9 Month Pic Blog

Chloe's top 2 teeth coming in

Playing in the dogs water

Finding the doggie door for the first time

Chloe & Zach in the Aquarium

9 months down and she now weighs 17lbs and 2oz. We went to the doctor last Wednesday and I think that I was given the best compliment that I have received as a mom. The conversation went as follows: Dr. "This is only your first child, correct?" Me "Yes" Dr. "I just can't believe that she is your first. You seem so experienced and know exactly what to do with her. You take care of her really well and she is very happy." Me "Thank you." Dr. "I hope you have more because you are a really good mom and Zach seems like a really good dad."

We've gotten compliments from family and friends that we are doing a good job, but when it comes from a doctor it made me really feel that we are doing a good job. Now don't get me wrong, I love when our parents or other family and friends say that we are doing good because we like the thought of making them proud, but this was just a different kind of validation.

We've had a great month and are really in the groove of things. Chloe's schedule can fluctuate easier I'm feeling more and more confident in the decisions that we are making for her.

Busy Busy Busy

Chloe on the flight to Texas w/her own seat and snax

Chloe w/her Grumpy (Steve)

Chloe with Uncler Jeremy (he's still trying to figure out what he wants Chloe to call him)

Chloe w/Papaw on the trampoline

Chloe w/Allie in the bike cart. Chloe didn't last long after Allie tried to give her a kiss.

Chloe proud of herself for standing in her crib after nap time.

I'm not sure if we were busier or if Chloe is now busier. We had a wonderful trip to Texas visiting with family and friends. Our trip almost got off to a rocky start when I thought that Chloe had an ear infection and I was worried as to if we would have issues flying or not. A quick trip to the doctor just a day and a half before we left it was confirmed that Chloe was just teething and her ears were great. Our flight to DFW was just a little over 2 hours and luckily the guy that was suppose to sit next to us was able to move a few rows up so we had a full row to ourselves. Chloe didn't sleep, but she was content and playing with us. She was not loud or fussy at all. This was a great start to our trip.

I was a little anxious about how the night time sleeping and nap times would go as Chloe was in the same room as we were and this is the first time we have all slept in the same room since the hospital. It went surprisingly well. There was only one night that Chloe realized we were in the same room and she did not want to sleep. She wanted to play and play and play. It was a long night, but one out of four nights is pretty good in my eyes. We spent a lot of time in the pool with the triple digit temps and 40% humidity. More importantly than the pool we had a lot of time to visit with our Texas family. Jeremy & Mandi came up from San Antonio and Karlie & Jeff also came into town for the weekend. We were so blessed and thankful that they all took time out of their weekend to come into town while we were there. We were also very grateful for all of our other family from Houston that made the trip as well. We also had a lot of reason to celebrate as it was Jeff's 22nd bday and Steve & Ermine's 30th wedding anniversary. It was a great trip and Chloe just fit right in like she has always been there.

Our flight back we had a lady in our row, but Chloe still did really well. She didn't fall asleep until the descend, but for the rest of the 2 hours she just played in our laps and was very happy. At the end of the flight we had multiple people tell us how good Chloe did during the flight. We were welcomed home by my dad. He had been there since the day before we left for Texas and still had another 5 days with us.

My mom also flew in for the weekend so it was another family filled weekend. Chloe was not a papaw's girl at all until his last evening. My mom came in on her first day and just sat down and fed Chloe and just picked her up and played on the floor. My dad was just amazed as Chloe would take toys from him, but then scoot back to me and would not let him carry her around. She does the same thing with Sabrina. I'm not sure why, but she likes to play games with both of them. We spent a lot of time just playing with the kids, swimming, eating and playing a few rounds of Euchre.

It has really been a great few weeks filled with family festivities, but on top of all of that Chloe is just changing daily. In Texas she drank iced tea out of a cup, had her first bites of a sno cone, crawling more on her knees and learned how to go up and down one step. When we got back home she discovered her tongue and has been constantly playing with her tongue, making noises with it, and just sticking it out all the time. She has also been pulling up and climbing on everything. We had to lower her crib to the lowest setting as she was pulling up and standing in her crib, but couldn't figure out how to get down so she would just stand there and once she got frustrated enough she would just start crying. Now that the crib is on the lowest setting she can't reach the top to pull herself up. Hopefully this will hold her off a little longer. Only time will tell.

8 months

What a month! Once Chloe began to crawl it has been non-stop. She is army crawling, getting up on her knees and crawling, pulling up on things to try and stand and she is able to get in a sitting position from her belly. She has discovered the doggy door and likes to go over and play with the flap. We are lucky that both dogs are a little unsure of her now that she is crawling so before they come in the door they poke their heads in to check and she is there waiting for them. One time Chloe was waiting by the door and Daisy poked her head in, but Chloe wouldn't move. So after a few minutes of waiting Daisy just started licking Chloe's head until Chloe finally moved after her head was all wet from Daisy.

Now that Chloe is on the go the dogs are also on the go in the opposite way. Its really funny that a little 16 pound baby can scare off a 55 and 100 pound dog. Its been great to see her developing, but it is definitely going by so quickly.

One of the other great things that I was very excited for was she is now eating (letting dissolve) little puffs for a snack. We can now eat at the table and give her a few puffs and she is completely happy. I have been waiting for this for a long time and I was so excited to finally be able to give her some. We weren't sure if she was ready, but one day after swimming at Sabrina's house Allie was having a Cheetos Puff and so we decided to let Chloe try one. She liked it and that was when we decided to go ahead and get some puffs for her.

We have also worked on her eating fruits. I've been told by about everyone that you start with veggies first because babies love the sweet taste of fruit and won't want to eat the veggies. Not my baby. She doesn't care too much for fruit. She takes about 3 spoonfuls of fruit and wants to be done, but with veggies she will eat 3/4 to the whole container. It is strange, but maybe she had too much fruit while she was in my belly. We keep trying fruit and maybe one day she will like them.

Another thing we have started this month is taking her out of her car seat and putting her in high chairs at restaurants and shopping carts. She likes it better than her car seat as it gives her more room to move around. It keeps her content longer to give us time to enjoy dinner.

We've had a great month and this next month will be busy with family visits and our doctor visit to the dermatologist. We will see what this next month brings.

New Developments

I was at work on Friday and I received a video email from Zach. It was Chloe CRAWLING!!! It is more of an army crawl, but she is moving and grooving now. She has also been sitting up better and playing with some of her toys while she sits up. She can't really make herself sit up, but if we put her on the floor sitting then she can stay there and play for a little bit.

It is so fun to watch her be able to move around!

Happy Father's Day!

With Zach working on Sundays we celebrated his first Father's day on Saturday and on Sunday. Our weekend started out on Friday night and we had a slumber party. We use to have slumber parties all the time before Chloe was born and we would bring our mattress down from upstairs and watch movies all night. It has always been a favorite thing of mine, but bringing the mattress downstairs is always a pain. This time Zach finally went with my idea. We put our two couches together to make a bed. I thought it was a great idea and we watched Dinner for Schmucks. It was a great night...well until about 1am. We both tossed and turned and woke up with very stiff shoulders and backs.

We spent most of Saturday morning just lounging around watching cartoons and we even took a nap, which is something that Zach never does. We had plans to go to the Diamondbacks baseball game in the evening. We went to the game and it was packed. It was probably the fullest the crowd has ever been when we have been at the game. We had a great time and although we were there for about 3 hours we only saw bits and pieces of the game as Chloe doesn't like to sit still for very long.

On Sunday Zach went to work, but Chloe and I met up with him for some lunch at Subway. Then he actually got home on time so we had pizza for dinner and he was able to play with Chloe before we put her to bed.

I would say that this Father's day weekend has been a great success!

7 Months

Zach and Chloe in the very cold pool while I am the photographer nice and warm

Chloe turned 7 months over this weekend. I feel like this month went by so fast that I don't remember what happened although, I'm pretty certain it has been a great 7 months. We didn't go to the doctor this month, but we weighed her and she weighs 15 pounds 3 ounces.

Chloe finally received her first two teeth! We had noticed over Memorial Day weekend that we could see two little white lines at her gums and sure enough on Sunday before Memorial Day her two little bottom teeth popped through. She has also been sitting up a little on her own. She is still a bit wobbly, but she can keep herself up for a little bit before she topples over to the side.

We've put Chloe back on solid foods and she is doing much better. She now likes green beans, green peas and carrots. We tried sweet potatoes again, but the made her gassy and she woke up through the night so we quickly threw those out. We are going to stay with vegetables for another week or so and then we will start fruits.

Chloe in her new swing

Chloe has also gotten some new toys this month. We decided to get Chloe an exer-saucer to help her stand on her own a bit. She likes it for about 15 minutes and then she is too tired. Her newest toy and our new favorite toy is an outdoor swing. She loves her swing. She immediately gets relaxed and it is hard to break her out of her relaxed state. A few nights ago she fell asleep for about 45 minutes in the swing. Its nice to be able to spend a little time outside even in the heat. It has been pretty hot here, but the pool is still not too warm. Zach and Chloe get in it for about half hour, but I just put my feet in the pool because it is too cold for me!

Chloe before the zooErmine, Chloe & Zach feeding the giraffeSteve, Chloe & Zach looking at the stingrays at the AquariumZach holding Chloe so she won't jump in with the stingrays

Zach's parents were also just here for a visit. They came for a long weekend and we really enjoyed having them here. Chloe was a bit overwhelmed when they came in as she had just woken up from a nap and was eating her lunch. She quickly got over that and started giving everyone smiles. We had a great time just hanging around the house playing with Chloe, taking a few walks and going to the zoo. We went to a different zoo than what Zach and I had taken Chloe to before. We went to the Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium. Chloe didn't care much for most of the zoo. She stayed awake through some of it, but right when she woke up we were at the Giraffe feeding station. Ermine and Steve were at the top feeding the giraffes when Chloe woke up. So since she was awake Zach took Chloe up to feed the giraffes as well. The one that they were feeding had a really long tongue and he kept sticking it out. She smiled and laughed at the giraffe. The other part that Chloe liked was the aquarium. She liked looking at the fish, but what she really liked was the sting ray and shark petting area. She wanted to get in and play in the water. She kept reaching out for the water while Zach was holding on to her. It was funny. It was about 98 degrees when we left. We were all a little tuckered out and Chloe came home and slept for a long nap then we walked to get some pizza. It was a great trip and Chloe really liked all the attention and getting to know her grandparents.

We should have a pretty relaxing month and hopefully we will be able to go in the pool a bit more with the warmer weather.

Chloe and Mommy Fun

Chloe has been really funny this past week and she thinks that she has been funny too. So I just wanted to share a few moments we had together.

Chloe has been doing much better with eating "solid" foods. We had her on green beans for about a week and so it was time to start her with something new, green peas. The video above is her eating green peas for the first time. I don't blame her for not really liking them. When my mom use to make us eat peas I would just swallow them whole like a pill because to chew them would be nasty!
This picture is Chloe laughing at herself because she won't eat. She was really happy and would just stare up at me and giggle. Which made me giggle so this circle of giggling went on for about 5 minutes. Then I had to get a serious face so she would eat.

These two pictures are from when Chloe and I took a walk (in 90 degree weather) to Subway for lunch. She was really slap happy. She played with her toy for awhile and then every time I would look at her she would just start laughing and smiling. Even on the walk back anytime I would peek around her sunshade she would just giggle.
Anyway, I thought that these were too good not to share. Enjoy!