Swim Lessons

Maddie has been taking swim lessons everyday this summer, and she loves it! Each session lasts 2 weeks, and she has had a new teacher for each session. Her favorite teacher's have been the male teachers... big surprise! :)Maddie is really getting good at her bobs, floating on her back and tummy, holding her breath under water, and kicking. She loves when they play their water games, her favorite being "Alligator, Alligator, what time is it?" On the last day of each session, for the last 5 minutes of class, they turn the "big toy" on. Maddie loves to go down the slide!

Chloe and I just enjoy watching Maddie swim!One thing both preschool and swim lessons have done for her this summer is wear her out!

We DO Know How To Make 'Em...

Yep, it's true! We're having a...

B-O-Y!!!

We are so excited to add some BOY to our family!!! We were starting to think Heavenly Father had a great sense of humor, but it's definitely a BOY! So far, he is much calmer than my girls ever were. During the ultrasound, the guy could barely get him to move around to check between the legs! Hopefully he stays that way! I've been feeling a little bit of movement each day for the past week or so. I love it, like little flutters inside my tummy!

It still hasn't totally hit me that I'm pregnant yet, (other than the fact that I've put on some pounds!) so it might take me a while for it to really hit that we're really having a BOY! I am so excited to be able to buy some things now, since I have nothing for a BOY! We'll have to figure this whole blue thing out! Let the shopping begin.....

Boy OR Girl?

Check out the POLL to the right and cast your VOTE!

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Jarom, for fixing my camera cord, I can (hopefully--I haven't tried yet) load some pictures on the computer now! So... pictures to come! But for right now, I'm too busy trying to organize my house and the family reunion which starts in only 5 DAYS!!!

No Pictures For A While...

The night before we left for Bear Lake, Maddie was swinging around my camera cord that allows me to transfer pictures from the camera to my computer and smacked it on the gate and it broke, into a few pieces. I was not happy, to say the least! So, we won't have any pictures for a while! I need to get a new one ordered, but things like that usually take me quite some time! :)

Stay tuned... we'll have posts from Maddie's swim lessons, Bear Lake, and... can you believe it??? Chloe will be 11 months old tomorrow!!! I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast. I swear it was just yesterday that I gave birth to her! She has become a pro walking along things, such as the couches. She even stood all by herself while trying to reach for Mike's bag he was holding, for a good 10+ seconds! We were so proud of her! I think my excitement made her sit down, but she didn't even fall, just casually sat on the floor! She amazes us everyday, and we just love how happy this baby is!

Some exciting news from last Thursday, the most exciting news of the week... My little brother Ben (or Betsy, as I call him... don't ask! :)) received his mission call! He's been called to serve in the Oklahoma Tulsa mission, which covers parts of Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. He reports to the MTC on September 2nd. We are all so excited for him!!! It's going to be a little weird to have him about 5 minutes from our house (while he's at the MTC) and yet we can't even go visit him! But Mike drives past there everyday to go to work, so you know we'll be keeping our eyes out for him crossing the street to go to the temple or to workout, as we see the missionaries do now! And it shouldn't be hard to find him with his bright red hair!!! Congrats Betsy!!!
I should add some more "Maddie Says" on here, we've had a few I can remember...

*After we got home, we saw our blind man friend (I'm awful and can't remember his name) but we've given him rides to church before. He was walking home from church just as I was opening up the blinds in Maddie's room. I said, "Oh look Maddie, there's our blind man friend." She asked me why he was blind. I told her his eyes just didn't work. She said, "I know, he just needs glasses, mom!"

*As we were driving away from Bear Lake, Maddie said we needed to go to the Barber. I was interested in what she thought a barber was, because I had never taught her this, and had never heard her say the word. Who even says "Barber" anymore, right? She told me, we need to go to the Barber to get our haircut. I asked her where she learned that and she told me Henry needs to go to the Barber to get a haircut because he had a feather on his head. Henry is from the show Oswald, which she hasn't watched in maybe a week... but she remembered it as we were leaving Bear Lake!

*Maddie and I were running some errands last Wednesday while Mike and Chloe stayed home. As we drove past the "Missionary Mall" there was a big missionary blow up man on the roof of the building. Maddie asked me what that was. I told her he was a missionary, just like Jamo (my cousin who's currently serving in Sacramento, and Maddie just loves him!) She told me, "Ya, but Jamo's just a kid!"

Maddie Says

*Maddie and I were sitting on my bed talking about Disneyland, happily, laughing, when she gets a very serious look and says, "Mommy? I'm really concerned about you."

*Maddie was helping me pack up clothes to go to Bear Lake when I handed her my bathing suit top and she says, "Oh, here's your booby top!"

*Maddie told me today that I have a baby brother in my tummy and his name is Tee-Dee and he's really funny, and fluffy!

*Maddie asked me if the baby was still in my tummy, I told her it was. She said she wants it to come out now and asked when it would be big enough to come out. I told her after Christmas. She put her hand on her head, thinking, and said very excitedly, "I know! How about if we go to sleep, and when we wake up, Santa will come and it will be Christmas. Then the baby can come out!"

I really need to start writing these things down more often because these happen on a daily basis, and this girl is hilarious!!!

This Weekend...

we will be here... and I can't wait!Mike's taking us on a little weekend getaway to Bear Lake for my birthday and I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my little family!! It's supposed to be a very warm one, so I'm glad we will be by the water!

Now, my birthday is still a couple weeks away, but this was all kind of sudden. Mike's parents have the Trendwest Condos and this weekend happened to open up in Bear Lake so Mike jumped on it and we got a 2-bedroom condo for the weekend for $200! Besides the lake, the condo has a pool too! I'm so excited for us to just be able to relax with the girls for the weekend!!!

Chloe Lately

I have a few pictures of this sweet little baby of mine and thought I'd post them!Chloe now has 6 teeth! I just realized the other day that she had 2 more growing in on the top, I had no idea! She must handle pain very well... may help having Maddie as her older sister! She now has 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on top!

Chloe is VERY loud these days! I have tried to catch it on tape, but realized I will need to be sneaky because as soon as she sees the camera, she stops and tries to chase after me and the camera! She yells "ma-ma", "da-da", "ba-ba", and "na-na" all day long. We lasted about 5 minutes in Sunday school before she was so loud I had no choice but to take her out!

I figured out that she got "na-na" from me saying "no, no, no". She thinks it's funny and laughs and says "na-na-na" back to me!Chloe is very active and really moves around all over the place. She is a fast crawler, pulls herself up to everything, walks along the couch holding on, and has even let go a few times now and just stood there. I don't think she's way close to walking yet, she's not brave enough to take steps alone and I'm not sure she quite has the balance yet, but she's moving forward in that direction. I am actually excited for her to walk so her poor knees won't be red anymore from crawling all over the ground!

Chloe used to go down for naps so easily, but not so much anymore. She still is a very easy baby, don't get me wrong, but she plays these games with us. She thinks it's fun to stand up in her crib and throw her pacifier out and keep yelling for "ma-ma" or "da-da" until someone comes to give it to her and lays her back down to sleep. This could happen anywhere from 1-3 times before she'll finally crash. Sometimes we are lucky enough that she will just lay down and go to sleep the first time. I swear we're always on a pacifier hunt around her crib!

Chloe is such a fun and happy baby. It's hard to be mad or upset when she's around, she gives the best smiles and laughs and can make anyone's day!

Bear Lake

After Maddie's parade yesterday, we just decided to drive up to Bear Lake... ha ha, for those of you who aren't familiar with the area, it's about a three hour drive from our house!

We didn't actually get to the beachy part of the lake until about 4:30pm because we {Mike} 'had' to stop in Evanston for fireworks on the way up and then for the famous Raspberry Shakes before we went out to the lake. The shakes were amazing, worth the trip in itself! I have been craving one of these shakes for a very long time now!

We hung out at the lake for a couple hours, and had so much fun! It was actually really nice because there has been so much rain here that there was actually a mini 'lake' in front of bear lake that was very shallow (Maddie could walk across the whole thing) and it was warm water! Once you walked over to the actual lake, it was much colder.

Maddie was having the time of her life! This is heaven for her... outside, sand, and water!!

Chloe just enjoyed sitting on the towel eating cheerios, yogurt melts, and fishy crackers! She was in her own little heaven!

After the beach we ate at the local pizza place and then headed back home. Such a fun day!!!

Lehi Parade

On Saturday morning, Maddie was in the Lehi City Parade with her Sunshine Generation group. Even mom got to ride on the float with her. She had a blast with her friends, singing (or screaming) their songs and waving their flags. She loved every minute of it. Any attention this girl can get! :)

Chloe Anne

Chloe Anne- We had Chloe's name chosen just before we got pregnant with her, just a name we both really liked, and actually agreed on. Anne is my middle name.

Age: 10 1/2 months

Stats:

Weight: 19.47 lbs (42.24%)

Length: 27.88 inches (35.78%)

Head: 18.1 inches (86.94%)

*Stats seem a bit off to me. Dr said he thinks Chloe wasn't stretched out all the way for the length measurement, but wasn't concerned enough to remeasure her. I just don't think a baby can go from being in the 85% down to 35% in just a few months, meaning that basically she only grew 1/2 an inch, especially when she's been between 76% and 95% since she was born.... interesting! I'm a little concerned if it's accurate, something I'll have to keep my eye on!

Favorites:

Food: Cheerios, Yogurt Melts, Fishy Crackers, Watermelon, Ground Beef, Rice, Corn, Ice Cream, any 'real' food really

Least Favorite Food: Baby Food... doesn't like it anymore! :)

Drink: Soy Formula, Water

Activity: Playing with Maddie, Dumping out toys, baskets, etc.

TV Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Stuffed Animal: Little Bunny (we call it crunchy eared bunny because she chews constantly on the ears, which makes them hard and crunchy!)

Person: Mommy

Chloe is the sweetest baby. I know I am totally biased, but really, everyone constantly tells me how happy she is, and she truly is just a happy baby. It takes a lot to make her cry. She still has this sweet newborn cry at almost 11 months now, and I think it's because she just doesn't cry much so she hasn't really outgrown it! People love to smile at Chloe because it's just so easy to get a smile from her!

Chloe is on the go, constantly! She is miss speed crawler! She pulls herself up constantly, always wants to be standing, and jumping. Recently, she has gotten a bit brave letting go and standing on her own for a couple seconds, but this has only happened just a few times.

Chloe loves to eat. But not baby food. She is not a fan of that anymore. It seems like once we started letting her taste our food, she wants nothing to do with baby food. She doesn't yell or scream or cry about it, just spits it at you and laughs. At least someone thinks it's funny, huh?! But really, this girl would eat all day long! We always carry cheerios with us wherever we go. It keeps her quiet and entertained.

You wonder why we need to keep this sweet baby quiet? Just because one is sweet, doesn't mean they're quiet! This girl is loud! Not as loud as her sister (she's hard to beat!) but she just talks, talks, talks and isn't quiet about it! She still says ma-ma, da-da, and mom and actually knows who we are when she says them. When she wants me, she'll cry for mom or ma-ma. She also says ba-ba still (which I don't think really means anything, I don't think) and even added a na-na to her "vocabulary".

Chloe loves her blanket and pacifier. She doesn't have to have them all the time, but she loves them when you give them to her. I love to get her out of bed and hand her a blanket, she snuggles right in and gets so excited. Neither of my girls have been real snugglers, and I totally wish they were (maybe the next one?!) But Chloe does a little bit every now and then, but not much!

Chloe makes the funniest faces and noises. Mike and I have been watching her lately and just laugh at the funny things she picks up and does. She gives high fives and yummy, slobbery kisses! Chloe also has a cord obsession. She loves to find my cords, usually plugged in. It drives me nuts so I usually unplug one and let her play with it, probably not the smartest idea, but oh well, it works for now!

Chloe loves to play with her sister! She follows Maddie around wherever she goes. They'll sit and play Little People together, read books, etc. Sometimes Maddie isn't always the nicest sister, but most of the time she's pretty good with her. She still isn't the best at sharing with her, but she's at least gotten good about trading toys with Chloe. If she wants what Chloe has, she'll take her a different toy. And let's be honest, Chloe, at this point, really doesn't care what she has, as long as she has something in her hand that can go in her mouth.

Madeline Jean

Madeline Jean- Mike and I had Maddie's name chosen very early into our marriage (possibly even before we were married). It was the only name we had picked out (and agreed on). And Jean is my grandma's middle name (who we all love and miss very much!)

Age: 3

Stats:

Height: 38.5 inches (79.38%)

Weight: 35.05 pounds (83.75%)

BMI: 16.62 (75.78%)

Favorites...

Color: Pink (sometimes blue)
Movie: The Little Mermaid

Food: Noodles (any kind), broccoli, watermelon, bananas, peanut butter sandwiches

Drink: Apple Juice, Chocolate Milk Shake

Stuffed Animal: Giraffe

Book: Pinkalicious, Goodnight Moon

TV Show: Spongebob, Dora

Activity: Anything Outside, especially swimming

Game: Hopscotch

Person: Daddy

One Saturday morning Maddie and I went on a 'date' to see the Movie "UP" at the movie theater. I wasn't sure how she'd do, it definitely wasn't her first movie, my mom and I used to go see movies all the time when she was just a little baby. She was always so good in the theater, would just eat or sleep, never make a peep (wow, how things have changed!) We did that until she was about 9 months old. I had taken her to see a movie with the girls I nannied for, that was the last one she had ever been to... the Bee Movie. I had to take her out of the theater because she kept yelling "BEE, BEE, BEE" through the movie. Then tried to play with some little boy behind us, who was trying to actually watch the movie. I was actually impressed, she did quite well. She did still have commentary through pretty much the whole thing, but whispered most of the time! She loved having the big bag of popcorn!
This morning Maddie and I were playing with her magnetic dress up doll grandma got for her a while back. Maddie had her all dressed in an outfit and tells me, "She's not gorgeous yet". She found a big bow, put it on the doll's head and said, "There, now she's gorgeous!"

The other day Maddie told me she wanted to go to that place where you get black boogers from the dirt. I was a little confused and thought that was a weird statement. I said, "Camping?" "Ya," she said, "I want to go camping, and maybe Parker will take me fishing!" (She got this thing in her head almost a year ago that Parker is going to take her fishing and she hasn't stopped talking about it. It's the funniest thing!)

Maddie likes to take Chloe's pacifier from her (since the p-pire fairy took hers away) and she'll tell me that 'Chloe just wants to share with her' or that she's 'just borrowing it'. When I tell her to give it back, she'll say "Just one last suck mom" and seriously suck a few times on the pacifier and then give it back. Such a strange child!

Tonight after Mike got home and we had just finished eating dinner, Maddie stripped down to her underwear. This lead to a conversation about how she wasn't going to put her swimsuit on to 'take a shower in the rain' (it was/is raining outside, she's been trying to go outside to swim all day). So she's standing there in her underwear, which is not uncommon, but all the sudden says, "Hey, I know, let's have a naked party"... ummm, are you kidding me? Of course Mike and I both start laughing. Where does this girl come up with these things, really??? It makes us a little nervous what she tells people when we're not around!!