. They really ARE listening. And repeat everything!

On a recent outing one day a few weekends ago, David and I decided to take Alison to the San Diego Fleet Science Center. (I think David likes going there as much as Alison does).
Anyway, here is my confession:
At most of these types of places if your child is two and under they get free admission. And, although Alison is now 3 years old we haven't exactly been motivated to fess up and start paying 3+ year old prices just yet when it comes to entry into these types of parks/museuems, etc..

I know, horrible of us right? But, to tell you the truth a lot of people still refer to her as a "baby" and she certainly looks like she could pass for two years old even though she is 3 years and 3 months old. So, whatever.

Anyway, back to the Science Center. We walk up to the ticket counter and ask to purchase two adult tickets because our little one here is two years old (and two and under get free entry). You probably see where this is going right? Well, nice ticket counter lady looks at Alison and smiles and doesn't think anything of it at all and we pay for our tickets. At which point it dawns on Alison that we had just called her twoo-- yes --two- and she looks completely puzzled and starts saying "huh? Oh no, I'm not two, I'm THREE!! "

Oy. Yes, she called us out on that. Uh, thanks Alison!

At that point, we cant help but chuckle a bit under our breath and I act as though she is completely and totally forgetting that she has not QUITE reached her third birthday. "OH, you are almost three, remember? Still two..yeah! that is right, Yup!.." I try to say loudly talking over Alison's constant "no I three" responses.

It's not like we make a point to lie. We are very honest people normally. And certainly we can afford the $19 ticket or whatever it was (kids price of $8.50 plus an Imax show we decided to take a chance and see) for entry. But, here we had already told nice ticket lady that our little girl was under two and it seemed silly to go back on that at that point.

Guess we momentarily forgot what a big she really is now, but she showed us! Not only does she of course understand everything she hears but she will make it a point to correct us when we are wrong too. In front of OTHER people. AS IF! :)

I assure you that we will start paying for her like the big girl that she is (being a member of the official cool three-and-over crowd), now too. ;)

p.s. in retrospect, i'm kind of glad we learned with this experience and did not pay for her Imax ticket considering she was not a fan and we left the theatre all of 10 minutes after the movie started. Ha,ha.

new look (for now)

2010-02-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

Guess I was bored during my first of two nights of no sleep (more on that later) because that is when I got the brilliant idea to make a new header for the blog at 4am. Not sure why. Just felt like seeing something new I guess. Kind of like the new hair color I have. Maybe it goes along with all of that "nesting" I have been doing too. NOT. (At least not yet on the nesting part).

I'll have to change it around in a month in order to take out the "bun in the oven" reference. But, until then..this one will do.