s'ghetti

I think it is safe to say that Grace's favorite food by a LONG SHOT is spaghetti. If I ever ask her what she wants for dinner, I can say with 100% certainty that she will say s'ghetti. In fact, if it's actually on the menu I will ask her what she wants just to give her the illusion that she's actually choosing what's for dinner. Sometimes it's giving her "her way" on the little things that will work to my benefit later on that evening. In case you're wondering...YES, I do play mind games with my 3 year old!

One thing that I've always wanted to document is just how much she loves s'ghetti. We have the same bedtime routine every night. Bath, brush teeth, stories, pray, lights out. I always ask her what she would like to thank Jesus for that day and EVERY NIGHT WITHOUT FAIL she wants to thank Jesus for s'ghetti, regardless of whether or not we had it that day. I mean, EVERY NIGHT for the past year. It's adorable.

I'm really going to miss the days when she stops thanking Jesus for s'ghetti.

Christmas 2011

Our little family of 4 actually celebrated on December 17th since we will be with the extended family on Christmas day. Starting Christmas traditions are so important to me, so I wanted everything to happen at OUR house. We spent the week leading up to 'Christmas' baking and decorating cookies for Santa, wrapping gifts, watching Grace try to guess what was inside the gifts, decorating the tree and watching the girls un-decorate and then re-decorate the tree on what seemed to be an hourly basis, baking cinnamon rolls.... You get the gist. It was a festive week.

Christmas morning was so much fun. I love seeing things thru the eyes of a child. We spent the first hour of the morning opening gifts. It seemed to take a long time since each of the girls wanted to play with each item before moving on to the next. Chloe wasn't as excited, but I think next year will be much more fun for her. Grace, on the other hand, couldn't have been more thrilled. My Little Pony was the gift of the year. She received 2 from Santa and was so excited. We also go the girls a 4 story doll house that has been a serious hit. It's so funny to watch them both play house in their own way. Grace has turned the doll house into a giant My Little Pony haven while Chloe uses every random doll, animal, Elmo and piece of furniture to first knock on the door and then enter the house. I hope this doll house brings many more 'independent play' hours ahead :-)

Another milestone this past week was Grace's first Preschool Christmas Program. She was so excited because Grandma and Grandpa came all the way up to watch it. She was also thrilled that I found a pair of pink butterfly tights to match her butterfly dress. What more could a 3 year old ask for?

We all got front row seats and had more cameras and video cameras than necessary. She was all smiles when the class walked in, smiling and waving and yelling "Hi Mommy!!" I was happy she wasn't terrified of the crowd there to watch the performance. Then the first song came...no singing. The second song came....no singing. The third song came...no singing. I think you get where this is going. She made it thru the entire program without singing ONE WORD! She didn't let that stop her from proudly clapping for herself at the end of each song.

Oh well, it was adorable and we still took a ton of pictures. Maybe the end of the year program will be her time to shine :-)

Early New Years Resolution

I decided to add my blog to my New Years Resolution list. Since we celebrated Christmas early this year, I thought it would be a good idea to start my New Year early too. At least that's what I told myself when Aaron and I uncorked a nice bottle of Champagne and celebrated till the wee hours of the morning...(technically 9PM, but one can dream).

What started out as a blog to update others on my pregnancies and many happenings of the kids slowly started to slide further and further down my to-do list. Some days I can barely keep my head above water, so updating others on my life seems like a total waste of time. Then I spoke to a friend of mine who told me you can have your blog printed as a book. That got me thinking. Wouldn't that be a cool thing for Grace and Chloe to have as an adult? A chronicle of their lives from a mother's perspective. That's something that would make the to-do list. I would do anything for my kids.

So, the blog will be up and running. If you're tuning in for pictures of the kids you will probably be disappointed. I'll be posting some, but not every time. This is for 'us' now and for as many of you who are interested in a day in the life of the Gores. I invite you to join the chronicles of our lives!

The Breakfast Club

As far as Grace is concerned, there are 3 very important things in life. Meet Ella the Elephant, Big Caterpillar and Little Caterpillar (or as Grace calls them Tatipiwar). These three friends are her constant companions. While Ella is her best friend, the caterpillars are a close second/third. They sleep with her, watch her eat, clap for her when she goes potty and everything in between.
What can I say, this girl likes an audience! Hmm, does that make them her groupies? Perhaps.

Here are a few shots of a typical breakfast at our house. I call them the Breakfast Club.

So much has happened since our last post. Will try to post a few more blog updates later. We have been very busy with a constantly moving 8 month old. The girls and I also headed to Roseburg for a few days to host Marcie's baby shower. I cannot wait for my neice/nephew to be born! I'll have to post more later. It seems I never have more than a few minutes anymore. Such is life!

Sleep is....

Sleep is....

• an enigma


• overrated or underrated - depending on whether you're getting it or not


• something you take for granted until you have kids!


• not happening in the Gore house!

Sigh, we have had our fair share of sleep issues. Chloe started out as my all star sleeper. She started sleeping in 9 hour stretches at night when she was only 4 weeks old. I thought, "YES! Finally, I have one of those babies who is a good sleeper!" And of course, "I deserve this after never sleeping when Grace was a baby."

We have lost some MAJOR ground in this area. It all started when Chloe was about 3 to 4 months old - probably about the time her teeth started moving. Why does teething ruin EVERYTHING?!

I went from waking to feed Chloe at 5am and having her go back to sleep till about 7 to putting her down at 8 and getting out of bed up to 7 times at night! Yes, 7 times! She's not crying because she's hungry, although I do feed her one of the times I get up at night. I have no idea what the issue is. It's almost like she is waking and is then unable to put herself back to sleep. I am not sure why that's an issue at night, because I put her in her crib awake and have her put herself to sleep for naps. It's driving me CRAZY! As every parent knows....sleep deprivation affects EVERY part of your life. It makes you crazy, overdramatic, irrational, short and just plain grumpy. Not a good combo when you're at home with kids all day.

One would think Chloe would sleep well during the day.

Wrong.

She only sleeps about 2 hours during the day. That's the same amount most babies her age take for one nap. I don't have the luxury of putting her on a nap schedule during the day because Grace isn't interested in sitting around the house all day long while Chloe naps (or attempts to nap) as the case may be. So, Chloe takes anywhere from 2 to 4 naps a day. Some are only 10 min in the car and others are 45 min in her crib.

Oh, and to top it all off, Grace isn't napping either.

Apparently, I just really need to vent...... Between getting out of bed 4-7 times a night and then getting up for the day at 6:30 and not having any down time away from the kids during the day, I think I'm losing my mind!

Any suggestions? I'm totally at a loss here.

Here is what we've tried:

Grace:

• Quiet time in her room. She is getting much better at this, but it's not really relaxing for me because she's yelling "I'm done!!!" almost the entire time. We set a timer so she knows when it's OK to come out, but I usually end up putting her back in there at least twice during her quiet time.

Chloe:

• I've tried letting her cry it out (on a fairly limited basis because I don't want it to wake Grace up) This just gets her even more worked up.


• Not feeding her and just giving her a paci.


• Having Aaron go in there instead of me.


• Loading her up w/ food at dinner time so she isn't hungry.


• Giving her Motrin to help w/ the teething


• She's not too hot/cold and sleeps with some white noise

Whatcha think?

Sister Love

These past 6 months with two little ones in the house have just flown by. I find it hard at times to sit back and just soak up all of the blessings. It's usually the simple moments that touch my heart the most. Chloe and Grace are becoming best of friends. Grace loves making Chloe laugh and is so sweet and tender with her. Chloe LOVES Grace. The excitment in Chloe's eyes just glows when Grace walks into a room. I love it. I feel so lucky to have two little girls. Sister love is THE BEST. Here are w few heart warming shots. I love putting them both in the recliner together. And, I LOVE it when they hold hands.

I feel like the sweetness of those pictures totally forgives me for putting BOTH kids in the chair to watch part of a Sesame Street. Oh well, my list of things I swore I'd never do as a parent grows by the day! At the top of the list are TV and McDonalds. Sigh.

Chloe continues to grow by the day. Literally. She weighed in at just over 16 pounds at her 6 month doctor appointment and measured something like 28 inches. Still holding at the 97th percentile for height. No wonder it seems like I'm constantly feeding her. I AM! She is still a mild mannered little girl. She has recently developed a severe case of mommy attachment. I mean, she doesn't even want Aaron to hold her if he's not in the same room as I am. It's difficult at times, but if the most challenging aspect about her is that she loves me so much that she constantly wants to be with me...I'll take it!

I've managed to capture a few sweet moments between sisters. I treasure these! I'm sure they will have their fare share of fights in years to come, but I hope and pray they stay best friends!

I love you girls!

Love,

Mommy

Guess Who

Grace and Chloe's baby pictures are looking more and more alike. Can you tell them apart? Here they both are at 6 months old.

#1


#2


#3

#4

#5

Answers...

#1 Grace

#2 Grace

#3 Chloe

#4 Chloe

#5 Grace

Sisters

I love that my girls have a sister. I love having a sister and am so glad they will have the chance to have the relationship I have with Marcie. Although I hope Grace is MUCH nicer to Chloe when they are kids!

Some people think they look just like each other and some don't think they resemble each other. What do you think?

5 months & more

I cannot believe my sweet little Chloe bear is 5 months old. Her personality is getting bigger and bigger every day and she demands to be included now. This girl doesn't want to miss out on anything! I have a feeling she may be an early mover in order to keep up with her big sister.

Chloe is in the middle of trying to go from 4 to 3 naps a day. Oh, nap transitions...why are you so difficult?! I think Chloe would adjust much better if we were home all day and could just let her do as she pleased. But the second child doesn't have such an luxury!

We are still working on her food allergies. I've been seeing a Naturopath who thinks her tummy troubles are food-allergy related. She put me on a very strict diet to take ALL potential allergens out of my system. Translation - I'm living off of meat, veggies, rice and quinoa. Ugh. Oh, and coconut ice cream. Cannot forget that! It's solely responsible for keeping me sane these days. So far, her tummy troubles have subsided and I'm ready to start adding things back into my diet. Slowly. The #1 perk is that Chloe is feeling much better. A close 2nd perk is that I've lost 4 pounds! The best of both worlds :-)



One of my favorite "Firsts" with babies is the discovery of their feet. Chloe discovered her feet a few weeks ago and sucks on her toes every opportunity she gets. This makes diaper changes somewhat interesting.

One of Grace's favorite things to do is to go greet Chloe when she wakes up from her nap...complete with blinged out attire.

Here Grace is giving Ella some love. She LOVES this elephant. I love this shot. You can tell she's enjoying some reflection time with Ella. I always wonder what's going on in that little head of hers.

Grace continues to be a big 'helper'. She wanted to jump right in with scrubbing the shower. Who was I to deny her? And, what better way to do it than wearing a bright red pair of Hello Kitty undies? Her new favorite thing to do is run around the house in her undies for a while in the morning. Whatever keeps her happy...

We were lucky enough to have my parents here this weekend. Grace LOVES it when they visit. She loves the constant entertainment and not having to fight with Chloe for attention. We decided to do a little painting with Grandma. Grace is quite the crafter and I just wish I had more time to spend painting and drawing with her. It's so fun!

The whole time she was painting this mini bird house (which was only $1 at Joanne Fabric Store BTW) she kept saying, "I make the birds so happy!" She was thrilled at how excited they would be when she showed them the new house she made them.

What Would You Say?

I cannot stop watching this video!

Warning: Tissue required

Day Dream

I remember a day when I would day dream about really awesome things. You know, like what our family would be like, what Aaron would look like when he was 50, different far away lands I wanted to visit, etc. Well, today I caught myself daydreaming about dairy. That's right. Dairy. I miss it so much.

Chloe is quite allergic to it and cannot handle even the smallest of traces in my system. So, I have had to cut out ALL forms. You'd be surprised at all the 'hidden dairy' in regular foods. Becoming a label reader was quite eye-opening for me. I anticipated this being the diet to beat all diets. I mean, is it even possible NOT to lose weight when you can't have butter or ice cream? Apparently it is. I haven't lost a pound since having to cut it from my diet. So irritating! But, I digress.....

My day dreams mainly consist of the treats I'll devour once I can finally add it back into my system. They are, in no particular order
1) Butter on EVERYTHING
2) Honey Butter on EVERYTHING (I guess the first two are in particular order. Butter is, by far, my favorite condiment.
3) Spinach Artichoke dip
4) Taco salad with cheese and sour cream
5) Grape nuts with real milk, honey and banana
6) Yogurt Parfait
7) Pizza
8) Lasagna
9) Goat Cheese on anything and everything!
10) Hortiki Greek salad with extra Feta

The list could go on and on....

Oh, and apparently I'll be starting a diet the following week. This cannot be good for my waistline!

String Bean

We have another string bean on our hands. Chloe's 4 month appointment was this week and she measured 26 inches (97th percentile) and weighed 13 pounds 8.5 ounces (50th percentile). That's about 1/2 inch longer and a pound heavier than Grace at this age. This is one big girl! No wonder she is constantly eating. She's grown an inch a month since her 2 month appointment!

Life in the Gore house has been on the mend this week. Both girls came doywn with a nasty chest cold. Both are feeling better but are still coughing like they've smoked a pack a day for their entire life, which I guess isn't that long, but you get the point.

We have had to figure out lots of at-home play activities since they are too sick to be around other kids but still feel good enough to play like normal.

So, we've been doing a lot of wearing daddy's shoes... Anything done in a pair of underwear and a t-shirt has been entertaining for Grace. Why the sudden need to go pants-less??


Playing in the tunnel.

Playing with her toys.

And going potty for an audience. Grace usually takes no fewer than 2 stuffed animals or toys to the bathroom each time to watch her go potty. After all, it's very exciting for them!

That's all for now!

:4 months:

My dear, dear, neglected child is 4 months old! Time to blog about Chloe and only Chloe. I'm constantly consumed by guilt that I can't spend every waking moment playing with Chloe. Oh, the advantages of a first/only child! That said, she will probably grow up to have a very easy going disposition. After all, she's not very used to getting what she wants, when she wants!

I'm way behind on blogging. So many things to say about Christmas and the fun events leading up to it, but this post is just about my sweet, sweet baby Chloe who is now 4 months old. Where did the time go?!

She is such an easy going baby. Loves to be held and involved. She has had her fair share of illness (thanks to a certain toddler who brings lots of germs home) and tummy issues (reflux that just kept getting worse), but other than that she has been quite happy.

We just graduated her from her bassinet to a crib. Grace officially moved to her big girl bed on January 1 but we had to move it to the garage for a few weeks. You know, out of sight out of mind. Chloe was much too big for her bassinet but still loved sleeping in it, so I wasn't too stressed. I did start to notice that she kept jolting and wacking the sides of it with her arms, which would cause her to wake up. Anything that causes a sleeping baby to wake up MUST GO!

In related news, she is done with the swaddle. It too kept waking her up at night. I'd go in there after listening to her grunt and whine at 2am only to find her proudly showing me that she got both hands out of the swaddle and was happily sucking on them. Again, anything that causes a sleeping baby to wake up MUST GO :-) This was actually a fairly easy transition. It's amazing how the second time around these things are just minor. I spent weeks stressing about trying to break Grace of the need to be swaddled.

We also broke out the exersaucer and walker for her. This girl doesn't want to feel left out. In baby speak, apparently that's being 'vertical' instead of always lying next to us. She's much happier now.

We also have family meals together where we all eat. Oh my, I thought having a toddler at the table was disruptive. Having a 4 month old trying to spit out rice cereal is a bit of a distration too. We had to start her earlier than expected since she was suffering so badly from reflux. We tried so many things and all forms of medicine and this was our last chance. I am happy to report it worked like a charm. She doesn't spit up nearly as much and is much more comfortable. We have her 4 month appointment tomorrow and I'm actually expecting to lower her medicine! Good job Chloe! This girl LOVES to eat. A totally different concept from child #1. Grace ate more as a novelty, Chloe eats because she LOVES to eat. This might explain the fact that she's been in 6 month clothing for a while. Curious to see how that translates on the growth charts.

Here are some shots from the past few weeks. Isn't my girl getting so big?

These first three are from this evening. Someone woke up from her last nap in a great mood. Love that!

With Uncle Brian at Christmas. A bit out of focus but one of the few shots I have of her smiling. I love that smile!

In the bouncer with Cookie Monster, her BFF.

Welcome to vertical living Chloe! Here she is in her 'command center'.

With Great Grandma at Christmas time. So sweet!

In her "My First Christmas" hat. I think the flash scares her. Check out her expression!

Grace and Chloe sharing a cuddle in the chair. Their morning routine after breakfast while Grace watches a little bit of Sesame Street.

Christmas Family Pictures

Never enough time to blog, but here are a few shots from our family photo session at my parents house over Christmas.

Talk about 3 good looking guys!


Uncle Brian and Chloe. These two bonded. Probably because both are so mellow!

Auntie and Uncle Jake. I cannot wait to be an Auntie to her kids!!!

The whole family.