An Update of Sorts

So dad told me I could just add a pic to the blog and he'd be happy. Well here you go old man. :)

Anyway we've unfortunately got so much going on at the moment that I just don't think about updating this thing. For those of you who may not know Matt officially has a diagnosis of a herniated disk in his back. He's finally been to one orthopedic surgeon and that doc is suggesting surgery sooner rather than later so as not to risk any permanent nerve damage. Matt being the kind of guy that he is insisted on a second opinion so we're kind of in limbo right now until that appointment next week. If that doc says surgery then he'll go ahead with it, if he says something else though Matt MAY want to get a third opinion. We'll see.

The good news is if Matt decides on the surgery it's a MUCH different procedure than it was when my Mom had it. It'll take an hour or less to preform, then his recovery time is anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Much different than the months Mom spent recovering in Tennessee with Grandma and Grandpa Rice. He'll more than likely go on temporary disability and with any luck he'll get his full paycheck for the duration he'll be out. Hopefully at the end of all of this he will no longer resemble Quasimodo and he'll be able to sleep through the night.

As for Alice and I, we're pretty good. We put up all the Xmas stuff without Daddy (minus one or two ornaments which Daddy hung himself) and I must say it looks pretty nice. Alice is mesmerized by all of it (especially a flashing snowman we got from Grandma) and she's even added a new word to her vocabulary - tree. The kid STILL won't say Momma, but she'll say tree. Go figure. She's currently trying to stand up with out pulling up and I have a feeling once she figures that out she'll have the guts to try walking. As it is now she barely holds on to my hands and walks just fine so I think she could do it if she wanted to. I'm happy with her still remaining low to the floor though so she can wait a few months as far as I'm concerned.

The pic is from a few weeks ago when we got our first snowfall. She would have stayed out there for hours if I let her she loved it so much. She even played for 20 minutes in the snow that I tracked into the house afterwards! And just as a sidenote, THANK GOD for hand me downs. Alice's entire outfit (excluding the hat) is comprised of hand me down items. Gotta love that!

Well that's all I've got for now. Hopefully there will be more updates soon, but I'm not making promises I can't keep.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Love, Alice.

Bday Overflow

WOW, Uncle James you sure have let yourself go!

Hey...you're not Uncle James!!

Auntie Annie, Augie, John, and Wes in the background.

We throughly enjoyed our time visiting with Grandpa, Cindy, and James. It truly was a wonderful weekend and Alice seemed to love every minute of it (so long as she had some medicine in her that is). Thanks for coming to visit Cindy! Oh yeah, and James and Old Man too. :)

And like I said before, wish you all could have been here!

The Cake

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Alice!
Happy Birthday to you!

Stop singing Daddy! You're hurting my ears!

Hmmm, what's this??

Cake? CAKE! I LOVE CAKE!

This one

is

all

mine.

GET YOUR OWN!!

For Those of You Who Couldn't Make It

Saturday went very well despite a sick baby and a crippled daddy. Thank the Lord for family for with out them we wouldn't have been able to pull it off!


Like I said, Alice was sick for her big day. At least she wasn't the only one at the party who was. Augie and Amanda (whom I'm betting were the ones who shared this delightful bug) had the same thing Alice did, but they were already well on their way to getting over it. Daddy was laid up on the couch, Auntie Mary was laid up in a chair for she had gallbladder surgery that week, and Auntie Annie's boyfriend Mike was miserable due to shoulder surgery he had that week. You would have thought the living room was an infirmary!


Good food was had by all. We seemed to have outdone ourselves on the appetizers though since we ended up taking 5 pizzas home with us that night!


Phase 10, a Bathje Family tradition. If I remember correctly Grandpa Rice was apparently cheating. :)


Everyone was incredibly generous! Alice lost interest about half way through so my nephews and I opened her presents for her, but I have to say Alice is very much enjoying all her new things. One of Mommy's favorite toys is a kid camera. Uncle Fred and Kathy know how much Alice LOVES to play with mine and so far she is really digging having her very own. I'm sure I'll be posting pics taken by her soon enough!


MMMmMMmMMmmMMMm...cake. Even though they didn't look as nice as I had hoped, they sure did taste great!

A Day In The Life Of My One Year Old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE RUTH!!

It certainly wasn't the most exciting day ever, but it was definitely a very special one.

10 AM: Little Miss Sleepyhead awakes. Mommy and cousin Amanda grab the camera and head to the nursery where Alice is quietly watching her own private ocean. WARNING: Mommy breaks into crazy ridiculous high pitched squealing. My not be suitable for K9 viewing.

I wish I had Amanda every morning! Today was the first day in ages Alice wasn't a Crabby Appleton straight out the gate.

10.15 AM: Time for a world class breakfast, bananas a la carte.

1.20 PM: A package arrives for the birthday girl. I decided Alice had better get some practice in before Saturday.

2 PM: Alice had herself a feast of green beans, ham, and Cheerios. Then it was off to bed for a LONG nap.


6 PM: Up from her nap and just in time for dinner, then a GIANT cookie mommy made just for me!

MMMMMMM...COOOOOOOOOOOKIE!!

8 PM: Play time with Charlie...then it's off to bed.

NITE, NITE!!

What's New?

--My kitchen floor. Saturday my BIL Fred came over to help lay tile in our kitchen with Matt. We're lucky we had him b/c we needed to lay a sub-floor since the sheet rock was so badly damaged and Matt isn't the best in the home improvement department. And now I can say that I know how to lay tile...well the peel and stick kind anyway. :)

--Matt threw his back out, badly. So bad in fact that my SIL took him to the ER this morning. They think it's his sciatica acting up big time, but the ER couldn't order an MRI to be certain so they sent him home with pain meds and orders to follow up with his doctor. He's probably going to be working from home all week.

--Alice's birthday is on Wednesday! I can't believe a whole year has gone by already. I'm feeling sad and happy all at the same time.

--Alice is now the proud owner of 5 teeth (and soon to be 6). One more bottom tooth made it's appearance today and it's partner on the other side is making it's way out as well.

--She's no longer eating anything baby related. As of about a month ago she's been strictly on table food and whole milk. And I threw all but one bottle away!

--No walking yet. She's been cruising furniture for a month now and she's just now getting the courage to try and stand on her own. Maybe in another month or so (just in time to see Kaylee)!!

--My is she being SO ornery lately. The kid has such an attitude...at least she comes by it honestly, eh?

--Clothes shopping is such a bear. She's so tall that she needs pants that are 18-24 months, but she's so skinny that anything that size falls off of her. I think she's going to be in floods until she is big enough for adjustable waistbands.

--She's my little helper. Alice LOVES to sit on the floor with a basket of clean laundry and hand me up a piece of clothing when I ask for it.

--Communication is finally starting to get easier. She'll now shake her head yes or no and really mean it.

--She is STILL on a "Momma" boycott. I swear she thinks my name is Daddy.

--She's not allergic to peanuts. Matt convinced me to let her try peanut butter a while ago (even though she's not "supposed" to have it until she's 2) and thank goodness she didn't have a reaction.

--She's still as cute as ever!

Curly Alice

I got a better shot of her curls this week, just thought I'd share.
I sure hope they stick around!

First Blood

Alice had her first draw blood injury that wasn't mommy's fault today (cutting her with nail clippers does NOT count!). She was busy cruising the furniture when she fell. Nothing abnormal, but the screaming that followed was. Of course my mommy sense told me that something was wrong and I rushed to her side. It wasn't bad, thank God, but sure enough she bit her tongue when she landed. Poor baby.

Baby Love

Mommy love baby...

Baby love Daddy...


(And no last night wasn't a better night for Alice sleeping wise. In fact it was one of her worst nights EVER! Mommy and Daddy need sleep!)

Pearly Whites

You can't see them in this picture, but Alice officially has all four front teeth! Almost 3 weeks ago the top left one came in and it's buddy has been VERY slow to break through. I swear she's been looking like she has a pink tooth for weeks now. This morning it finally broke through. Hopefully her waking every 20 minutes or less starting around 1 am stops now, of course I doubt I'll be that lucky since my MIL swears she can feel molars on their way out. Fun. (and I know it will be a LONG time before we can tell for sure, but it looks as though alice might just get GG's gap! :) )

Well She Certainly Doesn't Get This From Me

Slowly but surely Alice's hair is going curly. There's no way she got it from me so we have Daddy to thank for this one. These pics don't do it justice, but most of the time you'd swear I took a curling iron to her hair b/c they are such perfect little ringlets. BTW, that face on the left is her new favorite face to give when she's POd. I have NO idea where she would have got that! ;)

While I've Been Away...

Just a sampling of what I've been up to while I've been away. Now if it would only get cold so Alice could wear all of her new creations (it was 90*F here today)!

PPPPPPPANCHO!

Augie and Amanda in their Auntie Becky hats.

This one is Mommy's favorite.

Just call me Meg Griffin.

A gift for a friend's little boy.

I know, I know...

I haven't been around much. I've been trying to stay away from the computer as much as possible so that is the main reason for my lack of updates. We sent the camera in to be fixed recently (free of charge I might add) so since I didn't have any photos to play with or add to the blog I decided to use that as an excuse not to log on. It's been a nice break actually. I'm going to bed when I should instead of up until the wee hours of the morning playing in photoshop, I've started and finished several crochet projects, I've actually gotten to some of the household projects I've been meaning to get to all summer, etc. Time really seems to get away from when when I get on here so I'm going to try my hardest to stay away.

Will post more later.

BTW, her top teeth still haven't broken the skin (although they look so close!) and the little bugger is finally pulling herself up! She is constantly standing now that she's figured that out. I can't believe she's going to be one in a little less than a month. AHHHHHH!!!

"Hey Gramps, you seem to have something on your lip..."

"...let me help you out with that."

Visitors

Alice is getting ready for Uncle James, Uncle Charles, and Grandpa Rice’s (hopefully) visit this weekend! She’s busy helping Mommy clean and this afternoon we’re going to make Uncle Mike jealous and bake some of GG’s peach custard pies for James’s birthday. It should be a fun weekend!

Walkers and Talkers

I’m pretty convinced that most babies are either one or the other, and I have several girlfriends who agree with me. Alice is definitely a talker, but her cousins Kaylee and James are both walkers. Yes babies develop at different rates (Alice LOVES to reach milestones like rolling JUST after we have a doctors check-up and we get the “I’m a little concerned” look from our GP), but I’m pretty convinced that kids are either one or the other.

All I Want For Xmas

Well Mommy was right, Alice is cutting teeth! This morning I found two little white teeth just below the surface. In a few days they should both be little sharp nubs. Hooray! More things to hurt Mommy with! Her eating and mood have already improved (I haven’t seen my little piggy in weeks!) so I’m pretty happy about that.





May 08, 2010.
I can't believe this image was stolen from me, AND is on the front page of google images if you search for "angry baby".

Sorry Kid…

But you’re destined to be a geek* -- it’s ingrained in your DNA.

Alice’s current most prized possessions are as follows:

--An obsolete computer keyboard
--A cheesy engraved computer mouse Matt got as a gift
--Daddy’s laptop

All but the latter can be found in her toy box.

*Not that there's anything wrong with that. :D

You Catch More Flys With Honey Than With Vinegar

A non Alice related post, but I just couldn’t resist.

This old adage is definitely not true, unfortunately I know from experience. Due to all the fruit we keep in the house we’ve recently had some fruit fly issues. After trying a few things we found on the web to no avail, I decided to put out some bowls of cider vinegar mixed with a bit of dish soap. It worked! There are still a few, but most of them are gone now. So apparently that old adage was just a ploy to make me act nice. :)

Happy 10 Months, Alice!

Not long now and we’ll be celebrating her birthday! Gah…I don’t know where time goes. Yeah, I know I say that every month, but it’s true!

So What’s Alice Been Up To?

Chasing cats. Ok so she’s done this for a while but now instead of steamrolling across the house, she crawls at lightening speed. She’s getting it down pretty well and I think she may just end up being one of those babies who just army crawl and not on their hands and knees. That’s fine with me, but she does look awfully silly flopping around the house!

Being defiant. Man does this kid have a temper! God help the person who tells her NO for they may just lose a toe – or their hearing. Especially when she starts dropping food from her high chair on purpose. We’ll tell her no-no and she throws a HUGE fit, then proceeds to do it again. She only stops when you remove her from the situation. Like I said before, at least she comes by it honestly. :)

Her favorite games: the dropping game (doesn’t every kid at some point?!), peek-a-boo (she’s just stared doing it herself), and of course chase the kitty!

She’s regressing. ;) Alice has said numerous things (and known what they mean) since about five months old, but recently everything is “DA DA”. I swear she knows that all I want to hear is “MA MA” again and she’s just messing with my head. The only other thing she seems to call by its proper name (other than when she really does mean “DA DA” for daddy) is the “KI KA” or kitty cat. Oh I take that back, she is saying “HI” now too, as in “HI DADDY”. What are you doing to me kid!! Matt just smiles and tells me that now I know how HE felt all those months.

Keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes. Whether it’s tugging on telephone cords or shutting off the computer when Mommy is trying to update the family on all things Alice she’s getting into everything.

Teething. I’m pretty sure the reason she hasn’t slept well in nearly three weeks is that her two front teeth are coming in. Her gums are SO swollen and she hasn’t been eating well at all. Hopefully they’ll break through soon!

Stacking blocks. The set she got from Great Aunt Mary in December of last year have become one of her new favorite toys. It’s one of the only things that will keep her entertained for longer than a minute.

Attempting to pull up. The key word is attempting. :)

She's a big girl. At 10 months she's already wearing size 4 diapers and she's in to 12 month clothing. I'm again dealing with trying to find clothes that fit her because she's so long. If it fits her length wise it's huge on her width wise. Needless to say I've been putting her in a lot of unsnapped onesies tucked into pants or dresses.

Keep an eye on your mailboxes! I just finished her b-day invites and I should be receiving them in the mail shortly and I’ll be sending them out soon after that.

For Crying Out Loud

Alice has always been a very good sleeper, but lately we've been letting her cry herself to sleep at night. We've always done this to some degree, but now we literally won't go in there unless her cry sounds like a "I'm hurt" cry. Sometimes it will take her no more than 10 minutes to get to sleep, and other nights it takes over an hour - unfortunately she can't seem to find a happy medium. She has been sick for the past few weeks, and she's definitely cutting her top two front teeth (her gums are SUPER swollen and her fingers have a permanent home in her mouth) so I'm going to chalk it up to that. All I know for sure is that I'm sleeping better and her middle of the night crying fits seemed to have stopped (or maybe I'm just ignoring them?). Whatever works, right?

Oh, I'll have to see if I can get a picture of this, now that Alice can get to a seated position on her own she always sits up to cry. Well since we started letting her cry herself to sleep I've caught her sleeping half sitting up, half laying down many times. It's almost like she eventually gets so tired that she doesn't have the energy to lay down the right way, instead she just folds herself over. It's too stinkin cute, albeit very uncomfortable looking.

Not a pic of Alice sleeping, but it will have to do.
And yes I know she's mismatched today.
That was my homage to those of you who are colorblind. :)

Keeping My Cool

I called the doctor's office today only to get the rudest, most B***** woman I've ever had to deal with at that office. Thankfully I knew that this wasn't a battle worth fighting so I didn't say anything. Wouldn't want anything going down on my permanent record. ;) So I got some names and phone #s of dermatologists in the area that my GP's office recommends. I got wind of some awesome salve that one of my girlfriends uses so I placed an order for that. We'll try that as a last ditch effort before making her a derm appointment. I'm crossing my fingers that it works, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Ugh...

What does Alice think of doctors?
EDIT, she thinks this of RUDE, B***** nurses too.

Well for starters the cream Alice was put on is the same stuff she was on originally (it didn't do anything) so I was kind of pissed off about that. We decided to try it anyway just in case this time it would help - surprise, it didn't. In fact it just made her worse so today was her last day on it. I'm going to call the doc on Monday to get some dermatologist phone numbers. Ugh...

Well, She Certainly Has My Temper

At least she comes by it honestly.

Alice definitely understands no now. If she's getting ready to go after something that I've told her time and time again not to do (like the phone wires) she'll look at me to see if I'm watching and then go after it. If I turn to her and say "ALICE!" she starts crawling faster and faster to beat me to the object. :)

BUT the terrible thing is if she's close enough to you when you tell her no she'll yell and then try and BITE you!!! Ugh...I just don't know what to do about this one. I don't even know where she would have got that from.

Innocent looking, isn't she? Looks can certainly be deceiving.