Haiti

So i saw this on someone's blog today and it shocked me a little.  The situation in Haiti is horrible, all those children without families i would love to be able to help out and adopt one of those children and give them a loving happy home.  But apparently we wouldn't make the cut in lots of ways! 

These  are the requirements for adopting a Haitian child. 

1. Childless, heterosexual married couples between the ages of 35-50 are eligible to adopt
2. Childless, single heterosexual women who are living alone and between the ages of 35-50, are also eligible to adopt
3. Length of marriage must be at least 10 years unless couple is infertile
4. Applicants who are between the ages 45 - 50 must be willing to accept a toddler
5. One previous divorce is accepted.
6. Second marriages must be at least 10 years in length
7. No more than 15 years age difference between husband and wife
8. Preference is given to Christian and Jewish families; LDS families are not eligible for this program
9. Families may have no more than 2 adopted children under the age of 18 living in their home and no biological children
10. U.S. citizens in all 50 states are eligible to adopt from this program.

So you can't have ANY children.  And since when does a whole religion get Cut out?? It's kinda sad really.  my question is WHY???

No Nap

This is what happens when mom forgets to put you down for your afternoon nap.  You fall asleep at 7:00 in your highchair having only touched your supper and don't even finish your bottle. which NEVER happens.  

   

She must have been REALLY tired cause she stayed passed out through a vigorous hand and face cleaning with a cold wet wipe. through the taking off of the body bib. through a diaper change AND into the pajamas. wow. that was the easiest bed time ever! 

But 7:00?? not my ideal bed time, she will be up early tomorrow!! 

I have tried and tried to move her to one nap....how is it done??  No matter what i do she will not sleep for more than an hour.  So i gave up and have been still giving her 2 naps. which are only 40 minutes.  so frusterating!  If anyone has any advice i would LOVE some!! 

Better Video

I just think that video on my last post wasn't very awesome. It was funny to me and only to me! ha ha  So i found this other one of Chloe saying her prayers. She just started doing it randomly like  a month ago. She just mumbles with her head down for a few seconds and then usually does a huge loud yell for amen. When we are having a prayer at home or at church we usually get a few loud Amen's from chloe before it is over.  she likes her prayers short and sweet!

sweet 16

I haven't been doing very good at keeping my blog updated. but i am pretty bored this monday and since chloe turned 16 months last week i thought i would fill everyone in!  Because i am SURE everyone is having chloe withdrawals and wants to see her every day! ha ha well maybe her gramma's and aunties! 

To start off, in case anyone missed my facebook announcement....here they are in all there adorable glory.  thats right

PIGTAILS!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was when these little beauties first made an appearance!!  She just looked THAT much cuter and like my little girl!! i love them, and now i think she looks sloppy when her "hair" is down.  i say hair lightly cause it can barely be called that. 

I was trying to Get some cute pics of chloe the other day she was just looking really darling...i should have turned off the cartoons first, she wouldn't look at me for nothing!!

  

I did get one smile....or a whine. hard to say.

Chloe having a little snack while watching some toons in the morning!  I can't ever get a picture without some sort of computer part in there. that laptop plug in is in probably HALF of my pictures!! 

I seriously can't believe how big she is getting, ok maybe not BIG but older and taller and SO smart!!  She got weighed the other day and was 23lbs.  she weighed 22 lbs when she turned one!  so she isn't really putting on the pounds, but is still in the 50th percentile so its all good! 

She is starting to try and talk more and more, i can't get enough of the jabber that comes out when she is trying SO hard to talk to someone! she is seriously intense!!  She does say mommy, daddy, baby, (points to my belly)  Hi-ee, and dora. (she has said gramma twice but not since then) I think it is great that she now understands pretty much everything we tell her, and she either chooses to listen...or not.  oh and she did say "hi T " to tina the other day...she loves tina!

We were in Calgary last week and she was going NUTS watching the merry go round, so i had regan take her on it, while i got to babysit the stroller...moms always miss the fun!!

  

She wasn't too sure at first, then after a couple of spins she was smiling. And a couple of spins after that...she was done. screaming bloody murder.  they stopped the rides so she could get off!! ha ha

More about Chloe at 16 months-

She is a fairly good eater. she eats when she is hungry...like the rest of us! but is a pretty picky eater and only likes what she likes...she gets that from me!  I am having a hard time getting her to eat her veggies. I try to hide them in things but she knows, and always refuses to eat it. she does like vegetable soup so that helps, but i would appreciate any tips you guys have!! 

She loves to dance, i need to get her sweet moves on the camera!!( I am a slacker! ) she loves to read her books and has a crazy memory. There is this one alphabet book that just has pictures of things and she knows almost ALL of them...it is huge. You pretty much just have to show her how to do something once and she has it down. I am hoping that this will be helpful when we start potty training!!  But of course she loves to play with her dollies the most and will pretty much play with them from when she gets up to when she goes to bed.  But besides her babies, nothing compares to the sheer joy of playing with her cousins!! It is ridiculous!! There is crazy giggling and screaming going on from the moment they see each other!! that goes for van and boston, AND Lexie and Cam. I am so excited for them to all grow up together, and i just hope they stay friends!

  

Chloe also had her first trip to the ER this past weekend. It wasn't very fun.  We were on our way to see Avatar for our date night (SO AMAZING!! everyone better go see it!!)  and Tina was here to babysit for us. unfortunately we didn't get to go, Tina accidentally picked Chloe up by her arm, which was followed by an hour of sobbing. So i wasn't sure how bad she was hurt but she wasn't moving her arm at all and kept looking at her arm and crying, even picked it up and let it fall a couple of times like it was dead. (that was kind of funny!)  But anyway after an hour of waiting the dr said she had pulled out her elbow, and it is really common. so he tried to set it a few times and we just had to wait to see if she could use the arm, and make sure it was back in.  We ended up having to take her back to the dr in the morning cause she was still not using it at all. and i think he popped it in finally cause about 5 minutes after leaving she was using it like normal and no pain or anything! HOORAY!!  Tina felt so bad that she said she would babysit ANYTIME!! ha ha so she cancelled her plans for the next night so we could have our date night! what a sweetheart! 

So a lesson for everyone....don't pick your kids up by their arms.  they say that for a reason!!

Chloe didn't hold it against her...they are still best buds!

This is just a random little video. i was cleaning the kitchen and looked over and couldn't see chloe...she had been playing with her cradle before that.  I walked over and she was just laying there...having a little rest! ha ha kids are too funny. 

Ok so the video is kinda lame. i had some other cute ones but i can't get them off of my camera. sorry. 

Tina Butter

My sister. 

she happens to be one of my favorite people.  I know she is my little sister but i look up to her in lots of ways...for one she is a snazzy dresser. Wish i could pull off any of her cute outfits! 

The best part of my day is that she emails me ALL day and keeps me company while i change two little toddlers diapers....all day.  Well only until she goes home from work....and she is on early shift this week so i am SOL after 2:00...sigh.

she is SUCH a good aunt and loves chloe alot...not near as much as i do, but that is a given.

Pretty much i love her alot. I once made an entire facebook album dedicated to her.  It is pretty awesome, if you want to learn more about her you can check it out!! 

Also she is a fellow blogger.  And very funny!  i am nowhere near as witty as she is...but sometimes i try!  so please check out her blog HERE and leave her some comments, she is seriously lacking in the comment department!! 

Christmas is the best!

We had an awesome Christmas this year. It is SO much more fun when you have your own little one who can get excited and kind of know whats going on. Ok so she doesn't really know what its all about...but she loved opening the presents!!  I was a slacker at taking pictures this year...they are all kinda lame. But I did find quite a few to post so bear with me!  I will have to try harder next year! 

Our holidays started with Christmas Eve-Eve we had a Heggie hay ride! it was so much fun! i am sure that it will be a tradition from now on...but hopefully next year we have have a warmer night! it was FREEZING!! 

This is probably the only picture of the three of us from the whole holiday!!  Everyone had lots of fun and the donuts and hot chocolate were deelish!!

Everyone on the hayride, freezing their bums off! Chloe had an ear infection so we rode in the truck, but we still had fun seeing all the Christmas lights. Chloe was all oohs and aaaahs for the lights!!

Then on Christmas eve we enjoyed some treats from lynsey and Lincoln. before heading out to raymond!

We started out at Regan's family for supper,  It was so yummy!! then ran over to my parents house to give them their presents and open a few from them cause we weren't going to see them Christmas day. 

I had tina's name this year, she really loved her chair and the 5 other ones and table that came with it!! Ha Ha I saw this antique dining room set and with my mom's help (it exceeded the limit just a tad) I was able to get it for her!! All she needs is her own house and she is set!! :)

Chloe was so excited about her cradle that grandma got her, and of course the cute bedding didn't hurt!! 

She was even MORE excited about the dora explosion that auntie tina gave her! Van was even more excited, it was pretty funny! 

We headed back to Holt's and opened some christmas Jammies.

Chloe and Lex were so cute in their matching jammers!! And Cam was of course too! I didn't get a picture of mine but they were adorable maternity ones that had a matching sleeper for the baby! awwwww :)   

After playing a little bit of santa and chloe going right to sleep after a long day, we finally got to go to bed! ha I was really tired! 

Christmas morning was really fun! I got a cute video of chloe seeing all of the presents. but they just take so darn long to upload that i probably won't get around to it!!  chloe opened her fruit snacks in her stocking first...she didn't want to open anything after that for a while! we Kind of had to make her open her stocking, then have some breakfast. After she wasn't starving she was a present opening machine! she tired to open every present in sight it was pretty funny!

Here she is modelling her tutu that santa brought and my new toque that regan gave me!

And those are the only pictures of christmas morning! ha ha I know i suck!

but i did take a couple when we went out sledding! My brother in law Keith brought his quad and we borrowed my parents quads and pulled the kids in the field...they had a blast!! 

Chloe loved her sled and even fell asleep while i was pulling her around! 

Everyone having a blast! Even Suz learned how to drive! 

Chloe was VERY interested in Tylers iphone...the first time she has gotten this close to him!! and almost all the grandkids with Nana,  Cam was a little preoccupied with his Buzz Lightyear to mingle! 

Boxing day we headed down to Whitefish, and with the help of our new dvd player for the car, Chloe was a dream! ha ha  Thanks mom! 

Me and Chlo hung out in the Lodge while everyone skied,  it was fun, she made a little friend and they ran around all day together! 

We went to HuHot for my birthday dinner, it is just like Mongoli grill, but all you can eat! It was yummy! I love stir fry! I got spoiled on my birthday Regan surprised me with a SERGER!! i was seriously surprised and he thought of it all on his own!! I was impressed! Can't wait to get it out and finish all my projects! 

chloe passed out after a long day of shopping!

My brother and his family came a few days after we did and met us at the Ski Haus. CHloe was SO excited to see them!  Van and chloe are on one of those little mountains in the shoe section, they probably went up and down it 5 thousand times!  And she LOVES boston....High Five Bos!!

Van and chloe watching Nemo. I don't know where it started but Chloe is OBSESSED with nemo. she brings it to me pretty much every day and screams at me to put it in. I am a bad mom and let her most days!! 

there wasn't much snow when we got to Whitefish but after a few days it finally dumped on us and we got our winter wonderland!! I love it there when we are knee deep in snow and it is hardly even cold so you can actually go play in it!! 

Going on a walk while everyone is skiing! 

Playing in the snow! 

Chloe got his bouncy turtle thing from regan's parents. I thought she would be scared of it (she is kind of a chicken) but she loves it! you bounce on it and it sings and teaches colors and whatnot. kind of annoying...but it keeps her entertained!! 

Pam and derick gave us this chair that hooks onto the table. It is awesome! chloe is coloring with me at the table while i am blogging! 

She wanted to be the baby today and climbed into her cradle! ha ha We might have  to put the new baby in there seeing as we have NO room for it!! 

Well phew that was a LONG post!  and TWO in one day!! Regan is curling so i am super bored!! 

 We had a great Christmas and hope everyone did too!! I am excited for the new year and for all the new things it will bring, especially a new baby! its gonna be a crazy adventure i am sure!! bring it on!