Friday, August 22, 2008




Peyton is now 9 1/2 months old! He is a sweetheart! Pretty easy-going when not in pain from teething! He is the complete opposite of Chloe in his build - he is a CHUNK!! He has three bottom teeth now (one just popped thru in the last two days!) and one on the top! He is great about going down at night exactly at 8pm - like clock work! And he is not so great about sleeping past about 6am EVERY morning! Ugh! He is not crawling yet - but he is still all over the place - getting into by rolling and creeping - and he loves to pull on cords and whatever kind of paper he can get his hands on! He's gonna keep Mommy REALLY busy once he actually does start crawling! I have had to tell him "No no, No touch" with a stern voice several times, and he just grins bigger and makes a "heee" sound - he's LAUGHING at my discipline!!! Oh my - we are in for a treat!! Here are some pics of the kiddos in the bath together! What a riot!!











On August 11th, Chloe turned 3 years old! Holy cow! Where does the time go?! She is changing and growing up so fast, it seems! We celebrated her birthday by throwing a fun party with family and friends at a little park in Hudsonville. Aunt Sammy made the coolest cake ever - a Bruce the Shark cake (he's the big shark in Finding Nemo). Chloe has been fascinated by sharks for months now! The day after her party - it was like Christmas morning with all the toys and gifts to 'discover'! Oh my goodness was she ever spoiled rotten!!

And, then on August 21st, Chloe decided that she was ready to get her ears pierced. She had been curious several times in the past, and we had explained to her that she too could have earrings someday, but that there was a certain amount of pain involved in the process. She usually was content to leave it at that. But for some reason, yesterday she was ready and feeling brave. She brought it up, and then was determined to do it! So - I packed the kids in the car along with the double stroller, and on my way - thought to myself, "Gee, I wonder how I am going to do all this? Get a double stroller inside Claires - then keep Peyton happy, keep Chloe still and comforted if she gets scared, and take pics of this momentous event.." - When I thought maybe I should see how busy Nana (my mom) was at work. As it turned out - she was bored at the office, and the Boss (my dad) told her to go ahead and tag along with us on this outing! That was a very good thing! I couldn't have done it without her there!! Too much to do and not enough hands otherwise!! Here are some pics of the whole thing...Chloe did really well - she was very brave, and only cried a bit after the initial sensation set in. She didn't have a melt-down or anything, and as soon as I gave her a sucker and then let her see her new earrings (blue because that is her favorite color) - she was subdued but fine. Today - she is very proud of them, and says that they don't hurt at all!!! What a trooper!

Ok, well - I'm not usually the one to enter the posts - Scott's job most of the time! But - I am trying things out on my new laptop -so I thought I'd give it a whirl! Things have been just flying by this summer!! We took a trip to Chicago in mid-July with Tim, Tracy, and Hayley Oberst. We visited the Shedds Aquarium, Brookfield Zoo, and Navy Pier. The girls were a riot to watch as they discovered all these fasinating things for the first time! Chloe's highlight was the Aquarium, as she is simply enthralled with sea creatures right now - especially sharks. How funny! She got to see just about everything imaginable there - and is still asking almost daily if she can go to Chicago again with Hayley Shay! Those two are hilarious! They adore eachother - and Tracy and I get a kick out of watching their friendship, because we are such good friends, too. Tracy's one of my closest and dearest friends on the planet - so who better for a best buddy for Chloe than Hayley?! Here are a few pics of our trip!