As Per Requested...if a little delayed...

When we first found out that I am prego again, we hadn't decided when to tell the kids so we were keeping it kind of hush hush.

Well, one night, we were with our kids, driving home from a family party, I believe, and Rob says, "That means there are 4 Dalton girls pregnant at the same time!" Molly, the ever keen one, pipes up with "FOUR?? Julie, Monica, Maria...who else?" So Rob quickly back pedals and claims to have miscounted. That seems to mollify Molly for the moment and the subject is dropped.

A few minutes later, after arriving home, with Molly playing on the floor and Ben sitting on the couch with a book, my husband again mentions something about being pregnant. Molly once again snatches onto Rob's little slip quicker than lightning and says, "Wait, pregnant...are YOU??!?" I acquiesce because it seems theres no getting around telling them at this point. Molly proceeds to get all giddy and animatedly proclaims, many times, how excited she is about the new baby.

The next day Molly is still full of excitement and rubs my tummy several times and asks questions about the baby. At lunch time she, Ben and I sit down for a blessing which Molly offers and petitions a blessing on the new baby. After the prayer is over Ben lifts his head and asks, "Are you pregnant??" In response to his question, I laugh and say, "You are SO your father's son!" To which he exclaims, "So, wait, DAD doesn't know?!"

What Do WE Want For Christmas???

Chloe's (long over-due) Update 9 - 12 Months

Nine months:

Chloe had more than doubled her weight (from 8 lbs 9 oz to 20.5 lbs), and had grown 5.5 inches (from 22 inches to 28.5)!!!

10 months:

Chloe started crawling, recognized herself in the mirror, and became obsessed with the "baby games & books" on her mom's iPod



11 months:
Chloe she started pulling herself to a stand, crawling with proficiency, smiling while scrunching her nose, squealing at the end of a blessing or prayer, and learning some signs: 1st sign- Thank you, 2nd sign- More, 3rd sign- Please.


12 months/1 year old:

Chloe weighed 22.5 lbs and was 29 and 3 quarters inches.

She could sign:

• "thank you" (very proficiently...however when her chin/mouth area is occupied she has been known to pat the side of her head)
• "more" (occasionally....sometimes used it when she wanted to nurse since she hadn't learned anything else to say)
• "please" (once in a great while, but had somehow associated it with licking her hand and so when we asked her to say please the hand licking is what she usually came up with
• and she added "down" quite emphatically to her signing vocabulary

She continued to wave "hi" and "goodbye" to most people and some pictures and movies and even her pacifier and other inanimate objects.


She was back to pulling herself to a standing position to reach what she wanted, but she took a setback for a few weeks when she broke her broken tibia and fibula on December 8th just a few weeks before her birthday. (She didn't stand on it when it hurt her, she started again about a week before she got her cast off so we knew it was healing nicely. She got it off the first week of January.)

She began to love to "read books" during her 12th month, (both look at them herself and be read to). The first one she really enjoyed was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" which we checked out from the library around early December. After that we checked one out that featured a little baby chick named "Coco." I got it because we liked the chick's name. :) She really seemed to enjoy the book and would seek it out.

She also liked (and still does like) a Baby Einstein book featuring a mirror on each page.

She had an uncanny knack of knowing just when to shake her head or nod, whether we're asking her questions or just talking to her...either that or she understood way more than we thought she did.

She had slept through the night without eating five consecutive nights (the first few of which were quite torturous for Rob and I since we had to get up every 15-20 minutes to go let her know that we were still here but that she's a big girl and doesn't need to eat in the night) when she broke her leg and our resolve flew out the window. Consequently so did her sleeping through the night. Helping her relearn that became one of our top new years' resolutions!! We accomplished it right around New Years and she was sleeping through the night again by the time she got her cast off.

She started to cuddle things and give them loves, especially her blanket, soft stuffed animals and baby dolls. I only discovered her baby doll affinity when we were at Target after Christmas and she started animatedly reaching for some talking baby dolls in the toy section. The funny thing was that she had very definite opinions about which ones she liked and which ones she wanted nothing to do with. The only other thing that she really wanted/reached for was a "Tickle-Me-Elmo"!! :) She spotted it clear down the aisle and almost jumped out of my arms trying to reach it. When I picked it up for her to look at, she started giggling. So now I'm on the lookout for an organic cotton dolly (perhaps knitted by one of the marvelous knitters I know). ;) ;)


P.S. I hope this post is showing up now on your computer now Jan....Maybe you should get your computer checked. ;)

Picnic in the Park

One Sunday I really wanted to go to the mountains... we had a few complications and had to settle for a park

We still had fun.

Molly enjoyed being photographer for the evening.

(18 July 2010)

Chloe's First Banana.....Love at First Taste!!!

The washcloth wasn't too bad either. :P

(18 July 2010)

Out to Get WET!!

Ben, Molly, Chloe and I met my sister Amber and her kids at the neighborhood splash park.

Ben enjoyed taking care of the babies. :)
Molly and cousin Taylor had fun in the water

Cousin Paxton...not so much. :P

(16 July 2010)

Fun in the Sun on 14 July 2010

Chloe sat up on her own for the first time
while at the pool watching her brother and sister swim.

Crazy kids :)

Out for a bike ride/scooter ride/walk with Mom...

and Coco. :)

Some of my Favorite Pics and Videos from July...

Ben, Molly and cousin Cambria

at a park with a water feature.

(7 July 2010)

Coco being read to sleep.

Daddy's favorite book to read to Coco: Chronicles of Narnia.
(12 July 2010)

Ben, Molly, and Chloe....aren't they so cute!!!
(20 July 2010)

Raspberries...need I say more?

Ben and Coco playing again. (right)

Chloe discovers cucumbers... (below)
But nobody better dare touch that cucumber!!!

(29 July 2010)

8 Bits of News About Chloe

1. Chloe started nodding her head and sort of mouthing "ya" about 2 weeks ago, around her 9 month mark (end of September 2010). So now when asked a question she will most often nod her head and make a "ya" sound. However, she still occasionally shakes her head no...which seems to give credence to the times she nods 'yes.' :D
2. Also at about 9 months exactly (end of September 2010) she went from 2-3 feedings per night to 0-1!!! Hooray for Coco!!! ...Mommy and Daddy are especially elated!!
3. Last week on Wednesday (6 Oct 2010), Chloe pulled herself up onto her knees (at my sister's coffee table). She has repeated this action a few times since then. (See Exhibit A)
4. Chloe sat herself up for the first time last Saturday (9 Oct 2010) morning around 4 am. She was in her crib sleeping and Rob was gone on a business trip. He usually gets her in the night when she needs to eat. <3 (See Exhibit B: You can just make out a sitting Chloe in this blurry picture of Chloe through the video monitor.)
5. Chloe started crawling on Sunday (10 Oct 2010). Only a few "steps" at a time before she would spread her arms and legs straight out (to the side that is) and let her body flop down onto her tummy, but hey, it's progress. :-) (She's gone a few more paces at a time since then.)
6. She still likes to sleep with soft things on her face, just like when she was SO small (compared to now) :-P and used to bury her face into her soft bumper pad in her cradle. Now it's a little silk blanket that I made for her that she puts in her face when she's sleeping. (See exhibit C: A clearer view from the video monitor)
7. I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but when Chloe was only a few months old, she would get quite put out if I tried to nurse her when she was tired. I've heard that many babies like to go to sleep nursing. Not Chloe, even to this day, if she's tired AND hungry, she'll usually choose sleep over eating and if I try to persuade her otherwise, she still gets QUITE PUT OUT!! :)

8. Last Friday morning she went for 13.5 hours without nursing!! (15 Oct 2010) That same morning, before she'd even gotten up to eat, I heard her just playing quietly in her crib. After a little while I asked Molly to get her and bring her to my room to nurse. When Molly went in there to get her, she had pulled herself to a standing position against the rail and was shakily standing there...probably not sure what to do now that she'd gotten herself into that predicament. :) I've yet to witness this phenomenon myself.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Exhibit C: