Chloe, Madeline and Grant all dressed in their "I Love Mom" pjs. 

Madeline and Chloe running through the water at a playground in Central Park. 

On the boat from Liberty State Park to see the Statue of Liberty. We never left the boat as it started pouring soon after this photo was taken. 

Holding hands and strolling the streets of NYC. 

Enjoying some ice cream. 

Melanie and her cousin Lisa. 

Christi, me and Melanie smiling outside Tennessee Mountain in SOHO. We had planned to eat there but they closed their doors forever which sent us wandering the streets in search of a "toddler-friendly" restaurant which can be hard to find. 

Christi on the train to NYC on Wednesday.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July to everyone! We had a nice long weekend and a much needed rest for Matt. The start of the holiday weekend brought the revelation that Matt will need surgery on his shoulder to remove a fatty tumor (something we knew already but has been bothering Matt enough lately to do something about it). It also brought a 2nd doctor's visit for Matt, who went to the ER for a painful ear ache. Matt has an ear infection and is now on 2 antibiotics and under orders not to swim anymore. With all that news, we had a nice, relaxing weekend.

Matt and I refer to the village where we live as Mayberry. It is so very "Americana" if that makes any sense. It was really fun to see the 4th of July festivities. Friday afternoon saw many of our neighbors packing their cars and roof carriers and heading out to the beach or other destinations. For those who remained in town, there were block parties.

On Tuesday morning, we walked into downtown for the parade. Chloe was given a little pinwheel by a local bank and that kept her entertained in between the fire trucks. I believe every fireman and fire truck within a 15 mile radius was in the parade. It also seems as if every Mini convertible and bag pipe band in the tri-state area was brought in for the parade as well.

The real highlight of the festivities was the fireworks show. There were thousands who came and spread blankets out of the sports fields as they were serenaded by elderly gentlemen playing songs from the 1950's. Things started to then kick into high gear when the Dad's Night band, comprised of the father's from 2 local elementary schools (one of which will be Chloe elementary), took to the stage. After what seemed to be a 45 minute warm-up session, they began playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Killers songs. Matt and I were impressed as that is some pretty hip music for father's of elementary school children who do this to raise money for the schools.

Chloe enjoyed the music and all the people. She danced and spent most of the evening playing the "make mommy and daddy chase me across the crowded field game". Her favorite part was running across everyone's blankets that were nicely spread out and filled with cards, purses, cameras and food. It's a good thing she is young and cute. Many were not amused as she streaked across their blanket and stomped their purse or the cheese platter they had just laid out. It was a riot to her until she got strapped into her stroller because we weren't amused by the game.

Our little village is known throughout the area for their 4th of July celebration and they hold nothing back. The parade and fireworks are not funded by the village but entirely by donations & volunteer efforts, so it is impressive that they can hold a parade and even have fireworks. The fireworks show began with a team of 3 sky divers jumping on to the field. It was then followed by the singing of many a patriotic song. When the crowd finished singing the national anthem, the fireworks promptly began. They were most impressive and long! Our village really threw down the gauntlet to any other nearby cities trying to usurp their title to having the best 4th of July festivities. I didn't think the show would ever end. As soon as the crowd would start cheering, thinking they had just seen the finale, another firework would go whizzing into the air. It was really impressive.

Chloe did well during the fireworks. Many young children were crying around us, but Chloe sat in her Daddy's lap and looked up at the sights. She didn't make it to the end of the show before falling asleep. The days events wore her out and she was easy to put to bed. No tears as we having been having of late!

More Rain

Chloe is running around the basement eating Ritz crackers and Lizzie the dog is outside for the first time today. It was pouring when we woke up this morning and 4 1/2 hours later it has stopped. The rain has been a common occurrence lately and the ground is saturated. There are fallen branches and dirt caked all over our patio. When the rain finally stops we will have some cleaning to do. Lizzie has been tracking in mud, so trying to keep the floor clean is useless. It is supposed to dry off Friday and I will attempt to clean the house then. In the meantime, Chloe and I have been playing in the basement where the majority of her toys are located. I have seized the opportunity to dust off some of my chic lit. books and have already managed to read one since the rains began this past weekend. I am now on my second. I am making pretty good time on them with stop-start reading during naps and down times. If I do manage to squeeze in 10 minutes to read when Chloe is awake, she will sit beside me with a book or magazine and pretend she is reading too. It is cute.

I have included a photo of Chloe and Daddy. Chloe has on her New York Yankees hat which has become a favorite accessory for her. She slept in it the other night and it is usually the first thing she puts on in the morning (which is when this photo was taken).

I hope you all are experiencing much better weather.

Chloe's Birthday

Chloe is officially two (even though she has been telling everyone that she is 2 for the last 5 months).We had two celebrations for Chloe's 2nd birthday. On her actual b-day, the 14th, we had a cake. Chloe's favorite part was blowing out her two candles. We had to do it twice. I bought the cake for her actual birthday. I decided to go for "mother of the year" and make her a cake to celebrate when BeBe came. Since Chloe was born in the year of the monkey and we call her our little monkey, I decided to make all from scratch a monkey cake. It was a Martha Stewart recipe. And, as it goes with Martha Stewart, some of the items for the cake could not be found...the black licorice drops for the eyes and the 1 cup muffin pan. Nevertheless, I proceeded and found out that I got in over my head! It came out ok, it looked like a monkey, but it didn't look as good as Martha's (of course). Chloe recognized it as a monkey and referred to it all week as "Chloe's monkey cake". She once again enjoyed blowing out her candles on her 2nd cake.

We got Chloe a motorized Dora the Explorer four-wheeler. She jumped right on it when she saw it, but when she pressed the button and it started off, she decided it wasn't for her. It has been in the garage ever since. When we try and coax her on it, we get a very dramatic, head-shaking, "NO!" (which is her favorite new response). Chloe also got a soccer goal and soccer ball. But, her favorite gift from mom and dad is the covered swing we got her for the patio. She likes it so much that she took a nap on it last week while BeBe was swinging her.

Chloe's BeBe came to Jersey last week. I think BeBe was pleasantly surprised by Jersey and she liked our little village. Her only complaint was the humidity, which was at its worst. We spent most of the week in NYC. Chloe was a little trooper as BeBe and mommy took her to see the sites. At Matt's suggestion, we took the GrayLine double-decker bus tour. It was really a great way to see the city. It also beat trying to figure out the buses and conquer the subway with a toddler and a stroller. You can just jump on and off the tour as you desire. Chloe liked the view from top deck and was really well-behaved on our tours.

Matt and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on the 20th. Since BeBe was here to watch Chloe, we were able to go out to eat on our own. We went to a very nice restaurant in our village and were seated next to two, very nice elderly gentlemen. Because the restaurant is so small and intimate, we struck up a conversation with the two men. They were old friends who went to dinner once a month to catch up and share in their favorite pastime, collecting wine. Over dinner, they would share 2 bottles of wine, each one bringing a bottle from his cellar (our community is BYO at restaurants). The two men wanted us to celebrate and since they had farther to drive than us, decided to share their 1975 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon and the 1987 Chateau Montelena. Even if you don't know wine, you can tell that they are both very old bottles of wine. For those of you who know wine, you would also know that that they are VERY expensive bottles of wine. These two guys weren't just playing around with wine, they were connisseurs of wine, each having about 4000 bottles in his collection that they had each been collecting for over 30 years. It was a great anniversary gift from 2 very nice strangers with whom we had a nice conversation about their lives, grandchildren, travels, the Andy Warhol painting that one owned & our daughter Chloe. We just had to save the empty bottles of wine as a souvenir of such generosity and of course to prove the story. All in all, it made for a memorable anniversary. Oh, and BTW, they were both fantastic wines. The Silver Oak was fantastic as it should be for a $1000 bottle of wine.

BeBe left on Saturday.The weather for the week was nice (but hot and humid) but it started to rain on Saturday and is supposed to keep raining for the next 5 days! Yikes!

Finishing Touches

Before we left on our trip to Dallas, we attended the Northern NJ group of FCC-NY's Dragon Boat races. It was lots of fun to see the little girls dress in homemade dragon boats and have a land race. We also got to meet some fellow adopters from our town. Chloe enjoyed the day and was very tired. She passed out in the car on the ride home with her milk cup in her mouth. Poor buggy!

Our trip to Dallas was a success! Matt returned to Jersey for work on Wednesday and my three day stay in Dallas stretched out to 5 as I stayed on to fly back with our dog, Lizzie. The entire family is now together! Of course, our 2 cats, 2 fish and a lot of other junk are still at my parents house, but that's why we are calling it a success!!! Ha! Ha!

It was nice to see my parents and Chloe immediately got back into the groove with Papaw and Bebe. She remembered the horses out back and she also remembered how to boss the cats. She loves to spend time outside with Papaw and play in his car. Her love of the outdoors garnered her 4 mosquito bites. What would be normally be just 4 itchy bites on anyone else turned into an allergic reaction on Chloe. Her bites swelled and looked terrible. After some applications of hydrocortisone and some Benadryl all is looking better.

The weather in Dallas was a delightful 101 degrees. Ah, warmth! My internal temperature gauge was needing June in Dallas. Of course, I return to 60 degrees in Jersey on Saturday but that's ok, everything is green here and not brown from a drought! It may not be a delight to my internal temperature gauge but my flowers and green, green grass is a delight to my eyes!

Other than basking in the heat and enjoying a swim in a pool that would only get to that temperature in Jersey if it was heated, we did manage to accomplish the important tasks that really brought us to DFW. Matt and I were fingerprinted by Citizenship & Immigration on Tuesday for adoption #2. However, they forgot to put my parent's on the fingerprint notice and they will have to wait to go get their fingerprints done. We won't get our last piece of our dossier until they get fingerprinted. We squeezed in a few doctor's visits and we sold my car (sob!). We only need one car right now and my little red BMW didn't make the cut. So, I say a fond farewell. And, to those who know what a car fetish we have...can you believe we only have ONE car? And, even though Matt drags Chloe and I to car dealerships, we will not be purchasing another car.

I also was able to catch up with my close friend, Stacie and her one-year old daughter, Cameron. I am so glad that I could introduce her and get her hooked to shopping at Gymboree. You just have to buy something when it is buy 2, get 1 free and it's GymBucks time!! Of course, she will have to return to Gymboree at the end of July to redeem her GymBucks!

Now that we are back home, we are planning on the celebration of Chloe's 2nd birthday this Wednesday. She has no clue it is her birthday and she appeared completely clueless today as I shopped for her gifts, determining what she liked as she squealed up and down the toy aisle. Of course, we will have the gifts on Wednesday, but we will save the real celebrating until Bebe arrives this weekend. (I don't think Chloe will know the difference.)

I just can't wait to hear what my mother thinks of the northeast. This will be her first time in NYC and I hope she enjoys her stay in the Garden State.

Speaking of visitors, we are getting excited that my college pal Melanie will be coming in July with her son, Grant, and her cousin. I am also thrilled at the prospect that my other college pal, Christi, may also come out at the same time with her daughter. Matt will have to clear the house with all of us under one roof. Melanie and Christi are my best friends from college and both were bridesmaids at Matt & my wedding. They both reside in California now (how bizarre...one in the San Francisco area and one in the L.A. area) and they are both amused that I am a Yankee now! I guess they have to come and see how I am surviving north of the Mason-Dixon line.

I will combine Chloe's two birthday celebrations into one post, so look for it later in the week.

Happy Memorial Day

Be careful what you wish for...I wished for warm weather and my wish came true. The temperature is in the high 80s but the humidity makes it feel like it's 100.

We had a nice long holiday weekend. Matt came home from work early on Friday and we had dinner in town and afterwards we went for ice cream. Chloe was delighted because she got 2 of her favorite foods: ice cream and french fries!

On Sunday Matt fired up the smoker for some Texas BBQ. We enjoyed our brisket and links outside. Chloe discovered the joys of cold watermelon on a hot day. She was covered in watermelon juice. I think it is safe to say that watermelon could be one of her favorite foods now.

On Memorial Day, we participated in the local run. Matt liked the cars on display. The local Lotus dealership had an Elise on display (see photo). We did the 1 mile fun run along with the other families. Chloe got a medal for participating. She wore it all Monday and attempted to wear it to The Little Gym today. We enjoyed our 1st Memorial Day in Jersey. We truly like our little village and find it charming.

Mr. Golden Sun!

I was delighted to have woken up this morning to find sunshine streaming in through the windows. I actually thought we left the front door open as so much light was coming through into the foyer. Could it be possible that spring has sprung here in Jersey? Might we actually be able to turn off the heater in our house and break out the shorts? After all, Memorial Day weekend is coming and June is around the corner!

Yesterday at the Little Gym, I was introduced to the world of nursery school. As a first-time mom all of this is so new to me and I constantly question when I should be putting Chloe in different activities. Apparently nursery school is highly sought and researched among the mothers in the area. I got the low-down all the nursery schools which were all play ("and you don't want that") and steered to the nursery schools that were more academic ("especially since you have a bright child"). Chloe's not even two! I didn't know we were supposed to have her pre-school days mapped out! Apparently we have fallen behind, I was seeing Chloe's future crumble and us having to shell out money to send her to after school tutoring because I failed her in nursery school. Then I came to my senses. She's two. If I wait until she is 3, what is she going to miss out on? Granted, there is a social aspect to nursery school which helps children learn to share and get-along. But, doesn't she get that from her swimming, Little Gym, storytime and music classes? The drama can just suck you in! After giving it some thought (some non-emotional thought), I will revisit the thought in October and stick with my original 2 choices for nursery schools in the area, one which was recommended by our realtor and the other which is a co-operative school and employs the parents as helpers and facilitators (hey, I am a certified teacher). Neither of these two nursery schools made it on the top of the list at yesterday's discussion and they were deemed as "too playful", but hey she's a toddler.

Culture Day

This past Saturday we attended FCC (Families with Children from China) Greater NY's Culture Day in Jersey City. It was a sunny day but a little windy. Matt thought is was a beautiful day and I thought it was way too cold for the middle of May. It just proves the geographical differences in our upbringing. That was an English summer day to Matt and it was February in Texas to me. My internal thermometer tells me it should be 90+ outside and that I shouldn't be running around in long-sleeves and a fleece in May.

The weather never seems to phase Chloe. She came to party, after she woke up. She was asleep the first 40 minutes we were there and then she awoke with a renewed vigor. In fact, she woke up dancing to the sounds of the Chinese dancers on stage. She was in perfect Chloe form. Even in a crowd of 300+ people, all with children from China, she makes herself stand out. She wore her orange sunglasses the entire time we were there and she wanted to inspect everything. She took some time out to color and then decided she wanted to ride on Daddy's shoulders to inspect the happenings inside the train depot where the vendors were set up. The hightlight of Chloe's day was when she danced on stage in front of the crowd. Of course, there was a Chinese language/dance performance going on at the time, but Chloe felt free to join right in.

We all had a great time. It was a nice family day out and it gave us a glimpse at all the things we could expect Chloe to get involved in as she gets older. It was a pretty amazing site to see the size event that FCC- Greater NY can put on with it's 2000 member families.

The rest of the weekend was spent working around the house. The basement is nearly complete and marks the end of our unpacking of boxes. All of Chloe's toys are now spread out in the basement and she is delighted to have rediscovered them.

In other news, Chloe has now been in timeout twice in the last week. I can't say it seems to phase her. The first time was because she threw here little peep eggs (a toy) all over the floor and threw them at me and then refused to pick them up. The second was when she slammed the kitchen drawers and baby-mumbled/shouted back at me when I wouldn't let her play (mom's definition: pull it all out and make a huge mess) with the plastic baggies and plastic wrap in the kitchen drawer. I can't complain, she is a happy baby and is great the majority of the time. Most of the misbehavior comes when she is tired or hungry.

Chloe was very happy today to get a big box from BeBe full of new books. We have already read them all, except for one and which we are saving for bedtime tonight.

I am now waiting for the DirecTV technician to arrive to re-align our dish from all the wind and rain we have been having of late or to fix the splitter (or just figure out why we aren't getting all of our channels...like the ones we watch). I have been waiting since 8 a.m. He was supposed to be here between 8-12, but now it is 1:30 p.m. and he still hasn't shown or called for that matter. I called to find out if Chloe and I would be captive in our home all day as it looks like it may not rain today and was told that they couldn't get in touch with him but assured me he would be here within the hour (that was the 12-1 p.m. hour). Once again I find myself singing the praises of the customer service in the area. Apparently I need to permanently lower my expectations, though I feel that if I do I will still continue to be disappointed. If I had only subscribed to regular old cable....KNOCK! KNOCK! They're here! I have to go if I ever want TV again.

Visitors!

Aunt Deanna and Uncle John came to visit last Wednesday and stayed with us through the weekend. It wasn't the best circumstances which brought them out, John's father passed away, but we enjoyed seeing them.

The weather through their stay was rainy and a little chilly, but we did have one good day of weather, Saturday. We walked into the village and had dinner outside at the local Greek restaurant and had a really great time. We ate like pigs throughout the weekend, and Chloe got to explore some new foods like sushi, which she bummed off Uncle John and she tried fried calamari, which she found to be a little chewy.

Chloe is fast approaching two and she is really coming along. I took her for a haircut today, as her bangs were in her eyes. No one caters to children's hair and I have a bug to start my own Snip-Its franchise though I know nothing about cutting or styling hair. I just can't believe that the closest children's hair salon is in NYC with all the little ones around. I know my child has a lot of hair, but it is really a more pleasant experience taking them to a kiddie hair salon vs. the adult salon. I ended up taking her to a local hair salon and she sat in my lap to get her haircut. Chloe looked confused as to why she was in my lap and why there was no "Baby Einstein" on a tv for her to watch while her hair was being cut. Instead, she settled on trying to look at what the stylist was doing with the scissors and turning her head everytime she went to make a cut. In the end it all turned out ok.

Chloe never ceases to surprise me and last week, while we were playing in the yard, she called out to me..."Shannon!". Isn't she a little young to be using my first name? I thought I would get to wait a couple of years before she figured that one out. I informed her that I was "Mommy". Hopefully it worked, as she hasn't called me by my first name again. I think with all the company and Matt she has figured out who Shannon and Matt are.

We are still finishing up some projects around the house. I went and bought some paint today for the family room, kitchen and the dining room. When I finish with that little project, I will move on to our master bedroom. It is supposed to be cool and wet here for the next few days so I thought I would seize an opportunity to get some things done indoors.

Chloe'a U.S. Passport arrived today. We had it expedited and it only took a week and 2 days! That was fast. It is so cute.

GOTCHA DAY ANNIVERSARY

Today marks the one year anniversary that Chloe came into our lives. Chloe was unaware of the significance of today as she is too young to comprehend. To celebrate we went to a county park to play. Chloe had a blast until she climbed on a picnic table where a bird had just pooped and got it on her shirt. Actually, Chloe was fine with the bird poop on her shirt. It was me that wasn't ok with it. Chloe didn't quite understand what the fuss was about.

Needless to say, today marks the most important date in our lives, the day Chloe came into it. She has changed so much in this one year. She is a champion eater after refusing solids for the first 5 months we had her, she is now running, jumping and dancing. One of our favorite things Chloe does now is hearing her sing an original Chloe composition. It usually involves whatever is going on around her and it usually involves Mommy and Daddy and the word "sing" is always a part of her tune. She will strike up a song to Daddy's arrival on the train ("sing, daddy ride train, choo choo") or Mommy purchasing a coffee at the local coffee shop ("sing, mommy makin' coffee. Hot.").

Chloe is pure delight and is so laid back and yet she is so friendly. I came out of my spa day Sunday to discover she had participated in giving some random man a pedicure at the Bliss Spa. Matt said she found herself a pupil and she told him all about his toes. I am also amazed at how fast she picks things up. On the train ride into NYC Sunday she saw a poster advertising GEICO Car Insurance and she pointed to it and told me "GEICO, Gecko". And, as we passed a Starbucks today in the car, she told me "makin' coffee". For a child who doesn't even average an hour a week of TV, the Madison Avenue execs who designed those two advertising campaigns sure reached her.

This past year with Chloe has been one of constant change and she has developed into a well-balanced toddler. We couldn't be happier nor could we love another child more. We have to thank Chinese Centre for Adoption Affairs for making us a "forever family".

You Say It's Your Birthday!

My birthday was yesterday. In celebration I scrubbed and sealed the kitchen tile. What a party. It was so wild I injured my back being hunched over.

Chloe and I went to the Duck Pond, a county park that suprisingly enough is a pond with ducks and geese. There are walking trails, a dog park and a playground. Chloe and I had a picnic and were accosted by a goose. Chloe then played and we walked around the pond. I had to call it quits when she chased after the ducks and geese and tried to follow them into the pond.

Matt came home early and we went to eat at a local Indian food restaurant. Chloe behaved and managed to slurp down all of Matt's mango drink. The highlight of the meal is when Chloe let loose in her pants and shouted to the other diners "TOOT! TOOT! TOOOOOOOOT!" Matt laughed hysterically, our waiter, who was at the table, grinned and I tried to pretend to ignore the event. Of course, that wasn't good enough for Chloe because she was telling Mommy that she had tooted and wanted my seal of approval.

On Sunday I get to enjoy a day of pampering at the Bliss Spa in NYC. It is a gift from my dear hubby who had to twist some arms to get me an appointment (apparently it is quite a hot spot right now). Matt and Chloe will be enjoying Central Park and FAO Schwarz while I get a massage and facial. Ahhhhh, Bliss!

Chloe's birthday is coming next....the BIG TWO! I Tivo "Martha" (yes, yes, I do) and got my cake idea yesterday. Chloe is getting a monkey cake. I figure if I write it down on the blog then I have to do it.

Included in the photos of our afternoon at the Duck Pond is a photo of Chloe taken by Aunt Deanna during our Easter festivities. I thought it was too good not to put on the blog.

1, 2, 5

After the weekend the house is back to looking like a disaster area. Matt started on the boxes in the basement and even though he cleared out about 10 boxes, it still looks like we haven't done anything in there. Matt was also able to assemble the new lawn mower and cut the grass/dandelions/wild onions. We don't have the best looking lawn on the street, but we are not digging up the yard and reseeding. No thanks.

We purchased a patio table and chairs and a chimenea for outside. We also went and bought a flat screen tv for the basement. Matt believes it is for the family room and that he can dismantle his 52" giant tv and get it into the basement. When he asked the salesman if he had ever dismantled a 52" freestanding tv, the kids just laughed and laughed and told Matt he was insane. Well, there's your answer honey, we just bought the new tv for the basement. It looks like the giant tv is staying put in the family room.

We also bought some new 2" blinds for the bedrooms as we had some lovely aluminium blinds circa 1985 on the windows. Of course, none of these got put up this weekend as Matt spent his time putting the new tv and all the 5000 components together in the basement.

I got Chloe's room painted. It's pink of course and is beginning to look just like her room in the old house. I guess I don't have an original idea in my head.

After our successful trash pickup we were skipped over again on Friday. Instead of putting it out at the curb you are apparently just supposed to leave it in the backyard and they will go back there and get it. Nice, but that isn't going to work once Lizzie, our nutty English Setter, arrives. I hope they return stray dogs to their yards too.

Chloe has taken to counting the stairs in the house. There are 15 steps going up to the floor with her room. She counts 1, 2, 5, 8, 10....and lets me fill in the gaps. I was shocked to learn that she knows which coins are which. She can pick out a quarter, a dime and a penny. She doesn't seem to care too much for a nickel. She should know these items well because she is always digging through my billfold and change purse. She loves "money". Who knew it would begin at 22 months of age? She is also beginning to put sentences together. For instance, she accused me of putting soap in her eyes during Friday evening's bath ("Momma soap eyes, Chloe cry"). Of course I didn't put soap in her eyes. She helps shampoo her hair and then promptly takes her soapy hands and rubs her eyes. But, I am the mother and I get the blame. I love how all of her first sentences are so accusatory and all aimed at me. Her very first 2-word sentence was one to cherish, "Momma's mean".

In an effort to get so much of the focus off me and to socialize outside the momma and Chloe circle of pals, Chloe begins the Little Gym tomorrow and we begin swim lessons at the local YWCA on Friday. I also joined the Newcomer's Club in our city. We are also getting to meet more of our neighbors as they stop by to introduce themselves. We discovered in this grass-obsessed city that people will come out to see what you are up to when you do any garden or lawn work. Of course, maybe they came out to see if my husband was making a joke at their expense when he found the little orange cones I used to teach a children's golf camp one summer and placed them around the perimeter of our yard.

My aplogies that I have no photos with this post. I will take some of Chloe and publish them with our next posting.

SUCCESS!!!

I am happy to report that our trash was collected!! Apparently sarcasm works around here.

I took my excess clothes to the recycle center to donate them. I included a photo. In order to get all of our clothes in the house I had to discard some. I am a bit of a clotheshorse and still have plenty to wear. Matt says he doesn't want to see the photo. I guess it will just annoy him at the amount of clothes I had. I know it annoyed everyone who helped unload the moving truck. If I could have only cleared out all of these clothes BEFORE they were brought inside the house.

I took Chloe to IKEA yesterday to pick up some items. She was playing in one of the many play areas and picked up the dreaded word that most toddlers possess in their vocabulary..."MINE". It is amazing how they can pick up certain words so quickly. A little girl was riding a rocking horse and Chloe walked over to say hello. The little girl, thinking Chloe was after the toy, shouted "MINE". Well, that was it, Chloe was sold on the word. She immediately ran over to a chair, hopped in it and shouted "MINE". She then got up, ran over to a stuffed animal, picked it up and shouted "MINE" back at the little girl. Wonderful.

It is a bright and sunny 70 degrees here today so we took a stroll through "Mayberry" (as I affectionately refer to our town). I think when you tell people that you are moving to New Jersey they automatically visualize Newark and The Sopranos theme song starts playing in their heads. I am here to report that our town does not fit into any of those stereotypes and am certain that our friends and family would be pleasantly suprised, if not shocked, at the quaintness of our village. Anyway, I digress. Chloe and I took a walk to the park and she played and then we strolled into town. All the shops are having a sidewalk sale and we strolled through downtown and stopped for some pizza. Chloe loves pizza now and she finished her slice quickly and then jumped out of her chair to chat up the table of ladies next to us and to do a dance for the entire restaurant. Chloe wanted to walk from downtown to our house (not quite 1 mile) and push the stroller. Pushing the stroller lasted until the 1st hill and then she began pulling dandelions out of people's yards and attempting to blow the seeds everywhere. The grass freaks of New Jersey would like to send a shout out to Chloe's PaPaw for teaching her this trick and for helping spread the dandelion weed to their yards. Viewing all the torn up and re-seeded yards on our walk, I was careful to explain to Chloe to stay on the sidewalk and not walk in people's grass. I was afraid one of the neighbors who spent 10 hours destroying then re-seeding his yard would also have set out alarms in case your 22-month old accidentally stepped underneath the caution tape and cones into their prized lawn. Luckily, we made it home without any incident and now I have a sleepy toddler who informed me it was nap time. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! We are taking this walk everyday!

On a side note: Matt and I discovered this morning why the former owner of the house left behind a major stash of light bulbs. We thought they just had a light bulb fetish. Well, we have had to break into that stash too frequently. As we wake up in the morning and turn on the lights we sometimes get to hear a "Pop" and the light bulb goes. Are they cheap bulbs? No, it's wiring circa 1925! I guess it's one of the joys of an 80 year old house and it answers the riddle to why the previous homeowner left what we thought was a lifetime supply of light bulbs in the house.

Mommy's Little Helper

Chloe has become quite a little "helper" around the house. So much so that I had to put child-locks on the cabinets to keep her from helping. While her help is appreciated, I think I may lose my sanity if I have to put the pots and pans back in the shelves or even the dirty dishes back in the dishwasher. I did leave her access to the dust pan and broom (as you can see from the photo) which is pulled out every morning and several times thereafter.

It looks like it will be a beautiful and cool day here in Jersey. I am ready to paint Chloe's room, but must admit I am not feeling moved to do so. Chloe has insisted on helping on every task and I know that she will insist on this one. I am not certain that my nerves are up to removing paint from her hair.

Our trash has still not been picked up, we have now been skipped 3 times for trash collection. I called and filed a complaint on the sanitation phone line. I asked for the secret to getting one's trash collected in the village because our obvious tactics of leaving it at our curb on our pick-up day and going to their office and having the account switched to our name was not working. I haven't heard back from them. I am not sure whether they will appreciate my sarcasm but imagine that they are replaying my message and laughing at my hillbilly Texas accent and trying to decipher what I am saying. "Is she telling us she wants a filet-o-fish?"

Chloe and I are going to the recycling center to drop off a bunch of unwanted clothes and to attempt to get our recycling containers again. We stopped by on Monday but no one was in the office. Maybe today will be our lucky day and we can at least unlock the riddle to getting our aluminum cans and newspapers collected.

What did she say?

We are slowly, but surely settling in to the new house. I have to go to the village hall because we have been skipped twice now for trash collection. The clutter is starting to build up. You pay your sanitation separately here and apparently they work better on tips. Hmmm, maybe I should stake a $20 bill to the pile of rubbish accumulating and see if that works.

I am at the point of frustration now in unpacking. Things have to go up and downstairs (we have a 4-story house with the walk-up attic) and Chloe doesn't do so well on the wood stairs. She also insists on helping, which usually means she just makes a bigger mess or puts what you just took out of the box back in the box. She means well.

I still haven't put up my clothes as our master bedroom closet is the size of our last linen closet. Matt is going to have to build a closet out of the 4th-story attic.

I unpacked all of Chloe's room items today and she got really excited to see all of her things again. They are spread out all over her room. I want to paint before I start hanging things.

Matt is coming home early today and we are going to go and do some damage at Home Depot.

Before I sign off, I must tell the story which relates to the title of this blog. Yesterday, Chloe and I ran a few errands in Suffern, NY. We got delayed thanks to the check-out lady who refused to pick up and scan my items herself but made me individually hand them to her (what a nutter). But that is another story. Anyway, we drove through a McDonald's because Chloe was hungry. I ordered a cheeseburger happy meal and the girl working the drive-thru repeated back, "One filet-o-fish". I said, "No, I don't want a filet-o-fish, I want a cheeseburger happy meal". And she then repeated back, "a filet-o-fish and a cheeseburger". I said "NO! I don't want a fish sandwich, I just want a cheeseburger happy meal" and to that she replied, "a filet-o-fish and a medium fry". This is the point that I began to search for the hidden camera, not seeing it, I began to freak. She told me to just drive to the first window. I was then greeted by the girl and a young man who asked me what I ordered. I again stated "a cheeseburger happy meal". The young man responded, "oh, she wants a happy meal....what kind?" Ugggh! I repeated "cheeseburger" and he told me the amount to pay. Just as I was about to drive off I told the young man, "You know, I may be from Texas, but English is my first language." His response, "is that where that accent is from?"

We're In!

What a joy it is to move. Why don't we do this more often?!?

It's Wednesday, the moving truck arrived on Saturday and I think we have just about dug ourselves out of the maze of boxes in our new home. That is not to say that there aren't lots of boxes still around. I'm stealing a few moments to write this as Chloe and I wait for Directv to arrive. They called over two hours ago to say that they would be here in an hour.

We were supposed to move in Friday, but our closing wasn't until 1 p.m., so we had the moving truck arrive on Saturday. Since we couldn't move anything in, we decided to start on some renovations and ripped up the carpet on the 2nd floor to discover beautiful wood floors underneath. Deanna and Matt filled the garage with the carpet. After we settle in, we will start of the 2nd phase of sanding and coating the floors.

Moving day was a chore on Matt, our truck driver Doug and my sister Deanna. We did get some help for 2 hours from our realtors son and his friend. I got lots of comments on the amount of clothes that Chloe and I had and the amount of kitchen items. I think those items together made up half of the moving truck.

It took me 4 days to finish the kitchen. So far the kitchen, living room, dining room, family room and bathroom are unpacked. I don't want to even fathom the pain that I will feel when I start on my clothes. I am holding off on that task for another day or so. My clothes are currently on 3 levels and Chloe is not to keen to have Momma running up and down stairs while she waits on the 1st floor. It is a project that will have to be started when Daddy can help.

So, back to the move-in excitement....Well, after starting to unload at 9 a.m. we were able to get everything off the truck by 4:30 p.m. The biggest disappointment of the day was that none, and I mean NONE, of our furniture fits in the basement. Now, our furniture would fit in the space if there wasn't a structural pole sitting at the end of the stairs, blocking the entrance into the basement. We couldn't get our couch, or big screen TV to go into the space, that's after knocking a giant hole into the pole. Luckily, Matt and Doug were able to get the washer and dryer into the basement's laundry room. But, unfortunately the plug for the dryer had been turned off and we had to hire and electrician to rewire it. I hate doing laundry, but I love my front loading washer and dryer and after having all of our sheets, bedding and towels in storage for 5+ months, I wanted to wash those items. I wasn't able to do that until Tuesday.

During our move we realized that we left some important items behind in Dallas like the rails to our king bed, our grates to our grill and a few other items. When we moved out of our house in Allen, we thought we were going to McKinney, not northern New Jersey. So, our packing wasn't the best. We also didn't have a clue that we would be moving into a smaller house. Lets just say that we have plenty of stuff for a garage sale.

Sunday, we hid Easter eggs and let Chloe search for them in the backyard. She didn't seem to understand why she was hunting eggs, but she had a good time searching for them. She found all 14 with the help of Mom, Dad and Aunt Deanna.

During all of our moving in drama, we had a plethora of neighbors come out to meet and check us out. They all seem nice and there appears to be a lot of children in the neighborhood. As I was told by one of our younger neighbors, "I hope you like kids because there are a lot around here!"

I don't think I could have accomplished anything without my sister, Deanna, coming in from Colorado to assist us with moving in and helping out with Chloe. Chloe enjoyed having "An Nana" here too because she gets to try new things, like Altoid gum. Yes, "An Nana" gave my 22-month old Altoid gum. Scary thing is Chloe seemed to like it. Despite the gum incident, I have to give a note of thanks to Deanna for taking Chloe to the park while I unpacked and making Easter dinner in a pinch.

Chloe also seems to be enjoying the laoyout of the new kitchen. I put her fruit snacks in a bottom shelf that she can reach. About 15 times a day she now brings me a bag of fruit snacks, which she calls "snaps" and wants me to give them to her. We have had some meltdowns today as she has been told "no more snacks". Being denied her 8th bag of fruit snacks, she then asks for chips. I am beginning to rethink the location of some food items in the kitchen.

For the last three days in the new home, I have been intrigued by the lawn maintenance of my neighbors. I have to go to the local lawn & garden center and have a professional explain the why and what for of the events occuring around my home. All day long we can hear the lawn mowers, aerators and roto tillers scalping and then completely ripping up people's front yards. We are one of only a handful of houses that has not anihilated the grass in our front yard, reducing the lawn to dirt. Yesterday, we watched our neighbor spend as much time destroying his grass as it took us to unload our moving truck! And today, my neighbor across the street is paying someone to destroy his lawn. I must find the answer to this mystery. Deanna "Googled" lawn care for New Jersey and we found no rhyme or reason to this phenomenon occuring around us. I have to believe that destroying and digging up your grass must yield a more beautiful lawn. If not, then I have moved to a city of nutters.

Despite the pain of moving, it is a relief to be back in our own home again. Matt says that he hopes I like the place, because we aren't moving again.

Well, Chloe has brought me some more fruit "snaps" and is now telling me "hit" (what she does when she gets mad) because I won't let her have them. She's putting on a good show for me...someone is definitely approaching two-years old. Anyone that gets that worked up over not getting a fruit snack needs a nap. We're off for a little shut eye.

The Garden State is Now Home

Chloe and I arrived in our new home state late last night. Friday's closing will make New Jersey officially our home.

Our departure from Texas was bittersweet. I have lived outside of Texas before, but I always knew I was coming back. This transfer has been a long-time coming. Matt & I feel that this move is best for our family, as Dallas doesn't hold too many opportunities for his business. Matt's in the "big leagues" now in NYC, and it has been a goal for him and his business to make it to this level.

Since we arrived in at midnight, Chloe and I slept in late today, . The weather here is bright and sunny and around 68 degrees. I feel like I am getting to relive spring all over again! We stalked our new home and checked out our new hometown. Everything is in full bloom and the town looks like Mayberry, very idyllic.

In an odd twist, our realtor called us this afternoon to tell us that the 1st house we put an offer on was now back on the market. The people whose offer they took over ours did not get a mortgage. We both offered the same amount for the house, but they took the other offer because it seemed more solid, they were putting a HUGE amount down on the house (almost enough to outright buy the house). As it turns out, that downpayment was untrue and the couple couldn't qualify for a mortgage. When they told us they accepted the other offer, they said if it fell through, we could have the house. Well, they stuck to their word and called us, but unfortunately for them, they found out their offer wasn't going to materialize the same week we are moving into another house. I do feel bad for them. They were supposed to close this week too, and only just found out. Their realtor said they had already packed up and moved out in preparation for closing.

My sister is coming in tomorrow from Denver to help watch the Chloester while we move in. I am going to take lots of photos of the move-in. For those of you who know, when we sold our house in Texas, we were only supposed to being moving one town north. But, as fate would have it, this became a cross-country move. We have 3800 sq. feet of stuff to cram into a 2400 sq. foot house. This should be interesting. Add to the mix that we hired our realtor's son and his pals on the high school lacrosse team to unpack the truck. This should be entertaining.

Heading North

We are preparing to pack our bags and head to the northeast. After several attempts at buying a house, we were successful! If there is a housing bubble and it is going to come crashing down soon, they are unaware of it in New Jersey. Every house we bid on went above asking and there were always multiple offers.

Alas, we succeeded in our quest for a home and Chloe will soon have her own room...with all her Chloe items in it.

Our next post should be of the move.

Lovely Weather

Chloe's Aunt Deanna (or "An, An, Enana" as Chloe says it) came in to town on a pit-stop for her job. It was warm and lovely in Dallas so Chloe, Mommy and Aunt Deanna went to the Arboreteum to enjoy Dallas Blooms. Chloe enjoyed splashing in many of the fountains and being carried through the frog fountains for a refreshing cool-down.

Road Trip

Chloe had her first long ride in the car. We drove Matt's car up from Dallas to NYC last weekend. We left Dallas on Saturday just in time to hit the ice storm that swept over Little Rock. It took us 10 hours to go 130 miles from Little Rock to Memphis. Chloe was a trooper and did really well. She enjoyed shouting "truck" as we were surrounded by 18-wheelers on Interstate 40 that were getting stuck on the highway. The next two days of driving were easy compared to our frst day on the road.

Along our 1600+ mile journey, Chloe learned to sing. Her favorite tunes to belt out are "Mr. Sun", "Twinkle, Twinkle" and what Matt and I call the "Bottle Song", which is Chloe's ode to her "bot-tool" (as she pronounces it). Chloe also has begun to count. Her favorite numbers are 2 and 5. She will start at 1 and then go to 2 and then it is 5. Matt and I can keep counting but the next number, according to Chloe, will always be 2 or 5.

When we arrived in Jersey, we stayed at a condo on the Jersey shore. Chloe has finally learned that the big water is not a "pool" but is called an "ocean". Of course, she didn't go in the ocean as it was cold and windy. She just liked to look at it.

This week we are back at the hotel. Chloe is famous around here and the staff was a little upset that we chose to keep her at the condo and not at the hotel. They have nicknamed her "Dora" because they think she looks like Dora the Exporer. We have a ridiculous amount of luggage now and as we were getting help bringing in all of the stuff (the majority of which is Chloe's), the cleaning lady stopped by our room to give Chloe a basket (it is the basket that holds all the coffee and which Chloe loves to carry) along with the hostess at the restaurant to see Chloe and the maintenance man. Chloe is a superstar around this place!

As much as we enjoy the attention at the Marriott, we continue to look for houses in NJ. I believe that Chloe and I have seen every house for sale in Morris, Essex and Bergen counties. Chloe lets me know if she likes a house by telling me she wants down. If she doesn't want me to put her down then we know she doesn't like the house. So far we have made a short list of houses, one in each of the 3 counties listed. Matt is taking an afternoon off and we are going to go and look at the 3 choices and hopefully make a decision. One of the houses already has 2 offers, but they are waiting for our offer (if we make one). It's the best house we've seen and at the best price (still a ridiculous sum of money for what the house is) but in the place we least want to live! That's the way it goes. So, we have some decisions to make.

I have posted a picture of Chloe in her Texas attire. We took the photos before our road trip. She is in the picture with "Pink", her rocking cow.

Right as we are looking to buy a house in New Jersey she now says "Texas" all the time (she learned the word listening to a George Strait song in the car). She also likes to mention "Tucky" which is her speak for "Kentucky". I guess she liked what she saw as we drove through.

A Day at the Zoo

After the blizzard in NYC, we returned to the sunny and warm weather of Dallas. It was a lovely 80 degrees and Chloe and Mommy went to the Dallas Zoo.

Chloe has been to the Central Park Zoo, but she never saw an elephant, tiger or lion (and it turned out she could care less about seeing them). Her favorite animals are always the monkeys but she also enjoyed the camel and the kangaroo. She now likes to go "boing!" like the kangaroo.

We went to the children's petting zoo and Chloe loved the goats. She loves to pet them and say "baaaaa". She was running around with the goats, but when she walked up to see the bunny and the guinea pig she freaked out and wanted Mommy to "hold you".

All in all, we had a nice day at the zoo.

Blizzard!

The snow kept falling in NYC, dumping a little over 26 inches. We were trapped in the hotel all day Sunday. We all became a little "stir-crazy", including Chloe. She threw several tantrums as she refused to take an afternoon nap. She finally crashed out at 4:30 p.m. and we had to wake her for dinner. She enjoyed watching all the snow come down. We finally broke out for dinner, going to the Chinese restaurant next to the hotel. We tried to get Chloe to play in the snow, but she wasn't game for that. She just wanted Daddy to "geese", which is her word for skip. She is very insistant that you skip with her while you hold her now. Of course, we weren't up for skipping in 2 feet of icy snow.

Saturday, we went to Ridgewood, New Jersey to look at homes. We really like the city, but think taxes may be too high. We can go south or west from NYC and get a little more house with less taxes. We shall see. We hope to have a decision made within the next couple of weeks.

Tonight we are going to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Chloe should enjoy looking at all the dogs.

Homeless

The past month has been a little insane. We started the paperchase for a sister for Chloe and we began house hunting for our new home near NYC. Prices are a little ridiculous, but seem to be coming down about 10%.

Chloe has been a trooper, going to houses with Mommy and riding all over the Jersey 'burbs checking out communities.

We hope that we will officially be moved and in a home by mid-April.

In the meantime, we are paperchasing for Emma Claire and enjoying seeing the amazing changes in Chloe. She is so friendly and is well-known in the Jersey City hotel that Daddy has been calling home. Today, she and Mommy went house-hunting in Bergen County New Jersey. They stopped at a mall in Paramus and Mommy and Chloe got stopped 7 times (no exaggeration) by people in the mall to comment on how Chloe was a "doll baby". Of course, she gets plenty of attention as she is running down the mall yelling "HI!" and blowing kisses to random strangers.

Our digital camera is broken, so there are no pictures. Hope to have some posted soon of our little charmer.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2006!

We hope everyone's holidays were great. Chloe enjoyed her first Christmas, though she was a little disappointed that Uncle John could not come to Dallas to celebrate.

Chloe had many gifts to open on Christmas morning and we thank all of those who sent her presents. She has been playing with them everyday. Some of her favorite items are her Little People schoolbus sans Little People. She throws the people out of the bus. She also likes her chair that BeBe and PaPaw gave her and most of all her push car. Some of her presents will be for later in the year as she grows. Daddy bought Chloe a rocking cow from FAO Schwarz in New York City and dragged it 30+ blocks. Of course, wouldn't you know that Chloe is afraid to sit on the cow. She does kiss "Pink" every morning and we are sure she will warm up to it soon.

We rang in the new year with some of our old neighbors in Allen. Chloe was going to come and celebrate with us, but we took her to the aquarium and she was worn out. She stayed with BeBe and PaPaw and was in bed asleep by 8 p.m.

Chloe is really growing up fast and is constantly aware of all around her. Lately she has taken to saying "ok" and "ciao momma" (which was taught to her while we dined out on Mexican food). She also likes to randomly say "Matt", which she does not equate to her Daddy. Today she has been walking around saying "No" all day with an occassional "ok" thrown in there. She also discovered the word "pillow" and has been showing momma all of the pillows around the house. And, not to continue to brag but...she has been learning her colors this morning. I asked her to hand momma the blue crayon and she did. I went down the list of all 8 crayons and she got them all correct. Of course, when I asked for the pink crayon she pointed to the rocking cow (whose name is "Pink"). A little confusing, but she got it in the end.

We can't wait to see what unfolds in 2006. So far it is shaping up to be an exciting year like 2005. We have begun the process for adopting from China again and hope to bring home Emma Claire by early 2007. It also looks like our home plans may change once again. Instead of building or buying a home in the DFW area, we will more than likely be moving to New York City. Ok, before you chime in too, we have already heard more than we care to hear from friends and family all the negatives of NYC. Everyone feels free to share their NYC horror stories about what a nightmare it is to live there. Of course, none of these people have actually lived there. We are aware that every place has it's stereotype and according to the NYC stereotypes we have been priviledged to hear it is all yellow cabs, not family friendly, takes at least a million a year salary to survive there, everyone is rude and every place you can live (besides Central Park West) is a dump in the ghetto. With all of the endearing tales of NYC that we have heard, we are still excited about the move and a new opportunity. We believe any place you live is what you make of it. So, with that all said, we will let you all know when we move.

Best wishes for the new year!