Cutie Indeed

A rare moment of peace for Emma in these past few days. There's a good reason we can't remember what teething felt like... I hope Emma can forget soon! Even when she's hurting so bad, she can still give you the sweetest smile that stops you in your tracks. All I can do is love on her-- and give her Tylenol, and rub her gums for her, and try to talk Daddy into inventing some safe numbing oral agent for infants that lasts longer than the 5 seconds Baby Orajel does!

Betty Crocker

We're having some family over for dinner tonight, and Chloe decided that we must have brownies! Who am I to argue with that?!? She's a lot like her mama, in that, the batter is better than the cooked brownie, and it's not any good unless you get it all over yourself!-- and the counter, the floor, the wall, etc...!!


[if the chocolate looks like it's beginning to harden in the bowl, it's because she licked the bowl for the entire 35 minutes it took for the brownies to cook! She's not a waster :-)]

Squash.... Check!

When we went to Emma's 4 month check-up last week her pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start baby food. Seeing as how she's wearing some 9month clothes and all-- he figured she might be hungry! She's had rice cereal in her bedtime bottle for weeks, so we knew she wasn't allergic to that. So her first food was SQUASH. I, personally, am not a fan of squash, but her Dad is. She is totally taking after her Dad on this one. Even though she was crazy tired, she went to town on some squash! I couldn't shovel it in fast enough for her. At one point I was holding the spoon in front of her and talking to Micky as he took pictures, and she dove at the spoon. Thank goodness it was one of those soft-tipped ones. I guess I shouldn't dangle food in front of her face-- she was just saying "FEED ME MOM!" Well, she's had squash for 5 nights now so we can check that one off the list. Next up-- CARROTS! Yummy!


We were afraid she would fall asleep mid-bite! But once she realized this was going to her tummy-- she somehow caught a second wind :-)





She's got it figured out now!
E: "What's so hard about this spoon? Give me some steak people!"






No, my thumbs aren't broken. That's just the way they bend!








E: "That's it?!? Wait a minute, I think there's some more on my hands. I'll clean myself up!"

They do listen

Last night Micky and I took Chloe with us to our softball game (we're playing for our church's co-ed team). On the way home, Micky and I were discussing my apparent lack of speed--shock, shock! And I made the comment that my knees were just dead and gone and I didn't think they'd be coming back, so I should just get used to not being so fast anymore (not that I was ever really a speed demon mind you!). Well, here's what Chloe had to say on the "dead and gone" subject from the backseat:

C: "Jesus died, but he can come back... 'cause he's God's son. And Jesus and God will save the day!"

I think she's got a pretty good understanding of things for a 3 year-old (for any age for that matter). Just goes to show, if you take them and show them, they can learn, and she makes it all sound so simple. I guess it really is.

"...never know dear, how much I wuv you..."

Last night, Chloe's school had their end of the year program. All the kiddos (ages 1-5) wore bathing suits or other beach wear for their "Fun in the Sun, Praising the Son" program. All of the songs were very cute. It's usually pretty funny watching what all the kids will do on stage. Some of the best entertainment comes from the ones who aren't actually singing or dancing-- they're discovering their belly buttons or playing with the girls hair who's standing in front of them-- things like that. Chloe is typically the child who will sing along and do some of the motions, but she usually prefers to just watch the kid standing next to her and let them do all the work! Well, not this time. She was singing and dancing her heart out-- and then she took my heart (along with the heart of every member of our family who was there to see her) and made it sing! When her class finished singing their 2 songs, the teacher held a microphone for Chloe and she sang "You Are My Sunshine"-- and she did an amazing job! There wasn't a dry eye on our two pews when she got done. Her teacher was very smart and didn't tell me about this beforehand, and they only had Chloe practice it once the day before. They knew if we made too big a deal about it she would never do it. Luckily, Chloe could sing this song backwards in her sleep we sing it so much around here, and it was AWESOME! I particularly enjoyed how proud of herself she was when it was over. It was great to see her, who is usually so shy and timid in a crowd, have that much confidence in herself. It made me so proud! This just so happens to be the song my mom always sang to me and is my #1 choice of songs to sing to the girls. It's always had a special place in our hearts, and now it's even more special!

Bet he's won a lot of 10 foot tall stuffed animals

Let me start by saying that gambling is not something our families take lightly-- we're very serious if we place a wager on something- only it's never for money. Strictly bragging rights. Today we took Emma for her 4 month check-up (I know, I can't believe 4 months already) and we had asked all of our family members to try and guess her weight. Everyone did a pretty good job, except Aunt Wendy who said 20 pounds--she was definitely the furthest off! So, we're at the office and Micky was waiting in the room with Chloe while I took Emma in the hall to be weighed. I actually cringed when I saw the weight-- not because it was too high or anything, it's actually a perfect size-- but because it was exactly what Micky had guessed, 17 pounds 4 ounces. I told the nurse I'd be hearing about this until her next check-up--two whole months. I mean really, who guesses the ounces right?!? INSANITY! You know, fair week is always very slow at the office (who goes to the dentist when you can take out a loan and go to the fair?) so I'm thinking Micky should try to be that guy who guesses your weight. I'm sure he could at least make enough to fill up one of the cars with gas!
Emma's appointment went great! She's still in the 90th percentile for height and 97th for weight-- exactly where she was at her 2 month check-up. She is 25.5" long, and she took her 4 shots like a champ. Although I'm here to tell you that her lip quiver before she cries could break even the most hardened criminals heart. She's just too sweet, and I sure hope the next 2 months don't go as fast as these have. She'll be driving before we know it!
Here she is in what was one of my favorite outfits for Chloe. It's size 3-6 months, so when I put it on her the other day I figured I should take some pics because I don't think she's fitting in it again :-)



I could make a meal outta those cheeks!

Call me Paranoid, but...

I think they're already plotting against me! On more than one occasion I've noticed Emma and Chloe with their heads leaned toward one another (as if they were deep in conversation) and when I walk up, they quickly look away like nothing was going on-- Chloe will start flipping through a book and Emma usually starts singing her vowel song, "aaaaeeeeiioooouuuu." I'm thinking, although Emma's only 4 months old and just mastered the art of turning over, she and Chloe have been secretly communicating for weeks! I believe they discuss middle of the night wake-up times, as well as hunger pain times-- where they will, at the same time, start whining for something to drink (Chloe- chocolate milk, Emma- Enfamil Gentleease). Maybe I'm reading too much into this--who knows?!? But I recently captured a few pics of one of their discussions. You be the judge.. but I know they were plotting something
:-)

[click on pic to see larger image]


Emma is clearly whispering some top-secret plans










See how slick Chloe is? She wants me to think she's giving Emma a kiss. But in reality she's telling her about phase 2 of the plan.








Now they're just being cocky-- and smiling in the knowledge that I have no idea what they're about to do.






Now in this one, I think Emma is just being a good sister and friend and taking care of some personal grooming for Chloe. I'll have to teach her that we let people take care of that sort of thing themselves.







Chloe's trying to be cool-- smiling like, "there's nothing to see here, just some sisterly love"
Emma's not so smooth-- that face is definitely saying, "ahh man, we are SOOOOO busted"