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?