4 tiny words......

...that melted my heart. Last night while I was trying/begging/pleading with Cassie to go to sleep, she said the best 4 tiny words......"I have a mama.". Not only is this her first ever 4 word sentence, but they were the sweetest words ever spoken. Cassie first called me mama in March of this year -- I think that's when it was -- even though she's known who I was for a long time now. She has just not been able to say the words -- commitment issues I guess. :) Or attachment issues is more like it. And she's had more than her share of them. But, I think we have turned another major corner in that department. Being able to verbalize that she has a mama is huge for Cassie. And having her repeat it about 15 times didn't hurt either.

My first born is finally 'getting it'. And the wait to hear those words has made them even sweeter than if I would have heard them 6 months ago. I have one smart cookie for a daughter. And she has a mama. And a dada and a sister.

We are one blessed family.

Bad blogger....

okay -- that's me. I've planned on updating the blog many times over the last few weeks and then something happens and I just don't have the time. I also haven't read any blogs in weeks either. I need to do that today too and catch up with all my blogger friends.

The girls are doing great and getting so big!!!! In the past two months Cassie has grow .75 inches and Chloe has grown 1.75 inches!!!! That's just crazy. My baby girl - Chloe - is catching up in so many ways. She's actually on target -- according to Early On - who evaluated both girls two weeks ago -- in all areas now except for fine motor skills and speech. We are going to do some speech classes with Chloe and hopefully get her talking more. She's now saying about 60 words and learning more words and things every week. Cassie on the other hand is on target or advanced a little bit in all areas except in speech. And she's only now behind a few months in speech. Like I have said before -- these girls just amaze me.

Both girls are still great eaters and love fruits and veggies. Chloe would live on bananas if we let her and Cassie would live on sticky white rice and tomatoes. Those are their favorites right now.

Even after having Chloe on two different -- expensive -- brands of probiotics she was still having lots of liquid poop issues, even with no dairy at all. I did some research on some other brands and read a ton of reviews for them and decided to switch Chloe's probiotics....again. The brand we switched her too is very cheap compared to the other two brands we used. But I figured it was worth a try since we weren't getting any positive results with the other brand she has been on for the past 3 months. She's been on them for a little over a week now and since the 4th day on them we have had solid/normal poop. That's very exciting news around here. For the past 7 months that has rarely happened. I'm going to give it another week and then try to slowing add some dairy back into her diet and see what happens. So far I'm very impressed with these probiotics.

Not much else going on around here and I'll end this post with the promise to update the blog more often and I'll add some pictures too.

Here are some pictures of our FCC picnic and also Cassie and Chloe giving lessons on the proper way to set a table. With your favorite fuzzy blanket of course. And just some other cute pictures of them. Since mama thinks they are cuties things ever!

11:56pm

At 11:56pm on August 5th 2009 -- one year ago today -- we got the best telephone call we could have imagined. It was the call about Chloe -- the second we saw her face we knew she was our daughter.



We have loved her since then and more each day since she's been home with us. We are blessed.

6 months with Chloe

Yesterday was 6 months since our Gotcha Day for Chloe. We are so blessed to have her as a daughter and sister. She's just perfect for our family. I can't believe what a happy little girl she is. And she is perfectly happy to assume the little sister role -- at least for now.

Here's the progress Chloe has made in the past 6 months.

1. She learned how to walk!
2. She can climb.
3. She can jump.
4. She can hear -- thanks to the ear tubes.
5. She has grown about 2 inches and gained 3 lbs and 1 shoe size.
6. Her red blood cells are now normal.
7. She can say 38 words.
8. She will now walk on grass with no shoes on.
9. She has cut her first 2 year molar.
10. Best of all she has a mama, dada, and a 'big' sister.

How did we celebrate the day? The zoo of course.