Somethin' New Everyday

Chloe is coming up with somethin' new everyday to show us. This is a video of one of her newest developments. Along with about 6 more teeth coming in (that makes 10 total), she'll be all grown up before we know it. She is 7 1/2 months now. She loves to cruise along the floor toward every thing that she is NOT supposed to have: shoes, remotes, telephones, plastic bags, dog tails, dog food. But we can hardly get her to go after her own toys; hence, the bait in the clip below.

Another New Trick

New tricks

I am so proud of our little girl! She can sit up now for several minutes without us holding her up! We have been practicing sitting everyday, including falling so that she wouldn't be surprised when that happened. I'd clap my hands and say, "Yay!" when she'd tumble over. She can't pull herself up to the sitting position yet but can hold herself up now once we put her there. She seems to like this new perspective on life because she stops fussing if I set her on her bottom. It was all the sudden that this happened too; or maybe it was that, before, I didn't want to let go of her while I helped steady her. It's sad but happy that our little girl is growing up! We do enjoy her company so much though!

Another new trick is her voice. She has started saying, "Bah" & "Blah". She will tell Matt all about her day sometimes when he gets home from work. It's so cool! She adores him so much!

Fun with the Fam

Read the previous post first if you want to read these in order... sorry. ; )

Our second trip was exciting because I was able to introduce Chloe to her Aunt Amy for the first time! All of my sisters, Jon (Sally's husband), all the babies, and my parents stayed at my parents' house. It was busy!!! The ratio of adults to kids was good because at least two people were always available to watch the 3 babies. Chloe did NOT like her cousins though, but I think it's because they are mobile and she is not, so she could not move herself away from their curious hands. Plus, they would just crawl over her if she was in their way. ;) She started this shreeking sound while there; maybe she felt she needed to make herself heard since she was the youngest. The problem was that she'd wake up 4-5 times a night making this noise with her cousin Jude in the next room. Thankfully, he had a sound machine that sounded like a wind storm so I don't think he heard her... although, I dreamt about storms for a few nights. One night I could hear Jude crying through the storm, so of course, I dreamt about a little boy in a storm.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our visit. I didn't take that many of the kids; I guess 'cause if you weren't holding a baby while they were awake, you were doing something else that needed to get done.


Chloe's saying, "Mom, Gracie touched me!"


Pop & Chloe just hanging out.


Kaye & Chloe


Pop with a handful of unhappy babies!


Kaye with Sally's & Jon's Jude

Catching Up

Chloe and I have done a lot of traveling lately. We were gone for the first and third weeks in June. Matt was a good sport and allowed me to go see a few friends the first week and then go be with my family the third week. Chloe traveled ok; she didn't sleep well which meant, of course, that I did not sleep well. But after we got back from our second trip, she slept for 5 nights straight without waking up and two of the nights, she slept from 8pm until 10am the next morning! She must have been pooped from all the attention she received from my family and her cousins! She had become quite anti-social for a while but by the 7th day with my family, she finally seemed comfortable being around so many people. She is definitely like me in that way; she just needs her down time, her quiet time, away from all the hooplah.

During the first leg of our first trip, we saw Michael, Shanna, & Jonathan. It was our first time to meet baby Jonathan; he is a little cutie!! He is just so cool and laid back; he just goes with the flow. Shanna and I enjoyed sharing mommy stories and advice with each other. Moms never lack having a topic of conversation because you can always revert back to the kids it seems. Here are a few pictures from our time with them...


We actually got to get out and go to the mall!


New little buddies.


Jonathan and Shanna getting ready to go for a walk with us.


This one makes me laugh! It's Jonathan's "suave & sophisticated" face! It's how he'll get all the girls! I saw him trying it on Chloe! ;)

For the second leg of our first trip, we visited Travis & Rebecca and their two (now three) kids. This was more of a trip to introduce them to Chloe and to get some girl time with Rebecca and then to help her clean and such as she hosted her in-laws while she was 8 months pregnant with little Zekariah. Thankfully, she let me help her! We don't get to see them often so it was so wonderful getting to spend time with all of them! And thanks to Travis and his family, Rebecca and I were able to slip away from all the kids a few times and just talk. I didn't get many good pictures, but I have a few.


It looks like Alexia Karis is trying to aim the toy at Chloe to smack her in the head, but don't worry, that's not what she was trying to do. ; )


Alexia Karis enjoyed it some when Chloe was within her reach. She was very sweet with her! She is going to be a great big sister!


Chloe really, really enjoyed hanging out with Travis' grandfather. She was happy just sitting in his lap, playing with his watch.

So that was the first part of June for Chloe and me. We had lots of fun with friends! It's definitely not as easy to do anymore and requires a commitment to your friendships in order to make it work. But Shanna & Rebecca are very dear to me, as are their families. Thanks, girls, for adjusting your schedules to allow us to come!

Silly Sister Time

I recently got to spend a whole week with my family. All of my sisters were there for most of it, and we had a blast with each other! There are no replacements for my sisters; they truly are my very best girlfriends. Here are a few pictures of us being silly together.