Friday, December 28, 2007

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.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

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.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

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.

Monday, December 10, 2007

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.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

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.