Now I lay me down to sleep.

Chloe has officially moved out(of the living room). She has her own place now. She is now a crib baby in her very own room!

We started putting Chloe in her crib Saturday night and the transition has gone very well. She has been sleeping a lot and seems to be enjoying her new bedtime diggs.

I've actually come to the conclusion that she doesn't really care where she sleeps.

The perks of having a baby...

You get to make great photoshop pictures with her in them!

Enjoy Mario Chloe!

Wherefore art thou Smile?

I take a bunch of pictures everyday hoping to catch a smile every once in awhile. Most of the time when she smiles, I don't have my camera...go figure.

Toy time!

Chloe doesn't like anything. When do babies like stuff? She doesn't like pacifiers, looking in the mirror, laying on her back/tummy or even the fun vibrating/swinging chairs. She will tolerate all of those things for about 10 minutes...15 on a good day.

She just wants to be held but not just held, she has to be sitting up. That's the thing she likes to do a lot, oh yeah, and sleeping on you...that's definitely her favorite thing of all!

Today I wanted her to like toys. I had to gently pry her super-baby-death-grip hands open and place the toy in her hand and close her fingers. She held on to the toy! She had no idea she was holding on to the toy but I managed to snap some proof.

P.S. I'm writing this as she's sleeping on me.

Holy crap, we're hippies.

Not only is Chloe breastfed but she's a cloth diaper baby too. We chose to do cloth diapers to save some moola and its good for the environment...but mostly to save money. Who knew that we(probably mostly me) would actually enjoy CD and its easy too!

Thank the heavens above for our portable washing machine(courtesy of Olivia and Tarrance) and our awesome spin cycle(courtesy of Heather and Chuck)!!! Without these contraptions, I would have given up on CD a long time ago. Walking up and down three flights of stairs to spend $3 on a load of laundry would have gotten tiring and expensive very fast.

We have solely done cloth diapers for about two weeks now since our free disposable diapers ran out. They look super cute too! My mom bought us the gdiaper newborn/small starter kit and they are super easy to use. We've even started to make the cloth inserts too. And to make us(mostly me) sound even more lame, I made my own baby wipes as well.

Man, we are hippies!

Conscious Conception

I haven't told a lot of people about this but I'm pretty sure I saw Chloe's soul the night she was conceived.
It's sort of weird telling the story because we're talking about the conception of a baby here and we all know what that involves...but after all that, I was trying to fall asleep and I saw a bright light in the shape of a ball come down from the ceiling of our bedroom and descend toward Ali's stomach. I was sort of scared and I thought to myself, "well, I'm pretty sure I just made a baby."
About two weeks later Ali told me she was pregnant.
I'm not sure if the day I saw the ball of light really was the actual day Chloe was conceived...but I do know that I have one hell of a pretty baby now. That's for sure.

Nom, nom, nom...

Chloe went a little overboard this thanksgiving. There is no fat face filter on this pic. She really is getting chubby!

Boob food

I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I knew it can be difficult and painful but I didn't realize how much until I was in the midst of doing it.

I was lucky that I got to breastfeed Chloe a couple times within the first hour she was born. I was also lucky that she latched on so easily too. However, I soon learned how painful breastfeeding can be.

It was painful because I wasn't used to it but I also think with her being so tiny had something to do with it too. I don't think she could completely latch properly because of her small mouth and my ginormous you know whats. It took about two and a half weeks until breastfeeding felt normal but latching wasn't my only issue.

Cluster feeding is a term that will always be burned deeply into my brain. I had never heard of such a thing until I lived through it. Not only is it painful when you first start out breastfeeding but also mentally trying.

I had a few breakdowns. She was only cluster feeding between the hours of 1-6am and it was constant. To the point were she would only unlatch for 5-10 minutes between feedings, so basically I was nonstop nursing her for hours on end. How the heck could such a small being consume so much?

It's been over a month now and I'm happy I never gave up. I never really thought about giving up either. Sure, it's not easy still because when I'm not in the comfort of my own home, I have to sneak away and feed her...a lot usually. I'm not comfortable enough yet to breastfeed in front of people. Who knows, maybe one day I will be.

What I do know is that I get to enjoy the look on her face when her belly is full of the milk I have provided for her!

What's in a name?

About an hour after our little girl was born we finally tried to name her but we had some difficulties.  Weeks or months before we decided between Chloe, Lucy and Charlotte.  Charlotte was becoming too popular so we ditched that one right off the bat.  So, it was down to the other two but which one would it be?  I thought I would know what I wanted to name her as soon as I saw her but I had no clue.  I was actually more confused than ever.  Patrick turned to me and asked if he should flip a coin.  Sounded good to me.  Heads was Chloe.  Tails was Lucy.  Patrick flipped the coin...tails.  Best two out of three he said.  He flipped again.  Tails.  Flipped one last time.  Tails again.  That should have been it.  She should have been named Lucy.  However, we looked at each other and knew we wanted her to be named Chloe and Chloe it is!  Chloe Jane Fee.

Old photos

I can't believe how tiny she used to be.

Chloe and daddy time

I love my dada! One of my favorite things to do is spend time with daddy. He makes me feel safe. I can tell that he loves me a lot too.