2 Months for Chloe!

It's amazing to think that our little Chloe is already 2 months old! And in 2 short months she has already completely stolen our hearts! Just one little smile or "coo" and we're putty!

She's smiling like a pro now and such a cutie! She's so alert and loves to look out the windows or even bat around her little toys that hang over her on the crib or her floor mat. She also sleeps like a pro too!!

Believe it or not Chloe is already practically sleeping through the night! It's not always consistent but some nights she'll sleep from about 10pm - 12am through to 6am-8 am!! It's been soooo nice to get some sleep, but I wasn't expecting her to sleep so well so soon! I was used to the night owl that Charlie was at this age. He used to looove to stay up until the wee hours like 2 - 3 am and sleep in until noon with a couple of times of waking up in-between. Maybe Chloe won't be as much of a night owl. Also Chloe still loves to be cuddled!

If we try to put her down and she wants to be held she lets us know until we pick her up again and then she dozes right off. It makes it hard to get things done but it's so cute to have a snoozing Chloe on our shoulder that we couldn't possibly be mad about it :) She did great at her 2 month appointment, she's now 12 pounds! She's growing great and the doctor said she gets an "A" We did have a tough time this past month because Chloe caught RSV (a virus that causes crud in the lungs) so we had to give Chloe some medicine through a nebulizer machine that takes the medicine and vaporizes it so she breathed it in. It was actually pretty nice because the hummm of the machine would put Chloe right to sleep every time! But Chloe is all better now like a champ! We only had 1 or two nights of extra fussiness and that's all! She's such a sweet baby and a strong girl! :)

Now for news on the rest of the family. Other than feeling like we're constantly battling the sniffles (ugh!) things have been great! We had a great time on New Year's by heading to the Snoopy Museum! They were having a special New Year's count down for kids at noon complete with a balloon drop, Root beer toast, and Snoopy dressed in his finest!! We had a blast!! Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy, the camera had a smudge on it and I didn't realize it :P


Charlie has been constantly surprising us and making us so proud! He's getting so good at identifying colors and all the letters of the alphabet! He also loves to sing songs (more like hum, or his form of singing) It kind of sounds like he's singing either the ABC song or Old Mac Donald, or Twinkle Twinkle (or all three! Who knows? ) but we're not sure at the moment. He just loves to play and march around the house humming and singing. He's doing fantastic at Pre-School they absolutely love him there! He's even making friends and learning SO much! He even gets excited whenever we drop him off. He doesn't get mad at all anymore he just runs straight in and starts playing! He's gotten so good at following directions and doing things for himself like putting his toys away and throwing away his own trash! Love it!


We also went in this past month for a speech evaluation for Charlie because he does talk sometimes, but he's a bit behind where he could be at his age. So his pediatrician said it wouldn't hurt to get him evaluated and it's free since Charlie isn't 3 years old yet. So the lady asked him questions and watched him play and after a little bit of time for him to warm up (Charlie is always shy around new people) he aced all her questions like a pro! We were so proud! There were even some questions that I thought "I don't think Charlie knows that yet" but answered right! Questions like "Where's the sleeping baby?" on a sheet of different kids doing different activities or "Where's the flying plane?" and he pointed them all out! We were both blown away by how much he really knows! So all in all it boiled down to that he wasn't diagnosed with anything because he did so well. Basically he's just a late talker which they determined has everything to do with Charlie's personality and nothing to do with how we've been parenting or how we've been talking to him or anything like that. He's just quiet. But we still signed up for speech therapy to help Charlie along to open up.

We've also started on the long fun road of potty training for Charlie. This last weekend we bit the bullet and put him in big boy underwear to see how he'd do. Well after a long and accident filled weekend he's started to get it! He'll now tell us before (or while) he goes! We don't always make it to the bathroom but he's getting there! So hopefully with more practice he'll be a full blown big boy! I know he can do it!

So looking back this has been one crazy month! And I know next month will be even crazier because sadly Bill's leave is ending soon :( Boo. And not long after I'm going back to work too! We found an amazing day care for Chloe that's even in the same building that we work in! We just need to figure out schedules and all that. But I'll save that for next month :)


Until then!!

~Karen

Happy 1 month Chloe and Happy Holidays to all!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!



Time flies doesn't even begin to describe how fast this first month has gone! What a crazy, busy and fun month it was been too! Chloe is an adorable little baby and such a good girl! We went to her 1 month checkup and she is now 9 pounds and 15 ounces and has grown an inch and a half since she was born! She's in the 75 percentile for her age and overall is a healthy happy baby girl! She's a great little sleeper and such a laid back baby. While she doesn't sleep through the night yet she seems to really know when it's night time because she wakes up, eats, and then goes right back to sleep again. She loves to be held and cuddled and has been known to take people hostage once they get a hold of her. She's also quite a delicate little peach because she hates to be cold and loves to get all wrapped up and cuddly. And she's such a strong girl too! She holds up her head and pushes up looks around all the time!

Charlie has been such a great big brother too! Every time he sees Chloe he smiles all big and does these adorable little giggles it's so sweet!! Charlie is also doing great! He's talking a bit more now, sometimes words (his newest words have been, bye-bye, go, that, num-nums and a couple of times we've sworn Charlie has said "I got it"), and sometimes he has full conversations in some sort of Charlie language which cracks me up! Charlie's also been doing SO good in pre-school! He's making friends (he loves to give hugs to all of his buddies!) and learning new things, and following directions so well! He even participated in his school's holiday sing-a-long, and though he was nervous at first he stayed up there the whole time like such a good boy!

He's mastering how to use a big boy cup rather than a sippy cup (although we still use the sippy cup when we're in the car or he's running around, he hasn't mastered how not to spill yet hahaha), and just a couple days ago he showed us how he knows how to use the trash can to throw trash away! He still also loves to turn light switches on and off and his day can't begin without brushing his teeth. Charlie also knows his shapes, colors, and we were surprised to see that he even knows a couple of letters! Such a great little guy!

We had a great Christmas too! Charlie and Chloe must have been very good because Santa was good to them! Charlie got a bunch of Hot Wheel cars, and even a track to launch his cars (he was having so much fun with it he was screaming with laughter!) and a big truck to hold all his new cars, and some new clothes, and art supplies, and a Zhu zhu pet with a car, and an RC car, and candy, and I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of! Charlie was having so much fun because there were toys all over the place! Chloe got some adorable outfits, and shoes, and some fun hanging toys that jingle and vibrate (her favorite!). Even the Boy Bunny got some carrots from Santa!

The best present though was a gift we got from Charlie! An adorable hand print that Charlie made for us at pre-school :) We LOVE it!

Then later on we had Christmas dinner with Grandma Carol-Anne and Stephen who came up for a visit. And we were very proud to put on our very first Christmas dinner that we made ourselves!! And it all turned out great!! We tried a ham with gravy and apples recipe that we found online and it turned out SO good!!! How did I survive without ham gravy all my life?!? Then we had cranberry bars and apple pie that Carol-Anne made with that new sugar substitute stuff I think it's called Stevia, and it was really good! I am very sensitive to all those sugar substitutes but this one I couldn't tell the difference! Who would of thought? We even got to try out our new Kinnect that we got from Grandpa John and we had a great time jumping around the living room HAHAHA That thing really gets you moving! Charlie even got into the fun by coaching us and being our cheerleader :) It was raining most for Christmas but the next day it was beautiful and sunny so we headed to the park to try out Charlie's new tricycle that he got from Grandpa John and Charlie had a blast!

It was a very merry Christmas at the Drastals and now we're all tuckered out! We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a happy New Year!!

Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, Charlie and Chloe

Welcome Chloe!!!

She's here!! Chloe has arrived! She came on November 22nd, at 11:46am and was 8 pounds, 20 inches long and just perfect! Everyone is home now and happy and healthy and doing great.


It all started last Sunday night when I was trying to go to bed I started feeling all crampy. But I'd been feeling cramps for a few weeks before and the Dr. said it was no big deal so I just figured it was nothing and tried to go to sleep. But those stupid cramps wouldn't let me go to sleep. So at 1am I called the nurses line for my doctor and asked if I should be worried. They wanted to make sure it wasn't false labor and suggested that I take a hot shower, relax, and see if they get worse or go away and if the pain got worse then to come in. By this time everyone was sound asleep and I was wide awake. I tried the hot shower which felt very nice but didn't relieve the pain. I then lied down and watched TV a while, I tried to hold out until the morning so that Charlie could go to PreSchool while we went to the hospital but at 4am I couldn't take it anymore and I woke Bill up and told him I think it's time to go in. So we woke up poor Charlie and threw him in the car and drove to the hospital at 5am. Bill dropped me off and then headed home to get Charlie to school and then he'd come right back to the hospital. So I got all checked in and am trying to keep it together through all the pain and they find out that I'm dilated to about 3 or 4 and that I should stay. They then ask if I want any pain medication and I say "YES PLEASE!" It was then that the nurse said that she thinks I'll have a baby by noon that day. So I got all medicated up and was starting to feel MUCH better and then Bill calls and the nurse answers my phone for me and tells Bill that if he wants to be there for the birth then he better get to the hospital sooner rather than later! So Bill books it down to the hospital and gets there by about 8:30am. I then find out that he was taking his time to get to the hospital! He even let Charlie go back to bed when he got back home! He thought he had plenty of time before the baby would come because he was used to when Charlie was born and we had hours and hours to kill before anything started really happening. But this time things seemed to be going in fast forward!! So after many apologies everything was good. Bill was there, Charlie was happy in PreSchool and I was heavily medicated :)

Then at around 11ish or so I started feeling a bit funny. But not "haha" funny. So we get the nurse and she checks me out and come to find out it's show time!! Then it's chaos as the doctor comes in and they get all the bells and whistles and machines ready and before we know it Chloe is born at 11:46am!! And she immediately starts crying the most adorable little squeaky cry and Bill got to cut the cord :) And thus starts our adventures with an adorable little Chloe girl!



And she's such a good baby! Sweet and a good sleeper and a lover of pacifiers! Even when she cries it's a cute little cry that just melts our hearts. We just had her 1 week checkup and the Doctor said she's looking fantastic! She's regained her birth weight and is very strong. She's also a little snorter it's so cute! When she gets all riled up she starts snorting like crazy and it cracks us up :) She's also a fantastic little sleeper. She even gave me a break one night and slept from 12 - 4! Such a good
girl!



As for me I'm doing great! The labor went so smoothly and afterward I wasn't in nearly as much pain as I thought I was going to have! I'm still a bit achey and my feet are still a bit swollen but I'm slowly getting back to normal. I've got a ton of great help thanks to Grandma, and Grammie, and Great Aunt Carol all coming to help us out :)



And Charlie is being a great big brother! At first he was a bit shy when he saw Chloe but slowly he's warming up to her. He's even patted her head and touched her hands and he loves playing with her toys. He's even had a couple times when he gets concerned when she cries and comes to see what's wrong. Such a good big brother! :)



So we couldn't be happier with such great kiddos and such a great family coming to lend a hand! Thanks to everyone for your help and the well wishes!!




Lots of love,

Karen, Bill, Charlie and now Chloe! :)

Charlie's 2 year checkup and Chloe's 39th week!!

Hello all!

So this morning Charlie had his 2 year old appointment and he was such a good boy! He loved all of the fun decorations at his new pediatricians office. I've never seen someone have so much fun in a doctor's office before! The doctor was very nice and fun with Charlie too. She made sure to show Charlie what she was going to do by demonstrating on Charlie's Olaf doll (Olaf as in Snoopy's chubby brother) before she'd do it on him. Charlie looked great all over and the doctor was even impressed by how well Charlie understood her and took directions :) By the end of the appointment Charlie was checking our throats with the tongue depressor and checking his own heart beat. He's a natural :) We did though sign up for a speech evaluation for Charlie because he's not really talking as many words as he could be at this age. It's free if he's under 3 so it wouldn't hurt and the Doctor is not worried about his speech at all because Charlie is so good at understanding us and all. She says it won't hurt and can only help and sometimes all kids this age need is just a little boost to get him jabbering it up. Also she said it's great that Charlie is starting preschool because sometimes just being around other kids his age will help get him to start talking it up. Yup you heard right Charlie is starting preschool! He starts tomorrow actually! He's all set with his very own lunch box and everything :) It's a great little school, Charlie even made a friend while we were taking a tour of the place so I know he'll have a great time :)

As for Chloe we're still waiting! Apparently she's a very happy baby but that doesn't mean I'm a comfortable mama :P I'm sooooo done! I want to meet this baby already! I'm doing weekly appointments now and so far nothing yet so who knows when we'll finally meet this little baby! I'm just hanging in there dealing with being super tired, having migraines, and being uncomfortable and all that fun stuff that comes with these last weeks that seem to go on forever! Keep your fingers crossed for soon because I'm officially done! Done done done!

~Karen

My little guy is already 2!!

Happy Birthday to Charlie!!!


I know I'm late with this update but I had to make a special post for Charlie! Yup, he turned the big 2 and boy was it a big weekend!!!

Let's see first there was Friday the 29th which was his actual birthday day. They were having a Halloween party at work so we got Charlie all dressed up as Robin (as in Batman and Robin) and we went and had a great time at the office! Seeing all the costumes and having all kinds of candy and treats. And Charlie enjoyed cruising around the office to see all the decorations and getting all kinds of attention.

Then we came home and had ice cream and cake and had a great time playing with all of his new toys! Our favorite being the awesome new art easel complete with chalk board! Awesome!!!

Charlie also loves his big truck tent that he got from Grammie and Grampie. He loves to climb in and then wave at us from the window. So cute!!!

So then on Saturday the 30th we headed to the San Francisco Zoo for their Halloween Party or "Boo at the Zoo" as they called it.

At first Charlie was more interested in the puddles left from the rain but after he got himself thoroughly soaked he was ready to check out the festivities! They had crafts, and candy, and special animal exhibits (I never knew an alligator could feel so soft!) and Charlie loved hanging out with Spencer (my friend Kim's son) and Charlie even learned how to tell knock knock jokes! He gets a kick out of them! And we never knew until Charlie busted up laughing while Bill and Spencer were telling some classic Knock Knocks :)

Charlie did so well that we ended up staying a lot longer then we thought we would and Charlie got to skip his nap (lucky boy!)

So then on Sunday it was Halloween!! We started the day off with some pumpkin painting and carving and last minute decorations.

Then we got Charlie in his costume and couldn't wait to take him out for his first time Trick or Treating!! So finally the sun went down and we headed out! Charlie had no idea what was going on at first, he was just excited to be heading outside so late in the day!!

We went to the first house and Charlie was all nervous. But with a little help from Daddy he saw how awesome Trick or Treating really is! He was so excited about the candy that after he would get some candy he'd want to stop and eat it :)

We went all over the neighborhood and when it started to get too chilly we headed on home to greet our own trick or treaters and it was SO much fun! Spooking the trick or treaters and seeing all of the fun costumes was great! It was a little slow at first but as the night went on (and once the Giants game was over) it started to pick up and we all had a great time!


So then by Monday we were all super tired from such a fun weekend :) Happy Birthday to my little guy!!! I can't believe it's been 2 years already!!!

A little side note on the news for Chloe....there's no news yet it's just me waiting and being uncomfortable and ready for her to come already!!

Until next time!

~Karen

Happy Birthday to Charlie (almost!)

Yup, can you believe it? Charlie is already just days away from being the big 2! How time flies!! And Charlie is such a big boy now too! He's still on that potty training road, far from accident free but he's making progress. We had a little snag when he suddenly wanted nothing to do with the potty, but with a little encouragement he's back in the saddle again (so to speak). Charlie also LOVES drawing now-a-days. He got into my art supplies boxes and loves to draw with everything he can get his hands on! He makes some pretty fun drawings too! I'll have to get some framed :) Charlie is also my big helper he's so good at helping me put away his toys and crayons. He's also found a new love for the show Blue's Clues! If it ever gets mentioned then you better be prepared to turn on an episode! HAHAHAHA It's such a cute show I don't mind at all watching it with him! So for his birthday we've planned to go to the Halloween party at the San Francisco Zoo! Charlie has his Robin costume (as in Batman and Robin) all ready to go! And we also have some fun presents waiting for him! But shhhh it's a secret :) I'll have to tell you what they are later ;)

As for Chloe news things are still going great! ....well not great great but overall good.....ok I'm miserable, she's good :) I've hit that not so fun last month like a brick wall! The migraines are back, and I'm SO tired but I can't get comfortable to sleep anymore! I think it's setup this way so that you really look forward to the baby getting here! Which I am SO ready!! I want to meet her already and be done with all these aches and pains and headaches! Blech! But through all the complaints my doctor says this is all normal and everything else health wise is absolutely wonderful so there's nothing wrong. I'm also still doing the weekly testing which monitors Chloe's heart rate and movement and all that and she's still doing so well that I'm in and out of there in 20 minutes! And they also do a quick ultrasound to check the fluid levels in there and usually it's just a quick look, nothing really special, until last week when without even trying the nurse got an AMAZING view of Chloe's face!! Even the nurse was surprised! She also said that she thinks Chloe already looks like me. Well she definitely has the chin! I think she looks like Charlie personally :) The pictures aren't nearly as clear as the screen was, but you can still get a good look!

if you still can't tell what you're looking at, it's just her face here in the picture, off to the left. And her mouth at the time was this adorable little pouty mouth, for some reason it came out as a big shadow on the picture. Really when I saw this my mind immediately said "Alright! She looks like a baby! I'm done! Let's get this over with!" But sadly no, I still have about another month to go! It'll be the longest (and shortest) month EVER I'm sure!

~Karen

Baby Shower and Reunion Fun!

Hello!!!

So last weekend was the much anticipated Baby Shower and Family Reunion in Reno!! It was put on by Fabulous Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul and we had SO much fun!!! From gabbing it up with the family, to tasty food, and goofy nights gambling on Wheel of Fortune and Indiana Jones slot machines, to an RC car derby, HUGE bubbles, cake cake and more cake, adorable baby stuff, exploring Virginia City and it's crazy graveyard, and SO much more!! We had so much fun that I didn't want to come back to real life! Charlie also had so much fun that he was talking talking talking after we got home! I have no idea what he was saying but I'm sure it was all about how much fun he had in Reno. He was a little overwhelmed with all the new people when we first got there, and he had a couple of rough nights due to the elevation difference, but after a little time warming up to everyone then he couldn't get enough! He loves playing with his cousin (and second cousins, and third cousins, and second uncles once removed etc etc etc) Charlie was also a hugging machine, everyone got hugs :) It was adorable! He also showed off his skills saying "I'm Charlie" or something to that effect. He was a great little guy and he did great on the drive which was beautiful! A little creepy though when we went over Donner Pass (we'll have to stop and check it out next time we go out there). Overall we had an amazing weekend and we can't thank Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul enough for putting on such a fun party!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! And thanks to everyone that came out it was great to catch up with everyone, I just wish I had more time to talk with everyone individually. And the gifts were SO cute! Chloe will have the most adorable outfits (especially her feet!) and it looks like we're going with a ladybug theme for her room (adorable!) I can't say enough good things about the whole weekend!

As for an update on day to day life the weekly monitoring at my Dr's office has been going great!! Chloe has been moving and kicking like crazy which is what they're looking for. At one appointment they used a small buzzer like thing (like a back massager that buzzes) to wake her up and it worked like a charm! They buzzed my tummy once and she jumped like crazy and kept kicking! And last week they didn't have to do anything at all Chloe was a mover and a shaker and I was done in no time! Go Chloe go! This weekend we plan on going and getting the last of the baby stuff that we need and finally get Chloe's room setup (I hope!)

And Charlie is officially on the road to becoming a Big Boy! We've started planning for potty training and next weekend we're dedicating the whole weekend to potty training and get the whole process kicked off! We've already got the toddler potty and he does sit on it but he doesn't really know how to tell us before he goes, he just gets angry once he has gone so hopefully everything will click soon and he can start sporting his awesome super hero underpants!

Well that's all the updates for now! Here's some pictures from the Reno trip! If you have any I would LOVE to get some more!