Picture Perfect

Chloe and me in the car after our photo session

It was finally the day that we had been looking forward to since about December. It was picture day! Only there was one problem...the forecast was predicting rain and not just rain, but wind and storms. We were going into Indy to the Museum of Art back in their beautiful gardens. We were to start about 6pm at night to hopefully catch a beautiful sunset at the gardens. After the rain was coming down all day we finally called it off at 3pm and rescheduled for the next morning. Saturday morning's forecast was to be a bit cloudy, but no rain. So Saturday morning we woke up early and made our way to the gardens. We were hoping Chloe would sleep during the ride there, but of course she didn't. So we knew that there wasn't much time between the weather changing and Chloe's mood changing.

Once we got to the gardens I was so glad that we waited as the gardens were beautiful and we were somehow lucky enough to have a bit of sunshine. We were out in the gardens for about an hour and we had sunshine pretty much the entire time. The ground was wet, but all the flowers were blooming. The only thing not blooming was Chloe's smile. We tried everything to get her to smile, but as soon as that camera came up her curious face came on. Our photographer, Sara, does a lot of natural and playful shots so we did get some smiles, but in the individual and family shots it was not so easy.

It was a great day and we didn't know what to expect with the pictures, but I told Zach as long as we get a good one of all three of us, a good one of Zach and Chloe, a good one of me and Chloe and a good one of Chloe then it was well worth it. I was blown away when Sara sent us the finished product as all the photos were amazing! I can't believe how good they were and I was so glad we decided to stick it out and not give up because of the weather. You can check out the photos on Sara's blog at www.sprinklesoflight.com/blog/?p=101

Weekend Full of Firsts

Jenna's Parents, Chloe, Jenna & Zach
Chloe being held by her cousin Sydney

On the plane ride on the way to Indy

Chloe and her Easter Basket on Easter MorningChloe's Easter basket by her crib Chloe watching Tom & Jerry on the plane ride home

We just got back from a trip to Indiana to see my family. We made the trip out there for Easter before it gets too humid and while the outside is all green rather than white with snow. It was Chloe's first Easter, but it was also her first flight. This wasn't a little flight, it was a long flight. It takes us 4 hours to get from Phoenix to Indy. I had been very nervous all week about the flight and I started to have dreams about what was going to happen. Most of them included us either forgetting Chloe or misplacing her in the airport. Luckily none of them came true. I was also very nervous because of the 3 hour time change. That is a huge difference and even though we tried to get her ready by moving her feedings up the week before, I was still not sure how she would do.
She did great all weekend. We started out on Thursday morning and even though we didn't buy a ticket for Chloe the fight attendants let us take her car seat on the plane because it wasn't a full flight. Chloe didn't take a nap during her first nap so we were sure she would be super tired on the flight. We sat in seats above the wings so that way the engines would muffle out any crying and also there is extra vibration to help put her to sleep. In the row right in front of us was an Arizona cowboy. (I say Arizona cowboy because he wasn't a good ole' country boy, but a more classy cowboy. Basically he is cowboy in fancy hat and fancy boot only.) We hadn't put Chloe is her seat yet because we wanted to give her as much freedom as possible so Zach was playing with her and then she just squealed a high pitch squeal. The cowboy turned around and I said sorry, but he and his wife quickly moved towards the back of the plane. That was really the only noise she made the entire flight. Once we were ready to take off we put her in her seat and I gave her a bottle and then she was out for about an hour and a half. She woke up and we played quietly for a little bit and then she went back to sleep for about 45 minutes to an hour. She was the perfect baby on the flight. It is also worth mentioning that the cowboy sat back near another family. That family didn't have such luck as we did as their children were quite noisy.

We landed and gathered all of our bags (only 1 suitcase, 1 duffel bag, 1 computer bag and 1 diaper bag) and headed back to my parents house. Of course on the way home we had to stop by and get some pizza and breadsticks from the amazingly, wonderfully, glorious Pizza King. Scratch that off my list only just a few more items to scratch off the list before it can be considered a successful Indy trip. We had a nice relaxing night and had a few visitors. My grandparents came by for a visit and then of course Christina, Sydney and Carter came by for a visit. Chloe did so well with the time difference and being in a new place. She woke up a few times throughout the night, but we've been having that same issue for the past few weeks so that was actually normal.

Friday was also to be a relaxing day. We were suppose to meet my friends Heather & Sean and their new baby Ella at the park for a picnic, but it had been raining for like weeks straight so we had to move our picnic to my parents' house. It was a great visit. They were there for a few hours and we were able to meet each other's babies and get caught up. I love meeting up with them because it is like no time has passed between the last visit. Instead of going to take photos we went out to dinner with my family and then went back to my parents' house to put Chloe to bed and play some games.

Chloe slept good on Friday night. She only woke up once during the night. We woke up to a little bit of sunshine and no rain! We were so excited because our chances of getting our photos were looking up. We met our photographer at 9am and were able to spend about an hour getting our pictures taken. It was beautiful out, the ground was really wet, but the sun was out a bit and the gardens were blooming! After our photos we went to a little Mexican restaurant to celebrate my dad's birthday. The rest of the day was relaxing. We went back to the house and my grandparents and aunt came over for a little visit. Zach and I then decided for dinner we would drive to get some Noble Roman's breadsticks and White Castle burgers. We could now mark these two things off my list. While we went out my parents watched Chloe. This was only the second time that Chloe was not with either Zach or myself. She survived and so did we.

Sunday was a crazy day. Zach and I stayed home while my parents went to Easter service so we could make sure Chloe had a good nap before our busy day. After she woke up from her nap she found her Easter basket that the Easter bunny left for her by her crib. It had a few Tom & Jerry DVDs and some new toys. We then went to my cousin's house and had Easter lunch with my mom's side of the family. Zach and I left a little early and took Chloe on a car ride so she could get a little nap in between our family lunch and dinner. It was only about a 20 minute drive in between my cousin's house and my grandparent's house, so I took Zach on a tour of Hazelwood so we could give Chloe about a 45 minute nap. Now for all of you that know where Hazelwood is you must be thinking that we were crazy and how could we spend so much time driving around the city. For those of you who don't know where Hazelwood is it is maybe a 2 mile square grid so we had to go around many many times. At my grandparents' house I could mark the final two things off the list. I marked off my grandma's rolls and strawberry pie from Gray Brothers. It could now be considered a successful Indiana trip. And it was.

Monday was our last day and we just stayed home and had visitor after visitor after visitor come by before we left. Our last adventure was the airplane ride home. I wasn't as nervous this time because Chloe did so well the first time. I should have been. Our flight was in the evening and that was a big mistake. She had already had all of her naps so she wasn't really tired and did not really want to be in her car seat as once again we had our own row on the plane above the engines. For the first hour Chloe fussed and cried until she finally fell asleep. She slept for an hour and then was ready to eat again. So she ate and then played for the rest of the trip home. It was a little more stressful, but it all worked out.

Now that we are home it is time to start on "Operation No Swaddle". We are breaking Chloe of using a swaddle when she sleeps. She is starting to get out of her swaddle at night and waking herself up because of that. So wish us luck as I'm sure the next few nights may be a few long nights.

5 Months!

Baseball game

Jenna's parents with Chloe at Westgate

Keeping Ice on My Wisdom TeethChloe and Zach on the CarouselChloe and Zach going down the slide at Rustlers Rooste

Chloe is now five months old! This past month has been a great month, but it was also a very challenging month. We've been very lucky in the fact that Chloe has slept about 10-12 hours a night since she was about 10 weeks old. This month, however, that has all changed. I have read that at four months so many things are changing and babies are much more aware of their surroundings that sleeping patterns can start to change. That has definitely been the case for us and we are not too excited about it all. We think the biggest culprit is gas though. We started Chloe on oatmeal and veggies and ever since we started she has decided to wake up throughout the night with gas. And I don't just mean wake up and fuss a little. It is a full scream of pain. My first thought was that she wasn't ready for solid foods yet so we stopped for a week, but then she was waking up hungry around 3:30am because she had already gotten use to having the extra filling food. So then we were only doing oatmeal once a day, but still she was waking up twice a night with gas. I called the doctor and didn't get much help. It was more like well every baby is different so make sure you are only doing peas and green beans because those are the least gassy veggies and then we can do some apple juice if she is constipated or to try and push that gas through faster. We started the veggies again, but still she is waking up. We have now decided to try rice cereal twice a day and no veggies since rice cereal is suppose to be easier to digest. If this doesn't work we will go back to formula only and hold off the solids for a few weeks. Now don't feel too bad for us because she normally sleeps at least 7 hours before waking up early in the morning and then she will sleep again another 3 hours or so. We are still getting plenty of sleep as well, but it is a little more interrupted and a change of what we are use to. Wish us luck that we can get things back to normal.

Okay, enough of that. We did a lot this month. We went to Sedona, I had my wisdom teeth taken out, my family was in town and we went to a baseball game and that is just what we did as a family not what Chloe has developed. I would have to say that I have the most wonderful husband ever. When I had my wisdom teeth out I was miserable and I think more miserable than after giving birth. I was helpless too and for three days Zach pretty much took care of Chloe by himself as well as he took care of me too. I was pretty helpless too and I didn't know what to eat or if I could eat. I also did not handle the Vicodin very well and it made me sick so I was just on Excedrin every 5 hours which definitely didn't get rid of all the pain, but it was better than getting sick.

A week after my wisdom teeth were taken out my family came in to visit. We did a lot of great things and had a lot of fun. We went to this little amusement park, Castles N Coasters, and Chloe rode her first ride. She was on the carousel. Zach took her and of course she had to go on an up and down horse rather than one just standing still. Zach said she loved it and I think he was pretty excited about it as well. We also hung out at the park and went to Westgate so the kids could play in the fountain. It was a blast!

It was opening weekend for the AZ Diamondbacks this weekend so on Saturday we went out to the game. We weren't sure how Chloe would do, but we wanted to try because this was the first year we did not go to a single spring training game. Chloe did really well. We weren't able to stay for the whole game because of her bedtime, but we were there for a little over two hours. We even had to feed her at the game and she did really well. I had her in our wrap carrier so she was cozy and it was easy to handle her without a huge stroller. Everyone thought she was adorable. It was pretty cold out and rainy so it gave us an opportunity to wear her Nike track suit, but the pants are still a little too big, but she could wear her jacket. Zach was really excited about it as this was one of our favorite outfits that we got from our shower.

Not only did we do a lot this month, but Chloe is just growing by leaps and bounds. She did not go to the doctor this month so I am guessing her weight is about 13.5 pounds and she is about 25.5 inches long. She can't sit up on her own yet, but she is trying really hard. She is also standing up really well. She locks her knees and she will just stand for like 5 minutes until her knees give out. We still have to hold her to stabilize her as her balance isn't there yet, but we are just amazed at how well she is standing. Zach thinks she is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. Chloe's hair is also finally coming in. I think it is going to be a darker blond or light brown, but we will just have to wait and see once it really comes in. She is also quite a rollie pollie and a wiggle worm when she plays on the floor and she is very interested in anything that we have or are eating.

Next month will be another great month as well. It will be Chloe's first Easter and we will be in Indiana to celebrate it. I'm so excited to show her off for the first time and of course to have some of the best food in the world! We are also going to get some family pictures done, which we are very excited about. I can't wait to see what this month brings

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Well Chloe is officially and constantly rolling over now. When my family was in town we spent a lot of time with Allie and Chloe would just stare at her because Allie would just roll and roll and roll. My family left on Wednesday and on Thursday I was talking to Zach and he said "SHE JUST ROLLED OVER!". He was so excited and it was very cute to hear the excitement in his voice. I had seen Chloe roll over a few times here and there, but every time I would try to capture it on camera she would stop so he had never seen her do it. So now she rolls from back to front with an occasional front to back roll. It was like she had studied Allie's technique and decided she could do it too.

We are very excited for her, but then it hit us. She decided roll over during her nap and then she woke up terrified because she was face down and didn't know how to get back the other way. She let out a big shrill and of course we rush into her room because she does not usually scream like that, and then we laughed as she is all swaddled up and on her belly. It was funny during nap time, but not funny during night time. She woke up at 5am this morning on her belly just screaming. It may be time to do away with the swaddle so she can roll herself back onto her back, but she still sleeps so good in her swaddle and without it she will often wake herself up. Oh the dilemma...