Halloween

I found my camera just in time for Halloween (thank goodness) so I got some pictures of our costumes. I took Cloe and Lucy on Friday to a couple of businesses during the day to do some trick-or-treating. Cloe dressed as a fairy princess with no wings. She was pretty adamant about it. I tried to explan to her that fairies have to have wings or they wouldn't be fairies, but she wouldn't have any of it. Oh well. I just put a bear snowsuit on lucy which is the same one that I put on Cloe at that age. They look so much alike!!

                                                                 Cloe 13 1/2 months

                                                                 Lucy 11 1/2 months

We went to our ward party/trunk-or-treat as a family that night. We went as Blue Man Group. I thought it was a clever idea, but I was surprised to have so many people as us what we were and then not know who Blue Man Group is when we told them. Weird Alaskans.

Me and the Girls

The Family.

(Ok, I promise my double chin isn't that bad. The liquid latex paint we used made my neck stick together and I couldn't move it.)

Of course Blue Men have blue feet!

First Day of "School"

Cloe kind of started preschool today. She is in a neighborhood preschool (kind of like Joy School.) There is only one other little boy in it, but I think it will be good for her to do different things. She REALLY didn't want to go, but we just took our time and about 20 minutes later she was running to the car so that she could go.
I have mixed feelings about her going. It's not really preschool, more like a structured playdate. It's still so weird that my Tiny O is at school. I can't believe how big she is!

Wearing her new clothes from her birthday

Her ladybug backpack (she put a couple of her new toys in there)

New Hairstyles

I have been looking for new hairstyles to try on Cloe, but haven't been very successful. But, I was talking to my sister, Callie, the other day and she was having the same problem. She found a website with AWESOME style, some of the styles are a little too awesome (weird) for me, but there are some cool ones. I've tried a couple lately. What do you think?

Here is the first one I tried. It's a picture from the back. It took me about 20 minutes to do.

Here's a shot of the same one from the front. The messy side-bun looked SO cute with a flower. As you can see, Cloe couldn't take her eyes off the T.V.

Here is a shot of the one I did yesterday. I did the little twisty things all over her hair and then ended in what the website calls a "flower bun" Ben said that she looked like she was ready  to go to the prom... It does look a little formal, but I had to try it to see what it would look like. Haha, we didn't even end up going anywhere yesterday.

Here is a back shot of the "flower bun". Her hair really is too thin for this kind of style, but you never know until you try.

Ben's Photography Class

For Summer semester Ben took a digital photography class. I wanted to post a couple of pictures that he took and edited. He did a great job.

Grandma and Grandpa

We were so happy that Ben's parents were able to come see us for a couple of weeks this summer. We had so much fun with them. Cloe loved all of the attention, I mean, who else but a grandma would blow bubbles with a kid for five hours straight?

Lucy sharing some of Grandpa's ice cream

Cloe and Grandma at the Golden Days Parade

Grandpa and Lucy ready for church

Cloe helping Grandpa mow the lawn

(NOTE: That is NOT our house. Our house is a nice light color, not Salmon Orange.)

It was so much fun to have someone come and visit us (hint, hint.)

Thanks for coming up Grandma and Grandpa!!

Cloe's Comments

It seems like Cloe is always making us laugh with the crazy and silly things that she says. So, I want to share all of these with you. I will keeping posting them under the new Cloe's Comments section of our blog.

I Know, I know...

I know that I said that I would post and didn't... I've been so busy. I know that sounds like an excuse, and I guess it is.

I know that a lot of you already know what is going on with Lucy, but I am going to post a little bit about it for those of you who don't know.

I took Lucy to her six month check-up and it turned out that she lost weight from her four month to her six month check-ups. Lots of diet-tracking and blood tests later, we found out that everything is normal but that she needs significantly more food than she was getting. I try not to feel terrible about her being malnourished and everyone says that it's not my fault, but it's so hard to see how skinny and tiny your baby is and not blame it on yourself. I've gotten over those first difficult weeks and am doing better with everything. In the meantime, nearly all Lucy does when she is awake is eat. I feed her pretty much all day, and she is gaining weight really well. Her doctor was concerned about the fact that she wasn't able to sit up or roll from her back to her front and refered her to a state-run program called Project Teach. A couple of therapists from Project Teach came over a few weeks ago to evaluate Lucy and see what she needed and what we can do for her. They found that while her cognitive and fine motor skills are right where they should be, her gross motor skills are that of a four-month-old (she is 7 1/2 months old.) I was pretty stunned to hear that she was that far behind and had a hard time not blaming myself again. The therapists from Project Teach and I made a plan and they are starting to see her a couple of times a month. They come to our house and help me learn new ways and excercises to help to stregthen her muscles. Lucy is thriving with all this work. She can almost sit up alone and can roll from her back to her stomach with ease.

I think it will just take a couple of months to get her all caught up. Cloe is having a harder time with me spending more time with Lucy and is acting out more, but I know that she will be okay with it all.

Thank you all for your love and support; especially those of you who have helped me not to beat myself up over all of this. Here are some new pictures of the girls.