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!