Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

So, I am a bit ashamed that it has been a month and a half since my last post, but at least I am getting this one in before the end of 2008! We have had a lot of fun with Chloe's first Christmas and her first birthday, which was on December 26th.

The cousin photo with Santa. This went a lot better than we were expecting!

The following pictures were some that our friend DeAnna took of our family. Chloe was not in the best mood that day, and we had many crying pics, so I had to share!

Christmas was interesting this year, as most of our family was sick. I forgot to take my camera to Andrew's parents house for Christmas Eve, so I do not have any pictures of the fun. Andrew dressed up as Santa to give all the kids gifts. Eben is too smart and knew it was Uncle Ace, but we tried to keep him quiet to not spoil it for the other kids. Chloe got lots of fun presents--Noah's Ark with fun animals to chew on, bath toys, and a fake camcorder. She also has new outfits she gets to show off in the new year!

Christmas Day was at our house, with my parents and friend Ade. It was nice to open presents in our pajamas and have a relaxing morning. Our big present was a Wii and have had fun playing games since Thursday. My mom helped me cook my first Christmas dinner and it turned out really good! I took pictures of the table, and my ham and turkey. We invited our neighbors over for dinner and had a great dinner. It appears though, that I took more pictures of the dinner, than opening presents Christmas morning. Oh well....

Chloe in her Christmas pjs

pretty table

yummy ham

yummy turkey

December 26th was Chloe's first birthday. We gave Chloe her first sugar rush with a cupcake. She got so excited when we were singing happy birthday to her.

Her favorite part of the cupcake was the sprinkles. She picked those off and ate some. She hated the frosting and the cake.

Showing off her messy hands.

Chloe quickly was over the mess and stickiness on her hands, and wanted to be done with it all.

"Get this stuff off me!!"

We entered Chloe in the CW 31 first birthday club, which aired on Friday. Here is a video I took on my camera of her on the news. Chloe's 10 seconds of fame!!!

Roseola and Tupperware

After three days of Chloe's fever being over 100 degrees, it broke on Saturday afternoon. Monday, she came down with a rash. Turns out she had Roseola, an illness that causes a high fever, irritability, and loss of appetite for a few days, and then a faint rash once the fever goes away. Chloe fits all the descriptions of the illness perfectly. The rash has faded and she is back to her happy self, eating, sleeping and playing like normal.

Now that she is feeling better, Chloe decided to reorganize my Tupperware cabinet. It had started getting a bit messy, so it was time to clean out!

Grabbing each piece one by one....

reaching as far as she can....

climbing in to reach those on the top shelf....

dropping them on the floor....

turning around....

trying to get out....

pulling herself to the edge....

and she's out!!

Playing with her new favorite toys!

Who needs expensive toys when you have Tupperware?

Health update

So, with 24 hours of Benadryl, Chloe's hives went away, but now she has a fever. There was a two day gap between the hives and the fever, so I don't think they are related. Chloe woke up yesterday really warm, and I thought we had the space heater in her room set for too high a temperature. After a few hours and a really long morning nap, her smart dad took her temperature and it was around 102. After Tylenol, it would drop a bit, but she is definitely not feeling well. So sad!! Please pray for our little girl!

The Hives are Back

So, for those of you who have been followers of this blog for a while, you will remember that on April 26th, Chloe broke out in these huge hives all over her body. (If I was more blog savy, I would post a link back to the post with pictures of her from that time.) We treated with Benadryl and they went away. Well, yesterday, the hives came back. We are so confused. Why after six months would they suddenly come back? We decided to not take her to the doctor at this point, as they will just look at us and ask "What is she allergic to?" That was our experience last time and it was not so helpful. So we are going to give her Benadryl three times a day for two days and see if that clears them up. I just pray that the hives do not get as bad as last time, when she was seriously covered with them. So far this time, she just has them on her lower half of her body. Her entire right thigh was one huge hive, just to give you an idea of how big these things get. Crazy!

Walking on Halloween

That's right, my ten month old baby girl took her first two steps on Friday before we went out trick or treating! We thought she was getting close, so we kind of forced it when Andrew and I were both home. That way neither one of us would miss out on this milestone. Andrew was sitting on the floor with Chloe in our office and I held out my hands toward her, and Chloe took two steps before falling into my arms. It was so precious and she was SO proud of herself!!!!

On Friday morning, Chloe and I went to the zoo with some friends. The weather cooperated and we only got a few little sprinkles on us. It was fun to catch up with friends we had not seen in a while!

This was my favorite "animal" that we saw behind bars! Chloe trying to break free at Jodi's house.

The girls at the zoo--Delaney, Chloe, Emelyn, and Marie-Claire

Little Bo Peep (Shae), her sheep (Chloe) and sheep dog (Devin)
Shae loved pulling her sheep and dog in the wagon, until she realized how much it was slowing her down. Then Andrew got stuck pulling the wagon for the rest of the night.

This picture is really dark, but Chloe was cracking us up. She was sitting on the floor of the wagon, reclining with her feet up on one seat and resting her head on the other. This is the position she was in for much of the night, when Devin decided he wanted to walk with the big kids.

Devin and Chloe together in the wagon.

The cutest group of trick or treaters!!

Devin the sheep dog, Chloe the sheep, Eben the firefighter, Jacob the teenage mutant ninja turtle, Shae Little Bo Peep, Keilani the princess, Ella the butterfly

Chloe after we got home. She was so sweaty in her costume that she had to have a quick rinse off. This was what her hair looked like after toweling off. Well, it did have a bit of help from mom to make it look like that! Chloe is holding her two favorite toys!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe halloween!!

Christmas in October and Pumpkin Patch

Chloe's Aunt Kristen decided that Chloe needed a walker to help develop and show off her walking skills. By December, Chloe will probably already be walking, so she needed the walker now! So, on Friday, Chloe opened her first Christmas present. She loves it!! She cruises all over the living room with her tongue hanging out and a huge smile on her face. She is usually making some sort of funny noises too! Her balance is getting so much better!

She has not yet figured out how to turn, or stop and move the walker when she runs into something. She will either whine until we turn her and the toy so she can keep walking, or she sits down and moves on to play with something else.

There's that tongue again....

Earlier today, Chloe and I went to a pumpkin patch with some of the ladies from my Bible Study. It was hot out there!! Chloe and Irie had fun on the hay ride (above). Chloe really was more interested in trying to steal Irie's sippy cup than any of the scenery, but it was still fun! The hay was fun for her to pick at, too.
These are all of the kids on the train: Ella, Eben, Drew, Chloe, Irie, Ava. We rescued Irie after this picture and then she was a happy girl!

I think that pumpkin farms and such will be a bit more fun for Chloe once she is a little older, so she can ride the ponies and go in bounce houses. The other kids all had fun feeding the animals, but I did not let Chloe try, because she would probably have eaten the food herself, rather than feeding the animals! Maybe next year!!!

Lake Tahoe

Over the weekend, Andrew, Chloe, and I went to Lake Tahoe with Andrew's parents. We had fun hanging out at the cabin, playing games, horseshoes, and doing some geocaching and hiking. Chloe loved all the new places to explore, and tried to eat everything that she could get her hands on! Chloe was not so sure about this hat we made her wear.
Chloe and Daddy posing in front of an old Episcopalian Church in Tahoe City.
Chloe doing her favorite pose with Grandma. Gotta love that tongue hanging out!!
While we were on our hike, Chloe started getting a bit fussy, so I gave her the tube for my Camelback to suck on. She was able to get some water out--very impressive! (Grandpa is in the background sporting his Red Sox hat.)
This was in front of the cabin right before we came home.

October

My friend Jen customized this desktop for me. I love this picture of Chloe and I think this whole idea of digital scrapbooking is very fun, especially if someone else does it for me!!!

So, the memory card on my camera is broken, so I have not been taking many pictures. Chloe and I took our first trip to Apple Hill on Friday with Amy and Molly, and I stole the picture below from Amy's blog. It was a super windy day and it started snowing as we were getting ready to leave, but we still had a lot of fun. No, Amy and I are not sisters, and no the girls are not related. I don't know how many people asked us that while we were wandering around!!! I hope to post more pictures once I get them from Amy!

9 months old!

My little baby girl is nine months old! I can't believe it! Chloe is such a great baby and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She has been teething for the past few months, but has still been a pretty happy baby. A little bit more whining than usual, and a harder time falling asleep, but that is about all. In the past week, Chloe's bottom two teeth have finally broken through. It is hard to get a picture of them, because Chloe is very shy about her new teeth and likes to close her mouth tightly whenever we try to feel her teeth or get a picture of them! I was able to get a few decent pictures, though, in her high chair the other day:
Chloe's new way of eating puffs--she takes little bites of them, munching down with her gums! This picture does the best job of showing off her little teeth!
Chloe has also discovered how fun it is to stick out her tongue!
Chloe was playing in the bathroom the other day while I was getting ready. It was so cute because she rolled over onto her back and was just playing with her ring, chillin in the bathroom.
Chloe was so happy last night to take a bath with her cousin Shae. We went over there to play with Shae on her 4th birthday! Despite this picture, Chloe really did enjoy the bath! She was not a fan of being on her back!