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.
Chloe has recently been introduced to the swimming pool and she has really enjoyed it! She took her first dip at the Estes' pool, Jon's (Sally's husband) parents. She kept trying to drink the water. I kept her in a normal diaper so she was very bouyant; those things fill up with water. It doesn't come out even when you squeeze it, so Chloe is at least 5 pounds heavier when she comes out of the water.
Our friends, the Welch's, got a floatie at Target that works very well for infants. My sister, Sally, got one for her son (she has play group with the Welch's), so I decided to get one for Chloe. Here are a couple of pictures of Chloe's and, my nephew, Jude's time in the pool. After about 30 minutes, Chloe leaned back and fell asleep in the floatie. Her hat came down over her eyes and she sucked on her pacifier and just dosed off. She had a good hard nap for at least 30 minutes!!! Of course I kept a close eye on her. But it was so adorable!! Oh, how nice that would be!
Today is our 6 year anniversary. If anyone took part in our special day several years ago, you know the hand Tropical Storm Allison played, and we still cannot express enough gratitude to you for making our wedding day work (especially to both our moms). You would think with a beginning like that, our marriage would have been doomed from the start. Though we've had our hard times when it would've been easier to give up than go on, as every marriage has, we are able to look back on those times and be thankful for the "growing up" we were able to do together.
At this moment, I have to brag on my man. I am so thankful for him. I used to wonder sometimes what God had in mind when He put us together :), but I know now that Matt is my perfect match. He has shown me love and how to love; how to treat the one you love; how to serve the one you love; how to be willing to grow and change to better "fit" the one you love. He has continually shown me patience, even when I am in a mood. He has always given me his 100% support. He hurts with me when I hurt. He leads our home and provides for all of our needs and many of our wants.
One of the main reasons I know that we have "melded" as one is that he hurts deeply when I hurt him. And I hurt deeply when he hurts me. I suppose this happened a few years ago, but this past year has been different. At first, if Matt hurt me in some way, I'd try to counter attack (or vice versa) so that if one of us was going to get hurt, then both of us was going to get hurt. This year, we've reached that point when, instead of putting up our guard during the attack to protect ourselves, we tend to let it down. We have allowed ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, to see each other at our weakest or grossest points and still be 100% sure that the other will accept us as we are(he still loves me after seeing me give birth... and all the aftermath!!). We are also confident that we do not intentionally seek to hurt each other. Maybe some of this comes with maturity of age, but I do believe that Matt has been my iron and we have sharpened each other in ways that no one else has been able to do.
Since we don't qualify for the young marrieds class anymore at church, I say we are entitled to some sort of bragging rights to have made it to year 7 (that is closer to 10 years now than 1 year ;). We are at the point now that people say "Wow!" when we say how long we've been married. Yet, we still have the fire that we had at the beginning and it is definitely true that it only grows stronger. I love Matt at least 100 times more than the day we married if not more (as if love can be measured). We are still completely "in-love" as well. We would rather spend time with each other than with anyone else. We'd rather just be in the same room than be alone. And we read each others' thoughts (I know exactly when Matt's thinking about ice cream...'cause I usually am too! ;).
Now, we look forward to the growing up we hope to do for the rest of our lives together. We have a new dynamic in our relationship with the addition of Chloe, so we are excited that we get to learn to love each other as mommy and daddy, rather than just husband and wife.
Thank You, Lord, for the gift you've given me in Matt.
I finally figured out how to get this video from my phone onto our blog. It's poor picture quality but Chloe's laughing makes up for it. This video is from when we were camping with our friends, Brad & Lauren, in April. Somehow, Brad really got Chloe going. It was a delight to hear her so happy!
This is a shout out to all of our relatives Up North. Chloe is finally able to wear the onsie you sent to us when she was born! Here are a few pictures of her modeling her outfit! Thanks for sending it!
Well, we knew it would happen one day. Chloe has a little cold. :( She is coughing and sneezing with watery eyes. The cough started 2 days ago. I was getting a sore throat, so I started taking my Zinc and Vitamin C. Her symptoms were better today; hopefully, the vitamins are getting into her system too through my milk. It's so funny though; last night, I was still so worried. She doesn't even have a fever, yet my mind was turning it into some big, horrible illness that could cause me to lose her. Every single day I thank God for my precious girl. I can't imagine life without her!!
The above picture is Chloe and Molly. Molly is our neighbor's dog and we are dog sitting her for a bit. She loves Chloe and Chloe loves her.
I am so glad Kaye got this on her camera! It's so fun to hear my little girl laugh so hard. I guess she thinks her Uncle Scott looks funny! (Ha! Just kiddin', Scott! ;)
So with Chloe's new tooth she's always sticking something in her mouth. When she's eating, she's trying to stick the bib in her mouth between bites. When she's looking at her daddy, she's trying to stick his nose in her mouth. She constantly has a few fingers in her mouth, if not her whole hand. Today, she started rubbing the tooth with her tongue producing a very funny smile which I thankfully got a picture of. Chloe seems to have a very long tongue...
Here are a few pictures of our surprise visit to see Aunt Kaye and Grace. We kicked Uncle Scott out of the house for the weekend, so he went and spent it with the guys. Grammie got to spend the whole weekend inundated with grandbabies! We had a wonderful time! We missed you being there, Amy, but we were so glad we got to talk to you!
My cute little spring chick in her cozy nightclothes!
My little drooling angel.
Mommy and ChloeSee our little Chloe go!!! We caught it on video as Chloe rolled over for the (second) first time! :) The first doesn't officially count since we both missed it. ;) Click on the picture to view the video.
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| Chloe Rolls Over |
Yeah!!! Chloe rolled over today for the first time!!! I laid her on her stomach for a bit of tummy time. I walked away for not even 30 seconds, and when I got back she was on her back!! She didn't make a peep; it didn't scare her. She was just happy she could see her toys again! She has yet to show Matt and I this awesome feat, but hopefully, she'll be a rolly-polly soon!
When I was little, I never let anyone see me accomplish anything until I knew I could do it. Therefore, I learned to ride my bike all by myself in the closed garage during the heat of the summer. And I first jumped off the diving board by myself at my cousins' house once everyone had gone inside for lunch; etc... So maybe Chloe is like me a bit and she wants to perfect her rolls before showing her parents. ; ) I hope to have a picture for you soon.
