Chloe's second birthday party (a little late)

I know i know im like two weeks late on posting this but you know what they say better late than never. lol. well Chloe's party was fabolous and she had an absolute blast like i knew she would. We started the week before her party telling her that she would be having a party soon and that she was going to be two so she kept going around the house saying "paryyy" and "i be two" while holding up two of her fingers, it was soooo precious =). Well we had her party at KidSenses and of course had an Elmo party since Chloe just adores him and was so excited about her "Elmo caKE!" it was one of her favorite parts i think! The cake was actually a cupcake cake shaped like elmo's head, sooo cute! Heres a picture of it...i got alot of attention walking around walmart carrying it hehe!


I wish i had taken a picture of Chloe's face when she saw her cake, it was priceless. she was so in awe of it and just kept on saying "elmo" "elmo"! She blew her candles out like such a big girl i was so proud of my big girl and just almost cried seeing the excitement in her eyes throughout the whole party. she makes me sooooo happy!!!
Those are my favorite picture of Chloe, i love her face and the joy in her face on both of them. She also looks sooo big in them.

Here are some more pictures from her party. Just click the collage to enlarge it....

Happy Birthday Baby!

Chloe had a great birthday even though i don't think she actually comprehends the whole birthday meaning she still had fun at our little family party. If you ask her about her birthday she continues to say "i'll be TWO" even though we keep telling her you ARE two, she cracks me up =). Tomorrow is the big birthday party so we are getting ready for that, Im giving her a powerwheels barbie ATV and i cant wait to see her reaction because she loves "mo-cycles".

The cake before she demolished it =)

So obviously the cake was a big hit =)

The horsey nana and pop gave Chloe for her birthday. She loves it!!

Chloe's first haircut and weekend ramblings!

Lately we have been noticing that Miss Chloe's hair has been getting way long in the front and was even touching her nose and the back had started to look uneven so we decided that it was time for her to get her first haircut (not counting the fact that her head was shaved in China). We really weren't sure how she would react to it but she did great and was a champ through the whole thing. All she really got was a little trim on the front and also on the back to cut all the dead ends she had so her hair can grow faster and thicker now! Her hair looks alot healther now and is sooo easy to do, I personally think it makes her look a lot older!

before (see how long her hair was in the front?! We were constantly struggling to keep it out of her eyes!)

after (i think she likes it)!!

Just some pics taken while she was getting it cut!

Taken saturday, looking pretty for the social worker =)!

Saturday after our social worker came to do the 1st placement visit me and Chloe were playing around in our family room where she was acting like a little ham doing the funnest things and making the funniest faces. She would do her "drama queen" act and come running towards me with her arms out in front of her going "aahhhhh" pretending to be screaming coming towards me to "knock" me down, it was priceless (I SO need to video it, might do that soon!) So i grabbed my camera (of course) and shot this picture which we (my parents and I) think is hilerious!

I LOVE that face!

Saturday night I took Chloe over to our cousin's house so she could play with her cousin Mason who will be 3 in october and it was so funny watching them together! Of course it took Chloe a while to warm up to them especially with a hyper little boy running circles around her, but once she did they started to play and laugh together. So Mason's mom and I decided to load them up in her car and take them to play at Mason's grandparents house which Chloe enjoyed alot! I thought they looked so cute in the car on the way that i had to take a picture (imagine that, lol).

Don't they look cute together? =)

Tomorrow me, mom and Chloe are going shopping for a few early fall clothes. YES!! Gymboree here I come!!! I am sooo excited about their new princess line which just happens to be PURPLE, my favorite color =)

9Teen Months Old

Friday our sweet girl turned 19 months old and we had a great day starting with a little photoshoot outside. It was so humid out so I did it quick and Chloe did great, she pushed her little corn popper around the whole time and looked adorable in her ladybug dress. Some notes of interest about Chloe at 19 months old:
~weighs 22 lbs (in 10th percentile weight on American chart but 50th percentile Chinese chart)
~wears 12 month clothes, 6-12 months in Gymboree
~wears size 4 shoe
~likes green beans, cantaloupe, tomatos, corn on cob, salads, ketchup, etc
~some favorite things: Elmo, her stuffed dog, blowing kisses, piggyface, likes to brush hair and do her "makeup"

Later that afternoon I put together her water table then me, mom and Chloe went outside where she got to play with it for the first time! She really enjoyed it and stayed out for a while splashing and just having fun!

*click both to enlarge*

6 months!!

Yesterday marked the 6th month since we first held Chloe in our arms and we fell in love with this child that was meant to be apart of our family. 6 glorious months ago our lives were transformed forever with the addition of this precious child who God had planned for us all along and like i've said countless times, i thank Him everyday for her because I know in my heart that she has changed not only my life but the lives of the many people that she meets. She continues to be my inspiration every single day and I am so very lucky to have her apart of my life.

**Click to enlarge**

You may have noticed Chloe is holding a little pink bible in the 6 month picture above, well that bible is Chloe's first bible that was given to her about 2 months ago by a very dear friend of my nana's who sadly passed away yesterday morning so I decided to take some pictures of Chloe with it. She loved Chloe so much and lit up everytime she got to see our sweet girl and gave her that precious baby bible personalized with Chloes name on the front and a special little message on the inside for Chloe. She lived right beside my nana & pops so we would walk Chloe up to see her a lot and say "heres your baby!" and she would smile and play with her and even got to feed Chloe her bottle a few times, she will be missed.

BTW A few of you asked about the program I use to do my collages, it is called Lumapix and I found it via Donna at Double Happiness. It is a really good program and best of all its easy to do, i recommend it to all!!

Walk it Out

Sunday afternoon, Chloe decided she was going to surprise us and just started walking like no tomorrow, it was sooooo exciting and she was so proud of herself!! The look on her face when she walks now is just priceless!
We have purchased about 4 swimsuits for Miss CM, and tried one of the on her Sunday night, and she looked so sweet, I can't wait to go to the beach and watch Chloe play in the sand for the first time....its going to be awesome!!

**Tomorrow marks our 4th month as a family, so i will of course be having a little photoshoot and taking the monthly picture of Chloe, so check back tomorrow night for it!**

Apple of My Eye

Not much new to report here on the Chloe front, except Miss CM has realized that food is her best friend and just LOVES to eat (just like me!) she will eat, or at least try almost anything we put in front of her, yet she still has not reached the 20 lb. mark, apparently she has a fast metabolism (again, just like me!). Since there really isint much to say on this post i think im going to take the time to list a few things that Chloe loves at 16 months, because i LOVE looking back at things to see how much Chloe has changed:

~She loves Baby Einstein videos, especially Baby Mozart & Baby Noah

~For breakfast rice cereal with apples and Cherrios

~Her favorite dinner food is Mac & Cheese & Sugar free JellO vanilla pudding!

~For snack she LOVES Gerber Graduates sweet potato & strawberry/apple puffs & their arrowroot cookies and cheese crackers

~One of her new favorite snacks are these organic snack bars

~She still LOVES her warm milk bottles before nap and bedtime, and will drink water from her NuBy sippy cup

~our girl just LOVES bathtime

~She loves animals and makes the sweetest "ooohhh" noices and pokes her lips out when she wants to give them huggies and kisses..hehe SO sweet!

~She loves to go bye bye and be on the go

~Her washcloth must be close at hand at all times

~She still sucks her left middle finger & ring finger when shes sleepy

~she will dance to ANYTHING, including church hymns..very funny

~Loves toys of course, but has her favorite which include: this, this, and this

~Cell phones are still top on her list of things she loves to play with

~she loves to dig through purses and take everything out (she even has her own little purse)

~She's a people person and loves to observe people, she especially loves men..lol..its odd because sometimes we may not even know him and she will just reach her arms right up for him to pick her up..hilerious!

Here are a few pics for POD (Pics Of tha Day) from yesterday...

"say what?! we're going to T@rget?! YAY!!

All smiles in T@rget again (told ya we love this store)

So cute in her new jammies from sissy..they have apples on them

Swing, Swing

Since tomorrow marks Chloe's 16 month bday AND 3 months since we've been home, I decided to take Chloe to a playground so she could swing on a big swing for the first time ever, and boy did she LOVE it!! At first she was a bit scared but quickly realized it was fun and just started laughing and giggling like crazy, and had a big ol' time and even had her first "I.Dont.Wanna.Leave" meltdown when it was time to go. We had a blast in the beautiful spring weather we're having here in NC and i cant wait to take her back to swing again soon!! Enjoy the pics of my sweet girl!

"Posing pretty for the camera!"

Holding on tight, not so sure about this quite yet!

Still trying to decide if she likes it or not....

"Yea i think i like this..!"

"Your right sissy this IS fun!" (My personal favorite pic from today!)

Cute ladybug on the toddler part of the playground!

Pride

Chloe continues to amaze me each and every day. This past week for example, Chloe seemed to grow and learn right in front of my eyes. It was insane, first she decided instead of biting a sippy cup she would actually drink water (which she NEVER drank before, because its cold and usually she only drinks hot liquids) out of this sippy cup, later that same day when i went to brush her little choppers (which BTW she usually HATES) she actually grabbed the toothbrush out of my hand and started brushing her own teeth, WOW! Then a few days later, while me mom and Chloe were visitng some relatives she stood up by herself without any assistance and balanced herself, which for her is BIG news!! Needless to say i was SO proud of my little sweetie =)

"My sissys taken me out for a while...yay!"

Bahaha this picture screams future blackmail ;) check out that face, she was doing the piggy face but i got her "mid face" and it looks SO funny!

Yup, China obviously picked the perfect kid for us, as Miss Chloe LOVES to shop and LOVES Target ;)

Celebrations all Around!

Well since there is no 29th in Feb. today, March 1st might as well mark Chloe's 15 month b-day, & 2 months since we arrived home from China so happy birthday baby girl! Today was also one of my best friend Mary's 18th Birthday!!! So today was pretty much a triple happy day =). Very busy i must say!! Later on this weekend sometime im going to put together a little slideshow of me and Mary over the past years as a little post 18th birthday dedication post for her because we have been through so much together the past few years that i really want to do something special for her..so look for that =)

Yesterday's POD (pic of day), goin shoppin with mom and sissy for Mary's bday gift
Me and Mary on our way bac 2 her house after goin out to eat
Catherine (Marys sis) decided she could eat the most hot wings at dinner..well she ate 7 and got most of it on her face =) lol shes a crazy kid
Love this pic of my little lady =) she looks like shes posin for the camera lol

My mom took this tonite after celebratin Mary's bday..i was so excited to see my mei mei! We were playin "Getcha!"

I got her..lol..i sure do love playing with this little girl!

The Newest American Citizen!!

Look what came in the mail today!!! YES! Chloe's Citizenship Certificate AND a nice letter from Mr. George W.! Say what you like about him but right now he ROCKS!! Man, we've been waiting a long time to see our sweet girl's face as an AMERICAN CITIZEN!!! Yea lifes good =)

(**Click images to enlarge!**)

Happy 2 months to us!!

2 months ago today, December 18, 2006 our lives were transformed and changed forever with the addition of a child who had never known what it was like to have a family, now 2 months later, we continue to count our blessings each day and look forward to the future with our beautiful baby girl, Chloe Madison Xian who continues to thrive each day and is my everything! Happy 2 months baby girl, I love you to China and back!

February 18, 2007

January 18, 2007

December 18, 2006

Baby Dedication & a Celebration

Last Sunday, Chloe was dedicated at our church along with about 7 other babies ( 2 of which are twin boys!)..so needless to say, Chloe will have many playmates at the church to grow up with! Baby dedication is where parents and other family members promise to raise their child with the Christian beliefs, the babies each get a little bible at the end of the service. Miss. Chloe Madison had on her beautiful white silk Chinese dress on and if i say so myself looked precious!!

during the dedication (Chloe got a little antsy..lol)

Chloe was ready to grab her bible and sit down

Precious girl!

Later that night, one of my best friends Mary had a little "no more chemo" party! It was just a time to celebrate this momentious time, when after 2 years, Mary is officially cancer free and finished with chemo =). Of couse Chloe Madison wanted to go and show Mary how much she loved her and of course I took pictures..LOL.

I LOVE this picture of us..its the first picture of all 3 of us =)

My 2 favorite redheads Carlie (in pink) and Catherine (in blue..Marys sister)