ten year reunion

(Hilary, Millie, Kaitlyn, Becky, Kateri, Ashley and Kathleen)

 Last night I went out with my friends for our 10 year high school reunion.  I'm lucky that my friends from high school are still my closest friends now.  Most of us live within a 3 mile radius of each other, so it was mostly a night to get out and have fun with my friends!

 Class of '01 

12 month well visit

Today Chloe had her 12 month well visit.  She weighs 17 lbs 14 oz in the 7 percentile and is 28.3 in long in the 23 percentile.  The doctor said she is growing well but her one ear looked slightly infected still.  He has referred us to an ENT because he thinks Chloe is a candidate for tubes.  She has had more ear infections than we can count this year, so we figured this was going to be the case sooner or later.  

A brave girl for her shots. 

twelve months!

Wow, we have a one year old!  Sounds crazy to even write that but like we've said a bunch of times before, it sure does go by so fast.  It has been an amazing year with ups and downs but surely having Chloe in our lives has made us feel so lucky and grateful each and everyday.

This month Chloe has gotten funnier and funnier.  She loves to be included in conversations and will randomly fake laugh if she wants to be included.  She also likes to entertain.  She will do tricks, jibber jabber, dance and laugh all the time.

Chloe is eating just about anything we eat and seems to really enjoy watermelon, tomatoes, corn, rice, black beans, toast and macaroni and cheese.  She is usually willing to try anything but has become pickier this month.  She will open up without even knowing what it is but if she doesn't care for it she will spit it out by sticking her tongue out.

She is going to bed around 7:30 and is getting up around 6:30.  She is still taking two long naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

She still only has two bottom teeth and is cruising the furniture.  She will stand independently for several seconds in a row but is very timid if she realizes she is not holding our hands.  She will carefully lower herself down to the ground and crawl.  She has definitely found the stairs this month and will climb up them at any chance she has.  We have had to put up gates to keep her safe.  She has yet to master coming down though.  She will go right to the edge and make noises signaling for help.  She is pretty funny when we are upstairs and she is standing at the bottom.  She will hold onto the gates and make all sorts of noises and grip the gate and pull at it.

Some words Chloe is saying is mama, dada, all done, up, mmmm (more) and hi. She loves to mimic, she will click her tongue when we are chewing gum, try and snap her fingers, waving. combing her hair, dancing, singing, put clips in her hair and brushing her teeth.  She loves to watch me put on my makeup and laughs when I pretend to put blush on her cheeks.  She also LOVES to brush her teeth.  When I ask her is she wants to brush her teeth, she will start smacking her lips together.

Chloe is interested in everything.  She loves grabbing my eye lashes, necklaces and rubbing nail polish on people's hands and feet, waving at the bunnies that eat our grass and looking at puppies.  She is too cute and we absolutely love this age.  Looking forward to another month of getting to know our little lady.

 Waving to the bunnies in our front yard.

We ended her first year off with a celebration with a party this past Sunday.  We lucked out and the rain held off long enough for playing outside and sitting on the deck.  A storm rolled in just in time for dessert and presents.  We felt so loved to be surrounded by people who came to celebrate Chloe's birth.  Thank you to everyone who helped make her day so special!

Check out my first pedicure.

Best Year Ever.

Deck and furniture off our to-do list!

This week, each night we put Chloe down for bed and got to work on on staining the deck and refurbishing the patio furniture the previous owners had left behind.  Above is the best picture we had of the deck and a piece of the furniture.   The deck and furniture were in desperate need of some attention!  They don't look too bad with a cute baby on it though!  

And below is the finished project.  They were a labor of love but we are happy with how they turned out.  We just hope they last, at least for this summer.  I may cry if they don't.  Thanks to Jona for helping Paul with the staining of the deck on Wednesday.  

What a difference a year makes!

       Chloe 4 days old ~ Chloe 11 months and 4 weeks old

We made it!

Another school year is in the books!  I am officially on summer vacation.  It is hard to believe that Chloe was only 9 weeks old when I started the school year and soon she with be one year old!  It was a a quick year overall but definitely hard at times.  We have Gramma and Miss Kelly to thank for loving and caring for our little c while we were at work.  Now, it's vacation and I plan to enjoy every second!

Below are just a few of the many pictures I took with my cell phone this year.  After I picked her up from the sitter, I would be waiting at a light, stick my camera to the back seat and say, "Smile for Daddy!"  Here is just a sample of the funny pictures!

Stand Tall Gentle Giant

Chloe has been moving along quickly.  She can stand and twist and has edged toward a step, but is a bit too cautious to go for it.