chloe {10 months}

chloe – there is a person in your little body, and she’s starting to emerge!  we swear you’re saying ‘baby’ – more like ‘day-dee’ – and really like pictures of babies and the two little dolls we have.  there is really something to girls and babies – i’ve been pretty amazed at that.  you will sometimes ‘moo’ if we ask what a cow says and ‘ppppppttthhh’ if we ask what an elephant says.  you’re playing peek-a-boo, signing  for milk and more, know where your nose is, and trying to put shoes and socks on your feet.  you are standing more and more, and i feel like those first steps are coming.  you continue to be a great little eater, and we can just hand you a banana (or whatever), and you’ll eat it like a big kid.  my dear, at long last, you have given us the gift of sleeeeeeeep!!  it only took 10 months to get here, but it is oh so glorious.  i feel like we’ve crossed to the other side.  hallelujah!

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{still sporting this face…mostly when she’s happy, if you can believe it}IMG_1240

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{these two are interacting so much and are so good to each other most of the time}IMG_1733

{sure wish she wasn’t holding a pair of socks, but whatever, it’s real life}IMG_1738

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family pictures {october 2013}

we had pictures taken the second week of october, and our holiday cards were printed and on my doorstep on halloween.  this has not happened in the history of ever, and i still waited until mid-december to finally get them out.  i had the very best intentions…really.  the amazingly talented, uber-sweet, and all around great person, meredith gutshall, took these, and i could not be happier.  now i need to get my act together and plaster my walls with these babies.  thanks, miss meredith, for these treasures.

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chloe {6 month pictures}

i’m finally getting around to posting sweet chloe’s 6 month pictures.  i know i’ve talked about how happy this child is, but these pictures capture her perfectly – unbelievably happy, curious, and in constant motion.  jared had to help me with these because she was so focused on crawling all over this blanket that i couldn’t distract her enough to look at the camera.  i really love how these turned out.

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{we see this face a lot – snorting comes with it}
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and off she goes again.  the serape blanket is from arrow & aspen, who initially sent me a blanket different from the one i ordered.  they were so sweet to send me the correct one and gift the original one to me to apologize for the mix up.  thanks guys.  i am loving these, and i keep moving them around our house to figure out where i like them best.  their permanent home is still tbd.

beckett & chloe {2 1/2 & 1 month}

ok, so i know i’m way late to the party on this one (since chloe turned two months on monday) – i’m way late to the party on just about everything these days.  if i could just figure out how to get 26 hours in each day, i think i’d be swimming instead of feeling like i’m just treading water.  we are figuring out life with two littles, and while some days feel like we’re cruising, others feel like we have a lot left to figure out.  here’s what’s happening with our short people…

beckett, you are a wild man at home.  you love to ‘go fast’ {sprinting up and down the hall} and use your ‘outside voice’ far more than we’d like {we’re working on that one}.  it has been a looooong winter trying to burn all that energy at home.  it’s funny though, once you’re in a place with a lot of other people, you do a 180 – you turn quiet and observant.  we’ve been going to story time at our library for over a year now, and while you’re excited to go, once we get there, you pretty much park it on my lap.  it’s so interesting to see a completely different side of you, and i wonder what is going on in that little head of yours.

you are now potty trained!  it was not awesome, but it’s done.  we’ll leave it at that.

you still love trains, and we have succumbed to letting you watch train videos most mornings just so we can lay in bed a little longer.  i hope to can this once we are getting some more sleep around here.  paw-paw and mema took you to parkville to see the trains while we were in the hospital having chloe.  since then, we’ve gone a handful of times, though you’d like to do it every day.  your favorite part is to watch the ‘ding-dings’ go down to block traffic.  you beam when you see the train, and immediately ask to see another one.

you are really starting to have great sentence structure now, so you sound like such a little man.  it has been amazing to see your language develop.  you are now counting from 1 – 10 in spanish, which you learned from a song i sing from sesame street when i was a kid.  the term ‘kids are sponges’ has never resonated more.

you are starting to make-believe a little, acting out something that you saw on tv or in a book.  you still love music, and have a new love for making and playing in forts.

you got your hair cut after these pictures because the back was just plain unruly all the time.  it has made you look so grown up.  between your new do and your big boy undies, i can hardly bear it.

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chloe, you put even beckett’s surfer baby demeanor to shame.  you are so peaceful, and pretty much only cry if you’re hungry or cold, and rarely very hard.  you are a happy little camper and smiled for the first time on your one month birthday.  you kind of forget that a little person is inside until this happens.

you’re starting to hold up your little head and hold someone’s gaze, studying whatever it is you see.

as far as looks go, if i’m being honest my dear, one month was a bit of an awkward spot.  you are bald on top {we call this the dr. phil look} and have baby acne {why do these poor babies have to get this??}.  you are also getting some pretty incredible little cheeks, which i think are divine.  we’re not sure yet what color your eyes will be.  they seem to be getting lighter.

we are calling you chloe, of course, but your nicknames include clostine {middle name is christine}, clover, clobell, and clobule {the name of my dad’s grandfather – yes, that’s real}.

you’re sleeping pretty well considering you’re a newborn.  i’m usually up twice a night, but sometimes just once, and you’ve gone stretches of up to 4 or 5 hours, which is a win in my book. during the day, you’re up about an hour at a time.

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when these pictures were taken, beckett was still just loving chloe.  at two months, though, i think the honeymoon is over and he is testing the limits quite frequently around here.  while there is a lot of sweet, there is a little more spice than usual.  more on that in the next update, which i hope to put up before c is 3 months old.

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{yes, chloe, you’re stuck with us…and mama needs a pedicure}IMG_2694

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introducing {chloe christine}

i am way behind here…well, on a lot of things.  but better late than never…

we welcomed chloe christine into our family on friday, february 1st.  we ended up having to evict her since she didn’t seem to want to come on her own – i was induced at about 8.00 am, and by 11.44, we had chloe.  words cannot express how much i love this girl.  she is peaceful, social and sweet and changing every day.  i cannot wait to see what her little voice sounds like, what color her eyes end up being, what her personality is like, and eventually, the woman she will become.  we have been overwhelmed with love and support from our friends and family, and for that we are truly grateful.

{morning of febuary 1st.  let’s have a baby!}IMG_1960

{seeing our daughter for the first time.  so happy jared caught this moment.}IMG_1965

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{meeting memaw and paw paw}IMG_1995

{meeting mimi}IMG_2001

{meeting aunt heather}IMG_2004

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{four generations}IMG_2031

{beckett and chloe meet}IMG_2067

{meeting b-pa}IMG_2089

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{hear no evil.  wish i could guard her from ever having to.}IMG_2116

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{first night together at home}IMG_2140

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beckett {one month shy of 2 1/2}

it was downright spring-like here today, so the short guy and i spent a lot of time outside.  we went on a walk in the hopes it would send me straight into labor, and when that didn’t happen, i decided b-man was due for some new pics so i broke out the camera.  he hammed it up for me, so prepare to be photo-assaulted.

we’ve been working on manners lately because, i don’t know about you, but we thought “stop talking” wasn’t the best way to speak to your elders.  we told him that he should instead say ‘excuse me’, and thankfully, he caught onto that pretty quickly.  it’s pretty cute too.  it is my motherly mission to raise kids with manners.  is he too young to start opening doors?  beckett is keeping us on our toes, but we have had such a great time with him lately.  it’s hard to believe we are just days away from adding another little human to our home, and b’s days as an only child are over.  we have been trying to soak up the minutes with him, and really give him a lot of attention since i know it’s about to get crazy up in here.  i would be lying if i told you i wasn’t nervous.  i am.  but i also know a lot of people who have done this, and they lived through it.  i’m hopeful we can too.

hope to be popping in with some good news in the (very) near future, but right now, i feel like this kid is never going to come out.  tomorrow is my official due date, and i didn’t really think i’d make it this far.  i definitely didn’t think she would come late.  it’s been hard not to let thoughts of her arrival consume me, but i’m trying really hard to enjoy the calm before the storm and stay distracted.  this little guy has helped…

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christmas {in pictures, part I}

i really can’t believe that christmas….is over.  dang.  i always feel like it goes so fast, and this year was no different.  we tried to take a few moments this season to really enjoy what it’s all about and since beckett was so into it, this year was extra fun.  here’s what went down…

{watching a special message from santa claus for the 57th time}IMG_1491

{visiting santa.  he was not impressed.}IMG_1499

{however, he was impressed by the train set-up at crown center}

 

 

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{making christmas cookies with mema}
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{trying to remember to take a few bump pictures this time around}IMG_1567 {playing with christmas ‘wights’}IMG_1594

i’ll share more tomorrow.

 

 

a happy halloween {for a little lumberjack}

well, the short guy got all suited up as a lumberjack on halloween.  he wasted no time in figuring out that the (cardboard) ax was a tool and began chopping things.  he was a little confused about going up to strange houses, but when he figured out he got to ‘ding the bells’ and get free candy, he was all in.  by no surprise, he was asking to do it again yesterday.

{he had us laughing so hard ‘chopping’ this log}

checking in {and catching up}

man, a lot has happened since i last checked in.  first, little beckett isn’t so little anymore – he turned TWO!  we had a little family birthday party to celebrate, and i managed to take about 5 pictures…of inanimate objects.  let’s hope my family members can fill in the gaps for me.  it’s pitiful that i have no pictures of my son at his own birthday party.  it was kind of a cars and trucks theme, so i wanted to document the cute food labels and cake (that my dear sweet mother made!).  trouble is i didn’t document the kid.  dang.

i did, however document him another day last week.  he was having so much fun on the slides at the park, and i had my big boy camera with us, so i was able to freeze time…just for a few minutes.  smiles are a rarity these days since, lately, when i bust out the camera, he gives a dead pan stare or just  looks the other way.  consider these a small win for mama!