Chloe Blooming Beautifully

She turned 2!

chloethebeautiful — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:23:25 +0000

An old post I forgot to add.

Last month Chloe turned 2 years old and yes she has her terrible moments! In celebration we had a small family party at our place, about 12 family members came for lunch and some homemade Grover cake. The time spent with family was fun and simple, Grover invites made by Daddy, Grover balloons (ordered from Ebay), party sub from Fry’s and Grover birthday cake made by Mommy. Everything was wonderful! Chloe had fun opening gifts with her best friend Rahman and they had fun playing with her new toys as well. Here are some photos from the day.

So…

chloethebeautiful — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:43:42 +0000

I was told by my husband, “are you ever going to write in your blog again? You should just close it.”

Well, to be honest I haven’t forgotten about my Chloe or keeping the memory of our moments alive. I’ve actually been using pen and paper, my best and favorite form of writing. I’ve been writing her love notes, something which has brought me much satisfaction.

I always only meant to keep the blog alive till she turned two, so in a way maybe I have. I’m still unsure of keeping the blog alive, however looking at my “views”, the “Amby to Crib” post has still remained the most popular. I did say in an earlier post I would keep writing about my experiences with the Amby, since a dear friend will be using ours for her new baby boy, expected to arrive in 10 days. SO, I guess I will still blog from time to time. Don’t get me wrong, I like being able to have this method of sharing moments and info, however the thrill of feeling a pen in my hand and paper against the other has taken over.

If you’re out there and still interested, I’ll still be here from time to time… =)

New Year, New Goals

chloethebeautiful — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:34:13 +0000

Happy New Year Readers! This is the first time I’ve logged into my blog since the holidays and am flattered you’ve not lost interest while I neglected posting since Thanksgiving! Thank you!

While looking at my stats, I’ve noticed the blog about the Amby Baby Motion Bed is still the most viewed entry, so in response to this I think I’ll make a follow up entry with pictures of Chloe in the hammock and any tips I didn’t mention before. A dear friend of mine, Marina is expecting a new son late spring/early summer and she will be borrowing Chloe’s hammock for her son. This will give me more perspective on how the Amby works with a different baby and I’ll be sure to post any new comments and discoveries! Marina as well as her 22 month old son Rahman are light sleepers, I truly believe he would have slept more soundly if he was sleeping in the Amby, therefore I’m happy to loan Chloe’s Amby to this family for their new addition. If their new son is a light sleeper too and anything like his big brother, I’m looking forward to seeing what results they get using the motion bed!

A new year brings new goals for our family, especially in the child raising area. Main goal of the year: Chloe becoming fully potty trained! We have a good head start, let’s hope we can say goodbye to diapers sometime soon! Second Chloe goal: increase verbal skills, while beginning to learn our native tongue. These are the main goals of the year, alongside other family/marriage goals like updating furniture and taking time for more travel.

This is a snippet of where we’re at in life right now, more to come soon, really!

Chloe sitting on her gift Christmas morning 2008. Size 2T Sleeper

Chloe reading her new book: How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? Christmas morning 2008

Chloe playing at the park a week from turning 21 months old. February 2009

Thanksgiving

chloethebeautiful — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:32:22 +0000

I just went through my previous blogs and noticed I’ve never put a Thanksgiving blog entry in the almost two years this blog has been active. I find this odd, since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There’s no question as to what I’m thankful for; GOD, family, friends, my husband and daughter. This year Thanksgiving was wonderful, we ate two dinners, one with my my side of the family, one with his, next year I think I’ll host, so we all can be together.

Although Thanksgiving was just over a week ago, I’m still feeling the warmth of what I’m thankful for and also beginning to feel the crisp fresh hope of the Christmas season. This child, Chloe, has brought so much to myself and those around her, she is more than human, I like to think we all are more than human and are capable of holding so much. Chloe has reminded my spirit, how much GOD truly loves us, he is the reason for our warmth and the freshness of our lives. Yes, this world is not the best, but it is not the worst either, this is what we need to remember more than anything. Life is hard, but life is also what we make it, I could go on and on, but really all we need to know is; there is life and there is death, it’s what we do with the between. This is what I’m most thankful for!

First Autumn Day

chloethebeautiful — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:18:08 +0000

Everyone here will agree it was last Saturday, October 11, however Chloe and I spent most of the day inside, so for us the first cool day was Sunday, October 12. We didn’t do much, just did some shopping as a family, stopped by my mom’s place, and spent the evening at my best friend Darrell’s apartment. It was a simple and lovely day.
Back up to early Sunday morning, Chloe woke up around 2am crying. I knew she needed attention by her cry, it wasn’t just a whimper, but an “I need you now” cry. I sent Jimmy to check on her and he brought her to bed with us. She was cold! Her jammies weren’t warm enough for her and she doesn’t really like using a blanket, it was our first cold night. She snuggled into bed with us, something she rarely does and even more rare, she let us cover her with the comforter. Perfectly snuggled, we quickly fell back asleep, however at some point Jimmy had to leave us for the couch as Chloe was pushing him off the bed. Ahh, snuggly winter, I’m so ready for you!

Our Blogroll

chloethebeautiful — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:14:45 +0000

From My Head is a blog by our dear friend Ben, however he has not written in this blog for over a year. Ben is Heather’s boyfriend. He can grill up some awesome steaks and is a man of adventure! Hey Ben, Chloe has 16 teeth now, when are you going to grill up her first steak?

McCain Blogette is a blog written by Meghan McCain, filmed by Shannon Bae and photographed by Heather Brand. The blog documents their behind the scenes life on the “Straight Talk Express” and currently Meghan’s book tour. I’ve been reading their blog since the end of last year. Wether you’re a McCain supporter or an Obama supporter it’s worth a look. MAKE HISTORY, VOTE!

Family pic with Heather McCain

Chloe and I with Shannon Bae and Heather Brand

The Blog of James Jay is a personal blog by my street photographer/graphic designer husband and often includes photos of what he encounters in day to day life. He is rarely seen without his camera, either a Canonet, Yashica or Olympus XA2; rarely does he shoot digital. He has been featured twice on Uber.com

Pizza anyone? One of James’ finds on his bike ride home, shot with the XA2.

The Life and Times of Heather Miranda is a personal blog written by our dear friend Heather. Heather and James have been friends since high school photography class, both still share a love of photography. Although both are trained in analog, Heather currently shoots digital, she’s great at nature shots! Heather is a high school teacher and loves retiraery responsible free spirit.

Ben and Heather at dinner taken by James Jay

“Frailty, thy name is woman!”

chloethebeautiful — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:30:22 +0000

Chloe remember this is Shakespeare’s Hamlet, not real life!

Today you and I went to get Uncle Jr some new tires for his car, this process started out just after 8 am this morning and lasted till 345 pm this afternoon. We went to Tire Pros because this is where he bought the last set of tires and we needed to see if they were still under warranty, since it hadn’t reached the warranty milage yet. I already knew we’d probably need to get an alignment, since it wasn’t riding so smooth this morning. I called the General Manager (we’ll call him GM-A) before we arrived and told him what we needed done, basically to have them looked at, and replaced if the warranty covered them, however I already kinda knew they weren’t going to be covered because your Uncle didn’t do a very good job of maintaining the tires with regular rotations and such due to his busy schedule and could already see by how the tires were wearing we would probably just have to buy a new set.

We arrived at Tire Pros at 945 am, waited an hour, went to the front only to see the car had never been moved. I asked the other General Manager (we’ll call him GM-B) what was going on, the car hadn’t even been moved to the garage yet. He said, “Didn’t they tell you it would be a long while?” I said, “No, if I would’ve known this I would have had some one come pick us up, I have a 1 year old here.” He said he would find out what was going on and get back with me. He immediately spoke to GM-A and both men went out to look at the car still parked in the front lot. Both came back to tell me yes, it needed an alignment, yes we needed to purchase new tires since the warranty wouldn’t cover the wear on the tires. We waited a whole hour and fifteen minutes for a 5 minute prognosis. I asked for the keys and said I would get tires else where and for cheaper. “GRRR”, mommy’s thinking in her womanly head.

When GM-A heard this he said, “Where? I’ll beat their price.” See what GM-A and GM-B didn’t know is I did my homework before we arrived and called 2 other tire dealers and an auto shop to get quotes on tires and an alignment. During the price haggling he angrily said to me, ” See, you came in here knowing more than I thought.” His tone of voice suggested I was supposed to feel guilty and belittled, I said, “Why wouldn’t I?” After a few minutes we agreed upon the price of four tires and an alignment. Luckily our friend Marina was available to come pick us up, so we wouldn’t have to wait the 2 plus hours it was going to take to get the tires and alignment complete.

Had lunch, went to mall play area, played, got phone call car was completed, Marina dropped us off with Uncle Jr, went to pick up his car, listened to GM-B apologize over and over while GM-A was out of the room, went home, laid you down for a nap at 4 pm, woke you up at 510 pm, we picked up Daddy from work, filled up the gas tank, went home, ate dinner, played, called it a night at 8pm.

Society has progressed and women have equal rights, however this doesn’t mean every man you may come across will treat you this way. You are strong, terrible and beautiful, always stay informed, be confident and humble, find the balance. Be a gracious customer, but don’t let anyone underestimate you and be kind, no matter what the case may be. Your Daddy is the head of our house and God above us all, your place in our world is a magnificent one!

“…but the woman is the glory of the man.” 1 Corinthians 11:7

A wife first, a mommy second, yours always,

mommy

15.5 Months

chloethebeautiful — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:49:10 +0000

Chloe is just barely pushing 23 pounds and is still 30 inches tall. Funny, to me and our family she seems bigger. She’s learning new words every so often, this week, she learned how to say car and Grover (everyone’s favorite little furry blue monster). She still remains in a size 4 pamper and size 18 month clothes, however her feet have graduated into a size 24 months or size 6. I think it’s funny how baby parts grow at different speeds at different times then meet up eventually only to last a moment, then start over again.

Last night Chloe attended her 7th Diamondbacks game and they won against the Cincinnati Reds. There were fireworks after the Friday night game, so we made sure to park on the roof of the garage to get the perfect view we enjoyed. She lasted the whole car ride home without falling asleep, probably because her Grandma was sitting next to her in the back seat, but once we got home, it was teeth brushed and lights out for Chloe!

One thing Chloe simply cannot get enough of is books. She has always preferred books over toys, but eventually would play with her toys too. This is not the case anymore. I feel as though I’m repeating myself, I’m sure I’ve said this in a blog entry before. Well, if I’ve said this before, Chloe’s book obsession has deepened since the last entry. Her toys sit untouched in a basket in the corner and when we visit the Target, Walmart or Toys R Us, she scoffs (yes, in her 1 year old way she scoffs) at the toys and would rather visit the book section, which of course is tiny in comparison. I hope this hunger for reading is a lifelong passion!

Tired Kiddo

chloethebeautiful — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:44:47 +0000

Chloe has been suffering from allergies as of late and today, nothing seemed to soothe her runny nose. Basically the afternoon ended with me lying on my side in our bed, with Chloe lying on my side, tummy down face to the side buried in the comforter eventually asleep. Not 30 minutes later she awakes to the sound of Jimmy opening the door. She’s still cranky… oh well!

Chloe In Pictures

chloethebeautiful — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:17:17 +0000

Here are some pictures of Chloe since turning 1 year old. Hope you enjoy!

Eating mashed potatoes and cheerios just after her first birthday, late May.

So I finally gave in and purchased my first digital camera, a Canon Power Shot SD750. Here is the first picture I took with it on June 23, 2008. Hee hee hee!

Chloe’s first taco, or taco salad rather. June 26, 2008

We spent Fourth of July at the ballpark watching a Diamondbacks game thanks to one of my mom’s co-workers. This would be Chloe’s fifth Diamondbacks game!

We made a home run, YAY

Me and my Lulu’u (how you say grandma in our Pima language) are big Diamondbacks fans!

Look, Mommy and Daddy!

Look everyone, fireworks! Chloe watching her first fireworks show.

Daddy showing Chloe the fireworks while leaving the ballpark.

We went to another Diamondbacks game the next day. Chloe is wearing her “My First D-Backs Tee” for the last time on her sixth game. Time to get a new shirt baby!

July 11, 2008 My mom took Chloe to get her first Cabbage Patch Doll. When we placed several dolls in front of Chloe she always broke out in laughter when she saw the Cabbage Patch Doll without hair, so this is the one we took home. Since then she’s learned to hold the doll properly and even tries to comfort the baby and gives her kisses. The doll’s given name is Jayden Hayden, we don’t necessarily like this name and hope Chloe will change it once she’s older.

The next day we attended our apartment Luau and had lots of fun and yummy food!

July 21, 2008 Chloe enjoyed her first bean and cheese burrito from Ponchos in south central Phoenix.

It was GREAT!

Hope you enjoyed the photos!