Links to Websites

http://www.cleisolivia.com/2007Pics.htm


http://www.cleisolivia.com/chloe.htm

Tony has added some updated pictures to Cleis and Chloe's website. Hopefully you can click on the above links and it will direct you to their sites. Otherwise you may have to copy and paste into your web browser to pull them up.

Enjoy.

My How Things Change

As I have spent most of my day still trying to figure out what to do with all of the girls new toys, regrouping, cleaning out toy boxes and organizing the play room I have come to some conclusions.

The first thing I see changing the most is my theory on what goes in a bedroom. When we had Cleis I was very strict with her schedule and where I fed, changed, dressed and played with her at. I made it clear that I did not want toys stored in her room nor did we play in her room. I pushed the theory that the bedroom is for sleep and we play else where. Well at that time we also had more rooms. She had a playroom upstairs and a playroom downstairs.

Then came time we moved her to her big girl room. I loosened up some and I allowed her to have her library of books, her table and chairs to read, play, color and craft at. And I also allowed her to have some of her babies and items in her room. Which I must say have over taken her bed.

And now we are adding a 5 ft. dollhouse to her room. So much for no play items.

Now throw child number 2 into the mix and Christmas celebration and I see myself really getting loose. I haven't done it yet, but I'm thinking of putting a tub of toys in Chloe's room and keeping them in the bottom of her closet so that she will have her toys more accessible and can play.

Am I seeing that I don't have to be so strict and rigid or is it true that you become more relaxed with the second one, and different things matter?

Whatever the answer may be, I think I will be happy with Chloe having some of her toys in her room to play with. So tomorrow, I will hand select some toys to go into her room.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Well after 3 days of traveling and celebrating 5 Christmas's the girls are enjoying their gifts. Many thanks to everyone for all their goodies. Time well spent in all the shopping that took place.

Cleis has been a delight and is playing really hard with her new things. She spent the morning playing with her dolls and changing their clothes and taking care of them. She has baby Abby and little girl Chloe and they are in good hands. After she tired out from her dolls she went to playing with her horses and playing veterinarian or in Cleis' term, 'Dr. Nerinarian'. When the horses were well taken care of and rested she moved on to her new games for her Leapster. She sat and played with all of her new games and so far Pet Pals seems to be her favorite. Do you see a trend here?

For Chloe she has wanted to play with everything big sissy plays with and unfortunately sissy just wants to play by herself right now. Chloe has been interested in her new plush doll house. I guess you could say Mommy and Daddy have been working hard to get things put away and things put together that we haven't given Chloe all of her goodies yet. Right now she is still carrying Rudolph around and we don't have the heart to take him away yet.

Chloe has enjoyed watching her Daddy learn how to play with is new toy from Santa. Santa brought Tony a RC helicopter and we all have been having fun with the learning curve associated with flying a helicopter, even taking some small beatings.

Christmas has been a wonderful celebration and both of my girls have really enjoyed their Christmas. Whoever says one-year olds are more interested in the boxes, my daughter has proven this wrong. Chloe was excited to open presents and smiled when she pulled on the paper and smiled and laughed even bigger on her next pull to open the present.

Cleis had a great time as well opening presents, the hardest part for her was not being able to immediately play with everything and get everything out. But she quickly understood why and did not question. She made do with what she could play with and moved on.

It was a great Christmas and wonderful to see Christmas through your kids.

***** I will post pictures soon. I left my camera at Dad's and haven't picked it up yet.

Cleis & Chloe preparing to bake Christmas Goodies!

Fourteen Month New Development

I can't believe my baby is 14 months old. I really wish I could slow down time and just enjoy these final baby/toddle stages. While I'm anxious for her to be able to more of the fun things we do with Cleis , Chloe sure is at a cute age.

Chloe has mastered the walking and is off and running with excitement. She is very developed in her fine motor skills.

Reading - Oh my goodness, we can't read to this child enough. The child loves to be read too and I can't complain about this habit. Her favorite books right now are pop-up books and mostly ones about animals.

Blocks & Shape sorter - Awhile back I went ahead and got the blocks out not knowing if Chloe would have any interest or not. Well, I'm glad I did. Not only does she like dumping them out, she is also good at picking them up and putting them back in the bucket. She also likes to stack them and give them a good whack. Sissy helps too, and will stack them up for her to come and knock over. Chloe gets a good laugh out of this.

Another toy she has surprised me in playing with is the shape sorter. Now this is the traditional shape sorter that were around when I was wee little one. It's the red/blue circle pull toy from Tupperware with the yellow shapes. Chloe is excellent in picking up the shape and placing it in hole. She laughs with such delight and is so proud. If she isn't bringing you a book to read she is bringing you this to sit and do shapes with her.

Plays peek-a-boo with others and self. This is a sign of sleepy too. She will often play peek a boo with herself when she is tired but isn't quite ready to give it up yet and go off to sleepy land.

Dancing - Chloe is beginning to show an interest in music and moving to the sound. She also has her own little trait of getting her groove on. She holds her right arm out in a horizontal 90 degree and does her little dance. We'll do our best to get this captured and post a video of this. It's something you must see.

Teeth - Oh my goodness, Chloe has a full mouth of teeth. Chloe began teething early and it hasn't stopped. I'm not very good in dental developments but she has all four front and bottom teeth. She has all four molars and all four Canine (cuspid) have made their appearance or are making their way through. The Canine have been the worst, we dealt with an ear infection for almost 3 weeks and a very fussy baby during their arrivals.

Just an update to some new developments.

Visit with Santa

We made our visit to see Santa at the Metzger's store in Simpsonville. Cleis really believes Santa lives there and keeps his reindeer's out back. Cleis had a wonderful time and couldn't get enough of Santa. Chloe on the other hand did not want anything to do with Santa. There were tears, tears and more tears. She didn't want Daddy to let go of her.

Chloe's highlight of the time with Santa was visiting all the animals at Metzger's. The new puppy was a big hit.

We were able to get a few good pictures though. And I do believe Cleis' list has grown for Santa.

Future Rock Star

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday Cleis entertained everyone with her version of the Beatles Yellow Submarine and my cousin has it all on video. Enjoy the watch.

Finally an update

WOW, where has the time gone. It's been awhile since we've published a post. There have been many post started but never finished. It is usually late when I get started and my mind and fingers wear out before the finished product. Today I promise a complete post to bring many of you up to date.



Today we took Chloe for her one year check-up and let me tell you she was ready to prove her stuff. She pulled all the tricks out and impressed the socks off the doctor. On command she picked up her shoe and brought it to me. On command she pointed to her mouth. She showed off her vocabulary and pointed to the objects in books. Ex. there was a book on cats and she says CAT. It was amazing.



Speaking of vocabulary, her words are: dog, dada, duck, mama, cat, weese (Cleis), wouse (horse), ball, pop, whad dat (what's that), apple, book. She comes up with something new almost everyday.

While we all know Chloe loves to give special presents (she was born on both of her Mimi's birthday) and she is continuing with her gifts. On September 20th, she started taking a step here and there. This continued over the next few days and then on the 25th, (Mommy's birthday) she took off and hasn't stopped since. Boy does she sure know how to give special memories. Thank you Chloe you made Mommy's day, another great memory.

It is hard to believe that a year has passed. I can't believe that the baby we brought home a year ago is now walking and starting to tell us what she wants. I treasure the year that I have spent with my girls and I continue to look forward to each and every day that we have to be here at home together.

Pictures are coming. I added a couple of Halloween Pics. I really wanted to stay up to date on this but I think the last time I added pictures to my Shutterfly account and sent everyone the email was around the start of Chloe's ninth month. So I have some catching up to do. In the mean time I will post some to the blog and then I'll get all the pictures organized and uploaded to Shutterfly. Cleis also has a fondness for Frog Legs. Here she shows off her latest catch!

Chloe is quite the little pistol to take and have her pictures made. In order for us to have some one year pictures we had to go 3 times. I finally took Tony with me, actually he volunteered to come help out. We finally have a few good pictures and these will be in the mail soon.

New Pics.

The girls enjoying themselves on the boat, Big Sis showing Lil Sis how it's done.

Old toys become new toys. Chloe learns to ride the police car.

10 Month Report

Chloe has had a huge week. I'm not sure I can list all the things she has accomplished this week. I'll start with one of the biggest milestones, she is walking with aid. I noticed her earlier in the week pushing some of her toys around and I thought is it because she can lean her body against them and push to walk or can she really do it. So I raised up the little toy that walks with her. Some musical activity walker. Actually I think it's called Melody Walker. She can do it, it looks like she is pushing her supermarket cart around the house.

Vocabulary is growing - says bye and is starting to wave from time to time, ought oh, good, dog - this has been one of her first words and recognition, duck

Play with her stacking rings by taking them off and putting the on.

Takes objects and puts them inside others. Especially her stacking cups in the bath tub. She knows which one is smaller and will fit. I enjoy watching her do this. Something else I find interesting, she has watched me open say a bag of chips and she now tries. Funny to watch.

Moving to Table Food

For the past two nights I have made dinner and Miss Chloe has joined us at the dinner table eating right along with us. First night I made, hamburgers, mac n cheese and green beans. She loved it all and fed herself. Second night I made, flank steak with portabella mushroom, baked potatoes, warmed up the green beans and salad for us. Chloe had the baked potato and green beans and sat there eating away.

Outer Banks

The girls and family are having a great time on the Outer Banks. Cleis and Mazden can't get enough of the ocean, today has been the best beach day and best for playing in the ocean. Early in the week there were a lot of rip tides and that made for dangerous waters. Chloe enjoys her time at the beach, she doesn't mind the sand and enjoys playing in the sand. We've not taken her out in the water, not because she doesn't want to go but for me the water is a little cooler than I like and I haven't made my way out past my ankles yet. Chloe is loving the pool though and the hot tub.

On Tuesday, we made our way to the Corolla Lighthouse and everyone, including the kids, except Chloe all climbed the 214 stairs to the top of the Lighthouse. We spent most of our day at the Lighthouse and exploring the wildlife and nature center.

We have been bad parents and have not had our camera out like we should have. We do have a few pictures and I will download them as soon as I can and post.

Dr. Follow Up and 9 month report

This has been a week of doctor appointments for Chloe. On Monday we had her 9 month check up and all is going well. She has dropped down into the 70th percentile for her height and weight. She weighed 19lbs. 9 ozs. and is 28" long. The doctor tells me this is common with breastfed babies. She said you see them gain a lot in the beginning and the taper off around 6 months. Chloe is textbook.

Today we had her Audiology evaluation at Kosair and we received a GREAT report. The doctor's performed 3 test on her and she did great on all of them. When we did the test in the sound booth, I can report Chloe was a different baby from the previous two times. She heard the louder noises right away and would turn toward the noise. She turned toward the softer noises as well but sometimes was a little slower or it took a couple of times to repeat but the overall report was she is hearing just fine!!!!!

The doctor's did point out it can be difficult to test Young infants and testing around 7 & 8 months can be hard to clarify. Infants are just learning about sound and responding to the sound that they may not always catch the sounds and respond correctly.

We will evaluate her hearing again in about 6 months just to make sure everything is still going well.

Dr. Visit

On Friday, we made our 4-week follow-up visit to the ENT for Chloe's ear. During our visit we received some good news and then some not so good news. Chloe's tubes are in and doing great. They are open and doing what they should be doing. The bad news is when we re-tested her ears for the hearing she is still showing signs of hearing loss.

Chloe did totally fine on one side but the other side it was as though she never heard the sounds and the lady made many different sounds at many different levels and she never heard them.

We are being sent to Kosair to have more testing completed. Our visit at Kosair is on the 12th of July. I don't know what they are doing or anything. The ENT doctor said we need to refer you on and Kosair would be able to do a higher level of testing.

So next Thursday we will be at Kosair for our testing. I will follow up after we find something out.

Baby On The Move!!!

Move over!! Chloe has new adventures to explore. At 8 months 1 week Chloe took off. The key item to get her going was she was after her sister's puzzle pieces. On Monday, Cleis and I were working a puzzle and Chloe wanted a piece really bad. We left a piece laying there and Chloe took 2 crawls toward it and then a leap. After that she had it and she hasn't stopped since.

I hope all my preaching I've been doing over the last several months Cleis has listened, and Daddy has listened too. It is now serious time to baby proof the house. We all know where small pieces go and we don't want any emergencies.

Eight month pictures

Excelled Eight Month Old

It is here and actually passed by a few days but Chloe is 8 months old and moving right along.


How many teeth do I have?

Chloe is sporting 8 teeth, one for each month. She has 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top.

My favorite toys:

Sing & Discover Piano by Vtech - this is one of the most annoying toys you could ask for. But for some reason both of the girls have enjoyed this toy. The toy has this little dog with a guitar that moves and shakes all the time. It has this bongo that constantly counts. It repeats, "if you want to play a song sing with me", "join the animals and count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5"," if you want to have some fun start tapping on your drum" and many more. I won't be sad to see this one go.


Of course she continues to still love her Jumperoo and Exersaucer. She is also liking her Bumbo seat more. She watches Mommy make breakfast or dinner and joins me on the counter. It makes her feel more a part of it.

Leap Frog table - Now that she's starting to pull up and stand against things she can't get enough of this toy. It has so many activities she doesn't know where to go first.

Things I'm becoming attached too:

My mommy - It is more less when she is hungry or it's been awhile since she has nursed.

Taggie blanket - she loves this blanket, good to play with, good for comfort

Boppy - this is quite funny but when she sees me grab the boppy, she knows what is coming and she usually laughs out load or smiles real big. Signs of excitement.

Noises I can make -

Her latest new sound is making raspberries, Hi is a common sound, Dada is a common sound, giggling with her sister, Cleis.

Overall Chloe is doing great and excelling right along.

It's Official

Last night Chloe looked at Tony and said Dada. Once again another girl lost to Daddy. Making her first word Dada, along with everything else she references to as Dada. Of course we tried to get this on video, but we hit the usual hump of when you want them to do something to show off, they don't. Urrrrr...... How do they know????



Let's see how many months have I worked on trying to get Chloe to say Mama first, that would be 7 months and 29 days or 314 days that I have spent my time trying to get her to say Mmmmmm, Mmmaamm, and Mama or at least something along those lines. Oh well, it will happen when she is ready.

Finally Up to Date

After 7 weeks of dealing with an ongoing ear infection and missing our immunizations at our 6 month baby check up we are now up to date and back on track.

When we came home on Friday from her surgery I had two appointments I needed to make. The follow-up in one month for her ears and hearing test and to get her up to date on her immunizations.

Chloe's appointment for her immunizations was yesterday and everything checked out great. Her ears are healing great. She's doing great in the weight department, weighing in at 19 lbs. 7.6 ozs. I don't know the percentile and all that. If guessing I would say somewhere in the 90th percentile. And then of course the dreaded needles came and she didn't like that. She was able to miss out on one of them though since she is past 32 weeks. WooHoo........

Mouth Full

It does appear that Chloe is most definitely not going to be behind in the teething department. I noticed a few weeks back that her top gum was showing some white, I kept thinking to myself, these can't all come in at the same time especially the ones next to the front two. (I don't remember all the names for the teeth) Well it does appear that I am going to be wrong. On Sunday (June 3) I felt the first one, then Monday another one, now Tuesday yet another one. I would say by the end of this week she will have eight teeth.

I had better watch out. Nursing could take on a new meaning or feeling. Although, she has done extremely well with teething and not biting. I did have a few issues when tooth number three appeared but nothing too bad. They were usually at the end of her feeding and I was probably lazy by not ending the session. Wish me luck the nursing continues and our success continues.

Home and Doing Well

We are back home after an early morning. Chloe went in for her surgery this morning to have her tubes placed in her ears. All is well with Chloe. She did great.

There was no infection in either ear so the antibiotic must have been working over these past 8 days. Her right ear still had some fluid.

She was a little fussy after the surgery, to be expected though. I was able to nurse her and that was a great comfort. We nursed for about 40 minutes to give her time to come down from the anesthesia. Tony took her for a bit after her nursing. We got her clothes back on her and once we were outside and heading home she never made another sound. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for about 2 hours afterwards. She is now up and back to normal, eating well and nursing. A bit needy but that's okay we will get through that.

Tubes are coming!

I've posted several times that Chloe has been having trouble with her ears. This week alone we have been to the doctor twice and it's only hump day.

About mid-week last week I noticed Chloe heading downhill again and I knew the ear infection was not gone. I hoped I was wrong but as the week went on and the weekend came things only became worse. We had a follow-up scheduled for Tuesday and I thought I'll wait and we'll get the news then. Well on Monday Chloe woke up and still had her fever and I knew I had better go ahead and call and have her seen. The findings were as I thought, ear infection still there. This time we were more less at a loss for what to do, the antibiotics weren't working, we couldn't repeat the antibiotic we just finished days before, she couldn't take the other antibiotic (Augmentin) because it has some of the same drugs in it which she is allergic too. The doctor did go ahead and prescribe Zithromax but did not think it would work but thought we should try to see. And sent us on to the ENT for a evaluation.

Our evaluation at the ENT showed what we expected. Chloe definitely needs tubes. The hearing test already showed signs of hearing loss. She has a large amount of fluid on her ears and we need to act quickly on getting these tubes placed. We are scheduled for surgery next Friday, June 2 for the tubes. We will re-test her hearing one month following the tubes and hopefully things will check out okay and it was only the fluid causing her to have hearing loss. The doctor did want to keep her on an antibiotic until her surgery to hopefully get rid of some of the fluid. We are back to the Omnicef and this drug does seem to help Chloe and keep her in good spirits.

I will follow-up after her surgery next Friday.

Tooth #4 appears

On Friday Chloe had her fourth tooth cut through. I would not say Chloe has had the best of luck teething either. With her first two teeth we dealt with fluid on her ears but never an infection. From tooth three and four we haven't been able to get rid of the ear infection. Now are they related, I don't know?

Anyway it's been tough getting this tooth through.

Ways to Sleep

It has been 7 months and 1 week since Chloe came into this world and many countless nights that we have had figureing out how to make Chloe the most comfortable for sleeping. I admit I went a little overboard in the beginning.

For the first four and a half months I swaddled her in these swaddle wraps (greatest invention ever). Swaddled her in a blanket. Placed her swaddled inside a sleep sack and then laid her in a wedge. She wasn't going to be moving as far as I was concerned.

Then along the way, we lost the swaddle wraps and the blanket swaddling. We were left with sleeping in her sack and in the wedge. Well now we are going to be saying good bye to the wedge. Saturday morning I went in to get her and she was out of the wedge which was at the bottom of her crib. She was on her belly and up against the side rails.

I'm still going to start my night out by placing her in the wedge and if she moves out of it during the night so be it. I will feel better knowing she is asleep in her bed, on her back and in her wedge.

Guess we can't keep them non mobile forever.

What Am I doing?????

We have hit the 7 month mark today. I can't believe we are on the downhill slide of our first year. It doesn't seem possible. Time is going so fast and each month I like to document what has occurred during that month.

Mr. Doggy and Peacock - These are two friends that hang from her car seat. These are going to need new names real soon. Something along the lines of dirty, nasty, germy. I need to figure out how to give these guys a bath or they are going to have to hit the garbage. Disgusting!

Baby Sign Language - You have given "all finished" a new sign. I call it the penguin flap. Your sister calls it flap her wings. You love the sign for bath, you get all giddy for this one and laugh with excitement. For all the others I do with you you just look at me like I'm nuts. I know my work will pay off in a few months though.

Starting Solids - this has been a slow start for us due to your ear infections. We are now making progress though. I'm love making your food, I think you have different thoughts though. Some of the faces and noises I get aren't full of the yum yum. I had to laugh earlier in the week when I introduced you to green beans and I'm smiling at you making the yum yum sound and you give the gag sound and tongue out. I stopped and will wait a few days before we try again. We will finish our vegetables this week and start our fruits next.

Solids has added some stinkin to your trunk. Dirty diapers have a new meaning now, they really STINK!!!!! Any volunteers?????

Each day with you remains and joy and blessing.

I'm not sleepy

This is Chloe tonight at 10:30 p.m., wide eye and smiling. For some reason she was not sleepy tonight but she also was not fussy. I put her to bed about 20 minutes after this picture and she went right down.

Now it's my turn to sign off.

New Pics

Pity Party

Oh, poor me! I'm having a pity party for myself over my kids illnesses and a night of walking the floors with a crying baby and receiving no sleep. We've been back to the doctor today for Chloe's ears. Yes, the ear infection is still there or never left. Who knows. We're on round 2 with an antibiotic. This time Chloe is taking Omnicef. Which I'm very familiar with since this was always a popular one with Cleis. Let's hope she doesn't have an allergic reaction with this one.

Now I know things could be a lot worse and more severe but for this moment I'm going to be on my pity pot. I really thought things would be different with Chloe. She started off so much healthier, looks healthier, I thought we were on the right track. There must be something to be said for genetics though. These girls got their ears from somewhere.

We'll get through this and Chloe will be that happy baby girl again.

It Pays To Listen

After 9 days of Chloe being on her antibiotic she has broken out in hives and has a rash. It is mostly on her upper extremities but there is a little rash on her upper thighs. Spoke to the doctor on Friday and he said it is not uncommon to show the signs this late. We stopped the Amoxicillian (darn this is on the free list at Meijers) and will follow-up at our appointment in another week.

I'm so glad we listened to the doctor when he said hold off on starting the baby food. It made figuring the allergy out very simple. She is definitely ready to start her baby food and I'm ready for her too. I've added an extra cereal feeding per day and I think she has added a couple of extra nursing sessions.

Hopefully starting the food will be a success.

How to enjoy Thunder!!!

I believe the picture speaks for itself.

Six month Doctor Visit

We have been to the doctor today for what was suppose to be our 6 month well baby check. We have good news and bad news.

We'll start with the good news - Chloe is doing great reaching her milestones. She has accomplished all for the 6 month point and is already on some of the 8/9 month milestones. She is well on track for motor, language and developmental skills. Yeah! Go Chloe!!!

Chloe is at 18 lbs. and 9 ounces placing her in the 90th percentile foe weight. I have a chub-chub her. Side note to this, Cleis did not even weigh this on her first birthday. Her length is 27 1/4 inches placing her in the 95th percentile and head circumference is 75th percentile at 43 cm.

The doctor did a full body check on her and said she has very strong legs, her hip placement looks great and that she is doing just fine.

Now for the bad news - I have noted in previous post that we were having some fussy days and that we had a new tooth. Well I was chalking all the fussiness up to change in routine, baby food, teeth, anything but hearing the words "ear infection". Unfortunately Chloe has her first ear infection. For the most part she has been in great spirits. She gets fussy in the late afternoon and early evening and wants to be held, other than that she has been good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this was caused by her teeth and she doesn't have the same ears Cleis had. But if that is the case we will make it through. She has been prescribed her antibiotic and starting solids is on hold. If by chance she has a reaction to the medication we will know it's the medication and not have to go through the process of elimination. We will begin solids in 10 days once we finish the medication. Until then all my hard work will remain in the freezer until Chloe is ready.

We go back in three weeks to do a follow up on her ears and at this time she will get her 6 month immunizations.

Another new tooth

I have another explanation around the fussy days Chloe has been having. I was feeling around in Chloe's mouth today and I felt a new tooth and could see the new tooth. I was really thinking it would be her top teeth to come in next but this tooth is on the bottom next to her other two teeth. She has three on the bottom and zero on top.

There is definitely truth to the saying "every baby is different". Cleis and Chloe have been totally different on their teeth coming in. Cleis was more textbook and I feel Chloe is all over on her teeth development. I will wait to see what is next????

Will it be molars, eye teeth??????

Routine confusion or Sweet Potatoes?

I spent Friday making baby food for Chloe and started her with some sweet potatoes that night. I then spent the next two nights with night awakenings and fussy days. Since I had three days of a fussy little girl I stopped to ask myself, is it the sweet potatoes or has she been confused over the changes in her routine? New baby food, spending more time at the gym, night time routine different than usual.......

I stopped the sweet potatoes. I can only guess they made her belly a little gassy. We went back to our night time routine doing our usual night things and we have our sleeping baby back.

I'm happy again to be getting my sleep. Chloe however, is still having some fussy moments through out the day. Is it a growth spurt or more teeth on the way?

Let's Go Fishing

Today was a nice day and we wanted to go try out Cleis' new fishing pole from the Easter bunny that visited at Mimi and Papaw Newell's house. So we packed the car and headed out to the farm. It was a fun day and a busy day too. Tony put me to work on the tractor and had me cutting the field. Tony and Cleis rode around on the mower and cut. When they finished they went on a worm hunt so we could fish.

While we were fishing we fired up the grill and grilled out steaks and potatoes. Yummy!!!!

Tony had Cleis' pole all ready and as soon as she put her pole into the water she had a fish on her line. She was so excited, as we all were and I was rushing to get the camera. Tony got her pole ready again and before you knew it she had another fish on her line. For those of you getting ready to head out on your annual fishing trip you might want to consider taking Cleis, she must be good luck.

Half Way

I cannot believe that today Chloe is 6 months old, it just doesn't seem possible. With each passing month, I ask myself where does the time go?

What are you doing at 6 months?

You giggle and laugh. Especially to Itsy Bitzy Spider and time for bath.
You smile all the time. Very delightful and happy baby.
You play with your hands and toes.
You grab for your toys and things that are not your toys. You are becoming electronically inquisitive, remotes, phones and computers are becoming things you want to play with.
You roll over and scoot all over the floor.
You sit up and reach for your toys.
You get up on your knees and work hard at trying to crawl.
You have two teeth, which came through on the same day.
You sleep through the night. Yippee!!!!
You babble and try hard to talk and have conversations with us. Words you say, Hi, gaga, aaaggghhh, gggaahhh, dada, mama, aarr, uugghh. There are more and I need to record them.
I think you've learned the baby sign for 'bath time' and your grasping 'all finished'.

What are your favorite things?

Your green cereal bowl. You get so excited when you see your green bowl.
You love your Jumperoo. This is one of the greatest things out there.
You love your Exersaucer. This entertains you for hours.
You love the Doggie that hangs from your car seat.
You enjoy your Taggies book and are interested in your Taggie blanket.
You love to watch your sister.
You love your bath.

You have been a joy to have around and have been a really easy baby to raise. I hope this last part continues and your always easy. Please no grief for your loving parents.

I'll be updating soon on her stats, we go to the doctor next week.

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny has been extremely good to the girls. It was like Christmas all over again. I've never seen so many new things and so much candy.

Cleis was a joy to watch this Easter. Even though the weather was not suitable for hunting eggs outside we made the best of hunting for them inside. I see a lot and I mean a lot of her daddy in her. She was eager to hunt and couldn't even wait for the instructions and boundaries, she was off and running and throwing eggs into her basket. At least she gets it honest.

Chloe had a big day too. She really wanted to get in on the action, she was having a hard time watching all her cousins. They had better watch out, next year she will be out there with them and grabbing those eggs.

A Night Out

Mommy has had her first night out.

I was a little apprehensive at first to leave Chloe for any length of time. The history behind the two other times I had left Tony with the girls the outcome was not good, and I was only gone for an hour each of those times. Both times Chloe received injury to the head. Minor but they equalled long crying spells.

All turned out well tonight and I had a great time. I was able to catch up with my friend, Tonya and I worked on some much needed scrapbooking. Tony had a great time as well spending some one on one time with his girls.

Chloe's own website

Since Chloe was born we have been working on getting her own domain name so that she can have her very own website. Also since we made the decision for me to stay home with the girls this will give me something creative to build and utilize what brain cells I have left. I'm excited about this project and can't wait to get started.

I will be launching the website soon, you can visit her site at www.chloebeth.net.

Recent Photos

With the warm weather approaching we have been enjoying the outdoors and I have been snapping away. Here are some new pictures.

Up on knees

It's not going to be long before Chloe is cruising to get where she wants to go. We had her in her pak-n-play today while we were working in the yard. I went over to check on her and she was up on her knees. She was trying hard to go somewhere. It won't be long and she's going to be all over the place and into everything.

Since I have not been able to stay up with my scrapbooking and journaling this has become like my place to journal. I will be so thankful I have all the notes when I do have the opportunity to go back and scrapbook and journal in her baby book.

Tune of B-I-N-G-O

When Cleis was only a few weeks old and taking a bath in her baby tub I started spelling her name to her to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. It went something like,

There was a little girl, who's name was Cleis Olivia, C-L-E-I-S, C-L-E-I-S, C-L-E-I-S and Cleis is her name-o.

There was a little girl, who lives on (street name), C-L-E-I-S, C-L-E-I-S, C-L-E-I-S and Cleis is her name-o.

This became a bath time ritual and added to the many songs we would sing during bath time. As she became older we would sing it at other times throughout the day. Now did this help her spell her name early? I don't know. However, I did find it interesting that earlier today she was in her room drawing and coloring and I heard her spelling her name to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. So something must have stuck.

Since I believe this has made an impression on Cleis I will begin doing the same for Chloe. Tonight at bath time I started Chloe on her B-I-N-G-O journey and she loved every minute of it. Full of smiles the entire time and even a laugh or two. Possibly in a couple of years I will hear Chloe spelling her name to the tune.

Look Who's Sitting!!!

With every Monday that passes by Chloe becomes one week older. On these Monday's I take a picture of Chloe on her blanket so that I can see her changes. It also reminds me of what she was doing during that week. I did this with Cleis and made a scrapbook of her first 52 weeks and it is incredible to go back and look through.

On week 22 Chloe actually sat alone and I was able to capture a picture. Her sitting alone is only for seconds at a time right now but every few days it's a few more seconds. It won't be long now and she'll mobile.

My Rant of Annoyance

Today here in Louisville it was 70 degrees and absolutely beautiful. The day called for a picnic in the park and a big walk in the park. We got our stuff together and joined everyone else in the city at the park.

Before I start my rant let me preface it by saying maybe this is a normal thing that happens to other parents with their child(ren) but it isn't something I'm in the habit of doing. Today when we arrived at the park we did our walk and then headed to the play area. I took Chloe out of the hip hammock and put her in a baby swing, then Cleis from the stroller because she wanted to swing next to her sister. Immediately a lady from over at the slide area started telling me how cute my baby was and encouraging her son to look at the baby. She says, "he loves babies". So she comes on over with her son and is talking to Chloe and telling me she's smiling at me. Don't take this wrong, there is nothing wrong with this but it happens everywhere I go. And I mean everywhere. It's also not just women, it is both sexes and all ages. I once counted while I was out shopping at a local store how many times I had comments made to me about my child, the count was eight. I think that is a lot.

I can remember when Cleis was a baby I became paranoid to go out with her because of how often I was approached and told how pretty she was or what a beautiful baby she was. There was even a time when I was taking Cleis to have her pictures made and a lady approached asking me if she could hold her. I looked at her with this look and thought to myself are you fricken nuts or what? Of course I told her no and asked her please do not touch her.

The real getter for me today was when a young girl approached Chloe in the stroller and started "petting" her. The young girl went for Chloe's head, which was covered and kept rubbing her hands on her head. I asked her to stop. She then was rubbing on Chloe's face, which again I asked her to stop. Then the young girl ignoring every word I said begins to play with Chloe's hands. Well of course Chloe is going to hold her fingers and you know the next step for Chloe. I immediately stepped in here and removed the young girls dirty hands from my child's before reaching her mouth and told her no more touching her, that was enough. She continued to go on about how pretty she was, asking me how old was she, saying she is so cute, blah, blah, blah..... I of course, was very uneasy about this. Not only did I not like a stranger touching my child but she was not catching my drift on not touching her either. It took me removing her from my child to catch on. I understand she was a young girl but where in the heck was her guardian?

I don't know about others but first of all I don't like strangers touching my children, especially after I have asked them to stop. Secondly, sad to say but you just don't know who you can trust. Call me rude, unfriendly, stand offish what have you but I'm not comfortable with strangers touching my baby everywhere I go. While it's nice for the comments about my children, is this really a normal gesture?

Okay enough of my rant.

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Personality

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Personality

Personality

Another month has gone by and today Chloe is 5 months old. Since her four month post, Chloe has blossomed, and is becoming a very active baby. She is also developing a personality. Thus far she has been a very easy baby, you don't hear that a lot with second babies but she is truly a delight. She will always give you a smile and is happy a majority of the time. Below is a list of her accomplishments and her (or my) favorite activities. In no certain order, we have:

1, 2, 3, up, 1, 2, 3, up- this is an activity we do every time we are on the changing table and other times through out the day. This is where I hold Chloe's hand and we go 1, 2, 3, up to sitting and then 1, 2, 3, up to standing. She loves it, she smiles and she giggles (sometimes). It also works on making her neck and leg muscles strong. From the looks of how she stands on her legs, I will be really surprised if she is not an early walker.

We also have 1, 2, 3, push- this is where Chloe lays on her back and we take her feet in the palm of our hands and say 1, 2, 3, push and she will push her feet against the palm of our hand. She can move all over the room this way. Lets just hope this doesn't make her a scooter and she does crawl.

Baby Signs - I have started working with Chloe on teaching her baby sign language. Currently we are working on bath, milk, eat, all done, all finished and bird. When Cleis was a baby we did baby sign language with her and it's been funny to see her begin using it again. Even though she can talk she will sometimes do the sign of what she is asking for. I'm glad to see she remembers them, she can help me teach Chloe.

Hip Hammock - This is Mommy's favorite. The hammock has been great to have, it allows me to carry Chloe on my hip and have both of my hands free. Allowing me to still do things and help Cleis. When Cleis was a baby I carried her around in a sling, she loved it. I tried my sling with Chloe and she did not care for it much. Chloe likes to feel safe and be close, not that Cleis didn't, she just fit well in the sling and liked it. I love my hammock since I haven't been brave enough yet to get the double stroller out the hammock has been a true winner for me. I can put Cleis in the stroller, carry Chloe on my hip and it's off to the park we go. It's also handy to have around the house and get the chores done.

Storybook Time - There are some days I feel like all I do is read books. Cleis loves to have books read to her and she is now actually starting to read (or memorize) the story back to you. Cleis also loves to read to Chloe so Chloe gets double dose of books being read to her. Chloe does crack me up with her book time though. She already wants to hold the books and act as though she is reading them and turn the pages. I laugh every time at this and I must get it on video because it's like she knows when to turn the page. My favorite books are still the books from the Usbourne collection. Our favorite night time book is Sleepy Baby, which was given to me by my friend Nicole. Both of the girls love to feel the different materials in the book. The little baby's socks feel one way, his wash cloth feels another. It's a great book. We also love Good Night Moon and Guess How Much I Love You.

Morning Time - Chloe is now getting to the age where she wakes up in the morning and will lay in her crib and talk. She also likes looking at herself in the mirror and playing with the toys on the mirror. She must think she has a friend with her when she sees that 'other' baby. She is a very happy baby in the morning (and other times too). In the mornings when Cleis and I go in to get Chloe she lights up the room with her smile. I get smiles and kicks of excitement. Sometimes a giggle too.

We are now discovering our Exersaucer. I got up in the attic yesterday and cleaned it up. Then I had two babies that wanted to try it out. Sometimes when Cleis sees things that were hers she has a wee bit of regression but it soon passes and I have a big girl again. Chloe has only been in her Exersaucer a couple of times but she seems to enjoy it. We now have a new toy to switch around with during activity times. I try to keep each activity time a little different.

Chloe is getting close to sitting up, she will sit tri-pod for a tiny bit and for seconds she will sit alone. Stay tuned to see if she make this accomplishment in her fifth month.

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Giggle

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Giggle

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Photo Shoot

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Photo Shoot

Cleis and Chloe Newell: New Blog Site/Catching Up

Cleis and Chloe Newell: New Blog Site/Catching Up

Cleis and Chloe Newell: She Did It!

Cleis and Chloe Newell: She Did It!

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Fun, Fun, Fun.....

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Fun, Fun, Fun.....

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Cleis and Chloe Newell: Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Another milestone achieved!

Yesterday was a very busy day for the Newell family so I'm not sure how Chloe squeezed her roll over into her day, but she did. She had spent most of her day in her car seat or was being held.

During one of our stops at home I laid her down on her tummy and stepped away for 3 minutes to pack her cereal. When I came back she was on her back and had started her music on her Leap Start toy. I immediately got excited that she had finally rolled over. I also had a bit of disappointment because I did not see her achieve her first roll over. Then I thought maybe Cleis put her on her back and started her music, so off I went to check with Cleis that she had not put Chloe on her back. She said she did not.

After this Chloe had an audience to witness her next roll over. We waited, we encouraged, we cheered and we backed away. NOTHING!!!! It was time for us to go and continue with our errands so we all packed up and headed back out.

Much later in the evening I put her back on her blanket, tummy side down. Cleis and I were sitting there next to her playing Legos and watching Baby Einstein waiting for the moment to happen. Finally she raised herself up and a push there was and she was on her back. Cleis and I screamed with excitement, congratulated Chloe and Cleis ran to tell her Daddy.

What a big day for Chloe. Yeah, Chloe!!!

Fun, Fun, Fun.....

Playing Mommy!!!

If you had asked me 2 months ago if I had made the right decision to do the mommy job for awhile, I would have told you I think I made the wrong the decision. But the past 3 weeks have been rewarding of my mommy duties.

Cleis and I are more on the same page now and communicating better. She enjoys her time at the YMCA, playing in the adventure center. It gives her time to interact with her peers and have some time without mommy around. Playdates are wonderful too. Our latest finding has been the indoor playground. Fun was had by all including little Chloe.

I'm really starting to look forward to Spring and Summer and hopefully still doing the mommy job. We will spend time going to the park, taking walks, making visits to the creek, going to the pool, playing at our farm and hanging out on the deck at the pond. Looking forward to spending more time on the boat this summer and having cook outs. Can't wait.

She Did It!

I can only hope that last nights sleep was an example of what is coming. Chloe had her best night ever. After her bath we had cereal time. Which she loves and reminds me of a birdie taking the worm from his mommy. I nursed her around 9:00, we had a little activity time and then I put her to bed.

Now I was having a hard time reading her signs. I knew she was tired but I wasn't sure that laying her down was going to work. I went ahead and tried it. She made a couple of fusses but within 2 minutes she was quite. I usually like to give her one last nurse before I turn in but last night we skipped that nurse. I figured she would be up in her 3 hours BUT she wasn't. She slept on and she slept all the way till 6:15 this morning. Yeah Chloe!!!

What a wonderful night! Thank you Chloe and lets have more of those.

Photo Shoot

Today we took Chloe for a photo shoot. Cleis also decided she wanted her picture made too, so we had some made of her as well.

I'll post a few and I'll be mailing them out over the next few days.

Giggle

Chloe can now produce a full blown giggle. This morning on the changing table I was talking to her and laughing at her beautiful smiles. I started doing itsy bitsy spider and tickled her with my fingers near her clavicle. She burst into this giggle. I had to do it again to see if I could get the same response, I did. It was wonderful, so all day I've been doing the tickle and I can't wait to get that laugh.

So now we not only have all the babbling, and she has lots to say at times, we now can have a giggle thrown in there. In the midst of her babbling I know I've heard "Hi" and the other day I heard what sounded like "Mama". I could be wishing but it sure did sound like "Mama". I wish I could run the video all the time and not miss a minute.

****see below for some new pics.

Yummy in my Tummy

We were planning to start Chloe on her cereal this coming Monday, but she changed our mind and we decided to go ahead and introduce cereal to Chloe tonight. She absolutely loved it. I couldn't get the spoon back to her fast enough. You would have thought she had been eating cereal all along as well as she did.

What made us give in and start a couple of days early? Well for the past day and a half she has wanted to nurse more. She also did not seem satisfied after finishing her nurse so I had been nursing her on both sides, still not satisfied. She was practically eating her fingers. She starred at us while we ate dinner and if her thoughts could speak, they would have been saying "Where's mine"! So there you have it - she won her parents over and we gave in.

The true test is going to be - will she sleep any longer? This week she has already improved by leaps and bounds, she has been sleeping about 6-7 hours in a stretch.

See pictures below of her enjoying her cereal.

Tender Moment

This morning during activity time Chloe did a first and melted my heart. We were doing our normal routine of working on our exercise of rolling over, saying our ABC's, doing pat-a-cake and practicing our vocabulary. Of course one of the first words I'm wanting to hear is 'Mama'.

We were laying there on the bed and I'm repeating Mama over and over again to her and she reaches up with both of her hands and grabs my face with her big beautiful smile. A moment a mom will never forget. I'm sure this will be just one of the many joyous occasions I will share with her.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We started our day off with Cleis' Valentine party at the library. She had a great time at storybook hour, where she enjoyed Mrs. Sherry's readings. Then she exchanged Valentines with her friends and enjoyed the social time, while getting wired on sugar. Afterwards we stopped by to visit Tommy Turtle at Daddy's office where Cleis fed Tommy a worm. She absolutely loves this turtle. I don't know how she will handle it when we have to let him go, but he is getting so big and outgrowing his aquarium.

Chloe has been a good sport today. She slept through library time and her visit to Daddy's office. She even allowed me to enjoy lunch before wanting her lunch. She is such a good baby!

Mommy won out on the dinner vote. Since my whole gall bladder deal I could not eat Mexican and for the past couple of weeks I've had the craving for Mexican. So I decided lets give it a try and we went for Mexican tonight. Tony and Cleis were hoping for Sushi but we'll do that another time.

I did a little photo shoot with the girls today and I will get those added and I'll do an album in my Shutterfly account as well. Cleis is becoming a hamm for the camera. I think she could make a great model.

Healthy Report

Chloe had her 4 month check-up today and doing extremely well. Her weight is 16.9, putting her in the 90th percentile for weight. Her length is 25 in. placing her in the 50th percentile for height. We have a chub-chub. She has met all her developmental milestones, plus some.

The doctor says we can start her on cereal anytime now. Tony and I have not decided when we will start but I'm sure we won't wait long.

The doctor asked where does she sleep? and what do you have in her crib? Well, I knew I had broken the rules for this question. Awhile back I had put one of my t-shirts in her crib in hope she would sleep longer if she thought I was near. I'm not sure if this worked or not but it gave us (me) some sweet memories. Many times I would go in and she would be holding my shirt. This wasn't the only no-no I had to change either. When Chloe goes down in her crib for night, I go a little overboard. She is swaddled with her wrap, then swaddled in a blanket, then into her Halo bag (without her arms), where she is then laid into her wedgie. But it doesn't stop here, I lay blankets on top of her as well. Needless to say I have removed the extra step of swaddling and the extra blankets.

Chloe had three vaccinations in her thighs and one oral vaccination today. She did really well with her shots. She cried very little this time. At her 2 month check-up she screamed.

I will post pictures soon. I'm getting behind in downloading them.

New Tooth

Chloe has a tooth at 4 month and 3 days.

Chloe has given us numerous signs that there was a tooth on the way. Her #1 sign was the drooling. She can soak an outfit with her drooling, #2 sign she wants to gnaw on your hand and the #3 sign has been more saliva leading to her coughing or gagging.

Up to this point Chloe has been a 100 % breast-fed baby. I hope this early teething does not bring nursing to an end. I have really enjoyed nursing her and after those first couple of weeks it has been so easy to do.

We are thankful she has not been a crabby teeth er (at least not yet). The little guy (tooth er) is barely through her bottom gum. You can feel and you can see it, if you look real hard.

Stay tuned for more updates as we have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow. This is our week of doctor appointments. Today, Tony and Cleis both had appointments. Cleis received a GREAT report from Dr. Eid. We can drop her "Quack, Quacks" to one puff, morning and night. Dr. Eid was also very proud of how well she does her inhaler. He said, he's not seen many three - year olds do puffs and big deep breaths like Cleis can.

******UPDATE******
Chloe not only has one tooth, she has TWO. They are coming in at the same time. I noticed both of them while I was giving her a bath on this same night. Sweet little girl has had a rough week but honestly, you would never know it. She has been wonderful.

Chloe Four Months

Today Chloe turns four months old. Where has the time gone? During this time Chloe has made some great milestones.

I'll start first with SLEEP!!!! This is a great accomplishment, Chloe is beyond the waking of every hour of every night. Those were killer nights. I'm not sad to see those go. She is now sleeping anywhere from 4-7 hours at a time, on average about 5 hours.

One of my favorite milestone is her laugh, about 3 weeks ago Tony had her laughing at 'Boom, Boom'. About a week ago I had her laughing at me speaking Spanish to her. She likes the rolling 'R'. Her laughs are becoming daily now and it's wonderful to hear her little voice.

I've given Chloe the nickname of little 'chub-chub' because of how quickly she has outgrown things. When we found out we were having a girl, I thought this is great since I have tubs and tubs full of girl clothes. Then I thought about it and said Chloe is going to be a season off. Well as it is tuning out Chloe is fitting right into Cleis' clothes just fine. It has been nice to have all of these pretty things.

Chloe has many favorite activity items. I think her favorite is her Jumperoo. She really enjoys bouncing around in it. She's even found it can be an excellent napping spot. Because she enjoys the Jumperoo so much she doesn't use the bouncy seat or swing. Another favorite activity is storybook time. Whether it be her sister or me reading to her she enjoys her books. Cleis likes to read her library books to her every week. My favorites are the Usbourne books we have, especially hunting for the duck. Another happy time is bath. She does a lot of smiling during bath and works on her vocabulary during this time. Chloe doesn't enjoy her Bumbo seat as much but she tolerates it for me.

This time has gone by quickly and while it's sad to see my baby grow out of this baby stage it's also welcoming of the new things to come.

Hearing Voices

Last night was like any other night until 12:02 a.m. when Chloe began crying. I knew she couldn't be hungry because I had fed her at 10:30. Plus she's reaching the point I'm not going to go in every time she cries and feed her. Not a habit I want to get started. So I let her cry. And she cried and cried.

Then I heard "Please go feed her Mommy". I became alert and thought was that Cleis or am I imagining that I'm hearing things. I wasn't imagining, next I heard "Go feed her mommy". I looked over at the clock and Chloe had been crying for one hour and four minutes. So I got up to go feed her and when I opened my door Cleis says, feed her. I apologized to Cleis and told her to go back to sleep.

I went into Chloe's room, fed her and tucked her back in bed. Everyone was happy at this point and sleeping except for Mommy. I went back to bed but could never fall back to sleep because I wanted to hear Chloe if she cried again. I didn't want her waking Cleis again.

What a night! Real voices verse the imaginary voices. Who won? I think they both did and I lost sleep.

Super Bowl Raclette Party

Wow, what a busy weekend but a fun weekend.

A few weeks ago we had our friends Chris and Joy and their daughter Emma over to our house for Raclette and chocolate fondue. We all had such a great time that Chris and Joy decided they wanted to buy a Raclette for themselves. So they ordered up a Super Bowl Raclette party.

Cleis & Emma had a great time playing and Karoking. Cleis loved all the animals and trying to find the kitties. While Chloe enjoyed the commercials and snuggling up with her daddy. The parents had overly full belly's but still enjoyed the game.

We owe our Raclette good times to our friend Bernie, from Switzerland. Thanks Bernie!

Chloe's Playdate

Today I packed up Chloe and we went over to our friends Matt and Jenn's house to have a baby food making play date with their little girl Mareyna. She is 2 1/2 months older than Chloe.

I know Chloe is still a few months off from consuming baby food but Jenn was making some up for Mareyna and I wanted to be there so I could learn what it was all about. I can't wait to get started. Not only am I happy about the cost I will be saving but the nutritional value behind fresh food. It's going to be wonderful. When Cleis was a baby I did a little bit with her but it was more stage 2 foods. I'm going to start from the beginning with Chloe. I also adventured out and tried the acorn squash Jenn was making. I learned that I like acorn squash and will now be making that for our family dinners on a regular basis.

Mareyna and Chloe had a great time. They talked back with each other, of course Mareyna had a lot more to say but Chloe laughed with her. We sat them across from each other in their Bumbo seats and they looked and reached for each other.

It was a great day and we look forward to having more play dates together and the moms making food together.

New Blog Site/Catching Up

I haven't blogged in awhile because I was not happy with the format of the other site. I'm sure all my English majors/teachers out there were cringing. It would not allow me to write in paragraphs, no matter what I tried. When I would publish everything ran together. Now I have found this site and I believe it's going to work much better. Also it will be even better if I can link it to Cleis' domain (website).

Getting on to what the real business is all about, my two beautiful girls!

I can't believe how strong Chloe is. Her Jumperoo (thanks Meme & Papaw) must be working and making her legs strong. I also think her new little chair the Bumbo seat (too cool) is contributing to her being so strong. Another factor is her belly time. She doesn't particularly enjoy it but I make sure she is on her tummy at some point of every day. I think if Chloe continues on at this pace, we may have another early walker on our hands, which is okay by me.

We are so blessed to have two happy little baby girls. Cleis was a very happy baby and smiled all the time. I remember we had this toy we called Mr. Smiley because Cleis would smile at 'him' all the time. Chloe is also full of big smiles. If you flash a big happy face her way you'll recieve a big happy face back. Her smile is so heartwarming. As a side note, her flirty smile gets her daddy. These girls sure do know how to get their daddy wrapped around their pinky.

So far, Chloe has been a wonderful and easy baby. The Baby Whisperer has proven it does work. We have the E. A. S. Y. routine mastered. My 'Y' is usually a 'C' though, when Chloe is napping Cleis is having her activity time.

Cleis spends her activity time playing games on the computer. I am amazed at the great educational games in cyber space to be played for free. I have found some excellent websites that we can go to and play matching games, math games, letter games, and coloring pages. We read lots of books, work puzzles and play board games. I know she isn't getting what she would if she was in school but Tony and I are both extremely impressed with the level of intelligence Cleis shows.

I'm not sure where Chloe is on her size/weight right now, we have a four month check-up coming in a couple of weeks but I know she has outgrown her bath tub. She isn't quite ready to sit up either so bath time is becoming a bit difficult. Not to mention my extra helper. I have to really watch my helper or she gets a little excited with the water. Cleis loves washing her baby sister's hair but come rinsing time Cleis gets carried away in dumping the water. There has been a couple of times Chloe gets more than her head rinsed. She's taken in a few gulps of water.