just in case

Ok so it’s not Halloween yet, but I took Chloe’s costume with us when we got her 2-year-old pictures taken this afternoon.  I don’t think I’m exaggerating a bit when I say that was the best decision I made all day:)  She took a little while to warm up, but I’ll let you be the judge of how great the pics turned out.

These pictures are just in case the ones I take of her on Halloween don’t turn out that great.  I realize this is cheating a little, but I didn’t want to leave the pressure of getting a good picture of her in this costume up to my own photography skills.  I am still definitely learning how to use my new SLR camera, but Iove it.  Chloe and I stopped in the park on our way home tonight and she played in the fountain until she was too cold and I had to pull her out of the water.  I got to take a bunch of pictures with the new camera, but I haven’t had time to go through them yet so those are going to have to wait.

Here are a few of the pictures that were the primary reason for today’s picture appointment.  How on earth did I get lucky enough to be able to look at this amazing face every day?!

I probably don’t have to repeat for the 999th time how wonderful my child is, but I think I will any way.  Today we started with a doctor’s appointment for Chloe and we found out she has a 6th toe packaged away with her pinky toe on one foot!  Every one in the office was kind of impressed by it because it’s a very rare way for this to present itself.  Just one more example of how unique and special she is.  Luckily it is not something that will need surgery, for now anyway.  They mentioned how she might start pushing for it when she’s older and wanting to wear sandals, etc. but it would be cosmetic-type surgery.  I had to explain to them that doctor-office-Chloe is not the real woman, and she is much more likely to bring her toe to Show and Tell in elementary school than try to get it removed!  She has been traumatized against doctors and hospitals and I just keep hoping her anxiety will go down around them as she gets to know everyone in the office.  They are just wonderful, and are such a huge blessing in our lives.  I know she’ll realize that as she gets older, but I just feel bad that she can’t get to know them yet, and vice versa!  Probably TMI in the days of health privacy laws, but like I say if you ever meet Chloe I’m sure she’ll show you this lucky toe (like Ne*mo’s lucky fin) if you want to see it.

I can’t wait for this weekend, I’m being visited by two of my best college friends and one adorable little boy who I hope Chloe is nice to.  Cross your fingers that sharing, nice hands, and inside voices are in the stars this weekend!

Not much, but still a lot.

Our family has been going through a lot in the past couple of weeks.  As it involves my extended family I don’t really feel like it’s appropriate for me to share all of their personal business with the world as I am still working on sharing my own.  I’ll just say that as usual for me, I’m sticking my nose into the lives of one of my sisters, and for once I actually seem to be helping the situation.  Not sure how long that will be the case, but I think the whole family is kind of holding it’s breath waiting for this to be over.  

Today someone said something very nice to me.  I am basically a nice person, and people usually like me.  I’m not overly popular and usually feel like I’m trying pretty hard in most social situations, and am still a little uncomfortable so I’m not trying to brag here.  It just kind of struck me today how nice it is when someone compliments you.  We were learning about our new safety device to evacuate a disabled person from our office and the person we ordered it for was understandably upset at different times throughout the training because it’s an emotional thing to put your life in the hands of virtual strangers.  Anyway, when we were done for the day and she was relaxing back to normal she said, “I just hope Allison’s here if we have to use that thing.”  WHAT?!  Believe me, I am not the strong person manuvering this device unless the others are out in the field that day.  She said I’m very calming and just have a calming voice so I really helped her feel more secure.  For someone that freaks out over every noise my princess makes in her sleep, calm is the last thing I’ve felt for the past almost 14 months!!!  What a nice thing to go ahead and say that out loud to someone.  It may seem like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but I will tell you it really helped my outlook on life today!

Just to lighten the mood and prepare you for the ultimate cuteness that you will be witnessing in about a month I will let you in on a little Halloween secret…Chloe is going to be Super Girl!  She loves her costume and it  is the absolute most perfect thing for little Miss Thing to be!  My sisters have graciously agreed to let me spread the theme to their little angels so my niece will be Wonder Woman and my nephews will be Spiderman and Batman!  It is going to be so much fun this year.  We are going to my parents house for a 1st birthday party for the little guy and then trick-or-treating in our hometown where you can feel comfortable eating all the candy you collect in your bucket.  

 

just to remind you what a pretty flower she was last Halloween

 

 

Stay tuned for pictures in the upcoming weeks because not only do you need to get ready for the superhero convention, Chloe is almost 2!  I cannot believe that in 24 days she will no longer be a baby.  I have arbitrarily decided that 2 is the cutoff for that.  I will still let her have a bottle in the morning and at night, but I might start trying to have her drink out of a cup during the day.  I said MIGHT!  I’m still going to do whatever I think she needs to feel secure and continue her attachment journey so I’m not going to rush it if she has trouble with the switch.  She is constantly amazing me so I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she just sat her bottle down and decided she was done with it, but for now I’m just following her lead on that one.

 

Omaha Zoo in August

 

 

Tonight we went to a Chinese buffet with my sister and niece.  Like many other Chinese restaurants around here, some or all of the chefs are actually Vietnamese so Chloe dined on a specially prepared bowl of pho that the sweet woman made just for her (without most of the good stuff in it and the noodles cut up with scissors) and loved it.  She had it all over her shirt, pants, hands, the floor, and her hair before we left, but she was having such a great time eating it like a big girl with the giant spoon they gave her.  She was really kind of funny with it because every time I tried to move the bowl over in front of me to take a bite (it was a giant adult-sized bowl, too) she screeched at me a little and patted her plate for me to put it back where I found it.  She just cracks me up all the time.  

Some kind of random pictures on this post, but that’s just kind of how our life is going right now.