Since We've Been Gone...

We haven't disappeared, I promise! But since this is the first blog post in quite a while, let me catch you up...


Fall 2011:



Potty Training

With Chloe being 2 1/2 now we thought it best to try potty training again. Things went much better than the last time, but it's still a constant battle. She knows what to do and will even tell us often when she has to go, but repeated accidents are still something we battle every day. The problem being she doesn't get upset or bothered when she has an accident, even when she gets a toy taken away or she misses out on getting a "special treat" for keeping her panties dry all day. She might get upset for a while and occasionally ask about the things that were taken away, but she really just doesn't care. SO... when someone invents a cure for stubbornness let me know. That could come in handy with more than just my 2 year old. *cough cough* Husbands too! *cough cough* (Just kidding :-))

Halloween







The princess has entered the building, literally. To mommy's complete and utter delight, Chloe Marie has discovered a love for Disney Princesses. It all started with Mommy's personal favorite The Little Mermaid and just steam-rolled from there. Cinderella is her favorite but, Belle, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, you name it and she loves it.



As you can see, Chloe was Cinderella Halloween. We ventured out with good friends, The Grimms, for Chloe's first real trick-or-treating experience, and we're still reaping the benefits from that excursion...

Thanksgiving

We were blessed to have Kris' brother Jason home from Afghanistan for a couple of weeks in early November. So my Savage family decided to throw together a little early Thanksgiving dinner while he was home with us.



Normally we spend Thanksgiving day with my mom, dad, and brother, but this year it was spent with the whole family (on my mom's side) at my grandmother's house with my great-grandparents and everyone. So that was a nice treat.

Winter 2011

Christmas

Our Christmas was as busy as ever. We spent the 23rd (or Christmas Adam ;-)) with Kris' family because on Christmas Eve we had services at church. So his family was kind enough to change everything around so we could take part in all the festivities.

The Christmas Eve services at East Side turned out to be a huge event with 756 people (the number I heard) in the 5 o'clock service alone.

Christmas Day we had our Christmas at home in the early morning, then spent late morning at my grandparent's house before having lunch and presents with my parents. After a quick nap, we headed back out again to retrieve forgotten items and visit with Kris' parents before finally settling in at home for some much needed relaxation after that crazy day.


Excited to get started opening presents




Eying the big, wrapped box in the corner...


The best picture of Christmas 2011!


Cinderella's Castle. For a "more detailed" look at her big present see my facebook page.

Well, you're caught up with us... What's up with you?

So It's Been Awhile...

I guess it's been awhile since my last post... Sorry about that, we've been busy around here. You'll see why in a minute.

Allow me to introduce you to Chloe's new favorite show. I'm talking about something that's surpassed Elmo here, people. Big stuff!

Blog Readers, these are the Bubble Guppies. Bubble Guppies, meet the Blog Readers.



They're made up of Molly, Gil, Goby, Deema, Oona, and Nonny. If you don't know who they are, I suggest you find out. Chloe loves them, and if Nick Jr. ever cancels it or stop making episodes, I think I might have to send a threatening email or something.
The only Bad thing is that the show is so new, that there isn't a ton of movies or literally 2000 episodes to choose from and record (only 15...). There aren't toys or stuffed animals or anything. So I may have to send a threatening email anyway. lol.


She went for her two year check up last week. She weighs almost 25 pounds and is just shy of 3 feet tall.
Dr. Beck gave us a prescription and a ton of tips for the severe eczema we've been battling (if you didn't know she had it, now you do). It's worked wonders! Thank the Lord!




As you can tell, she's been into dress up lately...






We went to World's of Fun for the first time (thanks to Dave and Marla, sorry Addie was sick :( ).


Chloe and Daddy waiting in line to go on the first ride!


Bird Nests!





She didn't like this one very much. I say it's because they didn't have a Jimmie Johnson car.


We were lucky to be there with good friends Markus and Veronica, and their cute, little girl, Vanna.

*See posts below for more updates on what we've been up to lately.

Potty Training Problems

I'm guessing if you've seen my facebook recently, you know that Kris and I have attempted potty training. I say attempted because it was a disaster... We tried the Dr. Phil method for 6 days, and it was incredibly painful for both Chloe and myself.

The first 4 days had only 3 successes. We would have to force her to sit on the potty, and she'd end up screaming her head off, until we let her get up. We tried bribery with ipods, cell phones, stickers, playing outside, and none of it worked.

Finally on the 5th day, right as I about to give up, we started to see a turn around. I changed my attitude, deciding to throw the positive, sweet talk out the window and just make her sit there. She could scream and cry all she wanted, but I was done with this having-an-"accident"-30-seconds-after-sitting-on-the-potty-forever business.

She went potty several times in the potty chair that day, and we had praises and potty parties coming out our ears, but she still didn't quite have it down enough for me to feel comfortable in taking her to church the next day, so I stayed home. Staying home brought me one of the worst, most stressful, and trying days as a mother in the two years and nine months I've been able to call myself one.

She screamed and thrashed and I had to practically wrestle her onto the potty. Her successes were over shadowed by her refusing to wash her hands or accept her reward. She was a brat, and half way into the day she just started refusing to go in the potty chair anymore.

We tried Pull Ups toward the end of the day, but unless she didn't have clothes on I couldn't tell if she had wet in them (except the one time she stopped what she was doing, looked down, and waited for the puddle to appear). So after an endless amount of screaming, crying, and puddles to clean up, I decided that now just wasn't her time. We plan to try again in a few months, so I'll update you on how it goes then.

This is Chloe, after her first successful trip to the potty, with her reward. She got to play with my iPod.

Chloe's Second Birthday!!!

For Chloe's second birthday we had an Elmo Party!! She has a love for Elmo, so mommy ran with it... Here's what we did:


She was dressed for the occasion, wearing her I heart Elmo shirt.


Invitations.


Our dining room turned Elmo's world.


Party favors!


Favor tags.


The very red cake...




Dorothy: The longest lasting gold fish. EVER. (3 weeks, people!)




Chloe and Daddy, with her present from us, she made at Build-A-Bear. Her name is Rosie.


Dressed up in one of the present's from Aunt Becca.


Her big present from Grandma and Grandpa. She was a little nervous at first, but she begs to go out there and "ting!" now.

Well, there you have it. That's what we've been up to. I hope you've enjoyed the posts today. Come again soon, though you probably won't see anything new for awhile. I'm worn out...

SNEAK PEEK!!!

I know, I know. It's been a long time since my last post, but we have been B-U-S-Y. Most of you may know that we've recently bought our first house (YEAH!), so there has been a bunch of unpacking and settling in, and not a lot of time for blogging... Most of you may also know that Chloe 2nd birthday is coming up (another YEAH!). We're not going as big with the party this year as we did last year, but I still managed to go all out with the theme... ELMO! I wanted to give you all a little sneak peek at what I've been working on! So... here ya go!


Gift tags.

I can't say I was going for the not-so-perfect/looks-like-my-2-year-old-is-the-one-who-really-made-this look, but I kinda like it. It sort of goes with the whole Elmo theme, and could be really good for my perfectionism...

Hope you enjoyed!

What Makes Your Hair Stand On End???

For Chloe, it's nap time... She woke up from her nap a couple of weeks ago with this lovely hairdo:




(I did not touch it one bit before taking the picture)

On the bright side, it means her hair is finally getting longer! Even on the sides it's starting to grow more!

AAAAND, her bangs are getting quite long.



I can't decide if I want to trim them or let them grow out. If I let them grow out it might cover up what's left of her mullet look, and that's oh so tempting... I guess we'll just wait and see...

Chloe Fun Facts Vol. 2

Good Afternoon, America! It's time for another edition of Chloe Fun Facts!

Ok, now that I've got the corny out of my system, here are some interesting things you might not have known about Chloe Marie Savage...

Chloe....
get's new books, filled with things she loves, all the time, but always goes for the old ones first.

will only sit through 2 television shows all the way through. Elmo (obviously) and iCarly....... iCarly is also the only "real people" show she pays the slightest bit of attention to.

has one word for every word she doesn't know how to say. It's "baba-jaba-da" (or something like that).

loves television theme songs. She comes running in from the other room if she hears one. Last night we had to play the theme song from CHUCK about 5 times (thank goodness for DVR) and she was still asking for it again. Her other favorites include The Office and The Nanny.

has hair down past her shoulders in the back, but still has only peach fuzz on the sides. Yes, it's a mullet.

and finally.....
Chloe shouts "Go! Go! Go!" any time she sees the Chiefs arrowhead or the logo for the NFL...

The Great Snow Adventure of 2010

Ok, so the title is a little misleading. But tonight was a lot of fun though. It was both mine and Chloe's first time sledding.
Kris had his own little adventure tonight as well. He was scouring the city in search of a snowsuit for Chloe and a sled. After going to 3 different places (who would've thought it would be so hard to find a sled and snowsuit in January???) he finally found them both at Target for a pretty good deal. :-)
Here's a few pictures and a video for ya...


Getting all bundled!


She loved the snow SO much!


First time down.


She even went once or twice by herself!




Wipeout!

The video is really dark and sideways, but it'll do.

The Reason Why Kids (and some adults) Are Terrified of Santa...

The picture doesn't do it justice for how creepy it truly was, but you get the idea. A back lit, Santa manikin in an I'm-gonna-get-ya! pose in they're front window. Does that not justify my fear of Santa?

Christmas 2010

Well..... Looks like I've really been slacking on the blog posts. Sorry guys.

Here's our Christmas recap........

Christmas round 1: Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Savage/Wilson family


"What's going on, Mom?"


Elmo Movies!!! As you can tell, she was excited.




Sesame Street books!!


A Toaster!


Pots and Pans!! You'd think she was getting a kitchen or something.....


Rock and Roll Elmo!!! She got Hokey Pokey Elmo too, but I don't think I got a picture of that.


Aww. She loves Elmo so much!

Christmas round 2: Christmas morning home with Mommy and Daddy


First present of the morning. I think Mommy might be more excited than Chloe is!


"Elmo! Ka-Ka!" (color)


This is her gift from Mommy.


Papi's harmonica that Mommy used to play with when she was Chloe's age!


Puzzles!


OMG! A kitchen!!!


Her present from Daddy. A brand new ELMO CHAIR!!!!


"Yeah!!!"




Daddy hard at work doing daddy things and Chloe "helping".....


Dancing and playing some music while waiting patiently for her kitchen to be put together.


A new kitchen!!!!!


"Num Num Num"

Christmas round 3: Great Grandma and Grandpa Leming's house


"Bow..." :-)




"Dee-Dee!!" (candy)

Christmas round 4: Nahni and Papi's house




"Ooo, buttons!"


"A tea set! Just what Mommy asked for for me!"