Four Months = Solid Food for Chloe

Chloe's first attempt at solid food!  We chose avocado based on a lot of information we learned from a really helpful website: www.wholesomebabyfoods.com  I didn't make Adi's baby food because I didn't realize how easy it was to do.  I'm excited to try out recipes and learn more from the website.  For now, Chloe is only having about 1/2 tsp of mashed avocado once per day.  

 These matching sweater dresses were a gift to the girls from Cam and I for Christmas.  I got the 6-9 month size for Chloe and I'm almost wishing I would have gotten 9-12!  She's only going to be able to wear this thing a few times before she outgrows it.  These two girls are just adorable!!

At her four month well child visit Chloe was 15 pounds (75th percentile) and 26.25" (95th percentile) and her head circumference is in the 50th percentile.  My little tiny baby is growing up so fast and I love that I don't have to miss any of it by working outside the home.  What a blessing.

I currently only have two daycare kiddos which is enough for me!  More money would be nice but we're moving on to a new chapter: I'm going back to school full-time!  Crazy as it is, there's no better time than now to finish up that degree I started so fewer daytime responsibilities feels safer to start until I get used to being a full-time wife, mother, child care provider and student all at the same time.  I won't be the first woman in history to accomplish all of these things so I know it is doable.  The learning curve will likely be steep and I'll have to get better at time management but I am ready for the challenge.  So if the blog once again falls by the wayside, don't be surprised.  It's a small miracle that I've been able to bring it back up to date but I'll do my best to at least post photos once a month or so.

Christmas 2010

Santa visited our house this year and left several golden packages for our family.  Adi  even said, "how many presents is Santa giving me?" as the unwrapping seemed to go on and on... Santa went a bit overboard, as usual.  Hopefully he can tone it down a bit next year but he just gets so darn excited!!

I think the one thing that got the biggest response from Adi was the Rapunzel hair from Uncle Shane and Aunt Kris.

Wow, that's a lot of hair to keep from getting "tangled"!

One final modeling shot of the hair.

 Chloe is enjoying her new infant to toddler rocker.

 And the famous Sophie the giraffe teething toy.

Christmas isn't quite over for our family yet - we have two more Driscoll Christmas celebrations mid-January and then our holiday season will officially be over.  And then on to a busy and exciting new year :)

December

Look how big I'm getting!

Puppy lives on... encouraging Adi to suck her thumb.  Booo!

 Look how strong I am, too!  And I roll over both ways and I'm not even four months old yet.

 Adi is painting the sun catcher Christmas ornaments that were part of Grandma Marsha's 12 days of Christmas.

 It's a common sight these days: a finger, thumb or entire hand in the mouth.  Chomp chomp, it's teething time.

 Chloe is holding her daycare friend's hand.  How cute :)

 I'm gonna get you!  She loves to roll over on the poor guy but it's so darn funny.

 Adi's getting better and better at holding her baby sister.  

 And welcome to my new nephew Gavin Thomas Harney born at 32 weeks gestation.  He was only 4 pounds and 17".  But what a handsome little guy, and he's doing so well.  Should be home very soon but is hanging out in the NICU until he's strong and ready.

Thanksgiving Plus

Thanksgiving was spent with the Harney family this year.  Adilyn is way into Avatar (though she's never seen the whole film) so as you can see she is sporting blue Avatar "stripes" on her neck as she poses with her Great Grandma Harney.

 It's always fun to play with the cousins.

 Nana was pooped!

 I love this photo of Little Little and me.

 My little brother Travee.

 We ended up having Sarah McElligot do the family shots for us while Shane, Kris and Maddi were in town.  I'm glad we chose her rather than a typical studio because she will be able to photo shop Travis, Krista and family into the compilation photo after baby boy is born.  Here's the Oregon Harney family.

 This is a cute shot of the Driscoll's... cute, though I don't like the reality of my extra chin and extra weight.  Ugh, New Year resolution in the making?

 A beautiful shot of Nana & Papa.

 And I love this picture of the grandkids with Nana & Papa.

Having all of these photos is such a treat.  I can't wait until we get the full compilation photo with everyone in it.  That will be COOL!

November

Chloe tried on Adi's hair extension headband from Halloween and she looks oh so cute!

 She's just as cute as a natural baldy :)

 Adi was such a great big sister at Chloe's first well child visit.  She wanted desperately to protect Chloe from the vaccinations and even cried when Chloe cried.  It was sad, sweet, and stressful to have not just one crying girl but two.

 I love all the smiles from this little girl.  The Bumbo seat is a pretty cool tool for helping baby girl develop the muscles she needs to sit on her own.

  My niece and nephew spent a week with us while my little brother and his wife made arrangements for them to go to a preschool while sis-in-law hangs out on bed rest waiting for baby boy (child #3) to arrive safely.  The kids did a lot of dress up - they're all super heros here - because we all know that firefighters are real life super heros!

 Adilyn is getting braver about holding her sister, but Chloe prefers for Adi to talk to her face to face.  She just laughs and giggles, she loves her sissy!

 This baby is growing so fast.  I'm not sad about it yet because what it means for me is that she is sleeping better, smiling more and requiring a tad less than constant attention from me which is a relief to have a break now and again.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

On October 31st, 2010 my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!  What an amazing accomplishment, to stay together literally through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse.  I'm am honored to have parents who have been able to overcome obstacles and hurdles and have kept their marriage going for 40 years.  Wow.  This is the card I made for them, the photo on the front is a copy of their actual wedding photo.

The forty years God tried and tested the people of His choosing to the end that they should bring forth fruit ere He brought them into the promised land...

My brother's families and mine honored my parents by sending them to Iowa River Power Restaurant for an anniversary dinner on us.  We also blessed them with the promise of a family portrait to be done in November when Shane and his family are coming home for Thanksgiving and to help celebrate the anniversary of the two people who brought the three of us into this world.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad.  We love you so much!

Halloween 2010

 Adi decided to be a vampire for Halloween this year, which was quite a surprise to me.  Once I arrived to her classroom for the Halloween parade I understood why.

 Two of her classmates had also chosen to be vampires, ah the power of peer influence!

 Adi had a cute spider web mask that she was going to wear but it felt too itchy so she ended up choosing to go sans mask.

 Here's a group shot of Adi's friends at school.  Her best friend is the yellow Pokemon character on the left.  The girl on the right is supposed to be Lady Gaga.  I had to do a google search to find out who Lady Gaga was and apparently I shocked my facebook friends and family by admitting that I had no idea who the celeb was.  

On the left you can see one of the finest teachers on the planet, Mrs. Smith.  We adore her.  I don't think this year could have been as successful as it has been so far without her investment in Adilyn and her adjustment not only to Kindergarten but to sisterhood as well.

 It is our tradition to trick-or-treat with our dear friends the McCoy's.  The clan is all together and posing for this shot on a neighbor's doorstep.

 Miss Chloe was true to her namesake this year and went as a flower blossom.  I just adore this costume!

 In lieu of the mask I painted some pretty cool spider webs on for trick-or-treating and we used a dollar store hair extension headband for dramatic affect.

 One last shot of my baby flower.

Halloween is much easier with just one kiddo but more fun with two!!

October

It's been way too long since I've posted on the blog.  I have a tiny bit of time this evening and want to spend it attempting to catch up on the blog.  It will be mostly photos and not much writing, but the photos are the best part anyway so, I'll start with October.

Chloe doesn't like to be swaddled.  Well, not with the arms in, that is.  She liked to have a swaddle around her middle but wriggled like little Houdini whenever her arms were put in.

 After the first couple of days in the hospital she wouldn't take a pacifier either.  This was really weird for us since Adi was so dependent on her pacifier until she ultimately found her thumb at four months and hasn't stopped sucking it since.  Here is a cute little outfit that Aunt Leah gave to Chloe.

 Fall wouldn't be complete without a trip out to Wilson's Apple Orchard.  This year Adi took her friend (our neighbor) John along.  They had a good time and painted pumpkins, too.

 Adi, Daddy and Chloe.  So cute!

 This is my 34th birthday cake.  The Co-op baked this one.  I had to steer clear of my favorite birthday sweet treat: Rapspberry Cheesecake (also from the Co-op) because Chloe doesn't like it when I eat dairy.  Most people think it's normal for babies to spit up - I believe most babies are lactose intolerant and nursing mama's can avoid much of those spit ups by cutting dairy out of their diet.  Really, it's true!  If it wasn't I wouldn't have quit eating one of the staples of my diet.  I LOVE cheese!!  But my sacrifice means Chloe rarely spits up - unless I've snuck some dairy in.  Happens every time :(

 Papa and Chloe are playing.

 This is probably my favorite outfit ever.  Thank you Aunt Carisa!  I'm a huge fan of the precious little owl on it - Chloe seems to like it too ;)

 There's my pretty little baby.  I just love her!

 Now I realize that Halloween is in October as well, but I think it deserves a post of its own, so coming up next... Halloween 2010.