Father's Day Weekend!

Lots of pictures to share so im going to make this quick and painless, lol. Im going to do a little recap of each day then show pictures from that day!

Friday night we went to a cookout for my great uncle and Chloe got to run around all evening and socialize with a lot of our extended family so that was fun! I captured a great action shot of Chloe running towards me and i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

Saturday we really didn't do that much, I watched Chloe most of the day and we just ran some errands for my mom and Chloe got a little present, a ELMO BLANKET!! Let's just say that Chloe was so thrilled with it and it totally made her day. When we got home and I opened it she immediatly ran around the house with it saying "Elbow, elbow,elbow!" and going "Awwww" while she dug her head into it, sooooo precious. I didn't realize it until today, but the blanket matched the outfit Chloe had on saturday so it looks funny in the pics all coordinated..lol!

Saturday night we played peek-a-boo for a while with the newly beloved Elmo blanket...
Today after church we went out to eat for Fathers Day and spent the day relaxing around the house doing a whole lot of nothing! Chloe took a nice long nap for me while my dad watched some golf tournament on TV. I hope you all had a good weekend and a great Fathers Day!

Chloe Words!

The other day Chloe was lovin on her bear in her room so i decided to video her and try to get her to say a few words for the camera (not so easy to do with a 18 month old, usually she just wants to grab whatever's in my hands!) I love the way her little voice sounds and just had to share it with you all! Make sure you have your volume on and listen closely because sometimes it's hard to tell what shes saying. Most of the video shes going "awwww" to her little bear but besides that she says these words:

~Elmo "ELBOW"

~Baby "babyyy"

~Hey Bear "Hey beeear"

In case you can't tell from the video, this girl LOVES her big bear and LOVES to lay on him and roll all over him while giving him kisses, hugs and sweetly saying "awwwwwww". I just love her and love the way she loves her little stuffed animals. She truly is a precious girl!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Check out my new blog layout & title, i totally love it!! I decided to spice things up a bit and asked Emily to help me with it, and since I love icons i decided to have them as the background & decided to add a new title to it so i chose "Sippy Cups & Smiles" just because i thought it sounded cute..hehe. Thanks sooo much Emily for giving my blog a facelift, you did a great job =)



As you all know, Miss Chloe has way to many outfits (hehe) and really hasn't even had a chance to wear every single outfit yet! The other day she wore this outfit that was pink & green stripes with the cutest little jean shorts that had a heart on them and omg it looked SO cute on her!! Chloe only has 2 pair of jean shorts and i just LOVE the way they look on her..hehe!

Heres a picture close up so you can see the details on her outfit!

Lovin on her "Elbow" in the car..cute!

Spaghetti Girl

Our sweet girl LOVES spaghetti and since we don't eat it that much, whenever we do we make sure to let Chloe have some good messy fun with it which just makes her so happy. It is such a hoot to watch her with it, smushing it between her fingers and trying her best to put it in her mouth handfulls at a time which usually means getting more in her high chair than in her mouth! Whenever she eats spagetti we now strip her down to only her diaper after making the mistake of letting her keep her shirt on one time which left a nice big spaghetti stain on it. Yea we definetly learned from that mistake!

Fun at the lake!

Yesterday we ( me, mom, dad and Chloe) went to Lake Bowen where some friends of ours have a lake house and had fun with some close friends. It was Chloe's first time on the lake and also her first boat ride! She really had fun playing with the kids there and got to get in the water and splash around for a bit in her brand new swimsuit, and really enjoyed herself. As usual she was the center of attention as she was the youngest there and the only kid under the age of 10 so it was pretty much all eyes on her. She loved being outside especially since she hasn't been allowed to go outside and play for almost a week now and didn't want to leave. I'm so glad she got to feeling better and we were able to go yesterday, she definetly deserved to go outside and play after the bad week she had!

Look who's feeling better!

Look at that smiling face! Thanks to a little "Elmo therapy" together with the nice doctor and great medicine to help her foot, miss Chloe is feeling a lot better and is slowly getting back to her old self! There are a couple of precautions we are taking to make sure Chloe gets better as quick as possible, such as limiting the amount of time she stays out in the sun, because one of the medications shes on recommends that. We are also trying to let her go barefoot as much as we can so her foot can breathe and aren't letting her play outside execpt for strolling in her little red car.

Chloe's first trip to the ER

Yup its true, last night we had to take our sweet girl to the ER. Miss Chloe got bit by some kind of insect on the top of her foot the other day while playing outside and by monday night it was swollen and very inflamed. We werent alarmed until her little toes started turning a purplish color and the top of her foot had a few blisters which were draining a clear fluid, so we decided not to chance anything and drove to the Pediatric ER in Spartanburg (about 30 min from our house). We are so glad we did! They got us in quick and were so nice to Chloe, they even gave her a little stuffed Elmo which she obviously LOVED! The Dr. told us that theres really no way to know exactly what bit her since we didn't acutally see the insect and prescribed an antibiotic & another type of mediacation for allergies so Chloe should be good to go in a few days! She was a little trooper and LOVED the little crib in our room at the ER. I took a few pics with my camera phone of our little sweety.

"cool crib!"

"Yay!"

"This ER trip is making me thirsty!"

"This tastes good!"

Weekend Recap

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night me, mom, and Chloe decided to go out to eat and shopping for a bit, just us girls! We had a blast and Miss Chloe decided when we went out to eat that she wanted to be a "greeter" and wave to every single person who came in, it was sooo funny! Where we went to eat, Steak and Ale, they have this really nice little sitting area outside that Chloe just loved and I just HAD to take pics of because it was just really nice and Chloe had on one of my personal favorite dresses!

Saturday and sunday i decided to take a little break from taking pics because I always seem to miss a lot by constantly taking pics of our girl! Saturday we had a family reunion to go to and Chloe got to meet (& greet!) a lot of relatives, many of which hadnt seen Chloe yet. Chloe seemed to charm every single person there and got a lot of attention (of course). She is the only Chinese/Asian family member and I was so grateful to see how taken everybody was with her and just so very welcoming to her, which meant a lot to me. Later that day we went to a little birthday party for a little boy who we are really close to, and Chloe had a blast! Sunday after church we spent a lot of the afternoon with R&R then while I watched a little Top Model marathon, mom took Chloe over to my nana & pops house. When they got back, one of my friends and her sister came over to see our girl and Chloe got to spend some time with "the big girls" and just had a blast hanging out with us, laughing and carrying on, it was great! Now that the weekend's over, COME ON REFERRALS!!!!!!

Better late than never

Sorry its took me soooo long to post this but between going to the beach, trying to get all of my computer files back in order and so on i just now got the pics put together. I promise this month i will get it together and post it sooner. So here it is finally, our 5 month since Chloe Day monthly collage!

Elbow!

It was bound to happen sooner or later, yep im talking about the four letter word E-L-M-O and our Chloe is officially obsessed with him! She LOVES anything Elmo, or "Elbow" as she calls him and will actually sit still and watch him as long as he's on the tv. So as you probably guessed, we have of course bought her a few Elmo goods including 2 of his videos, this one and this one. It's sorta odd because most kids start by watching Elmo on tv but my mom bought a little stuffed Elmo and thats what Chloe fell in love with but didn't know he came on tv. The first time she saw him on the big screen she flipped out yelling ELBOW! ELBOW! ELBOW! over and over again running in circles it was SO adorable. Me and mom knew that since CM is so in love with this red creature we HAD to buy her a Elmo outfit and we came across this adorable overall set with a big Elmo on the front and little cherry laces on the bottom and shirt which would make it Chloe's first pair of overalls ever!!Thats all it took for us to buy it! So today Miss CM wore it and OMG it is by far one of my personal fav's of her many (and i mean MANY) outfits which meant photoshoot time!! Check out some pics of Miss Chloe stylin with her ELBOW on!!


I also shot a very short video of Chloe lovin on Elmo and if you listen really really closely she says ELBOW kinda quietly, SO SO cute! Enjoy!

Happy 18 months big girl!

Today, my little sister turned 18 months old, and we had a great day together to celebrate this mini milestone! I still can't believe how big she is getting and that she is 18 months old already! It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her 1st birthday right before we went to get her and now she has been part of our family for over 5 months, in that time she has grown and changed so much. Today was an extra important day for my family because we were not able to be united with Chloe in time for her 1st birthday, so this is the first birthday celebration we've had with her. She has brought so much joy into my life, and I am already SO proud of my big 18 month old girl! I love her more than anything, she is the sunshine of my life! **click the first collage to enlarge**

After dinner tonight, Miss CM got a big pink sugar cookie with sprinkles for her special day! She was so cute with it but had a hard time figuring out what she was supposed to do with such a large cookie but finally figured out what to do with it after seeing me, mom and nana eating a cookie of our own

Celebrate

Saturday night, one of my bestest friends Mary had a little get-together to celebrate her graduating, just her family and close friends got together for food, swimming and fun! Of course me, my parents and Chloe went and had a really good time celebrating this milestone in her life. Last year my parents threw me a surprise graduation party at the same place Mary had hers (my mom's best friends house) Anyway, I was SO glad to have Chloe here to help us celebrate this year, and i think Mary was too! Im so very proud of her and this accomplishment in her life, especially after the struggle she had with Leukemia. It was certainly a day of celebration. She doesn't graduate for another 2 weeks, but you can be sure that me and CM will be there with bells on! As usual, we took pictures!!


With that said, I hope you all take a moment today to remember every person who has sacrificed his/her life by serving in our military and ensuring our freedom. Happy Memorial Day............

Charleston pics finally

Sorry its took me so long to post these, i havent been on the computer much the past couple of days. As i mentioned before, Chloe loved the beach, so now so i can remember this "first" in Chloes life a little better, im going to post a little more about our first beach trip with miss CM! When we first arrived on the beach and sat Chloe down she instantly took to the sand and played like theres no tomorrow, she really didn't budge for like 10 minutes, she just played with the little sand toys we brought. Once she got bored with that she decided it was time to introduce herself to the surrounding people on the beach, so being the social butterfly she is, she went up and said "hey" to a lot of the people close to us. The rest of the day she walked all over the beach until we went to eat lunch, which on the way back she decided to fall asleep in her stroller so we layed her down in the sunsmart tent thing we bought. The first day went so well, i was really surprised about how good she did and how she just went with the flow and didn't fuss at all! Here are some pics from the first day....

The next day we decided to stay close to our hotel, which has a very nice pool area and little sand area right behind the resort. Chloe got in the pool for a little, it was very COLD so she didn't stay in long but got to get in her new adorable ladybug float!! Here are some pics from that day and one from the night before...

I snapped this pic of CM in her cute ladybug float..hehe....Before heading home, me, Chloe and mom went shopping in downtown Chalreston and stopped by Starbucks, where CM had fun playing with a little cup and shared a huge cookie with me. She was so silly eating that cookie, probably because it was the biggest cookie she had ever seen! Here are some pics from there....
This trip was a trip i had been dreaming of for so long, since before we started the adoption process. It was such a fun trip and i cannot wait to take Chloe back!!!

Beach Bums

What a terrific weekend at the beach. Chloe had an absolute blast and enjoyed every second of her first beach trip. As for me, im a little red around the shoulders (ouch) but ready to go back..lol.We were all amazed at how well Chloe took to all the new things going on around her, like the 3 hr car ride, the sand, ocean, odd surroundings, etc and much to our surprise she seemed to go with the flow throughout the entire trip. She couldn't get enough of the sand and played until she was all played out. It was such a joy to see her taking in everything around her and just having fun being a kid. I have tons of pics and lots of stories to go along with them, but blogger is not letting me post them for some weird reason, it keeps on giving me an error message, so check back soon for beach pics and lots of fun stories!

Tagged, and Beach Bound!!

Staci tagged me, I have to write 7 things that few people know about me, or a few bloggy people know..hehe. Sounds like a good thing to do before I turn this computer off for good for the next 4 days, so here goes...

1. I started modeling when I was 5 years old. By the time I turned 12 i had been in 2 commercials, 4 dancewear catalogs, and countless fashion shows. It was my first job and yep i got paid for it too! =)

Me at age 7 doing a fashion show

2. I am terrified of octopusus. OMG scares the daylights out of me, always has. When i was little I never wanted to go in an aquarium (and still wont) i am petrified. But only of real ones, most stuffed ones are ok.

No picture for this one...EEK!

3. I LOVE rainbows. Ever since i can remember ive been facinated with them, probably because of all the colors. They make me happy! When i was little i used to collect greeting cards with rainbows on them, any card that had a rainbow on it i wanted!

So pretty!

4. My Great Grandpa owned a zoo. My Nana grew up in a zoo (literally), her dad owned a county zoo and i used to go there a lot when i was little to feed the deer and all other animals. he had all kinds of animals from bears to tigers, llamas (my fav!), peacocks, and everything else imaginable! I think i was around 8 when he sold all his animals but I still remember a lot about it.

Me feeding a baby deer on Halloween when i was 2

5. I hate the taste of anything with grape artificial flavoring. YUCK! Its weird because I like grapes/ most grape juice and my favorite color is purple but theres somthing about grape suckers that remind me of cough syrup *gag*. I used to tell people i was allergic to it just so they wouldnt give me a grape lollipop or candy.

Negative!

6. My absolute favorite song is Beauty in the Breakdown by The Scene Aesthetic. If you haven't ever listened to it, you need to! I just love it and I love their music also.

Great CD!!

7. I love Chloe Madison Xian more than anything in this world. She is everything to me, and has taught me the real meaning of true love. I cant imagine life without her. I feel like shes saved me somehow. Shes my little love bunny and I thank God everyday for her!

Now I tag anyone who wants to join in the fun!

Finally, this will be the last post until Tuesday. I will definetly have LOTS of pics to share with you all about Chloe's first beach trip and since tomorrow is 5 months since Chloe day, I will take her picture before we head out and will post it first thing when I get settled back home. I hope you all have a good weekend.

BEACH BOUND!!!!

Chloe's first professional pictures...

Chloe got her picture taken almost a month ago and they turned out great! She wore 2 outfits, a chinese outfit we bought in Guangzhou and a dress from Gymboree. We wanted to do a more classic close up one with her chinese outfit on and it is our favorite! Enjoy!

This one is so elegant to me, I love the way the photographer captured her gazing off to the distant with a little smirk on her face..hehe.

Here are the other 2 more casual ones, I just love love her smile in this one, she looks so happy!

This one shows her personality the best! I love her body language in this one, its like shes thinking "dahling im fabulous"!

Shes came such a long way since her referral pictures, its like looking at a different child. Im thinking about doing a collage of pictures starting with her referral pictures to show everyone just how far she has come. Im also going to be redesigning my blog again using these pictures as a header probably, so be on the look out for that!

Weekends

We had a great weekend, spent with family and good friends. I am so ready for this Friday though, because we are FINALLY headed to tha beach of Charleston! Yay, yay, YAY! This friday also marks our 5th month together with Miss Chloe...WOW, i cant believe its been almost 5 months since that day, its been the best 5 months of my life. I might not be bringing my laptop with me, so if i dont get a chance to post the monthly picture then look for it tuesday! Here is some pics from this weekend...

Friday......

Saturday......

Sunday.......

Happy Mother's Day!

Due to activities this weekend, I may not get a chance to post before Sunday, so if not, I hope you all have a great Mothers Day with your family. Im headed off to a mother/daughter lunchon in the morning with my mom and nana, Chloe's too young to attend (you have to be 10) so my dad will be taking care of her for a couple of hours =) Anywho, heres a little Mothers Day greeting from Chloe for all you mom's out there, especially Colleen who finally recieved Miss Hannah's referral, what a extra special mothers day it is for her!!

**Notice Chloes shirt says "Mom's social butterfly!"**

Umm Wrong Bed!

Funny story! Ok so we have a dog, Cookie, who Chloe just loves to pieces! She will follow Cookie all over the house sometimes trying to pet her, the poor dog, can't get a moments peace in this house! anywho Cookie has a little bed in the corner of our kitchen and the other day my mom said she turned around and Chloe was sitting IN Cookie's bed!! Side note: To remind you, this is our dog.....She is a 10 lb white pomeranian whos bed is pretty small, VERY small for a toddler who obviously took the time and energy to squeeze herself in it..hehe...Now almost everyday we catch Chloe sitting in it at least once during the day! I think she does it for attention though because she knows we will start cracking up when we see her in it.

My mom captured our silly girl this morning and I still giggle when I see the pics..lol

Catching Up

Im back and will be catching up for a couple of days on recent Chloe activities/events that have happened in the past few weeks. Since i never got a chance to post the monthly Chloe day picture here ya go!!

Last week I decided to take Chloe outside and take a few pics of her sitting on the front steps of our house since it was a beautiful day, and she did great! she even "posed" for me (the top pic)! it was so funny and adorable at the same time. Looks like shes gonna be like her big sissy and love to have her picture taken =)

tomorrow?!

Hopefully i will be getting my laptop back tomorrow and will be back to posting like normally but i will mostly be playing catch up for a few days. I can not wait to get my computer back, I have sooooo many Chloe pics to share, a few professional pics from a few weeks ago when we took miss Chloe to get her first professional pics taken and they turned out SO good!! Next weekend me, my mom and Chloe will be going to Charleston with my moms friend and her 10 yr old daughter, Carlie for a girls weekend retreat from thursday to sunday..YEAH!! this will be Chloes first beach trip and i will definetly be picture crazy!!

Strollin with sissy on a BEAUTIFUL afternoon last week