2 Months

Chloe, it's July 28, 2010 and you are two months old today!

You are sleeping through the night every time now. We usually start your bedtime ritual around 7:30. It's bath, then story while you have your last feeding. You can put yourself to sleep sometimes. Other days we have to put you bed partially asleep so you'll drift off without much fussing. You sleep until between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. Then you eat and go back to sleep until around 8:30 or 9! Thank you!

You are smiling now! It's hard to get a picture of it. You are happiest in the morning; although, I suspect you'll grow out of that if you take after me.

You make the sweetest noises now. I love when you 'talk to us.'

Your favorite toy is my face. I've tried to get you to grab your rattles and rings but you are much more interested in grabbing my nose or lip. Your aim is pretty good! I believe you are starting to understand how those hands work!

You get your first round of vaccines tomorrow. After that, we can start to have more adventures!!

Your daddy has been working his tail off so that mommy can stay at home with you longer! You're too young to understand, but you have an amazing dad. He would do anything for you and me.

We love you, Miss Chloe!

 

Here Comes the Sun

When Chloe wakes up for the second time in the morning, she lays in her crib and plays quietly for a while. If I listen carefully, I can hear her legs kicking the mattress and I know she's awake. She is sooo happy in the mornings that I hate to miss this time! Here is her sunshiny face from this morning:

Our First Birthday Party

Chloe attended her first birthday party yesterday. She slept through the whole thing! My friend Marisa's son Gael turn one. His name is pronounced 'guy el' for those of you who solemente hablan ingles, like me--ha ha. That was probably grammatically incorrect; four years of Spanish and I'm still pathetic at speaking Spanish. I really hope Chloe will be bilingual.

Mark and I worked with Marisa at Doc's in college. She went with me to San Diego for the Texas Tech lacrosse tournament so I wouldn't be the only girl. I'm so excited that our kids are so close in age!

I have no pictures but the party was cute. It was a zoo theme and Marisa drew animals to hang in the backyard. She is an unbelievably talented artist. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Gael.

Here are some pictures from Saturday morning. Chloe really enjoys Peter Frampton and James Taylor! Of course, Red Hot Chili Peppers will do, too.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. PEACE!

Daddy's Girl

Poor Mark. Chloe wanted nothing to do with him for about two weeks. I read somewhere that it's a stage. The baby seems to be comfortable with women (mainly their mom). They cry when men hold them. I felt so bad for him because all he wanted to do was hold and cuddle with her. She was NOT having it! Thankfully we are no longer dealing with the issue and Mark is loving it.

 These are some pictures Mark took of Chloe after her bath. I'm so thankful he has a good eye for 'Kodak Moments.' I'm usually busy with Chloe and it's hard to get a free hand to snap the shots.

This is an 'almost smile' picture. She has some big grins now but it's hard to get the shot.

This, my friends, is why she smiles most of the time. Looks pretty boring to me but she loves those dang bears. Mom and Dad are jealous that they get the majority of her sweet smiles.

This is Chloe and her sweet friend, Kennedy. Kennedy is 10 days older. Her parents came over to watch the Fourth of July fireworks with us. It was hilarious! Chloe would cry and when she would stop, Kennedy would start. We even have a video of them 'singing' a duet.

Something to think about...

I just wanted to share this with anyone who reads our blog.

I read through the message boards on some' mommy sites.' I use the boards as support system. Being a new mom is often confusing and sometimes scary; therefore, I read the message boards to try and get a sense of normalcy in my life. This is beside the point. My point is: I found the quote on the message boards. I have no idea who originally said it.

I can't recall having ever heard this quote before last week. If I have, it touched me in way that it has not in the past. I encourage you to think about it for a bit and let it really soak in a bit.

"Do not measure your insides by another person's outsides."*

This quote keeps coming back to me. It reminds me of my other favorite quote:

"Where you stand depends on where you sit."*

I heard this from my government teacher, Ms. Woolsy, in high school. I think the reason both of these quotes mean so much to me is complex. I'll do my best to explain briefly.

We spend so much time judging others. We also spend a lot of time judging ourselves by comparing ourselves to those that we wish to be like (or unlike). People are complex and our God is complex. The reasons people are-how-they-are or do-the-things-they-do is circumstantial. We don't know and can never know many of those circumstances. Therefore, it does not make sense to try and judge others' actions or behavior. You don't have all the evidence. Conversely, don't compare yourself to other people. Your circumstances are different and you cannot know their heart. And remember, looks can often be deceiving.

Who is the ONLY person that you know inside and out? YOU. That's the only person you need to worry about because that is the only person you can give a fair trial.

I have to remind myself of this daily.

I have one last thing to mention before I get off this soapbox: I recommend the book 'The Shack.' It hits on this from a Christian perspective and it really turned my world on its ear.

*If you know where either of these quotes originates, please enlighten me. I'd love to find out!

Happy Fourth of July!

It's Chloe's first official holiday. We had a sad attempt at making our first family portrait this morning. We'll have to get some help taking a better one sometime. It's hard to do self portraits.

We plan to go to the firework show tonight. It's just down the street so we're going to walk. Should be super fun.

Thank you to our past, present and future military. We are thankful for what we call freedom.

On another note. If you want to go to our Shutterfly site (link is in the previous post) to see more pictures of Chloe, you need to e-mail me for a password. It's not big deal; I just don't censor the pictures as much and don't want the entire world to have access to our family photos.

IMG_4327.jpg

This is my suspicious face. If you click on this image, it takes you to our shutterfly share site.



Click here to view these pictures larger