Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Growing...


I was just looking back at our blog, thinking back to Chloe's birth & the tough start we had (me having an emergency c-section, Chloe born but not yet breathing...then breathing...then jaundice...then no longer jaundice etc, & through it all I got an infection from the c-section...then finally that healed, & the worst part of it was that for most of the time we were all separated...I was in recovery, Chloe was in the NICU where she had to be under the bili-lights where we could only hold her to feed her for 30min. at a time every three hours, & Nate could only stay during visiting hours. It was tough. But Jesus is good & we were finally released 5 days later from the hospital to a new joy... & fear... of parenthood...the "what do we do with this little person now?" syndrome...) That was then, & this is now (thinking back on those first days, those few scary days, gives me goose bumps, but also a peace about where we were & how much more enriched our lives are now with Chloe in them which I constantly remind her of daily...) So, thinking all of this, I thought it was high time that I gave you another little update on Chloe.

She is doing really well. I think she has adjusted to life on the "farm" as we affectionately call it. She is 13 months old now, has 6 teeth (4 on top & 2 on bottom) and is cutting 7 & 8 (on bottom). She has been 100% on table food since she was 11 months old and doing really well with it (likes it all and has had no allergies to anything so far...yippie...) She can say mama, dadda, Jack, & hi (not to mention her "Chloe" speak which we only understand half the time...boy are we amazed!!) She waves, points, claps her hands, pats her head & belli & shares her cherrios with us (boy are we full...)

She loves to listen to vegie tales sunday morning songs (& Christian music in general) & giggles, claps, & shakes her toosh to the music (I don't know where she learned this from, but at least she can keep the beat!!) So far her favorite song is twinkle, twinkle & she is now learning the hand movements to it. She is also learning to clean up her toys. This will be a long...long...long...on going project I am sure (we sing the clean up song & she in turn shakes her toosh...that's my baby girl!) Her favorite book is whichever one is in her mouth at that moment (we are working on that...) We read our devotional at nite (usually) from her childrens bible just before bed. She goes to sleep around 7pm or so, and wakes around 7:30am or so & she takes one nap in the afternoon (usually from 12-4pm...she is my little sleeper...)

We feed our duck family (about 15 of them) cracked corn every morning & she calls them Jack. It is too cute! She is doing great at walking & can really move (which puts us on the move...boy are we tired...) She can climb on things (hence the photo above) & up things like stairs all by herself. She scoots around on her little car all over the house. She loves to jump on you like you are a jungle gym (boy are we sore...) So, where does that leave us? Amazed, full, tired, sore, but keeping the beat...it's a blast!!:)

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Under Construction


Chloe's room needs a paint job and we are going to put chair rail around the middle of the room to match her crib, changing table & book case like we did in our old house. We plan on painting her room in the next couple of months (as well as add more of her decor up on her walls). I am still finishing a couple of sewing projects for her walls; one is the night time childs prayer banner (now i lay me down to sleep...) and the other is a baby sampler (i know, i know, she is over a year old and I am still not done with these projects, eeeeecch...hopefully soon :o ). We have a lot of projects like this that are "under construction" but, her room is first. Every day we get a little more accomplised and that is a good feeling. The latest project I finished was painting the wood blocks that spell her name. I thought it looked so cute that I had to take a picture and share it with you.

Fun


This was my litte table and chairs when I was Chloe's age. They are now passed on to her (looking a little....vintage shall we say...:) ). She loves to sit at the table. Next will come the tea parties!!


weeeee....

Friday, May 19, 2006

Mother's Day


Me & Mommy...

Me & Daddy...


Is it time to play in the pool yet?


Where did you say the pool was again?


Oh, thank goodness I found it...

Sometimes the world looks better this way...:)

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Exploring

These are a couple of photos I took when we first moved in. I have a tupperware cabinet set up for Chloe & she sure loves it!! As you can see she loves it so much she just gets right inside to explore around...




too cute...:)

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Chloe's 1st Birthday

As promised, here are some photos of our baby girl on her 1st birthday party!! Enjoy...

Just a cute photo of our girl...she is 1 years old.


As Chloe's shirt says, "Fun to be One!"


Some of the birthday party gang...


The theme of the day, Winnie the Pooh. The cake reads "Chloe's 1st Birthday"


Waiting for that cake...


yummy...

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Our New Home


Here is a photo of our new home. We have fallen in love with it!! We moved in last wed, April 26. We were glad to be in before Chloe's b-day party since we were planning to have the bash here on the 29th (she turned 1 officially on the 28th) & so we got in just in time (we have photos to come of her 1st b-day party...it went really well & we had lot's of fun!!)

It has been nice to fall asleep to bullfrog noises at nite and wake to ducks quacking or birds chirping in the am (a refreshing change from city noise to say the least). I sit on our deck that overlooks the community duck pond & drink coffee each morning & slowly allow the day to wake me. Chloe does not get up until 7:30 am, sometimes later, & on Nate's work days he is off to work by 5:45 am so I am up by 6-6:30am & thoroughly enjoy this quiet time to myself. I get a lot of praying & my quiet time with the Lord in at this time. It blows my mind that we live here (it is like a permanent vacation with the beauty of the landscape & all the wildlife we see in & around the duck pond...including a beaver!! Not to mention the fishing...that is so cool to say that we can fish about 200 ft from our house & the fishing has been good.) I walk out onto our prop every morning after Chloe is up, fed, & changed for the day & together we feed the ducks cracked corn & bread slices. Nate & I feel so truly blessed to be here & are so excited to raise our family here. Not to mention that Nate is in heaven here with all the many projects & huge workshop to dream about them in. We will be attending our new church tomorrow nite for the 1st time & are excited & nervous all at the same time. God is so GOOD!! We are still in boxes and expect to move in slowly, but that is ok. We are just happy to be here. Enjoy these photos...more to come later.


View of our workshop/garage and house from the end of our driveway (where the driveway meets our street...boy is that a walk. I get good excercise everytime I walk down to the mailbox!! :) he, he, he...)

View of part of our backyard & the duck pond from our deck...


Wildflowers on our prop...Nate & his dad mowed our prop last week & left some of it unmowed because it was unnecessary to mow all of it & it is so beautiful with the wildflowers. We bought a riding lawn mower & that is a life saver when you have to mow prop. At least you only mow this prop about 2 times a year.

My rose garden near the front of the house bordering the duck pond. I love roses & I am so happy to have a beautiful rose garden!!