Now Face North (29/365)

Guess who started pulling up to stand today (on something other than me, that is)?
She's also cruising now, she was all over the place once she got herself to standing.
She's quite proud of herself, and so are we!

She's also becoming increasingly harder to photograph.
I should have taken advantage of her immobility more often!

Insert Witty Title Here (28/365)

• Alice was all of a sudden very intrigued by her alphabet magnets today. She put them together and asked me why they stick together and why they move. We talked about it and as she walked away from me I heard her talking to the letters.

ALICE: Now you two QUIT MOVING! You will NOT move, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!

Hmm, I guess she really does pay attention to me.

• This morning, for the first time EVER, Alice woke up completely dry and asked to use the potty! She still hasn't pooped in the potty again, but I'll take any move forward I can get!

• And probably the best thing I have to share today, Izzy started saying Ma-ma!! Talk about getting my birthday present two days early!

This is a pic I forgot to share from Izzy's last cardiologist appointment.

We were very proud of Alice as she took this doll house from

completely trashed, to properly put together all by herself!

Now if only I could get her to do the same in our house!

KoolAid Man Sings Kiss (27/365)

Thanks, Tori. Now I have to teach my child what good music sounds like.

Ten on Tuesday (26/365)

• Matt and I are watching, what I expect to be, the terrible movie that is G.I. Joe . It somehow made it's way to the top of our Netflix queue, along with a bunch of junk by Jeff Dunham, and we didn't catch it before they sent it to us. We figured we should at least half watch it before sending it back.

• All of our snow melted this weekend - we didn't even get a chance to enjoy the lack of snow before Mother Nature decided to send a bit more our way. Yeah, she's a bitch.

• I'm making my own birthday cake this weekend. I've been DYING to try out this flourless chocolate cake recipe for ages and I've decided this is the perfect time to do it. If it's any good I will probably make it for Izzy's birthday too, along with another one that is less rich. So if you're going to be at Mom and Dad's house this weekend you'll get to have some leftovers. Sorry, Annie.

• Speaking of birthdays, after years of attempting to pester Matt into telling me what he got me for my birthday, he finally gave in - I'm getting a Wii Fit Plus! Granted, he told me that the only reason he caved was because he didn't want me going out and buying one with out him knowing since we discussed using Christmas money to get one. I'm so excited!

• Wedding planning is in the air - and I'm getting excited for summer and fall to come! I'm SO looking forward to Fred and Kathy's and Andy and Mary's weddings this year!

• Izzy's mattress HAS to get lowered soon - she's well on her way to pulling herself up and the last thing we need is her falling out of the crib!

• I can't believe I'll soon be planning Izzy's first birthday party! It's unreal how fast time goes with baby #2.

• Which reminds me, Izzy's birthday is on a weekend this year, but her party won't be until the weekend after because we are going to be in Indianapolis. I'm meeting up with about 10 or 15 of my friends from an online community I've belonged to since I got pregnant with Alice (we were all due in the same month). It's a fantastic group of girls and I'm REALLY looking forward to the trip.

• We (that means you too, Matt) will be walking in a Race for the Cure event while we are there in honor of those we know who have fought cancer, but especially for one of our own, Ellen, who was diagnosed with and underwent treatment for breast cancer while she was pregnant with her second little boy.

• I just realized how ridiculously trained my fingers are for typing on an iPhone. I just double tapped the space bar on several occasions and wondered why my sentence didn't end up with a period at the end. Oh, iPhone, how I love thee.

What Are Uncles For? (25/365)

Apparently Alice either watches way too much TV, or she's been corrupted by her Uncle Freddy and his love of The Slap Chop (or at least his love of the commercial remix).

Scene 2

MOMMY is at the table getting ready to chop and onion for dinner.

ALICE: Mommy, are those onions making you cry?

MOMMY: No, not yet, but as soon as I cut them they will.

ALICE: Maybe you need a Slap Chop. It will make it so you don't cry.

insert hysterical laughter

ALICE: They have a thing for cheeeeeze too.

ALICE exits stage left, muttering to herself about what The Slap Chop has to offer.

Please enjoy the commercial remix that Freddy is so fond of.

And in other news - Alice had pooping on the potty success today! Hopefully she keeps it up; I'm not going to lie, I don't have my hopes up very high!

There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters (24/365)

This pic sums up one of my favorite reasons I love being a mom of two.

There just is NOTHING like seeing your first baby with your second.

Also, Izzy is getting growing so fast lately! As of yesterday she's been able to get to the sitting position from laying down, she's cutting four teeth, she's saying Da Da and clearly means Matt, she's doing peek-a-boo SO well, and she's finally got SO BIG down pat now!

I can't believe she'll be ONE in three short months!

Goobyes and Birthdays (23/365)

We had a short visit with Dad today. By now he should be well on his way to India to see James, but before he left he decided to stop by and say goodbye to his favorite child and her family - oh and he dropped off his car too. I'm hoping he makes it there safe and sound. We Skyped the other night and the man looked like he'd been up for days - he was very visibly tired and stressed (you'd never know by the amount of work that he does that he's actually "retired"). I'm happy to report he looked MUCH better this afternoon. Maybe it was all the sleep he got on the side of the road on the way here, or the the time he dozed off while driving (yeah, Dad, I could have gone with out hearing that one), or maybe he knew that he had an 18 hour plane ride ahead of him during which he could catch up on some much needed rest.

I hope the rest of the passengers brought ear plugs.

After Dad left we headed to my Mother and Father in laws house to celebrate Mom's 62nd birthday. The kids made dinner and we laid down the law with mom and told her she absolutely COULD NOT lift a finger or buy any ingredient. After much objection on her part, she conceded. I'm happy to report that she actually kept her word too. Dinner was great, and the company was too. And what was the best part, you ask? Might I refer you back to my post from last Saturday about going over to visit Fred and Kathy's new place.

The cake.

And this one was also provided by Fred and Kathy - by way of Costco. For the record, Costco makes THE BEST cakes. Just sayin.

Taken with Dad's new camera. He brought it upstairs so I could play
with it while we waited for his cab. He knows me too well!

Two Hours of Playing and OnlyTwo Useable Pictures (22/365)

Matt got me a lovely bouquet of gerbera daises for our anniversary (though the stupid flower company delivered them a day late). Being the photography enthusiast that I am, I immediately thought what a perfect opportunity to break out my extension tubes and my new tripod!

Sorry Matt.

My second thought was, aww, he got me the same exact flowers we had in our wedding seven years ago.

Ok, so I made that last part up. But I would have thought of that had my mind not been preoccupied with what shots I wanted to try and getting my gear set up.

They are were beautiful. I say were because no one told me that you shouldn't take the flowers out of the little tubes that they come in and they started to die by day two. At least that's what I'm assuming happened, anyway. That's what I get for thinking they were just to protect the flowers in transit. Next time.

Anyway, so, like the subject line says, I painstakingly shot about 80 exposures of various flowers before the kids stopped cooperating and I plain gave up from frustration.

Matt will just have to keep buying me more pretty flowers to take pictures of so I can have some more fun.

A Peek Into the Future (21/365)

We never got around to celebrating Izzy's 100th day alive like we did for Alice, to be honest I completely forgot about it, but I have a feeling that Izzy might just follow in her Grandpa's footsteps and become an engineer. She's SO into figuring out how things work that she's bound to be one of those people who takes things apart just so she can figure out how to put it all back together again. We've seen many examples of this over the past few months, but the most obvious incident that has occurred to date happened today at the doctor's office.

She had to have blood drawn for a standard lead test. The nurse and phlebotomist really thought she was going to freak out, so nurse Jean decided to hold her while it happened. Know what the little stinker did? She stared at the little needle and tube the whole time with such inquisitive eyes. Not one peep did she make (until she had her shots, that is)! I really can't believe just how different she is from Alice. We made the comment that Izzy was going to be our little doctor or engineer, and Alice, being the drama queen that she is, is going to be our actress.

So while we're talking about doctor appointments I thought I'd share how Izzy is doing since her last visit to see Dr. Dan. She's currently 28.5 inches (75th percentile) and 17.2 lbs (15th percentile)! She definitely had quite the soggy diaper at the cardiologist the other day, so I'm not surprised that her weight is lower than what it was last week, but since she was weighed naked today it's a more accurate view of how she's really doing. Slowly but surely she's gaining the weight and going from the 10th percentile to the 15th is AWESOME! I'll say it again, I'm so glad that we pushed for the Zantac. I can't even believe the difference it's made. She's even started to sleep through the night now that she's eating more!

As someone who really values her sleep, not having to get up with her twice a night has been VERY nice!

What To Write Wednesday (20/365)

So I've been sitting here for nearly a half hour trying to think of something good to share with all of you, and the one thing that keeps coming to mind (due to the pain in my throbbing legs) I'm not exactly sure I want to share. But then I think back to the post a few days ago where I pretty much admitted that I have a hairy chin, and so I thought, why not?

It's no secret that Matt and I are overweight, and to some it's not a secret that as of January 4th he and I have been in a friendly competition with family members to see who can lose the biggest percentage of our starting weight by May 3rd. So far we've both done great - he's lost 10 lbs and I've lost 9 lbs. The major change in diet has been an easy one, all the salads and fresh fruits and veggies have been a breeze to get used to. Eating less has been a piece of cake to (mmmm...cake). Now the thing that is embarrassing to admit is just how freaking out of shape I am.

On Monday I decided to lap our stairs for my workout - if you've seen our stairs you know that they are quite steep! I wasn't able to do them as long as I had hoped, but what I did accomplish made me feel pretty darn good. Fast forward to yesterday morning when I nearly fell getting out of bed because my legs were like JELL-O and they were on FIRE! It was hell trying to get my legs to do anything, let alone try and work out again. Even walking or trying to sit down hurt like I'd done a thousand squats - and all I had done was walk up and down the stairs for 7 minutes! I thought for sure I'd feel better today, but I see no improvement. I've been trying to move them as much as I can, keep myself hydrated (which is so hard for me because I have never been one to drink enough in the first place), ibuprofen or muscle relaxers in my system, and now as I type this I've got a hot pad on them, and so far I'm still miserable.

Here's hoping tomorrow they finally start to get better. I don't want to push myself to injury, but DAMMIT this was only the start of my exercising! I'd like to get a chance to get into the habit of doing it before I start slacking off due to laziness. I have a freaking wedding to stand up in come July, for goodness sakes!

Oh, yeah, and I'd like to not be a fat ass anymore too.

Talk About a Rockin' New Years Eve (19/365)

I'm temporarily lifting the moratorium on Christmas/New Years posts to share this gem of a picture Matt took with his phone on New Years Eve. Maybe my New Year's resolution should have been to unplug more often.

Nah!

Where the Heck Did Seven Years Go? (18/365)

It seems like just yesterday. I love you 10.

Izzy's Been Hittin' the Bottle (17/365)

With all the toys we brought to Uncle Fred and Auntie Kathy's house,

the thing you couldn't pry from her hands was the empty 2L bottle!

And just because it had to be shared:

Daddy: What was your favorite part of Uncle Fred and Auntie Kathy's house?

Alice: The cake.

(Almost) Seven Years, and Not an Itch in Sight (16/365)

Thursday night Matt and I got a babysitter (thanks, Annie!) and went out for dinner and a movie for our seven year anniversary. It's technically on Monday, but this weekend was full so we opted to celebrate on Thursday instead. There is a dinner and a movie place just a few minutes from us that we've been meaning to check out for ages now so we decided to give it a go.

I was skeptical about how it was going to work. Would the waiters going in and out the whole time bother me? Would everyone and their mother treat this like they were at a show and be quiet, or at dinner and talk the entire time? I was pleasantly surprised on all of those counts. No one was disruptive, if you don't count the woman and her two SMALL children who probably wandered in because The Princess and the Frog was sold out, the waiters were fantastic, and the only parts of the movie we missed we missed because WE were talking.

What would make me not go back though was the food. It was pretty good, but there wasn't much selection unless you wanted bar food, pizza, or burgers. Oh and don't forget the full two pages they had dedicated to alcohol. I'd personally rather go to a place that had a whole page, hell why not a whole MENU, dedicated to dessert, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, my sandwich was pretty good, but I would have rather had the option to have a lighter meal, then time to let my belly rest, and then chow down on movie foods. So in the future I'm sure we'll skip the all-in-one place and opt instead to do dinner separately.

Oh, I do highly recommend seeing Up in the Air, by the way. It was a FANTASTIC flick.

We sat in the most comfortable rocking office chairs.

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked watching a movie this way.

Ask Matt, I was concerned.

The place was absolutely STUFFED with this kind of stuff.

I could have looked around for hours at all the memorabilia.

Just for Alice:

"Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting! HIGH YA!"

Things a Kid Should Never Say to Their Mother #459 (15/365)

"Mommy, you have a beard.
Just like Grandma Cindy's."

I'll be the one in the bathroom, plucking every last damn hair from my
chinny chin chin.