You may notice I'm a tidgy bit crabby

I know this is fleeting and I know it will end and I know I will forget this ever happened but I have to say it: WHY IS NO ONE IN MY HOUSE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT? Except my husband, he's rather good at it. You guys, I am so tired. The kind of deep in your bones tired that one night of good sleep won't even touch. Not only is Chloe up two or three times a night to eat but now Noah is waking up two or three times a night and they're ALTERNATING HOURS. He comes padding into our room, pokes me in the FACE and says "I wost my bwankie/I hafta go potty/I need some water/what happened to Owen (the damn stuffed bear who he NEVER cares about until the middle of every night and is usually found in the space between his bed and the wall)?"

It goes like this:

7:00 pm: Baby nursed and fast asleep.
7:30 pm: Noah bathed and in bed, books being read.
8:00 pm: Lights out for Noah
8:09 pm: "I hafta go potty!" screamed from the top of the stairs. Note: he went potty after the bath.
8:22 pm: "I need some water!" No, he most surely does not. 
9:00 pm: He's usually fallen asleep by now.
Sometime between 10 - 11 pm: Chloe's first wake-up. Nurses like she's never eaten before and then back down.
11:00 pm: I go to sleep. Finally.
12:00 am: Noah usually wakes up, comes into our room and proceeds to poke me until I wake up. Walk him back to his room, put him in bed, refuse to "just stay with me mommy and let's talk about my day."
2:00 am: Chloe's second wake-up. Nurses, chats a bit, thrashes around in her crib, passes back out.
3:00 am: Noah is up again. Same procedure as above.
4:00 am: Chloe may wake up again, may not. It's a really fun surprise every night.
5:00 am: Annnnnd there's Noah again. This one is usually the Wost Bwankie excuse. It's always tangled up in his covers.
5:30 am: Hello (f@*$ing) alarm.
6:00 am: She's up and screeching like a pterodactyl in her crib.
7:00 am: He's up and sobbing because he's soooooooo sweeeeppyyyyy, Mommmmmyyyyyyy. No shit, kid.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Keen minds will notice that we are missing a key player in all this: my husband. That man will sleep through a hurricane. The only way he'll get up is if I PUNCH him in the back and even then it'll take him at least five minutes to respond to whichever small person is causing the ruckus. By that time I could have gotten up and handled the issue so I usually do. Plus once I hear one of them squawking I'm already awake. I, sadly, do not have the Sleep Through The Madness And Then Wonder Why The Wife Is Crabby In The Morning gene.

This morning my boss took me aside and said "You know, if I'm ever out and you need to, I have a couch in my office that you can use for a little nap." I must really look like hell because I hadn't so much as mentioned how tired I was. Awesome.

Glimpses

I hope you like looking at pictures of my kids because here come twenty of them. A little glimpse of what we've been up to this winter.

SOCCER!

SMILING!

COOKIE DECORATING!

SANTA AT THE ZOO!

MORE SMILING!

SPELLING! (and a little beginning reading...shh, I'm not going to jinx it by talking about it)

PICKING OUR NOSES!

SNOW!

SNOWMAN! Er, SNOWMOUND!

 LOVE.

Phew. That should make up for the last four months of posting near zero photos.

Chloe, Four Months

Well now, I'm glad THAT'S over. By THAT I mean the first three months. The first three months of a new baby's life are probably the most stressful for the family. There is so much adjustment and lack of control over anything. I'm so happy we've finally made it to four months and started to move past all of that. Now the fun really begins.

Um, baby girl dresses are my weakness. Why didn't you all TELL ME???

At four months, Chloe is the absolute happiest baby I have ever met. I may be partial but this girl truly smiles all day long. 

She's constantly showing off this smile to everyone she sees and causing a ruckus with the old ladies at the grocery store. They can't seem to get enough of her. I love that she's so naturally happy and I hope that demeanor sticks with her. It would serve her well in life.

She weighs in at 14 lbs, 2 oz and measures 24.75 inches long. According to her pediatrician, she's growing right on track and hitting her milestones right on time. Perfectly perfect. Full admission here but when the ped asked if she was "hitting her milestones" I had to ask him to remind me what they are at 4 months. There's that second kid syndrome again. For the record, she's rolling from tummy to back consistently, has found her fingers and toes and can grab and bring toys to her mouth. I think those are the major gross motor ones, right?

She's not sleeping through the night and I've given up on trying to make that happen. Some kids do it, some kids don't. Noah did, Chloe doesn't. Whatever. She's up at least twice but she's a fast nurser and goes back to sleep almost immediately. She's also a champ at putting herself to sleep and I know how lucky we are in that department. The only issue I see is that she refuses a pacifier and has found out how to suck on her thumb. We're in the thick of trying to get Noah off the finger sucking and I was so hoping that Chloe wouldn't follow suit. It's still early and I'll keep prying that thumb out of her mouth and stuffing a pacifier in so we'll see what happens.

Her eyes are a beautiful blue-gray and she has these ears that stick out in such a darling way. I have no idea where those ears came from but I love that they make her HER. She's lost most of her dark newborn hair and it's being replaced with a covering of pale peach fuzz that you can barely see. When we're out and about we get a lot of compliments on our "little boy", never mind for the pale pink coat she's always sporting :)

Chloe has such a calm demeanor and rarely gets herself worked up. She's content to hang out in the Bumbo or on her playmat, just observing her world as it goes on. If her big brother is hanging around, she's got her eyes locked on him and watches him intently. I can already see that she's learning so much from him...I better make sure it's all good stuff and none of this newfound Evil Superhero Business he's been partaking in. Noah is truly the sweetest big brother; she's so lucky to have him.

To be honest, I'M so lucky to have HER. I didn't know how much I wanted a daughter until she arrived and everyday I find myself more in love. Chloe's brought a feeling of contentment and completion to our family. The four of us feels really, really good.

Filler post because I haven't uploaded baby photos yet

I owe you (read: my grandmother) a four month post for Miss Chloe and I promise to do it this weekend. In the meantime you get another filler post, hooray!

I stole this from K who stole it from Jive Turkey. We're a thieving little group, are we not?

A to Z

A. Age: 30

B. Bed size: Queen. I would kill for a King but our old house won't allow one up the stairs.

C. Chore that you hate: Putting away laundry. You know it's bad when your 3 year old goes to the laundry room for clean clothes before opening his drawers.

D. Dogs: We have a little cockapoo named Lily who has massive separation anxiety. She's...special.

E. Essential start to your day: A shower. I just hate the makeupping and blowdrying that must follow.

F. Favorite color: Blue, any shade.

G. Gold or silver: Both.

H. Height: 5'2", on a good day.

I. Instruments that you play: Zero.

J. Job title: Trust Administrator at work. Chief Baby Wrangler and Head of House Management at home.

K. Kids: Three year old Noah and four month old Chloe.

L. Live: Chicago

M. Mother's name: Candi. For real.

N. Nicknames: Mama, Mommy, Hey you. 

O. Overnight hospital stays: Baby birthing in 2008 and 2011.

P. Pet peeves: The people at work who leave their dirty dishes in the sink. They must have magic fairies at home who clean up after them.

Q. Quote from a movie: I am terrible at movie quotes. Possible one of my biggest failures in life.

R: Right or left handed: Right

S: Siblings: A younger brother and a baby sister. She'll always be my baby.

T: Travel favorite: Maui for our honeymoon. Then San Francisco. I love that city.

U. Underwear: Let's not discuss the sad state of my lingerie drawer. I don't think it qualifies as lingerie in any language.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Brussel sprouts. I have TRIED so hard but no thank you.

W. What makes you run late: The children. Hands down.

X. X-rays you've had: Jaw, teeth. 

Y. Yummy food that you make: Zucchini bread (ohhh yum), enchiladas, lasagna, chicken pot pie.

Z. Zoo animal: I agree with K, penguins are the best. Our zoo CLOSED THE EXHIBIT and there may have been tears...mine, not the kid's.