28 weeks old and a new babysitter!!!

28 weeks and counting..... Baby girl is ticking the weeks off faster and faster.  I want her to slow down so I can snuggle just a little more.  She is really blossoming into her own personality and showing her likes and dislikes so much more these days!!!  One thing that proves that point to me is the fact that she is determined not to smile for me when we do picture time each morning after getting dressed.  She holds her little lips in this pursed position just determined not to smile, and then finally when she can't stand it anymore, she burst out in laughter!!!  It really is sooooo cute!!!

I LOOOVE this smirk/smile she has started doing!!!

Just about to burst out in a smile!!!

She has such a beautiful face, and perfect porcelain skin!

Other than baby girl growing up way too fast, tomorrow is our very last day with our amazing sitter Sam.  Our hearts are so broken we have to change, and this momma does not like change AT ALL.  But i know this is a good time in her life to make a career change- she has taken such wonderful care of my angel and I will forever be most grateful!!!  I snapped these pictures yesterday when I picked up Chloe at her house.

 Sam is on the right of course and on the left is her 7 year old named Gracie who is like a little second mother to Chloe.  She loves to get her car seat for me when I get there each day, and put Chloe's shoes on etc.

I just can't believe its all going to be so different come Monday.  But the new arrangement we are going to will have it's own good points.  We have decided after many interviews and much prayer, to have one of our dear friend's mother watch our angel.  She just recently moved here from Michigan to be closer to my friends' as they have just had a new baby themselves, her first grand baby.

She loves children and needs a job and I met her at church several weeks ago and she really took a liking to Chloe.  They heard we were looking for a new sitter at the time and she called and asked if she could do it for us.  So we have worked it out I think, she is going to actually watch Chloe at OUR HOUSE since she does not have her own place as of yet!!!  That is going to be so wonderful!!!  Chloe can sleep as late as she wants and take her naps and such in her own bed.  So the Lord has provided and we must adjust, but sometimes change is hard!!! 

I would say the biggest plus is that I will have peace of mind.  I totally trust Sam and do not worry one minute about her while I'm at work, and that was what I was looking for in trying to find a new sitter.  I know I can trust her to love Chloe as her own grand baby and you can't really put a price on that!!!

And on top of all that, we had an interior pipe leak in the walls between our 2 bathrooms, and we have had to totally demo our master bathroom down to the studs and it is now being remodeled.  I am taking pictures as it progresses, so I will do a blog post on it when it is finished, so you can all see the finished product.  It's going to be fabulous, we are installing a brand new tiled walk-in shower instead of a new bathtub--- Yeah baby!!!!

Ya'll have a great evening and I'll be back soon!!!

6 month doctor's visit!!!

Baby girl had her 6 month doctor's visit on Friday April 20th.  She was so happy and smiley in the waiting room.  But I had no idea that she was about to get 3 shots and an oral vaccine that day!!!  Ugh  I absolutely hate holding her down while they jab these long needles in her legs!!!  She literally looses her breath ..... and it breaks mommy's heart!!!

But the nurse was so nice, she was in this beautiful white smocked dress and the nurse was trying not to get the blood from the shots on her dress.  I have never seen a baby's leg bleed so much from a shot, she must have hit a vessel with the needle because it was a lot.

So her stats at the doctor were that she weighs 15 lbs  3 oz at the 6 month mark which puts her below average for weight, but the doctor said she looks great and as long as she is eating good and not vomiting she is fine.

She is 27 inches long and that puts her above average in length, so my girl is long and skinny!!!  I think she is going to be a bit on the tall side, however she has small feet, and your feet grow in proportion to your height, so I guess we will have to wait and see!!

Another little milestone Ms. Priss has learned, is how to hold her bottle.  As documented in the photos below, this was the first time I have actually seen her do it, and be able to tip it back so the milk could come out!!!  Yeah Chloe!!!

And last but not least, this week I stopped by Chloe's sitter to take some pictures of the group of kids that have been her first friends.  As I have said before, her sitter has decided to close her in home daycare and go back to school, much to our sadness and I wanted to document these littles for Chloe when she is older.  These guys were so cute, they all wanted to hold "Baby Cwooooweee" for the picture.....  Man I'm gonna miss these cuties!!!  From left to right are TJ (23 months), Naioko (4 yrs old), and Matthew (2 years old).  Of course Miss Chloe is all smiles and slouching down in the front.  We only have this week left at Ms. Sam's house before we move on to a new adventure with Ms. Bonnie watching her, but it's so sad to leave Ms. Sam, she has watched my angel since she was 6 weeks old!!! 

What a sweet memory!!

Settling on a church home

Those of you that know us IRL know that we have had a very hard time settling on a church home this side of the water.  Our church home in Hampton , Liberty Baptist, is where our heart is and where we desire to be, however the drive each week coupled with the inability to get involved during the week in the activities (again because of the distance and traffic on weeknights), makes making that our permanent church home not feasible.  ESPECIALLY now that we have our Chloe Bug that must be raised in church and have her friends there.   Soooo......

 So that brings us to this past Sunday, we finally decided as a family that we will be attending New Life Providence Church where most of our friends are, and make this our church home.  So we dressed up our little princess in her butterfly smocked dress and we were excited to go knowing that we are going to try to make this our "home", and that we are not just visiting again.

When you have grown up in church all your life and have had that anchor of friendship and companionship all your life, it is very hard when you feel like you don't have it.  Infertility really isolated me and us.  We stopped going to church for awhile because I couldn't take seeing all the littles dressed for church and all the perfect families sitting in the pews.  It litterally broke my heart over and over.  But now I feel like I have that perfect "little family" that I wanted so badly and we are anxious to get back in the groove with our friends and to make some new ones!!!

I remember so well when I was in the midst of my depression and struggle with infertility, Sweetness and I were "visiting" this church one Sunday, and they had an amazing prayer time for those asking God to do something BIG in their life.  And both Sweetness and I were moved to go forward and pray with the pastor about our struggle to conceive.  I was hungry for God, I was desperate for Him to tell me it was going to be okay...... and you know what?  He did. 

When Pastor Dan prayed over us, he begged God to do something BIG and AMAZING in our life- that we would have a testimony to tell of what He did for us through the building of our family.  And to now see that prayer answered, and answered in such an amazing way!!!  So Sunday I had to let him meet my Chloe bug. 

He was floored at how beautiful she is and he said what I have been longing to hear..... He said "I would have never known.  She looks just like you!"..........  Oh be still my heart!!!!

We have not officially moved our membership yet, but that will come in time.  But I just can't tell you how wonderful it feels to decide that you "belong" somewhere.  It's a great big world out there and these people are just the most genuine, loving people and I feel that Chloe will have a great group of friends that she can form at this church..........

So after a great church service, we went shopping for all the items we need now to rebuild our Bathroom.  I have not told you this yet but we had a leak in an interior wall pipe between the 2 bathrooms.  When ServP.ro came over to clean up and demolish the walls in the master to find the leak, they found a bunch of MOLD!!!!  Ewwwwwww   not to mention dangerous........  so they cleaned it all (re mediated it) and applied anti-microbial agents to it, and the big driers have been drying it since last Thursday when they came.

So now we are going to  remodel it since its down to the studs and put in a tile shower with a door, not another bathtub that no one uses.  We are also putting in all new drywall, tile floor, vanity, mirror, medicine cabinet and light fixture.  It's going to be wonderful!  I will post the before, during and after pictures!!!

So after all that walking around Home Depot for a couple hours, Baby girl was exhausted, needing a nap.  We headed home and I changed her clothes and snapped these shots.  She was so smiley and happy I just couldn't resist.  So here she is hanging with her Daddy.....

The most precious little face......

And this picture above, is one of my favorites.....because this little facial expression is one I love...... its her little smirk!!  Gosh she is cute.....

Then she took a long nap and so did Mommy and Daddy!!!!  And let me tell you ---I looooove a good Sunday afternoon nap!!!  Yes ma'am!!!

Well that's all for today.   Friday is Chloe's 6 month check up at the doctor  :(  and then we only have next week with our favorite sitter.............We've got lots of changes coming up!!!   Hope you have enjoyed our little post for today- we will see you again real soon!!!!

26 weeks/ 6 months old!!!

Happy Monday everybody!!!  Well my little is growing up WAAAYYY tooooo fast!!! 

Today is her 6 month birthday!!! I can remember October 16, 2011 like it was last night and seeing her for the first time......  oh how my life has changed!!!!  :) 

 I snapped these pics this morning as she was on her way to her sitter's house.  She only has 2 more weeks with this babysitter who we love :(  but I believe the Lord has led us to a wonderful woman named Bonnie to watch my angel.

 Bonnie is my good friend's mother, she just moved here from Michigan and she loves children.  She is a christian and she is soooo sweet, so I will have peace of mind I am sure (and that's what all parents want right?).  So she will start at her house on April 30th.

 I have lots of fun pictures from this weekend to post, that I would have included in this post, but I am in a hurry here at work and I just wanted to get this post up today on her actual 6 month birthday!!!

Chloe is such an amazing baby!! I know I say it every post, but I am sooooo soooo blessed.  She weighs 15 lbs now and she is still in size 2 diapers.  She is now in 6 month clothes and she is very tall and thin.  We have had so many people praying for and over her with regards to her NF diagnosis.  And we are so thankful she has had no further issues or any more cafe au lait spots show up!!!

So happy 1/2 year birthday my sweet precious girl!!!  Mommy and Daddy love you more than you can ever imagine!!!!  I am just soooo amazingly blessed.......

Chloe's First Easter

This past weekend, we celebrated Baby Chloe's first Easter!!!  It was so much fun!!! 

 starting on Friday- Good Friday, we dressed our little bunny in her sweet little bunny outfit as you see in the pictures below.  She was happy as usual and waing it up for the camera!!!

Then she needed to take a short nap before we went to Good Friday Service at church.  Well I peeked in to see if she had fallen asleep while watching her mobile spin around, and I found this....

it was so cute- I had to snap a picture of it.  She had pulled her hair bow down to cover her eyes.  She always covers her eyes when she is sleeping, I think she likes it as dark as possible.  I just thought it was so funny, her laying there like this sleeping with her eyes covered with her hair bow.

We then woke her up and went to Good Friday Service at church.  It was so wonderful- such an awesome time of reflection on what Christ really did for us that day on Calvary.  We put Chloe in the nursery for the first time that night- and she was having NONE OF IT.  I was standing in church singing and I could feel that something wasn't right, that she needed me.  So as I was walking down the hall toward the nursery, they were coming to get me.  She was in a full out panic in there and wanted her Momma.  I was so happy to know that my "Mommy instincts" have kicked in and I could actually sense when she needed me.

Then on Saturday we interviewed a lady at her home about potentially becoming Chloe's full time sitter.  She was very nice and her house was nice.  She has a 10 mo old boy and 4 yr old boy.  The 10 month old is super sweet just like any baby that age.  But my biggest hesitation with this situation is that I noticed the 4 yr old being aggressive toward his younger brother and the Mom was rather slow to react to it.  I certainly don't want my angel to be a victim of his aggression while she isn't there.or watching every second.... so that is my biggest reservation.  We have another interview tonight, and we will continue to look.  Please pray for the right situation/home to come to us.  ;)

Then that brings us to EASTER SUNDAY!!!!  It was really a beautiful day!!!!  (Warning TONS of pictures below!!)  So after church we headed over to my parents for a cookout with our family.  There were so many people there but it made for a really nice day!!!

So we went outside and started taking pictures of my angel with her first Easter basket, and looking so precious in her Easter dress!!!  She still can not sit unaided so that's why my arm is in every picture  LOL !!

The sun was shining sooo bright that she had a really hard time looking up at the camera!!

Love these pictures of her on her belly!!!

Beautiful girl  :)

She was getting excited about all her new toys in her basket!!!

Next we attempted to take a family photo..... I look horrible.....I didn't even put lipstick on so I look so pale and washed out. And this is the only picture out of about 20 that Sweetness had his eyes actually OPEN!!!  All the rest his eyes were closed!!!  (again the beautiful sun was shining so bright!) But nonetheless we are a family and we needed our picture made together.

Then we took some pictures of Chloe with her grandma!!  This is my mom and Chloe's only living grandparent really.  But my Mom adores this girl- she has so many fun plans and dreams to do with Chloe one day :)

Isn't she beautiful??  And Chloe looks cute too!!!  My Mom is the amazing lady, who loves the Lord and has taught me to be of great morals, high character and to love others.  Everything I am or hope to be, I owe to my Mother!!!  She is just beautiful!!  Love you Momma!

Then we finally got home about pm last night, and my cousin and her hubby and youngest baby came over to meet Chloe and visit for a bit!!  They live in North Carolina and have 3 children actually, but just came up this weekend for a short weekend away and stayed on the beach.......Cool huh?

Well this is little Miss Kaylee and she is 11 months old and she is crawling and climbing on everything!!!  I hope Chloe was watching all that and gets to crawling real soon!!!  They were just so precious together!!!

Shortly after these few pictures were taken, Chloe crashed......she was soooooooo tired from all the stimulation.But she loves other babies.  She always goes right for them whenever we pass one while shopping etc.

And that about does it for Chloe's first Easter weekend!!!  I'd say it was a memorable one and I hope she can look back at these pictures for years to come!!!  Love you Chloe Bug!!