Escape Artist

I heard a loud boom and felt the house sorta rumble, followed by some crying, last friday morning. I knew exactly what happened and immediately I went tearing down the hall to Chloe's room (I don't think you have ever seen a pregnant woman run so fast; Nate was close on my heels.) I found her standing on the floor in the middle of her room, crying, and I scooped her up and made sure nothing was broken or bruised (thankgoodness she was alright). I had a gut wrenching moment of pure fear that she had broken something on her body. I know it comes with the territory of being a mom and loving our kids so much. I think the fall just gave her a big scare. Nate didn't actually realize what was going on until after we got in her room. He was just running behind me knowing I knew something had happened. We think she climbed up the crib rails and then sorta fell onto her bottom once she was over the rail. She hasn't climbed out of her crib before, but now that she knows how we had to do something to keep her safe. We know she is ready for a big girl bed, but we don't think she is ready for the freedom a big girl bed would give her (she is still just a little too young). This summer will be a good time to transition her over to a bed from the crib, but, in the meantime we decided we would buy her a crib tent to keep her in. We have lots of friends who had to do this with their kids and we weren't sure about it at first, but it works really great and Chloe thinks it is so fun to sleep in her tent (it is like she is camping out!) So, here is a cute photo of her enjoying her crib tent.

This Is The Way We...

Grocery shop! Normally I grocery shop for two weeks at a time and when we come home I load up Chloe's wagon and we walk up to the house (we have a detached garage so the wagon makes it so nice to drag everything up to the house all at once). Chloe and I were out the other day running errands and picked up a couple of items that we were running low on at the store (you can see her holding nutter butter cookies...just some of the snacks that I bought for our bible study group). This time I was able to fit all the odds-and-ends groceries in the wagon with Chloe (she insisted on taking a ride) and I thought it was so cute that I had to take a couple of photos.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma Julie came to visit last weekend. We had a lot of fun!!

Gma reading a story to Chloe...

Gma gave Chloe a bath...

More story time...Gma also played with Chloe's hair and gave her a beautiful hair-do!!

Railroad Museum

We had a fun filled & relaxing weekend. Friday we took Chloe to Old Town Sacramento to visit the Sacramento Railroad Museum and then went out to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (that is a super fun place for kids with so much stuff on the walls and ceiling to look at and every now and then the waiters/waitresses dance to the american folk song "Cotton-Eye Joe"). She really enjoyed seeing all the trains and so did we. We also attended a birthday party on Saturday & ended the weekend on Sunday with the superbowl (I mainly watched for the commercials:) ). Enjoy some photos from the museum.




Above is a table set with some of the china that was used back in the 60's and 70's in the dinning car trains.

Here is our girl playing with some Thomas & Friends Trains courtesy of Thomas the Tank Engine and the Railroad Museum.

Chloe & the Ducks...Again!

The ducks are back! They left sometime around mid-late summer (probably due to the heatwave or that is just their normal migration pattern), but they showed up last week, begging (it seems) for the cracked corn we fed them over the spring and summer. Chloe just loves to watch them, wave, point and say "duckie...ahhh..." and then gives them an air hug...so cute! Her favorite TV station is animal planet so all the wildlife around our home really thrills her. I counted 13 ducks that come to visit us fairly regularly, 7 males, 6 females, which is more than we had visiting us over the summer so we think some of the new ones were babies from last spring. I also added a couple of cute photos of Chloe in pigtails.

Pigbowl '07

Pigbowl, also known as Guns & Hoses or Hogs & Dogs, is an annual charity football game of lawenforcement vs firefighters. The game was yesterday afternoon at Sac State's Hornet Stadium. The game was great and the weather was so nice. This is Nate's 2nd year on the team as an offensive tackle. We got some great shots of him on and off the field. Enjoy!

Here he is running onto the stadium field after being introduced (you can see him running down cheerleader row between the 2nd and 3rd cheerleader...if you click on the photo you can see him better).

Here he is after his introduction run.

Here he is (#77) during the color guard ceremony which was followed by the singing of the national anthem.

This was a helicopter flyover (took place after the singing of the anthem). They flew in a missing man formation (the 4th helicopter eventually flies away from the rest & this symbolizes & honors those deputies who have died this last year). This was very emotional.

We had a cheering section in the stands where we each held up a letter that spelled out Nate's name. He was easily able to pick us out of the crowd this way & you can see that he is waving to us in this photo. What a handsome man he is!! If you continue to scroll down, you will see 5 more photos of Nate in action on the field, as well as some cute photos of Nate's biggest cheerleader & fan, Chloe!!

More Pigbowl

Here is Gma Kris & Chloe with the Hogs mascot.

Here is an action shot of Nate, he is in position in front of #6. You may be able to get a better view if you click on the photo.

Here he is just after a play (he is #77, walking towards the camera).

A great shot of Nate and a friend/teammate after the game was over. The Hogs (lawenforcement) won, 32 to 6. It was a very exciting game and Chloe loved all the action.

Here is our girl in the stands rooting for her daddy...go daddy!!

Snow Day

Nate & I took Chloe up to Iron Mountain Sno Park in the El Dorado National Forest to introduce her to snow. She loved it!! We were able to play in the snow & then had a nice picnic lunch & the weather was beautiful. Enjoy the photos!

Snow Day (Cont)

Some more great photos from our snow day adventure...Chloe & Daddy did most of the playing (my belly is getting bigger and bigger & it is harder for me to play but I still had a great time & we made some wonderful memories.)

It's A Boy

Chloe is going to have a brother!! We found out yesterday that we will be having a boy in May and we are very excited! And here he is showing us his gender very clearly (both my kids did that on their ultrasounds...hmmm...) When we talk to Chloe about the baby she mostly smiles, nods, and giggles but she will also say "baby" and now "bruter"...so cute.
This photo shows his cute profile. You can really see the side of his face and the 4 chambers of his heart...truly amazing. He is 15 oz and has a good, strong heartbeat. I am now 21 weeks and feel him move more and more. I still feel sicky now and then but overall feel better than my 1st trimester. So far all is going well and we are both happy and healthy.

More Family Photos

Grandma Julie, Chloe, & Aidan being held by his daddy, Trevor.
Candid group photo...Aidan's mommy Amy is getting some much needed food and a little rest.
Our girl taking in these precious moments at the hospital in true Traxler style...relaxed and having a blast!

Introducing...

Aidan Walker Doyle. He was born yesterday, Wednesday, Jan 10th, around 10:30am. Nate, Chloe & I rushed down to Newport Beach on Tuesday nite (400 + miles), slept just a little early on Wednesday morning, & saw the newest member to our family not even an hour after he was born. Enjoy some family photos.

Auntie Kristi, Uncle Nate & Aidan

Uncle Nate & Aidan

Grandma Julie & Aidan

Grandpa Dan & Aidan

Happy 2007!!

Here are some photos from Christmas day.

Chloe with her cousins Hope & Hailey on Christmas morning at their home.

Chloe with mommy opening some gifts on Christmas morning.

Chloe & Hailey in Chloe's new wagon from Gpa Tom & Gma Kris. Daddy/Uncle Nate is taking these girls for a ride as Gma Kris looks on.

Chloe loves to take a ride.

And she loves to pull the wagon with her little cousin inside.

Gma Marge made us all our own knitted slippers for Christmas and they are so nice & cozy!

Chloe opening another gift at Gpa Tom's & Gma Kris's house.

Kids...aren't they some of the best gifts ever? We sure think so.:)