Chloe is almost 6 months I can't believe it! she is a good baby she just has to be held when she is going to sleep, I haven't let her "cry it out" yet, I think it hurts me more than her but eventually I will let her cry it out. She is getting very good at sitting up I still don't feel comfortable with her sitting by her self but she does a pretty good job on her own.





Last week I discover our "walk" Every day I try very hard to get Chloe out of the house for about an hour, I very firm believe that children need to get out and get some fresh air, even when they are little. So after three weeks of going "down town" for our walk and getting tiered of that I needed a different view.I found one of the most beautiful parks I have seen Foster Park. The picture above is the back drop of a quiet park, perfect for a picnic with your child playing on the playground. I am so excited that we have a park that we can go to that is walking distance since Gary and I only have one car.

So if you know Chloe, you know that she doesn't go any where with out her pink Glasses, she is very sensitive to the sun light. So you wonder hum she has new shades and a big rim "meme" hat on... You might wonder why? It wasn't because she out grew her shades no, in fact she was growing into her shades nicely. Let me share two lessons I learned on why she has new shades and a big hat...

lesson 1. never leave your fav. shades alone for a minute while you are changing her on the changing table at your water park, some one might want them more... (yes while changing her and leaving them on the changing table with her and grandma right there some one swiped them!)

lesson 2. Sunscreen doesn't mix well in the eyes... Poor Chloe. Yes mommy was being very protective of the uv rays that she went a little over board. I decided that she should have some sunscreen on her cheeks and her noise so being careful I did such. then I lathered her arms and legs... you can imagine that I also got her hands and so as soon as I was done she kept rubbing her eyes because of course this is her nap time and she could care less where we were or what we were doing she wanted to nap and rub her eyes. So now her right eye is watering and red I thought all right lets wash her little eyes and hands and face off and keep her out of the sun while at a water park. Luckily we had grandma and grandpa and Aunt Meme to hold her as she cat napped. So thinking that I got all her water babies spf 50 off of her face I thought oh good all is all right with her. 2 hours later she broke out in a rash on her cheeks... Luckily all she needed was a good bath. So now no more sunscreen on her face, she gets the biggest rim hat available.Chloe and mommy are happy!



Pictured above is us in our pool, a pre water park expiernce

Early July pictures

I wish I could take credit of "taking care" of our back yard but since I have only lived here for a week when these pictures were taken, I can only take credit in the photographs

Our little country Girl, I couldn't resist taking this picture at Iowa Falls River Bend Rally on the 4th.


Chloe loves Grandma and Grandpa's boxer, Adrian is so good with her!

Chloe Loves Oat Meal she is likes to play with the spoon, this time we were able to teach her how to use it... More lessons and lots more practice...

Back up your files

We made it to Iowa Falls and so far so good.

Iowa Falls is such a pretty place to live, it's in the middle of the Iowa River Green Belt community which really means that every where you go there is green all around you. For only being here for less than a month every one I have talked to knows exactly where we live by saying we bought the Jone's house, Oh yeah they say I bet you have the best appliances (the Jone's have a shop: Jone's Appliances on Washington st.) It's sorta crazy how everyone know everyone and that it's a close knit community.

Home ownership is work... and although in my little minds eye I thought that once Gar got a regular job I would see more of him it's not exactly what I had in mind. We seem to still be doing some house or home stuff to our house. We have a long list of things that we need to do out side, like get rid of the Cacti in back yard and weeding, inside we still have pictures that need to be hung and things to be put away so not so much couple happy family times as I imagined. It is a happy time in our lives just not "easy" anyways life does go on at lighting speed....

Chloe can almost sit up on her own, she does a pretty good job so far but I don't let her out of my arm's length. She is eating lots of food and so far her favorite is sweet potatoes, Carrots and Oatmeal with Kayro Syrup in it. Her favorite toy right now is chickie ( a chicken that sings the chicken dance and flaps her wings and her beak moves while she sings) It's fun to listen to her squeal but I know have the chicken dance song memorized and I start to hum it when she isn't around. So I have to wonder is there therapy for that if I really need it?

Besides having a 5 month old and moving into a new house it's been awhile since I updated my blog some may ask what happened to the Christensen's, We lost all of our files on our "family" computer! So if you are reading this please pleas please Back up your files, window users it's easy go to system preferences and chose Back up files, then all you have to do is burn all that stuff onto a dvd or more. you may ask How did this happen? When you don't have your anti virus updated (you usually this happens when you use your computer on a regular basis, by getting online so it can get the protection you need) viruses can enter into your computer even if you just cheek your mail once you don't have the protection you need. That is what happened to us we lost or can't retrieve all of our pictures from the last year! So this is a friendly reminder to back up your files! So every two months on a Sunday I will be diligent enough to back up the files aka pictures. a lesson learned the very hard way.

all off our crap (I mean stuff)

So all of our stuff is on a moving truck, waiting to be unpacked tomorrow at 9am! We are officially homeowners! It's so nice to get movers to move our crap, I mean stuff, however we do have a lot of crap that we will be getting rid off, in late August we are having a get to know the Christensen's garage sale...how does that work? I mean we (I) have a lot of stuff and in order to keep our nice stuff nice we have to get rid of some of this stuff! Ive heard from several resources that late August is the time to have one so we will have two, one in Iowa Falls and then the stuff that doesn't sell will go to Des Moines at which I hope the rest will sell. So I have learned a lot about living with out "all" of your stuff for 5 months, that is:

1. you really only need so many clothes, the rest can go... you don't need to keep every single shirt from the last 5 years because you might wear it someday
2. I don't need more than 1 of the same kitchen tool/pan.
3. just because their was sentimental value to it doesn't mean you need to lug it around, take a picture of it and scrap book it, so you have the memory.
4. I don't need all that extra crafting fluff, you crafters know what I am talking about, extra stickers, paper scraps, fabric scraps, ribbon, cheap stamps, hobby lobby clearance crap... I could go on and on
5. if you haven't used it in 6 months you really really don't need it, however I always seem to make exceptions to this rule...

To make you understand, it took the movers, 7 hours to take everything that we have, that is with everything broke down like the beds and desks, all they had to do was sticker it and load it and it still took them 7 hours to do this. So your next question is omg how did you get all your stuff in your little two bedroom apartment? It's true I am a pack rat,that's my only explanation. I hope to break this cycle when we move and I have to unpack everything... if it's not important Its gone!

chloe's eating and rolling over!