Less than a week. . .

I can't believe that this time next week I'll be at work! I am trying not to panic.

The appointment with the cardiologist went fine- it hasn't gotten better, but it also hasn't gotten worse, which is what really matters. We go back again in six months.

We had an orientation meeting at Chloe's school yesterday. It seems like a nice enough place, and the teachers in her room have been there for about 10 years each, so I feel as good about it as I can.

There are still two lottery drawings before my first day back at work- keep your fingers crossed!

Two Month Progress Report

I can't believe my baby is already two months old! She has certainly grown and changed a lot in that time. My heart is broken that I have to go back to work next Thursday, but so far I'm keeping it together. My friend Kerry is going to keep Chloe for the first couple of days, then she starts daycare on May 30. (That happens to be the same day Connor moves up to the three-year-old room, so expect the "keeping it together" to end that day!) This week we will go for an orientation meeting at her school, which is at Union Avenue Baptist Church. I'm nervous and excited at the same time! Unfortunately Idlewild, where Connor goes, doesn't take children until they are a year old, but I will move her over there when the time comes.

Our other excitement this week is two doctor's appointments. On Wednesday she goes to her cardiologist, Dr. Vijaya Joshi. (I had to include his first name for you Grey's Anatomy fans.) This morning we went to her pediatrician for her two-month check-up. Apparently, she's perfect! (Well, other than the hole in her heart, but we won't dwell on that. . .) She is 24 inches long and weighs 13 lbs, 12 oz. And yes, that is above the 95th percentile in both categories. Yowza! I got me a big girl! She got four shots, which pissed her off but good! I didn't cry over it like I did with Connor (Is that a recurring theme or what?), but I still feel pretty bad for her. She is sleeping it off right now, which is why I'm able to type this much in the middle of the day!

Here are some answers to other frequently asked questions:
After about six weeks of being sick and often on antibiotics, I've felt great for the last couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone for your concern!
Chloe usually sleeps from about 9-3, then wakes up just long enough to eat and go back to bed- usually not more than 20 minutes- then she sleeps until about 6:30. Chip and I alternate nights when we get up with her, so this schedule doesn't bother us.
She loves to have someone right in her face talking/singing/interacting with her. She will stay focused for a long time- last night we played like that for about 45 minutes straight! She smiles and coos and talks, and sticks her tongue out in response to mine. It melts my heart- I could stare at her all day long!
Her personality reminds me of Chip at this point. She is really laid back, and usually pretty quiet. I think she will end up being a big talker like me, though, if for no other reason than that she will have to compete with Connor.
Other fun facts: she loves the fancy swing we borrowed from Kerry and Grace, she still loves her purple chair, she doesn't love the car, the back of her head is comically flat, her eyes seem to be staying blue, and her hair is darker than Connor's was. And did I mention that she's perfect?

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. It started Saturday morning, when I convinced the boys to put on matching outfits. Well, Connor didn't take much convincing. He thought it was pretty cool! I knew he would, which is why I bought him this outfit. Plus I wanted to be able to take this picture!

That afternoon Chip's parents came to town, much to Connor's delight. Roy and I went to a wine tasting around 2:00, where we got to meet Dan Philips, and then we had a nice bottle of Mr. Philips' wine for dinner.

On Sunday I went to church with Mom while the boys (Roy, Chip, and Connor) cooked lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful feast, and I didn't have to cook or clean one bit! After lunch Connor hung out with the mamas while the daddies straightened up. This led to the proclamation, "You girls are fun!" You got that right, son!

Oh, and what was Chloe doing while we were enjoying this feast? The same thing she did most of Sunday:

But enough about food and drink- you want to know what kind of loot I hauled in! This story starts on Wednesday, when Connor and I saw a JC Penny's commercial about Mother's Day gifts. I figured it was time for me to start hyping Mother's Day and let him know that I expected lots of hugs and kisses come Sunday. Connor saw a necklace on the commercial and said, "I want to give you a diamond necklace!" I like how this kid thinks! "That's a great idea Connor- you should definitely let Daddy know. . ." Hee hee. Connor runs through the house screaming, "Daddy! I want to give Mommy a diamond necklace!" Suddenly I hear Chip speaking to him in hushed tones, "Connor, we talked about this and we don't give Mommy her present until Mother's Day, which is a few days away." My heart skipped a beat- a diamond necklace! Sweet!- but I almost immediately remembered that Tuesday was "Necklaces for Mommy" day on Connor's school schedule. He spent the rest of the week telling me, "I made you a diamond necklace, Mommy, but Daddy won't let me give it to you." I couldn't wait until Sunday when I finally got to open a beautiful, painted noodle necklace with four clear beads right in the middle- my diamonds. I wore it all day, even when we went outside to play frisbee. But the best gift I got was lots of hugs and kisses from my two most valuable jewels. I love being their mother!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

I Do All My Own Stunts

At school, Connor loves to run full speed towards the double doors at the end of the hall, and then hit them and fall backwards. Other moms always look at him in amazement and make comments like, "Someday he'll be one of those basketball players who pretends to get fouled." My son, the next Manu Ginobili? No thanks! I have higher goals for him, and decided he needed to dress the part. So last week, when one of the other moms was standing over him at the end of the hallway, fretting over whether he had hurt himself trying to run through the closed doors, Chip said, "He's fine- just read his shirt!"

Happy Girl

Chloe has suddenly started smiling and interacting a great deal. We have lots of fun sticking our tongues out at each other! She is also starting to tolerate her brother's "affection," which makes him very happy. (She used to just cry whenever he got in her face to say hi or tried to hug/smother her! He took it very personally.) She is also cooing rather than just grunting. Is there a sweeter sound in the world?

What are the kids up to?

Chloe is doing well, growing and changing every day. She is awake and alert for most of the daytime, which is a lot of fun. She enjoys the purple bouncy chair as much as her brother did when he was a newborn- love that vibrate button! She is also figuring out that her fist belongs to her and can be stuffed in her mouth when life gets tough. I can't believe she is almost 6 weeks old!



Connor is a wonderful big brother. He wants to help and wants to pet her and hug her. And poke her in the eye. We don't know why he always wants to do that, but he seems affectionate about it so we aren't too worried!



He imitates the way we talk to her, which is pretty funny. When I feed her he says, "Good girl, Mommy! You fed the baby- you're a sweet girl!" If she fusses he says, "It's okay baby!" and "What's wrong, Sissy?" The other funny thing he says these days is "Imam" as in, "Connor, be careful," "Imam being careful!"

Here he is making Grammy and Uncle Shannon crack up.

All Clean

Nights

The periods of sleep at night are getting longer, which is a great thing for Steph and me. I still don't get the superhuman power that Connor seems to have-- in four weeks, he hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night even once, despite all the commotion that we make.

Well, I take that back-- he had a bloody nose in the middle of the night a few days ago, and it freaked him out. His bed looked like a scene from a horror movie! I don't know what caused it-- bonked his nose on the bedframe, or maybe sleep-booger-picking, who knows.

So anyway, here are some more Chloe pics.

This romper can rock...

Connor saw fit to use our hearth as a stage to put on a raucous rock show for Bwana and Mimi this weekend. He's taken to writing his own tunes now. Though the lyrics are sometimes a little hard to make out, I'm still proud that he's moving out of the "covers only" phase. I didn't do that until college...


I'd also like to state that I didn't pick out the shirt combo there. I would never abide clashing greens.

Cheese!

Chloe and Mommy's Big Day Out

Thursday was the first day I drove anywhere, and the first day Chloe and I went anywhere besides a doctor's office.

First we went to Bhan Thai restaurant to celebrate my friend Kerry's last day at work at Rhodes. Chloe slept the whole time, of course.

Then that evening we went to a record store to meet Daddy and Connor and hear Garrison Starr sing a few songs from her new CD. It was pretty loud, but Chloe still managed to sleep the whole time!

It was a big day, so obviously I forgot to take any pictures to remember it by. To make up for it, here's a picture of her that has nothing to do with Thursday's activities.

Anti-Social

Gina and Cullen came by to visit Sunday afternoon. Chloe slept the whole time, despite being poked, prodded, tickled, and kissed repeatedly. After a couple of hours they decided to say good-bye, despite having never seen the whites of her eyes.

Here is a picture of Chloe about three minutes after they left:

Chloe Update

Chloe still sleeps most of the time. When she wakes up, she expects to eat immediately, no matter when her last feeding was. I feel so used!

I am feeling much better, after developing a nice little breast infection complete with fever, chills, and other flu- like symptoms. I'm on antibiotics now and they seem to be doing their job.

Chip goes back to work tomorrow- I'll be lonely, so please email/call!

Connor: A pictoral essay

Day Six!

This is what she spends most of her time doing.

So far, she is waking up three times in the night to eat. Sometimes she stays up a little after one of them, but not enough to make us zombies or anything. (Yet)


A rare photo of a wide-awake Chloe!

Scenes From a Hospital Room

Don't have time to say much (I would if the dang hospital had wireless access)-- so I'll just let these pics do the talking. We'll be home from the hospital tomorrow (Saturday), and we'll put more up then.

Chloe's here!

Chloe Bess Chockley, born 4:38 a.m. on the Ides of March
9 lbs, 4 oz, 21 inches

Getting checked out

Meeting big bro for the first time




Hi mom!

Thanks for all the visits and well-wishes everybody! We'll post more once we get home.

Is it Thursday yet?

Here is an FAQ section with visual backup:

Are you totally huge now? (Oh Yes)

Is the baby's room done? (Yes)

Does Francie have red hair like Delaney? (No, but they have the same mouth)

Have you decided on a name? (Yes- Chloe Bess)



Did you have a fancy Oscar party? (No-just a few people over for dinner)



Can Connor juggle? (No, but he keeps trying)

Fat Tuesday

This weekend Connor went to a Mardi Gras celebration with Grammy. I don't want to know what he had to do to collect all these beads. . .

Another Cold Weekend

Three 70-degree days followed our snowy weekend, and then we went from 72 on Thursday night to 26 Friday morning. Whatever! There was cold rain and sleet all night Friday night, leaving a good bit of ice Saturday morning. It stayed icy, since the temperature was about 15 most of the weekend. However, this did not stop Connor from going outside to play baseball!

Note the rosy cheeks and red nose. Too cute!

Just for fun, here is Connor's signature "things-aren't-going-my-way" face:

And if any of you are wondering how I'm doing, I'm 36 weeks along and really looking forward to having this baby in my arms rather than in my abdomen.

Frosty in February

What is all of this white stuff? Don't we live in the south?


If you saw Connor at any time during the month of December, then you have probably heard his rendition of Frosty the Snowman. Last Friday, we finally got to bring the song to life!


After a two-hour car ride home from work and school, we got bundled up and went outside to play in the nice wet snow. Connor loved making and throwing snowballs. (He was even moved to put on his mittens after a couple of bare-handed throws!)


We had watched the snow boarding competition at the X Games a few weeks ago, so Connor was eager to get on his skateboard out in the snow. He soon realized his board was too wet, and that skateboarding in the snow was not quite the same thing that Shaun White had been doing at the X Games. Last night while watching the Olympics, he turned to me and said, "They don't have wheels!" So maybe he is finally realizing that skateboarding and snowboarding are two different sports. But probably not.

My Skating Board!

Last week there was a post on the Fertile Ground blog about how much fun Stacey had taking her family to Skateland. I thought that sounded like fun, and something we might do when I'm less likely to fall and cause myself major harm. Then the next day Connor decided to become a hockey player. (See below.) Needless to say, I couldn't wait any longer - one of the things on my Target shopping list Sunday was "Skates for Connor."

We made the family trip to Target, and found the skates. I was looking through the small selection of skates and the vast array of protective gear while Connor stood next to me, pointing up the skateboards and whining "A skaaaaatiiing booooaaard" repeatedly. It didn't take long for me to realize that A) Connor wanted a skateboard, and B) the skateboards were about a third the price of the skates. I looked at Chip and said, "How about skates/pads/etc. for his birthday, and get a skateboard and helmet now?" Chip, who always trusts my shopping prowess, agreed immediately. Judging by Connor's whining, he was going to like this idea also.

After picking out a Mickey Mouse skateboard and blue helmet, we were good to go. Connor put the helmet on immediately, packaging and all, and wore it for the rest of the trip to Target, the trip to Lowe's, and the trip to Schnucks. This from my child who refuses to wear the hood on his jacket in sub-freezing temperatures! "I'm going to ride the skating board outside when we get home!" "That's right!" (Repeat ad nauseum)

When we got home, we immediately cut the packaging away from the helmet and skateboard and got outside to practice. "I'm doing it! I'm doing it, Mommy!"


Fortunately we have one of those driveways that doesn't lend itself to smooth skating. It made it easy for him to get the feel of it, and he always had to have one foot pushing off the ground in order to go anywhere so I didn't have to worry about whether he would fall off. (Although he did practice some dramatic falling- this comes from watching the X Games, where the competitors fall pretty regularly.) Later on Connor got on his Big Wheel to Fred Flinstone it around the neighborhood (he refuses to use the pedals properly) with the helmet on and the skateboard under one arm. "Do you want to try your skateboard out here on the street?" Connor looked at me like I was nuts and replied, "Not on a WALK, Mommy, only behind our house!" I guess he's not ready to unleash his mad skateboard skills on an unsuspecting public.

Eventually the sun went down and we headed inside for some rest, some juice, and some Dora. The skateboard is for outside only, so it didn't come in with us, but we figured out a suitable way to hold on to the magic of the day anyway.