Our baby girl is growing fast

It has been 3 weeks since I last wrote a blog!  A lot has happened since that time - sorry my camera card decided to not let me get pictures off of it, I wanted to try every avenue I could before I "reformatted" the card and had to delete everything on it.  I did end up having to delete everything - that did not make me happy!  

This week Chloe is 6 weeks old!  I cannot believe it has been that long since we brought this beautiful little girl into the world.  She has changed a lot lately.  She is more aware of her surroundings, watches her mobile on the swing, follows objects and responds to voices, turning her head to find out where you are.  The best thing, though, is her smile!  She is a very smiley baby when you are talking to her and she can see you, so of course it is very difficult to catch a smile on the camera unless AJ is helping me out.  Along with her smile, she is starting to "talk."  She coos at us now, for awhile she has been talking to her little purple bunny on her changing table.  She seems to really like her changing table - you can always get a smile out of her if you lay her there.

6 weeks!

Peek a boo!

Preston has been a little ham with the camera lately.  Anytime we have the camera out he wants his picture taken.  I usually humor him and take some pictures (its a good thing we have digital cameras now!)  He loves his "Fredbird" Cardinal hat!  He constantly asks to wear it, even at bedtime!

Preston loves Chloe and being next to her.  When she is laying on the floor, he wants to lay by her; whenever she is in a new spot, he seems to remember she is there and wants to kiss her.  Sometimes I think it is a little ploy for attention, but I am positive that most of the time it is because he is becoming more and more accepting of his baby sister!

 

I found him walking around outside like this!

 

AJ is graduating from his Masters program on Friday!  He is going to officially have his Masters in Education - Congratulations honey!!  He has worked hard and long (a little too long!) to finish up with his education.  He is glad to be done and we are very proud of him.  He brought home his cap and gown today and Preston decided he wanted to try it all on - he is so cute!

 

Yum, ICE CREAM CONE!

 

We have hummingbirds (or as Preston calls them "mommybirds")

 

Tired boy at 7pm - may be getting his 2yr molars...

 

Trying to catch her smile

 

Helping Daddy finish the floors - only took over a year!

 

 

 5 weeks

 

Two weekends ago now, we went up to St. Louis.  We left early Friday morning (4:45am) to meet Grandma & Papa Gegg and Aunt Ali at the Zoo at 8am!  The plan was for both kids to just sleep in the car the whole way, but of course Preston was too excited to fall back asleep right away.  So 45 minutes before arriving at the zoo, he decided to fall asleep.  Boy did that plan backfire!  He had a great time at the zoo anyway!  I am pretty sure we made it to almost every animal this time.  Chloe, Grandma and I had to take a small detour due to feeding time, but Preston was the important person to see the animals this time around.  We left a little before noon and he was worn out!  He took a short nap on the way to my cousin Melissa's house and then would not go back to sleep (again!) for the rest of his nap.  Needless to say he went out like a light at bedtime!

On Saturday we met some Maryville friends for brunch and a little bit of play time.  Then we made sure Preston had a nap (almost 3 hours!).  That evening we went over to Cathy and Roland's (Bruce's sister) house for a surprise birthday party for Bruce's dad.  We had a great time and Preston loved swimming in the pool.  Since she is so stinkin cute and everyone wanted to hold her, Chloe was exhausted by the time we left at 6:30.  Back to Melissa's we went to hang out with some more family...Preston went to bed late that night.  

Sunday was Cardinal baseball day - the real reason we went up to StL.  Before the game, we met up with Sheree and Angie (my high school besties) at a coffee house for a couple of hours.  Unfortunately Chloe and I did not attend the game as the heat index was supposed to be 101degrees!  So, I gave up my ticket to our friend Joel.  Preston had a great time at the game and got a little bit of sun.  That evening we went down to Ste. Genevieve for the night and left to come back home Monday afternoon.  It was a fun and exhausting weekend.

Sitting in the hippos mouth at the Zoo

 

 Riding the carousel with Aunt Ali

Ready to go!

 

Audrey and Chloe - 4 days apart!!

 

Squirting and Swimming!!

 

 

Rally Cap at the game - Cards win!

 

Great-Papa Gegg and Chloe

 

 

AJ thinks this is too bright, but I think it is cute!

 

Springfield Cardinal game - great seats!  Thanks Steve and Melinda!

 k

 

Daddy, Preston and Louie

 

 Chillin after the game

5 weeks

 

After a bath - still has umbilical cord, so still no water really

 

This is a picture of Chloe sleeping in our Snugli - I was wearing it while vacuuming and she fell asleep!

She is really focusing on objects lately.  AJ couldn't quite catch it but she was intently watching the animals on the mobile

 Sometimes Preston is just a goofball - actually most of the time!  He's wearing my sunglasses and headband!

 

Ok, so I think that catches us up.  Chloe is fighting sleep tonight, so it may be a long night until she gives in!  Have a fantastic week!    

3 weeks

Time needs to move a little slower!  Three weeks at home is seeming to fly by way too quickly.  Chloe is becoming more and more alert everyday.  The past few days she has been awake for several hours at a time.  We have gone through the same phase of being overtired that we did with Preston - and seemingly around the same age.  She just doesn't want to give in and sleep around the 7 to 8 o'clock hour.  She is sleeping really well at though.  Last night she slept in 2 - 5 hour spurts - which was great for me!!

Chloe is beginning to find her voice.  She is "talking" to the little bunny rabbit that sits on her changing table and will occasionally coo at us while we are holding her.  Yesterday she was smiling and cooing while I was holding her on my lap!  

She has definitely been another bright spot in our lives and we thank God for both of our children everday!

Enjoy the pictures of Chloe at 3 weeks:

4th of July

This past weekend was quite eventful for us.  We had a quiet evening at home on Friday playing.  Preston has been obsessed with pulling the cushions off the couch and recently discovered that the long cushion over the ottoman comes off as well.  It quickly became a ramp for cars to roll down!  Chloe was very content with just hanging out until bedtime!  

Saturday our friend Chip came down for the day.  We hung out at home mostly, ordered Chinese take-out (which Preston did not like!), and then the boys went down to the park and played frisbee golf.  Preston did really well with them at the park and just walked around with them without trying to run off in a different direction.  He was quite worn out that evening!  After frisbee golf, the boys came back and played in the backyard.  Preston makes friends quickly so Chip was his new BFF!  They played on the swings and in the clubhouse and on the slide.  AJ had to rescue Chip eventually!  

Sunday was Independence Day!  We celebrated by going to our friends' Mark and Kailey's house.  There were lots of kids there this year and will be even more next year!!  We had a lot of fun - they set up our little pool for the kids, had a washer tournament, lots of food and desserts and of course fireworks.  Preston was in and out of the pool until we made him get dressed because he was shivering!  AJ of course won the washer tournament and I quickly lost!  Preston did some sparklers - at first he was a little stand offish, but decided he liked them and did several.  Both kids did really well with the fireworks and stayed outside most of the time.  At one point, Preston got a little gun shy and came inside while I was changing Chloe, but it may have been b/c he was getting tired.  

Overall we had a fantastic weekend and enjoyed spending time with friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I couldn't get the little turkey to look at me!

 

 

 Preston was not timid about the pool at all.  I just happened to start videoing him at the right time to catch this...disregard the middle portion where it goes all over the place!

Preston...

Preston has done so well with Chloe!  It is very easy to forget how young he actually is b/c he seems so advanced to us.  Below are several pictures from the past 2 months:

Washing daddy's truck:

I asked Preston if I could take his picture.  The next 5 pictures are the result.  After I took the picture he would run around the island in the kitchen yelling "yay" and clapping his hands.  Then he would come back and ask to have his picture taken again!

Yummy tomatoes from the garden!!

Daddy made a fort

Running out in the rain

Catching lightning bugs!  So fun!