Chloe has a little something to say

that's right.......we're pregnant!!!!! I'm almost 13 weeks along and am due Thanksgiving Day of all days =). We are all doing great, and Chloe seems to be really excited, though I'm not sure she knows how much her life is about to change =).

Things are really winding down here, and Chloe and I move back to Texas next week. We'll make our first stop in Dallas to get a car and then head on in to Austin. John is spending another three weeks in Bratislava and then two weeks in Kyoto, Japan before heading home. We will miss him terribly! In the meantime, I'll be busy making selections and overseeing the remodeling of our house! We plan to move in the mid to end of July (we'll be staying with my mom in between time). Fun, exciting things are ahead, and we can't wait to be back among our peeps!

Vienna Relay-Race

On Sunday, John and I joined the Dell team for the Vienna Relay Marathon. It's a full 26.2 mile marathon broken up into 4 legs. John and I ran the first leg which was 10 miles while Ken and Noemi generously watched after Chloe. We had a great time running through Vienna and seeing the sights. It was especially nice because it was our first race together in a couple years. Here's a pic of us during the run.

And, ironically, we passed an Austrian guy who is still keeping The Dream alive:

Happy 2nd Birthday Chloe Grace!

Last Sunday, our little sweet pea turned 2 years old. It's hard to believe 2 years have already passed since we were headed to the hospital, and so much has changed! Chloe is such a little person. She speaks in complete sentences quite often, and her vocabulary is immense! She can say 5+ syllable words like hippopotamus and has even added a little Slovak to her vocabulary =). She loves singing, dancing, playing with her toys, dressing herself and saying prayers at meals and bedtime. She often tells us who to pray for during our prayers which is really cute!

On Chloe's birthday, we had a fabulous birthday party, complete with a ladybug cake specifically requested by Chloe. John's mom, Marilyn, was in town visiting and was such a great help getting ready for the party. Most of our close friends here joined us in the celebration, and we really enjoyed having all of them over. John made some yummy hamburgers, and of course we had queso and guacamole! Chloe received some fabulous new presents. Here's a pic of Chloe showing Bubba her new easel:
At the end of the day, we gave Chloe her birthday present from us, a new balance bike:
These are really popular in Europe, and they seem like a great way to train Chloe to ride a bike because it will teach Chloe to balance. Then, she won't need training wheels but can go directly to a bike.

In all, it was a great day and we look forward to this new year of Chloe's life!

You can see all the pics from Chloe's birthday at http://cumminsfamily.phanfare.com/

Congratulations Almagro Family!

My sister gave birth last night to a healthy baby boy, Tobin Sebastian Almagro, 7lbs 6oz! We couldn't be happier for you guys, and we can't wait to meet him. Congratulations! We love you guys!

Little Angel

Since last September, Chloe has been attending Little Angel Playschool three days a week so that I can teach at City University, prepare for my class, have time to run errands (the grocery stores I go to are a minimum of 20 minutes away) and also have a little me time. I have her at school by 9am, and she stays until about 3:15 to 4:30. At first I felt bad about sending her to school, like I was not being a good mother or something. The first day (and only the first day), we both cried - I just waited until I got in the car.

But, the thing is, Chloe LOVES going to school. She is so happy there. When she's not there, she asks to go to school. She loves her teachers and knows all her classmates names. I know because we tell each one of them goodnight and often include them in our prayers we say before Chloe goes to sleep. She tells me "Pray for Milka, pray for Elliot, pray for Danielska". It's pretty cute.

The owners and teachers of the school are very energetic and genuinely seem excited about being there. What's more, they all love Chloe. Don't tell the other kids, but I've been told by more than one teacher that Chloe is their favorite and that she is an angel. Maybe they tell all the parents that, but I'm going to pretend like that's not the case =).

I just received some pictures of Chloe taken while she was at school. You can see them here:

http://cumminsfamily.phanfare.com

It's all in the box

This morning Chloe decided first of all that she didn't want to wear any clothes except her panties, and then only her pullups, then her panties on top of her pullups. Second, she decided to empty out the contents of her music storage box and climb in - with her blankie, her water bottle, her doll Sasha, Sasha's bed, Sasha's two blankie's and three books. This was the result:

Then, she decided to play with one of her wood toys:

I guess all this box stuff made her tired because she then told me she was going night night

Poor Burton!

What do you get when a dog runs at full speed chasing a ball and has to jump down from one of these and then immediately up on on another one:


and misses the jump up? You get a sad doggie that's for sure.

On Sunday, we were at this "sort of" park with Burton and Chloe. It's close to our house, and Chloe was practicing her new balance bike. The park must have been built during the Communist days because it is full of concrete. There are raised areas of grass with sidewalks in between. I was throwing the ball for Burton, and he was running from one grassy platform to another successfully. He had to jump down from one and back up on another, and he was doing just fine. But then he got too excited and missed the jump up. His front legs took the blow full force. His left leg was scrapped bald and there were scraps of hair everywhere. His right leg had a gash in it the size of a silver dollar and you could see the muscle!

He must have been in a sort of shock because he barely acted like he was in pain. We got him home, and luckily we have a great vet. I just called his cell phone, and thirty minutes later Burton was getting treatment. He had to get 3 layers of stitches on for the gash. Here's a pic of his leg post op.
We had to go back on Monday because at that point we didn't have the cone for his head, and he had chewed through his bandage and some stitches. Now we have the cone. He had a check up yesterday, and he is doing much better.

But, I don't think we'll be returning to that park again!

I finally caved in

Well, it's official. Chloe loves Elmo. I wasn't expecting it to happen because Chloe hasn't watched TV at all really, which I was fine with. But, thanks to Grammy, we've gotten quite a few sesame street books, and then I found the Sesame Street Channel on You Tube. The rest is history. Now, she asks "watch Elmo", "watch Elmo". She loves it, and I have to say that it's been nice bringing back some childhood memories. Although back then, my favorite characters were Ernie and Big Bird. I'm not sure how Elmo took center stage, but there he is. At this moment, we are watching Kermit interview a lady who grows bigger as she drinks something. Chloe is saying, "Elmo, Elmo"....what's wrong with Kermit? Maybe it's the voice. Somehow, Elmo's high-pitched, annoying voice is appealing to toddlers. I do have to say that it allows me some extra time to get stuff done, as long as I sit right next to her. Well, off to find another Elmo clip.

Our New House!

Hi Everyone!

Yes, it has been literally months since I've written in here. I was so swamped preparing for my class in the fall that the blog fell by the wayside. Then once we got back from Christmas holidays, I got sick for about 6 weeks. Seriously, every week I came down with a new cold or illness. I am FINALLY feeling my old self again. And, after my sister made her own Family website, I got inspired to restart mine.

Well, here we are progressing through our second and final year here in Slovakia. These past few months have been pretty calm as far as traveling is concerned, but we are about to take it up a notch with a bunch of visitors coming before we leave. And, now our repatriation date (the date we move back to the US) has been moved up. Chloe and I will be moving back at the end of May while John will move back on July 1.

Chloe and I are moving back early to work on......our new house! Yes, for those of you who don't know, we bought a house while we were in Austin over the Christmas holidays. Which, for those of you that we didn't get to see, is the reason we were so busy while we were in Austin. We're sorry we weren't able to see everyone we wanted to, but we will be back soon!

The house in the same neighborhood that we lived in before, and we are so excited! It became official last Tuesday. Here's a link to pictures of it:

http://cumminsfamily.phanfare.com/4521912#imageID=90667684

We'll call these the before pictures, and once we get finished, I'll take the after ones.