She is not a baby anymore =(

Yesterday marked Chloe being 23 months old. On one month she will be 2 years old. Wow time flies way to fast. So I have weigh what is more important to me right now, getting her in a "big girl bed," taking the nummy away, or starting the jounery of potty training her. Well, lets say my impulse was the nummy.

This even Chloe had 2 nummies laying in the TV room. And I cut them. I just took alittle bit of the tip off. And laid them down where I got them. I didn't make a big deal about it to her. So really she had no clue I did it. Dave and I are sitting here watching 300, and she came in to join us for alittle while. She saw her nummy and grabbed it, studied it, then said, " It's brokey." She came over to me, put it in my hand and said, "mommy it's brokey." I said, "oh my it is broken. I wonder what happened." She told me she didn't know. Then she took it to Dave and he looked at it and said, "Chloe it's broken what should we do." She came back to my lap, sat down and looked at it again. She then looked at me and said, " It's brokey. Oh well" and shoved that thing in her mouth.

UPDATE: She is in bed and has been for about an hour. She did cry for probably 25-30 minutes. I let her go for about 15 then went in there and rocked her for about 5 minutes (she is using the "broken" nummy). She cried alittle longer then finally gave up. I am sure the crying was because of the nummy.

So far so good. But I skeptical that it should be this easy. It is bed time so I guess the fun should start here.

Alitle on my Family - extended

So I would just like to say, my mom finally decided to join us back home here in St. Louis. She has been in Florida since Jan 2. But that was fine because we were there from the 4th-12th. But then when we got home she called and said she was going to stay there until before Chloe's birthday. Of course my thought was "oh, hell no!" So she came to her senses and flew home she will be here from Jan 23-Feb 8th.

My dad on the other hand is still there. They are having some remodeling done and the contractor in him didn't want to leave the house. He needed to over see the projects. So he won't see Chloe until around the end of February. He has demanded pictures of Chloe everday that my mom is here. So do you think I should? It was his choice to stay there..lol. I think I should torcher him. Not saying it isn't nice down there, but come one he is going to go a month without seeing Chloe. How dare he!! hehehehe.

Good news is my Aunt Lisa, who I haven't seen in atleast 6 months is coming in town tomorrow. I am so excited. It has been hard since she moved. But I know she loves it up in Michigan. One day Chloe and I will make it up there for a long weekend. Probably when Dave is racing his car.

So really nothing is too exciting in our life. Chloe is becoming more verbal and expressive. We think she is the smartest 2 yr old. She can spell her name already. Yes, she knows the letters and will tell you how to write it on the paper. She says, "C-H-L-O-E, that spells Chloe." Sometimes in the mornings I wake up to her counting to 20. That is the new stuff going on right now. Soon you will have an update on her birthday party planning and her bedroom. That is my goals for while my mom is here. We need to get a toddler bed for Chloe and pick out and decide what is going to happen at her birthday party. So come back and watch for Dave and I's plans for her big day.

Chloe's New Bedroom

So since we are expecting our second child, we have decided that it is time to move Chloe into a different room. I mean seriously we have an awesome nursery if I do say so myself. When we were pregnant with Chloe, my mom, aunts, Dave and I turned one of the bedrooms into the 100 Acre Woods. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore even live there. So of course it is ideal to have the new baby just move into that room while it is still painted to be a nursery. So Chloe will move into the front bedroom. That picture is only 2 walls on the other 2 there is another tree, Tigger (jumping over the changing table), and Piglet (flying a kite on a hill with flowers on the wall with the closet).

There is so much to do to get it ready. Right now it is a junk/storage room. So first it has to get cleaned, which means come April, I will be having a garage sale, really a yard sale cause I will just set things in the front yard and driveway..lol. So the To Do list is a long one.

• Clean and organize room
• rip up carpet and assess hardwood floor
• either replace carpet or refinish hardwood (if we refinish hardwood I am going to have the hallway redone too)
• fix closet shelving
• paint walls cream or white

So right now that is the list. But I have been looking for beds and bedding for Chloe's new room. This I am super excited about, especially since I don't have a nursery to decorate. Of course the furniture is going to be white, unless I can find something I like in a blonde wood (which would be ideal for me).

The hard thing left now is to actually find a WOOD toddler bed. Everything seems to be plastic with either Dora, Elmo, or Pooh. Which isn't what we want. We are wanting something that is more "grown" up per say. Not too grown up, for gosh sakes she is only turning 2 in February. So I have found this bed on walmart.com. Which I really am starting to like, but it is from online. I would prefer seeing it in person. Originally I was looking for a white bed, but I think a natural one is more gender neutral. Do you agree? Because I do like this dresser too that goes with the natural colored bed. And not only do they have a dresser but they have a chest too. I need to look into the dimensions to make sure this is something that will grown with her. I am not talking myself into getting the natural cause it would grow more with her when she gets older than white. Right????

So on to the bedding selection. I really am in LOVE with this from pottery barn. I think how is it fun and kiddish, yet kinds grown up. And I think it would be something that would last until she outgrows the toddler bed. But I have 2 options my favorite Called Sophie (right) isn't Dave's but he likes my second choice. What do you think about getting it personalized? But my thought with this bedding would be to paint the walls a white linen color or a cream and then have the polka dots on the wall that the bed going to be placed on. At Target last night I found vinyl polka dot stickers that looked like the same colors as on the quilt. I like the idea of the stickers better than actually painting the polka dots on them. Then when she is older we can just peel the stickers off instead of repainting the entire room. For the second choice it is called Alyssa's Flower garden (Left). I like it in the pink and green, but Dave and I saw it at the Pottery Barn Kids in Chesterfield in Lavender and Green. It was very nice looking, but I prefer the pink. But Dave and I have talked about (with the vinyl stickers in mind) having my Aunts' Lisa and Jen make huge vinyl flowers to put on the walls in the bedroom. Using the colors pink, purple, green and yellow. We figured 2 flowers per wall, but we would do more or less if we wanted. I haven't talk to my aunts yet about doing it to make sure they can, but I think they could do it.

So my mom is coming home from Florida for 2 weeks and this is what she is going to have to endure, well and helping with planning Chloe's birthday party. Cause she is flying back on the 8th of February (my dad is staying down there) to be with some friends and then will be home a few days before Chloe's birthday on the 28th. Man these next 2 weeks are going to be nuts!!

First appointment

So today I had my first appointment being pregnant. I am exactly 6 wks today. The doctor confirmed I am pregnant, yet there is still the 15% chance of a misscarriage, but I have faith. I didn't know really what to expect since Chloe was a surprise. But it all went well. Dr. Steve sat down with me and talk about everything I had listed. I am on a 2000 calorie diet with 30 mintutes + exercise (so that means I need to walk for 30 minutes a day..lol) He also helped me with some of me fears of a VBAC (vaginal birth after Ceserian). I am going to opt for the C-section again. The term "mortality" just freaks me out. I think my decision to have one is the best, yes I know it is early to make this choice, but the thought of having the chance to die giving birht or lossing my child is something I don't want to have to worry about. Yes, I said there would be a chance that I would die if I attempted a VBAC. So I will know my kids exact birthday at about 36 wks..lol. I am excited, so in theroy I can have my kid on my mom's, my cousin Meagan's, or Dave's birthday. How cool is that?? I So my next appointment will be Feb 13 and we will be able to hear the heart. I can't decide if I should take Chloe with us. I know I will for sure take her to the ultra sound just cause I think she would be able to see the baby.

So on that note, Chloe really has no clue what is going on. Everynight Dave and I talk about having a baby. And we ask her if she wants a brother or sister and she tells us, "No." I think if we keep talking about it and give her about 2 months she will really start understand what is going on. She has been extra clingy to me since we got home from vacation which makes me think she does somewhat know something is going on, but I am not sure. Guess we will find out.

Family Vacation

So January 4-12, we took our first family vacation.This was Chloe's first time flying and thanks to Elmo's world she did wonderful. We went to my parents vacation house in Cape Coral, Florida. We are about 20 minutes from the beach there. It was so warm and we all had a great time. Dave and my dad fished a lot, while Chloe, mom and I shopped. A couple days we went out in the boat to just take a ride or fish. We were able to see dolphins a lot during these trips. Dave and my dad were lucky enough to see a manatee and a sea turtle while they were out fishing.

We also did some sight seeing which included going to a manatee park and a shell factory. The manatee park is a public park that is close to an electric plant. So in the winter when the ocean water gets colder the manatee go up the river to be close to the electric plant's warmer water. The weekend before we got there Florida actually had a cold front move through (it actually got down in the 20's there) and the park went from about 5 manatee to over 50. But when we were there it had warmed up so there were only about 10. But we did get to see some. At the Shell Factory we saw lots of animals in there zoo area. We saw everything from alligators to peacocks to bobcats.

We also spent a day at the beach. I have to rave first that if you are ever at Ft. Myers Beach and you like Greek food, go to Plakas. It is fabulous. Besides getting to eat all the fresh seafood down there, this was a place I couldn't wait to visit. They have the best gyro sandwiches and spinach pie! Chloe loved her hot dog too. But anyway, this was Chloe's second time at the beach. The last time we were there it was in April 07. Chloe was only a 14 months then and didn't really have the "fear factor" yet. This time around, she would not walk in the sand at all. First we started by just walking the beach to let her see everything. There were lots of boats in the ocean, people suntanning, kids building sand castles, and swimmers (the water was only about 70 degrees). Dave ventured in the water, but I could only go about calf high. Chloe wouldn't even put her feet in..lol. So after we walked alittle bit, we laid out the towels and sat Chloe down. It took her like 5 seconds to start playing and throwing sand. She loved it. She nailed her grandpa with a hand full of sand right in the ear, now let me just clarify that if my sister or I did that to him when we were younger we would have been in trouble. My dad thought it was so funny. Even my mom could not believe he was down getting all sandy. It was so much fun to watch Chloe play in the sand. She really laughed when we would cover her feet and legs in sand.

All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back next January.

Introductions

Welcome to our family blog. Here is a bit about us.

Family:

Dave and I met in 03 and were married in 05. That summer we found out we were expecting our first child...HUGE surprise for us. In Feb 06 we had our daughter Chloe Nicole. She is a joy and pleasure to watch learn and grow. We just found on this January that we are expecting our second child. This was was planned...lol. We are looking forward to the future and watching our family to continue growing.

Dave:

He is a auto technician for a large dealer in St. Louis. Outside of work he likes working on his 2004 cobra which is our race car. It hasn't run in about 2 years but hopefully sometime this summer I can tell everyone what it runs. He also likes to go fishing and play in the water.

Cassie:

I worked for a few years as a nanny before having our daughter. Then I became a stay at home mom/wife. I love having the chance to help Chloe learn and grow everyday. She is a joy and a pain at times, but it never fails that she makes me smile. I like to scrapbook, do crafts, and shop. But what woman doesn't like shopping? I also have been working around the house alot to get it to where I want it but that seems like a never ending battle.

Chloe:

What can you say, she is 23 months going on 4. She is so darn smart (but doesn't every parent say that about their own child?). Everyday she is learning something new and it amazes me how fast that happens. She loves Elmo and Zoe. We watch them atleast 2 times a day. She is a fabulous cook in her kitchen and it a talking machine on the phone.

So that about wraps it up about our little family. I will update on the pregnancy as I learn new things and of course tell everyone the new info on the family.