Tuesday, September 15, 2009

This post is still under construction.

Chloe is trying new foods


Very slowly, Chloe will be introduced to new foods. Her first food was a very mashed up bananna. She was not too thrilled. Her second food was soupy mashed avecado. This was more to her liking. But her third food has been her favorite.... it is our homemade soup. You can see my lunch, on the right, and Chloe's on the left. Chloe was able to taste corn, carrots, basil, garlic, lentils, green onions, chicken stock, and BBQ sauce. (Yes, BBQ sauce is the secret ingredients to our soups). This pureed combination was delightful for her, and she actually ate the entire bowl.


Here's her bananna attempt


And, of course, we need mommy/baby pictures. I feel lucky when I get someone to take one of us.










Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chalk Drawings II

Coral enjoys drawing with Chalk. Our educational activity is alphabet letters (as seen behind her), but right now she is pretty into drawing Suns.

I'm pretty sure this is a sun, and the little thing is a Turtle Sun


Here we have baby Chloe on left. She is wearing a pink dress. The little thing on her legs is her diaper. And look at all of her hair!! She is holding hands with Coral (on right). Coral is also in a pink dress, but I guess it extends a little further up her face.


Watch video below to learn more about this drawing.






Barbies are going swimming

Coral is quite good at doing costume changes with her barbie. She is exhibiting her skill in these photos. Her 4 yr old friend also requested Coral change her barbie's clothes as well. The barbies were going to go swimming. Also, yesterday I went to Big Lots and purchased a 10ft sprinkler/slip and slide for $8.00. We will have more pictures of that later. Now I just need an air compressor.....

















Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

What about Chloe?



You've seen a lot of Coral, but what about Chloe? Well, she's almost five months and thinks the world is too exciting to sit and eat. She's always excited to look at everything, and here's some stuff that she does. These are all Chloe at 4 months old

Coral took this photo of Chloe and I











They were watching Grey's Anatomy (or...Doctor Show according to Coral)




Chloe (4m) and Easton (3m)





Bath Time



Tummy time







Her first day on her jumper, she loves it. So does Coral









I am so amazed by every little thing this baby does. She is like an angel sent from above. She is so happy, sweet, and nice to be around. We really enjoy watching her develop, as well as the interaction she gets from Coral.

Puddles and Mermaids

Let me share a bit of our day. One of Coral's favorite things to do is puddle jumping. She has never done this activity with other friends, only with me. Coral and Arilya (this name I can never spell.. it's uh-ry-la) went two houses down to jump. Coral's rainboots were a hot item... since Aryila did not have any. We were later joined by Addison and her brother (also, baby brother who is Chloe's age).






They are... what else... Mermaids (above picture)
















After this lovely outside splash, the girls took a bath together. It consisted of bubbles, alphabet letters, and of course... Mermaids.






Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Neighborhood Children are great





You can hear these girls laughing from ten houses down. Coral is really enjoying getting together with the other girls in the neighborhood. Their big outdoor activites are sprinker (seen here), play house, and sandbox. Coral is the youngest of these four (by about a year), but certainly can keep up.










Here we have Madison, Coral, Ella, and Ariyla. The two on either side of Coral are cousins.



















Chalk Drawings I







Computer crashed, so I have not been able to post. Here are some photos I wanted to share (over a week ago).

This is a picture of "Sluggy, Sun and Daddy". The Slug is the round shape you see, then the Sun has it's rays attached to the Slug. The colored object is Daddy... can't you see his pointy hair on the side!

Can you guess what this is?
It's Nemo! The color on his head is his stripes. The little things on the sides are his flippers. Of course!



























Friday, August 21, 2009

Coral's Photo Shoot Request

Here's one for the memory books. Today, Coral asked me very polietly, "can I sit in the breastfeeding spot?" I said, "Okay." Then she asked me, "Can I take my shirt off to feed my baby?" And I said, "Okay". So she began breastfeeding her little doll (who is named Baby Star), and then she stopped. She asked me, "Can you take a picture of me".

So here is her picture.

By the way, that baby was veeeery hungry.

Coral also asked me if she could feed Chloe from a bottle, also requested a photo.
Coral told Chloe... "Get your little thumb thumb out of your mouth. Now open your mouth Chlo Chlo."

Chloe has been performing magic tricks at night. She has been rolling her self over, and I still have yet to see it. I'll look at her from our video baby monitor... she does nothing. I'll stare for five minutes straight, nothing. I'll look away for a few seconds, look back.. BAM. She's flipped.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Little friends in Florida



The hot weather continues in Florida. Our average temperature must be around 95 degrees this week. So we're been in our swim suits (or in Chloe's case, birthday suit). Our utilities bill spiked to $200.00, a record high. Our AC runs miserably, so it's time to get a new one.

Coral has been playing with a neighbor girl, she is almost 4 years old. This companionship has been good for both Coral and I. Since she's been out of preschool, it's been hard to get things done. Coral is.... to say it nicely... needy. We have also made friends with a family a few houses down, she has a girl who has just turned 2.

This is a picture of Coral and these two girls live on either side of us. Bryan said they ran around and played for 2 hours.

Chloe is just the happiest little baby. She definetly does not like barking dogs. We were visiting the animal shelter the other day, and she got very upset with all of the barking. She also cries when the neighbors dogs bark at us.
Have I mentioned that Coral likes to carry Chloe around the house? She just doesn't understand, "don't drop". Coral is really enjoying having Chloe, and tonight she wanted to read her Big Sister Book. When I was pregnant, we read her that story every day for a month straight!

The other day her friend asked her, "why is your baby crying?" Coral looked at her and said.. "because she's just a baby". It was so cute, kinda like... duh!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Pizza Night


Of course the meat was not thawed by dinner. I did what I'm sure every parent has done at least once. Mini pizzas. Perfect size for little fingers, and so delicious that she even wanted more. I'm actually glad Bryan was at work today, because we would not have had enough!

Considering teachers return to school Monday, I am not sure a teaching job is in reach. Given Bryan's job situation (still unknown), income is desperately needed, but not desperately wanted.

Chloe must be having gum and teething pain... I remember this with Coral. It would come sparatically over the months. And of course.... in public places. We hope she feels better.



Thursday, August 13, 2009

Good Morning Chloe



Yesterday Coral decided that Chloe is a Mini Coral, and has started calling her... "My Mini". Coral is really enjoying having Chloe in the house, and is extremely patient with baby things. The only thing she sometimes gets mad about is when Chloe has to eat. She knows that means I don't play with her, and sometimes she says... "I don't want Chloe to eat!"

Bryan and I both think it's a good idea for Coral to learn free time. This is time for Coral to entertain herself, so we're not on call 24 hours a day. She's not understanding it too much... but maybe because Bryan has been gone recently. I think I may mimic "Centers", a tool that classrooms use for educational activities. It gives her choices of things to do, but she will do them on her own.

There's a good chance I may start teaching fitness classes this year, something I have not done before. I have been doing personal training in the past (which is 1:1, or 1:2), but this will be group stuff. And it also means I really have to get in shape!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Let the stories begin!!


With family from all over the place, I figured this would be great place to show pictures and stories. At this moment in time, Coral is 2 (birthday October 17), and Chloe is 4 months (birthday April 10). At this VERY moment in time, Coral and Chloe are taking naps (at the same time!!!!), my greatest accomplishment as a new parent!

Yesterday the girls and I were at the Dollar Tree... everything's just a dollar! While we were trying to find another set of fairy wings, Coral came across a puzzle. Now, Coral has been going to the YMCA child care every weekday morning while I exercise, and recently she has been playing with puzzles. So I thought I'd give it a try... it's just $1.00. All they had were puzzles over 50 pieces, but she picked out a Princess one. By the end of this puzzle, she started realizing that you can turn pieces to fit... and then we were done. I would like to continue with puzzles. I can see she is really thinking.

Chloe recently rolled over. We didn't see it... but we heard her crying hard in her crib. She rolled from her sleeping position, to a very confusing one... and could not go back to sleep. Too bad we missed her roll!


Look at those nice floors Bryan laid down! Good job Bryan.