My IQ Test Result

I took an online IQ test and this was the result. The result was the same as one I had done officially a few years ago so I'm pleased I haven't lost any points since having Chloe. 'Nappy Brain' appears to be a myth after all! LOL

10 month update

Dear Chloe,

Well Chloe you are now ten months old. I can't believe you are growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday I was trailing round Mothercare daydreaming about what I would buy when you arrived. I remember the midwife handing you to me after you came out of the incubator and you snuggling down beside me and breastfeeding for the first time. I remember having trouble bonding with you for those first few weeks because your birth was so traumatic. And I remember the moment, at about 1am, when you looked up at me and smiled for the first time and I realised I loved you more than I could ever have imagined and more than words could ever describe. I love you so much darling Chloe and I'm so thankful that you are my daughter. Check out the most gorgeous cheesy grin in the picture below:

Here are a few things about you at ten months. You still breastfeed on demand but you rarely do it during the day now, just in the mornings and evenings. You're a very good eater generally and you love baby pesto and pasta. You also love yoghurt and breadsticks. You still only have 8 teeth though. You haven't had any new teeth for a couple of months now but you are starting to chew again and I think some more are coming through at the back.

You can crawl as fast as I can jog, lol. You love to climb the stairs and you have learnt to climb off the sofa, bed and stairs feet first instead of lunging head first. You wave hello and bye bye. You love to clap your hands for everyone. You are learning to point to your head when we ask, 'Where's Chloe's head?', and fingers and so on. You can cruise easily while holding on to furniture, and you can walk with your first steps pram. You point at all the things that excite you and I tell you about them. You give slobbery kisses when we ask for them. They are the most wonderful kisses in the world.

You absolutely love our miniature Jack Russell, Missi, and the cat, Toby. You get so excited when they come near you. Missi loves you as well and she's so good with you and so tolerant. She licks your feet to make you laugh and she guards you whenever strangers are in the house.

You like to look at books on your own now. You especially love the 'F is for Farm' book that your Great-Granny Wickens brought home from America for you. It's a brilliant book with different textures to feel, flaps to open and moving parts. You also love playing with you Little People playhouse. You've learnt to press the different noise buttons. However, no matter how many toys you have you seem to always want to play with either the TV remote control or my phone :-).

You wear pull-up nappies now because you wouldn't stay still long enough for me to put on regular one's. You're all go all the time. Your hair is starting to grow - you can see it thickening up. Lovely, tiny tiny curls are starting at the back. You're a very adventurous baby and you tend to try something and if you don't succeed, or you fall, you get straight back up and do it again. That is a wonderful character trait - to have a bold, try anything spirit. I'm so pleased you've got that.

You like to see how you can experiment with different body positions. For instance you will be breastfeeding and you'll try to stand on your head and feet without using your arms. All this whilst remaining attached to me having a feed. I probably shouldn't let you do that but I love seeing you learn what you are capable of doing with your body. You have all these new abilities that you are refining at the minute and I don't want to hamper your efforts in any way. Those first few steps you took with your baby walker; your face was so proud. You marched about utterly delighted at yourself, you were so chuffed at your abilities. And I could have burst with pride. Seeing you walk about with your tongue sticking out, the way you do when you are concentrating. Priceless moments, no money could ever buy.

I love you so, so much baby Chloe. (It won't be long now until I have to drop the baby bit).

Mommy

xx

First pair of shoes

Well, as Chloe started trying to walk properly I decided to get her a pair of 'big girl' shoes. Plus it is getting really cold outside and she need's something on her feet. Up until now I had been just wearing Daisy Roots soft shoes on her. They are basically just soft leather booties which are gorgeous but keep her feet warm and afford a bit of protection should she want to cruise about.

But the problem recently has been that she is between sizes. They go 0-6m, 6-12m, 12-18m and so on. The 6-12m one's are too tight now but the 12-18m one's are like clown shoes on her. So proper measured shoes it had to be.

I went with my mom to a shop called Shoebdoo which is a fabulous kids shoe shop in my local town. They do the most gorgeous shoes for all ages of children. We went with a pair of lovely fur

lined 'Startrite booties. The girl measured her feet and said she's a size 3.5G - quite wide - and we are to bring her back in 6-8 weeks to have her remeasured. They really are gorgeous. The picture's are taken on my phone and so aren't great.

Chloe's first steps with walker

Well on Thursday (15th) Chloe was having a bath when she stood up. She didn't pull herself up like she usually does, she just stood up on her own and stayed up for a while. I couldn't believe it. So when she was out and dried I gave her the first steps pram we have to see what she would do with it. She pulled herself up and then was off, marching about the house thoroughly pleased with herself. It's like someone just suddenly flicked a switch so that she could walk. She even keeps trying to take steps on her own without the walker.

It's amazing, I am so proud of her. I know every baby does this but when it's your baby doing it you're so chuffed. And you could see that Chloe was really pleased with herself. She had been cruising about the furniture for a while but didn't have any remote interest in using the pram walkie. And now she's doing it. On her ten month birthday as well!

Where did my little baby go? The little scrunched up, red baby that came out of my belly? I don't know what happened, lol. It feels like her life is flashing in front of my eye's. She is just growing up too fast.

Now she's a toddler, eek!

New phone

My new phone arrived today and I love it. This may seem like a pointless post but I'll share a little bit about why this is such a big thing. I'm not one of those people who needs to have all the latest technology. Sure, I'd like to have it, but I don't worry that I don't. Indeed, I bought my last mobile second hand because, at the time, I just couldn't justify buying myself a new one. It was/is a Nokia something or other and was quite a good wee phone with a decent camera. It was pay as you go.

Fast forward a year (and a baby) later and my good old Nokia is now a broken mess due to the fact that Chloe regularly uses it as a teether(when I'm not looking). It's slowly been breaking for a while but in typical me fashion I ignored it and hoped that the phone fairies would fix it. First the cover came a bit loose (it's the metal covered one), but that was ok cause it didn't really affect the function of the phone. Gradually it got looser and looser until the whole front came apart at the top. This enabled the plastic screen to fall out. Even at that point I was ignoring the broken-ness of it all, lol. Then the cover under the external cover started to crack(the one that protects the internals). I still ignored it. It must have been annoyed at my lack of empathy because it started to switch itself off and on while I was making phone calls. I ignored it some more but then it cut me off in the middle of a very important call and I decided I actually didn't like the phone anymore.

So I went online for a look to see what new phone I would like and I realised I could get a contract for £15 a month which gave me more than enough minutes and unlimited text messages. Plus I could get a free phone. So I ordered one and it arrived this morning. It's a Samsung S5200 and I love it.

I didn't realise how much I hated my last phone and how useless it had become. This new one has an MP3 player and stuff in it. Not that I'll actually use it but it sounds cool to have. It's got a good camera which I like because I take a lot of pictures of Chloe when I'm out and about. I always have my phone with me whereas I might forget my proper camera from time to time so it's good to have.

So I have spent tonight (once Chloe finally fell asleep) playing with my new phone. Oh, how sad am I? :-)

Chloe

Fascinated by the garden lights
So tiny in such a big garden
Sleeping in 'Poppy's' arms
Having a bath in the sink.

Fisher Price

I believe in giving praise where praise is due. My mom had bought Chloe a Fisher Price bath toy a couple of months ago. They toy was aged 6mth+ so she was in the right age group. This toy was to be played with in the bath and part of it was a plastic ball, which was two different colored semi-sphere's stuck together with a little plastic star inside it.

I had Chloe in the bath playing with the toy and as I turned round to get the shampoo I heard her start to cough. After a few seconds I realised she was choking but I couldn't for the life of me think what on. I looked in her mouth and could see the edge of the little plastic star just at the back of her mouth. Very luckily I was able to grab it and pull it out. After getting Chloe calmed down, as she was very upset at this stage, I looked for the ball that was supposed to encapsulate the star and I found the two halves of it. It had broken in two and she had nearly choked on the star inside. Obviously this wasn't meant to be able to break.

So first thing the following morning I posted the broken toy back to Fisher Price/Mattel along with a very strongly worded letter of complaint, after all, my daughter could have died because of this. I expected to get a letter of apology back and a refund for the toy, which cost a fiver, lol.

A couple of weeks passed and I received a letter apologising and inviting me to phone to discuss how the toy broke etc. So I phoned up expecting that they were about to tell me it was somehow my fault that it had broken, but the girl I spoke to seemed genuinely concerned and said as a mark of apology they would like to give Chloe a Little People's House. I was delighted with this as I had considered getting her one myself.

Apparently the item hadn't been glued together properly allowing water to seep in and basically dissolve the little glue there was and that was why it broke in half.

This is the toy they sent Chloe. She absolutely adores it. There are various buttons to press throughout the house which make different sounds (i.e. doorbell, bath, washing machine). Chloe's just at the age now where things like that really capture her attention.

Birthday

Well it was my birthday on September 22nd but with everything going on I didn't get a chance to put it on here.

Mum and Dad got me a laptop, a Dell Inspirion, which I desperately needed as the screen had gone in my old one and I was having to connect it to a free standing monitor. So not exactly an ideal situation.

Chloe got me a Thornton's personalised car. It's astonishing that at her age she was able to order and pay for it herself as well as sign her card to me. :-)

My bro and his girlfriend go me a box of chocolates and a gorgeous La Senza nightshirt. Neil and his mom and dad got me Next vouchers and from my grandparents I got money.

So all in all I had a good birthday. Oh and of course I got a big slobbery kiss from Chloe. The picture of her at the top was taken on my birthday and I love the way you can see all her wee teeth in it.