Talk About Payback (90/365)

I'm beginning to regret all those times in my childhood when I was hard to live with.

Ok, so I've regretted them for a while now because looking back I realize just how impossible I was, but today I'm regretting it for a much different reason. Today was one of those days when all my misbehaving and back talk is coming back and biting me in the butt - ten fold.

Alice has really come into her age as of late. She's no longer saving it only for when we're here at home either as this past weekend it was even noticeable to Annie, who only sees her on weekends for the most part. I texted Matt at some point today and told him that I was going to lock myself in my room and pull my hair out because I just couldn't take it anymore. Fortunately not long after that I finally got her to take a nap and I got a break. She woke up after Matt came home and it wasn't long before he got a taste of what I had been dealing with all day.

Needless to say it ended with a certain little girl not finishing dinner and screaming her head off while Matt got her ready for bed. I'm surprised my neighbors didn't call the cops she was that bad.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I Think Alice Needs a Sandbox (89/365)

It's days like today that make me wish we had a house.

It was a gorgeous day, and tomorrow is supposed to be even better. We
made mud castles, looked for bugs, and ran amuck. Needless to say both
girls went to bed early tonight!

If You Don't Find Yourself on Here (88/365)

I appologize as my little artist couldn't be bothered to draw anymore.
However, she did find it necessary to draw two Izzys. Oh wait, one is
Izzy and the other is Izzy in octopus form.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Arrrrrrr, Me Matey (87/365)

This is the closest thing Izzy will get to having her ears pierced
before the age of 13. Who knew that fruity Cheerios (bet you didn't
know they existed, didya?) could be so stylish?

Lesson #437 I Should Have Learned the First Time Around (86/365)

Never turn your back on an almost 1 year old.

And when you find them climbing on things,

grab the camera before rescuing them.

Ok, maybe NOT the last part.

Guess What Day it is (85/365)

Izzy is finally getting the chance to enjoy pancake and popcorn night. And now that we have Netflix streaming on the Wii, we're adding movies to our Friday nights. Speaking of Pancakes, I made ours (well, the batter anyway) in the blender tonight, it's quickly becoming my favorite appliance. We've had one for years, but I never used it until recently. Now it has a permanent place on my counter and I use it every day. I think it's actually replaced my stand mixer as my favorite!

Izzy approves.

She Likes to Keep Us on Our Toes (84/365)

Turns out, Izzy just wanted to make sure we were paying attention to her - her EEG was completely normal!

Guess it was just spastic Bathje genes after all.

Izzy the Chef (83/365)

Come and visit us and she just might share her creation with you too.
Oh, and I can't help but be reminded of her Great Grandpa Rice when
she smacks her mouth and it comes out sounding like a tongue click
like he used to do.

Somewhere in there she's a Rice.

Ten on Tuesday (82/365)

1. Since starting our Weightloss Challenge in January, Matt has lost 32.5 lbs and I've lost 17. He's been on the ball with this change of lifestyle, but I haven't really been until recently. Hopefully I can keep it up!
2. Tori has been doing great too - in fact she's been leading the pack nearly every week! She and Matt are neck and neck now, but there is still time left!
3. Izzy has been cracking us up lately. We were watching The Princess and the Frog tonight after dinner and she started singing along with the music. I will have to get it on video, it is too cute.
4. Then she outdid herself and started drying the dishes. No I'm not a slave-driver, but she did steal a clean sock when I was folding laundry and proceeded to "dry" a bowl.
5. I actually got this one on film. I didn't catch her the other day when she had a bowl and spoon and was mixing up a storm.
6. The weather has been beautiful! It's been so nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air and sunshine. We even met Daddy when he came home today and made some mud pies.
7. We're gearing up for a lot of events. Annie and I are planning Kathy's bridal shower, Izzy's birthday party (finally sent the invite off to the printer), we're going to Indianapolis on Izzy's actual birthday to do Race for the Cure with a bunch of my MoGo mommies, and of course Easter.
8. Don't know what MoGo is? It's a group of women I met online when we were all pregnant with our October 2006 babies. We're a tight knit group of women and I can't wait to meet up with them for a good cause!
9. I've discovered the best cure for chapped lips. We have a huge bottle of Aquaphor for Izzy for when her face gets chapped, and out of the blue I decided to try it on my lips when my Softlips wasn't cutting it (and I loathe ChapStick) and I was elated to find out that it works so well!
10. I should head off to bed. I'm trying to get my butt to bed before 11pm these days and if I don't go to bed when Matt does I tend to stay up way too late.

Night all!

It's Been a LOOOOONG Day (81/365)

As someone who loves her sleep, today's 4am wake-up call was not a good start to my day. Today was EEG day for Izzy, which meant that she needed to be sleep deprived before her 8am appointment time, which meant that I had to pry my butt out of bed well before I wanted to. The test went well, she fell asleep about 5 minutes after the nurse left her room and she slept as long as she was supposed to. She did wake up for the strobe portion of the test, but really, who wouldn't?! She even came home with a special lap blanket from Project Linus that I know we'll put to good use in the car next winter. Our schedule was off all day long so hopefully tomorrow things will be back to business as usual. I'll be sure to let you all know when we find out the results!

Practicing For Her Birthday Party (80/365)

I have a feeling she'll do just fine come April 24th!
(invites are coming, they aren't quite finished yet, but they will be soon!)

Daddy Love Baby (79/365)

Baby love Daddy

Like Yummy Golden Pillows From Heaven (78/365)

I made the most killer pancakes for dinner tonight. We seem to have started this tradition of having pancakes and popcorn for dinner on Friday nights, and tonight I decided we needed a change from the usual Bisquick blandness. I did some digging on the internet I found a recipe that looked like it had potential, and boy am I glad I tried it (even though we didn't have buttermilk and I had to resort to "making it" with milk and lemon juice) ! I even convinced my darling husband that not all pancakes have to taste like blah biscuits!

If you aren't convinced maybe this will help, Alice ate 4 of them and we didn't have to keep reminding her to take bites!

We Have VEESETORS! (77/365)

Ok, so we have a visitor. Uncle Chuck is staying with us for the night on his way to Michigan for some geeky stuff, I'm sure. Alice was more than happy to humor him and play farmer for a good half hour before she decided she had better go to bed. He'll be on his way in the morning, but it will sure be nice to have him, even if just for a short while. Come crash at the Bathje pad, we always have room for a few more!

Too Much of a Good Thing (76/365)

I have a feeling that this is how I'm going to feel about the latest Disney DVD that was released, The Princess and the Frog. Alice and I saw it in the theater with Grandma Cindy and Auntie Tori and immideately fell in love with it and rushed right out to buy the soundtrack. It came out yesterday on DVD so I made sure Matt picked up a copy on his way home from work. Alice has already watched it three times in less than 24 hours and it's just starting to overstay it's welcome, in my book. Hopefully tomorrow will bring nice weather (and my daughter will wake up with a good attitude) so we can go out and play all day and I won't have to put it on for her again tomorrow.

Knowing my luck, the weather men will be dead wrong and it will be rainy with a high of 40°F.

It's a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood (75/365)

Being that it was a mild spring day, the girls and I ventured outside.

Izzy was mesmerized by everything, especially the other kids.

She also tried to eat this piece of chalk about 100 times.

(Notice Izzy's feet and knees, needless to say she got changed as soon as we got inside.)

Do you think this kid needs an actual bike?

I have a feeling I may have to convince Daddy to go pick one out this weekend.

We had a glorious day being outside for the first time in a LONG time.

I sure hope Mother Nature is kind again tomorrow!

Paging Dr. Alice (74/365)

Alice is waiting for Kaylee to come visit so she can play doctor with her
(Alice's current favorite game).

She got her degree online.

Auntie Tori is Leaving (73/365)

Say whaaa?!

We sure enjoyed her while she was here though.

Miss you already.

(click pic to enlarge)

Don't Make Me Kiss You. I Will. (72/365)

This was attempt number 3. She was mesmerized by the

projector and didn't want to look at the camera.

Alice, Tori, and I went and saw a terrible movie this afternoon : Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. It wasn't that bad really, but I think the fact that my kiddo was dancing in the aisles and singing with the songs made up for having to sit through all the screeching and bad dialogue. The homemade popcorn that we snuck in might have had something to do with how much I enjoyed myself too. On the way home Alice laid her head down almost immediately and she was asleep before we made it home.

Definitely a sign of a day well spent!

Lazyhead and Sleepybones (71/365)

Story time with Auntie Tori.

Funny random story from tonight. Tori is here visiting this weekend and we ordered Chinese food for dinner. Alice got her usual "chicken nuggets" (sweet and sour chicken w/o the sauce). She was getting excited because she knew that we had ice cream and Daddy was going to make popcorn, so instead of finishing her dinner like a good girl, she hid it in an empty rice container. Little stinker was so sneaky that we didn't even notice until we were cleaning up.

Please To Enjoy (70/365)

The infectious laugh of a 10 month old. I would have gotten closer,

but I knew if I did Izzy would have stopped the hilarity.

Just ignore the mess.

It Just Never Ends (69/365)

Izzy had to go to see her doctor this morning. She's been showing signs that her acid reflux isn't being controlled by the Zantac anymore and Dr. Dan wanted to see her as soon as possible. He doubled her dosage and explained that not all generic versions of Zantac are created equal, so not only could her issues be from getting bigger and naturally needing a change in dosage, but she could have had a generic drug that wasn't as potent as another. So in the future we need to keep track of what drug she's on and if her symptoms reappear on certain generics. Hopefully she'll be back to normal in a week or so.

Then there is this issue she's had for about three weeks now. She has this shake that she gets mostly when she eats, but also at other random times as well. I was concerned about it at first because it looked kind of like a seizure, so I recorded her while she was eating one day. Eventually I wasn't as concerned about it because I was able to prompt her to do it so I put it out of my mind as some little quirk of hers. Dr. Dan thought the same, until he actually saw her do it. While he isn't convinced she's having a partial seizure as she doesn't stare off into space when it happens, but he wants to err on the side of caution and have her checked out. So soon enough I will schedule her for an EEG. Hopefully it's just those spastic Bathje genes.

Good news, she's nearly 20 lbs! 19 lbs 11 oz to be exact! She's finally up to the 33rd percentile, which I'm quite happy with. That's quite a feat for my little 10th percentile baby!

Paging Doctor Kaylee (68/365)

beep, boop, boop, beep, beep, boop.

ALICE: Hi, Dr. Kaylee, I have an appointment for, uh, mmm, my puppy. And she's having a, she's scared of hiekst and she's scared of shots too, and she really wants you and me to change to the doctors and...can you make your house to look like a real doctor house? BYE!

ALICE: (turns and looks at MOMMY) That was great.

Transcribed straight from a recording I took of her while she was playing with the phone this morning.

I'm Not a Horse, I'm a Hornless Unicorn (67/365)

Scene 3

MOMMY, ALICE, and IZZY are laying on ALICE'S bed in the dark, staring up at the ceiling.

ALICE: Mommy, let's pretend that the ceiling is the sky and we're looking at stars, ok? What kind of stars do YOU see?

MOMMY: Ummm, I see...

ALICE: Mommy, THAT one is a kitty cat.

MOMMY: Oh, well I see a smiley face over there!

ALICE: Oh, OH, now I see a dinosaur. And look, Mommy! There's a donkey!

IZZY: SQUEEEEEEE!

Mommy: I think I see one that looks like a diamond.

ALICE: I see a horse!! And now it turned into a unicorn, my favorite!

MOMMY: Well, that is...

ALICE: And look, that one is Daddy and Izzy and they are sitting on the couch and they are laughing at Grandma's face!! HA HA HA HA HA HA! That's so funny!

MOMMY: (through laughter and tears) My, that's one elaborate constellation!


She didn't say WHICH Grandma - you're safe for now, Cindy.

You Know It's Been a Good Day When (66/365)

• Your three year old can barely get out of the car with out falling over from complete exhaustion.
• Your three year old asks: "Can I go to bed now?"
• Said three year old doesn't stir when, an hour after tucking her in, her sister is put down for the night in the same room.
• Not even bedtime protests from a sleepy 10 month old can wake her.
• The house is nearly quiet by 8:30pm.

We spent the day, as we do most Sundays, at my mother and father in law's house. The day was full of playing pretend with Alice, Izzy showing off new tricks, dog soup, old 8mm home movies watched and recorded, corned beef and cabbage, and an impromptu dirt cake for dessert thanks to Annie. As always the food was good, the company even better, and hopefully fun was had by all.

Except that poor dog that ended up in Uncle Freddy's soup.

Remembering Mom - 7 Years Later (65/365)

Happier times: Mom and I, Summer 2001
Susan M. Rice
February 19, 1948 - March 6, 2003

You never said "I'm leaving"
You never said goodbye
You were gone before I knew it,
And only God knew why

A million times I needed you,
A million times I cried
If Love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died

In Life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still
In my heart you hold a place,
That no one could ever fill

It broke my heart to lose you,
But you didn't go alone
For part of me went with you,
The day God took you home.

--Anon

She Camped Out On the Living Room Floor (64/365)

No fort is complete w/o a flashlight, laptop, and a Disney movie.

Things Don't Always Run Smoothly (63/365)

10pm, 2am, 4am, 5am.

Those were the times Izzy woke up last night. I thought for sure that
she would easily give up her night time bottle now that she's eating
well during the day - night 1 didn't go so well. By 5am Alice was
awake too and I gave in and made a bottle.

Let's hope night 2 is much easier, though judging by the crying I can
hear from the other room I'm not going to bet on that happening.

Wanna Take Bets (62/365)

Anyone want to take bets as to how long it will be before the little booger starts walking?
I think it's going to be VERY soon - like NEXT WEEK soon.
She's already gone from standing for 10 seconds to 30+ in one DAY.
It really is all downhill from here.

This Is What My World Has Looked Like Today (61/365)

Ok, so it's not an entirely accurate representation, but it'll do. I started feeling like crap since yesterday after Cindy's doctoral defense, and it's continued on into today. I don't have nearly the headache I did when I was at Tori's house, but it's still there somewhat and it's driving me nuts. What's really been bugging me is the dizziness and sinus/ear heaviness. I'm betting they are all related and I'm nursing a sinus infection. Hopefully it won't get much worse than how it is now because I can semi function still so long as I take it easy and don't make sudden movements which cause me to get dizzy. So needless to say I won't be doing much staring at the computer screen tonight to write this post as its is making my head screwy as well.

I hope I feel better in the morning.

Oh, and BTW, Izzy stood for 10 seconds or so unassisted this evening!

Introducing Dr. Cindy Carlson Rice! (60/365)

AKA Dr. Grandma!

We're SO proud of you,

and SO glad we could share your special day with you (despite your protests).
Love you.