Thank Goodness For My Carrier (151/365)

Izzy was not happy unless she was in my arms, and that doesn't make
cooking dinner very easy. After I did all of my cutting, I popped her
in my carrier and she was a happy camper. So happy that she nearly
fell asleep! Also, notice the spoon. She really wanted to help.

Insert Awesome Pool Pic Here (150/365)

It was a beautiful day today, and Alice and I were feeling better, so
she and I went down to the pool and left Matt and Izzy at home (Matt
is still sick). To say this kid had a blast would be an
understatement! We swam, played motorboat (the spinning in the pool
kind, perverts), channeled Scorpion from Mortal Combat and played "Come
here!" with a noodle (she'd grab one end and I'd quickly pull her
towards me), the list goes on. We were down there for two hours and
I'm sure she would have stayed to swim for two more if I had let her.

Needless to say I think it's going to be a great summer (so long as
the weather cooperates, unlike last year).

Izzy is Growing Up Too Fast (149/365)

Something she's been obsessed with for a while now is drawing with crayons. Maybe she's got a bit of Rice in her after all. Right after I took this pic she laid down all the way, put her feet up in the air, and started kicking them wile drawing. Too bad I missed it!

Turning the Corner? (148/365)

Man, I sure hope so. Here's the low down on how all if us are doing
today.

ALICE: She's definitely over it, THANK GOD! Her attitude is much
improved since the other day when she made me cry out of frustration.
I can tell she's finally thinking about what we talk to her about when
she does someting or is going to do something bad. She's no angel,
but damned if she isn't 50% more plesant to be around.

IZZY: I'm hopeful she'll be completely/almost completely over it
tomorrow. She drank a lot of fluids today, which she has been
refusing, and she's finally eating a bit too (though the big thing is
drinking. Doc didn't even care if she ate anything other than formula
and pedialite). The big plus - ONE poopy diaper today! Still tooting,
but just one poop. Woo hoo! Her rash is already 50% better since
she's not pooping all the time. Fingers crossed that tomorrow she's
golden!

MATT: Well, unfortunately he didn't escape it. But thankfully he
didn't have any pain while at work. Hopefully it won't stick with him
long, though if the girls are any indication, I'm betting that won't
be the case.

ME: Yep, still sick, though I am feeling better this evening. I had a
fever this morning and I still have an upset stomach, but somewhere
around 4PM I gained a burst of energy for some reason, and it really
felt good.

So once this has all past and we're feeling better, who wants to take
the girls off my hands for a day so I can get this wreck of a house in
order without having little munchkins at my feet? Anyone?

OH, I almost forgot. Izzy is finally starting to walk more! She's
been very stable on her feet for ages now, just not confident enough
(or just lazy) to walk more than 4-10 steps at a time. Well as of this
week she's walking acrosss the room! And when she can't figure out
how to stand when there is nothing to hold on to, she'll walk on her
knees. It's super cute.

Also, some of you may remember that when Alice was tiny (heck she
still does it about 50% of the time) she, for whatever reason, placed
her hand to her chest when she said please (which is actually very odd
because it's pretty close to how you actually say please in sign
language). We have no idea where she got it from, but I've decided to
try and teach it to Izzy, and she's picking it up! I can see why some
parents teach basic ASL to their not yet speaking children when she
clearly makes the gesture. It's so nice to actually know what she
means, AND it's cut down on the amount of pointing and whining (er,
screeching) for things, which is FABULOUS! I'm actually seriously
thinking about teaching a few signs to Izzy just for the heck of it.
Might be fun, you never know!

Now if ASL could stop my big girl from whining I'd be all over
teaching her too.

PICTURES:
Alice got to make her own lunch today. From picking out what she
wanted, to getting her plate, to pulling things out of (and putting
them back too) the fridge, to serving herself, she did it all. And man
did it make her day!

Izzy feeling better in her Cubs shirt from Mary and Andy. She peed
right through it at dinner time. I'm guessing that means she's a Sox
fan, though I can't be sure (and yay for full diapers. I never
thought I'd be so relieved that my kiddo is having full pee diapers.
Such a change from the rest of the week).

Still sick... (147/365)

We took Izzy to see Dr. Dan today. He says it is some sort of viral bug, and that Izzy seems to be getting better. We'll see how that pans out, the 5 poo-splosions she had today seem to disagree. Here is a picture of Izzy to tide you over...

I'll Just Keep this Short (146/365)

- Yes, I'm still sick.
- and so is Izzy.
- If she's as bad as she was today (really loose, extremely smelly
diapers) she's got to get to the doctor.
- Other than the awful attitude, Alice seems to be fine.
- and trust me when I say awful.
- The kid had me in tears twice today I was so frustrated.
- I hope tomorrow is better. I'm SO over it!

I Know You're Sick of Hearing About It (145/365)

Looks like we may be making a trip to Target this weekend - Alice has
been waking up dry since about Thursday of last week. Even when she
was sick she woke up dry, so we told her if she keeps it up we'll take
her to get some new panties and let her wear them to bed. My fingers
are crossed, I can't believe what a big girl she is!

Izzy is feeling better (see pic, she's up to her old tricks), but
still sick, unfortunately. She's a day or so behind Alice, so I'm
hoping she'll be loads better by tomorrow.

I'm still sick, hopefully I'll be feeling much better soon. This bug
is really kicking my butt.

Guess Who's Sick Now (144/365)

Thankfully it's not Matt. I woke up with the bug this morning and haven't felt the greatest since. Why am I still up, you ask? Well, I fell asleep on the couch for the third time in 24 hours and Matt woke me up to tell me that I needed to do my blog. I hope this is acceptable.

Alice appears to be on the mend, though she didn't have a BM today so I can't quite say she's better yet, though not having one is much better than what she was having so that's a good sign.

Izzy still seems to be not feeling the best. She wouldn't touch her milk, and refused to eat some of her favorite solids as well so she existed mostly on pedialite and rice cereal again today. She did have a good dinner and a few pancakes for lunch though so things are looking up, I hope. She's had quite a few nasty diapers though, so we'll see. Hopefully she'll be much better in the morning.

If we're feeling up to it, and the weather cooperates, I'm hoping to get them out into the wading pool tomorrow. Today would have been a great day for it had I not felt like crap.

Well I'm off to bed now. Hopefully I can get a good night's sleep and tomorrow will be a better day.

Can You Guess What We Did Today? (143/365)

If you said, entered a Blues Brothers look alike contest, you'd be
wrong. Nope, today we went to see the final instalment of the Shrek
series - in 3D. We had intended to go see How to Train Your Dragon,
but we won't get into why we missed that one as I'm still irrationally
upset about it. All that matters is we were able to take the little
munchkin out to see a movie like we promised her, and it actually
wasn't half bad. The big plus was I didn't get crazy eyes from the 3D
either like I normally do (Yes, I was wearing my glasses, Mike. Even
2D films on the big screen give me issues, for some reason). Alice
left her glasses on for about 1/3 of the movie, which really surprised
me. It was fun to watch her at the parts where it looked like things
were flying out if the screen at you. She really had a good time. Can
I just say that they really should make some kid sized glasses too?!
The glasses were almost too big for my enormous noggin, I had to
thread them through Alice's pigtails to get them to stay on her head,
for goodness sakes.

Both kids seem to be on the mend, though still having issues that
concern me. I plan on giving the doc a ring tomorrow if the symptoms
are still around tomorrow. I hope that they're not!

No Movies Today (142/365)

Maybe tomorrow. As of today, both babies are sick with a stomach bug.
Oh, and don't ask Tori about her dress.

How I Spent My Friday (141/365)

• Sitting in the bathroom with my big girl. Poor thing has a stomach bug.
• Laying on the couch watching movies with my big girl. Like I said, she's got a stomach bug and I didn't mind being lazy all day with her.
• Movies/shows we watched today: taped off of tv, circa 1987, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; taped off of tv, circa 1987, A Muppet Family Christmas; a collection of Mickey Mouse cartoons; The Fox and the Hound, twice (we fell asleep during it the first time and she wanted to watch it again when she woke up); and a few episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle. It was a very productive day. ;)
• Playing with my little girl. Both of them had a hard time staying away from one another.
• Enjoyed pancakes and popcorn thanks to my wonderful husband who made dinner.
• We're also enjoying the company of Auntie Tori who is here for the weekend. The girls are incredibly happy to see her!

If Alice is better tomorrow we have plans to do something fun, maybe even go see a movie. If not, we'll just hang out at home and hope that she's better on Sunday so we can do something fun (Tori will be here until after dinner on Sunday). My fingers are crossed that this is just a 24 hour bug, and that no one else gets it!

It's a Painting Party! (140/365)

The kids and I spent the day over at my mother and father in law's
house with Annie. Ma and Pa are on vacation, so Ann decided she was
going to repaint the dining room, hallway, and the kitchen while they
are gone.

She called me yesterday and expressed that she felt she had taken on
to big a task for the time she had, so I offered my help if she wanted
it. Obviously she took ne up on my offer.

We knocked out quite a bit of the work today, and surprisingly the
girls behaived WONDERFULLY and allowed us to paint in peace without
much interruption. I think we lucked out because Izzy seems to be
going through a growth spurt and she slept a solid 4 hours, like she
has every day this week.

The rooms look great and I can't wait to see how they look completely
finished!

May Picture Overload (139/365)

5.2.2010 - Kathy's Bridal Shower

Loved our waitress. She went and dug out Christmas
menus and crayons so the girls could color.

Alice adores her older cousin, Amanda.
She was her shadow all day.

Kathy in her crown.

Cath, Izzy, and Mary talking to Mrs. Q.

5.9.2010 - Mother's Day at Cathy and Bill's House

They played monkey in the middle all day.
I had to put post this pic because Matt's stance was so funny.

Alice pouting because she's not as good at the game as the other kids.

"Run, Daddy, RUN!!"

"HIKE!"

5.15.2010 - Trip to the Zoo

Izzy eating bologna for the first time - she devoured it!

An old man who worked at the zoo offered to take our picture for us.
Too bad he hardly filled the frame and he cut out the
bottom of the statue that says Brookfield Zoo.
Oh well, he's a retiree and we're lucky we were all in the shot.
And, according to Matt, that he didn't abscond with our camera. :)

Uh, oh! Watch our for James and John when there's a full moon!

Alice the Okapi.

James the Walrus.

5.15.2010 - Today

Pictures for Aunt Eva because this was one of
the outfits she gave Izzy for her birthday.

Who can resist this face?

Her curls are really starting to come out now.
I can't wait to see what they'll look like
this summer in the humidity.

A Taste of the Future? (138/365)

MATT trips over the cat and proceeds to spew expletives from his mouth.

MATT: Did you see that cat? He gets under my feet and then he proceeds to hiss at me...

BECKY: Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt...he's just an animal!

IZZY: Map, Map, Map, Map...

MATT: Really kid? Are you gonna start on me too?

IZZY: (shakes head yes)

insert hysterical laughter.

A Few Snapshots From My Day (137/365)

Alice has been obsessed with wanting an "Alice sized" baby carrier to
carry Teddy around in since I bought the new carrier for Izzy. She
even insisted on wearing it to the store when she went on a quick run
with Daddy. I have a feeling my purple scarf is going to get a lot of
use in the coming days!

Matt is still studying for the GRE (wish him luck, he's taking it
tomorrow!) and Izzy obsconded with Daddy's graphing calculator. She
would not put the thing down once she got ahold of it - not even to
crawl. She Army crawled all over the place with it still in her hands.
Yeah, I definitely have two geeks who take after their Daddy!

The Best and Worst Part of Yesterday (136/365)

BEST
All of the kids piled on the blow-up bed and watched The Lion King
while Matt made dinner. Who knew that such a silly thing like that
could make all five of them so rediculously happy?

It was such a good day I'm still blogging about it!

WORST
Oh and I wanted to go on record and say how much I didn't like the new
bear enclosure at Brookfield. I'm sure it would be awesome when the
zoo isn't crowded, but even with the normal traffic that there was
yesterday, my slight claustrophobia kicked in full force and it wasn't
pretty. People push and shove, race to get a spot when a bear is in
the water, push kids out of the way, don't think twice about coming
between you and the group of children who were obviously with you,
etc. There had to have been some fire code they were violating by
allowing that many people in an enclosed space like that.

Anyway. There were also some design flaws like very narrow walkways in
some spots and the fact that you have to walk through a SMALL giftshop
in order to get out of the bear area. Now I know why they do this, but
I don't like being forced to walk into a shop, let alone one that is
hard to navigate through with kids, a double stroller, and a wagon
(which many people use at the zoo) due to the fact that it is so small.

I'll certainly give it another chance because it does have the
potential to be an awesome experience, but it will have to be on a
very traffic light day.

A Taste of the Life of a Mom of Five (135/365)

Today Matt and I babysat our niece and nephews and I got the bright idea that we should take them all to the zoo. Last night I was terrified that I was going to regret the idea because the kids well outnumber us, but I was very VERY happy to find that it really was quite easy! Granted they may have behaved so well because they weren't with their parents (and we all know kids behave so much better when they are with adults other than their parents), but either way they were wonderful. Here are some highlights.

• We couldn't have done it without Ally. She's so good with her brothers it was like having an extra set of hands with her around. We tried not to rely on her too much so she could have fun too, but her help was definitely greatly appreciated by both of us!
• I got great use out of my new baby carrier. Izzy HATES the stroller, though she'll tolerate it for a little while. She much preferred to be in the carrier and looking around. She even fell asleep in it for quite a while - something I didn't mind in the slightest because she so rarely likes to cuddle.
• When she was sleeping, she started twitching and so I looked down and her and she was clearly dreaming as she had this huge grin on her face that kept coming and going. I would have a picture to share with you, but my phone FREAKED out on me today and I'm hoping it was just being stupid and not due to the new camera strap that I bought. It has a pocket for your phone that has a magnetic closure and while their website says you can put iPhones in it, a part of me is worried that it had to do with the magnet. I'll give it another go and see if it does the same thing.
  
• We lost James for a few minutes. And let me tell you those were some of the worst minutes of my life! We were done with lunch, had just finished potty break, and we were getting things together so we could move on to see new animals. We had already discussed that we were not going to go down to the playground that was a quick walk away so when Alice out of the blue said, "I wanna go to the playground!" She was being quite snotty all of lunch so I thought it was just a remnant of that. Then she said, "But Jimmy is going!" Two seconds later Ally says, "Where's James?!" and I start running, knowing exactly where he was. When I got to the playground it took me a second to find him in the sea of people (ugh, it was so crowded today), but when I did relief washed over me. He was on his way up the ladder to the slide and I couldn't help but think of my dad and when a young Charles snuck out of the house and went to Duncan park. When dad got to him, Charles was at the top of the slide as happy as can be. James came down the slide, and I grabbed his hand and told him I'm sorry we lost him, but he needed to stay with us from now on. What an experience!
• We spoiled the kids rotten, and enjoyed every minute of it. That's what aunties and uncles for!
• John John truly is awesome, and he can spell it too! Pretty good for a five year old!
• On the way home I thought Ally was going to be the one to fall asleep. I was totally wrong - it was James! At least he won the quiet game.
• We had pancakes and popcorn (thanks, Matt), blew up the inflatable bed (the kids asked for it because the last time they were here it was still up from when we had a guest sleep over and they loved it), and watched The Lion King. A great ending to a fabulous day!!
• We can't wait to do it again, next time when the dolphins are back at the zoo (right, Ally?)!
  

Today Was a MUCH Better Day (134/365)

For many different reasons.

1) I got a call from Annie asking me if she could take Alice off my
hands for a few hours. There's no way I could turn that offer down!
It was a nice day so they walked down to and spent a few hours at the
mall. I didn't get much done, but it sure was nice to be able to take
a short nap! Thanks, Annie.

2) Alice was an angel today. I hardly had to scold her at all today
and and it felt so good to have my kiddo back.

3) Matt got an answer as to what was causing his mysterious rash: it's
hives and it could very well be caused by excercise. Who knew you
could be allergic to it?! ;) I'm just glad it looks much worse than it
actually is.

4) I got both of my Mother's Day gifts in the mail and I love them! I
got a new camera bag for when I want to just take my camera, a lens,
and maybe a few other small things. It'll be nice to not have to lug
all of my gear around every time I take my camera out. And then I got
a specialized camera strap called The R-Strap. I've been wanting one
for ages because I hate wearing my camera slung on my shoulder or over
my neck. So far I really like the way it feels. I'm quite happy with
that choice! (will link when I'm not on my phone)

5) We had a fabulous dinner with old friends of Matt's from when he
worked at Netsource. Good conversation, so-so food, and well behaived
kids (ours and Kurt's) made for a great night out. Alice really hit it
off with Kurt's kids and I don't think any of them were ready when it
was time to leave. We'll have to do it again somewhere less noisy next
time. (I'd post a great pic of Alice and the girls, but I forgot to
ask if they'd be ok with that, so you get this one instead.)

Whoever Coined the Term "Terrible Twos" (133/365)

Must have never met a three year old because, let me tell you, two has nothing on three.

Alice has been acting up for longer than I care to admit, but this past week has been especially unbearable. Since Sunday our days have pretty much consisted of me telling her to do something (or not to do something), giving her a warning and what the consequence of disobeying will be, counting, and then taking away privileges or a time out. Sometimes there will be screaming from one or both of us. Sometimes she will throw something across the room (I can't deny it, she comes by this one honestly - just ask any of my brothers) and yell "NO! I hate it!" or some other variation thereof. By the time lunch is over and it's time for her nap she typically has lost all of her privileges and I have lost every last one of my marbles. I know she is just testing me. I know she is just going through normal kid stuff, but some days I really just want to lock myself in my room and throw in the towel.

Today was definitely one of those days, and I have to say that I'm glad it's almost over.

Battle of the Wills (132/365)

It's nearly 10pm, what's your 3 year old doing? Sleeping, probably. I wish I could say the same for my 3 year old. Unfortunately I've been fighting with her since around 7:30pm to eat her dinner. It's not enough to just send her to bed without eating because this is what she wants. No, we have to play the "you're sitting there until you eat your food all gone" (typically she'll have a YES and a NO pile by then) game. A few minutes ago I told her I was going to get ready for bed and she was going to sit there by herself until she was done. That didn't go over too well and now she's finally eating. Further complicating things for me is the fact that Matt is busy studying for his GRE, which he signed up this week to take next week (earlier test date than he was hoping for), and so I've been having to deal with her all by myself tonight. Needless to say I'm about at the end of my rope and I really want to go stand outside in the rain and cool off.

Since I started writing this she's finally done and getting ready for bed. Hopefully she doesn't get sick from the sour cream and cream of chicken soup mixture that has been sitting on her plate for three hours (this is what we had for dinner).

I Hate Nightmares (131/365)

So I woke up this morning, very early in the AM, dripping with sweat and not wanting to go back to sleep. You see, I had this crazy dream that there was a cougar stalking prey in J'ville (i.e. - humans). The part of this dream that really stuck out to me was the color. I don't very often dream in color (in fact, I don't remember dreaming in pictures at all until I got pregnant with Alice. It was just like what I imagine it's like for a blind person to watch a movie), but this dream was in black and white except for the bloody parts. Think Schindler's List. It was one of those dreams that you wake up, and even though you know it was a dream, you don't want to move, you don't want to breathe, it ruins your entire day. Needless to say I was glad that it was a rainy day because there wasn't a chance in hell I was going outside.

Especially not after that were-cougar sighting we had about a year ago here in Aurora.

What, I never told you that story? It was a Sunday night, it was dark, and we were driving back from my in-laws. We had just passed the train station when up ahead in the shadows Matt and I both saw the outline of what was, without a doubt, a large cat crossing the road. I would have thought I was seeing things if Matt and I didn't both see it at the same time. Of course by the time our headlights would have reached the animal, it was already across the street so the experience was all that more terrifying to me. Needless to say I didn't take Alice by myself more than 20 yards from the house for weeks.

So that's my story, and the reason why I have this ridiculous fear of big cats invading my neighborhood and eating my babies.

1 1/8 of a Story Read, Written, and Illustrated by Alice (130/365)

Alice really impressed me with her artistic abilities today.

Happy Mother's Day (129/365)

After we got out of the house and over to my SIL Cathy's house for the
annual Mother's Day gathering, I had a pretty good day. Before we
left, Alice was in VERY rare form and saying things like, "THIS IS THE
WORST MOTHER'S DAY EVER!!". Honestly, I think a good portion of it
was due to the fact that she was up too late last night and got up too
early this morning, but there were still times when I really just
wanted to put her in her room and leave her there until her attitude
changed for the better. I'm so very greatful that she shaped up once
we got to Cathy's, but still annoyed with how she could turn her bad
attitude on again like a light the moment she stepped inside the van.

I guess it's just one of those things you learn when you become a mom
- your kids will always behave better when around others. You learn
it, but that doesn't mean you understand it or roll over and just
accept the behavior. It's a good thing I love her!

The girls got me a blender, but Matt is taking it back and I'm going
to get a smaller camera bag, and he's ok with that! Once our current
from-the-70s blender craps out I'll pick up a new one. He'd rather I
have something that I have great use for now, and it helps that the
bag is more in the proper price range!

Here are some pics from the day. The first two are pics of Izzy
playing peek-a-boo with Paul. Those chairs, they are the most
comfortable folding chairs I've ever set my butt in. No, really, they
are.

The last is of Matt spinning Izzy around on his back. I had to be the
voice of reason and put the kaibosh on that one. He just didn't see
the problem with spinning her 6+ feet off the ground over asphalt.

Despite the wanting to pull my hair out moments, I had a great day. My
girls, and my hubby always know how to make me feel special.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in my life! I hope your day
was great too!

Why Couldn't it have been a Happy Baby Post? (128/365)

Go to Google and type in "angry baby".
Then click the Images tab.
Look at the front page.
Notice anything?

Here, let me Google that for you.

In case you don't understand, the child in the blue shirt with her arms raised over her head with a sour look on her face is Alice when she was about 11 months old. I discovered that she was on the front page of an image search several months ago. How'd it get there? Well someone, or several someones, stumbled upon my blog, yanked my picture, and reposted it elsewhere. I had to write a few letters to admins of message boards and writers of random blogs asking them to take my picture down. Some complied, others ignored. Then I realized that all of them instead of saving the picture and rehosting, simply stole my bandwidth. So eventually I just deleted it from my Photobucket account, wiping it off the face of the internet.

Except for that damn thumbnail on Google that just won't die, even after having deleted the photo months ago. At least it's moving closer and closer to page two. When I first discovered it, it was the second entry.

So, now all the world, or at least all the world that reads my blogs or sees her picture on Google, knows the truth. Alice has had an anger issue since she was at least 11 months old.

I wonder if there is any hope for her?

I Need a Silent Shutter (127/365)

(click pic to enlarge)

I'm still going through pics that are from Izzy's party and the trip we made to Indy. Our PC (which is where I have all of my pics stored and the only computer we have Photoshop on) is on its last legs and so I don't like to spend a lot of time messing around on it as it seems to like to flake out on me.

Anyway, here are two pics from our Indy trip, during the "walking race," as Alice puts it. Izzy is definitely the product of having a photographer for a parent as she is far too aware of the camera and its shutter. The first pic Matt tried to capture a pic of her snoozing during the walk, but as soon as she heard the shutter her eyes creeped open. So I have some where her eyes are starting to open, and then shots like that where you can tell she's sleepy, but hasn't quite passed out yet. Then obviously, in the next one she just couldn't keep them open any longer.

One of these days I'll get around to pouring over the endless amount of photos I have (um, some even from last summer. Sorry, Jen!), but for now this will have to do.

Edited To Add
I forgot to mention that, yes, Izzy went to the doctor today. Her fever was normal (of course) when she woke up late this morning, but we decided to take her in anyway. Her upper respiratory system is very congested and her ears are a bit pink, nothing bad enough to give her meds for. So we are to keep an eye on her and if she starts backtracking then we are to call for meds. For now, all we can do is suction her nose if we can, give her Benadryl, and keep an eye out for signs she's not doing well. Hopefully she's on the mend.

Thanks, Uncle Ry Ry (126/365)

These are from the end of last month. One night before bed, Alice went to their room and grabbed the two special bears from Uncle Ry Ry and they proceeded to be oh-so-cute with them (and with each other). They both carted them off to bed with them as well! Thought you'd like to know.

Izzy is on her way to the doctor tomorrow. She's still sick, still getting fevers, still not herself so we decided it was time to take her in. Will keep you all posted.

My Little Girls Miss You (125/365)

So does your little girl, you should have visited longer.
Or maybe just pick up the phone every now and again. ;p
Miss you, Old Man.

No Zoo (124/365)

But we had fun at home anyway. Izzy woke up (at 9:30am) with a temp of
101.3 so we decided not to go and see the animals in cages. Instead,
we opted to see the animals in our own backyard. Matt was already off
work, so he and Alice got to do lots of playing while I took care of
the Little Miss. When asked what her favorite part of the day was,
she responded: "when we had the race with the sidewalk chalk."

Whatever that means. I think despite not getting to see the sheep and
zebras one can definitely say that she had a good day.

Seven on Sunda...er...(123/365)

- We should have had Texas Hash tonight, for Uncle James would have
been able to pass the torch on to his goddaughter. This was the first
night we had to make Alice sit at the table until her food was gone
and I have to say it worked much better than sending her to bed
without eating.

- I guess you could call Izzy a walker now. She still prefers to crawl
everywhere, but she is much more brave than she was even a few weeks
ago. She's practically running with her push toy, and her record is
about 10 consecutive steps without giving up.

- We're hoping to get to the zoo tomorrow. There is a new bear exhibit
that we want to see (and can see because we're members as it's not
officially open yet) that looks SO neat. I've got my fingers crossed
that Izzy wakes up feeling better as she went to bed quite cranky and
with a temp of almost 100*F.

- I've decided, the next time we take a long vacation it needs to be
out west. It's been ages since we've been that way and I think it's
time we went back. I haven't mentioned this to Matt yet though. Just
something I thought of when talking with Andi this weekend.

- I have an update on the cat brush I bought about a month ago. I'm
happy to report that Charlie hasn't had a hairball since before we got
the brush (and if you recall, he had been an at least once a week kind
of cat)! I also only have to brush him once a week now as his coat is
all thinned out. No more softball sized lump of hair to throw away
anymore, yay! Now if I could only get Roxy to sit nice long enough to
defur her. She doesn't have haiball issues, but she's getting hair on
everything!

- As of today the weightloss challenge we started in January is over!
We should find out by Wednesday who won. My bet is on Matt, who lost
45.5 lbs! I can't be upset about my loss of 23 lbs, but I SO could
have done better if I had been more committed.

- I cannot get the theme song to the 80s cartoon, The Littles out of
my head. It's on Netflix streaming and Alice is OBSESSED with the show
and movie. If we're watching TV, chances are we're watching The
Littles. Sorry, Mike, it's actually kind of growing on me.

Showering the Bride to Be (122/365)

Kath,
Thanks for letting my crabby kid who was looking for something to do
help you open your shower gifts. I know she enjoyed it far more than
you realize. We had a great day and hope you did too!

PS - don't forget to send pics when you use the slap-chop!

Lots of Randomness (121/365)

Bear with me, I can't add the captions with the pictures from my phone.

1) Tomorrow is Kathy's bridal shower and so we decided to get together
with some of the out of town family that came in (and other locals
that we don't see often) for dinner tonight. No gathering of the
Bathje/Muchow crowd is small. We had a whole section all to ourselves.
And as far as I can tell, good food was had by all. I'd certainly go
back to Gulliver's again!

2) Izzy was seriously thinking about drinking Brett's beer. I blame it
on the fact that Matt forgot to pack Izzy a bottle. That's ok, she
more than made up for it with the two containers of baby food, Alice's
leftover mac & cheese, chicken and bread from Matt's dinner, and some
milk and water that she drank from a straw! The kid had a belly like a drum by the
time she was done.

3) Alice's flower girl dress came in the mail this week. She was more
than happy to try it in for me, complete with the watermelon colored sash.
She's going to be the prettiest flower girl ever come July!

4) The other day Izzy had my phone and was listening to her favorite
song, Elephants. She's recently learned how to push the button to exit
an app, and she was getting very frustrated because apparently she didn't really want to do that. Alice decided to help
her, but Izzy must have hit the button twice, which turns on the
camera, because Alice snapped this gem of Izzy getting very upset with
her helpful sister!