Chloe Can Talk

Well, not really of course... but she seems to have found her "voice." I got this new baby gym out for her two weeks ago and she became vocal about it. She didn't really hit it with her hand at first, though now she hits the toys like crazy and moves her head from one side to the other instead of just staring to the right. She usually kicks her feet too like she's about to run away. I'll have to post a new video soon. I was surprised to see how different she was just two weeks ago!

Chloe was really cute tonight. Kevin was cutting the video down shorter and she was laying right close on the floor. When she heard herself make noises in the video, she made noises back. She finally found someone who speaks her language! She's also found her hand, including that little thumb that she loves to suck away at. But she tends to try moving her head to her hand and often times she just ends up teasing herself when her hand moves just too far out of reach.

Dirty Chloe, Visitors, Alligators at Panama City Beach, and One Month Old

Whew, the title sums it up: Kevin has been learning all about editing pictures and reading a lot of photography books. Here is one he did yesterday of Chloe and he named it "Dirty Chloe" and it reminds us of some Anne Geddies things a little bit, since it looks like a plant is coming out of her head!

Well, January was really crazy. With a new born and all, we had family galore. I already posted about my parents. But Kevin's mom and little sis AAmy were here for 10 days and we had lots of fun. We took walks and LOTS of pictures. We took a day trip to Panama City to a National Park that sits on the Gulf of Mexico. It was awesome. We even went to alligator lake, but they were all hiding that day. It was not really warm, but we still had fun... AMY (Kevin's sis) EVEN SWAM!


Kevin's dad and Elaine, his great uncle and aunt, and Rachael (my cousin) and her husband along with Diana, Amy and Keri were all here for Chloe's blessing which was really nice. We HAD to go to the aviation museum again, of course. And this is a picture of Skip and Kevin in front of the helicopter that Kevin is here to learn to fly.

Blessing Day

Kevin blessed Chloe at church today. Her dress was homemade and just about everyone had a part in it: me (of course), my mom, Diana, Amy J, Keri, and Chloe's great-great aunt Marylin. I think that will seem special to Chloe.

We definitely had a full house today for dinner, totalling 21, and it was nice to have family here. Reminds me of home when there are 10 different conversations going at once.

Papa N Granma Birda Visit

The end of December my mom and dad came to visit, and it's taken me a while to get around to posting some pictures, seeing how its been about 3 weeks now.

They came in on the Tuesday after Chloe was born and stayed until Sunday morning. We had fun driving around showing off our new home. We went to different attractions here on post including the PX, commissary, the lake and the aviation museum. The stay seemed short once it was over, but it was nice for them to change plans and come early, just like Chloe did.

2 Weeks Old

Chloe is thriving like a "bad weed" according to Gama Birda (as Claire calls her). She had her two week appointment and everything is going well. She has gained 10 1/2 oz since leaving the hospital, weighing in at 7 lbs 9.5 oz. She still doesn't fit in newborn clothes though, but that's just a matter of time. For now we are rolling up everything so she is not completely swimming in all her outfits.

She is a really good baby. She usually goes 3-4 hours at night between feedings so that means she is usually only waking up 2 times between bedtime and morning, which is really nice, especially since Kevin has to get up at 5:15.

Bath Time!

I got Kevin some new camera equipment for Christmas. We are enjoying experimenting with it and our new subject. This is a shot of Chloe's first sponge bath at home. She absolutely loved every minute of it. I hope that means when we can give her tub baths she likes em just as much. I know I'm biased, but isn't she just adorable?

Our Christmas Baby

It all started at 4 am, actually, it all started about 9 months ago. But this chapter of the story started at 4 am when Amy's water broke. Yes, I was out cold, and then suddenly, I was wide awake, especially when the contractions started about 10 minutes later, and never let up. We packed and made it out the door to the hospital. The hospital staff was great, we got checked in and started the waiting game. Amy was dilated to about 3 cm when we arrived at around 6:30 am, and finally hit 10 by about 2:45-3:00 pm. Thankfully Amy decided an epidural was a good idea about 20 minutes after we got to the hospital. Her contractions were so strong and so close that she never got a break, neither did my hands. I left when they administered the epidural to get some stuff from the car, and when I came back, Amy was all smiles.

It came time to push around 3:00 or so, and Amy did great. So did Chloe. Delivery was pretty fast once she started pushing, and we were blessed with a wonderful Christmas gift. The best one I've ever gotten anyway.
After her initial check out and clean up we got to hold her. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced in this world. She is so precious. Her little chin quivers when she cries and makes her little voice shake. It's so cute. When she came out at 3:41 pm, she weighed 7 lbs 5 ounces, and was 20 1/4 inches long. All about average. We'll get a video posted once we get the chance, but in the mean time, I want to get back to spending time with mom and baby. This is for sure the best Christmas ever.