My In-Laws New Neighbor!

Hi-ho!

We've had a busy week around here! We helped my mom move from Prescott to Mesa. Fun, fun fun! First, on Friday the 30th after Preston got off work we headed up to Prescott with the least amount of stuff we could stand to travel with! So basically it consisted of a play pen, a high chair, bunches of toys, baby food, baby clothes, diapers and single changes of clothes for ourselves and like... our toothbrushes.

Halloween morning, my mom and Preston went to the U-haul place to get the truck. They rented the biggest one they have available. We spent ALL day loading it and Grandad (my mom's dad) worked the jigsaw puzzle of stacking crap on top of all the other crap. He had to actually take off the sliding glass door, both pieces, to get my mom's ginormous couches out! By the end of the day we had filled the truck completely full and my mom's Ford Escape loaded to the brim (including the fish)! The trunk of my Malibu was full of pantry food and the Volvo Josh borrowed from my dad had a few things and Winston their dog in it. It still wasn't everything! (Monday night they went back for the rest and came back on Tuesday morning.)

That night we left Prescott at like 7:30, and I drove all by myself in the dark from Prescott to Mesa for the first time ever and didn't get lost!!!! Yay me! That was the point I was working up to. The rest is all blah blah blah about unpacking and unloading and nothing really interesting happened other than that... so... Yay my mom lives in Mesa now!!! In the same neighborhood that Preston grew up in! Christmas is going to be so convenient! It takes 15 minutes instead of an hour and 45 minutes to drive to see her.

Oh and my little baby, my little newborn baby that I just brought home from the hospital a few weeks ago, my sweet baby I JUST gave birth to... is turning ONE in 11 days!!! ELEVEN DAYS!!! WHAT the...??? Who hit fast forward??? She is up down and all around these days! She hasn't started walking but I know she could if she wanted to. We put her in the walker and she stands up in it and goes without leaning on it more than it takes to push it forward to move with her. We hold her hands to let her walk while holding onto us and while she is holding on with the death grip she almost never pulls or starts to fall. She's just unsure of herself. It's ok though, my stuff can live that much longer!

We are having her birthday party at my mom's new house. I plan to dress her all up ballerina/princess style! I made a pink and white tutu with the pink as the bottom layer and the while on top with little flowerettes and ribbons. I made a matching bow to clip onto her headband and I'm gonna put her in a white long sleeved onesie. Now I just need little sparkly necklaces and bracelets and maybe some little pink shoes! I'm so excited! My mom is making the cake too, and she makes beautiful cakes!

I know it's not much of an update but I'm scraping my brain for something so that everyone can see my new header I made. I made each turkey with our hands and then scanned them into the computer individually. I'm stoked it turned out so cute! In case you're wondering what the words are on the smallest one it's "Chloe Turkey". I know it's kinda small.

Anyways... I'm done! Bye!

Hello! I'm still here!

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Sorry I fell off the planet there for a while. Let me esplain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up...

To be totally honest, I got depressed. I lost interest in just about everything, cept Chloe. She's been my only link to sanity lately. It's hard to even pretend to write happy just to update a blog. It happens to everyone. I started seeing a therapist and made (and still am making) some changes. I've also discovered a lot about myself too. I've learned that if I don't like something all I have to do is open my mouth and say something. I started exercising and I actually like it! I quit buying junk food and instead have a small out of sight, out of mind, stash of chocolate for those cravings that refuse to leave me in peace and cause me to tear apart my kitchen looking for anything that even resembles chocolate.

It all started with stress. I was babysitting October for Brittany for a while and it just got to be too much. I love that baby girl but she's a high maintenance kid at least compared to Chloe who is ridiculously low maintenance. Not only that but taking care of two babies under one is hard. I have no idea how people with twins and more do it! Kudos to you if you have!!!

The next blow was my Uncle Frank's funeral. We weren't ever close but I was always close with my Aunt Therese and my cousin Nancy. It was hard for our whole family. He was the Fire Marshal Chief of the Salt River Fire Department. He died from leukemia at 41, and he was diagnosed at the age of 21. I think he had been in remission twice. The funeral was very grand and beautiful, with 27 fire trucks, probably 50 ambulances and hundreds of police vehicles. There was a wall of blue about 50 feet long at the graveside and a final call over the police radio that brought everyone to tears. Someone found a blog entry about it for the family and here is the fire department's memorial online. Just in case you wanted to know more.

A month later we had another funeral. This one was for Cory Jenkins. Preston was in the same ward and was good friends with him and his younger brother growing up. I had only met him once or twice before but it was still very emotional. He died in Afghanistan an had a 10 week old daughter Reagan. They had a 21 gun salute and played taps at the graveside and folded two flags for his mother and wife Brooke. Here is an AZ central article about him.

Now to bring this thing around to what we've all been waiting for! CHLOE!!! And me! Basically what's been going on around here. We're gonna do this list style (or at least I'm gonna try) because there's so much to get through.

Aug 14: I got a blackberry! It has GPS and it's wonderful because I haven't gotten lost since then!

Aug 17th: Preston called me from work and, very much like a kid in high school, asked me out on a date! That night he came home with two roses (one red, one white) and we took Chloe to the in-laws and went to dinner at the Olive Garden. I needed that so bad!

Aug 20: Chloe had a doctors appointment. She was 29 inches (90th percentile) and 20lbs 7oz (75th percentile). Tall and skinny!

Aug 21st: I was watching her crawl around and she sat herself up all by herself! I couldn't believe it!

Aug 27th: I had a smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe (I highly recommend the Pomegranate Plunge with kiwi replacing the bananas!) I was giving Chloe little tastes by getting a little in the straw with my finger over the end of it but that wasn't fast enough for her so I just put the straw in her mouth and she just sucked it right up! I had no idea she was going to be able to to that!

Sept 13th: Chloe broke her first tooth finally!!! Bottom right. It's a sharp little sucker too! I found it at church (well after church) mid conversation with someone. Yelled out "It broke through!" in the middle of a sentence. As of right now there is a growing bump right next to it on the left. Maybe by her birthday she'll have two!

Sept 20th: Chloe's first spaghetti dinner. Also the first dinner she fed herself! See pictures:

Sept 22nd: Had a boring adventure! Left the house to go get drinking water and to fill the car with gas. I made it .6 miles from my house and put-putted to a stop. If you know where I live, that's not even all the way to Val Vista! Lora Linn and Meredith came to my rescue w ith a gallon of gas!

Sept 26th: Patty called me to tell me she wasn't going to be able to make it to the valley to see the play she had tickets for and asked if I wanted them. Heck yeah! Meredith and I went to see Legally Blonde at Gammage! Lots of fun! Great play but the intro song WILL get stuck in your head and it feels like the only way to remove it would be to remove your head!

Oct 1st: In celebration of my favorite month and the fact that I could open the door to let the dog out and not deep fry, I went for a walk! (I'm also sick of being fat!) It was wondrous! I walked .3 miles from my house but I count it as .6 total!

Oct 7th: Got ambitious and 1.2 miles up the road from my house, 2.4 total! I took Charlie with me that time (he thinks I was trying to kill him or something). I'm very proud of myself!

Oct 6th: Preston stood Chloe up facing away from him and she actually balanced herself using her toes and moving her weight. It kinda freaked her out when she realized she was on her own like that and hasn't done it since, but I did snap a picture with my trusty little Blackberry that night.

Oct 12th: Another call from Patty to tell me my brother Adam was in the ICU with what they think was swine flu. The test results take three weeks to get back so we still don't know. He's fine now, by the way!

Oct 14th: My mom and Selena found a house they both love. (Back story: My mom needs to move to the valley for work and school. She's been looking for about a month now.) They put in a rental application and got accepted! The house is right around the corner from Preston's parents. Like literally three turns in the neighborhood! Christmas is going to be so much more convenient!!!

Oct 16th: Ordered Chloe's Halloween costume on Amazon. Crossing my fingers it doesn't get held up in the mail system. I'll post pictures of her in it when it gets here! (Hint: it's Disney)

That's it for my list of everything that's happened since my last post!

My little monkey is growing like a weed! She pulls herself up on the couch, in her playpen, in her crib (which she jumped out of the other morning) and on my leg. She will walk along the sides of the couch or playpen and now when she is in her playpen she's started throwing her toys out of it. She can have all the toys out after 10 minutes in the playpen except for the big heavy ones she can't pick up with one hand!

We went to Breena's (Bridget's baby girl) 1st Birthday party last weekend and Chloe saw her walking all over the place and ever since then she'll let go of what she's holding onto, realize what she's done and either grab it again or land on her bum.

She's also started imitating my motions in just the last couple days. She always does this thing that I love where she throws her hands up with her palms up and makes a "eh?" or a "huh?" noise like she's asking a question. I always do it when I'm asking her where the doggie is and she repeats the noise and looks for him but never does the hand motion. Last night she did and it was soooo hilarious! I did it like 5 more times after that and have been doing all day today too. I clap and cheer every time she does it and she claps too. I seriously have the cutest kid in the world. Yes, I am biased!

Well... I've taken up enough of your time, if anyone even made it to the end. Hopefully, you'll hear from me again in the next couple days.

Amy Lynn

Officially Moving Forward!!!

Chloe just really started moving around today! I'm in trouble!

If You Could Talk with the Animals

Hello all,

I know it's been simply forEVER since I've updated this thing. I've been out of it and not myself lately. I'm starting to get back to my old self again. Thank goodness! We all get like that, I'm sure.

Chloe is doing great! Getting bigger and bigger every day. She sits up without falling over at all unless it's on purpose. She's not crawling yet but somehow is all over the place putting everything she can pick up in her mouth: her toys, the dogs toys, my shoes, my phone, October's foot, October's pacifier that's still attached to her sleeve. You know, the usual. She rolls and rolls for the major travel but otherwise scoots backwards and then spins on her belly to reach what she was after. She can go forward but it's pretty slow. She reaches with one hand and rocks on her side and when that's not enough she reaches with the other hand and rocks to the other side all the while pushing on the ground with her little toes. She'll get up on her hands and knees like she's gonna just start crawling but then she just bounces and then throws herself on the floor. Sometimes she goes forward and sometimes she goes backwards. She's so much fun to watch.

She's taken a header off my bed three times now. I swear I watch her like a hawk! She's just too quick sometimes. She hasn't gotten hurt falling, yet. I don't let her take naps on my bed anymore unless I'm snuggling with her. I can put every pillow in the house around her on that bed and check on her every 2 minutes and she will still wiggle out of them and jump off the bed. I dragged the playpen into my room for nap time for her during the day. Little stinker!!!

She's discovered how to spit copious amounts of drool and thinks it's hilarious. Preston and I went to BJ's for dinner and we took her with us because she can now use the highchairs in the restaurants. When our food got to the table, little Miss Quick-Hands-with-Long-Arms had her little paws in our food before the waiter had even let go of the dish himself. Poor guy! We had him bring out some oyster crackers for her to eat so she'd stay out of our food. That worked! She loved those things! Anyways, as she's eating and throwing food on the ground and getting the stuff everywhere Preston thinks it would be funny to blow a raspberry at her to get her going. Fortunately, I stopped him before she caught on and made the real mess.

We think she's left handed. When she eats stuff like cheerios, with her right hand she'll grab the food into her little fist and with her left make a perfect pincer grasp. She can still eat with both hands but the finer motions are usually with her left. It'll be fun to see how that turns out. If she is left handed I'll have a hard time teaching her how to write.

We finally broke down and got a video camera. Now she will not only have more baby pictures than any other kid that ever lived but she will also have her childhood on video. Who needs a memory anymore? But really it's great cause now I can SHOW you things like how she gets stuck under the entertainment center. I don't' actually have that one on video but I do have tons of pictures. She just back up under it till she couldn't got any further and started to cry. I do however have this great video of her talking to Charlie. Not in people or baby talk mind you, but in HIS language. Pay close attention to the noises she makes.

What's the doggie say? *cough* *cough*

Going, going... gone.

I took these a little while ago and have been meaning to post them here cause they were so cute! We have a new first! Chloe's first time falling asleep while eating:

A week in the life of the Fosters

On the 19th this month Chloe had her 6 month doctors appointment. She weighed in at 18lbs 13oz and she's 27 1/4 inches long. On the growth chart she's a big kid. Still in the 90-95%! She did much better with her shots this time! I didn't even have time to tear up. I was playing with her before they stuck her and she almost didn't notice the first one. The second one, however, is the one that hurts as it goes in. She started screaming right as I received a text. It reminded me that she'll do anything to get my shiny purple phone in her mouth. So I popped it open and instantly she forgot she was in pain! Yay Chloe! Normally I keep a hold of it to prevent the seizure it has whenever it gets wet but this time I figured the spaz attack later was worth the happy baby now. I let her play with it all the way to Grandma and Grandpa Fosters house! I think it also helped that I gave her the baby Tylenol about 10 minutes before the shots instead of waiting for Crabby Chloe to make her usual post shots appearance. I love drugs!!! (Oh you know what I mean!!!)

On the 23rd, we went to a reception (it's wedding season again!) for one of Preston's friends from MCC (he also went to high school with one of her brothers and MCC with another one of her brothers). It was a very well done backyard reception. Lime green, black and white with a live band and dance floor, lots of yummy food and a lime green drink that exactly matched the decor. Anyway we were eating some really yummy cake at a small standing table (it's tall without chairs so you can just stand around it) off to the side of the dance floor. There were a bunch of kids running around and dancing on the dance floor and we were having fun feeding Chloe frosting and watching them play. At one point I was looking down at my cake trying to get a little bit of the frosting on fork for Chloe when I heard a woman scream "AMMON!!!" I turned my head to see a little boy standing next to me with his pants around his ankles and his underwear coming down fast! Obviously uncontrollable laughing ensued! His mom, I assume as she was the one that screamed "AMMON!", came running over yanked his pants back up and scooped him up and ran into the house. I guess he had to pee. Who needs a toilet when you're a boy and have a whole backyard at your dispense??? Preston was laughing and said "Oh, I can't wait!" I hope he meant that because he'll be the red faced parent yanking up the pants in a public place (I hope)!

Chloe was so tired while we were there. She had refused to take a full nap all day and couldn't hardly keep her eyes open after a while. She held them open as long as she could because there was so much to see with all those kids running around. I got a great picture of Preston and her together, though she looks so tired.
Like 5 minutes after I took that picture though she zonked out. Poor kid. It's clear how tired she was because she never falls asleep sitting up like that. She'll never sleep over my shoulder, only laying down in my arms like a newborn. There's always something to see when she sitting up!

We stopped at the Foster's house on the way home to let them see Chloe for a bit since we were already nearby. Chloe had a bottle there and fell asleep on the way home. I didn't even change her clothes and she barely woke up when I put her in the crib. (Sorry, I had to explain why she is wearing the same clothes in two pictures with dates on them that are one right after the other.) I took this the next morning when I went in to get her up for church on Sunday. This is the morning stretch and smile! She's such a morning person!On Memorial day, we had my sister Selena over and Preston had promised her we would go and play laser tag the next time she came down from Prescott. Brittany K and my brother Louis joined us. We had a ton of fun! I have to admit it was the most exercise I've gotten in one go for a while mostly cause we did 3 rounds!

Afterwords everyone came over for ice cream and some Mario Kart and Boom Blox (super fun Wii game developed by Spielberg). Meredith came over too to bring Chloe home because she had been babysitting while we played laser tag. Brittany left for a while to spend some time with her family and October but ended up coming back for more fun with the Fosters! She brought Tober with her and we got some cute pictures of them in matching onesies. In this one Chloe is on the left and Tober is on the right.
They looked so cute looking up at us. Well, Chloe was looking up, Tober turned out to be stuck like that cause she couldn't lift her head back up. Poor baby!
And this one turned out to be the only on with both of them looking at the camera. Notice the matching onesies!
Yesterday Chloe played... (well, I buried her in toys and she gave me this look that kinda says "Mom... really? Why?"
While I walked on the treadmill (that Preston told my mom he wanted after I had said no because there is nowhere to put it in our cluttered little house) and played Mario Kart. The idea popped into my head as I was falling asleep the night before. I hate walking on treadmills. No! I loathe it! Watching movies doesn't even cut it for me. I can't focus on the movie at all, just how much I hate the treadmill I'm on. And to be honest, it's kinda hot outside now and I'm a wuss that likes to keep my house at arctic temps. Well I was thinking the night before how playing video games kinda require a little more focus than a movie or TV show, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It worked!!! For the most part...

See, I'm one of those people that has to lean when I turn a corner while playing a racing game. I learned yesterday that leaning while walking has the tendency to throw your balance off... Yeah. It would have been funny to watch me in the first place walking and playing and even funnier to watch me fall off the treadmill too. This picture is of the display on the treadmill when I finished. I thought 29 minutes was pretty good considering Chloe kept crying and making me stop and I haven't done that much in a long time. Yesterday was the experiment and it was a success! Look out! Here comes the new and improved diet plan!!! Video games!!! Boo-ya!!! To celebrate my wonderful discovery on how I, too, can enjoy the treadmill, I made cookies! Yeah, well... Two steps forward, one step back, right? Bite me! I did mean to have leftovers for Preston but, uh, that didn't last long. At least I only made six in the first place right?!? Notice my Burger King Spock cup! Sweet right? Yeah, I'm awesome like that!