Chloesaurus

With every passing day it becomes increasingly clear that Chloe is not like the others.  Our child is stubborn, busy, and determined.  She also has a wicked temper.  My Mom has told me one, two... a thousand times that she is exactly like me when I was younger.  Exactly.  Sometimes when I watch her use her finger-like toes to scale the cabinets and pull herself to the counter I see how I would would want to do the same thing... if I only had the energy.  I see myself in her as she demands a "pickle," a "tootie" a.k.a. cookie, or "joosh" a.k.a. juice.  I see myself in her when she snuggles up to her daddy to watch cartoons.  I see myself in her all of the time, and it is crazy because I think Chloe is the most beautiful specimen to walk the face of this earth.  Why, then, am I so hard on myself?  I suppose that is another post altogether.

Chloe eating her apple - one of the only foods she will ingest.

My Mom loves to tell stories of how I woke up at the crack of dawn saying "the sun's up and so am I!"  She says I was so stubborn and so determined.  I could do anything my older boy cousins could do.  I spent hours - days even - screaming at my Pogo-Ball until I could maneuver that thing around like Drew.  We have countless hours of video footage of me, "The Siren," screaming at the top of my lungs while I tried desperately to do what the boys were doing.  I always thought the videos were so depressing.  Everyone just ignored my incessant screaming.  No one asked what was wrong.  You wouldn't have been able to understand me between my hysteric breathing/screaming pattern even if I tried to tell you.  I understand it now, of course.  If they hadn't ignored me they would probably be in jail for shaking me half to death.


Chloe playing in the field and Mama begging her to look at the camera.

 It should really come to no surprise, then, that Chloe is my Mini-Me.  Most of the time she even looks exactly like me.  First of all, I think God laughs every morning when I drag my once snooze-happy ass out of my bed at 6:00 a.m. (We are sleeping in an extra half hour these days.)  Chloe is up and she is ready to play.  Ready for milk.  Mama.  Dada.  Papa.  Dora.  There is no sleepy snuggle period to transition this Mama into the morning.  Thankfully, after a vigorous training period, I have successfully addicted Chloe to Dora.  Dora has gotten us from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. many a manana.  Gracias, Dora. 

We can't take Chloe anywhere.  I mean it.  You know that kid at the restaurant who is running around from table to table saying "hi."  If not, you haven't graced a restaurant in the same 20 minute time span as us.  That is probably because you don't eat at restaurants that have bikes and highway signs hanging from the ceilings.  We used to be you.  Taking Chloe to a restaurant is possibly the most frustrating of all outings.  She used to fall for our secret weapons - berries, crayons, cheerios, iPhones - but the enemy has evolved.  She is smarter.  Stronger.  Most trips to a restaurant involve Chloe eating only ketchup by the spoonful or handful, Chloe trying to feed us ketchup by the spoonful or handful, Chloe drinking water from cups by the handful, Chloe crawling on the table in an effort to escape, Chloe coloring the table, Chloe making a break for it and running all over the restaurant, etc.  We have never been successful in keeping Chloe in her high chair.  She has been a real-life Houdini from the start of life when she weaseled her way out of the tightest of swaddles.  We are no match for her.



Chloe climbing and Mama begging her to look at the camera.

Grocery shopping holds a close second n terms of worst possible destinations. I am always so envious of the mothers walking through the grocery store with a toddler sitting nicely in the cart, and a four year old shadowing close behind. I can count on one hand the number of times I have ventured to the grocery store alone. We usually take her together and one of us takes on the task of the actual shopping, while the other chases Chloe down isle after isle. She is usually huffing and puffing by the time we leave the grocery store because she has sprinted at least a mile.


Chloe eating corn straight from the corn maze.

Why is she like this?  You could probably come to the conclusion that it is our fault.  We let her run around so she just continues to do it.  Maybe you are right.  But I can say that since the moment Chloe could crawl she has found a way to squirm her way out of my arms and onto the floor in an effort to escape.  If we didn't let her go on her own she would have a meltdown everywhere we went.  By meltdown I mean full fledged, body slung on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, exorcism-style meltdown.  I prefer the happy, running around, getting into everything Chloe over the possessed, temper-tantrum Chloe any day.

Most of the time when we bring Chloe somewhere people will comment on how "busy" she is, and then by the time we leave they are shocked at her mobility and fearlessness.  They are usually chasing her around having a heart attack as she climbs the bar stools, stairs, and cabinets of their home while Paul and I watch her comfortably from afar.  She has full reign of our house now.  She goes up and down stairs upright with toys in both hands.  She strategically places her potty chair stools around the house to aid her in swiping things from counters and in opening doors.  She dances to every commercial, toy, or distant melody.  She does flips and rolls and spins wherever she goes.  She walks on her tip toes 50% of the day.  We try desperately to keep her from standing on tables, biting Griffin, and jumping on the couch.  She is a maniac, I tell you.  A maniac. 

While I wouldn't have her any other way, I do pray that this second baby is mellow like his Dada.  Chloe is a good girl, but she is so stubborn and so busy that an easy, go-with-the-flow member of the family would certainly be a welcome addition!!

Chloe giving Mama kisses :o)



So Many Baby Bumps!

I realize that it is no coincidence I know at least fifteen pregnant women at a time.  The late 20's and early 30's are prime baby making time, and the majority of my friends are married with babies on the brain.  That being said, it is still quite shocking to see so many pregnant bellies.  Seeing my skinny, little best friend, Sara, with any kind of belly at all is quite shocking.  Right now some of my best friends from high school, college, post-college, and family are expecting or have just had a baby.  It is such an exciting time, and I feel so happy to share the experience with so many of my close friends.  I have attached a few pictures of my friends and our baby bumps that were taken with cell phones or uploaded to Facebook.  The quality is just not quite there, but you get the idea.  Babies, babies galore!

Left to Right: Sara, Me, Kellie, & Lydia

We are all due within about one month of each other.  Sara is due January 15, I am due January 6, Kellie is due around December 17, and Lydia is due around December 6, I think.


Left to Right: Lydia, Me, Sara, & Kellie



Me & Sara



Left to Right: Me, Sally, Monica (holding Emma), & Sarah

My Bradley girlfriends are all expecting together.  This picture was taken about a month ago at Sally's Harvest Party.  Monica was going to be the last to have a second baby.  She was certain of it.  But, surprise, she was the first!  She had sweet Emma on June 24, 2011.  She has one of the most shocking birth stories to tell, but she doesn't love telling it the way I do so I will keep it to myself.  Sarah is due in two days on October 13.  Sally is due in November, but I can't for the life of me think of the date.  Sorry, Sally!  I know you understand.

The Mode Life: Update

Here are the links to a few of my recent posts at The Mode Life.  One is a re-post.  I'm still waiting for some inspiration for another post.  Sometimes it is difficult to write about anything other than baby poop and pregnancy symptoms...

A Message To My Pregnant Self
THUNDER THIGHS!
Book of the Month - October

Thanks for reading!

A Rare English Dialect

For most of the summer Chloe's daycare has been comprised of mostly girls ages 2 to 4.  When Chloe first started she was one of the only girls.  It has been cute to watch her start to do "girly" things at home that she has picked up at daycare.  Her big thing is taking care of babies.  She loves babies.  LOVES babies.  Real ones and fake ones.  At daycare Chloe's favorite baby is this little black baby.  She loves it unconditionally.  She changes the baby's diaper, rocks it, kisses it, and then chucks it on the floor. (Not because the baby is black or anything, geesh.  She does this to ALL of her babies.  She abuses her babies equally.)   She often takes her babies to her reading corner at home and "reads" them books.  Or, she will feed them Cheerios. 

Usually when Chloe is hungry she will try to climb into her highchair.  One day I was staying home with her and she tried to put her baby in her high chair.  I misread her intentions and thought that she was hungry.  I put her in her chair and then she started chucking her food on the floor.  Long story short, I ended up putting her in a time out, which resulted in a waterfall of tears.  Finally, when the whole ordeal was over and I was attempting to make Chloe help me pick up the food from the floor, I watched her carefully prop her baby up on the sofa, retrieve the tiny pieces of food, and gently feed them to her baby.  I couldn't have felt like a bigger asshole.  What a sweet girl!

I got sidetracked.  What I really wanted to write about was how the other morning I dropped Chloe off to daycare.  Makenna was there already and Emma was about to walk in the door.  Makenna and Emma are about the same age and can speak in full sentences.  I would say they are BFF's.  When Emma walked in she said "Makenna, I wanna play on the seesaw."  Then Makenna said "Emma, I wanna play on the seesaw!"  This exact dialogue went on a few more times until the girls were so excited they started jumping.  As soon as the jumping ensued, Chloe, master jumper and leaper extraordinaire, came running into the room.  Chloe looked at both girls and said "yaba oohba gabba mo" which clearly meant "I wanna play on the seesaw, too!"  Unfortunately, Chloe still speaks a rare English dialect.  I'm afraid that her baby talk must have translated to "sometimes my poop has corn in it," because immediately after she said it the girls fell silent and stared at her blankly. 

At first I laughed.  Chloe didn't miss a beat.  She just turned around and ran to play with her baby by herself, but as I climbed in my car my pregnancy hormones took over and I fought back some tears.  My mind flashed forward ten years to the playground where I imagined the same scenario unfolding, and I just felt sad.  I know a certain amount of not fitting in will happen.  Heck, who am I kidding, my life was like a soap opera starting in the 3rd grade when my best friend, Shauna Hemgesberg, decided to be friends with Jessie Platt instead.  It wasn't so terrible looking back on it.  Jessie was nice enough to bully Mary Hughes into being my temporary friend until I found a new one.  And I did find new ones. 

Here I am some twenty years later a happy, married mother of soon-to-be two sweet children.  I have great friends (both old and new), a loving family, a husband who (for some reason) thinks the world of me, the world's best dog, a safe home, and a great job.  Does my heart still have a scar on it from the day Jessie Platt stole my BFF?  Yes.  Capricorns tend to hold grudges.  But guess what?  That little brat ended up being my college roomie, and we had the best year of our then lives.  I was never again friends with Shauna, because what kind of pride would I have if I had went crawling back to my ex?  So, in conclusion, it all worked out I would say.

While it would be so easy to brush off Chloe's anticipated future drama by saying "it will all work out" or "you will find new friends," I hope I can find it in my parenting skill set to put myself back in those shoes and really empathize with her.  I expect it might be tough to fight the urge to storm over to some kid's house and give her a piece of my mind.  I certainly hope that my child isn't the one doing the bullying; however, given Chloe's recent vampire-like tendencies at daycare, I'm left scratching my head about what kind of kid she will turn out to be.  Who knows?  Maybe what Chloe really said is "I vant to suck your blood," and if that is the case, I would have stared at her blankly, too.  Weirdo.

Swimming Lessons

This summer Chloe was acting very afraid of the lake and pools, which is unusual for our little daredevil.  I finally got around to signing her up for swimming lessons.   She had her first lesson last Monday.  We decided that Paul would be best suited for the parent/child class since I freak out just carrying her out on the dock at the lake.  Paul is really laid back about almost everything, including holding Chloe in the water.  It was a good thing that we had him do the lesson, too, since the water was 4'8'' deep, and considering I'm only about six inches taller than that, the lesson would have been a struggle.  Here they are anxiously waiting to get into the pool.  We couldn't put her down, because she apparently forgot she was afraid of the water over the summer, and she was ready to jump right in the pool.

For the record, Chloe does actually smile and laugh.  She just refuses to smile for the camera.  This picture of her hanging on the ledge of the pool was one of the only times during the lesson that she wasn't smiling.  Chloe did so well.  At one point the instructor urged Chloe to swim to her.  Then the instructor turned Chloe to face Paul, flipped her on her belly, and dunked her right under the water as she aided her in swimming back to Paul.  Chloe didn't cry or anything, but after seeing that I was very happy that Paul was the one doing the lesson!  When the lesson was over Chloe told us that she had fun swimming.  I think she is going to enjoy the next seven weeks!

25 Week Photo... Seriously!

Okay, so here it is ladies and gentleman (singular for Jim).  I have finally gotten around to having Paul take a belly shot before managing to pour myself into mismatched pajamas for the night.  As I was looking at these photos I was SHOCKED to see how incredibly huge my belly appears.  It seriously looks like my belly at 30+ weeks with Chloe.  While I think that the sweater is a little bulky and my positioning a bit to the side make for an even larger appearance, I realized that I actually am a lot bigger a lot sooner this time around.  It is funny, because I walk around all day not even noticing my belly until I see my reflection in the mirror or in a window.  I always do a double take.  Who is that pregnant lady?!

Apple Orchard

Last weekend marked Paul's first weekend home in several weeks.  We were happy to have him back!  On Saturday morning we decided to go to the apple orchard.  I was craving some hot apple cider and pumpkin spice donuts.  The orchard we went to had goats, bunnies, and chickens.  Chloe loved the bunny and wanted to give him kisses.

 

We borrowed a wagon, but Chloe preferred to walk and pluck her own apples for eating. 

Of course, I can NEVER get a good picture of Chloe smiling.  She liked this little horse, and was very content eating her apple, though I couldn't seem to capture her feelings on camera. 

After the orchard we headed downtown to see The Calvary, last year's Art Prize winner.  If you haven't seen it yet, this was drawn in all pencil.  It was really amazing!

 Chloe especially loved running around the building and rearranging the seating. 

We also had lunch at BW3 where we watched the Central/Western game while allowing our child to crawl all over the massive booth we insisted on having.  After that we took a walk to see our friends Brian and Hillary down the street.  We hung out with them for the rest of the night.  It was a busy, fun Saturday!