Izzy & Cher (7/365)

Just call her Cher.

click to enlarge

This is Izzy's new smile. I don't know where she got it from, but we came home from vacation and this is how she's been smiling, for the most part. It's damn cute, but let's hope she doesn't start strutting around air craft carriers with little more than a strip of duct tape covering her naughty parts. :)

How We Spent Our Christmas Vacation - Part 3 (6/365)

Despite the fact that Annie and I slept on the couches Christmas morning, Santa still came for the whole family. Can't say that I heard the Big Guy, but he sure did leave quite a good amount of loot in his wake. Matt was upstairs with the girls - unfortunately he didn't get much sleep. I don't know what it is about those girls, but they just do not like to sleep anywhere other than their own beds.

Morning came and we all changed INTO our Christmas PJs - yes I said into. My mother in law decided last year that 2009 was going to be Christmas PJ Christmas so we could all be comfortable. Needless to say I think we are going to continue the tradition next year! It was so nice to sit in super comfy PJs all day and visit with family. Fred out did us all though - his fiancee bought him some footie jammies - complete with trap door.

Everyone got lots of great gifts, and of course the girls made out like bandits. My fav was definitely the book Matt had made from my Alice in Chicagoland blog. It's nice to have it in print and to be able to look back on that time in our lives. Plus it was the motivation for me to make this blog!

After dinner and the ornament exchange that I mentioned the other day, the crew and I packed up and set out for home - with twice the amount of stuff in tow that we came with! Despite having fallen asleep nearly as soon as her head hit the carseat, Alice was ready to dive into her presents that Santa left for her at home while we were at Grandma and Grandpa's. After giving her about a half an hour to wake up, that is!

We also showered them with gifts, but the one I was most excited for Alice to open was her American Girl doll. She had actually been mine for 20+ years, but for the last 10 or so she's had a broken limb. As far as Alice is concerned, I sent Santa my doll and his elves fixed her up for me and he brought Kirsten back to our house for Alice to enjoy. The joy on her face when she first saw the doll really made my Christmas.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Alice and Izzy Christmas morning in front of the massive amount of
presents at Grandma and Grandpa Bathje's house.

Izzy enjoying Uncle Freddy's puppet.
Too bad you can't see Fred's PJs in all their glory.

"Oh my GOODNESS! Look what Santa brought!"

Can you tell she's in love already?

Izzy needed a bit of coaxing, but she seemed to enjoy herself
despite not knowing what was going on.

We saw this reaction, or better, several times through out the day.
My favorite was when she opened the Hungry Hungry Hippos from Auntie Annie.
She about died!

God Bless Zantac (5/365)

Today marked a milestone for Izzy that was followed by much rejoicing on my part - she ate half a container of sweet potatoes for the first time! For those of you who don't know, Izzy has always had major eating issues that we attributed to her heart condition. Once that was no longer a factor and she continued to eat poorly, we began to wonder if there was something else going on. Her doc just wanted to give her another month because she could simply still be adjusting to life after surgery, but he mentioned trying her on acid reflux meds if in a month she was still having problems. That part really stuck in my head.

I never thought she had signs of acid reflux (or in her case, what they call silent reflux), but Matt and I decided that we'd take a look at the common signs and symptoms of it just in case. Sure enough Izzy had nearly all of them! After much urging from friends and family I decided not to wait the month her doctor wanted to, and I called and asked if he'd write a prescription for something now. This was right before Christmas and like a present from up above I'm happy to say the Zantac seemed to help her almost immediately! Gone was my baby who would take an hour to choke down 4 ounces of formula and here to stay (I hope) is my baby who nearly always finishes her full bottle with out putting up a fight.

It was DEFINITELY the best present I could have ever asked for.

So back to today, Izzy actually ate solids for the first time with out turning her nose up and cinching her lips closed. In fact I think she would have loved to have had more if I would have let her (I really didn't want to press my luck). Here's hoping that this is going to become the norm and not just a fluke. My fingers and toes are crossed!

EDIT: Before bed, she finished the rest of the container. WOO HOO!

How We Spent Our Christmas Vacation - Part 2 (4/365)

Christmas Eve we spent, as usual, with Matt's family. This year we decided NOT to do midnight mass (turns out that was a WONDERFUL idea) and opted for the 7pm mass instead. Thankfully both girls were very well behaved and that Izzy didn't need to eat or poop while we were there as we absentmindedly forgot to bring the diaper bag to church (I blame Matt for I was already in ornament making mode).

When we got back to the house the girls went to bed with Matt (more on this later) and I went to work on my masterpiece that was my ornament this year. You see, it's a Bathje tradition to secretly make an ornament from items you have around the house, then wrap it up and don't include a tag. Then on Christmas we do a grab and one by one we open the ornaments and try to guess who made what. It's actually a fabulous tradition that I hope we all carry on in the coming years. As per usual, I waited until Christmas Eve to make mine, except this year it took me a lot longer than I had anticipated, so I ended up not so secretly making mine in the living room at my in-laws until about 12:15am Christmas morning. Oh well, it was definitely worth all the effort. So much so that I think I may just make another one for myself. I'll have to have Andy, my soon to be brother-in-law, take a picture of it for me as I forgot to snap one before I wrapped it. Oh, and Andy, if you're reading this, NO MORE GIFT CARDS!! If there is another Duncan Donuts gift card masquerading as an ornament next year you're getting it back! :)

ANYWAY, I forgot to mention the funniest part about Christmas Eve this year. Annie let Alice run around the house with her camera and out of the blue Alice just started talking about how she had to take pictures for Aunt Rose (my Aunt on my Mom's side) and that Aunt Rosie has to have a picture of XYZ, etc. Well being the great Aunt that SHE is, Annie forwarded me all the little gems Alice took that night and now I'm sharing them with you. Please enjoy the 30ish pics from a 3 year old's perspective. Click to enlarge.

How We Spent Our Christmas Vacation - Part 1 (3/365)

We were fortunate enough to have a few special visitors before Christmas. Tori was here for a few days and we had an absolute blast hanging out with her, and I really enjoyed laughing our butts off at Denny's at 12 in the morning. Ry was in the area visiting Erinn and her family, so one night he came out this way and spent some time talking and making cookies with Alice. I'll have you know, Ry, that your candy cane cookie that you meticulously created tasted fantastic. :) Tori and I made drop sugar cookies, sugar cookie cut-outs, ooey gooies (which Ryan loved), Mom's foldovers, PB blossoms, puppy cow chow, and some VERY nasty chocolate PB bars. It was a tiring day, but we had lots of fun. The highlight of the night for me was watching Alice get so excited making sugar cookies, closely followed by Tori trying to figure out how to add 2/3 cup of sugar to the frosting when I only had a 1/3 measuring cup. All in all it was a very good day.

This one warms my heart - I just love the way she's looking at me.

Alice enjoyed this much more than I thought she would,
what with her short attention span.

We all enjoyed our short time with Ryan. Miss you, Ry!

At least she got SOMETHING from me -
she's got artistic genes in there somewhere!

Classic Alice - she's a ham by nature.

Bliss. And no your eyes do not deceive you, that is in fact Ryan feeding Izzy.

I Can't Believe It's Been a Year (2/365)

We miss you like crazy, kiddo. Wish you were here. A year ago today my nephew was suddenly taken from us very unexpectedly. This past year has been hard on the whole family as one would expect. It has been especially hard on holidays, birthdays, and family gatherings because there is always someone missing. I miss a lot about him, I especially miss his humor and the way he was with his siblings. He was the quintessential big brother. My absolute favorite memory of him was from the last time I ever saw him - right after Christmas last year. Matt, Alice, and I went over to their house to give the kids their gifts and as a gag gift we gave all of the kids whistles that you play with your nose (every kid needs one, right?). Well you'd think it would be an easy thing to do, just blow, but there is actually a technique to it. Right away the younger kids were able to do it, but Wes and Ally weren't able to despite a good effort on their part! Watching the two of them laugh and get so frustrated put such a smile on my face and definitely made the purchase worth it. Even now it makes me laugh just thinking about it. Now I don't know if it's my favorite because it's the last time we saw him, because certainly I have many fond memories of him, but it's definitely one I think about often as I remember good times we had with him.

You were taken before your time, and I will forever miss you.

Happy New Year! (1/365)

Happy New Year from Jacksonville! I'm looking forward to starting 2010 off right by ringing it in with some of those who mean so much to me, but we're missing those of you who aren't here! A lot happened in 2009: Izzy came into the world, a wonderful trip out east to see family, my nephew passed away very suddenly, two of my favorite people got engaged, Izzy had open heart surgery, Alice's Halloween 3rd birthday party, etc. Here's hoping that this year is full of much less stress and heartache and lots more good times and happiness to be had by all!

and here's to keeping up with New Year's resolutions. ;)

Laugh At Me If You Will

but my New Year's resolution this year is to create a blog post every day, even if it's just a picture. Matt had my whole Alice in Chicagoland blog printed for my Christmas present this year, so I thought it was a good excuse to just start a new blog. I'm going to try my damnedest to keep it up!